Talk Thirty To Me

When you start to realize life is starting to change, change with it. Can we challenge the standard educational model to pursue a different path? Tyree shares how during his graduate school days, he struggles to accept the reality that it would change his life. But, knowing how much effort it took to get there - along with striving to make his mother proud - he finished the studies and graduated. But, was it worth it? A lot of us struggle with education as a bonus. Many of us never went to graduate school in our 20s and may consider it now. So, what's the real deal with graduate school? Transitions always have a catalyst that help to illuminate the path Losing family members is never easy. Tyree shares how his struggle to accept losing his mother shaped his 30s moving forward. What choice do you have other than to accept and move on? IS there more to accepting loss than simply admitting it happened and to cope with the hole left in your life? Turg mentions that loss doesn't always necessarily tran

The guys are joined by Brandie Freely - author,writing coach - as they dive into the essence of adult-level procrastination, why writing a book can teach you a lot about yourself, how love manifests itself in many different ways and... Battling long-term, adult level procrastination When trying to accomplish tasks that take a lot of focus, it can seem daunting to even think of crossing the finish line. Brandie shares her journey as she fights to complete her first book after a 10-year long process. Long distance relationships don't have to be out of reach Brandie gets personal as she and Randy compare experiences dating long-distance partners throughout their 30s and how that takes more than just a tough spirit to accomplish. The hardships of dating long-distance are well-documented, but how do these two really rate their experiences? Was it all worth the trouble? When taking a chance on someone pays off Eventually, when you find the person that's right for you it's a good time to reflect on

This week Turg and Randy Z took a trip out to the beautiful 41st State Assembly District in Pasadena, California to connect with Assemblymember Chris Holden as he shares his journey through his 20s and 30s in the political arena as well as insights and tips for how to join the noble fight as an activist in your community. So, you're in your 20s and you're thinking about politics?! Chris shares his exposure to politics at an early age and how he was able to reflect on his role to make and impact changes in the community in which he grew up. So what does a 23-year-old know about politics? Well, really not a whole lot - but that doesn't mean you can't try to shake things up a bit. But, the decision wasn't easy. Chris talks about the choice between his love for basketball and the commitment he made to his community to pursue his purpose.  Find out more about Assemblymember Chris Holden on his district website and on Twitter

Another one for the road – Turg and Randy Z sit down for yet another 1-on-1 conversation that touches on the depth of our human emotion, experiencing traumatic situations and how we can use (our) children as a conduit to better understand our own emotion and how all of this relates to what helps push us through our 30s. Kids are a tough nut to crack – but what if we had stronger tools with which to ‘crack’ them? When we think of survival mode, we don’t really understand what activates within us that triggers our survivalist mentality. Randy shares his recent experience with bedtime at the Turgman residence and how he equates his experience to when Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway lost Wilson. Turg walks us through his experiences with parenting and the conversations that couple must have to divide and conquer the “kiddie chaos”. The most important thing to remember is to not let the chaos transcend reason and destroy the relationship. The next most important thing is to remember not to lose your coo

 This week, Turg and Randy Z take a moment out of the interview schedule to go back to basics and discuss careers and pathways in more depth than ever before. Is spending too much time at one career stop a bad thing? Randy mulls over the past 10 years of his career at the same place. It's a bit of knowing you are in the right place and a little bit of complacency. But, with the comfort comes benefit and sacrifice. It's up to you to determine what is worth more at this point in your life. Is it worth starting over, or is it worth staying and growing in one place? Turg contrasts the last 4 years of career growth and challenges. There is a lot of change that comes with starting over so frequently, so when do you stop and 'smell the roses'? Does it ever end? When we take time to reflect - what do we find as the result of our thoughts and ambitions? Turg shares his experiences in speaking with other people on LinkedIn as he has found a new 'calling' as a self-proclaimed career coach of sorts. And withi

This week Turg and Randy Z are joined by LaKitia Woodard - Founder of A Sister's Truth, a company focused on helping women cope with the hardships that arise throughout their journey - as they discuss the reality behind the story of a sexual abuse survivor who set out on a mission to discover her purpose in life while working to inspire others to find courage behind their own voice.  Sharing your story not only helps inspire others, it helps liberate the soul LaKitia shares her story - or as she puts it - her journey to purpose and the feeling of loss she felt as she quietly suffered. It took one instance for her to break out of that feeling of perpetual hopelessness - when she began sharing her story. From then on, her journey was clear: help others in need of the same help, no matter the problem.  The truth is that everybody has common ground When we focus on exposing our truth and converting that into our purpose, we win. The benefit of sharing what pains us throughout our lives is the ability

Join Turg and Randy Z as they rap battle it out with their guest Jonathan - lawyer and once-upon-a-time rapper - as they discuss the duality of doing what you know you have to do and quenching that nagging feeling of what "could be" if you pursued your true purpose - something completely different than now. What happens when you look back and realize you missed one of life's hidden messages? Jon shares his experiences with choosing Law over an MBA and choosing school over pursuing a career in music. When we look back on our lives and the experiences we encounter, we can easily point out where things went wrong. How often have you wondered how different things could be had you pursued a different path throughout your 20s? How would that have impacted your 30s?  The choices we make don't always land us down the path we envisioned, so why don't we just start over? Shifting gears and pursuing a passion as a full-time career after investing so much time and effort into your existing career is a tough t

Join Turg and Randy Z as they are joined by guest and friend-of-the-show Leslie Antonoff - blogger, writer, cooking star - as they discuss how daily growth and experience can help propel you to the next level in your life and... Knowing what to expect can be helpful sometimes... We can't really know what the expect when we haven't been there yet. But, throughout the journey through our 30s we are sometimes presented with the opportunity to learn at light speed. These experiences can help us generate a lot of knowledge in a short amount of time. Now - approaching our mid-30s - we can leverage the experience to help us thrive in our endeavors.  Being over-exposed to things isn't always a bad thing Though our generation has been painted as the "slash generation" in somewhat of a negative light, it isn't a bad thing. We are being exposed to so much in such a short amount of time that we are able to narrow our focus down on something we enjoy. Whether you pursue your passion or passionately pursue your

Join Turg and Randy Z and their special guest Janice Llamoca - multimedia freelance journalist and associate producer for NPR's Latino USA - as they discuss Janice's journey through her 20s into her 30s as she climbed the ranks in her career as a journalist and producer. Where does a journey start and end? That is the question often asked, but rarely answered. It's difficult to know where life will take you throughout your journey. But, there's one thing you can always rely on, your sense of determination to strive toward your dreams. Janice shares with the guys how she managed to navigate her way through a tumultuous period in her 20s and still tackle her goals to land her dream job. Plans don't always pan out, so what then? Janice talks about how she planned to elevate her career game by continuing on with grad school. Well, turned out that it was too expensive to justify. When plans don't work out, sometimes we need to get creative. Combining skill with education doesn't always have to cost a fortune. Jani

This week Turg and RandyZ as they redefine one of the many 'isms' that define the Millennial generation: "Faking it until you make it" with their guest Erin Rivera - photographer, videographer and brand storyteller. There are times when life just takes a turn and just going with it is the best bet. But what happens when that takes a turn for the worst and you end up stuck at a crossroads? Mixing business and pleasure - which gives way to which? Letting a relationship define you. What changes when it all ends? Is dating at 30 contributing to the rise of the vanity in our society? Feeling the pressure to get it right now more than ever. Can that lead to getting it wrong instead? Risk = success, so what now?

Join Turg and Randy Z as they share the journey of finding your true self with their guest Rediate Tekeste - Founder of the Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship and professional social bridge-builder - as she shares her struggles with growing up African in a really American world and... Growing up confused can really mess up your 30s     Learn more about the Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship and if you're interested make sure you apply. Let us know if you do @talkthirtypod

Join Turg and Randy Z as they are joined by their lovely guest Gretchen Bonaduce - ex-wife of the Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce and recent published author of the book titled Surviving Agent Orange: And Other Things I Learned From Being Thrown Under the Partridge Family Bus" as they discuss her new book from a new and interesting perspective. The lessons we learn while in our 30s come from those reflecting on the mistakes they've made during their 30s Gretchen has certainly published an intriguing perspective on her life - taking the readers from her mid-20s to her early 40s as she recounts stories, lessons and regrets throughout her time spent married to Danny Bonaduce. The hardships of marriage are well known in our world. Throw in a world married to a child celebrity struggling with drug addiction and a host of other problems and you learn a lot and fast. Gretchen recounts her journey through her mid-20s entering into a mixed bag of emotions throughout her 30s. She shares her perspective on h

Join Randy Z and Sankeyz as they entertain their very special guest - Anahit, the lovely wife of Turg - as they sit down and discuss everything from getting married before 30 to transitioning from wife to mother in the blink of an eye. This episode surely packs a lot of hidden gems, deleted scenes and never-before-heard history behind the scenes of the Turgman household. The Talk Thirty To Me team pulls out all the stops in this exclusive episode! Creating an identity based off of need not from want What happens when your future takes a completely unpredictable turn - right after you experience a huge life change? Well it happened to Anahit and she shares what it felt like to suddenly transition from one identity to the next with little time in between. If the hardships that come with adjusting to married life, try adding on parent. Life takes unexpected turns that just take you away from the goals set throughout your 20s and 30s. So what happens next? What happens when the choices you want to make are no lon

Just in time for back-to-school Turg, Randy Z are back and joined by their super secret special co-host Sankeyz. Join the guys as they shake off the cobwebs of a month-long, unannounced hiatus and get back behind the mics for some fun podcasting adventures. Change is a part of life - so get used to it Sankeyz discusses changes over the past 5 months that have left him with more questions than answers. New job. Changing economy. All these things are affecting his ability to make decisions and execute. Randy shares his new home-buying adventures. Will Randy ever close escrow? More negotiations to come for Randy throughout the process, but this is a lesson you can't be told - something you need to learn on your own. Randy is certainly not happy with his home-buying situation, but how far is he willing to go? Taking a break from something is A-OK The guys open up about not releasing during the month of July. Summer lull? Just plain lazy? Well, it's a bit of both. Podcasting isn't easy. Breaks are certainly a pa

Join Turg and Randy Z as they sit down to get real about the strategy behind being in your 30s including - home buying, borrowing against your future, stretching your dollar to the absolute maximum, comparing our lives to that of our parents and confronting the fact that we must now get serious about making adult decisions. Enough, enough when it comes to home buying. When do you call it quits? Randy shares his struggles with the home buying process. Three years in, and he's still facing the same issues he faced at the very beginning.  Repeating the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Is Randy insane? Turg thinks Randy is simply insane to keep trying. Randy disagrees wholeheartedly. In the end the strategy you set forth has to be the best for you financially as well as mentally. Remember, not all strategy can be based purely on the financial element alone. It's always important you consider the intangibles when making large life decisions. Strategy and

Join Turg and Randy Z as they trek to the virtual Pacific Northwest to link up with their guest Kyle "Hondo" Henderson - social entrepreneur and serial podcast producer - as he discusses the complete change in perspective that came with all of the self-inflicted change he has endured in his 30s and... When transitioning to a new town at 30 how do you approach forming new relationships? Hondo relocated to a new town at 30 and it was all rooted in meeting new people. This is contrary to what we usually discuss - we even did an entire episode on how to make friends at 30. So why did Hondo relocate in order to make friends? Hondo challenged himself to go beyond his comfort zone to form new bonds with a completely new set of people. New experiences at 30 come with a lot of stress and anxiety for a lot of us Millennials. In some regards, putting yourself in new situations helps you push through that anxiety and stress and opens you up to new people and experiences. Turg remarks how it is quite rare to find someone

Join Turg and Randy Z as they are joined by their guest, long-time friend of the show and author/designer - Kristen Lem - to discuss the truth behind the freedom of setting financial goals and planning toward your independence, relationship successes, failures, and quagmires, sexual feelings and the realities of dating in your 30s, and... Why is being honest with yourself about your life goals so challenging at 30? Kristen shares her story of career freedom that took her all the way from being content with what she was doing to becoming dissatisfied almost overnight. Putting together an action plan and financial road map as to how she would eventually accomplish her career-freedom was key to her successful execution. But, why is planning for these things always so challenging? If quitting your job overnight was easy - no one would do it. Often times we find the answer to our unhappiness, but it's always such a challenge to unlock that path. Kristen discusses how - for her - financial stability was the biggest

Join Turg and Randy Z as they perform the now 'traditional' mid-year review. How has 2018 been for the guys thus far? Has the year shaped up to be as promising and full of opportunity as they had initially hoped? The discussion takes its twists and turns and gets real pretty fast. Can you keep up?  What is the Slash Generation? A topic brought up in casual conversation prior to this episode, the guys touch on what it means to be a part of the Slash Generation. To sum it up - we do a lot of things well, but we tend not to excel at anything we do. Is this a product of our efforts or are we merely a product of the times? Is it wrong to excel at something when you can't truly gain the experience needed to do so? Randy shares how his wake up call came when evaluating his journey through 2018. A hard look in and a conversation later and Randy was questioning his decision making and explaining the justification behind it all. Struggling with identity at 30 is the new normal, so how do you cope with it? When we - as

Join Turg and Randy Z as they tackle the tough topics on social injustice, gender bias. This episode brings a very special guest, Sarah Rizkalla - founder and editor-in-chief of New York Minute Magazine and social justice entrepreneur - as she shares her story from the halls Wall Street to her constant fight against naysayers. How do you make it being a social pioneer and voice for women in a world where no one wants you to succeed? What happens when you realize that the career you chose challenged your values on every level possible? Sarah shares her experience on Wall Street, working for one of the worst banks on the Street and reflects on her hardships throughout her time  there. A very unique experiences, Sarah provides insight on how men and women alike share workplace discrimination on the Street. This social injustice is easy to overlook when you're caught in the middle of it all. But, if being a woman wasn't enough, Sarah shares how her background also greatly influenced her journey through thirty.

Join Turg and Randy Z as they engage their savvy guest Natalie Torres-Haddad - award winning author, TEDx speaker and financial influencer - as they discuss the realities behind finances and most importantly financial literacy - or lack thereof - in our lives and... Why we are not set up for financial success in school? Natalie - a business major - shares her experiences with the lack of formal education in the realm of financial literacy. It's an important topic that doesn't get as much attention as it needs. The reality is that our schools do not help support financial education for children of all ages. The fundamentals of finances are always discovered the hard way. Natalie, Turg and Randy reminisce about college and how financial trouble usually brought invaluable lessons along with it. Unfortunately, even now, information on how to be financially free and successful in our lives comes at the expense of learning the hard way. What impact does culture have on financial transparency? You'd never think th