Keep It Quirky Podcast

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 simply: finding creative solutions for ANYTHING. We walk through the little steps of her path that have gotten her to big goals, and she also candidly talks about some of the new obstacles in her career, but the things she’s learned along the way that help her navigate the challenges of professional life.Her pursuit of creativity has gotten her far, but she’s quick to note that failures along the way are a part of the journey.I have admired Rachel’s work for many years, but as I’ve gotten to know her since moving to London

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 tells us how he uses storytelling -- something he sees as a thread in his life and pursuits -- in his brand and business, and how that starts a conversation with a customer on the shelf level. We also open the bonkers can of worms that is almonds. Sprouted, unpasteurized...what does all that mean? We get you the answers here.Food, social change and creativity -- these three things are interwoven and Jordyn's story encapsulates that Venn diagram.Don’t forget to sign up for my e-newsletter! Go HERE: http://eepurl.com/dNtAx2&

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’re self-employed!) We had a discussion about what it really means to have or be a mentor, and it shined so much light for me on this sometimes intimidating status. “A good mentor is someone who can look back at where you are looking forward to.” “Be More Pirate,” which has just been released in the US (it’s already a hit in the UK), explores the concept of rebellion -- or being someone who’s willing to risk everything for their values. I got SO MUCH out of this conversation, I really hope you’ll enjoy it. Show notes: Do

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 hear that for most of her life, Chetna never baked! She lived in Mumbai and didn't even have an oven....but food has always played an important role in her life, (even back when she was a bigwig in the fashion industry in her former career path). In our conversation, Chetna talks about how she could’ve never planned any of what has happened in her life, and how and why she prefers it that way. "I've always lived in the moment. Why would I plan anything?!" She talks about her experiences shooting Great British Bake Off, a

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 the host of The New Paris podcast and the person behind the blog Lost In Cheeseland. She's an American woman who's lived in Paris for over a decade, and she's got quite the journey to share. Lindsey's path to success is fascinating and just goes to show what happens when you follow your gut and stay true to your vision and hustle. I also catch up with the guys behind La Main Noire, a collective of hand-crafted products like sticky chai tea and golden paste for a turmeric latte. "Innovative products for Inspired people,"

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 him, cooking as art, and the importance of stepping outside your comfort zone. --alejandro toro-- @alejandrotorovo - instagram & twitter www.youtube.com/alejandrotoro --keep it quirky-- @keepitquirkypodcast - instagram @qkatie - katie quinn on instagram & twitter www.youtube.com/TheQKatie www.facebook.com/TheQKatie See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 has evolved since then, the nimbleness involved to stay true to their original vision, and some of the challenges faced today. Jack Mayhew, co-founder of Ember Snacks - based in London, describes why he and his brother Harry were inspired to start their business, how they've had help and struggles along the way, and why their one-year-old brand is in it for the long haul. Let me know if you enjoy this kind of episode where I combine a couple of different interview on a similar topic! I always love to hear from you - @q

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 unforeseen aspects, such as the importance of a direct-to-consumer model for a product as nostalgic as ice cream, in a very saturated industry. We also talk about finding ways to combat the isolation of entrepreneurship, gaining a community & sharing resources, and seeking mentors. Thanks, too, to my best friend Lara, for sharing a few words at the beginning of the episode about her inspiring career transition. --Malai Ice Cream-- Instagram & Twitter // @malai_icecream www.malai.co --keep it quirky-- @keepitquirky

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 effort to have a career doing the thing that I love. Desperation is a powerful motivator. Fear is a powerful motivator: the fear of ending up in a career that isn’t going to make you as happy. That’ll keep you up late at night working hard." - Dan Pashman --dan pashman, the sporkful-- @thesporkful twitter // @thesporkful website // http://www.sporkful.com/ --keep it quirky & katie quinn-- instagram // @keepitquirkypodcast instagram & twitter //@qkatie www.youtube.com/theqkatie www.facebook.com/theqkatie See acast

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 and revealing little-known gems that ought to be shared widely. She also crowd-sources recipes from the F52 community and narrows it down to the ones you need to know. I love Kristen's path because it goes to show that there is often no "path" for following your passion. She was a picky eater as a child, then found a real love of cookbooks and cooking in college, where she was studying economics. Post-college, she was completely bored by her jobs in the econ industry, and her passion for food became stronger. "It becam

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 how and why she made the very conscious transition from management accounting to starting her own savory pie business. [Side note: savory pies are one of my favorite things about living in England. Why is this not a thing in the States?!] She talks about how she strategically determined how to position her company so that it could be a sustainable employment opportunity for her, and the importance of social media for her business in giving her access to others in the food industry all over the UK. Sarah is kind and pas

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 sailing through them. I love Sam's formula for a successful entrepreneur: perseverance + determination + passion. "What entrepreneurship takes is grit," he says. If you're listening to this episode live (Aug.1), just know that I'm taking about a month hiatus while I do lots of travel and work on various projects, but I've got some excellent episodes down the pipeline. So please subscribe if you haven't yet so you don't miss a thing! --Sam & Sipsmith Gin-- @sipsmithsam // @sipsmith sipsmith.com --keep it quirky-- @kee

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 platform gave her creative inspiration that she ran with, latching onto the creative adrenaline rush to see where it would lead. We talk about the sometimes challenge of defining yourself when your career is multi-hyphenate, and the quirky chaos in her life that actually helps her have a balanced perspective on social media. She helps us flip the script on Instagram, and insists there's no such thing as "the perfect shot," and explains why. At the beginning of the episode, I talk with Omar Zavala about what it means to be a

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, "Personalized, Shoppable and Guided: Recipes Are Not Dead." --smart kitchen summit-- @smartkitchensummit - instagram @SmartKitchenCon - twitter www.smartkitchensummit.com --keep it quirky-- @keepitquirkypodcast - instagram @qkatie - katie quinn on instagram & twitter www.youtube.com/TheQKatie www.facebook.com/TheQKatie See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"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 how and why she made that transition, as well as some of the specific stories from her travels through Israel, the West Bank and Gaza for "Zaitoun." We also talk about the core belief that anything is possible, taking responsibility for the life we have, the good and the bad, the light and the dark. How food is the easiest way to access the fact that humans have more to unite us than to divide us, and what it really is to be authentic. --yasmin khan-- @yasmin_khan - twitter @yasminkhanstories - instagram yasminkhanstori

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 a decade in the highly-skilled endeavor of analogue screen-printing. She then made a huge life and career shift into the world of producing jams and chutneys from her little flat in Hackney, London. Her delicious and unique flavors of preserves caught the attention of passersby at Broadway Market and the editors at Penguin Random House, who asked her to write a cookbook, "The Modern Preserver." In the episode, Kylee shares with us how she steers her creativity in her different life pursuits and she candidly tells us so

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 10+ people after 8 years on YouTube, they are DOIN IT! But it hasn't all been success around every turn. Barry points out, "People don’t talk about the failures, they talk about the successes. But the failures for us have been the stuff that have shaped us. We’ve taken everything we’ve fouled on and put it together to make some incredible." In this episode we hear how their untraditional path began, the unexpected story behind their most watched video on YouTube and the importance of community to their sense of succes

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 finalist! (It's called the Great British Baking Show in America). Martha’s episode was 4 years ago; now she is 21 and she is a twice-published cookbook author with her 2014 cookbook "Twist: Creative Ideas to ReInvent Your Baking," and last year's: "Crave: Brilliantly Indulgent Recipes." We chat about how she gets inspiration for new recipe ideas, she reflects on her time on the Great British Bake Off, and we talk about good ol' imposter syndrome. She also talks about how she sees social media impacting her career and

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 over anywhere she sets her sights. (This episode continues my month of interviewing authors - thanks for your suggestions!) In this episode, we talk about complicated relationships with social media, building community, and the nutritional aspects of food she's learned with her Food Science and Nutrition degree that has actually helped her find more joy in the meals she eats. Izy is awesome. I really enjoyed hanging with her for this interview, and I hope you feel like you're in the room hanging with us, too! I hope you

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 in media. The very fact that it takes more than one word or phrase to describe what she does gets to the heart of what she represents. It's also how she’s reaching so many people, why I can relate to her journey, and is the inspiration for her latest book, just released last week -- “The Multi-Hyphen Method.” (This episode continues my month of interviewing authors - thanks for your suggestions!) In this episode, we talk about gut and instinct and how to tune into that to direct your path. We discuss mentors, getting ou