The Fabulous Follow Your Curiosity Archive

Five and a half years of great interviews

Jul 15, 2024

Back in April, I released a special podcast episode looking back at what I’ve learned in five years of hosting the Follow Your Curiosity podcast. I only just realized that I never really highlighted the contents of the podcast archive.

How remiss of me!

Five years is a long time, even when you’re only releasing an interview every other week—which is how I set things up so I wouldn’t run myself into the ground before I even got the show going. Self-preservation is one of my key goals in any creative enterprise, after all! That’s still a lot of interviews, though, and that doesn’t count the 85 pep talk episiodes so far (and counting!).

Obviously, I can’t dig into all of them here, but I can tell you about a few of my favorites (which is a bit like choosing your favorite children, but I’ll do my best!), and I may include a highlight here and there with future posts, too.

By the way, have I mentioned that there are transcripts now?! I’m so excited about it, because I’ve always wanted to have them, but they were incredibly expensive when I started, or horrifically time-consuming if I’d done them myself. I’ve been adding them to new episodes and going back to older ones as I have time, so it’s going to take a while to get them all added to the show notes on my website. I’ve added them for all the episodes highlighted here, so if you need them, they’re available at the link in the show notes in your podcast app (the links below will take you directly to the episode in your favorite player).

I was going to do five of my favorites from the last five years, but that was just too hard, so this will be the first five of ten favorites. The second five will come next week.

Robert Shearman

This is literally the episode that started it all. I met Robert Shearman at the last Regeneration Who convention in Baltimore in 2018. We started talking at a meet-and-greet and were still going a good hour later. I’d had the vague notion in the back of my head for a while to start a podcast, and that same little voice popped up and said, “You know, this guy would make a great podcast guest. For a show you don’t have yet, of course, but hey… would it hurt to ask? Worst case, he says no.” So I asked. He said yes. We recorded the interview on my iPad, because it’s what I had with me, before the weekend was out.

In addition to getting a really interesting look at Rob’s start as a writer, and the backstory to his 2005 Doctor Who episode, “Dalek,” which is still considered one of the best of the new series, having this recording meant that I had to go ahead with the podcast plan. I had sort of inadvertently invoked Stephen Colbert’s “get in trouble” plan on myself, and the pod was suddenly an actual, real thing. It worked beautifully, and it’s still going strong.

It also proved to me, yet again, that it never hurts to ask. That person you’re so scared is going to reject you might just surprise you and say yes. 😊

Paul McGann

Sometimes you learn that lesson and realize that you have to ask someone because if you don’t, you’ll wonder for the rest of your life if they would have said yes, and you’ll never stop kicking yourself for not having done it. That’s how I ended up interviewing Paul McGann, Doctor Who’s Eighth Doctor, in 2020.

Because it was relatively early in the lockdown era, when, as he put it, “No one has to be anywhere,” we had a leisurely conversation that spent a decent chunk of time on his experience taking on the role of the Doctor, but also how he got started in acting (it wasn’t what he expected to do as a kid), and other roles including The Monocled Mutineer and The Hanging Gale, recording for audio vs. television and theater, and the power of story— especially within a large fandom.

The interview was so long that I split it into two parts. (It’s still the longest one I’ve ever done.)

Orrin Evans

It’s really kind of cheating to just pick Orrin Evans here, because this conversation was the last of a unique series of three: Orrin, his sister Rachel Marianno, and his brother Todd. Their father was playwright and educator Don Evans, and their mother was a lyric soprano, so they grew up in an unusually artistic family. Todd is a local poet here in Trenton, New Jersey, and when I interviewed him and learned that his brother and sister were artists, too (Rachel is a poet and school administrator), I knew there was a rare opportunity to hear the story of a creative family from multiple points of view. And they’re all worth hearing.

Orrin is the youngest of the three, a Grammy-nominated jazz pianist who got there by deciding that “quitting is not an option.” Not only will this episode give you an interesting perspective into what it takes to get to the Grammys (and it may not be entirely what you expect), it might change your mind about the role of safety nets when you want to do something unconventional with your life.

(But seriously, listen to all three.)

Jennifer Nasta Zefutie

You don’t necessarily have to be a Grammy nominee or a TV actor to have a really inspirational story, as I’ve learned since I started this show. Jennifer Nasta Zefutie trained as a lawyer, but couldn’t get away from acting, even when she tried. (And she tried!)

Jennifer is the co-founder of the Pegasus Theater Company here in Central New Jersey, and her journey is one of the most unusual you’re ever likely to hear. On top of her story, we also talked about the idea of making sure you’re operating from your own definition of success, why failure is actually really important, and the improv concept of “Yes, and…” as a philosophy of life, not just a theatrical principle.

Coaching Call: Emily T.

When I started the podcast, my plan was for every other episode—at least for a while—to be a coaching call. I figured half an hour of free coaching in exchange for your call going out on the podcast seemed like a pretty good deal, but it turned out there wasn’t a ton of interest. Still, three brave souls (and one whose call was, alas, plagued with connection issues) volunteered, and the first was Emily.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what creativity coaching is like, any of the three calls is a great way to find out.

That’s the first five. Tune in next week for five more!

Two quick notes:

If you’re in the New Jersey area, I’m participating in the enchanting Ju-Ju Festival on Sunday, July 28 in Wall Township (near Asbury Park). I’m one of eight practitioners offering 20- 60-minute sessions in a variety of wellness modalities. If you’re interested, check out the list and pre-register here.

I’m in the process of turning my Make Bad Art workshop into a course! If you’re intrigued by this idea—especially if you’re prone to perfectionism and have trouble getting started on projects—I’d love to talk to you about what would make a course like this valuable to you. If you can spare 20-30 minutes, set up a time and we’ll talk! Thanks so much!