Tell us about your journey in the hospitality industry.
My first jobs were as a busser/host at multiple national chain restaurants, and if that didn’t scare me away, I don’t know what could in this industry. I left to work as a server at a newer fine dining restaurant, where I later became a bartender. Bartending led me to running programs, managing, and to where I currently am as a consultant and podcast host to give back to the industry that formed me. In 2017 while managing a bar program, I decided to stop drinking. This sent me into a whirlwind of thought, thinking first, “can I stay in this industry if I’m not consuming what I sell” which ultimately led to me discovering, “I have to be the best version of myself so that I can give the best to others.” How I talked about myself changed the conversations I was a part of in the restaurant, and discovering other voices gave me a vocabulary and a deeper understanding of what this industry needs.
If you’re not working, you’re running. What ignited that passion for you? Are there any running goals you want to tackle?
I had hobbled off and on, mostly because I lived across from a park, and seeing people run gave me that thought of “hey, I can do that!” It’s way harder in the beginning than I thought it would be, and I found it at a time in my life when I wasn’t disciplined and didn’t always see things through. When the lockdown happened, my wife and I shared our house with my brother and his wife, who left Australia due to the uncertainty of the situation. I was no longer behind a bar, I wasn’t going into an office, and like everyone else, I was just at home. I started thinking about running because I heal and think best when I’m active. I quickly discovered that this was the replacement for my commute. Since I was working from home, I could leave the house in my running shoes as one version of myself and come back after a workout in a different mindset. This also gave way to a run streak I stuck out for 417 days until overuse caught up to me. I ran every single day, no matter where, how cold, hot, late, or early. Inside that, I also completed my first-ever marathon. Now that I am recovering from injury, my goals (that I’ve been crushing) are to run without a tracker and to find solace, peace, and enjoyment in my runs. It’s just me out there, and I love it. Running also gave me a way to compartmentalize my thoughts and a way to parse through the stress of the day. It’s a place where I can hold past selves, quiet intrusive thoughts, or simply listen to the sounds and find a good sweat.
What was your inspiration behind the No Proof podcast? What do you hope to accomplish with the project?
No Proof started because Lauren Paylor and Alex Jump of Focus On Health helped me discover that what I thought was a story not worth telling was actually the story that needed to be told. I stopped drinking after a sober October, and instead of celebrating at the end of it, as I had before, I took inventory of my thoughts, feelings, and health and decided to keep the streak going. The more I read about sobriety, the more I found disaster stories. Tales of rock bottom, handcuffs, or worse. Other than giving it up, it was tough to relate to much of what I found. In that sense, no proof exists to share the stories of others, including mine, to shine a light on the fact that there’s no wrong way to arrive at sobriety, gentle like me or otherwise. It taught me a vocabulary I wasn’t equipped with and led me to people I’d otherwise not have been lucky enough to know. It’s a podcast I didn’t have, for a version of myself who needed it.
Tell us about your journey in the hospitality industry.
My first jobs were as a busser/host at multiple national chain restaurants, and if that didn’t scare me away, I don’t know what could in this industry. I left to work as a server at a newer fine dining restaurant, where I later became a bartender. Bartending led me to running programs, managing, and to where I currently am as a consultant and podcast host to give back to the industry that formed me. In 2017 while managing a bar program, I decided to stop drinking. This sent me into a whirlwind of thought, thinking first, “can I stay in this industry if I’m not consuming what I sell” which ultimately led to me discovering, “I have to be the best version of myself so that I can give the best to others.” How I talked about myself changed the conversations I was a part of in the restaurant, and discovering other voices gave me a vocabulary and a deeper understanding of what this industry needs.
If you’re not working, you’re running. What ignited that passion for you? Are there any running goals you want to tackle?
I had hobbled off and on, mostly because I lived across from a park, and seeing people run gave me that thought of “hey, I can do that!” It’s way harder in the beginning than I thought it would be, and I found it at a time in my life when I wasn’t disciplined and didn’t always see things through. When the lockdown happened, my wife and I shared our house with my brother and his wife, who left Australia due to the uncertainty of the situation. I was no longer behind a bar, I wasn’t going into an office, and like everyone else, I was just at home. I started thinking about running because I heal and think best when I’m active. I quickly discovered that this was the replacement for my commute. Since I was working from home, I could leave the house in my running shoes as one version of myself and come back after a workout in a different mindset. This also gave way to a run streak I stuck out for 417 days until overuse caught up to me. I ran every single day, no matter where, how cold, hot, late, or early. Inside that, I also completed my first-ever marathon. Now that I am recovering from injury, my goals (that I’ve been crushing) are to run without a tracker and to find solace, peace, and enjoyment in my runs. It’s just me out there, and I love it. Running also gave me a way to compartmentalize my thoughts and a way to parse through the stress of the day. It’s a place where I can hold past selves, quiet intrusive thoughts, or simply listen to the sounds and find a good sweat.
What was your inspiration behind the No Proof podcast? What do you hope to accomplish with the project?
No Proof started because Lauren Paylor and Alex Jump of Focus On Health helped me discover that what I thought was a story not worth telling was actually the story that needed to be told. I stopped drinking after a sober October, and instead of celebrating at the end of it, as I had before, I took inventory of my thoughts, feelings, and health and decided to keep the streak going. The more I read about sobriety, the more I found disaster stories. Tales of rock bottom, handcuffs, or worse. Other than giving it up, it was tough to relate to much of what I found. In that sense, no proof exists to share the stories of others, including mine, to shine a light on the fact that there’s no wrong way to arrive at sobriety, gentle like me or otherwise. It taught me a vocabulary I wasn’t equipped with and led me to people I’d otherwise not have been lucky enough to know. It’s a podcast I didn’t have, for a version of myself who needed it.
