Alexandra -- who goes by Alex -- DiPalma and Kenya Anderson founded Domino Sound, a podcast production company that puts its values front and center: elevating the voice of, and working with, queer people and people of color. In this conversation, we get into how the company began -- and the "jumping off the edge" to make it happen. It was a really fun conversation, we just immediately clicked. It was such a joy to get to know Alex and Kenya. I hope from this episode you’ll get some tips of how ...
May 08, 2019•44 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Mike Greenfield is a passionate cook, teacher, on-camera host and filmmaker. He's one half of the Brothers Green Eats duo; what began as a little YouTube channel with his brother Josh, the show now has 1.3 million subscribers and has had major spin-offs, such as a series on MTV International. A decade into this career, Mike continues to find inspiration in teaching people how to be self-sufficient in the kitchen, and loves deep-diving into things like sourdough bread baking and making kombucha. ...
Apr 26, 2019•44 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Michael Harlan Turkell is the author of the travelogue cookbook "Acid Trip." He has also co-written and photographed many cookbooks, most recently "The Offal Good Cookbook" (with chef and coauthor Chris Cosentino). He is an adjunct professor at New York University, teaching food photography AND he puts on Japanese sumo-inspired events called SUMO STEW. As if that's not a full enough plate, he’s also a podcaster with Food Seen, Modernist Breadcrumbs (both on Heritage Radio Network) and Food 52’s ...
Apr 10, 2019•34 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Anastasia Miari is a writer, with a Guild of Food Writers award under her belt, and she’s also one half of the team behind the incredible project and soon-to-be cookbook called Grand Dishes, which features stories of and recipes from grandmothers all around the world. (Iska Lupton is the other half of Grand Dishes.) I snagged Anastasia when she was swinging through London from her current home in Athens, Greece. Aside from her epic Grand Dishes project -- which is starting a #grannymovement -- A...
Mar 20, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Liz Schaffer founded Lodestars Anthology indie travel magazine 5 years ago. Australian-born Liz moved to London to be a writer 8 years ago and ended up starting her own publication and thereby making a space for other writers and photographers to explore and express. In this episode, Liz and I discuss the realities of creative life and tackle what imposter syndrome really is, revealing it for the ways it can work to our advantage. Her honesty and curiosity is infectious -- I loved this chat, and...
Mar 13, 2019•34 min•Season 2Ep. 40
My guests in this episode roam the world for their careers; sharing stories around the globe with their audiences. They have "the dream job," but there are also some challenges. We dig into the pros and the cons, all of it. Rachel Rudwall is an Emmy-nominated storyteller and adventurer, having living in 3 countries and travelled to over 70 nations. Collette and Scott Stohler are a husband and wife team, not just in their travels but in their business, Roamaroo, which shares stories of fun and we...
Mar 06, 2019•53 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Today’s guest is Pippa Murray who, 5 years ago, founded Pip & Nut, which is “arguably the brand that kicked off the nut butter revolution” in the UK [The Independent]. Pippa began her career in the creative arts! In her early twenties, she was working as a theater producer when she started her nut butter side hustle -- making various peanut and almond butters at home and selling them at a local market. Pippa shares how rewarding it was to start this business and also how her brand has develo...
Feb 27, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Dane Hopkins is the Dairy Director at Lynher Dairies, the lauded cheese producer in West England, Cornwall. Lynher Dairies makes the cheese that was Supreme Champion at the World Cheese Awards in 2017, an alpine-style cheese called Kern. Another cheese they make is Cornish Yarg (wrapped in nettle leaves!!), which is also a multiple award-winning product and is a beloved representation of their special corner of the world. They also make a great cheese called Stithians. Lynher Dairies is a farmho...
Feb 20, 2019•18 min•Season 2Ep. 37
My guest today, Lana Citron, is an Irish author, scriptwriter, poet, teacher (and sometimes stand-up comic!). Her most recent book was just released, “Edible Pleasures: a Textbook of Aphrodisiacs," so what better time to talk with her than on the eve of Valentine’s Day? We begin by talking about the fascinating universal experience of aphrodisiacs, which appears in every society worldwide, “The relationship between food and sexual desire goes back to time immemorial,” she says. (Although kissing...
Feb 13, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Jeremy Pang is the chef and co-founder of School of Wok, London’s only cookery school for Chinese cuisine. Jeremy grew up in London and was initially on track to a career in biochemical engineering. *record scratch* He career path then took a few different twists and turns before he enrolled in culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu and then started School of Wok, at the time a mobile cookery school. That was a decade ago, and now School of Wok not only has established a brick-and-mortar cookery scho...
Feb 06, 2019•43 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Rachel Khoo does so many creative endeavors: cookbooks, travel TV shows, cooking TV shows, running a lifestyle magazine...just to name a few of them. Most recently, she released her 6th cookbook -- “The Little Swedish Kitchen.” She first hit the international media scene with her BBC show The Little Paris Kitchen and cookbook of the same name, and has since then expanded her brand to include discovery and inspiration worldwide. As you’ll hear her talk about, she describes her big passion as simp...
Jan 30, 2019•49 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Jordyn Gatti started his business, Better Almond Butter, to affect change in the food industry; he makes a statement with the kind of almonds he uses, how they're treated and how they're packaged (no plastic!). So how did Jordyn get into this? He never went to college and decided to be a musician...then went into filmmaking (that’s how I met him years ago)...and then, a couple years ago, started Better Almond Butter and it's been making splashes in the food industry and gaining followers. He tel...
Jan 23, 2019•41 min•Season 2Ep. 33
Sam Conniff Allende is a speaker and social entrepreneur who has made major waves in England and around the world with his company Livity, “a transformation engine” for young people. Among his accolades, he’s been awarded recognition from the Queen (!), and has just recently authored a best-selling book, “Be More Pirate.” We talk about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship -- Sam tests me with his checklist for a healthy balance as an entrepreneur. (It’s a list you want to take note of if you’r...
Jan 16, 2019•44 min•Season 2Ep. 32
Happy New Year and welcome to Season 2 of the Keep It Quirky podcast! Most podcasts this time are year are helping you plan out your ideal year, your ideal career, your ideal life, right?! Well, this episode's guest has a different theory.... I’m thrilled to kick off Season 2 with Chetna Makan, who captured everyone's heart and rose to stardom from her appearance on The Great British Bake Off ('The Great British Baking Show' in the US). If you know Chetna from the show, you'll be surprised to he...
Jan 09, 2019•44 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Any francophiles out there?! I recorded today's episode when I recently visited Paris and I'm thrilled to have Lindsey Tramuta on the pod - she's the author of the hugely successful book "The New Paris," published last year. She describes her path, from young American gal infatuated with the French language, to hustling to find work in Paris, and the behind-the-scenes of getting a book published. [She also gives us the exclusive scoop on her NEW book, which will come out in 2020!!] She's also th...
Oct 17, 2018•39 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Alejandro Toro was born and raised in Venezuela and moved to America to follow his dreams and see what he could make of himself. Less than a decade later, he is a successful voiceover artist living in LA, a food personality (thanks to a popular stint on MasterChef), and an influencer with a purpose: to educate people about what's going on in his home country. In this episode, he and I talk about more than just his path to where he is now, we also talk about the routines in his life that center h...
Oct 11, 2018•33 min•Season 1Ep. 29
What's it like to start an artisanal beef jerky in the United States a decade ago? What's it like to start a similar company in the United Kingdom today? I talk with two driven entrepreneurs who are making waves in the "protein snack" industry on both sides of the pond. David Koretz, CEO of SlantShack - based in NYC, talks about the unusual start of his company a decade ago, when the US artisan food scene was in its nascent stages and SlantShack made a big splash. He talks about how the company ...
Oct 04, 2018•24 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Pooja Bavishi is the founder of Malai Ice Cream, which has been called “a taste of India in a cone.” (via Thrillist) Before starting Malai, Pooja worked in Fair and Affordable Housing and then got her Masters in Urban Planning. She then pivoted and went to business school, which set in motion her dream of owning a dessert business. In this episode, Pooja and I talk about the importance of determining a strong brand off the bat - and how to do that - as well as acknowledging and incorporating unf...
Sep 26, 2018•30 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Today’s guest is Dan Pashman, creator and host of the popular podcast “The Sporkful.” He also hosts live events and has a series with the Cooking Channel called "You’re Eating It Wrong" and a book called "Eat More Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious." In this episode, we talk about how to channel your ideas, the best way to build trust with your audience, and tackling taboo topics. I loved this conversation with Dan - I hope you enjoy it, too! "The Sporkful represented my last-ditch ef...
Sep 20, 2018•37 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Kristen Miglore is the Creative Director of Food52, a popular food and e-commerce website in the U.S. She's also the author of the just-released cookbook "Genius Desserts," a follow-up to her IACP award-winning, New York Times best-selling cookbook "Genius Recipes." Both books grew out of her beloved column on Food52, Genius Recipes. For the column, she finds the recipes that will become staples in your kitchen: either sharing the dishes that an entire generation knows and loves, or discovering ...
Sep 12, 2018•39 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Sarah Pettegree, aka the Pork Pie Queen, is the founder of the successful artisan savory pie business Bray’s Cottage Pork Pies. Based in Norfolk, England, she has elevated the classic pork pie by using local seasonal ingredients (she personally forages for wild garlic in spring) and by adjusting the traditional recipe to appeal to what she likes best...which just so happens to appeal to the modern palate, like omitting the squishy aspic jelly. [Good call, Sarah]. In this episode, Sarah tells me ...
Sep 05, 2018•33 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Sam Galsworthy is co-founder of Sipsmith, producers of classic London dry gin. In order to do so, though, he and he co-founder Fairfax first had to change a 200-year-old law. They did reverse it, and therefore gave life to the beverage landscape in the UK. In this episode, Sam and I talk about what’s behind making things by hand/small batch, how Sipsmith changed the gin game -- a 'ginaissance,' as he calls it -- the different phases of entrepreneurialism, and not riding the trends, but rather sa...
Aug 01, 2018•23 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Siobhan Ferguson used to be a banker. Now, she's a huge presence on Instagram with her feed @siobhaise and founder/curator of @prettycitylondon and @prettycities, as well as author of the newly published book "Pretty City London." Her whole ethos is encouraging people to experience the beauty of a place and to discover hidden gems. In today's interview, you'll hear why and how she made the transition from a banker (hint: life circumstances helped, motherhood in particular). We hear how the platf...
Jul 25, 2018•33 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Today’s episode is a little different than the norm: it’s the panel I moderated in Dublin, Ireland a few weeks ago at the Smart Kitchen Summit Europe. The Smart Kitchen Summit is a conference that looks at the food + technology Venn diagram. What is the evolving role technology plays in our kitchens, and what are the implications of that? This panel that I moderated had the panelists Lulu Grimes of BBC Good Food, Kishan Visani of DishQ, and Jon Jenkins of Hestan Cue. The title of our panel was, ...
Jul 18, 2018•36 min•Season 1Ep. 21
"Food is a bit like music, theater, or good literature — it connects you to your heart. It drops into empathy." -Yasmin Khan Yasmin Khan is the best-selling author of "The Saffron Tales," and her newest book "Zaitoun," will be released the day after this episode publishes, on July 12! (Go get it, it's incredible). She has a background of campaigning for human rights and transitioned into food writing and sharing stories from cultures around the world 5 years ago. In this episode, we talk about h...
Jul 11, 2018•36 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Today’s episode is a conversation with Kylee Newton, owner and founder of Newton & Pott, making homemade chutneys, jams & preserves. We talk about preserving food AND preserving your sanity! Kylee's slogan could be the well-known saying, "Waste not, want not." She embodies these values, and she has a fascinating path to her success as a food businesswoman! After going to university for Fine Arts in New Zealand (she's a Kiwi!), she moved to London and worked for a famous photographer for ...
Jul 04, 2018•37 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Sorted Food is a group friends who make recipe videos together. With nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube and a massively loyal community of eaters all around the world, the Sorted Food guys are creative entrepreneurs who are succeeding and constantly innovating. Their videos are accessible, inclusive and usually a riot! They source a lot of recipes from their global audience. As Ben points out in the episode, "Everyone has a story to tell around food." Now with over 1500 videos and a team of...
Jun 27, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 18
This episode features cookbook author and recipe writer Martha Collison, whose career launched years ago on Great British Bake Off and who continues to be a baking rockstar. There's also a cameo by the wonderful Rachel Khoo at the top of the episode! Martha was recommended to me by one of YOU (hi!) to be a guest during my author series of interviews. Martha is awesome. At 17 years old, she was the youngest person ever to compete on the Great British Bake Off - and not only compete, but she was a...
Jun 20, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Izy Hossack is a twice-published cookbook author, her blog (Top With Cinnamon) was groundbreaking in the UK, and she's killin' it on Instagram (with over 220k followers!)- @izyhossack - redefining what the intersection of food, social media and nutrition can look like into the future. Izy first gained international attention with her blog Top With Cinnamon when she was just 15 years old! Now, just about to graduate from university with a Food Science and Nutrition degree, she’s poised to take ov...
Jun 13, 2018•37 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Emma Gannon is my definition of a rockstar. She’s a writer and broadcaster, and each of those descriptors are umbrellas under which she does many things. Her podcast, Ctrl Alt Delete (named after her first book), is one of my absolute favorite podcasts. She’s an insightful conversationalist, an incredible listener, unapologetically opinionated and each step of her career proves just how adaptable she is. She’s also a regular on BBC Woman’s Hour and she was selected as one of Forbes 30 under 30 i...
Jun 06, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 15
