EP87: Celebrating 4 Years of The Voice4Chefs Podcast: How Toastmasters Fueled a Global Culinary Movement

WEBVTT

00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:07.799
A heartfelt thank you to Toastmasters around the world for helping me turn a vision into reality.

00:00:08.429 --> 00:00:16.309
Through the High Performance Leadership Project, I gained the tools, confidence, and community support To launch the Voice4Chefs podcast.

00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:25.489
This platform is dedicated to all of you in Toastmasters, leaders, mentors, and friends who inspire others to find their voice.

00:00:26.105 --> 00:00:28.175
And use it to make an impact.

00:00:29.015 --> 00:00:46.895
A special thanks to digital transformation in Seattle, Washington, where it all began and to Podmasters Advanced where they hosted the four year celebration of Voice4Chefs and where the journey will continue.

00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:54.914
Let's dive right in with Ali Blakeman, the Toastmaster of the day.

00:00:57.789 --> 00:00:59.320
Mr. Arthur Burns.

00:00:59.649 --> 00:01:04.870
Arthur joined Toastmasters 11 years ago in 2014.

00:01:05.049 --> 00:01:09.849
He is one of the foundational key members of our club here at Podmasters.

00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:23.349
Arthur has had several interesting careers, including a carnival Barker, an aerospace engineer, an education staffer, and an elected city commissioner.

00:01:23.965 --> 00:01:26.665
Arthur resides in Daytona Beach, Florida.

00:01:27.025 --> 00:01:39.344
Tonight, Arthur is making his triumphant debut in his podcasting journey by interviewing Michael Dugan who is celebrating his fourth anniversary of Voice4Chefs.

00:01:39.685 --> 00:01:49.135
Please help me welcome to the floor and Arthur Burns as we join him in his studio for his triumphant debut of his podcast, Arthur.

00:01:50.844 --> 00:01:54.805
Wow that's quite a introduction to live up to.

00:01:54.834 --> 00:01:56.965
Thank you, Madam Toastmaster.

00:01:58.344 --> 00:02:04.465
And I'm here, not for myself, but to interview Michael Dugan.

00:02:05.245 --> 00:02:10.284
First I want to say that Michael, is a hero of mine and a mentor.

00:02:11.349 --> 00:02:29.319
As he has almost 100 podcast episodes online where he interviews great chefs from around the world, and yet he takes time to help others who are just starting out with his patience and knowledge.

00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:37.300
Michael holds degrees in culinary arts and hotel and restaurant administration.

00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:49.270
He began his career in the hospitality industry and then transitioned to a successful tech career in 1995.

00:02:50.139 --> 00:03:02.979
In 2021 he launched The Voice for Chefs podcast, now heard in over 70 countries connecting audiences with chefs and culinary artists worldwide.

00:03:03.889 --> 00:03:11.509
It's notable at this point that he has close to a hundred episodes online in his constant mission to help others.

00:03:11.539 --> 00:03:18.780
He is currently developing a keynote to inspire Toastmasters to share their messages through podcasting.

00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.819
I will say, hello, Michael.

00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:24.870
It's good to see you.

00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:28.319
Hello, how are you?

00:03:29.310 --> 00:03:30.569
I am sitting here.

00:03:32.884 --> 00:03:35.914
And basking in this wonderful Toastmasters meeting.

00:03:37.175 --> 00:03:43.175
Yeah, we have a lot of amazing people and thanks for doing this I am so excited to have this conversation with you.

00:03:43.895 --> 00:03:46.955
I'm always good to chat with you.

00:03:48.905 --> 00:03:59.705
And I met you through Pod Masters and it is a Toastmasters club, and I know that you've been a Toastmaster for a long time.

00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:08.030
How long has your Toastmaster's journey been, and did your Toastmaster's journey help lead you towards becoming a pod master?

00:04:09.650 --> 00:04:11.449
A pod master, and a podcaster?

00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:13.610
I like that.

00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:18.050
It's almost like an alliteration, I would say.

00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:19.310
Oh my gosh.

00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.930
I've actually lost count in years, so I think I'm up to about 14 years.

00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:24.589
Wow.

00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:26.720
And I'm a lifer.

00:04:26.779 --> 00:04:28.790
There's no question in my mind.

00:04:28.790 --> 00:04:56.449
The journey has been amazing, and what I'd love to share is a moment that happened four years ago I was mentoring somebody in our club called Digital Transformation, and I remember anju was very nervous and I wanted to show her pathways, and I wanted to help her understand that once you get beyond level one, level two, there's all these projects.

00:04:56.569 --> 00:04:59.504
There's all these new and exciting things that you can do.

00:04:59.504 --> 00:05:02.954
So I saw a seminar on Advanced Pathways.

00:05:04.904 --> 00:05:21.045
It was led by Kyle Hall of District 32, which is our neighboring district in the Seattle area, and Kyle was leading this concept of helping people understand what do you do when you get beyond the basics?

00:05:21.464 --> 00:05:22.514
of Pathways.

00:05:23.355 --> 00:05:26.894
So in the middle of his presentation, he loves to interact.

00:05:26.894 --> 00:05:34.274
He loves to ask people questions and bring the audience up and do lots of things, and he creates amazing workshops.

00:05:35.024 --> 00:05:38.144
So he said, is anyone working on a level four?

00:05:38.490 --> 00:05:40.199
Level five podcast.

00:05:41.009 --> 00:05:49.620
And I had this idea in my head that I really wanted to do a podcast to interview chefs or to honor chefs.

00:05:50.250 --> 00:06:00.509
And, it goes back a little bit to the reason is because in 2020, governor Jay Insley in Washington State closed all restaurants because of the pandemic.

00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:05.279
But I looked around the world and realized all around the world.

00:06:05.610 --> 00:06:13.259
Restaurants had closed for weeks, even months, and it devastated the hospitality industry.

00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:29.250
Having spent 10 years in the restaurant business and studying to be a chef I woke up one day with the idea that I wanted to give chefs a voice and do a radio show or do a podcast, but I was so hesitant because I had imposter syndrome.

00:06:29.250 --> 00:06:31.259
I didn't know what people would think.

00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.470
I didn't know if they were gonna hate it.

00:06:36.444 --> 00:06:42.055
I thought my family would judge me and so this imposter syndrome crept in.

00:06:42.925 --> 00:06:53.004
And when I went to this pathway seminar and I listened to Kyle, he was so inspiring that I said, I'm interested in doing a podcast.

00:06:53.845 --> 00:06:56.365
And I remember his words exactly.

00:06:56.394 --> 00:06:59.334
He said, that's easy.

00:06:59.814 --> 00:07:01.435
Your level four project.

00:07:02.095 --> 00:07:06.954
Is your podcast, but your Level five project is your high performance leadership project.

00:07:07.555 --> 00:07:09.654
And I went, I've done one of those before.

00:07:09.954 --> 00:07:19.764
And he goes, the project is about creating your podcast, your mission, your vision, your values, and gathering group of people together to do it.

00:07:20.334 --> 00:07:23.814
I left that seminar and I was so inspired.

00:07:24.355 --> 00:07:28.045
I can't even tell you because it broke down all the barriers of imposter syndrome.

00:07:28.045 --> 00:07:43.375
It broke down all the barriers of planning because I was able to gather an executive assistant, a life coach, and my wife who did all the design and help me with all the creativity helped me get to my why.

00:07:44.634 --> 00:07:45.954
I was missing one person.

00:07:46.654 --> 00:07:48.730
And I thought, who am I gonna get?

00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:52.509
Who's the next person that I wanna bring into the high Performance leadership project?

00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:54.939
And I said, okay, I know.

00:07:55.720 --> 00:08:03.550
So I called Kyle up and I got the, number of excuses that I got, I can't even tell you.

00:08:03.550 --> 00:08:04.689
It's I don't have time.

00:08:04.930 --> 00:08:08.079
I'm really busy I'm working on this other project.

00:08:08.500 --> 00:08:11.860
And then I called him again, and then he said yes.

00:08:12.730 --> 00:08:13.720
And he was amazing.

00:08:14.814 --> 00:08:36.144
He is so connected all over the world to Toastmasters Baxter Kent's here tonight and another person that I really value, and I know Baxter's nodding his head, I know he is right now because Kyle is in district two, where I was from is in district 32, is in other districts.

00:08:36.144 --> 00:08:40.164
He's probably in five or six clubs and he was number three.

00:08:40.674 --> 00:08:42.534
In the world champion of public speaking.

00:08:43.195 --> 00:08:46.345
He's also a senior marketer and a visionary in Toastmasters.

00:08:46.735 --> 00:08:47.995
He's worked every role.

00:08:47.995 --> 00:08:51.774
I think he's been a district director and probably beyond.

00:08:52.375 --> 00:09:01.434
So for me to have that kind of vision, that kind of high level visibility in Toastmasters was epic.

00:09:01.945 --> 00:09:05.365
It was just epic and that's how it started.

00:09:06.445 --> 00:09:06.894
Wow.

00:09:09.414 --> 00:09:13.075
I keep saying almost a hundred podcasts.

00:09:13.500 --> 00:09:14.245
How, many is it?

00:09:14.845 --> 00:09:17.034
I, believe you just released one today.

00:09:17.394 --> 00:09:17.845
Today?

00:09:17.845 --> 00:09:18.445
Yes.

00:09:19.434 --> 00:09:24.205
83. But technically there's a couple that aren't really episodes.

00:09:24.205 --> 00:09:26.004
They're just updates and things like that.

00:09:26.004 --> 00:09:27.625
Don't we don't deal in technicalities here.

00:09:27.625 --> 00:09:27.774
No.

00:09:28.375 --> 00:09:32.634
83. But I will tell you, this is an amazing episode.

00:09:32.634 --> 00:09:33.804
I worked hard on this.

00:09:33.804 --> 00:09:35.754
I was working on it till three o'clock today.

00:09:35.784 --> 00:09:39.774
'cause I had technical failures, but it was so incredible.

00:09:39.774 --> 00:09:42.054
Ashley Brown is outta Colorado.

00:09:42.475 --> 00:09:44.634
And I'll just give you a little tidbit.

00:09:45.174 --> 00:09:48.524
So Ashley Brown is part of an organization called  MAPP.

00:09:49.105 --> 00:09:53.365
And  MAPP is an organization led by Joanna James, who's one of my heroes.

00:09:53.575 --> 00:09:56.934
I met her through my friend Chef Mimi and Chef Stevens here.

00:09:56.934 --> 00:09:58.764
So he knows Chef Mimi and some others.

00:09:59.215 --> 00:10:03.294
But Joanna basically created this organization.

00:10:04.404 --> 00:10:14.575
And it's about advocacy, mentorship, and leadership for women in hospitality because they don't get as much of an opportunity as men do.

00:10:15.144 --> 00:10:19.554
And I was floored when I met her in Las Vegas two months ago.

00:10:20.095 --> 00:10:23.034
And so this episode I dedicated to her on Mother's Day.

00:10:23.669 --> 00:10:27.899
And also Ashley is a mother and an incredible chef.

00:10:27.899 --> 00:10:28.950
She was on chopped.

00:10:29.549 --> 00:10:34.830
She runs one of the top restaurants in Colorado called Four by Brother Luck.

00:10:34.830 --> 00:10:36.870
And Brother Luck is a celebrity chef.

00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:40.830
And when I put this information out, he texted me and said, thank you.

00:10:41.164 --> 00:10:41.384
Wow.

00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:45.389
And so for me, this is an incredible episode.

00:10:45.389 --> 00:10:46.980
It's the launch of season four.

00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:48.690
She's a  MAPP member.

00:10:49.019 --> 00:10:51.570
She's connected to everything that I believe in.

00:10:52.225 --> 00:10:56.575
And she's an incredible storyteller and she's never been on a podcast before.

00:10:56.965 --> 00:11:00.475
So that's the joy that I have that's happening right now.

00:11:02.695 --> 00:11:07.735
So, we build this as, I was gonna give you a grilling and grill me.

00:11:07.975 --> 00:11:12.355
My first grilling is 83 episodes.

00:11:14.365 --> 00:11:17.875
That's two a month.

00:11:19.164 --> 00:11:20.815
And you have a full-time job.

00:11:21.085 --> 00:11:21.445
Yeah.

00:11:21.924 --> 00:11:23.575
So why aren't you quit your job?

00:11:23.605 --> 00:11:25.735
'cause you should be doing an episode every day.

00:11:25.825 --> 00:11:26.514
We should have.

00:11:27.445 --> 00:11:29.815
I want to all of those episodes out

00:11:29.815 --> 00:11:30.235
there.

00:11:32.695 --> 00:11:37.014
It's funny, Arthur, I know so many chefs all over the world now because of this.

00:11:37.065 --> 00:11:49.245
I, have a list of people that are ready to go and, Chef Steven's here tonight, and I want to give a shout out to him because he's gonna be my co-host and I'm so excited to bring him on board.

00:11:50.414 --> 00:11:54.044
I've known him for about four years and I have so much respect for him.

00:11:54.105 --> 00:12:03.945
He used to be the executive sous chef of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, and he has an amazing philosophy on leadership with treating people with respect.

00:12:05.774 --> 00:12:06.764
Incredible person.

00:12:06.855 --> 00:12:08.654
So I'm, really excited.

00:12:08.654 --> 00:12:12.284
So I think we're gonna have more time to produce more episode.

00:12:12.335 --> 00:12:13.835
, yeah, they're 83 is a lot.

00:12:14.259 --> 00:12:14.460
I, know,

00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.434
I listen sometimes I do one month, some podcasts that are one a day

00:12:17.825 --> 00:12:18.154
yeah.

00:12:18.215 --> 00:12:18.544
Yeah.

00:12:18.934 --> 00:12:19.085
They

00:12:19.085 --> 00:12:20.014
do it full time.

00:12:22.054 --> 00:12:22.355
Yeah.

00:12:22.804 --> 00:12:25.325
So there's more grilling coming up.

00:12:25.384 --> 00:12:27.184
That was just a, minor grilling.

00:12:27.274 --> 00:12:27.664
Good.

00:12:27.934 --> 00:12:28.144
Good.

00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:30.980
What did you what?

00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:36.500
What advice do you give to someone who says, Hey, I want to be a podcaster?

00:12:39.019 --> 00:12:39.440
Ooh.

00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:44.629
The first thing is what my wife asked me, what is your why?

00:12:44.629 --> 00:12:46.534
I. Why do you want a podcast?

00:12:47.284 --> 00:12:47.975
What's the reason?

00:12:47.975 --> 00:12:50.225
Is it a project in Toastmasters?

00:12:50.225 --> 00:12:53.254
Because you can check it off the list in a month.

00:12:54.095 --> 00:12:57.990
But if it's something that you really, wanna do in your heart and soul, like for me.

00:12:59.450 --> 00:13:04.220
When the pandemic hit and I saw what was happening, I missed that industry.

00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:17.269
I, I had been in it for 10 years and my why was really connecting to all these people that were suffering with mental health challenges and being able to tell their stories and lift them up, and that was my why.

00:13:17.929 --> 00:13:19.820
So what is your why?

00:13:21.110 --> 00:13:22.129
Equipment's easy.

00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:23.960
It's not that expensive to start.

00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:24.919
I spend too much.

00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:31.700
I spend over a thousand dollars a year because I want it, the quality, and I wanna honor the people that I interview.

00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:37.070
It's so important to me, but you can do it for a couple hundred dollars.

00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:38.120
You really could.

00:13:39.049 --> 00:13:40.009
So, there's that.

00:13:40.610 --> 00:13:52.159
Also, I would encourage them, like I did, and I'm gonna go around the world soon and do this in a keynote, is to think about the idea of the High Performance Leadership Project.

00:13:52.159 --> 00:14:03.710
Because if you get a group of people together that are charged up and they want to help you, and they're also working towards something in Toastmasters it's a slam dunk.

00:14:04.129 --> 00:14:08.000
It's something that if you're gonna do a podcast in Toastmasters.

00:14:08.870 --> 00:14:09.830
That is the way to do it.

00:14:11.330 --> 00:14:16.669
You missed the advice that you, gave me because I, forgot.

00:14:17.330 --> 00:14:21.679
You can see people that do podcasting just using their phone.

00:14:22.129 --> 00:14:24.169
You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars.

00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:24.620
True.

00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:27.470
And you've kicked my butt a couple of times.

00:14:27.475 --> 00:14:27.644
Yeah.

00:14:27.649 --> 00:14:29.899
The quality, just do it.

00:14:30.325 --> 00:14:31.460
Like the Nike slogan.

00:14:32.644 --> 00:14:38.735
And that's the hardest part is just getting up there and actually starting to do it.

00:14:38.825 --> 00:14:43.595
And you have given me a lot of motivation to get there.

00:14:44.404 --> 00:14:47.315
That's why I'm happy to be doing this interview with you.

00:14:47.764 --> 00:14:48.695
I'm really glad.

00:14:51.845 --> 00:14:58.085
Has your podcast taken you places that you might not have been to before you did that?

00:14:58.985 --> 00:15:00.365
Oh my gosh, so many.

00:15:01.710 --> 00:15:04.774
I. You know the first part was clubhouse.

00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:28.909
It Clubhouse isn't as strong as it is or as it was, but approximately three and a half years ago, I joined Clubhouse and I met this amazing group of people in something called Food Is Religion, which was a club online, and you would use your app on your phone and just click on it and people would start talking and they would have moderators, much like we have Toastmasters.

00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:32.480
So the moderator was basically the Toastmaster leading a group.

00:15:33.205 --> 00:15:42.985
But what was so interesting is you could push a button on your phone and that person that's listening could now be in speaking, they could be up on stage on the virtual stage.

00:15:43.495 --> 00:15:47.634
So we were in a club, a lot of us called Foodist Religion.

00:15:48.625 --> 00:15:51.500
I. And they had 5,000 people all over the world.

00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:57.139
And so my podcast started to grow internationally because people were listening and I was sharing the information.

00:15:58.190 --> 00:16:03.029
I was given an opportunity by one of my really good friends, Mimi Land Chef Mimi Lan.

00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:05.149
She's a Michelin trained chef out of Florida.

00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:18.580
I remember she would give me these incredible opportunities and one of the opportunities she gave me, I will never forget, was to partner with Chef Steven, who's listening right now.

00:16:19.450 --> 00:16:31.210
And I came into a room much like we have a Zoom. He was talking about Asian cuisine and he knows so much about this cuisine.

00:16:31.779 --> 00:16:41.409
And I was hosting, or I was co-hosting with him and learning, and he was teaching me and we would have conversations with people from all over the world about food.

00:16:42.070 --> 00:16:44.860
And I was like overwhelmed because.

00:16:46.179 --> 00:16:47.799
I didn't know as much.

00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:49.210
He's a true chef.

00:16:49.210 --> 00:16:54.639
He's a very talented chef, and he could connect, and I was connecting.

00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:55.330
I was learning.

00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:59.320
And then eventually Chef Mimi had me do my own room.

00:16:59.649 --> 00:17:01.179
So I started talking about food.

00:17:01.179 --> 00:17:03.669
I started talking about the podcast and things like that.

00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:07.450
But then she said, I want you to do a cooking class.

00:17:07.779 --> 00:17:10.539
Now I want you to imagine everyone that's listening.

00:17:11.065 --> 00:17:18.295
If you were not seeing what was going on and you were just listening, you would hear the sound of a sizzling in a pan.

00:17:18.414 --> 00:17:20.785
You would hear the knife cutting.

00:17:21.174 --> 00:17:24.085
And these were chefs that I interviewed live.

00:17:24.355 --> 00:17:24.714
Wow.

00:17:24.744 --> 00:17:26.785
With people coming from all around the world.

00:17:27.930 --> 00:17:31.319
And the cooking class was the chef making a signature dish.

00:17:31.799 --> 00:17:36.329
So I met celebrity chefs through Mimi and others in Food as Religion.

00:17:36.329 --> 00:17:39.059
And then I interviewed them on my podcast.

00:17:39.630 --> 00:17:42.059
So that's how the doors opened, right?

00:17:42.630 --> 00:17:46.200
But then it got better because eventually she wanted me to do a food talk show.

00:17:46.650 --> 00:17:48.900
So it was just like the podcast.

00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:52.829
And I produced a lot of those episodes and put them on the podcast.

00:17:53.549 --> 00:17:55.319
So that's a, that's another door that opened.

00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:56.279
But there's lots of things.

00:17:57.990 --> 00:17:59.250
Let me share one more.

00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:07.500
My aunt lives in Vegas and last year we went to the U2 concert because my wife surprised me with tickets for Christmas.

00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:14.460
So in February we went to the U2 concert, and I remember my aunt saying, do you know who James Trees is?

00:18:15.250 --> 00:18:17.440
And I said, no I, don't.

00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:29.369
But I started Googling him and realized that he's an amazing celebrity chef in Las Vegas, and it just turned out that she was connected to him through my cousin Christina.

00:18:30.009 --> 00:18:35.799
Her husband, Joe Cain he, partnered with James Trees and they built a bunch of restaurants in Las Vegas.

00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:39.490
She took us to one of 'em, amazing Italian restaurant.

00:18:39.490 --> 00:18:47.140
On Friday night, on Saturday, we had plans to go to Esther's kitchen and Chef Steven knows,'cause he lives in Vegas, he knows about Esther's kitchen.

00:18:47.140 --> 00:18:50.200
But the food was absolutely amazing.

00:18:50.200 --> 00:18:51.220
We had brunch there.

00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:58.359
My wife loves brunch, so we went there and then that morning out walks the chef.

00:18:58.930 --> 00:19:05.710
He looks at us and he says, hi, I'm James Trees, and Joe told me that I should reach out to you and introduce myself.

00:19:05.710 --> 00:19:12.099
And he spent probably about 45 minutes with us and then he gave us a tour of his brand new kitchen.

00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:15.805
and eventually it led to me asking him if he'd come on the podcast.

00:19:16.015 --> 00:19:17.875
And so I got to interview a celebrity chef.

00:19:18.565 --> 00:19:19.075
Wow.

00:19:19.644 --> 00:19:23.994
So time flies and I wanna make sure we get to a lot of things.

00:19:23.994 --> 00:19:24.025
Okay.

00:19:24.505 --> 00:19:38.664
And I had actually heard that you had to apologize to somebody named Carrie because you went on vacation to a tropical Isle Paradise and ended up doing a podcast there.

00:19:39.984 --> 00:19:44.214
Well, actually, I didn't have to apologize to her because she was the one that made it happen.

00:19:44.515 --> 00:19:44.634
Wow.

00:19:44.875 --> 00:19:56.275
She asked the owner if they would interview on my podcast, so we did a live episode and she was sitting on a couch inside the office of this Tahitian restaurant owner.

00:19:57.055 --> 00:20:09.325
Named Tia and we did an interview there live, and then she treated us to brunch right after we sat down and had amazing Tahitian food from, the local culture.

00:20:09.734 --> 00:20:10.515
That was Carrie.

00:20:10.765 --> 00:20:12.474
Actually I didn't apologize to her.

00:20:12.474 --> 00:20:13.434
I was really grateful.

00:20:13.734 --> 00:20:14.335
That's good.

00:20:14.484 --> 00:20:15.954
I, and it's a great episode.

00:20:15.954 --> 00:20:18.684
I hope everybody gets to listen to it now.

00:20:19.884 --> 00:20:26.664
Here comes the major grill because I happen to know something about you that you may not want to talk about.

00:20:26.815 --> 00:20:46.404
It's okay with all of these strangers, but can you tell us why with all of your degrees in culinary and hospitality, why you left the food business?

00:20:47.859 --> 00:20:55.329
It's also the same reason I would say I launched the podcast because chefs work really tough hours.

00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:59.500
If you can imagine, a lot of us have a nine to five or eight to five day.

00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:00.400
Sure.

00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:04.480
They work 60, 65 hour weeks.

00:21:04.990 --> 00:21:05.049
Wow.

00:21:05.049 --> 00:21:10.000
And they work holidays, they work weekends, they work all the time.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.519
And it's really tough to maintain a relationship.

00:21:12.549 --> 00:21:17.140
When I was in the business, I had a hard, the hardest time I had to work Valentine's Day.

00:21:17.140 --> 00:21:24.444
I. And every time, Christmas, Thanksgiving and, it wears on you, it wears on your mental health.

00:21:24.894 --> 00:21:37.315
So feeling that, I thought I wanted to own a restaurant and I was in a restaurant in Napa Valley, one of the top restaurants, chain restaurants that I wanted to work for coming out of college.

00:21:38.065 --> 00:21:39.924
And I was the assistant manager on duty.

00:21:39.924 --> 00:21:42.625
And one night we had a drive by shooting.

00:21:43.134 --> 00:21:45.174
I was the manager on duty.

00:21:45.835 --> 00:21:47.095
Though I had to deal with the cops.

00:21:47.095 --> 00:21:55.375
I had to deal with stressful staff members, send them home and, also comp a lot of meals and all this stress.

00:21:55.375 --> 00:21:57.684
And I got home at four o'clock in the morning.

00:21:57.714 --> 00:22:05.184
00 PM and I just broke down mentally and I started crying and I went, I don't wanna do this anymore.

00:22:05.545 --> 00:22:10.825
So then I walked in the next day and my manager Debbie said, did anything happen last night?

00:22:11.875 --> 00:22:14.154
I said, I don't know, because I forgot.

00:22:14.154 --> 00:22:22.615
I put it on my mind and she handed me the police report and she said, if something like this ever happens, call me anytime of night.

00:22:23.394 --> 00:22:26.994
Three weeks later I gave notice and I left the restaurant business forever.

00:22:27.055 --> 00:22:30.924
So that was the catalyst that really pushed me out.

00:22:33.444 --> 00:22:39.025
It's, a sad story, but yeah it's a, backstory that helps us understand.

00:22:41.589 --> 00:22:44.410
Back to great chefs.

00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.779
You interviewed another chef from Las Vegas.

00:22:49.579 --> 00:22:56.799
James Trees I listened to that and I was spellbound.

00:22:56.859 --> 00:22:57.184
He's amazing.

00:22:57.444 --> 00:23:02.690
You actually had to make a two episode for that.

00:23:03.450 --> 00:23:04.319
Yeah, two parts.

00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:09.809
Because two parts we've got this limited time and I never wanna cut off the stories of the chefs.

00:23:10.380 --> 00:23:14.519
And it was so beautiful because we were connected through family.

00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:18.180
So I was very emotional in the beginning and I had to hold it together.

00:23:18.180 --> 00:23:22.509
And then he was very frustrated, and he was honest.

00:23:22.869 --> 00:23:27.759
But then towards the end, it was like this cathartic healing that happened in our conversation.

00:23:28.539 --> 00:23:30.250
And he's an amazing human being.

00:23:30.250 --> 00:23:32.049
He worked for Gordon Ramsey.

00:23:32.049 --> 00:23:35.380
He helped build Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen.

00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:45.069
And he worked for the top chefs in the entire world in some of the Las Vegas casinos, including Eric Rippert, who was best friends with Anthony Bourdain.

00:23:45.609 --> 00:23:45.789
Yeah.

00:23:45.789 --> 00:23:47.380
And to me that was just epic.

00:23:47.980 --> 00:23:54.549
But he tells that story about having been invited on one of the shows and Chopped.

00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:55.029
Yeah.

00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:55.480
Yeah.

00:23:55.480 --> 00:24:00.579
And he basically told him, heck with you people, I am not gonna do this.

00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.430
Because they were manufacturing drama.

00:24:05.230 --> 00:24:06.069
And Gordon too.

00:24:06.250 --> 00:24:09.640
He was doing that and he got sick of it because he wanted to help people.

00:24:10.930 --> 00:24:13.099
It was very interesting how he felt about it.

00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:14.424
He was very honest.

00:24:14.424 --> 00:24:23.454
And this funny part to give you the backside, which we call the green room, which isn't recorded, his PR person.

00:24:24.279 --> 00:24:29.019
That he works with was with him to make sure that he didn't swear.

00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:32.049
He didn't say a lot of things, but they're best friends.

00:24:32.230 --> 00:24:34.839
And honestly, I did it live on video.

00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:36.849
They were cracking open beers.

00:24:37.059 --> 00:24:37.240
Yeah.

00:24:37.569 --> 00:24:38.859
And, who did they It was amazing call

00:24:39.730 --> 00:24:44.799
When the meals were horrible, but he wanted to impress some VIPs.

00:24:45.190 --> 00:24:45.549
Who did?

00:24:45.549 --> 00:24:47.470
Who did the big top chef call?

00:24:47.474 --> 00:24:47.484
James.

00:24:47.859 --> 00:24:48.309
James.

00:24:48.309 --> 00:24:50.859
Because he built yeah, he built the back kitchen.

00:24:50.859 --> 00:24:51.404
It was so cool to hear that

00:24:51.404 --> 00:24:51.724
story.

00:24:51.724 --> 00:24:51.845
I know.

00:24:51.845 --> 00:24:52.325
It was amazing.

00:24:53.394 --> 00:24:54.805
And you talk about doors, right?

00:24:54.805 --> 00:25:07.704
Or you talk about opportunities that after that episode aired, I started getting some very big people reaching out because they heard that I had a PR person that I worked with.

00:25:08.454 --> 00:25:08.990
I had chef.

00:25:09.894 --> 00:25:16.434
Kirk Bachman, who's the president of The Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Colorado, which is one of the top cooking schools in the country.

00:25:16.944 --> 00:25:22.105
That was the result of James, which I wish he was here because I wanted to share that with him.

00:25:22.105 --> 00:25:26.545
But if you look behind me just, really quick, you see the Purple book?

00:25:26.904 --> 00:25:27.595
Oh yeah.

00:25:27.744 --> 00:25:31.855
That was written by Auguste Escoffier in the 18 00's.

00:25:31.974 --> 00:25:32.515
Oh wow.

00:25:32.545 --> 00:25:36.865
And literally carried over in generation to generation his.

00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:44.039
Grandson or great, grandson runs or co-run August esca with Kirk Bachman.

00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:52.230
And so to me, full circle,'cause I went to cooking school and used that book to learn to be able to interview him was epic.

00:25:53.095 --> 00:25:54.170
And James was epic.

00:25:55.134 --> 00:25:59.424
Just, unbelievable the opportunities that happen when you podcast the doors that come open.

00:25:59.964 --> 00:26:00.984
You would not imagine.

00:26:01.015 --> 00:26:02.875
That's why I encourage people to podcast.

00:26:04.255 --> 00:26:05.785
I, have a ton of questions.

00:26:06.234 --> 00:26:06.414
Okay.

00:26:06.505 --> 00:26:07.765
But I can't get 'em all in.

00:26:07.795 --> 00:26:08.095
I know.

00:26:08.724 --> 00:26:11.065
Can you tell me what's next

00:26:11.545 --> 00:26:12.815
for Voice4Chefs?

00:26:13.869 --> 00:26:14.740
Absolutely.

00:26:14.769 --> 00:26:21.789
So I always feared that question with apo, imposter syndrome, esp, honestly, especially since I got started, right?

00:26:22.950 --> 00:26:26.640
Chef Steven is going to be a co-host for Voice for Chefs.

00:26:27.180 --> 00:26:27.329
Wow.

00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:31.950
And I'm very excited about that because we have a really strong connection.

00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:36.930
And like I said, it goes back three and a half years because I got the opportunity.

00:26:36.930 --> 00:26:40.529
Learn from him and now he's gonna have the opportunity to learn from me.

00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:45.720
'cause I'm gonna teach him how the podcast works and, learn about technology and things like that.

00:26:46.529 --> 00:26:47.640
But there's that.

00:26:47.640 --> 00:27:04.890
But  MAPP is, probably the most important piece, I would say of what's going forward because Joanna, James, the CEO, I wanna be involved and I became a MAPP member.

00:27:05.250 --> 00:27:13.950
And I'm gonna be interviewing a lot of MAPP members to give them a chance to come on the podcast so they can get ready to talk to the media as chefs.

00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:15.779
'cause they never get those opportunities.

00:27:15.779 --> 00:27:24.809
So I thought create those opportunities and I'm partnering with a lot of people in MAPP to do a lot of this work and I'm very excited about.

00:27:24.809 --> 00:27:25.529
So that's one.

00:27:25.950 --> 00:27:27.720
Also, I've launched a YouTube channel.

00:27:28.470 --> 00:27:29.910
I'm working on a Patreon.

00:27:30.974 --> 00:27:38.055
Because again, it's over a thousand dollars a year, so I'm hoping that people are gonna contribute and support the show.

00:27:38.605 --> 00:27:49.734
My dream is to be able to hire or find someone that would edit the podcast to give me the freedom and creativity to just interview, and then I can produce a lot more episodes very quickly.

00:27:50.424 --> 00:27:51.654
So that's what's coming next.

00:27:54.190 --> 00:27:55.059
That is so neat.

00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:56.680
I'm, gonna keep watching.

00:27:57.309 --> 00:28:00.250
It's an amazing podcast.

00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:03.640
I am a meat and potatoes guy.

00:28:03.970 --> 00:28:19.329
I don't like all the fancy foods, but yet when I hear you talk to the chefs and they explain how they do things and so much of it, they, some people think of.

00:28:21.009 --> 00:28:23.829
Cooking as an art.

00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:26.799
Some people think of it as a science.

00:28:28.119 --> 00:28:29.740
What do you see

00:28:29.740 --> 00:28:30.339
it as?

00:28:33.569 --> 00:28:45.660
This is a very interesting question because I never knew I was creative because I can't, when I draw, I can't draw stick figures and things like that.

00:28:45.990 --> 00:28:47.670
When I write, you can't read it.

00:28:48.329 --> 00:28:49.890
It's just almost impossible.

00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:51.789
So for me, I never felt creative.

00:28:51.809 --> 00:28:52.799
My mom's an artist.

00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:57.269
My wife is an amazing artist, and my family, there's a lot of artists.

00:28:57.990 --> 00:29:01.470
But then one day my wife said, you're a chef, you're an artist.

00:29:01.710 --> 00:29:04.619
And then I realized that artists create.

00:29:05.460 --> 00:29:14.339
But they say that cooking is an art, and baking is a science because baking is all about exact measurements.

00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:14.700
Oh yeah.

00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:15.089
And cooking.

00:29:15.089 --> 00:29:17.170
You have the freedom to be creative.

00:29:19.785 --> 00:29:20.444
Thank you.

00:29:21.224 --> 00:29:27.615
It was a pleasure and an honor to be able to interview you.

00:29:29.204 --> 00:29:34.394
Everyone that's here today, some of you're considering launching a podcast.

00:29:35.204 --> 00:29:37.859
PodMasters Here is the place to be.

00:29:38.190 --> 00:29:44.849
We, are being, we are having the opportunity to reach out to some amazing people and to come and interview.

00:29:44.849 --> 00:29:46.410
We're also learning from each other.

00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:50.369
This is a really great place to learn how to podcast, so consider it.

00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:59.160
The other thing is if you're interested in Voice for chefs and you want to help, I'm always looking for somebody that might wanna learn and I'm a really good teacher.

00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:00.059
That's what I've been told.

00:30:01.049 --> 00:30:02.130
And the final thing is.

00:30:02.894 --> 00:30:03.585
Take today.

00:30:03.585 --> 00:30:07.515
Before you leave, pick an episode on Voice for Chefs.

00:30:07.694 --> 00:30:08.684
Listen to it.

00:30:09.224 --> 00:30:12.285
Go out to our website and write a review.

00:30:12.404 --> 00:30:17.474
And five stars goes a long way 'cause we wanna lift up the chef's voice.

00:30:18.375 --> 00:30:19.605
Thank you, Arthur.

00:30:20.565 --> 00:30:21.404
Thank you Michael.

00:30:21.434 --> 00:30:25.545
And I will return it to our Toastmaster of the day.

00:30:27.450 --> 00:30:33.450
Thank you Arthur, and thank you Michael for sharing your story and being so open with us today.

00:30:34.140 --> 00:30:48.960
The next portion of our meeting, I would like to introduce our general, our executive producer, also known as our general evaluator, who will introduce the next segments of our meeting, Ms. Tricia Murphy.

00:30:49.930 --> 00:30:53.835
Would you like to take us into the Q&A and then the round robin please?

00:30:54.535 --> 00:30:55.464
Hello everybody.

00:30:56.154 --> 00:31:02.035
So, for the next portion of our meeting, I will open it up for audience question and answers.

00:31:02.365 --> 00:31:03.025
Hi, Jen.

00:31:03.025 --> 00:31:03.835
Go ahead Jen.

00:31:05.815 --> 00:31:09.265
Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us.

00:31:09.265 --> 00:31:15.775
Michael I'd, love to hear more about what makes it hard to do what you do.

00:31:16.404 --> 00:31:16.825
Oh.

00:31:16.825 --> 00:31:16.826
Oh.

00:31:18.144 --> 00:31:19.315
What makes it really hard?

00:31:19.585 --> 00:31:22.884
Honestly, imagine it's Mother's Day?

00:31:23.335 --> 00:31:27.934
I wanted to spend time with my wife this weekend and I made a really strong effort.

00:31:27.934 --> 00:31:30.214
But I also knew I had to prepare for this.

00:31:30.785 --> 00:31:38.615
But I also had to get a really important episode launched, and I was struggling with the technology and I work in technology.

00:31:39.815 --> 00:31:56.795
And so that made it really hard because I spent three hours today trying to get this technology to work so I could produce this episode to honor this amazing chef and to start the launch of season four and wanting to spend time with my wife and my dog.

00:31:56.795 --> 00:31:56.855
I.

00:31:59.569 --> 00:32:03.289
It's very time consuming, but it's incredibly rewarding.

00:32:03.980 --> 00:32:11.059
And once you get things down, normally when the technology's working, we, there was an outage for one of the products I used this weekend.

00:32:11.660 --> 00:32:13.099
Normally when it's working.

00:32:13.970 --> 00:32:16.009
You can streamline a lot of things like editing.

00:32:16.009 --> 00:32:17.119
You can get done pretty quick.

00:32:17.150 --> 00:32:21.740
You can knock out reels little video, short video clips for marketing.

00:32:22.339 --> 00:32:23.599
You can do those kind of things.

00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:26.450
Really what makes it hard is to spend more time with my wife.

00:32:26.809 --> 00:32:29.599
That's why I'm excited that Chef Steven's part of our team.

00:32:29.779 --> 00:32:35.029
And Jen, I'm hoping you come back on 'cause maybe you'll have some time 'cause you've been an amazing supporter.

00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:39.109
So I think that's what makes it hard.

00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:40.309
Thanks for the question,

00:32:41.970 --> 00:32:43.380
Ally you have a question?

00:32:43.619 --> 00:32:44.460
Yes, Michael.

00:32:44.460 --> 00:32:45.599
Longtime listener.

00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:46.890
First time caller.

00:32:47.609 --> 00:32:51.329
So my question for you today is,

00:32:51.539 --> 00:32:51.990
I love it.

00:32:52.319 --> 00:33:01.400
How do you deal with days and times that you struggle for inspiration and days that you really struggle to record a podcast?

00:33:01.490 --> 00:33:05.420
Because we all have those days where sometimes we just we're not feeling it.

00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:08.059
How do you overcome, have you ever had those days?

00:33:08.089 --> 00:33:08.240
Oh,

00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:08.960
absolutely.

00:33:09.059 --> 00:33:09.480
Today,

00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:10.740
Oh wow.

00:33:10.859 --> 00:33:13.259
Can you tell us how you overcome those times?

00:33:14.730 --> 00:33:15.930
I've learned to step back.

00:33:15.930 --> 00:33:25.769
So my goal today was to release this episode, this amazing episode for season four with Ashley Brown at one o'clock.

00:33:26.279 --> 00:33:29.339
I didn't get it out till almost three o'clock.

00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:37.470
I posted on Facebook and said, I just want you to know there are technical challenges because people expect consistency, right?

00:33:37.470 --> 00:33:41.880
So it's really hard to always get that on the dot.

00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:48.380
And again, if you're busy with other things, I. It, comes fast.

00:33:48.410 --> 00:33:55.519
I try to get a lot of editing and stuff done during the week so that the weekend I have free time and I feel more relaxed.

00:33:56.299 --> 00:33:59.240
But sometimes when it creeps up, it makes it hard.

00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:03.710
And the hardest thing for me, like I said, is I really need more help.

00:34:03.740 --> 00:34:05.420
I want to coach other people.

00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:07.019
Maybe it's in Toastmasters.

00:34:07.019 --> 00:34:09.030
Maybe there's somebody that's excited to learn.

00:34:09.539 --> 00:34:14.010
I'm excited to teach, but I wanna interview more chefs.

00:34:14.010 --> 00:34:19.199
And that's what makes it hard is I have a list right now that's wide open all over the world.

00:34:19.469 --> 00:34:23.909
And what makes it hard is I can't do that because I have to slow down, not speed up.

00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:25.530
It's a great question.

00:34:27.210 --> 00:34:28.619
Thank you for answering that, Michael.

00:34:29.010 --> 00:34:29.610
Melissa?

00:34:32.429 --> 00:34:33.420
Yes, I'm right here.

00:34:34.349 --> 00:34:41.820
Michael, I just want to know how do you balance work and your podcast?

00:34:43.739 --> 00:34:47.010
Honestly, I want this to be my work.

00:34:47.130 --> 00:34:47.460
I was.

00:34:48.164 --> 00:34:53.684
In conversation with NPR to syndicate this podcast, people say, you have a radio voice.

00:34:54.855 --> 00:35:00.434
It was really happening, and then they laid off half the staff at the University of Washington.

00:35:00.554 --> 00:35:01.905
And so my dream fell apart.

00:35:02.864 --> 00:35:12.585
But for me, it's very hard to balance and I've gotta, I gotta get better at it, honestly, because I wanna be.

00:35:13.125 --> 00:35:14.534
Spend more time with my wife.

00:35:14.655 --> 00:35:17.505
I wanna spend more time with other parts of my life.

00:35:18.135 --> 00:35:29.894
But at the same time, I really love connecting with these chefs and helping them in their careers and helping them get connected beyond what they see.

00:35:30.195 --> 00:35:37.635
So it's very, I'm very driven to do that, but that's what makes it hard, is that I can't interview all the chefs that I want to interview.

00:35:40.094 --> 00:35:40.875
Great question.

00:35:42.025 --> 00:35:44.125
I know we're running low on time, but I want to ask we're, yeah.

00:35:44.664 --> 00:35:46.315
Or answer this question really quick.

00:35:46.855 --> 00:35:58.284
Chef Mimi just joined and she asked about i've been waiting to have my own podcast, but know that with a busy schedule as a chef and my perfectionism, I can relate.

00:35:58.735 --> 00:36:00.925
I'll have to spend a lot of time editing.

00:36:00.925 --> 00:36:04.554
Just wondering if there's a service out there where you can tell me.

00:36:05.534 --> 00:36:11.324
To each episode, pay them to edit all the way if needed.

00:36:11.375 --> 00:36:12.215
I'm just rereading it.

00:36:12.275 --> 00:36:14.434
How much and is there such a thing?

00:36:15.065 --> 00:36:17.164
There is, there definitely is.

00:36:17.164 --> 00:36:17.795
Chef Mimi.

00:36:18.574 --> 00:36:22.059
There's a lot of, Fiverr I think does a lot of editing.

00:36:22.690 --> 00:36:27.340
I actually know someone who loves their editor and they're not that expensive.

00:36:27.340 --> 00:36:32.380
So if you want to reach out, she's a friend of mine anyway, but if you wanna reach out, we can chat about it anytime.

00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:38.889
Okay so, now we will move on to our round robin feedback evaluation.

00:36:38.920 --> 00:36:40.119
And this is for both podcasters.

00:36:41.449 --> 00:36:43.039
If you have any comments for either.

00:36:44.525 --> 00:36:49.355
Either podcaster, anybody's hands up.

00:36:53.405 --> 00:36:59.284
I loved the conversational tone and banter between you.

00:36:59.675 --> 00:37:02.644
I can say, I am not the podcast.

00:37:02.675 --> 00:37:04.264
Listen, tor type.

00:37:05.329 --> 00:37:11.599
I went into this listening as if I were on clubhouse and listening to you on a podcast.

00:37:12.139 --> 00:37:15.170
The tone made it engaging.

00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:23.239
I liked both the chef's use of descriptive language, and I like Arthur's banter where there was.

00:37:24.010 --> 00:37:35.769
Comedy and fun associated with how he was introducing it to keep everyone engaged because though I can see the visuals, I think technically on a podcast, no one would be able to.

00:37:36.219 --> 00:37:40.929
So the banter gave that kind of a connection with the words, et cetera.

00:37:41.829 --> 00:37:43.090
What I can suggest is.

00:37:43.324 --> 00:37:50.284
Putting in more descriptive language on both sides for both the interviewer and for the interviewee.

00:37:50.704 --> 00:37:55.385
Because technically if it's supposed to be a podcast, I'm not gonna be able to see you.

00:37:55.594 --> 00:37:58.715
I'm not gonna be able to see the smile, the laughter.

00:37:59.494 --> 00:38:07.204
So when you made a joke about he having to apologize, the person he was supposed to apologize to, I'm assuming was his wife.

00:38:08.360 --> 00:38:15.619
I assumed was his wife, but it helps if you told me this before so I could follow along with the story as someone new.

00:38:15.619 --> 00:38:19.550
But overall, great work on the use of time.

00:38:19.550 --> 00:38:22.429
Love the banter and the connection back to you.

00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:25.510
Speaking of, wife, Carrie has her hand raised.

00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:31.000
No, I just really wanted to compliment both Arthur and Michael.

00:38:31.900 --> 00:38:33.610
Both have such passion.

00:38:34.570 --> 00:38:39.639
Number one, Arthur in the interviewing style that you have is very nice.00:38:39.670 --> 00:38:47.440


And Michael, your passion just explodes out of the computer here and I'm upstairs.00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:54.789


Anyway, congratulations on four years and I know how hard it has been.00:38:55.644 --> 00:38:57.565


And yet so rewarding.00:38:57.565 --> 00:39:13.195


And I don't know, I think for all of you doing podcasts, I think it's a wonderful way to really excel much faster in Toastmasters, I would say.00:39:13.914 --> 00:39:15.054


So congratulations.00:39:15.985 --> 00:39:17.394


Greg has his hand raised.00:39:17.525 --> 00:39:30.244


Recognize that Greg is the host of the Toastmaster International Podcast and came as a guest to our club.00:39:31.853 --> 00:39:33.893


Michael, thank you for inviting me to come out today.00:39:33.954 --> 00:39:34.914


Absolutely.00:39:35.213 --> 00:39:36.773


An honor to be here.00:39:36.773 --> 00:39:41.023


I'm Greg Gazen first of all, Arthur, great job on the questions.00:39:41.023 --> 00:39:43.454


I thought the questions were extremely appropriate.00:39:43.454 --> 00:39:45.043


They were well targeted.00:39:45.043 --> 00:39:46.753


Obviously you did your homework.00:39:47.023 --> 00:39:50.264


I noticed that there was a timing, there was a little bit of a timing issue.00:39:50.264 --> 00:40:00.784


So perhaps feel free if you have to, if the questions a little bit or if you find that perhaps your guest is straying help, feel free to call them in.00:40:01.384 --> 00:40:02.614


It's not, a rude thing to do.00:40:02.664 --> 00:40:05.244


Overall very, impressive interview.00:40:06.083 --> 00:40:06.804


Thank you, Greg.00:40:06.853 --> 00:40:07.273


Michael.00:40:07.273 --> 00:40:09.463


I thought that you did a phenomenal job.00:40:09.673 --> 00:40:15.764


I love the fact that you were very specific and very purposeful, and you gave names, dates in places.00:40:15.764 --> 00:40:21.054


So that just said, as opposed to saying I talked to this chef, you, gave that information, which was extremely valuable.00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:25.909


Your passion and your excitement is just, it's really obvious.00:40:26.268 --> 00:40:35.838


I also love the fact that you were transparent, even mentioning how there was challenges with your relationships and of course that creates, it makes you very, real.00:40:36.139 --> 00:40:38.358


Two little quick, little tiny points.00:40:38.509 --> 00:40:40.699


I noticed you were looking down at your screen.00:40:40.699 --> 00:40:42.528


It's because everyone is there on the screen.00:40:43.458 --> 00:40:48.018


I felt that you were talking to me and I would've loved for you to, for me to see you directly.00:40:48.018 --> 00:40:49.998


So occasionally try to look up.00:40:49.998 --> 00:40:50.059


Okay?00:40:50.389 --> 00:40:59.628


And one other little suggestion, and this is very valuable, especially if you're trying to encourage someone to do something, is to have them imagine.00:40:59.748 --> 00:41:06.018


Imagine yourself having your own podcast or picture yourself on the cover of a magazine, something like that.00:41:06.018 --> 00:41:08.809


And if you do something like that, then you pause.00:41:09.079 --> 00:41:11.688


It adds even more impact to your appeal.00:41:12.228 --> 00:41:13.309


Overall, thank you.00:41:13.309 --> 00:41:15.048


I'm glad I was able to get back.00:41:15.048 --> 00:41:17.418


In fact, I've managed to just get back in time.00:41:17.719 --> 00:41:18.528


Oh my gosh.00:41:19.378 --> 00:41:19.679


Greg.00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:20.010


Thank you, Greg.00:41:20.010 --> 00:41:20.429


Thank you for that.00:41:20.579 --> 00:41:26.639


And we will have to move on to our improv master, our improv portion of the meeting for table Topics.00:41:26.864 --> 00:41:27.284


Topics.00:41:27.289 --> 00:41:31.108


So with that, I will turn it over to our improv master, Fred.00:41:32.128 --> 00:41:33.509


Thank you Madam.00:41:33.838 --> 00:41:35.518


Executive Producer.00:41:36.418 --> 00:41:45.568


This is a session we rarely have in our club, but for occasion such as this, we decided to have it based on the theme of food and cooking.00:41:46.199 --> 00:41:47.699


And I did it a little different.00:41:48.059 --> 00:41:49.528


I've got it by categories.00:41:49.918 --> 00:41:59.789


So whoever volunteers or gets voluntold, I'm gonna ask you a category you're gonna pick, and then I'm gonna pick a question from that category.00:42:00.478 --> 00:42:02.759


So who would like to be my first.00:42:04.228 --> 00:42:14.188


Victim table topics, participant, improv participants, any.00:42:14.248 --> 00:42:15.389


How about you, Baxter?00:42:15.509 --> 00:42:16.858


Oh, actually Greg raised his hand.00:42:17.278 --> 00:42:17.639


Okay.00:42:17.639 --> 00:42:21.268


Greg let me, pull up, let me pull up the categories here.00:42:23.548 --> 00:42:27.028


Your categories are cooking, adventures or disasters.00:42:27.809 --> 00:42:28.679


The chef within.00:42:29.878 --> 00:42:32.009


Or food for a thought.00:42:32.068 --> 00:42:33.958


Which category would you like Greg?00:42:34.528 --> 00:42:35.938


Like cooking disasters.00:42:37.199 --> 00:42:37.739


Okay.00:42:38.458 --> 00:42:43.798


What's the biggest cooking mistake you've ever made?00:42:44.009 --> 00:42:45.088


Would you like me to repeat it?00:42:45.478 --> 00:42:46.349


Nope, I'm good.00:42:46.349 --> 00:42:56.153


Thank you very much for that question, Mr. To master, I have to take myself back about 20 years I was dating a young lady who really, loved banana bread.00:42:57.143 --> 00:43:00.414


So of course I looked around, I tried to find different types of recipes.00:43:00.414 --> 00:43:03.594


I, I looked for ways to try to improve what was in it.00:43:03.773 --> 00:43:08.693


For example, I added some walnuts and I looked at using some chocolate chips.00:43:08.994 --> 00:43:11.423


So of course I went out, I got all the ingredients.00:43:11.423 --> 00:43:14.963


Now I know banana bread is an easy thing for you all, but not for me.00:43:16.284 --> 00:43:25.103


When I was finished with the recipe and it came out of the oven, it looked like soup, and for the life of me, I could not understand.00:43:25.463 --> 00:43:30.443


I think it's because I mistook baking sugar for flour.00:43:30.563 --> 00:43:34.344


They looked very, similar to me, and they were in a jar that weren't marked.00:43:34.974 --> 00:43:40.373


Now all was not lost because interestingly enough, it tasted quite interesting.00:43:40.898 --> 00:43:48.608


My girlfriend at the time really was not overly impressed, but when I poured it over vanilla ice cream, she said, what?00:43:48.608 --> 00:43:52.358


This isn't really bad, but it would be okay if you didn't make it.00:43:52.358 --> 00:43:55.599


Again, Mr. Topic, master Fellow, Toastmaster.00:43:55.599 --> 00:43:58.358


That was one of my disasters in cooking.00:43:58.748 --> 00:44:03.909


I've learned, I've come a long way from it since, but it's a certainly a story that I'll never forget.00:44:04.318 --> 00:44:04.824


Back to you,00:44:04.873 --> 00:44:07.818


There's some very important people that are here that haven't spoken.00:44:07.994 --> 00:44:09.764


I wanna make sure they have an opportunity.00:44:10.123 --> 00:44:11.833


Oh, I didn't see him on the, yeah, if I didn't see him.00:44:11.833 --> 00:44:12.643


Go ahead, Michael.00:44:12.643 --> 00:44:14.114


I was calling on who was on the I, I'm00:44:14.114 --> 00:44:15.164


staring right at 'em.00:44:15.164 --> 00:44:21.643


The first one I want you to know about is an incredible person that I recently met, and that's Ashley Brown.00:44:21.643 --> 00:44:22.693


Chef Ashley Brown.00:44:22.724 --> 00:44:24.434


I released her episode today.00:44:24.434 --> 00:44:26.114


She's been extremely busy.00:44:26.423 --> 00:44:30.954


It's Mother's Day, she's a mom and a chef, and that is a lot to do.00:44:31.253 --> 00:44:33.893


Ashley, if you can jump in for just a second.00:44:33.893 --> 00:44:34.643


I know you're here.00:44:35.099 --> 00:44:35.318


Hi.00:44:35.318 --> 00:44:35.320


Yeah.00:44:36.384 --> 00:44:37.494


I'm so happy you're here.00:44:38.543 --> 00:44:40.764


Yeah, thank you for inviting me.00:44:41.213 --> 00:44:43.134


Sorry if my voice is a little raspy.00:44:43.134 --> 00:44:44.153


I was on expo.00:44:44.204 --> 00:44:44.744


Ah.00:44:45.094 --> 00:44:46.083


Call it everything.00:44:46.083 --> 00:44:48.213


It was a busy, brunch.00:44:48.344 --> 00:44:51.253


What's an expo for people here that are not in the chef world?00:44:51.304 --> 00:45:05.148


Expo in the chef world is the one who calls out all the tickets and they are the neck of the service you gotta be looking at everything.00:45:05.148 --> 00:45:18.048


You gotta be communicating everything, checking up on quality and time management, all of it, your, the eyes, the ears, the body of service right next to the hostess.00:45:19.699 --> 00:45:22.219


Yeah, it was, we had Mother's Day brunch.00:45:22.489 --> 00:45:23.958


We did not do a regular service.00:45:24.139 --> 00:45:26.889


We, normally open from three to 3:00PM to00:45:26.889 --> 00:45:28.509


00 PM but today was.00:45:28.809 --> 00:45:36.639


00 PM and it's six o'clock, six 30 my time, and we just got out.00:45:37.809 --> 00:45:39.309


But it was very successful.00:45:39.398 --> 00:45:43.628


Happy Mother's Day to the, those in the group that are mothers.00:45:43.869 --> 00:45:45.159


Thank you for your service.00:45:45.429 --> 00:45:49.268


Thank you Michael for, the invite, and I am excited to be here.00:45:50.438 --> 00:45:54.039


And, I want to tell you, I am so honored that you came on the podcast.00:45:54.039 --> 00:45:55.989


You are an amazing storyteller.00:45:56.349 --> 00:45:58.088


You really are your stories.00:45:58.599 --> 00:46:05.048


As I was editing, I could not believe the stories, and everyone that's here right now, there's 22 people.00:46:05.378 --> 00:46:13.268


I'm gonna challenge each one of you to click on that link because that is the latest episode of Voice for Chefs and show Ashley some love.00:46:13.478 --> 00:46:14.498


Show her some love.00:46:16.344 --> 00:46:30.414


She is amazing and she runs Four for a celebrity chef named Brother Luck, who is incredible and her, conversation, the conversation that we had it's unreal.00:46:30.414 --> 00:46:33.773


I released it to honor mothers.00:46:34.179 --> 00:46:35.048


For Mother's Day.00:46:35.228 --> 00:46:35.409


Thank you.00:46:35.409 --> 00:46:37.389


And I and Joanna James too.00:46:37.929 --> 00:46:40.329


Who started  MAPP and that's how I met Ashley.00:46:40.329 --> 00:46:45.909


So it's probably for me one of the most emotional episodes I've had in a long time.00:46:45.909 --> 00:46:45.938


Oh.00:46:46.088 --> 00:46:50.318


And it's driving the direction of the podcast right now, so00:46:50.614 --> 00:46:50.884


Thank you, Michael.00:46:50.943 --> 00:46:52.923


And I see other names I miss, so let me know.00:46:52.923 --> 00:46:54.063


I see chefs.00:46:54.063 --> 00:46:55.324


We'll go with Chef Steven.00:46:55.804 --> 00:46:57.543


And then it looks like we have Thanks00:46:57.543 --> 00:46:57.784


Ashley.00:46:59.298 --> 00:47:00.829


We have Chef Steven.00:47:00.858 --> 00:47:02.688


We have Joanie and Beth.00:47:03.168 --> 00:47:05.418


So Chef Steven, you're up next.00:47:08.974 --> 00:47:09.724


Hi everyone.00:47:10.264 --> 00:47:13.983


I'm driving back from Los Angeles to Vegas I'm just listening.00:47:15.003 --> 00:47:16.114


Can't turn on my camera.00:47:16.114 --> 00:47:18.333


Thank you, Michael, so much for inviting me.00:47:18.934 --> 00:47:22.414


First time I have ever been onto a Toastmasters.00:47:22.414 --> 00:47:26.224


Yes I heard, of it a lot, but quite interesting.00:47:26.224 --> 00:47:28.293


And so glad to meet everyone.00:47:28.293 --> 00:47:29.103


So glad that.00:47:29.713 --> 00:47:31.213


Everyone get to grill Michael.00:47:32.574 --> 00:47:33.623


I'm just very excited.00:47:33.623 --> 00:47:39.143


We have a lot of things going on planned in the future, and, just looking forward to meeting everyone again.00:47:39.204 --> 00:47:39.954


Thank you so much.00:47:40.338 --> 00:47:40.809


Thank you.00:47:40.813 --> 00:47:41.483


Thank you, Steven.00:47:41.753 --> 00:47:44.034


And we got Joanie I think I skipped you.00:47:44.063 --> 00:47:44.724


Go ahead, Joanie.00:47:45.869 --> 00:47:49.168


It was a culinary delight for me.00:47:49.498 --> 00:47:51.869


I heard Michael say food as a religion.00:47:51.869 --> 00:47:54.659


If you say food, you are calling my name.00:47:54.659 --> 00:48:02.489


I don't care if I'm watching the food network because I'm hungry and I just pretend that they're doing it all for me.00:48:02.849 --> 00:48:06.599


Or just discussing the amazingness of how food is.00:48:07.273 --> 00:48:09.043


I really enjoyed this.00:48:09.043 --> 00:48:12.853


I like learning about podcasts, but I like the fact that the topic was food more.00:48:13.333 --> 00:48:24.434


So overall, I had a great time today and it's the first time I've seen a meeting run like this, so I got to see another way of doing Toastmasters, and I was invited by Alison.00:48:24.434 --> 00:48:25.483


Thank you for inviting me.00:48:25.514 --> 00:48:25.963


Alison.00:48:26.384 --> 00:48:27.614


Thank you for joining.00:48:27.853 --> 00:48:28.454


Joni.00:48:28.844 --> 00:48:30.193


Loved having you here.00:48:33.753 --> 00:48:46.864


You've just listened to your first abbreviated Toastmaster meeting and a celebration of four years with Voice for Chefs.00:48:47.134 --> 00:48:51.063


Launched through a high performance leadership project in Toastmasters.