PODCAST · society
The Matt Show
by Matt Smith
Personal interviews where creatives tell me everything. The Matt Show explores what moves our shared culture and the people behind it. Each episode takes you inside a creative's life to hear their story, understand their process, and better understand your own.Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themattshowhqFollow me onInstagram @nonstop.mattTikTok @themattshowhq
Episodes
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"I Can't Want This More Than You" | Chris Classick on What Artists Get Wrong About Teams
Chris Classick built Classick Studios in Chicago the year after he lost his mother. He had gear, a bedroom, and nothing left to fear. Two decades later, his studio has hosted Chance the Rapper, Khelani, SZA, Tyler the Creator, Lil Wayne, Chief Keef, and dozens more. In this episode, Chris breaks...
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The Secret to Being "Believable" in a World of Fakes | Cansell & DagZ Interview
alen Cancel and Andrew "DagZ" are two of Chicago's most plugged-in creatives. DJs, event curators, community builders. They've been shaping how the city's nightlife and music scene feels for years. This conversation went everywhere.We got into Filipino culture in Chicago, what makes someone...
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He Reversed Racism on Strangers and Got 300K Followers in 30 Days | Foreverband Interview
Forever Band is a Chicago recording artist and content creator who went from 7K to 340K followers in about a month after his videos reversing microaggressions on strangers racked up hundreds of millions of views. He joins Matt to talk about how it all happened, his views on race in America, why…
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Lil Durk Slid in Her DMs After A Cover Post | Sydny August Interview
Sydny August is a Chicago-born singer who went from recording music in her college dorm room to getting signed by Lil Durk to OTF (Only The Family) - and it all started with a birthday Instagram post.In this episode of The Matt Show, Sydny shares the crazy random story of how Lil Durk discovered...
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Hit $100K Months in E-com, Went Broke, then Built an AI Empire: Gera Baano Interview
From E-commerce success to the cutting edge of AI, I’m joined by serial entrepreneur Gera Baano to talk about the highs and lows of building in tech at a young age.Gera Baano has lived several business lifetimes before the age of 25. From selling a dating app to managing 6-figure e-commerce…
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How to Be a "Human-First" Artist Manager in 2026: Juliana Miller
I sit down with Juliana Miller — an artist manager, A&R at Classicks Never Die, DJ, and member of The Recording Academy — to talk about what it really takes to guide artists through the highs and lows of music. From discovering talent to helping creatives find their rhythm, Juliana shares lessons...
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Betting on Chicago Tech: Landon Campbell
Landon Campbell is an investor the general manager at Drive Capital, Chicago. He's also the author of LandonsLoop where he writes about innovation in Chicago tech. Landon relentlessly puts-on for the city of Chicago to be a center of hyper-growth in tech and AI innovation. We talk about his...
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Matt's Entrepreneurial Journey: 8 Years Distilled In 30min
{Listen to the full experience on my Substack Matt's Recap} Custom resume for VaynerX & Mike Boyd Jr https://open.substack.com/pub/mattsrecap/p/matts-entrepreneurial-journey-8-years?r=2dcz9j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true
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Chicago’s #1 Music Business Lawyer: Artists, Understand Your Value!
Eddie is a seasoned professional in the music industry. As an attorney, he founded 'Protect and Collect,' specializing in intellectual property. He's taught at SAE, is an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago, and has spoken at major events like South by Southwest. Sometimes Eddie is a…
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The Stitch Gawd on Making Custom Jackets For Kendrick, Bad Bunny, and Kanye
Emma Mckee is a legendary cross stitcher. In 2014, Emma stitched her first piece: An adaptation of Will Prince’s artwork for Chance the Rapper’s song “Hey Ma.” She followed that with a piece for street artist JC Rivera, Chicago’s “Bear Champ.” Her portfolio expanded from there, as she firmly...
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Sam Thousand on Unity Through Art
Sam Thousand is a musician, event curator, and director. Sam speaks on his career in the performing music space, his vision to create ChiBrations to bring more discoverability to the rising arts scene in Chicago, and how he believes art has the potential to unify us in incredible ways. #mattsmith...
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Zehra Naqvi: From Art History to Venture Capital & Crafting Authentic Communities
In my interview with Zehra, we discuss how her understanding of art history informs her work in Venture Capital. We talk about the events she curates in New York, from breakfasts and panel discussions to pottery classes and workout sessions. Zehra emphasizes the value of genuine engagement,...
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Chris Vergara on Mastering The Creative AND Business Sides Of Directing. Shooting for Chance The Rapper, G-Eazy and more
Chris Vergara is an up and coming Director & Creative strategist. Chris has directed videos for Chance The Rapper, G-Eazy, SuperStarKami, Dry Boy, and more… Not only music videos, but Chris has made corporate videos, travel videos, short documentaries, Chris has done it all. Chris and Matt have a...
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Jaeson Ma on starting 88Rising, Bridging East & West, Moving Culture Forward
Matt interviews Jaeson, the founder of 88rising and OP3N. Jaeson shares his incredible story of growing up in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s and how he was exposed to hip hop culture, kicked out of three high schools, became a youth pastor, paying Bruno Mars only $1,500 to record four Christian...
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Jamie Cho on The Creator Economy And Empowering Creatives
Jamie Cho is a marketing lead at Wildr, working to make social media a more positive space. Her background is focused on consumer social & our conversation was focused around empowering creatives in the creator economy. Follow Jamie: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoonseojamiecho/ Twitter…
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Ruben Harris Breaks Down The Future Of Job Training
Ruben Harris is the CEO of Career Karam, the number one destination for career guidance & the largest platform to help workers find job training programs and get jobs in tech. Rubin has helped tens of thousands of people get into tech and inspire people to see that you can get into tech…
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Georgia Dienst on Google X, Coaching CEOs, Global Entrepreneurship.
Georgia Dienst's background includes Google, Google's Innovation Lab Google X, Kernel innovating in the field of neuroscience and neuromedicine. Today she's a CEO coach to VC backed founders. See her website: https://www.georgiadienst.com/ #theintersection #theintersectionpodcast #mattsmith
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ThoughtPoet on Building A New Chicago From The Ground Up
Matt and Isiah ThoughtPoet Veney get deep into room for improvement in Chicago's creative scene and the city as a whole. ThoughtPoet is a writer, photographer, community organizer. ThoughtPoet has been featured in The Field Museum, The Chicago Tribune, Essence Mag, Southside weekly, and The…
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TroyFromChicago on Directing for Chance The Rapper, Joey Badass, Vic Mensa, NIKE, Roc Nation & More.
TroyFromChicago is a Emmy Award winning cinematic director and and photographer. His work has been featured in Billboard, TIME Magazine, the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Basel: Switzerland, and more. Troy has directed or been a part of the production of videos for Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper,...
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Enitain Bereola on 3X Best Selling Books, Largest E-commerce Platform for Black Businesses and more.
Enitan is a 3x best selling author on dating and relationships in the modern world. Enitan is the co-founder and creative director of FLOURYSH, the largest platform to shop and discover Black-owned businesses. He’s produced short films, been a keynote speaker at Stanford & Harvard, partnered on...
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Sonia Nagar on Pritzker Group And Going From Founder to VC
Sonia Nagar is a general partner venture capitalist at the Pritzker Group. With a background in mechanical engineering, self-taught programming skills, an MBA from Harvard, and experience launching an e-commerce startup herself, Sonia has an impressive track record in the business-building world....
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Gale Wilkinson on VITALIZE VC, Angel Investing, and 10+ years in Venture Capital.
Gale Wilkinson is the founding partner at VITALIZE VC where she invests in early stage startups. Gale is well known as a venture capitalist in Chicago and on Twitter. democratizing access to angel investing through Vitalize Angels, the world’s first angel group for both accredited and...
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Wally Green on Ping Pong in North Korea for Peace, Diminishing Ignorance, and more.
Wally Green is a professional ping pong legend. As US ambassador for ping pong, Wally has played in North Korea for world peace and diplomacy and represented the US all around the world in Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, Croatia, and more. He’s been featured in the New York Times and...
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Ian Brock on Dream Hustle Code, Getting Kids Into Tech, and "The New Nerd"
Ian Brock is the founder of Dream Hustle Code, making tech and being in the tech industry cool for kids that would have otherwise seen the space as lame or felt alienated by it. At only 18 years old Ian is an accomplished entrepreneur who has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Oprah, Steve…
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Scott Kitun on SongFinch, TechNori, and disliking NFTs
Scott Kitun is the founder of Tech Nori, one of the truly OG startup content and community brands that contributed a lot to the startup ecosystem in Chicago over the years. Scott is the founder of Song Finch, a company that makes it easier for independent music artists to make money without…
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Kim Aponi on Chi Products, Being an Artist, Traveling, Trusting Intuition.
Kim Aponi is a fashion designer, event curator, painter, and all around artist. She is the founder of Chi Products, a clothing and design brand representing Chicago and the world. Her team is based out of New York. She’s worked with Adidas, Pyer Moss, and collaborated with Urban Outfitters. She’s...
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NoCapSawBuck on Punk, Hollyweird, Music, Being Yourself.
NoCapSawBuck is a recording artist, designer, and culture curator based out of Chicago. Follow SawBuck on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nocapsawbuckk/ ____________________________________ Follow Matt: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
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Maddie Wang on Founders Communities & Community Building
Maddie Wang is the founder of Founders Cafe, an online support network made up of founders from Y-Combinator, Harvard, Stanford and more. She has a bunch of cool accolades including making $60,000 as a 13 year old off of a MineCraft server she ran, or making $120,000+ as a 19 year old off of her...
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Paige Finn on Behind Genius Ventures and Making VC Cool
Paige Finn Doherty is the Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures where they invest in the future of work and the future of play. She has a background in mechanical engineering, computer science, and building dope sh*t! She’s based out of San Deigo. Behind Genius Venture’s Website:...
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Nait Jones on Chillin With Ye & Zuckerberg, Cultural Geniuses, And Being At a16z.
Nait Jones is an expert on the intersection of technology and culture. Nait was a partner at Andreessen Horowitz for 8 years where he led TxO, the Talent Opportunity Initiative. TxO is A fund that invests in and searches for cultural geniuses and founders with unconventional backgrounds. Nait…
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SoloCelo on Performing at SXSW & Summer Smash, Meeting ASAP Rocky, Going Viral on TikTok.
SoloCelo is a recording artist from Chicago now based in LA and very close friend of Matt’s since elementary school. Within the past year Solo has gone from a few 1000 to over 190,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. He’s built a small but growing loyal fanbase at the intersection of hip-hop, rock,...
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Sonny on Getting Offered 6-Figure Deals, Opening For Pusha T and more
Sonny is a recording artist and creative based in Chicago. He holds over 15 million streams on Spotify, been named an artist to watch by Lyrical Lemonade, featured in Vogue, opened up for Pusha T at Radius in Chicago and more. He's a part of a creative collective called High Life and is generally...
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Jeff Osuji on Creating The Premier Event Platform For The Culture
Jeff Osuji is the founder of Eventnoire. The company has been the ticketing platform for Hyde Park Fest, Chance The Rapper Night At The Museum, Techrise, NBA Allstar Weekend Events and more. Jeff has a background in advertising, marketing, and hosting many events. Jeff & Eventnoire have been...
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Claude Cimeus on Improving Chicago's Tech Ecosystem, Tech Week Chicago, And Chicago's Food Scene.
Claude Cimeus is an an entrepreneur, Director of Platform At P33, and has lead a new wave of tech events in Chicago post-covid. Most noteablely, Claude led Tech Week Chicago, a 3 day long series of panels, networking, after-parties, and even brought Pusha-T to the club! Claude only eats out so we...
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Senite on Backyard Shows To Headlining Concert Halls In A Year
Senite is a singer and song-writer based out of Chicago, IL. Within a year and a half she went from a very modest audience & performing in backyard stages to filling concert venue halls and pulling in over a million streams. She’s very connected to the hive-mind of super talented rising Chicago...
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Andy Dunn on BiPolar, Selling Bonobos For $300M, and His New Startup Pumpkin Pie
Andy and I both share Bi-Polar disorder and being an entrepreneur in the midst of struggling with episodes. Andy and I explore the complexities of Bi-Polar disorder and describe the shared experiences someone with Bi-Polar ends up going through. We talk improve the cost of support for mental...
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Jewel Ifeguni on Bringing Representation To Tech & Media
Jewel Ifeguni is an associate producer at Decoy Games, a black-owned video game studio where only 2% of the gaming industry is made up of black people. She's the founder of You Matter Studios, a media studio with a focus on improving representation in media. And she has worked at Minecraft at...
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Baco on Being Dynamic And Thinking Outside The Box
Baco is a multi-disciplinary artist from Chicago, mainly focused on music. Follow Baco on Instagram: @lovebaco —— Reach out to Matt on Instagram: @nonstop.matt Twitter: @nonstopmatt
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Landon Campbell on Being a VC At 24 + Bringing More Early Capital To Chicago
Landon Campbell is an early stage investor at Drive Capital, a podcast host where he has interviewed the likes of Steve Wozniak, he’s a frequent event host in Chicago for technology and venture capital, and he’s a TedX speaker! Reach out to Landon on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn (Landon W....
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Makafui Searcy on Creating An Art Renaissance And Running Fourtune House
Makafui Searcy is the owner of Fourtune House, a creative empowerment workshop and event space on the South Side of Chicago in Bronzeville. At 22 years old, Makafui has lead a way for empowering the creative development of young artists to access reassures and opportunities. Makafui’s inner…
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Aaqib Usman on Launching Light Pong, Growing Up In Kuwait, and Moving To NYC From Chicago
Aaqib Usman is the founder of Light Pong, the world's first 1-Dimensional game console or you could say the world's first connected toy company. As of this recording, I happen to work for Light Pong! Aaqib is an entrepreneur with an extensive background in bringing together the physical and…
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Gabe Tavas on Creating Artificial Wood To Combat Deforestation And BioTech
Gabe Tavas is the founder of Symmetry Wood. At Symmetry Gabe has developed Pyrus, a material made from bacteria that closely mimics wood to prevent deforestation. Gabe and Symmetry won the national James Dyson award and have been featured in the World Economic Form. Gabe is a long time friend of...
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Mirza Baig on Monk Mode, Fake Flexers, and Burnout
Mirza Baig is a software engineer and entrepreneur. He's the creator of an app called Monk Mode to help you stay on track of your desired habits, he created an event discovery tool for Muslim events at mosques around your area, and is building a coaching/therapy platform. He's also a founding...
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Ruben Flores on Creating Generational Wealth For Latinos World Wide
Ruben Flores is the founder and CEO of CashDrop. He’s on a mission to create as much generational wealth for Latinos world wide as possible. He’s a serial entrepreneur and I’ve actually had the pleasure of interviewing him two other times in the past. @the.intersection.pod / all socials...
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Jonah T. Wallach
Jonah is an amazing artist in graphic design, film, fashion, modeling, and music who has done work with large molding agencies including Photogenics LA and Anti-Agency as a model and media creator. Jonah has worked along side Tyler The Creator for GOLF (but didn’t wanna talk about it cause he’s...
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Prod. Ra & GoldenBoyMnny: Performing At Summer Smash, Working With SupaBwe, Not Getting Paid For 150M Streams, and Moving In Silence.
Matt finally interviews a couple of his best friends after years and years of working along side them and watching them grow… Ra Gordon and Emmanuel Isreal (GoldenBoyMnny) are two underground Chicago hip-hop legends in-the-making. Ra is an 18 year old producer who went from making beats in his...
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Sir Trevor James & AM On: The Music Industry, Moving From Iran to Turkey to Chicago, and Building Their Brand “Collected”.
Sir Trevor James is a producer, creative director, and entrepreneur and AM (Amin Mashadi) is a music artist, both part of the “Collected” collective. We sat down and discussed their most recent fully self-product event “Collected As One.” We talked about their experience going to music-focused...
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Trip On Dropping Out High School, Craftsmanship & Building “Rips”, Influence Of Street Culture, and Becoming Multi-Disciplined.
Matt Interviews Jaylen who goes by Trip and @rips.chicago on social media. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago in Chatham one block away from Cottage Grove. Trip talks about the trials and tribulations that he went through growing up and being a truly loving person while still standing your...
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Mental Health And Relating As Young Peers w/ Graeme Phillips
Matt talks with Graeme Phillips founder of Chicago Socrates, an artist collective and artist support network in Chicago. Graeme is a big advocate for mental health with his own stories of struggles and learning to work with the craziness of his own mind. Matt and Graeme discuss their own mental...
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Living Life By Your Own Design w/ Hayden Humphrey
Matt interviews Hayden Humphrey a life coach and career coach. Hayden helps people break out of the “script” of how life is “supposed” to go and helps people live life by their own design. Matt and Hayden talk about how to live a life that is an authentic reflection of you and how businesses can…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Personal interviews where creatives tell me everything. The Matt Show explores what moves our shared culture and the people behind it. Each episode takes you inside a creative's life to hear their story, understand their process, and better understand your own.Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themattshowhqFollow me onInstagram @nonstop.mattTikTok @themattshowhq
HOSTED BY
Matt Smith
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Matt Show have?
The Matt Show currently has 87 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Matt Show about?
Personal interviews where creatives tell me everything. The Matt Show explores what moves our shared culture and the people behind it. Each episode takes you inside a creative's life to hear their story, understand their process, and better understand your own.Watch on YouTube:...
How often does The Matt Show release new episodes?
The Matt Show has 87 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Matt Show?
You can listen to The Matt Show on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Matt Show?
The Matt Show is created and hosted by Matt Smith.
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