Ducking Realitea

Send us Fan MailAlicia—aka Big New Energy—is a Bay Area storyteller, single mom, and content creator who somehow makes history nerdy, small businesses, and quiet streets feel cinematic. She’s helped local shops hit their best sales in years, turned hidden corners of Richmond into destinations, and built a community off the strength of her voice and curiosity.In this episode, we dive into how she got here: growing up bullied, wrestling with self-doubt, and deciding, at some point, to stop letting other people’s opinions drive her life. We talk about having kids who were never supposed to walk or talk—and grow up speaking Mandarin. We unpack the “I don’t give a f*ck” mindset, navigating online hate, and the very real fear of putting your face (and heart) on camera.Alicia walks us through her content process—from explore days with her kids to late-night scripting and editing—and how she’s slowly turning that work into a business and future as a social media manager and consultant. This is a conversation about resilience, creativity, community, and giving yourself permission to be seen.Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailSome friendships change your life. Others change the lives of everyone around you.Karen Beckles returns to Ducking Realitea for her third appearance, this time joined by her longtime friend, collaborator, and "chum," Leia Mitchell. What started as conversations between two roommates during COVID slowly evolved into a partnership built on trust, personal growth, and a shared passion for helping people reconnect, with themselves and with each other.Together they talk about leaving careers that no longer aligned with their values, becoming certified life coaches, navigating entrepreneurship, and why healing doesn't always happen in therapy offices, it often happens over tea, honest conversations, and communities that make people feel seen.Karen also shares how Let's Gather & Sip grew from intimate gatherings in her apartment into a thriving community event in Alameda, while Leia explains the behind-the-scenes role she plays helping transform creative ideas into sustainable businesses.This conversation is funny, heartfelt, and full of reminders that healing isn't about having all the answers. Sometimes it's simply about finding people willing to ask better questions.If you've ever wondered how community gets built, or wished you had people who truly "get" you, this episode is for you.Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Ducking Reality Presents: Touch of the Tism, Siobhan, Holly, and Danielle take you from sticky bar floors to heavy-hearted truth in under two hours.They start with pure chaos: flip flops in dive bars, near-death toe incidents, and why melty cheese might be the only thing holding us together. Quickly, the tone shifts into something deeper—navigating parents’ depression, estate planning, and the brutal reality of watching the people who raised you fall apart. There’s inheritance drama, life insurance weirdness, and all the unsexy logistics of “grown-up” survival.Holly then unveils her darkly funny “apocalypse kill list” (spoiler: sports hooligans are in danger), which launches a wider conversation about entitlement, destructive fandoms, and performative attention-seeking. From there, they dive into queer history, Pride, pronouns, labels, and the tension between wanting to be respected and just wanting to buy groceries without a full identity interrogation.It’s raw, it’s irreverent, it’s political, and it’s full of belly laughs—exactly the kind of conversation you overhear at a bar and secretly wish you’d been invited into.Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailThis episode starts with Brian photographing 25 bands in 48 hours and somehow ends with swinger hotels, Japanese punk bands, AI, strip club playlists, and one of my favorite conversations we've had about creativity.Brian Paine and Johnny Dismal join me to pull back the curtain on what it's like to document a music scene from both sides of the stage. Brian talks about the obsessive post-production that helps him remember every band he shoots, why he never points out performers' onstage habits, and how social media and consent have completely changed candid photography. Johnny brings the performer's perspective: unsolicited feedback from strangers, the curse of hearing every wrong note, and why some of the best moments in music happen because someone didn't stop after making a mistake.Along the way we wander through Meta glasses, AI editing, Japanese punk hospitality, Bay Area music history, and how local scenes have evolved from competition to genuine community. We also spend some time talking about supporting opening bands, documenting local artists, and why the people behind the camera are just as much a part of the scene as the ones on stage.But somewhere in the middle, this conversation becomes about something much bigger than music.It's about making things because you love them. Leaving the mistakes in. Showing up for your community. Supporting each other instead of competing. And remembering that nobody creates anything worthwhile alone.Whether you've ever picked up a camera, started a band, written something, launched a business, or wondered if your work was "good enough," this episode is a reminder that perfection was never the goal.Sometimes the beautiful mistakes become the reason people remember you.Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailWell, Touch of the Tism is two weeks late.Before anybody asks... no, none of us are pregnant. 😂Honestly, we've just been busy being adults, which frankly feels like a design flaw. Between BottleRock, gallery resets, work, chronic pain, family stuff, and trying to remember where we left our keys, this episode took a little longer to make it out into the world.This one starts with us catching up and quickly devolves into the usual chaos.We talk about weird things people say when they think nobody is listening, what your bartender is probably thinking when you don't tip, breaking expensive things at work, leading teams when you're exhausted, and the weird guilt that comes with asking for grace when your struggles aren't always visible.There's also a conversation about chronic pain that hit a little harder than I expected. Because sometimes you're doing your absolute best and from the outside it just looks like you're running late.If you've ever been overwhelmed, underestimated, overworked, in pain, or just trying to hold your shit together with duct tape and caffeine, this one's for you.Thanks for hanging in the pond with us, my ducks. 💜Listen now.Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailCharles was born in Manila, raised in West Oakland, and shaped by a journey that includes skipping grades, rave days, a suicide attempt, paranoid schizophrenia, and two hospitalizations. Today, he’s a therapist serving school-age kids on Medi-Cal, bringing both clinical training and lived experience into the room.In this conversation, we talk about what psychosis actually feels like, why medication is lifesaving (not shameful), and how immigration, race, and class intersect with mental health. Charles shares candidly about navigating homelessness outreach, burnout, and working in systems that often underpay the very people trying to keep communities afloat.We also get into the beauty of Filipino culture—food, hospitality, and showing up for each other—as a quiet backbone of the Bay Area, and how love (hi, Jamie!) and community have held Charles through it all.If you’ve ever felt like your past disqualifies you from helping others, this episode flips that script and shows how surviving can become a powerful tool for service.Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailThis week I'm joined by Ilona Campbell, the creator behind Campbell Sells the Bay, for a conversation that goes far beyond real estate.Born in Ukraine and raised in San Francisco, Ilona shares her journey through Burning Man culture, opening one of Brooklyn's first vape shops, world travel, motherhood, and eventually becoming one of the Bay Area's favorite local history storytellers.We talk about Oakland history, East Bay neighborhoods, Fairyland, Lake Merritt, real estate, AI, community, and how understanding the story of a place can change the way you see it.It's a conversation about reinvention, curiosity, resilience, and why some of the most interesting stories are hiding right in our own backyard.If you love Bay Area history, Oakland stories, local culture, travel, entrepreneurship, and casual conversations about serious sh*t, this episode is for you.Guest: Ilona Campbell (@campbellsellsthebay)Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailHow the Canvas Became My Church with Jo Anne YadaJo Anne Yada joined me in the studio to talk about art, creativity, and teaching kids through music and self-expression. What I didn't expect was a conversation that would take us through growing up Mormon, leaving a high-demand religion, questioning long-held beliefs, and learning how to build a life that actually feels like your own.We talk about purity culture, family, faith, LGBTQ+ acceptance, church history, awkward first experiences with alcohol and coffee, and the freedom that comes from realizing you don't need someone else to tell you how to be a good person.Along the way, we dive into childhood nostalgia, Jem and the Holograms, David Bowie, Joan Jett, drag queens, art education, and the incredible community Jo Anne has built through murals, teaching, and creativity.At its heart, this episode is about finding your people, trusting yourself enough to ask hard questions, and discovering that sometimes what replaces the thing you leave behind becomes something even more meaningful.Funny, thoughtful, occasionally heartbreaking, and full of curiosity, this is exactly the kind of casual conversation about serious shit we love around here.In This Episode: Growing up Mormon and leaving the church  Faith deconstruction and personal freedom  Family, acceptance, and choosing love  Purity culture and church control  Art as healing and community building  Teaching creativity through music and storytelling  Building a life outside of other people's expectations Resources & Mentions: Rock the Blacktop — https://www.rocktheblacktop.com Alameda Gallery & Collective  Fireside Lounge  The BITE Model  Jem and the Holograms  David Bowie  Joan Jett  The Book of MormonSupport the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailJason Buckley drops into the pond for a conversation about punk rock, rent control, women-led music festivals, labor activism, and the weird ways community forms when life gets hard.Siobhan first met Jason at the She Shreds Music Fest, where he was running stage sound while helping his band Star Strut pull off an ambitious women-in-music festival that almost unraveled from pure chaos and exhaustion… but somehow came together beautifully anyway.From there, the conversation bounces through Hudson Valley nostalgia, brutal East Coast winters, DC’s legendary punk scene, underground radio stations, and Jason’s early days working with the AFL-CIO during Union Summer. They dig into how music, politics, labor organizing, and community activism all overlap more than people realize.The episode eventually lands in Alameda, where skyrocketing rents and a nightmare landlord pushed Jason into the fight for tenant protections through the Alameda Renters Coalition. What started as personal frustration turned into years of grassroots organizing, political battles, and helping shape local rent control efforts.Along the way, Siobhan and Jason also talk punk culture, weird music rabbit holes, growing up musical, and why kids would probably enjoy music education a whole lot more if somebody handed them a Charlie Parker album instead of another boring recital piece.It’s funny, thoughtful, political, nostalgic, and very Ducking Realitea: casual conversations about serious sh*t.Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when a chef and a mixologist start finishing each other’s…flavors?Proof & Pairing happens, cocktail-first creations, wild creativity, and the most joyful culinary chaos you’ve ever heard.In this episode of Ducking Realitea, I sit down with Todd and Chef Lamont of Proof & Pairing, a Bay Area-based cocktail-first food pairing experience that flips traditional food and drink pairings on their head. Instead of pairing cocktails with food, they build food around the drink, creating bold, creative flavor combinations rooted in mixology, culinary technique, and pure experimentation.We get into their origin story in the Oakland hospitality scene, their work across private events, catering, and craft cocktails, and how their collaboration grew from industry connections into a full experience brand. From virtual cooking and cocktail classes during quarantine to high-end yacht parties and interactive tasting events, they’ve built something that blends fine dining, bartender culture, and experiential hospitality.We also talk mixology vs. bartending, cocktail pairing vs. wine pairing, the rise of mocktails and non-alcoholic (NA) spirits, and how to create elevated drink experiences without losing that neighborhood bar energy. If you’re into craft cocktails, food pairing, culinary creativity, hospitality industry insights, or unique event experiences, this episode is packed with ideas, stories, and inspiration.This one is hilarious, and insightful, a deep dive into cocktail culture, chef-driven food, and the creative process behind building unforgettable experiences.Follow & connect with Proof & Pairing:Proof & Pairing (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/proofandpairing/Montperi Catering (Lamont Perriman): https://www.instagram.com/montpericatering/New Alchemy Distilling: https://www.newalchemysf.com/Subscribe, share, and leave a review, it helps more people find Ducking Realitea.More content, events, and chaos coming soon 👀Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.

Send us Fan MailThe tea has been spiltz… and in this case, it’s hot. Like sauna hot.This week I’m sitting down with my friend Chris—one of my favorite humans from Archimedes Banya—and we get into how a shy college kid going to nude beaches in Humboldt somehow turned into a 40+ year love affair with naturism, sauna culture, and one very specific kind of community you don’t really find anywhere else.We start with nudity (obviously), but this isn’t really about being naked. It’s about being comfortable. It’s about walking into a room—whether it’s a sauna, a steam room, or just life—and not feeling like you have to perform.Chris tells the story of meeting Misha Brodsky before the banya even existed—like, just some guy in a sauna saying “yeah I’m gonna build one in San Francisco.” And then… he actually did. Which is wild. And now here we are, with Archimedes Banya being one of the most unique wellness spaces in the U.S., built around Russian banya culture, heat, cold plunge, and community.We also get into European sauna culture—because the U.S. is still a little weird about all of this. Think full-on textile-free saunas in Germany, massive spa complexes, quiet bathhouses in Barcelona… and yeah, you’re naked. Everyone’s naked. And somehow it’s the least interesting part of the experience.Somewhere in the middle of all this, we talk about why the banya actually matters. For me, it’s where I go when my body is wrecked, when my brain won’t shut up, when I need to reset. Sauna, cold plunge, repeat. It’s simple, it’s grounding, and it works.And then, because we can’t help ourselves, we start dreaming—about expanding sauna culture, building retreat spaces, bringing this kind of connection and healing to more people.It’s real, it’s a little unhinged in the best way, and it’s one of those conversations that reminds you how good it feels to just… be a human.Come hang out in The Pond 🐥Support the showThanks for hanging in the pond, my ducks 🐤Where we keep it honest, casual conversations about serious sh*t, and somehow still find a way to laugh through it.If you felt something, send it to someone you love… or someone who might need a little push.Follow along:https://www.instagram.com/duckingrealitea/And go out there and find your joy, even if it’s a little chaotic.Stay curious, stay joyful…you’re deeply loved, my ducks.