What does it actually look like to pursue a creative passion while still thriving in a full-time career? Ned Gow, drummer for No Cigar, talks about building and balancing a creative life alongside his full-time job — without sacrificing financial security.

Ned shares:

• 🎵 The discipline and structure behind juggling music and real estate
• 🌍 How travel and taking a break gave him clarity at a career crossroads
• 🧠 The mindset shifts that helped him back himself — even when it felt uncertain
• 💼 Why choosing the right boss matters more than the company
• 🔥 How to avoid burnout while still chasing multiple goals

Whether you’re feeling boxed in by your 9–5, craving a creative outlet, or wondering if stepping back is the smartest way forward — this episode is packed with honest insights and next steps.

With Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar, founders of Good Girl Snacks

This is a masterclass in how to start a business and build momentum fast.

In this episode of Good Shift, I’m joined by Leah Marcus and Yasaman Bakhtiar, best friends and co-founders of Good Girl Snacks, the brand behind the viral Hot Girl Pickles.

Just a few years ago, they were working corporate jobs with zero business experience. Just 3 years later, their pickles have built a cult following online and landed on shelves at Whole Foods, Erewhon, Bristol Farms, GoPuff, and Nordstrom.

In this conversation, Leah and Yasaman share the real story behind the leap: from spotting a TikTok trend, to building in public, to trusting their gut before they felt ready and they share how you can do the same.

I submitted Good Shift to the podcast awards (!) and as part of that, I had to put together a 15-minute highlight reel to showcase what the pod is all about.

It’s a great place to start if you’re new here, or to send to a friend who’s thinking about a career shift, hating their job, or feeling stuck on what’s next.

Enjoy my friends and cross your fingers for me for the awards!

In this episode, I sit down with Alexa Gray - founder of Social Bloome and one of the formative early team members at Olipop, where she helped shape the brand into one of the fastest-growing wellness companies in the U.S.

With a background spanning nonprofit work, photography, brand building, and now her own agency, Alexa’s path has never been linear, but it’s always been purpose-led. We talk about how to make confident career moves (even when they don’t make sense on paper), the mindset needed to leave a “successful” job, and what it really takes to build a business rooted in authenticity and community.

Whether you're navigating your own pivot or dreaming about starting something new, this conversation is packed with real insights and practical encouragement.

In this episode, we cover:
✨ How to make bold career moves with confidence
💼 Leaving a job you’re doing well in and why it’s okay
🚀 Alexa’s experience working at an early stage start-up and how to know if that enviroment is right for you
💡 Building a business (and community) from scratch
📱 Launching an app with no tech background
🛠 Her go-to habits for staying grounded and moving through hard moments

Connect with Alexa:

1. Alexa's Linkden
2. Social Bloome

Follow Good Shift:
Instagram → @goodshiftpod

In this episode, I sit down with best friends, co-founders, and first-time entrepreneurs Elan Halpern and Kiki Couchman, who traded high-achieving careers in tech and private equity to start a probiotic yogurt company from scratch — without burning it all down overnight.

They talk candidly about the slow build of misalignment, how they reframed leaving “successful” jobs without guilt, and the three key pillars they used to figure out what was next (Elan’s 3 Ps: passion, product, pay). We unpack what it means to make a shift on your own timeline, how your career can shape your identity (without permission), and why being “obsessed” with your work actually matters.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in a role that everyone else admires, or wondered whether a side idea could be something more — this episode will meet you where you are.

In This Episode, We Cover:

🎯 The signs of career misalignment

🧠 The mindset shifts that made leaving corporate jobs possible

🧪 The “experiments” they ran to build conviction before quitting

💼 How your job can silently shape your identity over time

🛠️ Elan’s 3 Ps framework for deciding what to do next

🚪 How to exit the “first job” without throwing away everything you’ve built

👯‍♀️ The power of building in public and treating your community like a co-founder

💬 The uncomfortable part of starting over (and how to speak about it confidently)

🔗 Links & Resources:

Follow Elan & Kiki’s journey on Instagram: @eatbeny

Book recommendation: Be Ready When Luck Happens by Ina Garten

Want the framework Elan used? Listen out for the 3 Ps: Passion, Product, Pay

Have you ever felt the pull toward something totally different but held back because it seemed too weird, too impractical, or just too far off your current path?

In this episode, I sit down with Belinda Price, who left behind travel agency life to milk cows on a dairy farm and eventually made a bold, purpose-fueled shift into one of the most misunderstood (and profound) careers: death doula.

We dive into:

• How to make unconventional career moves when fear and judgment show up
• Why your gut instinct won’t leave you alone (and why that matters)
• The 5 regrets people have on their deathbed and what they mean for your career
• Building a business from scratch in an emotional, under-resourced industry
• What it actually looks like to work in death and what it teaches you about living

🧰 Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

💬 Belinda’s Work:

• Leaving Legacies – Belinda’s End-of-Life Doula Practice
  https://www.leavinglegacies.co.nz
  
  
• Belinda’s Podcast: Dying to Know
  

📚 Reflection Tools:

• The Five Regrets of the Dying
  Based on the book by Bronnie Ware (referenced by Belinda)
• How We Feel App
  Free mobile app to track and name your emotions
  Great for understanding emotional patterns when considering career shifts
  
  
• Knowing Your Connection Cards
  A 54-question card deck created by Belinda to help spark conversations around values, life reflections, and legacy
  Available on her website: https://www.leavinglegacies.co.nz
  
  
• Reflection Letter Exercise
  A guided self-awareness tool where you gather strengths-based feedback from 20 people across your life (colleagues, friends, family, past clients). Used in Belinda’s positive psychology studies.

🎓 Courses Mentioned:

• Diploma of Positive Psychology
  From The Langley Group Institute – helped spark Belinda’s pivot into her doula work
  
  
• Micronutrients and Brain Health Course
  University of Canterbury – explored holistic wellbeing and brain nutrition
  
  

This episode covers how to support your partner when they want to make a career change, how to move through a shift yourself, and a side dive into the basics of insurance you might never have thought about but most definitely need to know.

This episode covers two major topics:

Part 1: The emotional reality of career change in relationships

• How to support a partner's risky decisions while managing your own fears
• Having difficult conversations about money and security with someone you love
• Recognizing when you're ready to make your own leap
• Working with your life partner without destroying your relationship

Part 2: Insurance basics every entrepreneur and young adult needs to know

• Why you should insure yourself before your phone
• What income protection actually covers (and why you need it young)
• How insurance brokers work and what they cost
• Essential coverage for small business owners
• The insurance questions you didn't know to ask

Perfect for anyone supporting a partner through career uncertainty, considering their own major change, or wondering what insurance coverage they actually need as they build their adult life.

Connect with Pam:

LinkedIn

Coversure insurance brokerage

Naomi Ballantyne Podcast ep

What do you do when everyone thinks you can't stick to anything? Danii O'Malley spent years jumping between careers - failing university, personal training, construction sales - feeling like something was fundamentally wrong with her. Each time she moved on, it looked like she couldn't commit to anything.

But she kept listening to that inner voice saying "this isn't it" even when it would have been easier to just stay put. That persistence through multiple career shifts, a health crisis, and financial uncertainty eventually led her to naturopathy - work that finally felt right.

Now in her final year of study and running her own holistic health practice, Danii shares the practical lessons about:

• How to tell the difference between "I can't stick to things" vs "this genuinely isn't for me"
• The Monday morning test for knowing when it's time to move on
• Why you need to get your own health sorted before making big career decisions
• How to handle family expectations when you deviate from their plans
• Managing the financial reality of career changes while raising kids

If you've ever felt like the problem because nothing seems to stick, or you're wondering whether to persist through a rough patch or make a change, this conversation gives you both permission and practical frameworks to trust your instincts and keep searching for work that truly fits.

Connect with Danii: Instagram: @Flourish__Health
Website: flourishhealth.co.nz

Danii's recco:
The college Danii studied at: "It’s called the South Pacific College of Medicine and they really have made these final years of this journey so special and I’d recommend them so highly."