Going Deep with Chad and JT - Ep. 89 - Pro Surfer Anastasia Ashley Joins
Episode Date: August 28, 2019What up stokers, in this episode we are joined by pro surfer Anastasia Ashley. We discuss growing up in Hawaii as a young surfer, her recent years as a lifestyle ambassador, her experiences trave...ling around the world and the life as a social media star. Check it out! Check out our t shirts at www.chadgoesdeep.com
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oh mama what's up stokers of stoke nation this is chad kroger coming in with the going deep with
chad and jt podcast uh guys oh first off i'm with my compadre john thomas what up what up chad boom
clap stokers and we are joined today by Anastasia Ashley.
Welcome to the pod.
This is, I mean, I gotta say, I've been promising trying to coordinate, make this happen for
like about a year.
Since our inception, I think.
Yeah.
I think I heard about this even before it happened.
And I was like, yo, I gotta talk story with you guys.
Well, it was in our, yeah,
it's been in our domes for a while
and we just have been persistent to make it happen.
So, and yeah, we met probably like a year and a month ago.
Yeah.
US Open.
Yeah, it was a good time.
But I, yeah, obviously been a huge fan
of what you guys do promoting stoke oh thank you
from oc you know it's like i get it where are you from in oc st clementi nice yeah you know so
when i saw the original video the message what you guys were trying to do yeah what you guys
were trying to do down there you know because growing up in san clemente it
was like this rumor like is paul walker from san clemente did he go to the high school
did he go to a party i saw him surfing maybe um uppers when i was like you saw him surfing yeah
you ever surf with him yeah actually when i was like a sophomore oh wow and
this is like when he was famous yeah and i remember being like a sophomore in high school being like
oh my god paul walker there he is and um but then i'd heard rumors so i didn't know his actual
connection or not connection to san clemente yeah was like, yeah, he needs a statue.
Oh, for sure. Oh, yeah.
And like San Clemente is a place that I think it's kind of insane
there's not more statues of famous people who's...
Stoke legends.
Yeah, of San Clemente.
Like there's like the Gadauskas.
There's like Ryan Shackler.
Nobody has a statue.
They all froth too.
Yeah.
How was Paul in the water?
You know, like I remember he could kind of surf.
Like he wasn't like a superstar shredder,
but he was like on a smaller board.
Probably what would be like, you know,
they didn't have these like fun shapes back then.
This is like vintage days.
Don't want to date myself but probably about
20 years ago and they he was on like a short board but like a bigger one and he could hang
like he was like decent like i remember being like because you know when you see celebs surfing
it's kind of like all right you know everyone surfs yeah you know but can hang surf and
san jose no joke.
It's real waves.
Was it at Trussells?
It was at Uppers, actually.
Upper Trussells, yeah.
Nice.
I've never surfed either.
I mean, you can live the lifestyle.
You don't even need to surf.
That's the thing.
I still hang at the beach.
Yeah, you get it.
I get it.
Yeah.
He gets tan.
I do get tan.
He loves the sun and volleyball and all things that come with it.
Yeah.
And I like the general vibe at the beach, too.
Yeah.
It's just nice.
I mean, that's what I say.
It's like everyone's always like, oh, I want to surf.
I want to do this.
I said, go to the beach.
Catch a wave.
Get a beer.
Get a tan.
Enjoy your life.
Yeah.
When did you start surfing i started surfing when i
was about four or five years old so really early on your parents took you out no actually i just
kind of always thought it was really cool and i thought it was cool at four yeah i like knew i
was like that's a vibe yeah didn't you like start on like a trash lid yeah like literally
like i like well i i started surfing in um in uh san clemente and then i actually moved to hawaii
when i was about okay so you were born in san clemente then you moved okay gosh yep and then i
um moved to hawaii and like i had like borrowed people's boards like i like would see kids down
the beach and i'd be like hey like can i like borrow your board and they'd be like sure and
then i found a board actually that was like an old pro surfers broken shitty you know what have
you board in the trash can um you know they threw threw it away. It was still a good board, decent, at least for me at the time.
And that's my first board.
Cool.
Until I got a sponsor and, you know.
What island were you on?
Oahu.
So this was like North Shore back.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's cool.
What was your first sponsor?
That's a really good question that I never get asked.
But my first sponsor was actually a local really good question i never get asked but um my first sponsor
was actually a local surf shop there called tropical rush oh cool across from surf and sea
and yeah i would get free boards um they had like an in-house shaper and that was like a bit i mean
boards even now when i get them for free it's like a big deal they're expensive do pokey shops sponsor
surfers no but they should
yeah that'd be cool that'd be awesome what's the one sweet fin yeah that's a great one when you got
sponsored did you feel like different like when you went to school you were like yeah i'm one of
the sponsored people now a hundred percent nice a hundred percent like flex huh do you flex it
yeah it was like it was like this thing where growing up between san
clemente and hawaii and being around surf communities and we're like surfers were like
the heroes so it was like oh you just got a sponsor like you're gonna be a pro surfer or
like at least you thought that at that at that time in your life and you're like yeah okay i've made it i'm like sponsored did
your parents surf uh not really no no they they you know athletic but they which is rare because
a lot of people i know who have been professionals or ever competed like they usually have like the
surf dad and right you know like especially if you start that young yeah like i was i was a competitive swimmer as
well and so like they had like a swimming background but never surfing like i think
they probably would have pushed me in like tennis or something else if i why did y'all move to hawaii
um a little bit of a like i'd say kind of a random scenario like we went on vacation one year liked it and
it was pretty cheap to live there at the time not like now and nice lifestyle yeah they wanted to
move well what was it like in the water you know because i you know i know in the north shore it's
like pretty aggro intense dudes and so was it intimidating for you to go out there and did you like have to like earn
your spot or were they pretty accepting um you know i at the bat i would say that most
of you know back in the day like hawaii north shore was like very much like you need to show
respect you need to earn your stripes like you know you need to uh wait
your turn turn you know like it so yeah i mean definitely like you had to put in the work and
the hours to like get waves even i would say like you know there's definitely guys back then too who
didn't like girl surfing didn't really care if you're a girl guy whatever you're
not getting any waves um yeah and so like yeah just you know like i think it's one of those
things like i was lucky enough to grow up there and a lot of the guys out in the lineup saw me
like from a little kid to even say now like so even even i go to hawaii now like i still don't get
good weight like i don't get the set waves at the best spots but like like pipe bombs no i'm not
like piling out the back and like job and you know like derrico aren't like letting me go yeah
but like if someone was the fall or like maybe you know rockies or sunset or you know depends though i mean everyone
there nowadays is like there to get the clip there to get the photo so it's like people aren't really
gonna give you the best wave because that could be like a clip or a photo for them you know and i
get that was uh were you as a kid were you like fearless as a kid like you were just like all right i'm going straight to pipeline um a little bit like i definitely charged probably harder like in
certain parts of my life than now per se but like i definitely like as a kid you don't have that fear
like it like you know i was like i have tons of scars all over my legs and body like from
skateboard i used to skateboard pretty aggressively too but
now i'm like you get scared now yeah oh yeah yeah when it's big i don't imagine how someone
wouldn't it's terrifying yeah and especially now too it's like i don't want to like not to sound
like you know um into myself but like i don't want to hit my face. I relate to that. Yeah, like even so it's just like I don't want to hit
My face. I don't want to blow out my knee. I don't want to like
Tear my arm out of my song like these are all things that like as you get older
I'm like, oh I want to like be able to play with my kids one day. I don't want to like destroy my body
Yeah, so that's kind of like where i'm at where
it's like yeah like i'll surf like still pretty solid waves but like i'm not really trying to
like go to waimea when it's like 20 feet like when i used to do that like a couple years ago
you surf that big a wave whoa yeah what's going through your head when you paddle into one of
those holy shit don't fall you're actually like you kind of black out because it's so much adrenaline
at least for me anyways because i'm really scared and you kind of black out and you're like okay
i just gotta like you're it's kind of a crazy feeling though with the amount of adrenaline
you feel it's pretty cool i see how people get addicted to that and when you adrenaline you feel, it's pretty cool. I see how people get addicted to that.
And when you, do you feel the pressure,
especially in Hawaii from like, you know,
like Jamie O'Brien or something like,
when you go, you go, like, you know what I mean?
Yeah, well, so that's actually the thing is like,
on some level, you know, I'm happy that a lot of the guys
maybe aren't, you know, and I've actually been called
into like solid ways that like maybe someone couldn't get or they could see it shifted like swung wide or what have you and um basically
like yeah when someone that's a guy out there calls you in and you don't go you won't get called
into another way right so you need to kind of go even if you're like not ready in those
Situations are yeah, or they just kind of like lose their spec like okay. She's not gonna go
It's sort of like a gladiator arena feels sounds like out there. Yeah, I mean that you got a
When you go out there you especially in Hawaii it seems like you gotta like you know
You know what's the word? I'm for? You gotta like, you know.
Earn your keep.
You gotta earn your keep.
Yeah, you can't.
Yeah.
Yeah, like you're in the, you're in like that arena.
Sorry, the headphones just came out, so I just got discombobulated.
You're not just like.
Yeah, I'm like, oh, there are the headphones.
Okay, my thoughts are back.
Thank you, thoughts.
This is like I said, guys, this is like legit.
Well, we got wood.
That's nice. You know, it's like a log cabin. You got graphics. And we got Aaron, thoughts. This is like I said, guys. This is like legit. Well, we got wood. It's nice.
You know, it's like a log cabin.
You got graphics.
And we got Aaron, dude.
Yeah, we got.
Aaron's a freaking beast.
Aaron.
I mean, shout out, Aaron.
Aaron, what's the biggest surf you would paddle into?
None.
I'm terrified of sharks.
Sharks?
So let me just tell you yesterday.
So I was in San Clemente yesterday.
And I'm blowing out the spot. So anyone i surf a lot of north beach okay 204s where where we should need a statue it's all greek to me so
basically i'm like about to go someone dms me a forded video capistrano beach two miles up the road three
great whites wow drone shots from like an hour before and i'm like seriously like all i want to
do is serve and like it's like that weird feeling though and i so i'm with you aaron on the shark
thing like i'm terrified of sharks. So you didn't go out?
No, it wasn't that good either.
Do you feel like sharks are like dogs in a way?
So it's like if you are scared of them, they're going to be like,
I'm going to get that guy.
Whereas if you're like, hey, what's up, dudes?
Yeah, I mean, we all know the reality of getting bit. It's like sharks are,'s you know you're in your their territory it's
they're pretty safe for the most part but it's one of those things it's like yeah the waves are
not that good today do it really neat you know it's still in the back of your head yeah yeah
you're just doing the math yeah like is it worth it if the waves are bad and there's sharks what's
the upside like i'm like'm like, I'll surf.
Just to prove I'm not afraid of sharks.
Yeah, like, I'll surf tomorrow.
It was, like, late in the day, and I was like, okay.
And it's their living room.
Yeah, that's true.
You're in their house.
That's how I look at it, too.
Like, you know, anything that happens, it's like, well, you know, you're going in the ocean.
Yeah.
Ian Edwards has that great joke about shark attacks, where it's like, you're in the shower. Like, you're going into their house, and it's like, you're in the ocean. Yeah. Ian Edwards has that great joke about shark attacks where it's like you're in the shower.
Like you're going into their house and it's like you're in the shower.
And it's like, or he's like, well, you're going in the ocean.
That's their house.
It's not like you're in the shower and a shark comes in.
What's up, Leia?
Shark attack time.
So, yeah, what do you think of that drink?
Okay.
So also saying this is how legit and like you guys are doing good here.
This is like I've heard of this so much.
It's like an LA thing, Erewhon.
Yeah.
It's phenomenal.
But this is like when I walked in, I was like, ooh, you guys got me Erewhon.
It's grossly overpriced.
But it's phenomenal.
Oh, I'm glad you like it.
Good.
I get it.
It's blue.
I don't know what it is exactly, but it's phenomenal oh i'm glad you like it good i get it it's blue i don't know what it is exactly but it e3 trictolitis live e3 blue i really think that's what they say okay but i
don't know what that stuff is but it's just like a blue drink it's a blue drink yeah almond milk
with blue it's solid it's like in uh vegas vacation when randy quaid's like i'll have some of the blue
some of the yellow yeah that food yeah yeah i pretend it's the stuff from the star wars
cantina oh you dog good call by the way i love i love his voice he's a jatooine right now he comes
he comes in i don't think it's on that planet sorry star wars guys he's the voice of reason
on the pod um and on other pods, too.
I was going to say, many pods.
He has a great voice.
I'm like, who is this man?
Aaron's getting cocky.
What were we talking about?
We talked about sharks.
Oh, yeah.
We tried to get some guys.
We got some shark experts to try and sign a truce that we punched up, wrote up between shark and man,
but nobody would take it seriously and sign it.
So unfortunately, we weren't able to broker the deal, broker the peace.
Yeah.
I mean, people, you know, you got to like.
I think there could be a day.
There could be a day.
Yeah.
I mean, it could happen.
It happens now.
I mean, there's people.
I mean, I see people free diving with great white.
I mean, what people are doing in the shark world is pretty amazing.
Yeah.
Do you have friends in that world?
A little bit.
I know some people.
But for me, I don't know if I'm there yet.
Right.
Yeah.
Not for me.
Yeah.
It's tough to break the ice.
You seem pragmatic.
Yeah. That's like a big step, I think. So. It's tough to break the ice. You seem pragmatic. Yeah.
That's like a big step, I think.
So after, did you leave high school to surf?
Yeah.
I'm actually a high school dropout.
That's pretty wild.
Were your parents cool with that?
Yeah.
Because I mean, the thing is, and I say that,
this is an interesting thing because I dropped
out the last semester of high school.
And up until then, though, I was a 4.0 student.
I was phenomenal.
But it got to a point where I was going to be pushing on how many days you could not,
yeah, you could miss basically and not where
they would automatically fail you and i was like look do i want to go to france do i want to go to
hawaii i think that was i was going to hawaii for like triple crown north shore and it was like not to say whatever but I'm like hey I have people paying me to go
surf right now I'm 17 years old I wasn't making a ton of money enough to like live on my own at
that time and you gotta travel and I got to travel and I was like doing great so I was like
yeah I don't I don't have schools for me at the moment so you know maybe one day i go back i get
the ged but uh to just finish it out but i yeah i i literally like started um traveling and
competing really heavily like in high school so you're competing against adults yeah i was like
doing like qs or whatever it's called now. Yeah, QS is back then.
Was that like, were they competitive with you?
Like did they?
Oh yeah, they hated me.
Because they thought you were like this young hotshot?
Yeah, they were like, oh, this little brat.
So.
What's it like in competition?
Like did you like freeze up or are you able to adapt easily?
I've gone through phases.
Like I would probably say when I was like 17, 18,
I was like probably at my peak a
little bit i hate saying that because i'm like oh but um yeah like you know i've i've struggled
with things competing like my nerves being number one like yeah you know it seems like with surfing
too because you're it's you have you have to work with nature and waves yeah it's not like you have
like a half pipe or something where you can just drop in it's like there's like the added pressure of like waiting for the right waves and
stuff and like it just seems so i've never competed so it but it just seems so difficult
it is it's like it's a big mental game you know like you look at a guy like kelly there's a reason
why he's like you know kelly slater is still arguably one of the best, if not the best surfers, because he can hang mentally.
He can. Yeah, he knows what it takes to win. He knows he can be down in a final 25 minutes left.
two minutes left and have it be like um you know he needs two nines he's comboed and he can sit there and pull them both out of his rabbit you know rabbit hat but the thing is is that most
people even though like talent wise say you're combo two minutes left you need these scores
they mentally can't just lose it yeah they can't handle the pressure they
fall and you see that a lot and then you see like some guys like kelly and like you know there's
really it it's interesting seeing how people compete and the different levels of the mental
aspect to it he seems to be able to just like call upon the waves
you know what i mean yeah and bring these yeah i'm comboed right now i i think he he does something
i don't know he has some like side deal going on i mean well i saw the documentary flying the
champagne where andy irons is like he's read war and peace i know it or no he's read the art of war
he's like he's read the art of war he'll he'll act like he doesn't but i fucking know it yeah yeah he's got the i've yeah he apparently he can he's able to
just like fuck with your head too and yeah he's like he has that patience but he also has that
ability to intimidate the other competitor which is huge yeah like i want that thing is like i think
some people could have been scared of me in a good way right because i i just i
wouldn't make eye contact with people oh nice i would go like you know a lot of people i got when
i got a little older and less serious about competing i wouldn't be down at the contest like
you know i wouldn't be acting all like like dick like i wouldn't be like oh whatever but i remember
when i was like really in it being like
people like other competitors people like hey what's up i'd be like sup like i like you're not
here to make friends yeah not exactly and it's limited there's limited money limited sponsors
limited stuff like if i want you to be a friend i'll hang out with you not at the surf contest
did you have other tactics to intimidate them like paddle battling or any of that stuff yeah like i think
really it was like the no eye contact and just like i would kind of like look up like through
them like you know someone tried to talk to me or like said something i would just like
just like stealth did you get some w's yeah what Yeah. What does it feel like when you win?
I got to pee real quick.
When I win, oh, amazing.
That's the best part about competing is winning,
not the losing, but you have to take it both.
How did it feel when you lost?
Would you take it to heart?
Oh, yeah, I would cry.
I would like.
It's probably good though, right?
To cry?
Yeah.
I mean, no.
Maybe not. I feel like you get it out but like yeah it's
cathartic and it shows you care yeah i mean that's the thing like i see people now like when they
lose say like even like a world title or something and i'm like dude i know they just want to go home
and like cry yeah that's always the roughest part of like the super bowl when like they you see the
team win yeah no matter who wins you're pretty excited for them.
I mean, I hate the Patriots, so I don't get too excited for them.
But then they cut to the losing players,
and you have to watch them walk hang dog into the locker room.
Oh, that's brutal.
As everyone's celebrating around them.
Yeah, it's like, yay, you won.
And it's like, losers.
Yeah.
So what's your primary occupation now?'s a that's a good question i ask
myself that every day really yeah me too i ask myself the same thing i'm like okay so i mean i
competed for over 20 years sounds crazy that is crazy yeah i you know surfed competing, so professional surfer.
I don't necessarily compete anymore.
I occasionally will do a couple events or whatever.
So my day-to-day is a bit interesting, though.
I don't surf, say, every day like I used to,
but I do a lot of fun opportunities now,
like all based around surfing.
Even though I'm not putting on a jersey,
I get to like travel, make surf videos,
do photos, work with brands.
You're kind of like a social media ambassador.
Yeah, it's interesting
because like my job has been the same for 15 years.
I just now have my own platform. so like back in the day like i used to like call up surfer magazine surfing magazine and be like hey post my video
hey post my video you're gonna post my video and they'd be like no i'd be like okay no one's gonna
see this video i made i edited like I was doing like making my own videos
like even back 2008, you know, 2007.
And now it's like really nice
because I can just do it for social media.
But back in the day, it was like a struggle.
But to answer your question, this is a long answer,
but you know, professional surfer, personality.
I do modeling sometimes.
Yeah, it's sort of like you were,
which I think was smart,
you were able to transition,
because I feel like pro surfer,
that it's like there's a shelf life.
Yeah.
A little transition, like lifestyle ambassador.
I like, can I just use what you just said? I'm a lifestyle ambassador. Put that in your bio. Yeah, lifestyle ambassador i like i can i just use what you just said i'm a lifestyle put that in
your bio yeah lifestyle ambassador i'll do a quote and i'll i'll put you in my bio because
you're all you're always in like these cool like tahiti hawaii yeah i mean that's bali that's what
it's about i'm trying to be everywhere awesome that has waves and and how do you decide what you put out you know that's a good question
i used to be a bit more and i go back and forth like anyone like you know of course oh i'm gonna
post a selfie oh my person surf video oh i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do that i used to get kind of
caught up because i would like be like i don't have that like many good like surf clips that i
feel good or photos or something so like i a lot of people be like oh you't have that like many good like surf clips that i feel good or photos or
something so like i a lot of people be like oh you're not like posting good you're not posting
surf stuff and i'm like well i don't have like solid stuff i feel good about that's how i'm a
stand-up i mean i've done it on a smaller scale than you was surfing yeah i'm like i take it so
serious right i don't want to post a clip if i don't think it's like perfect right and like
so it's easy to get caught like not posting anything of like because you're like critical
of yourself yeah but um it really depends like it depends what i'm doing who i'm with if i have
someone taking pictures of me you know like i do a lot of stuff that i wish i'm like oh i wish i had
a photographer i wish i was a friend but I'm alone a lot of times.
So it's like,
I'll be traveling somewhere.
Maybe like I have a job somewhere.
I'm shooting something in a couple of days.
And I'm like,
frick, like I have no one to take a picture of me.
So then nothing gets posted.
But I mean,
it's really kind of like,
I don't have a strategy.
I don't have like a content plan.
Like, you know,
and it's smart too like whatever but i
just like kind of post on the internet what i'm usually doing at the time maybe a couple throwbacks
but i'll post pictures when i'm like on the couch not doing anything and i'll be like oh here i am
at the beach that was like three days ago are you introverted no i just i like i'm just like solo like i'm
pretty extroverted like when i'm out bopping around i i i do my thing but you know i again
my day-to-day is not necessarily being around people so it's like you know i'll just do things
alone i go to work out alone i go to alone. How many times have you flown this month?
Not too much, actually.
Or I was in Japan like three weeks ago.
I'm like, yeah, not too much.
I don't think in Japan, like whatever.
But yeah, I went to Japan not too long ago.
It was just awesome.
They have good waves there, right?
Yeah.
And I actually went and surfed this like fake, I say fake.
I went and surfed this mini wave pool.
It's called City Wave.
And it's basically a standing wave.
And it was cool.
I was surfing literally in the middle of Tokyo.
That's cool.
Which is, who can say they do that?
Yeah.
And I was like, you know, I had an opportunity to go there and do that.
And I was like, perfect.
Now I'm in Japan for a week.
Yeah.
Have you surfed Kelly's wave?
I have.
Yeah.
How was that?
Was it intimidating?
It was.
And he was there too.
So it's like.
He's watched.
Yeah.
The king was on his throne.
Yeah.
And you're like, okay, you know, I don't want to fall.
That wave is super easy though to fall on.
Yeah.
It looks like,
like you,
it's funny.
Cause people are like,
Oh,
it's the perfect way.
Perfect wave.
It's like,
it's is a really perfect wave,
but it's a perfect wave pool wave.
It's not like any other wave when you're out in the ocean,
it's like the way the machine works and how you kind of have to readjust your surfing. And also like,
I think probably your boards might be a little different working out there because you're
not in salt water. It might be a salt water pool. I don't know. These are things that
are kind of mysterious to me.
Go ahead.
No, please.
No, you go.
You, my dog.
My dog.
Yeah, it seems like so intimidating. Like people like people like you got to go to the wave pool and i'm like um i'm like i don't i don't really want
to go out there like honestly fall yeah i mean there's a train coming that's making the wave
and uh there's people watching there's people screaming at you at the jail on there's literally
people screaming at you on the jet ski if you go get raymona to drive you he's yelling at you at the jail on there's literally people screaming at you on the jet ski if you go get
raymona to drive you he's yelling at you the whole time he's the best driver though yeah like
what's the driver the jet ski driver oh so you get pulled into that wave no but they track you so you
paddle in the machine comes you paddle in and then um they have a jet ski in the pool it's the craziest thing someone to coach
you yeah because it's very easy to to mess up the wave like you kind of look at it you're like okay
what's going on what's going on and so like if you have one of the guys like if it's raymana or like
one of the other surf uh guides out there surf coaches that go on the jet ski.
And that's something when I went out there too,
I didn't realize.
I was like, oh, okay.
But they're yelling at you.
Squat, get lower, get lower, stay higher, stay higher.
So you're on the wave.
You're like the machine.
There's people swimming around.
There's people trying to take photos.
And then the jet ski is like probably about 10-5 feet away tracking you yelling at you the whole time yeah it's a lot are you friends
with kelly yeah yeah yeah yeah nice yeah cool yeah he's super cool i mean i grew up with his
girlfriend in san clemente actually went to high school together. Did you go to San Clemente High? I did before I dropped out.
Tritons?
Yeah.
Right on.
Yeah, they were rival high schools.
Not really.
Yeah.
I went to SM and then J. Sarah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I knew some people.
We had this conversation before.
Oh, we have?
Yeah.
Oh, damn, I'm circling the wagons again.
No, you're good.
Do we know any of the same people?
No, because I'm older than you. Oh, okay. I'm circling the wagons again. No, you're good. Do we know any of the same people? No, because I'm older than you.
Oh, okay.
I feel like I would know like...
I ran with an older crowd though.
Not really, but...
You were like the freshmen hanging out with like seniors?
Yeah, I'd get a lift sometimes from some older guys.
Yeah, me too.
My parents would never pick me up from anywhere.
They just tell me to get a ride.
I remember that too.
Like I was always like walking.
Really? Yeah, like... But also you think there was no cell phones either so it was like or actually you had cell
no i didn't i didn't i was i just dated myself i'm like i was a holdout i didn't get a cell phone
so like oh you're one of those kids i just didn't want to be found i didn't want people to know
where i was at so my dad used to have to call my friends and be like, hey, are you with JT?
And then my buddy would be like, hey, dude, it's your dad.
And I'd be like, what's up, dad?
Yeah, I look at JT's phone.
I'm like the complete opposite with this stuff.
You know, like I look at his phone and it's like 300 text messages.
Oh, are you one that- 40,000 emails and I'm like-
You're one of those?
It makes my head explode.
Oh, I hate that.
That's like one of my pet peeves like people who leave
like i just don't understand but then it's also like these 300 texts that you're not opening
and mind you i shouldn't be like calling you out because i do ignore texts all the time
but like are they like people you don't like no i love everyone who texts me but then what you just
don't reopen it?
All right. This sounds like a cheap rationalization.
But if I'm going to respond, I'm going to go.
Most of the time, it's a question that has a lot of threads to it.
So if I'm going to respond, I'm going all in.
We're going to talk for another 15 minutes with each one of these people.
Oh, so you get engaged.
Yeah.
So I got to pull back and just let it float by sometimes.
Yeah.
That's good restraint.
Yeah, but then I circle back.
I always come around and I pick up the thread that I let sit for a little bit.
The email thing I could see happening,
even though that would bug me looking and being like,
oh, there's thousands of emails on my phone.
Because there could be spam.
There could be like companies,
like whatever.
But the text is like such a personal thing.
It's like anyone who's texting me,
I'm like gonna text them back.
I think that's great.
I mean,
I,
but I'm,
I don't,
I don't get lengthy on the text.
I'll just like heart it.
Yeah.
Oh,
I do a lot of that now.
I mean, that was revolutionary
when the hearts and the thumbs up
and the exclamation points came in.
It'd be funny if you just start
thumbs downing everyone.
Because you never know
if you're supposed to respond
to the last text message
that someone sends you.
Like with Chad and I,
we text all day.
So it's like,
we'll send it
and it can just be hanging there.
So you can come back
and say sweet to his sweet.
Yeah.
But then you're like,
do I need to do that?
And then now you can just throw the thumbs up on it.
But that's true.
Like when someone says sweet, like.
Do you say sweet back?
Like cool or like, yeah, the thumbs up or the heart.
Yeah, it's nice.
But the heart.
It's like a half text.
The heart can also be kind of like, or the liking.
I don't know if that's called a hearting or liking the text, but like.
I heart everything.
It could also be like passive aggressive.
Yeah.
You have to, I feel like that's a new thing that we have to like be aware of, you know.
Yeah.
Because it's like.
Sometimes when people like, like it, I'm like.
But then they don't respond.
You're like, I like this.
No, when I heart it, I'm, I'm hearting it.
Like you love it. Yeah, I love it. It's a sincere. Yeah, I'm sincere. I'm i'm hearting it like you love it yeah i love it
it's a sincere yeah i'm sincere i'm like i fucking love what you just said right there you're like
boom like yeah yeah i heart that i like the emphasize one where you know the exclamation
points where you're like yes if i'm excited i throw that one on yeah i'm excited i like that
one too but the thing is like yeah if someone like maybe hearts it likes it whatever we're
calling it but then doesn't respond it's like i can see how that can be a little passive aggressive
oh man i don't mean it that way no there's all kinds of stuff now it's like yeah i don't think
it comes across that way okay good good good he's like they're like hearty hearty he's like yeah
i'm gonna go through my text and D heart stuff.
I want to go through your text messages right now and be like, if you have like, let's see
your bubble.
I think it's like if your mom says.
Oh, no.
How many?
No, no, no.
Look at the.
Wait, you got it.
Oh, 48.
I think it's like if your mom says.
Who are these 48?
But they could be actually like five messages.
Some group text too.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
I just put those on silent.
Oh, so those don't even register.
Those don't even get.
I think they do.
But I, I mean, you're essentially doing that too.
You're not responding.
I think with the heart thing,
if it's like your mom says, I love you.
And you give her a thumbs up.
Oh yeah.
That's, that's the
bad move yeah that's that's not cool you're like nice mom that's like yeah mom i figured i gotta
keep it moving though thanks mom he actually i was really what what's how's the like you're a
high profile person on social media what how's the relationship with the audience i mean i think it's good i i again
like i do a lot of things on my own i travel i do things so it's like it's cool when i actually
meet people in real life right that like follow me or like get amped on what i'm doing because
um yeah because i'm like yeah i'm usually alone so if you see me like come say what up
but that's cool yeah it's cool and then you have a beautiful engagement ring thank you i know this
is new yeah when you got uh engaged what was it like uh i got like uh like june almost two months
ago whoa congrats yeah how did you guys meet? We met actually through mutual friends and
he's from California randomly and we were out in Florida and just kind of naturally happened.
Yeah. What does he do? He's a doctor actually. Oh, what kind of doctor? Surgeon. What kind?
He does right now general surgery, but he's going into vascular. Oh, nice. Yeah. So he right now general surgery but he's going into vascular oh nice yeah so he right now does
all the fun like stabbings gunshots car accidents you never if you see him you're having the worst
day of your life oh really yeah and vascular too that he's got to work he probably uses
microscopes right he actually has stitching together Yeah. He actually has these really cool like goggle things with magnifying.
Like it looks like Inspector Gadget type of thing that it's a, they're called loops, but
they're, all the doctors use them, but they're pretty funny looking.
Interesting.
But they, you can see like a thousand times.
So like everything is magnified.
So he's got to deal with death a lot?
Oh yeah.
How's he handle that?
Everything is magnified.
So he's got to deal with death a lot?
Oh, yeah.
How does he handle that?
I mean, I think anyone in that field, you know what you're signing up for. But, I mean, you know, I think the best way that I look at it,
I know a lot of people in that field look at it, himself included,
is people are coming into you already either,
at least in his specialty, like, you know,
people are coming in from a car accident.
People are coming in from a stabbing.
Like, these people are walking dead, basically.
So you're giving them a chance at life.
Right.
If they can't be saved and you know it's that would have
been the outcome that die was already cast right like that would have been the outcome if they
hadn't gone to a hospital right is he able to like disconnect or does he sometimes like bring
his work home kind of thing yeah i mean i think like a lot of people himself and a lot of he referenced a lot
people in the medical field it's like you know people do their best to disconnect but it's i
mean it's a real it's a crazy job i mean yeah you could be on call doing a surgery and then an hour later having to go to a birthday party, you know, after work.
And it's like, you know, a lot of people can, you know, it's just another day.
And you're like, I watched a man die.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's interesting.
That makes, I'll say this, for how was your day at work is always a very interesting conversation
when people ask that.
And you're like, I can tell.
He's like, oh, do you really want to know?
Right.
My dad's a doctor too.
So he has hand surgery.
But he deals with traumatic injuries as well.
People cutting off their hands.
Yeah, and he's so desensitized to it.
He's like, yeah, this guy stuck his hand in a lawnmower.
There's one instance where some lady, she got bit by a dog,
and then someone stabbed her with a sword.
Very interesting stories.
I mean, the stories are, it's like,
it's all the things that you think could maybe happen. Yeah.
They see.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And they see like they see everything.
And he's so desensitized.
He'll show me photos.
He's like, well, I was working on this.
It's just these mangled like he does like orthopedic as well.
Yeah.
But he's also like, you know, he is similar to your fiance.
He goes by Abe or Abraham abrahamster abraham yeah uh stir stir yeah he
he works in uh he does sort of vascular stuff too so he's like yeah stitch together this nerve
took me like six hours and you can't even see it i'm like damn that's crazy he's got steady hands
i mean so did he ever push you to go into
the medical field then yeah i mean he knew i you know he pushed me to be an er doctor he's like
you should do er doctor uh because i was going to high school in santa cruz and her college in
santa it was in santa clara i'm sorry and he's like this is what you need to do you need to be
an er doctor so you have two 48-hour shifts,
and the rest of the week you can surf in Santa Cruz.
And then.
Not a bad life.
Yeah, and then.
That's what my buddy Tom's doing.
Yeah, right?
Yeah.
And then after a while he's like, all right, we know you can't be a doctor.
You didn't score well enough?
I was just, you know, I was drinking Four Loko.
Yeah.
And he's like all right you're
gonna be a dentist they have a great lifestyle it's like you you know be a dentist and i'm like
dad i'm an ambassador of stoke yeah so what was that conversation like he actually encouraged me
to go into entertainment oh okay yeah because in like a senior year um i was like i was like i'm
gonna go be a producer like i had any idea what that meant you know sounds cool um i was like i was like i'm gonna go be a producer like i had any idea with
them you know sounds cool yeah i was like yeah i'll be a producer like you know i can i didn't
know anything and he's like um i think you should go into performing and um and then once i because
that's what i always really wanted to do i just i'm the youngest of five. So, and they're successful. So like, I never really
had like that. I was like, am I going to be the one that like goes into like the riskiest field?
But once I got the green light from him, I was like all in. I was like, oh, this is my passion
now. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. So it was all, he's like, yeah, I'm like like oh stoke yeah i can do that so so ambassador of stoke yeah
i mean first of his kind i i would say i think if you know a couple years ago if people said
that they would be like you know even probably then people were like what now it's like i don't
know what you guys do what a lot of people do. Zuckerberg probably sounded crazy when he invented Facebook too.
Yeah.
I mean, this is all uncharted territory.
Yeah.
You know, Stoke, Facebook.
I mean, like I said, I'm here in Burbank drinking Erewhon.
And I mean, you guys are doing great.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
I'm like, this is good.
I keep saying that, but I'm like, you know, dad, I get to go to Erewhon.
That's like.
Right.
You made it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What do you think is like the biggest misconception about being a lifestyle ambassador?
I'd say that like you probably aren't on your computer or on your phone, checking your emails,
checking your text messages but i
think a lot of you know like it's still like if you work and i see this too with a lot of freelancers
and even surfers like i i mean it's like you still gotta like run that part of the business
i think there's a lot of people are are like, oh, especially for me,
you know, oh, you're at this place, at this place.
Like, I think a lot of people show
the more glamorous parts of the job,
which is everyone.
No one's posting like, oh, you know, the worser things.
But I think there's maybe a misconception
that like, oh, everything just happens for people
right like i never thought that like i don't really think things are accidents like
you know like people get discovered or people just even good surfers it's like there's tons
of good surfers that like never could get sponsored and not to say there's a lot of
great surfers even now that don't have sponsors that deserve sponsors but they they gotta run that part of the business they gotta like
hustle they gotta meet people they gotta get the sponsorship right send their clips to surfer
magazine yeah like they gotta bother people and i think there's i mean even you gotta bother people
yeah i think that's something i've really learned is that like if you want people to notice you you have to bother them and i think people get worried that if they bother
people they won't like them but they really don't care and i yeah i think like even myself like i'll
talk to people and like they'll be like yeah let's work together let's do something and i'm like yeah
and then like i get distracted and like forget maybe i open their text read it don't text them back i don't know
if that's what's worse leaving the text unopened but you know it's like you know i if some if
someone keeps like hitting me up like oh like following up following up it's like oh yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah like instead of like i don't find that annoying at all especially if i'm already
talking or engaging with you like and they got to be thinking about you. Yeah. Like it puts them top of the head.
Because again, like I think if you're in a position where maybe you're not in a traditional
field area or something, it's like you don't work on a traditional schedule.
And that's to answer your question too.
Like people thinking maybe like you're not really working going in office nine to five but
sometimes i'll be even for myself i'll be on the computer from like 5 p.m to 2 in the morning
you know and with all the stuff of the internet it's like it's cool how it um it's sort of like
a double-edged sword because it gives sort of pretty much everyone the opportunity to to make
their presence known to like build up a following.
But then at the same time,
you know,
it's not like the old days where you just get like an agent or something.
And then they,
they're like,
Oh,
I'm going to make you a star or whatever.
It's like,
you gotta be your own producer,
own publicist.
Um,
which you got to create that for yourself,
which I think is great.
Cause I think back in the old days,
I,
I really do think in certain industries, whether it be entertainment, music, you know, I'm sure a lot of things, too.
It was really like there's gatekeepers.
Yeah.
Really.
Like and I think now the Internet and even for corporation businesses, too, the Internet's kind of opened the playing field.
Yeah.
It's democratized a little.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Which is cool because it's like, you field yeah it's democratized a little yeah yeah yeah
which is cool because it's like you know it's like if you anyone can make a video and make a
website now figure out how to make a product and you can start your own business you can start
you know doing entertainment you can start doing. You can start doing all these things and be successful.
That wasn't reality back in the day.
You had to meet the right agent.
You had to meet the right person.
Otherwise, good luck.
Yeah.
What do you think about the state of the world?
Man, I can't answer that.
I say the world right now i'm drinking an arowan blue drink i'm in burbank it's a beautiful day i'm about to probably go to arowan after this and get some food
test out the food nice state of the world state of my world today is great. The rest, I don't know.
I can't really comment properly on that.
But it's a crazy world we live in.
I like that perspective of just like, well, you know, things are good right here.
I mean, again, not saying that things aren't good. There are people, you know, not to like discount what other people are going through.
But I don't, I think it's tough.
We can do both.
Yeah, it's tough to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Yeah, I'm not trying to do that, especially right now.
Yeah, I think it's a balance.
I have not decided to go into politics just yet.
Yeah, it's a balance.
You know, again, state of the world, you know, anything's possible.
I think about it sometimes,
but I've done so many awful things,
not awful things,
but embarrassing things that I just know if I ran for something,
I'd be,
I'd be ensuring that all that stuff came out and had maximum humiliation.
Like for me,
everything about me is all on the internet.
So I'm like,
you feel transparent.
Yeah.
I'm like,
here I am.
Is there stuff you don't share with your audience though? That like you feel transparent yeah i'm like here i am is there stuff you don't share
with your audience though that like you want to um i would say yeah i i that's a really good
question because i am pretty transparent however like you know i don't really share my bad days
like i'm not because i want to share what you guys share, the stoke. You know, like, being positive.
Like, I am a very positive person.
And so, like, you know, if I got a ticket and, you know,
if I got a ticket and got pulled over in L.A.
and rear-ended someone, I'm probably not going to post about that.
But if I'm going to go surfing after and be at the beach,
I'm not trying to take pictures of non-good situations also,
or necessarily.
Today, I'm going to post what I'm doing because this is awesome.
Got my Erewhon.
Got Chad.
Got JT.
This is a great day.
But after this, I don't know. We'll see. got my air one got chad got jt this is a great day but you know
after this i don't know we'll see but yeah i'd say like i don't really show
my bad days but maybe people want to see my bad days
yeah i don't know i think they just like knowing you have bad days yeah i do have bad days and
all right i mean for anybody yeah yeah but i i agree like now that
i've been doing it a little bit i'm like yeah i don't think i need to tell people about all the
bad stuff or and maybe i need some more time to digest the bad stuff before i talk about it yeah
also so it's not so like burning yeah because also too it's like i feel like the the not as
positive things in your day,
you're usually not probably like taking pictures or videos or like unless you.
Yeah, that'd be a funny video.
You're like, I'm getting a ticket right now.
Like, yeah, like this is my Instagram day.
And it's like, oh, like my trash fell over, you know, like here, you know,
I got a ticket.
I got like, you know, all the things that people.
I haven't moved from the couch in six hours.
So literally, yeah, like, you know,
and I would say like I should show maybe more of that
because there's days I don't move from the couch for six hours.
Like, you know, but again, it's like,
but then if I go outside after that.
Can I ask you something?
Is it hard to get so much male attention?
Yeah.
Yes and no.
I mean, I think it's like, you know, that's a good question in terms of like wanting of what I want to post or not post.
picture in a bikini looking pretty on the beach is going to get a lot more likes than me posting a picture with like my fiance or me posting a picture of my cat right you know and like i'd
probably say i one thing i don't share enough like is like posting pictures of my cat i have
if you look at my phone it's like literally thousands of pictures of my cat.
Again, I'm not naive to think people follow me to see my cat.
Well, then you're more self-aware than like, I mean, so many people post photos of their animals.
Like Joe Rogan posts photos of his dog.
That's the most beautiful dog.
But I think Marshall's special.
Marshall's the one dog.
I'll look at Marshall all day.
And I have friends who only post photos of their dogs and cats. It makes me think they're
a little weird sometimes. But because
I don't have a pet, so I don't understand that.
You're not like a pet guy.
I think I am. I'm not in a position right now
to do a good job taking care of one.
So I have 48 unread text messages.
I mean,
we gotta work on this. I don't understand that bond.
But I think if I did have a dog, I'd probably end up.
But I'm also like, you know, these photos I take, like, yeah, I do share some.
I'm not just, you know, no cat photos ever.
But it's like, you know, oh, there's my cat sleeping.
There's my cat sleeping in a ball.
There's my cat sleeping on his back.
There's my cat sleeping in a ball. There's my cat sleeping on his back. There's my cat eating.
It's, you know, it's like, it doesn't,
if I shared every day how many photos I took of my cat,
people would think I was like a crazy cat lady.
Maybe I am.
That's what I just don't show.
I do understand the impulse of that.
Cause when I, like, like JT,
whenever I see photos of like only their dog,
I'm like, you know, do you do, you know, whatever. Yeah, you're like, what the hell is your life? But then when I go see like like only their dog I'm like you know do you do you know whatever yeah you're like
what the hell is your life but then I go see like my mom's dog with the golden retriever I'm like I
want to do like a photo session with his dog all day yeah it's like there's especially golden
retrievers you just want to so cute there is something inherently about avocado toast that
makes you want to photograph right 100% what's what's of all the places you want to photograph it. Right? Yeah. 100%. Of all the places you travel to, which place has the best food?
Ooh, good question.
Southern California.
I mean, again, not saying traveling.
Southern California has some of the best Mexican.
Yeah, that's what I'm going to think of it.
And Asian food.
I mean, which are my two favorite food.
Japan actually had amazing food um i was really
blown away and i actually i'm like like i'm like oh i love uh hawaiian food so hawaii is great
too but overall i'd say california is like pretty solid oh that's something like mexican i mean
best tacos burritos pedros Pedro's, I mean.
Oh, yeah, I got a t-shirt from there.
Yeah.
Yeah, bright green.
I love it.
It's, I mean.
I don't really remember the food that well.
It's not the most high-end food, but.
Better than Los Gal?
It's solid.
All right. It's like the best post-serve pre-serve meal pedro's pedro's good
you guys got to get a pedro's deal i had a subpar fish taco last night where from that kept me in
the dark for days um public public school yeah i think I know that place. Yeah. Yeah. Where is that Culver City? That sounds so trendy
Oh, yes. Yes is trendy and it was not authentic. Yes. Yeah, I like like street tacos
Like I want the guy with the cart. Yeah, I want the al pastor. I want you know, the molitas
Yeah, like I want like what I want authentic like like the pub, someone called public school fish taco.
I mean, what were you thinking?
Yeah.
You know, that's a good point.
I should have gotten the Reuben.
You're right.
Like, you know, like that's why I'm like, where did you go?
You're in Southern California.
Public school sounds like I was like, you're at a public school.
Like what?
That serves mimosas.
Yeah.
How is the mimosa though oh i'm not drinking for
uh at the moment i'm on the i'm doing like a six month the stokers are joining yeah yeah yeah yeah
sorry i forgot about that i saw that oh did you see it yes where are you in that now i'm about
three and a half weeks in damn so we can't go have a mimosa right now?
Unfortunately.
I can watch you guys drink mimosas.
So six months.
I don't really drink mimosas that much.
You don't?
I do once in a while.
That's kind of like another basic thing.
It's like you would do your avocado toast mimosa next to it.
I do love mimosas.
Do you party a lot?
Yeah, I drink. Yeah. Recreationally. When you were on tour, were you like? No, no, no. mimosa next to it i do love mimosas do you party a lot yeah yeah i drink yeah recreationally when
you were on tour were you like no no no you were just dialed in i was like pretty serious like i
always would like to have like a beer or something or like one drink but no no like now that i don't
compete i'll like go out my friends or like go to dinner like I love cocktails I love all that stuff so
for sure who doesn't
yeah I don't like cocktails that much
you don't yeah not to I'm sorry I'm always
contrarian but like but you like
these like fancy blue drinks I like beer
and wine and I like shots
okay but I don't like mixed drinks
my brother's trying to keep the calories down or what
it's that and it's also I just don't like the taste
of alcohol I just like being drunk.
So I just.
Yeah.
So I'm not going to sip something for pleasure.
I'm just going to drink something to get me where I want to go.
Utilitarian.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I can respect that.
Whenever I see vodka, whenever I order vodka soda, it's sort of like a burden.
You know, I'm like, I have to taste the vodka.
Yeah.
But I have to like.
That's why i just
chug it down but i do love mimosas because it's like you get you could just open it up and
especially bottomless you know you can just dive in keep going and get in that bubbly world go deep
i miss go deep a little bit though i haven't been raging you're missing it now is it because he's
because he's i mean this so it's six months and you got people doing it.
It makes it easier when people do it with you, right?
Yeah, accountability is legit.
And I've really been enjoying it, actually.
I've been like in love with learning, amped on learning, you know.
I want to learn French.
And he's really fun when he's sober, so it's like.
Oh, thanks.
Yeah, I was like, you're not, there's no difference.
Yeah, people say when I'm drunk, although I think maybe i was a little more introverted in college so that's why
i would drink more and i would be like you know while i'm crazy and people are like oh you're so
like fun last night to them but then now when i drink people like you're the same you're just a
little bit dumber yeah and i'm like oh that's that's good to know um So, but yeah, now I'm, you know, I'm taking on, I'm learning.
I like sobriety a lot.
I'm learning a lot.
I'm into it.
I mean, that's the thing.
There's, I think there's a time and place for everything.
For sure.
And, you know, for me, like if I have a couple of drinks at dinner, I still get up early,
go to the gym, do whatever i need to do
it's not good to excessively drink everyone yeah yeah our buddy nick i was telling him about that
he's like how's it going i'm like i'm just amped on learning right now you know like i'm gonna
learn a bunch of languages and he's like he's like oh that's interesting to know you know alcohol's
a depressant and see what it's depressing i'm like oh yeah so nick's a beast nick nick is a
beast i like this where do you identify as being from like do you are you like i'm a socal person
or i'm like hawaii yeah i that's the thing is i i kind of go wherever i'm at at the moment
and but i identify like you know i'd probably say orange county so if you win an award you're
gonna be like this is for Orange County.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
I bring it to the OC.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah.
I mean, it's the best place.
It's, I mean, arguable, but OC is amazing.
Would you ever want to go back full time or?
Yeah, I mean, definitely.
Like, I, you know, I spent my time there still, but it's, you know, it's hard.
Not too much happens there. You know, you got, it's hard. Not too much happens there.
You know, you got to be up here.
You got to be traveling.
But yeah, I would love to just like chill in San Clemente, go to Pedro's, go to the beach.
Yeah.
Every day of my life if I could.
It's nice.
It's a nice lifestyle.
All right.
Should we answer some questions?
Yeah.
Chad and JT, Lords of Stoke,
major props on everything you do for the community.
I feel like you're a prime example and a shiny beacon
for all the dudes out there trying to better themselves,
expand their mind,
and refuse to conform to the notions of society.
I don't know.
You have built a career and a life
pursuing your passion along the way.
In my eyes, found purpose.
This leads me to my question.
My brother and I graduated from college a few years ago
and are now both living back at home in SoCal, working pretty mundane, run-of-the-mill jobs.
He works in software sales and I'm in real estate finance, although neither of us are that hyped
about our careers and lack fulfillment. Now, after spending some time in the working world,
withering away in an office all day, the stoke levels we built during our time in college have
been depleted and are running dangerously low. We both aspire to do more, something different, although the burden and obligation of the working life has stripped us of
our niss. We often end our days attempting to ease the pain by seeking the devil's lettuce
and diving into some form of mindless TV. We know we would rather be creating content and exploring
the world, but it feels like society has dictated otherwise. So here's my question. How did you guys
break free from the shackles of the man and live the life you intended?
What initial steps did you take
when you first embarked on this journey yourself?
Thank you again for your constant words of positivity
and encouragement.
You've really shown what's possible with hard work,
dedication, creativity, courage,
and a desire to do good.
Sincerely, T.
Damn, that's a question.
This pertains to you as well,
since you created a career.
I mean, I think we kind of touched
on this a bit yeah i the first thing i'll say he's asking you guys but i'll interject my opinion as
the woman here the guest of honor is that a both their jobs don't sound bad i was like real estate
finance i was like lucrative yeah i was like that's a solid job to me sales solid job I think
um you know probably if they were to apply those skills into something else they maybe
more enjoy doing that'd be great but also like realizing them being in an office working
eight hours a day is what they're gonna have have to do no matter what you're doing.
If you're following your passion or not, it's not going to be a three-hour-a-day thing.
But, yeah, I mean, I get it.
That's the thing.
I always followed what I enjoy doing, and it happened to work out.
But I know that doesn't necessarily happen for everyone um so i'm pretty conscious of that reality but i mean what do you guys think on
that yeah i agree with you in a lot of ways like and i think that i was really really lucky that
my parents not only supported me emotionally in pursuing this but also supported
me financially so it's like it made it a whole hell of a lot easier i mean if you shout out
parents yeah shout out to my mom and dad um but uh yeah i don't i never know what to tell people
with this stuff because i'm like i'm not gonna you have a good job that so that means a lot
what i think is interesting though is you take though, is you take what you know.
You take what you're good at.
They have this job.
Sounds like a probably on paper good job.
Maybe they don't enjoy it.
But what can you do with your current skill set that you enjoy doing?
That's what that's, I think, the question that needs to be asked.
And I think also it really doesn't matter what I say, if you're meant to leave that job and do something
else, no matter what I say, you're still going to go do that. Like that's already who you are.
It's already in your head. You might just need that little tip, but even if I didn't do it,
it's coming. I think if you want it, you're going to it a hundred percent and I also think though in their situation start a side business start something on the side don't leave your job
until your side hustle whether it be creating content starting a business doing whatever
test it out you know you work full time, you still got the weekend.
You still got Saturday, Sunday.
I think something too people need to realize is how important utilizing your free time is
and what you utilize it for.
Because I have so many friends that have corporate jobs
and do blogging on the side,
that do a side business that kill
it to a point where eventually then they leave their corporate job and do their
own thing so that's what I think and it's like I think figuring out what you
like to do what you're good at and how to make it financially work for you yeah
I agree.
And yeah, I definitely agree with the reality of the situation,
especially for us and stuff.
But I'm totally on board with the fact that, you know, it sounds like they want to create content.
You know, they have their job, but, you know,
they've got to have time on the weekends.
There's opportunities to start
doing that and um and then if they really want to take that route i mean uh for me like personally
it was it wasn't like i just sort of like tiptoed into it i was just like it was like a certainty
in like my heart i was like i was like this is what i'm gonna do no matter what you told your dad you're
like i was like i'm like ambassador of stoke that's what i just came out of the womb to do
so i think you know with any of that kind of stuff it's got to be a certainty to the point
where when you're pursuing it you're happy sort of regardless of how much success you have or not
100 because a lot of things too you could be very successful and not make money at it for a while and then oh it's almost
guaranteed if you're into one of the arts or yeah i mean exactly so that's the thing like even a lot
of my friends who do art and stuff like they do their other job to do their passion which i totally
respect as well even my friends that surf it's like i have so many
friends that do construction corporate jobs and they work to surf you know and then they go and
do a surf trip and it's like you know maybe they could have made it a pro surfer maybe they could
have but they their life did a different way so yeah i just finished the book about phil knight
from nike and um he was working other jobs when he started Nike for like the first five years.
And it turned out great.
Yeah.
What up, dogs?
Frodo here.
I had a chugging contest with Carl and dominated.
But here's the sitch.
He keyed Boner into my car afterwards.
Should I continue chugging?
Of course, dude.
You've got to continue chugging of course dude you gotta continue chugging yeah yeah i had a friend
who upset a girl like he slept with her and like didn't call her back was rude or whatever and she
keyed an asshole into his car nice so he had to come into work every day with just this fat how
long did he wait to get fixed you know i i it was like i was only at the job for a couple weeks so
i didn't even know when it got fixed.
It might still be there for all I know.
He's just proud of it.
He's like, I am an asshole.
Yeah.
Dude, I love that.
I think that's the...
Very Carrie Underwood.
Dude, that's hilarious.
It's a very OC story.
But if I did that to somebody,
if a girl ghosted me and I carved asshole into her car,
that'd still be pretty hilarious some girls driving around it says asshole on her car she'd be like i think i kind of like
jt yeah i ghosted this guy i like that level of intensive intensity though yeah like i like that
someone cared enough about you right like that's like like like she you know like maybe they rethink
that i think about stuff like that a lot like with taylor swift she writes songs about all of her ex
boyfriends and everyone's like like she dated harry styles for like a month and she wrote like
20 songs about him i'm like that's amazing like the impact that he had yeah and then i would i
would be more afraid of being the guy that she didn't write any songs exactly yeah like or like
she didn't she i mean you dated
for five years don't have a single song yeah like good good for this guy you know yeah good on him
like he did something right yeah you must be chugging good if guys are carving boner into
your car afterwards yeah i'd say double down on the chugging double down it's time to go pro
what up legends i come to you in a dire sitch i love shredding on two wheels but i'm not on a
motorcycle or bike you guessed it i shred on a scooter i got no shame about it me and my scooter
have a similar relation to chad to his hair and tan both of which are fire thank you when i go to
the skate park i get looked at all askance which is a bummer but so be it the sitch has escalated
though and a skater named rick who goes by puck no lie threatened to beat my ass for getting in
his way which is bs because i take considerate lines in the bowl he also lobbed in some offensive remarks about greek people
of which i am what should i do there's a lot of stuff going on in this question um
dude i mean you know the first who, the revolutionaries were always taken down.
You know, I mean, the public is, you're going to take some hits because you're the first,
he's like one of the first guys who's really, you know, taking strides in this sport.
So, you know, I'd say feel, you know, be honored that, you they're if people are hating on you it's because
you're doing something right i think yeah so i and he says he can he carves considerable lines
you know the uh ethnic slurs i think are a little over the top so i'd maybe take umbrage with that
and just be like hey you can call me like a boner or something but you know
leave that out of it but i'm gonna scoot regardless dude fire
i think you said it perfectly thanks yeah yeah anastasia do you want to stay with us while we
do our beeves base and beave babe of the week yeah all right let's do it i'm staying like i
said i i'm making the most i'm probably gonna go to Walgreens and then see where the day takes me.
I'm going to get to Erewhon.
I'm going to be the Erewhon Don.
Oh, nice.
It's tough.
That's a very coveted position.
There's a hierarchy at the Erewhon that I go to.
Really?
Yeah.
There's people who run the show, and I admire the hell out of them.
I'll see this. You will. You will? Yeah. There's people who run the show and I admire the hell out of them. I'll see this.
You will, you will.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right.
We'll go first
so you can formulate.
Chad, who is your
beef of the week?
My beef of the week,
sorry to be crude here,
is my bladder.
In my family,
we are known
for having small bladders.
So, you know,
I do have to, you know i you know i i do have to you know hit the hay
how i want people to think i'm diabetic but you know a fair amount and you know it gets in the
way i had to go pee although i do drink a lot of liquids i don't know i was struggling to come with
a beef and i had to pee so i'm like my beef is with my bladder right now because I have to pee.
What up, bladder?
Maybe I should do Kegel stuff.
But you interrupt movies.
I have to pull over for drives to the gas station,
and you interrupt conversations.
So I'd say be a little more cognizant of my activities.
This is to my bladder.
Be a little more cognizant of my activities
and try and say what up when it's not mid-conversation.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, because I mean I saw, I mean I was sitting here,
you had to go pee and I was a little bit like, whoa.
I got to go pee pretty soon too though.
I can hold it forever. i got oh really yeah yeah i it's it's in my family like right now like i'm
not gonna get up and go pee so i get that i could answer my pants too and i just want to hop out for
a second yeah i think i think i have a little bit of that too if we're gonna have to like go on
stage or something i have to pee like 10 times and it's
really well it's all psychological it's not you are very hydrated too i am hydrated yeah that's
my problem i'm dehydrated probably you gotta drink the water it's the number one thing all my doctor
your your doctor soon to be hubby he must be telling you yeah he tells me stuff all the time
i don't listen yeah it's kind of like a dad it's like oh i'm the same way if someone's like telling me what to do i'm like yeah i'm
gonna rebel yeah i'm not gonna drink water i'm gonna drink coffee and dehydrate not around i
drink so well my thing is i drink so much coffee that it's just like i love coffee who doesn't
my beef some people sorry my beef of the week is the indian whatsapp lynchings it's a spate of mob related
violence and killings following the spread of rumors primarily related to child abduction and
organ harvesting via the whatsapp message service so um in india people have been sending around
fake messages on whatsapp that gain a lot of momentum within the community that someone
abducted a child and then without any due process they're killing some of these people and it's just not fucking cool all right should not be doing
that damn yeah and it's further complicated because whatsapp in india has actually been used
to stop a lot of child abductions. Wow. Yeah, so...
When did this start?
Like...
2017.
Okay.
So it's been around for a bit,
but I just hadn't heard about it.
And I guess, like, kind of mob violence
and vigilante justice has been an issue
in some of the, like, interior places in India.
But they're mostly localized events.
But now it's, like, kind of spreading like a...
Like a contagion. Like it's going viral. Yeah, exactly but now it's like kind of spreading like a like a contagion it's going viral yeah exactly like it's like okay this let's get together and
yeah and it's a good example of just people being irrational and fueled up with energy about
something that they haven't really thought about all the way through so just not chill so that's
not not chill i mean it sounds like know, we have next door here.
If you guys ever go on next door app, there's a lot of neighborhood.
Oh, is that like a crime reporting one?
Yeah, it's crime.
It's missing animals.
It's missing, you know, people selling.
It's everything.
And then there's another one citizen.
Have you ever stolen something?
No. You've never stolen something? No.
You've never stolen something your whole life?
I mean, maybe.
I don't know.
From like a store or something?
No.
Respect.
But like, it's like, this is a typical post on Nextdoor app.
Missing cat.
My cat ran away. Find my cat ran away find my cat find my cat whatever missing cat reward then the cats come back and then there's like conversations about people
seeing the missing cat other places like oh i thought i saw a cat posting a picture it looks
nothing like the cat and then
someone starts fighting with that person like are you stupid did you not look at the first picture
and see what the missing cat looks like and then they get in a whole confrontation
so it's a lot of like people it's almost like facebook but its own fighting realm where people
will then just start commenting their opinions or like let's say like there's a broken streetlight.
Like someone will be like, well, you know, there shouldn't even be a streetlight there.
Can't believe they don't have a stop sign.
And then people will fight with each other on it or discuss.
But it's these community groups, basically.
It's like a community group chat.
Yeah, my girlfriend got a text the other day from one of those services
and was like, man, with knife, 100 feet, reported 100 feet from you.
I'm like, I don't want to know.
That's citizen, I believe.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, my friends are getting those alerts too.
I don't do that one because that one seems scary.
But that one's like you get the alerts of things.
But it's informative. But again, it's like at what point it's like you get the alerts of like things but it's informative but again it's like
at what point it's like oh i saw you know guy with blue jean deli hat on you know somewhere
doing something and then there happens to be someone with a blue jean deli hat on and
someone confronts and like the situation you're saying is like not chill i would never do anything i'm just using that as an example because you have the hat on i stole
when i was young okay that's why i was asking you yeah so you you might get on that app yeah i might
for stealing a book from barnes and noble but then you return it when you're done but you don't even
need to do that because if you return it within two weeks on red they give you a refund really
yeah but it has to be on red but they don't close you oh that's that's good yeah library
yeah i stole a tanning bed sash but i don't think it's on record yeah when you said still i was like okay what like have i like been at a restaurant and like
them not ring up all my drinks and me not say anything sure i appreciate you like yeah like but
did i like go in there and like rob intentionally yeah like was i like ill intent? Yeah. You know? For sure.
Chad, who is your babe of the week?
Wait, I didn't get to say my beef. Oh, I'm so sorry.
Oh, man, my bad.
My beef is you.
What?
Now for just forgetting that I had a beef of the week.
Nice.
I deserve it.
I was, because actually I was like, shit.
I was kind of glad.
I was like, did I just steal this one?
Like, did I just steal?
He asked me, me i said maybe he
forgot and i'm like because i didn't really have any beefs of the week like again i'm like life's
good i'm chilling like everything's good and then when you just passed me over i was like okay
i'm sorry i gave you the beef okay or my bed chad who is your babe of the week my babe of the week is my nike running shoes uh they've been with me for
gotta say six years and they have been fire they have carried me through i don't even know how
many miles of sprints i mean i've been using these things i probably ran across the entire world
cumulatively in these shoes damn and people are telling me they're like
dude you gotta get new shoes you're gonna ruin your feet and i'm like i can't leave them behind
so you know i just want to call them out make sure that they know that you know i care about
how much they've done for me and like you know if i do have to move on to a new pair of shoes like
to move on to a new pair of shoes, like my Nike running shoes,
like you mean a lot.
You're lime green, and you've toned my calves, you've kept me lean,
and you've carried me across a lot of treadmill rubber.
Amen.
Solid.
My babe of the week is Juju Smith-Schuster, wide receiver for the pittsburgh steelers we're coming into the season he's the number one on the depth chart at wide receiver
we're taking over the spot from antonio brown the greatest receiver in steelers history
and someone who um i just don't connect to anymore and i'm really excited for what juju
schuster could do this season i think he's's going to go for 1,500-plus yards and 10 tutties,
and this is for the fellas in my fantasy football league.
I can't even help it.
I've got to say it.
I'm going after him, so I want him, and I'm going to get him.
Anastasia, who is your babe of the week?
Again, another one that I'm just a little stumped on but
when I think of babe I think of my cat and you know we're talking here we're being open honest
baby week gonna go for my cat Gloria she's you know I could show you some pics i was looking at my phone to pull up some
pics she you know she's done a lot of like laying around eating you know like cat things but
i mean she's she's pretty amazing at the end of the day i mean she gave cuddles
she makes biscuits you know the cat kneading thing and uh she's she's a pretty big babe i
mean her body type she's definitely a bit heavier than she probably could be but she looks good
this is like a photo oh wow she's so cute, she's a babe. She's a star. Yeah.
I'm glad to... Snuggly.
Can she come be a guest on the podcast?
I mean, are you...
I would love to talk to a cat for two hours.
I think that'd be...
No one's done that before.
Yeah, she's cute, right?
Yeah, she's the new Garfield.
I'm just showing a pic of her.
Yeah.
I mean, that was actually kind of easy for me.
Yeah. I thought it was... I was like, oh, maybe... No kind of easy for me. Yeah.
I thought it was like, oh, maybe, no, definitely her.
I felt it.
I could feel the passion and the love.
Yeah.
The beef, though, like I was getting,
so I'm glad that whole thing just happened.
Yeah.
Chad, who is your legend of the week?
This one's actually kind of sad,
but my legend is my buddy Robert, who unfortunately passed about a week ago.
I'm not sure if I want to say his last name.
But yeah, he was just, you know, I've known since high school and college.
And, you know, super smart, charismatic, cheerful guy guy had a great smile loved music was passionate
about music and art and uh we had some great times together you know so i just wanted to
um honor oh my voice is cracked uh honor him and uh i miss you buddy and um
yeah he was just a great guy.
And yeah, sad moment.
Damn.
It's awesome that you're honoring him.
I'm sorry that he passed.
Yeah, no, he's a legend.
That's the thing is like, that's why there's legends.
Because legends don't die.
I love it.
They keep going.
Yeah, we...
And I mean, you got to remember the ledge status. Yeah. He lives on. Yeah. I mean, you got to remember the ledge status.
Yeah.
He lives on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah, sorry to bring it down, guys.
No, not at all, man.
No, it just got me thinking.
I was like, damn, ledge status is, like, real.
Yeah.
I had to honor him.
He's a great guy.
Did you do a paddle out? Are you going to do the paddle out to honor him he's a great guy and um you do it did you do a
paddle out are you gonna do the paddle out no he's from new york so i don't think anyone else
no but you gotta do a paddle out for him regardless just solo yeah like like you know it's nice to go
for a surf and go in the water and just like look at the sun like you know like yeah do something
once with him in mind yeah do something like
just where you're zen and you're just out in the water thinking of him and and think of the good
times yeah and the ledge the things that the ledge status yeah he would have liked that i'll do a
paddle that actually inspired me because i had a friend who passed and i haven't talked about it
yet but uh pay on my my buddy from high school,
who was so larger than life.
And yeah, it was almost like a person out of folklore.
Like just was one of those guys who was like 15,
but looked like 30 and acted like a 30 year old.
Yeah.
And like talked about things like a 30 year old.
It was just so far past me.
Say yes to being a legend.
That's what Payone did i i love it i mean my legend of the week is you know again i'm kind of drawing
blanks on some of these some of these questions and we didn't prep you yeah i didn't know but i
like i like kind of going in and thinking of things on we go, but I say like, and I don't want you guys to get emotional
because we've been doing a lot of emotional things,
but I think JT and Chad, you're my legend of the week.
Thank you.
I think our last guest had us as his legend too.
Brad?
Yeah, did he?
I think he did.
Maybe we're just not that creative.
No, it's not that it's not that but
i'll say why i think you guys are ledge and i've touched on this many times i had no idea i was
gonna get some expensive drink for marijuana it's like you i mean that's like a ledge status right
there it's like i i actually had texted chad being like, I'm like, I stopped at the gas station.
Do you guys want some drinks?
Remember?
I said, you need to pull up the text to show him.
And he was like, yeah, he got the proof.
Evidence.
Show the evidence.
You show him.
Oh, it's now?
Just to say.
And he was like, Chad basically was like,
texted me back saying, nah, nah.
I'm running late.
Deal with it.
No, I said it didn't go down that way.
I said I wasn't late.
I stopped to go get a drink of some water from the gas station.
And I said, do you or JT want something?
And he was like, nah we we cool we we chill i'm always stoked when
someone buys me a drink food something yeah they thought about you yeah like how i with this it's
like they were like health is in mind it's gonna lift wellness yeah it's good hospitality too
yeah my friend joe you go to his place you're just like you feel taken care of oh it's it's good hospitality too yeah my friend joe you go to his place you're just like you feel
taken care of oh it's it's wonderful i'll go to this you have like every type of drink and
yeah he's just got a robust fridge and then just the feng shui of the living room is like so well
designed for kicking it and uh my place is not like that so okay yeah i live in a spartan bachelor
pad that has too many fridges stacked on top of
each other okay which is pretty badass is it filled with air wand juices though or no
so this is some days yeah podcast days okay we also do a quote of the week chad so if you want
to chad who is your quote of the week? It comes from Superbad.
No one's gotten a handjob in cargo shorts since Nam.
I love that.
My quote of the week is...
I have two, and my brother just sent them to me.
The first one is,
Please, sir, don't kick my ass. I'll do anything to get out of a beating from Detroit Rock City. I love that honesty, you know, at the moment of truth. And then
a really big one. And I'm so glad my brother sent this to me. I wish I knew how to quit you.
I wish I knew how to quit you from Brokeback Mountain. Beautiful. A love so powerful, it feels like it could break them.
Like you'd almost be better off if you didn't experience it.
But in the end, we're all better off that they did.
Man, I don't know if I have a quote of the week.
Is there something, is there like a pearl of wisdom
that someone gave you throughout your years that you think has been especially valuable sure sure but i don't know
who said it that's okay you could quote yourself i don't want to quote myself that but i could we
don't know who said a lot but i don't know who said this but i like the quote and the mindset of it's a marathon not a sprint i dig it very true but i also don't know
who said it should i just make that my quote now someone who is slow i'm yeah you should a sprinter
no yeah a marathon not a sprinter yeah marathon runner yeah marathon runner? Not a sprinter. Yeah, a marathon runner?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think you should hone that down.
But that's the thing.
Does anyone know?
Aaron, do you know who said it?
I said what?
It's a...
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
That was probably...
Oh, man. Tony La Russa
I was trying to think of someone with no legs
oh my god
Colonel
Colonel Dam
what's his name
Lieutenant Dan
Lieutenant Dan
not Tony Robbins
or someone
no
no I don't think so
he I was
I should have just Googled some
stuff of him.
I think it's a great pearl.
I just don't know who said it, though.
I think it's kind of one of those quotes that's like
universal.
Yeah, it popped up out of the ground
and started floating.
I don't know if anyone owns it.
Nor should anyone.
But that's kind of like,
should I own it? Imagine if it's not trademarked
when does this when does this launch yeah next next wednesday so like
i got some work to do this week we are to our last question of the the podcast thanks again
for joining us i mean this is special is special. I got to come back.
I'll just come back for the drinks.
I love them for you.
Chad, what is your line of the week
for getting after it?
So this comes from that song
TikTok by Kesha,
where she says,
bro, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack.
So my getting after is
let's go to dental school
with Kesha.
I like that.
I like that a lot. Smart shit.
Mine is from a
stoker who sent it to me.
Ckeeds on Instagram.
He had two. I'm just going to do
one. He said
who's ready to bring up the sun?
Parentheses for when you're ready to rage all night resulting in the sun having FOMO therefore coming out to tan your bods wow
so you're like lifting up the sun with your raging wow that's cool take the day off Apollo
so this is again something that I should have thought about before I came here, but I'm here.
And I like that you went with like a song lyric,
but a song lyric that speaks to me a bit is Katy Perry, Firework.
Because, baby, you're a firework.
You know, I'm just going to leave it at that.
But it's like a metaphor as it's like an explosion.
Like you're spectacular.
In the sky that everybody can see.
Yeah.
You're going to be the party.
Yeah.
And there's no embarrassment.
No, no.
It's like you're a,'re like it's a leveled lyric
you're something there's levels to that we marvel at you yeah but then like you're there
but you're on display but then you're doing your thing and you're ephemeral too
you don't stay in the sky no and that just kind of hit me when he when he said song lyric
and he brought up kesha and i was like you know thinking of songs i was listening to and i i
thought about that today i like picturing a bunch of dudes getting ready to rage or ladies and everyone's just like because we're fireworks yeah no baby i love katie perry
gonna go high high high i think i think we're sky sky sky so that song though think about it
it gets people amped oh her early stuff was just like...
I love Katy Perry.
And it's because, you know why?
She would take the top off my car even if it was a sedan.
It's like there's levels to that song and that lyric.
For sure.
All right.
She's a firework.
She is.
Are we wrapping it up?
I think so, dog.
All right, Anastasia, thank you so much for coming in.
Thank you, guys, for having me.
Episode 90 of Going Deep.
Damn, 90.
Yeah, we covered a lot of stuff, but it was deep.
It was everything.
Now I'm like, I should have come for the 100th.
Yeah.
Maybe I come back.
Next time. We'd love that. that guys thank you so much for listening um thank you for writing in thank you for being stokers keep writing those
reviews keep being beasts jt you want to say anything thank you and boom clap stokers later that's it that was fun if you need advice
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are really nice
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