Write Your Own Story with Joshua David Stein

This week I’m talking with free-lance writer, food enthusiast & martial artist, Joshua David Stein. We’re looking to unpack what’s happened over the last year or so in the aforementioned scenes in NYC.

Tune in for this energetic conversation at TalkRadio.nyc or watch the Facebook Livestream by clicking here.

Jeremiah introduces his guest for this week, Joshua David Stein, a successful free-lance writer, food enthusiast and martial artist. The two go in depth on how they met through martial arts training, as well as Joshua’s formal education at New York University, where he designed his own major, ethnomusicology. He explains what ethnomusicology is, that is the study of the music of different cultures, and while it is an important study, it was difficult to find a job within the field. Joshua continues on to explain his education in ballet, and how he originally decided to take ballet classes because he was infatuated with the teacher of the class. While taking the class he realized how physically demanding ballet was, and how he enjoyed the aspects of training of ballet, working out and dancing, all while listening to live music. Following his education in ballet, he explains he had to make a decision between continuing in dance and the internship he had at Harper’s Magazine, which he decided to go through with his internship. Jeremiah and Joshua discuss the writing aspects of Joshua’s formal education in ethnomusicology, and how through NYU he had taken a class on expository writing. Because he has taken these classes, he realized he had a talent for writing, and that is what he wanted to pursue post graduation. The two continue on to discuss academia and its relationship with music and the study of music, as well as their personal opinions on music academia.

Jeremiah and Joshua discuss Joshua’s career path, and how for a long while Joshua was an editor at a magazine, before he transitioned to being a freelance writer. Joshua explains his time as a writer at Gawker Media, and from his job there he began to move up the corporate ladder and achieved higher positions, as he was a senior editor at a magazine. He continues to explain how he continued to work a fulltime job, while working on his freelance writing on the site, so he could build up his portfolio so he could make the jump to completely freelance. Joshua continues to explain his pivot in his freelance work from articles to books, as he was able to work on longer projects, and write about what he wanted to write about, rather than what he needed to write about. Jeremiah and Joshua continue the conversation to discuss Joshua’s time in the food industry as a critic, as Joshua explains that while working at Gawker he wrote about and produced videos about food. Joshua goes in depth about his career journey through the food industry, discussing how networking had helped him advance his career tenfold. The two discuss Joshua’s pieces on ballet and martial arts, with Joshua explaining the training he went through that prepared him to be able to write these pieces.

Jeremiah and Joshua go in depth on their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training, and their mindsets while training. Joshua explains how he separates emotions from his training, and how he struggles with this, as many of the moves that he uses while rolling would not anger him if another person used them on him, but he often finds that it angers his opponents. Jeremiah explains the mindsets he holds while training in Jiu Jitsu, as well as the Jiu Jitsu teachers that he keeps in mind while he trains. He discusses the importance of considering your opponents level while training, and Joshua agrees with this sentiment. The two discuss the variety of strategies and techniques they employ with the different opponents they train against, and how they decide which techniques to use. Joshua explains how one of his favorite aspects of Jiu Jitsu training is the natural flow of rolling. He explains how he struggles with his uncertainty of the decisions of what technique he employs in a particular situation, as he isn’t sure if what he chose to do was right or wrong, and he finds himself obsessing over whether or not it was right or wrong. Jeremiah gives Joseph advice on how to combat this stress regarding his uncertainty.

The two discuss in depth what teachings of Jiu Jitsu has affected them the most throughout their lives, as well as how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected their careers as well as their Jiu Jitsu training. Joshua explains how there are many challenges that he faces during his day to day life as a freelance writer, and how even though he doesn’t know what his career will look like in five years, he has the confidence in himself and his work to believe that he will continue to find his way no matter what challenges he faces. Jeremiah explains how he takes the lessons he learns from Jiu Jitsu and applies them to his career as an entrepreneur.