Speaker 1: You've got to go the path of leash resistance. And
Speaker 1: that was doing this because I felt like it was
Speaker 1: just came naturally to me. It was like, it will
Speaker 1: barely work. See, I think you are a product of
Speaker 1: what you surround yourself with, and my work I'm with
Speaker 1: some of the most joyful people ever. I'm a big
Speaker 1: champion of the idea that if you're putting in effort
Speaker 1: into something for long enough, it's eventually going to pay off.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Seas the Yay Podcast. Busy and happy
Speaker 2: are not the same thing. We too rarely question what
Speaker 2: makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but
Speaker 2: rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than
Speaker 2: one way. So this is a platform to hear and
Speaker 2: explore the stories of those who found lives they adore,
Speaker 2: the good, bad and ugly. The best and worst days
Speaker 2: will bear all the facets of seizing your yay. I'm
Speaker 2: Sarah Davidson or a spoonful of Sarah, a lawyer turned
Speaker 2: fu entrepreneur who's walptor suits and heels to co found
Speaker 2: matcha Maiden and Matchamil. But C is a series of
Speaker 2: conversations on finding a life you love and exploring the
Speaker 2: self doubt, challenge, joy and fulfillment along the way. Ben Macintosh,
Speaker 2: Welcome to CZA. Hello, yes, hello, Yes.
Speaker 1: It's great to be here, great to be here, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, it's great to be here. You know. I
Speaker 1: feel this is my first or second podcast Joping made
Speaker 1: an appearance on, so you know, this is thank you
Speaker 1: very much the opportunity to talk nonsense.
Speaker 2: I am so incredibly honored and quite baffled, to be honest,
Speaker 2: that you haven't been doing the round like on the circuit.
Speaker 2: What an incredible story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well see it's weird because my face really lends
Speaker 1: itself to the podcast format versus the video one. So
Speaker 1: it's it's really really shocking, really.
Speaker 2: Says the guy who has had model in his path. Ya,
Speaker 2: So I refuse to accept that from you doesn't count.
Speaker 2: It absolutely counts the.
Speaker 1: Modeling that I did. I never got a pay job.
Speaker 1: I never got a pay job as a model. I
Speaker 1: was just like on the books for someone for like
Speaker 1: six months, got nothing, and then I moved to the
Speaker 1: States for six years and then that was all behind me,
Speaker 1: So that it doesn't count as model.
Speaker 2: I think it counts, and I wouldn't count.
Speaker 1: What I do now is modeling either, Like, sure, I,
Speaker 1: you know, get paid to do stuff on social media
Speaker 1: from time to time, you know, on occasion, but that
Speaker 1: doesn't count as modeling because that's I didn't get those opportunities.
Speaker 2: Because of your face. Yeah exactly, it's my personality that
Speaker 2: speaks louder.
Speaker 1: It stuns through, you know. And even then I'm just showcasing,
Speaker 1: you know, wonderful people like my sister, and then we've
Speaker 1: just stumbled ourselves into this situation that I'm in there.
Speaker 2: Okay, well that is the most incredible start, because the
Speaker 2: first question I always ask is what's the most down
Speaker 2: to earth thing about you? And I think the fact
Speaker 2: that you had a modeling career and didn't get paid
Speaker 2: for any of those jobs is pretty great. That's a
Speaker 2: pretty amazing start.
Speaker 1: I don't think you can use the word collier if
Speaker 1: you never earns.
Speaker 2: A dime well, you know, contra like, I think it
Speaker 2: still counts. There can be an exchange outside of finances.
Speaker 1: I don't think you can get a contact you know,
Speaker 1: he has like a contact high from being around someone.
Speaker 1: I don't think I was a contact model. I don't
Speaker 1: think that's that's the way it works. I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't get modeling rubbed off on me just because I
Speaker 1: was in the industry.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you now have like three quarters of
Speaker 2: a million followers on TikTok, So.
Speaker 1: I mean I didn't like a month ago, Okay, a
Speaker 1: month ago, I only had like four hundred something, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden.
Speaker 2: I've exploded onto the scene. So this is I don't know,
Speaker 2: is the other thing that is the trucks of this
Speaker 2: show really the whole idea that you start off somewhere
Speaker 2: and there's so many different twists and turns and diversions
Speaker 2: in you know, your what I call your path yay,
Speaker 2: like your way to Yay. But people who walk into
Speaker 2: your life now could easily turn up at your page
Speaker 2: and think, this guy's always known what he wanted to do.
Speaker 2: He's like born for this job. It was smoothing, but
Speaker 2: you mentioned stumbling into what you did.
Speaker 1: So, oh, everything I've done is an accident, right, every
Speaker 1: single thing. There's been no plan. I've just I mean,
Speaker 1: if you'll allow me to my little journey on TikTok
Speaker 1: here there's like COVID. I'd always have friends tell me
Speaker 1: that I should make a teaktok account and the reason
Speaker 1: for that is that they're like, I mean, they were
Speaker 1: just sort of lifting out hype me up a little bit.
Speaker 1: They're like, you've got that, You've got personality and face
Speaker 1: to make model. And I was like, right, okay, So
Speaker 1: I like started making like little teaktoks and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm just not feeling very passionate and motivated for this.
Speaker 1: And then I made a TikTok with my little sister
Speaker 1: and like, it was fun. It was just fun to
Speaker 1: do to make a video with her, and then you know,
Speaker 1: the feedback was very good, and I started, you know,
Speaker 1: featuring more and more, and now I don't know, I
Speaker 1: just sort of fell into this situation. When I do it,
Speaker 1: I'm going to use the word professionally, I'm going to
Speaker 1: you know what, I've graduated to using the word career.
Speaker 1: I can use TikTok as a somewhat you know, rudimentary career,
Speaker 1: but that you know, full time gig. Plus I still
Speaker 1: have my regular job, which you know, I love, I
Speaker 1: love dearly. I'll never stop doing that. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a pretty full schedule. But yeah, I've absolutely just fallen
Speaker 1: into this situation. But you know what, it's serendipitous. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a little happy accident that that we've come across.
Speaker 2: Okay, that is the perfect SoundBite for this entire show,
Speaker 2: because anyone who listens regularly will know when I describe
Speaker 2: anything in my journey, like the whole leaving the law
Speaker 2: and starting business, it's a happy accident, is the word
Speaker 2: that I use. Which is so crazy that you just
Speaker 2: use that because I think again, I was like, we
Speaker 2: didn't talk about this in advanced guys.
Speaker 1: If I was off the class.
Speaker 2: I always say, like, when I come to your page,
Speaker 2: I think, here's a guy who was born to be
Speaker 2: a disability support worker, who was born to be the
Speaker 2: voice for a career that not many people know what
Speaker 2: it involves, how you get into it. You know, you
Speaker 2: knew that you were going to do this the entire time.
Speaker 2: But then I dug a little deeper and I was like,
Speaker 2: hold on a second, A, you haven't been in that
Speaker 2: role very long. B TikTok was very recent. Cee. You
Speaker 2: had a whole career playing college football in America before that,
Speaker 2: And like, I get so fascinated by the fact that
Speaker 2: people skate over all the steps it often takes to
Speaker 2: get to the role that you land in and it
Speaker 2: looks like you found your joy, but I'm sure you
Speaker 2: had many chapters like from the Gold Coasting Rays to
Speaker 2: then the modeling to then college football, thinking that your
Speaker 2: life was going to turn out very differently.
Speaker 1: It's been quite a you know, interesting, it's been fun.
Speaker 1: You know, I sort of look back and see what
Speaker 1: I've done, and then you know where I am now.
Speaker 1: And I don't think I even I fully appreciate just
Speaker 1: how much I've done and how many different avenues I've
Speaker 1: sort of explored, because to me, I feel like I
Speaker 1: haven't lived all that much. I've never had alcohol in
Speaker 1: my life. I don't party only do all that stuff,
Speaker 1: So like I think that's for me, and society's sort
Speaker 1: of metric is like I don't go out, I don't
Speaker 1: have nights out, and I don't do these like party
Speaker 1: sort of scenarios where I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: people make some of their best memories. I've never had that.
Speaker 1: But if you look at like the other things that
Speaker 1: I've done, I've still lived a pretty full life. Like
Speaker 1: it's all right, it's all right, but no, yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: lived lived in America for like five six years or something,
Speaker 1: like that and played college football. Didn't play college football
Speaker 1: the whole time I did tm ACL.
Speaker 2: I saw a couple of surgeries.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well I've taught ACL four times.
Speaker 2: My god, you're such a high achiever, I know.
Speaker 1: You know, just really reaching for the stars. They're trying
Speaker 1: to go for the record.
Speaker 2: Really, I mean, you're probably close.
Speaker 1: I know, it's bad, it's bad. I know of one
Speaker 1: AFL players story he's torn his ACL six times. So
Speaker 1: fingers crossed absolutely no. So I did that and that was,
Speaker 1: you know, that was honestly probably top five most testing
Speaker 1: points in my life because you know, I was over
Speaker 1: in the States, you know, playing American football. I just
Speaker 1: played at like a junior college level, which, if people
Speaker 1: aren't aware, is like the level sort of below the
Speaker 1: top tier college football over there. And I was doing
Speaker 1: that because I'd never played American football before. I didn't
Speaker 1: know really the avenue to get into a college like that.
Speaker 1: So I started off there and then I transferred to
Speaker 1: a to a bigger school and then that's when I
Speaker 1: told my ACL, before I even got to play at
Speaker 1: a big school. So it was that was tough. Character
Speaker 1: building again, character building, I you know, obviously, you know I've.
Speaker 2: Just had my you know, dream shattered.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like I grew up playing AFL. I
Speaker 1: grew up playing sport. It was my identity, you know.
Speaker 1: I playing sport was who I was as a person.
Speaker 1: And then to have that rudely and abruptly ripped away
Speaker 1: from me. Because once that happened, I knew that that
Speaker 1: was pretty much my college career gone because the way
Speaker 1: it works over that once you start, you have so
Speaker 1: many years that you're eligible to play. And I tore
Speaker 1: it like mid season before I'd been cleared to play
Speaker 1: for this school, and then I knew that the ACL
Speaker 1: was a twelve month rehab process, and then that's the
Speaker 1: middle of the next season, and that's my last eligible year.
Speaker 1: So I was like, well that's it. That's the end.
Speaker 1: That's the end of the little story there. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: character building, like I said.
Speaker 2: And so I think it's interesting that often, like the
Speaker 2: shitter times in your path are the ones that make
Speaker 2: you grow into who you're meant to be. It's not
Speaker 2: those like smooth sailing when everything goes.
Speaker 1: You know, resilience. I mean, my biggest like resilience building thing,
Speaker 1: isn't it. I was an only child. Until I was
Speaker 1: nine years old. I was getting you.
Speaker 2: Know, I was had it made.
Speaker 1: Oiled, some sort of king in the HOUSEHD, I was,
Speaker 1: I was killing it. And then my little sister comes
Speaker 1: along and rudely, might I add, rudely interrupts that so rude.
Speaker 2: I think that about my younger brother. I was like,
Speaker 2: are you kidding me? Like I had a plan for
Speaker 2: my life, you are taking away precious resources.
Speaker 1: I know. That's what Like, it's ridiculous, and like, you know,
Speaker 1: not only is she just another child in the family,
Speaker 1: but she's also you know, obviously a child she was
Speaker 1: born with a disability. So it's like, you know, even
Speaker 1: more intensive efforts need to go into making sure that
Speaker 1: you know, she can live her fullest life by making
Speaker 1: sure we go to the right therapies, implementing like you know,
Speaker 1: just you know, when she's talking, making sure that you're
Speaker 1: you know, correcting like a tongue movement so she can
Speaker 1: pronounce like an pronounce a word correctly and stuff like.
Speaker 1: It's the little things like that is something that you
Speaker 1: really need to do. So like a lot of effort,
Speaker 1: you know, it goes into the wonderful human being that
Speaker 1: is Grace.
Speaker 2: Now, who is really the reason why I wanted you
Speaker 2: on the show, Like I'm just friends with you to
Speaker 2: get to Grace basically, like she is the main event. Yeah,
Speaker 2: basically Grace's manager at this point, the gateway to Grace.
Speaker 1: That's it. I'm the gay.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: That's a good role. I'll be the troll under the
Speaker 1: bridge to Grace.
Speaker 2: So I mean, in already like quite a short life
Speaker 2: so far, You've gone from helens Vale, Queensland, boy college
Speaker 2: football in the US, come home, and then found this
Speaker 2: career that, like you said, you stumbled into it. But
Speaker 2: again something that I in hindsight, I think a lot
Speaker 2: of the dots in our journey makes sense when you
Speaker 2: look backwards, Like your interest in disability support. I've heard
Speaker 2: you say that it started when Grace was born, but
Speaker 2: actually it didn't become a career until much later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So like I never ever considered it as a
Speaker 1: career at any point in time in my life. Like sure,
Speaker 1: I was probably doing like some of the things you
Speaker 1: need to be as a support worker as soon as
Speaker 1: Grace was born, but it didn't really come to me
Speaker 1: to make an actual employment until I moved back from America,
Speaker 1: and I didn't like my job and still like my
Speaker 1: mom had started the business for like, you know, fitness
Speaker 1: for people with disabilities and then sort of yeah, this
Speaker 1: is special size, and then it sort of developed into
Speaker 1: support work as well. And I still still like it's there,
Speaker 1: it's there, ready for me to like do and try,
Speaker 1: and it just still never occurred to me to give
Speaker 1: it a try. And then Grace was dating this guy
Speaker 1: called Zach at the time, who if you're aware of
Speaker 1: my little TikTok account I've got there, you would be
Speaker 1: very familiar with Zach.
Speaker 2: He looks good in a tux, shows you up, I
Speaker 2: might say, just put it out there.
Speaker 1: He looks good in everything. I'm just gonna it looks
Speaker 1: good in everything. What are you talking about?
Speaker 2: But especially at tucks.
Speaker 1: Exactly, And he loves to wear attacks. But his mum
Speaker 1: asked me to to like fill in. I forget the
Speaker 1: absolute details about it because like you know, two years ago,
Speaker 1: asked me like fill in.
Speaker 2: He needed a lift to basketball one week. Apparently that's it.
Speaker 1: He needed a lift of basketball. And then I did it,
Speaker 1: and I was like, it's pretty It's a pretty good gig.
Speaker 1: I'm getting, like, you know, paid to hang out with
Speaker 1: some incredible individuals and the like. You know, it's something
Speaker 1: that I've done almost my entire life, from when my
Speaker 1: sister was born. It was like there was very little,
Speaker 1: like I just felt like I was just hanging out
Speaker 1: with friends. You know. It was so such an easy
Speaker 1: transition for me. And it like I mean talk about
Speaker 1: Robert Frost the Road Less Traveled and everything like that,
Speaker 1: but you've got to go the easiest, the path of
Speaker 1: leaf resistance, and that was doing this because I felt
Speaker 1: like it was just came naturally to me. I was
Speaker 1: like it was barely work, which is what you want
Speaker 1: from you know, you want exactly you want to enjoy
Speaker 1: what you're doing. So that's yeah, Ever since I started,
Speaker 1: it was like from that absolute first shift, I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't turn back now. This is so good. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, the opportunities that I've gotten through work, like
Speaker 1: we go on holidays like once a month for like
Speaker 1: a weekend, you know, a few days. We we did
Speaker 1: our first.
Speaker 2: Cruise I saw a.
Speaker 1: Few months ago. So yeah, we took a bunch of
Speaker 1: clients on on a country music cruise and it was fantastic.
Speaker 1: It was a wonderful, wonderful experience and like those trips
Speaker 1: are so good, I think as a support worker because
Speaker 1: you get to see your clients in every aspect of
Speaker 1: their life, so you really gives you a lot of
Speaker 1: opportunities to see room for some skill building. And I
Speaker 1: think that's such an awesome thing that these trips. There's
Speaker 1: so much fun, and the guys have a lot of
Speaker 1: fun as well, but you do get to see opportunities
Speaker 1: for them to grow as people, and I think that's
Speaker 1: really what it's all about, all about the independence building,
Speaker 1: and these trips are so good at seeing what independence
Speaker 1: needs to be built.
Speaker 2: I think it's incredibly cool that you spent your whole
Speaker 2: life thinking your purpose on this earth and what you
Speaker 2: wanted to be when you grew up with something that
Speaker 2: is like you know now you're like, you couldn't have
Speaker 2: told you two years ago that you'd end up doing
Speaker 2: what you love and what you're so good at, and
Speaker 2: that this would be around the corner. I think that's
Speaker 2: so cool.
Speaker 1: And like I think I was like not even like
Speaker 1: I think Mum and asked me to be a support
Speaker 1: worker before, but I was just like interesting. But then
Speaker 1: like it was sort of like like bluntly put to
Speaker 1: me to like could you do this? And because I'd
Speaker 1: already had somewhat relationship with Zach already, because he'd been
Speaker 1: over the house, you know, he was dating Grace at
Speaker 1: the time, I was like, yeah, taking the basketball, why not?
Speaker 2: But I was like, it's not work, it's not.
Speaker 1: And then we got in the car and I plug
Speaker 1: in my phone. He asked for a song, and then
Speaker 1: you know, three minutes later we're belting out tunes together
Speaker 1: like we've known each other for ages. And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think this is it. This is a good time here,
Speaker 1: this is a good time. And like, you know, back then,
Speaker 1: it was so so simple. I guess you could say,
Speaker 1: you know, we just be after school. We'd be like
Speaker 1: doing certain things, like, you know, trying to work on
Speaker 1: his confidence, ordering food and stuff like that. But now
Speaker 1: we progressed into he has a job's working at Buns.
Speaker 1: Now a massive, massive, massive, absolutely massive from him. He
Speaker 1: looks great in the apron and the reds. He looks supurb.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not only so incredible watching your clients
Speaker 2: go on this huge confidence journey from the time they
Speaker 2: start with you, Like you can actually see it if
Speaker 2: you follow through your content, you can see them getting
Speaker 2: more confident to do things they might not otherwise do.
Speaker 2: But I think what's amazing about what you do is
Speaker 2: because you are so good at it and you are
Speaker 2: so in love with what you do, You're like creating
Speaker 2: this educational platform kind of incidentally. Like it's not like
Speaker 2: this is what disability support. It's not an educational video
Speaker 2: that people kind of tune out to. It's just like,
Speaker 2: this is the day to day of living with my sister.
Speaker 1: It's a passive message, you know. It's just you can
Speaker 1: just pick up on it over time. It's not like
Speaker 1: I'm giving you a step by step instruction on how
Speaker 1: to be a support worker. I think it's just and
Speaker 1: that's what I think being a support worker is about.
Speaker 1: It's just being there. You just have to conduct yourself
Speaker 1: in a way that is appropriate, and honestly, that's the
Speaker 1: half of the job. It's just setting a good example. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it is bad at times, though I do with the
Speaker 1: confidence and when I say bad, you know, Zach is
Speaker 1: now one of the most confident people on earth around me,
Speaker 1: So you know I've created some a monster in that regard.
Speaker 1: But no, it still is come such a far away
Speaker 1: and I really I'm honestly, I could be more proud
Speaker 1: of the man and who he is today.
Speaker 2: I think something else that I love about your platform
Speaker 2: and what you've been able to do with combining your
Speaker 2: job with like with sharing that job and sharing that
Speaker 2: pathway with other people, is that half the battle in
Speaker 2: the way that society deals with disability is not necessarily
Speaker 2: any form of discrimination. I think it's often just fear
Speaker 2: of like what if I say the wrong thing or
Speaker 2: do the wrong thing and they don't understand, Like.
Speaker 1: I have made this point so many times, Like I
Speaker 1: don't think people are born fearful on what to say.
Speaker 1: I think it's more it's more of a taught thing,
Speaker 1: and I think it also comes from just the unknown.
Speaker 1: I am a firm believer that with my account, especially
Speaker 1: on on like TikTok, I think it's it's shown a
Speaker 1: lot of people on it's not as scary thing to,
Speaker 1: you know, be around someone with the disability, And I
Speaker 1: feel like that's where a lot of apprehension comes from.
Speaker 1: My people are afraid of saying the wrong thing, like
Speaker 1: you said, But it's just like you shouldn't have to
Speaker 1: be It's not that big a deal, Like it's just
Speaker 1: a fun time. Like most of the time, it's great.
Speaker 1: I think it's just like just talk to people how
Speaker 1: you want to be talked to. It's not that complicated,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, you know, it doesn't come from
Speaker 1: a place of hey, it just comes from ignorance, And
Speaker 1: it's not like it like I feel like ignorance is
Speaker 1: a bad work because it's got like a negative connotation
Speaker 1: to it. But if you haven't been subjected to the
Speaker 1: disability community, you're gonna have no idea you So that's
Speaker 1: like it's fair that you're going to be apprehensive about that.
Speaker 1: So it's just you know, it's just becoming immersed in
Speaker 1: the environment and just saying hello, and you'll notice that
Speaker 1: it is not difficult. It is not difficult. Actually, just
Speaker 1: recently like had an idea that I think would be
Speaker 1: like I don't know, it'd be so hard to logistically do,
Speaker 1: but I think it would be really helpful if there
Speaker 1: was like a high school like component or curriculum thing
Speaker 1: where like once a week you you sort of are
Speaker 1: a makeshift support worker and you know, you might have
Speaker 1: the people from the special education unit come like India
Speaker 1: class and just like that into mingling and I think
Speaker 1: that would remove a lot of the apprehension people have
Speaker 1: around people with disabilities, because it's like, you know, if
Speaker 1: that's like a once a week thing that people are
Speaker 1: immersed in the disabilite community, I feel like there's going
Speaker 1: to be a lot more understanding when it comes to
Speaker 1: being out and you know, seeing people in general society.
Speaker 2: You know, I think that would be a wonderful initiative.
Speaker 2: We did a lot of work. A couple of friends
Speaker 2: and I worked a lot with the arduc Foundation when
Speaker 2: we were at high school and had a lot of
Speaker 2: exposure to people with mental and physical disabilities. And definitely
Speaker 2: at the start, I was like, oh, what if I
Speaker 2: do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing. But
Speaker 2: the more you're exposed to people and also understand like
Speaker 2: everyone's at a different level, you know, you can't get
Speaker 2: it right absolutely blanket approach. But it's the same with
Speaker 2: any person in society. You meet them, you don't know
Speaker 2: what they're likes and preferences are. At the start, you know,
Speaker 2: we get really and I think your content allows people
Speaker 2: to learn in a safe space.
Speaker 1: I think that's been my biggest sort of takeaway from
Speaker 1: making the content and all the comments I get is
Speaker 1: like the amount of messages for people saying I've just
Speaker 1: become a support worker because of your content and everything,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like four, that's big. That's very big. Well,
Speaker 1: that's huge, and it's like, you know, they're loving it,
Speaker 1: like they're having they're absolutely loving it. And I think
Speaker 1: this is I've had one person say, we just had
Speaker 1: a girl start at our work, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: not what you painted to be and it's like, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to show you like the stuff that
Speaker 1: it's more challenging than others. But it's like, if you
Speaker 1: were meant to be a support worker, you are going
Speaker 1: to take everything and stride. It doesn't matter what you're doing, really,
Speaker 1: and I can only make content about my experience. I
Speaker 1: very very rarely have a really bad day. You know,
Speaker 1: you might have a bad you know, five minutes, but
Speaker 1: you can't let a bad five minutes affect the rest
Speaker 1: of your day. And I think with me as well,
Speaker 1: just the way I approach being a support worker is
Speaker 1: that I'm there to assist someone live their fullest life
Speaker 1: and I'm just helping them. All I can do is
Speaker 1: really just be there to assist, and once you sort
Speaker 1: of get over that fact. I think everything just it's
Speaker 1: like water if ducts back, something will happen to you
Speaker 1: be like, hey, it's all good, it's we're fine out here,
Speaker 1: you know. And like that's the thing about people think
Speaker 1: I'm such a great support worker, and like I like
Speaker 1: to think I am, absolutely, but I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: an anomaly. I think the vast majority of support workers
Speaker 1: are just genuinely like me. They're very passionate about what
Speaker 1: they do and they love doing it. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, like saying that I'm a great support worker,
Speaker 1: I love that. That's fantastic, But I do think vast
Speaker 1: majority of support workers are great support workers. It isn't
Speaker 1: an industry that you sort of get into without some
Speaker 1: sort of passion for it. And I think that's like
Speaker 1: one of the big things about being a support worker
Speaker 1: is that if you're doing it, you're typically very passionate
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: Which definitely shines through in everything that you do. And
Speaker 2: while I have you here, and I think one of
Speaker 2: the great things about having a platform like this and
Speaker 2: being able to spend more than a TikTok links video
Speaker 2: on a topic is that for anyone listening who hasn't
Speaker 2: ever had any exposure to Down syndrome or support work,
Speaker 2: or has no one in their network that they can
Speaker 2: learn from. Can you talk us through, like what is
Speaker 2: Down syndrome? How does it manifest differently between Grace and
Speaker 2: Zach And I imagine when Grace was first born that
Speaker 2: might have been the first time for you and your
Speaker 2: parents that you'd ever had to learn like what it involves.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, it was absolutely It was an interesting
Speaker 1: time in our lives. You know, my parents have Grace
Speaker 1: and there's so many different new things you have to
Speaker 1: do a bunch of I mean I was nine when
Speaker 1: Grace was born. I didn't have to do really, so
Speaker 1: it was, you know, such a lie to undertaking, undertaking
Speaker 1: for them to you know, work out, you know what
Speaker 1: kind of expectations they were for her for her life,
Speaker 1: you know, developmental stuff because Down syndrome it's with the chromosomes.
Speaker 1: It's a chromosome thing. So things like low muscle tone.
Speaker 1: So low muscle tone just means get tired real fast,
Speaker 1: So that can be a thing. But in saying that,
Speaker 1: not everyone's the same. There was just I think it
Speaker 1: was earlier last year a person with Down syndrome ran America,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, what do you mean It's crazy.
Speaker 1: I was like, there is no way on this earth
Speaker 1: Grace or Zach would right now ever want to do that.
Speaker 1: And it's just like I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: say like blanket statements about people with people with Down syndrome,
Speaker 1: people with disability in general. But everyone has their own personality.
Speaker 1: They're just you know, it's just everyone has their own interests.
Speaker 1: Everyone you know, has different body compositions that allow them
Speaker 1: to do other things and train, and you know, everyone's
Speaker 1: got their own hopes and dreams. I get a lot
Speaker 1: of people saying like they're all so happy, Like all
Speaker 1: people down syndrome are very happy. They should see my
Speaker 1: sister on the morning when she gets ready to live.
Speaker 1: She is a hurricane of just torment and brutality.
Speaker 2: That's a big word.
Speaker 1: Everyone has moods, you know, everyone has moods. It's hard
Speaker 1: to put a put a blanket statement on what everyone
Speaker 1: what everyone with Down syndrome are because everyone is completely different, just.
Speaker 2: Like just like you, yeah, absolutely, But it's really interesting
Speaker 2: hearing even that like low muscle tone is a symptom
Speaker 2: that's quite common and that you were mentioning that you
Speaker 2: had to sort of remind Grace about where to put
Speaker 2: her tongue when she was speaking. Is that something that
Speaker 2: like you know straight away in her educational milestones are
Speaker 2: their particular schools that you know everyone who has Down
Speaker 2: syndrome in roles in those schools early, Like, how did
Speaker 2: her developmental?
Speaker 1: You are you? You cut out? You cut out?
Speaker 2: Oh no, now you've cut out.
Speaker 1: Hot on, I'm going to bat you money that my
Speaker 1: sister has just started watching a movie and that's why
Speaker 1: my Internet might be a bit short. I love that
Speaker 1: because it just it just reeks. It reeks of it.
Speaker 1: It reeks of watching a movie and stealing some of
Speaker 1: the band, which I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it. I think what I was asking is that,
Speaker 2: of course it manifests differently and everyone, and I know
Speaker 2: it's a chromosomal thing, but obviously it happens in degrees
Speaker 2: and people will be affected physically or mentally in different ways.
Speaker 2: But you also mentioned like you had to teach Grace
Speaker 2: how to move her tongue when she was younger.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so like she would just have her tongue out
Speaker 1: of her mouth because it was just easier, Like she'd
Speaker 1: just be yeah, like that. It was just like tongue
Speaker 1: in mouth shut and that was like one of the
Speaker 1: things is like, you know, it was one of the
Speaker 1: things we just had to implement. And then she doesn't
Speaker 1: doesn't do that anymore. So it's just like little things
Speaker 1: like that can make a world of difference in the
Speaker 1: long run. Really so, and you stay on top of
Speaker 1: you know, different therapists like speech therapy and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: It's super super important. And Grace Grace has got a
Speaker 1: job now. She works at zerafis Eah.
Speaker 2: She's like nineteen, right, she.
Speaker 1: Just turned nineteen. She just turned nineteen on the weekend.
Speaker 2: Actually, I was going to say this is creepy, but
Speaker 2: like six days ago, yes, I was like deep in
Speaker 2: your I found her twelfth birthday and I was like.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, you went spilunkin back And.
Speaker 2: I was like, you played AFL in Minnesota. I found
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: I did. I did. I fell in Minnesota, I played
Speaker 1: I fell in many places in America.
Speaker 2: We found a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeahh wow, that you really saw the whole back cautalog.
Speaker 2: I had to dig. I was like, it's not just
Speaker 2: about where you are now, it's about showing people you
Speaker 2: can find your joy.
Speaker 1: You're like a proper professional at this. You're doing your research.
Speaker 2: Wow, I'm a sleuth.
Speaker 1: Incredible, incredible from you.
Speaker 2: Incredible, I must admit. Like there's a video on your
Speaker 2: TikTok where Grace flicks her hair and there's like it's
Speaker 2: had like two million views or something like one point
Speaker 2: nine million or thirty million or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Let me check which one we've done a couple because
Speaker 1: I was like, people seem to enjoy that, I'm going
Speaker 1: to do it. I think the one that's got the
Speaker 1: most success is like seventy five million views. It's pretty
Speaker 1: big find.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say that seventy four and a half
Speaker 2: million of them will me just rewatching it?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Good. I think I've done the math and it
Speaker 1: was like a lot of years worth of watching hours
Speaker 1: it's been been watched. So impressive from you.
Speaker 2: Seventy four and to enjoy that video. She is on fire.
Speaker 1: I mean she looks incredible, she looks absolutely she I
Speaker 1: mean she's stunning. She looks absolutely stunning, much more potentially
Speaker 1: a model than I ever did, and.
Speaker 2: Get paid, like make some money from it, you know,
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: And it's like her hair is its own end.
Speaker 2: It's a paid actor.
Speaker 1: It's insane, it's incredible from.
Speaker 2: Her, it's on its own schedule.
Speaker 1: I know how this happened. It's beautiful, it's silky, it is.
Speaker 1: It looks like a commercial for shampoo, which hopefully with
Speaker 1: a bit of like we'll actually get to do oh
Speaker 1: my God with Grace because I feel like that'd be
Speaker 1: so cool. Well, she's got the hair flip, she's got
Speaker 1: the hair flip. I've got a tried and tested method
Speaker 1: that it looks fantastic. Why not? What's what would be
Speaker 1: so difficult about this? Let's do it. So.
Speaker 2: One of the things that's really really cool, I think
Speaker 2: in the last little while and you would have a
Speaker 2: better insight. This is just an outsider's perspective, is that
Speaker 2: it seems there is a bit more visibility for disability.
Speaker 2: There's a bit more conversation to help people who don't
Speaker 2: have disability in their lives to understand it more. You know,
Speaker 2: we've had our first down syndrome Victoria's secret model.
Speaker 1: I did see that. Yes, it's a great time for
Speaker 1: your live and you know, getting more sort of mainstream.
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, I think I think it's like
Speaker 1: target that also has a model with DOWN syndrome modeling
Speaker 1: clothes and stuff, and it's just it's beautiful, it's great,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's like walking around, you know, just
Speaker 1: a little subtle integration society, which is something that never
Speaker 1: sort of happened before, you know, And I think it's
Speaker 1: really comforting for people that might have disability to walk
Speaker 1: around and see themselves be represented on that stage. I
Speaker 1: think that's really really important.
Speaker 2: Have you seen that in Grace's life and in her
Speaker 2: capacity to sort of formulate what she might want to do,
Speaker 2: Like she might want to be a model, and then
Speaker 2: she sees a DOWNS model and then things I could
Speaker 2: actually do that, Like has her lifetime been affected by
Speaker 2: you know, just dominational balling or just misunderstanding and then
Speaker 2: it's improved over time.
Speaker 1: See that's so because I know, like the most of
Speaker 1: that would have occurred in high school, and lucky for me,
Speaker 1: I was living in.
Speaker 2: America at the times.
Speaker 1: I didn't really see any of that. You know, we'd
Speaker 1: like chat and everything on the phone, but I didn't.
Speaker 1: I'm sure nothing bad happened, but I was never like
Speaker 1: well appraised of any sort of situation that was going on.
Speaker 1: But I'm sure I'm sure if it was bad, I
Speaker 1: would have been told. But Grace doesn't have any sort
Speaker 1: of barriers to what she wants to do. We watched
Speaker 1: like a like a war movie, and she said she
Speaker 1: wanted to be a soldier.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I love it.
Speaker 1: And then she's like big into like Greek mythology and
Speaker 1: she wants to be like Athena, and then she's like
Speaker 1: she wants to help Robert Australia. There is absolutely zero
Speaker 1: barriers in her life. And I love that she thinks
Speaker 1: she could run through a brick wall, so good on her.
Speaker 1: She can do whatever her she puts her mind to
Speaker 1: go for it. I mean she thinks she can fight
Speaker 1: me and beat me up.
Speaker 2: I fully believe that she could. Just saying I would
Speaker 2: put money on the Grace over you.
Speaker 1: That's an issue in itself. She's going all out when
Speaker 1: she tries to tries to attack me in a joking way,
Speaker 1: there is no pulling any punch.
Speaker 2: She is absolutely full bodies, swinging for the fences.
Speaker 1: And it's she's got a powerful punch.
Speaker 2: It's powerful, assass on it.
Speaker 1: It's tough. I just got to like really like it's tough.
Speaker 1: That's why I work out because I need to be
Speaker 1: able to defend myself. It's self defense because there's no
Speaker 1: holds bar.
Speaker 2: For anyone again, who wants to sort of understand more
Speaker 2: about the day to day and even her independence levels
Speaker 2: and confidence and ability you know, to have a job.
Speaker 2: Do you like you drop her off to work.
Speaker 1: I'm usually working when she does that, So usually it'll
Speaker 1: be another support work, like she's she has her own
Speaker 1: because I'm like, I'm not allowed to be your support
Speaker 1: because I'm a brother. That's like a family thing. So
Speaker 1: like I will drop her off at places, but that's
Speaker 1: just like as her brother. But when it comes to
Speaker 1: like doing work and stuff, like another support worker will
Speaker 1: come and get her and go do stuff with her
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And yeah, just her day to day,
Speaker 1: she would comfortably watch movies the whole day if she
Speaker 1: was given the complete freedom to do that. I usually
Speaker 1: try and just rent it in a little courage to
Speaker 1: do something else, you know, just like, hey, could you
Speaker 1: do something else a little bit, maybe listen to music,
Speaker 1: you know, clean your room. But I think her perfect
Speaker 1: job would be being a film critic.
Speaker 2: Because then she'd get to watch them for a job.
Speaker 1: I know, watching her watch a movie is a movie
Speaker 1: in itself because she is so engrossed in the movie.
Speaker 1: It's the absolute extremes of joy. When there's a joyful scene,
Speaker 1: she is like like she can't hold it in. She's
Speaker 1: like clenching her fist, going, Oh, she's so exciting about it,
Speaker 1: and it's it's wonderful to watch, and it's I think
Speaker 1: that's what she should be striving to do. But again,
Speaker 1: I think she just loves to watch.
Speaker 2: Good on it.
Speaker 1: I love movies through. I love movies through. That's good.
Speaker 2: And So with your like, we see Zach a lot
Speaker 2: on your socials and we've seen you know, other clients
Speaker 2: for particular periods of time. Do you sort of have
Speaker 2: one person at once or do you have multiple clients
Speaker 2: at different times? Like how do you balance your weeks?
Speaker 1: So I have like a couple of clients that I
Speaker 1: see on like a wonder one like a wonder one ratio.
Speaker 1: I see them like it's just them me throughout the
Speaker 1: week during the school year, and then on the weekends
Speaker 1: it was like the group activities that we do and
Speaker 1: also the stas which is the short term accommodation, which
Speaker 1: is like when we went away this past weekend, to
Speaker 1: Sandstone Point holiday resort near Beyond, and so those are
Speaker 1: the group stuff. But yeah, there's only one or two
Speaker 1: sometimes three that I see one on one every week. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the person I've been working with the longest is Zach.
Speaker 1: We've done some incredibly fun things, like we're invited down
Speaker 1: to Sydney for an H and M photo shoot things
Speaker 1: that was fun. Awesome, Oh man, that was incredible. What
Speaker 1: an experience that was for the vote of us. Really
Speaker 1: it was awesome.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. And I think one of the things
Speaker 2: that is hard sometimes to manage when you do love
Speaker 2: your work, and particularly the way you fell into your
Speaker 2: work is sort of like I already do this. This
Speaker 2: doesn't even feel like work, Like it's just what I do,
Speaker 2: is it. Then it's really hard for you, Like even
Speaker 2: just speaking to you over the past couple of months,
Speaker 2: you have no days off, you have so little time.
Speaker 2: How do you manage the fact that, like it's not
Speaker 2: a job where it's nine to five you go home,
Speaker 2: it's like you're going on a trip, you're staying in
Speaker 2: the accommodation. How do you manage your your energy or
Speaker 2: your downtime.
Speaker 1: It's gotten hardt like I do generally feel like I
Speaker 1: have a very full schedule. I am very poor at
Speaker 1: time management though as well, So that's like another aspect
Speaker 1: in itself, like I, you know, work as a support worker.
Speaker 1: I don't work full time hours, but with this social
Speaker 1: media stuff as well, that you got to add that
Speaker 1: in there. And then I've just got general self care
Speaker 1: that I need to take care of, like going to
Speaker 1: the gym and you know, seeing you know, some of
Speaker 1: my friends. So I feel like I am just chock
Speaker 1: and filled with stuff. And I think that's been one
Speaker 1: of the hardest things for me because honestly, I didn't
Speaker 1: know what a work ethic was, and I wasn't and
Speaker 1: I wasn't interested in having one for the first twenty
Speaker 1: five years of my life.
Speaker 2: I mean, honesty is the best policy.
Speaker 1: Good on you, exactly right, And it's like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's strange, but like I did the absolute bare minimum
Speaker 1: on everything I ever did, correct bare minimum, absolutely and
Speaker 1: granted out of that bare minimum. I have done a
Speaker 1: lot of things that are great. You know, I did
Speaker 1: the whole college in the using bare minimum. If I
Speaker 1: wasn't as lazy as I as I was, i'd probably
Speaker 1: been in a much different situation I am in now.
Speaker 2: Everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1: I'm very appreciative of where I am today. So like
Speaker 1: this has all been a journey, you know, it's all
Speaker 1: been a great time. But yeah, Like, up until I
Speaker 1: started being a support worker and then I started making
Speaker 1: this content on TikTok, I didn't have motivation to do anything. Really,
Speaker 1: I was just happy going through the motions, just porting
Speaker 1: the long and whatever. But ever since I started doing both,
Speaker 1: it's like I am absolutely consumed by it, and I
Speaker 1: love that. It's such like a It's been such a
Speaker 1: different vibe to what I've been my entire life. And
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, I'm thinking of some sort
Speaker 1: of work related thing all the time, which I would
Speaker 1: love a break mentally at times, but I can't. I
Speaker 1: don't feel like I can. I can do that, and
Speaker 1: that's fine. I've learned to sort of deal with that.
Speaker 1: With support work, I can just like leave it when
Speaker 1: I finish work. I am always like thinking things on
Speaker 1: how things can be assisted. And obviously my mum comes
Speaker 1: home from work and that's what we talk about her
Speaker 1: day at work, which is my work as well. So
Speaker 1: it's like that doesn't stop in that regard, but I
Speaker 1: found with TikTok that is like all the time I'm
Speaker 1: like thinking, I'm like, oh, I gotta make a video.
Speaker 1: I got it. I feel like I put a lot
Speaker 1: more pressure on myself than I should have have to
Speaker 1: or need to really, and I just I just think
Speaker 1: that's the content game. Really, But I am in a
Speaker 1: very lucky position with the content I make because it
Speaker 1: is just centered around what I do. You know. Sure,
Speaker 1: some things I have to you know, think about, you know,
Speaker 1: making a video, like if Grace and I sit down
Speaker 1: and do it like a piece of a camera or whatever.
Speaker 1: But most of my stuff, they're just moments taken from
Speaker 1: my day. And that's why I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people enjoy about about my TikTok and my Instagram and
Speaker 1: stuff is that it feels very authentic and genuine because
Speaker 1: it is like none of them, like my my vlogs
Speaker 1: or daily whatever, like you can't recreate those moments like
Speaker 1: I just happen to have my phone out and I'm
Speaker 1: just doing them as you go. And it's just I
Speaker 1: just feel like people there's so much scripted stuff on
Speaker 1: social media, so seeing something just raw and happening, I
Speaker 1: think people really appreciate that because they know it's they're
Speaker 1: not being sold anything. It's like, this is just the reality.
Speaker 1: This is a situation.
Speaker 2: That's yeah.
Speaker 1: And obviously, like the personality of Grace and Zak in
Speaker 1: particular are incredible. They're incredible, They're incredible individuals, incredible.
Speaker 2: Love and a bit I mean as just three quarters
Speaker 2: of a million of us, of.
Speaker 1: Course, but no, like a common thing people ask or
Speaker 1: like say, is like, you're so good with your brother,
Speaker 1: And I was like, Zach isn't my brother, but he
Speaker 1: is one of the most important people in my life,
Speaker 1: like one hundred percent. I I do view him as
Speaker 1: a little brother to me. I do, like, I really
Speaker 1: do care so so much for him. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: just want what's best for him. That's I think that's
Speaker 1: why I do go above and above and beyond all.
Speaker 1: I mean, at least, I think I'm trying to to
Speaker 1: to make sure that he is put into the best
Speaker 1: situation he possibly can be to succeed. And I think
Speaker 1: that's that's really what it's all about.
Speaker 2: I love it even more hearing you say that you
Speaker 2: were just not super motivated or excited to go above
Speaker 2: and beyond for anything until you found the thing, and
Speaker 2: now it's hard for you not to not to be
Speaker 2: that way. And I think a lot of people spend
Speaker 2: a lot of their life feeling like.
Speaker 1: That, Yeah, well you've you've you've got to You've got
Speaker 1: to seize you.
Speaker 2: Babes. He's now. Honest.
Speaker 1: It's not bad, not bad.
Speaker 2: I just think it's so I mean, separate to the
Speaker 2: actual nature of what you do, just the fact that
Speaker 2: you can spend a lot of your life doing something
Speaker 2: not feeling super excited or motivated, and then it's possible
Speaker 2: to fall into something that lights you up so much
Speaker 2: that it changes your whole attitude towards work.
Speaker 1: Well, it's like it's like super strange because I love sport.
Speaker 1: Sport is still super important to me. I've always loved
Speaker 1: playing it more, loved playing it more than watching it.
Speaker 1: And I loved it. I loved playing AFL like it
Speaker 1: was the most important thing to me growing up. But
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be doing extra practices. I would rock up,
Speaker 1: do my thing, and then how far I went was
Speaker 1: how far I went. I wasn't putting in extra efforts,
Speaker 1: you know, And like I was, I was pretty I
Speaker 1: was pretty solid. I was pretty solid. At AFL. I was.
Speaker 1: I was, you know, made some rep teams, was in
Speaker 1: the GACA Soun's Academy and tell you I was in
Speaker 1: the Gagas Suns Academy. And then I did just I
Speaker 1: lost it. I lost my passion to play. And that's
Speaker 1: what ultimately ended up with me coming over to the
Speaker 1: States because I was like, I need a challenge, I
Speaker 1: need something new to do. And then, you know, it
Speaker 1: was funny enough the moment I moved and started playing
Speaker 1: American football, it was like, oh wow, I kind of
Speaker 1: miss AFL a lot. But you know that's you know
Speaker 1: why I snuck away and I played AFL Minnesota and
Speaker 1: in Texas and stuff. But yeah, like I still absolutely
Speaker 1: love doing those things. But it wasn't until I started
Speaker 1: being a support worker and stuff that I really felt
Speaker 1: passionate about about these things as well. I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's really strange. I don't know, it's really it's really
Speaker 1: bizarre because I like I can't understate how much I
Speaker 1: did love playing AFL in sport, and like I actively
Speaker 1: try and go Like the reason why I've torn my
Speaker 1: ACL four times is because I continually try to go
Speaker 1: back and play sport and then my knees just like,
Speaker 1: maybe not exactly now, I don't know, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: still it's like it's weird because I did love love
Speaker 1: it so much, but I wasn't wanting to put it
Speaker 1: in the extra effort, whereas with this, I am, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I love I.
Speaker 2: Love that so much. But I feel like that's the
Speaker 2: case with many people. Once you find the thing, you
Speaker 2: know how. I think it was who was it who said,
Speaker 2: if you find something you love, you'll never work a
Speaker 2: day in your life, Like it won't feel like work. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I think that's what's happened with you. You found
Speaker 2: your thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great, it's great. And then I think my
Speaker 1: TikTok ultimately started properly started when I started doing the
Speaker 1: content with my little sister and then getting a lot
Speaker 1: of comments of people being like positive and being and
Speaker 1: saying like I've just had a sign daughter born with
Speaker 1: Down syndrome and seeing this gives me so much hope,
Speaker 1: and I was like, that's big. So then I was like,
Speaker 1: then I was like, if I really just highlight these
Speaker 1: really full lives that these guys are living, I think
Speaker 1: I could people even more hope for the future, for
Speaker 1: you know their loved one, and I think ultimately that's
Speaker 1: the reason why I carried on making that style of content,
Speaker 1: and that's why I continue to do it. It's like,
Speaker 1: I know that it can make a difference in people's lives,
Speaker 1: and I do love the idea of people being like
Speaker 1: this isn't as daunting as it was before, because you know,
Speaker 1: when you first have a child with a disability, I
Speaker 1: feel like for a majority of people it would be like, shit,
Speaker 1: what do I do? I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: the first thing about how to handle this situation. This,
Speaker 1: you know, character building moment in my life, and I
Speaker 1: think you know, by people stumbling across or being tagged
Speaker 1: in my videos, people see that there is incredible potential
Speaker 1: for a lot of joy and you know, something to
Speaker 1: look forward to.
Speaker 2: So beautiful. Well, if people don't already follow along, it
Speaker 2: is the most beautiful and really really like, as you said,
Speaker 2: super raw, Like it just feels like we're just part
Speaker 2: of your day. What do you think for anyone who
Speaker 2: doesn't follow you already, what's like your favorite video? They
Speaker 2: should begin with? Do you have one that you're like
Speaker 2: that was good other than the hair flick? Obviously, the
Speaker 2: hair flick.
Speaker 1: See, I don't know, that's not even close to my
Speaker 1: favorite video. What annoys me about that.
Speaker 2: Video is like it's eclipsed to everything I know.
Speaker 1: It is by far the most popular video I've ever posted.
Speaker 1: Like it's got like nine million likes or something like.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of likes on TikTok. It's crazy. It's nuts,
Speaker 1: Like it makes no sense.
Speaker 2: It makes sense, it doesn't sense. I'm just saying it
Speaker 2: makes sense.
Speaker 1: I just find it irritating because I put all this
Speaker 1: time and effort into making these vlogs, these like videos
Speaker 1: about these trips away, and people really enjoy those. But
Speaker 1: the video that takes its four point two seconds in
Speaker 1: total that we're just standing there and I'm just like,
Speaker 1: all right, do the hair, let's do the hair flip,
Speaker 1: and then she flips her hair and then we get this,
Speaker 1: and I'm.
Speaker 2: Just like, the fuck man, The.
Speaker 1: Effort I put into that video is one percent of
Speaker 1: the other videos that I do, and it's like, of
Speaker 1: course that would be the one that be the most successful.
Speaker 1: It really teaches me a lesson. See, if anything, my
Speaker 1: thing about putting an effort and my motivation stuff for
Speaker 1: like making videos and TikTok and stuff if anything that's
Speaker 1: trying to get me to not put in any effort. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for videos, because like I mean, this is this is
Speaker 1: tried and true technique.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gross. Careless, do less, and it'll go better
Speaker 2: exactly exactly right.
Speaker 1: But I think like the videos that I have pinned
Speaker 1: on my account either, like I think of the three,
Speaker 1: I think I need to change one of them.
Speaker 2: Now they're formals. Oh my god, they were my favorite.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're formal. So they're both of their formal videos,
Speaker 1: two of my favorites, because you know, it was such
Speaker 1: like a milestone in their lives, you know, finishing high school.
Speaker 1: And I made a big story, a big story about it.
Speaker 1: And I'm so proud of those videos, not only because
Speaker 1: I mean I made them. Of course, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: proud of my own stuff, but I you know, I
Speaker 1: played an important part of that day for them. Zach
Speaker 1: requested me to sit next to him at his formal
Speaker 1: dinner thing. Not his parents, No, no, no, no, no, this story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this guy right here got to sit next to.
Speaker 2: Four parents were probably like you are of.
Speaker 1: A bit brutal. I know, I'd come in here and
Speaker 1: I've just comment dear the relationship and like with Grace,
Speaker 1: you know, I walked her down the little red carpet thing,
Speaker 1: and you know, when we got out of the car
Speaker 1: and I heard people like a screen because at this
Speaker 1: point in time we'd already had some sort of following
Speaker 1: on tikto people were aware and we got out of
Speaker 1: the car and people like screaming Grace. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start dying. This is gonna be embarrassing for
Speaker 1: me here I need but no, it was like, I
Speaker 1: think those two videos are They're pretty special to me.
Speaker 1: And then the other one is another video is like
Speaker 1: just different aspects of being a support worker, which is
Speaker 1: like a more zippy, more zip to it, you know,
Speaker 1: more entertaining, just get you sort of get a snapshot
Speaker 1: of what my content is like, see what I've what
Speaker 1: I've noticed for TikTok. If people aren't appraised with how
Speaker 1: TikTok seems to work, here, those short attention grabbing videos
Speaker 1: like the hair flicks and stuff, that's what gets attention.
Speaker 1: And then it's my other content, the longer form stuff
Speaker 1: with the voiceovers and showcasing like a day in the life,
Speaker 1: all these trips away that sort of get people to
Speaker 1: like care. That's where you sort of build like the
Speaker 1: audience that genuinely gives a shit, you know. And I
Speaker 1: think those are the most important videos, those attention grabbing
Speaker 1: ones like it's great, you know, we're showcasing off how
Speaker 1: beautiful Grace is or how entertaining Zac may be. But
Speaker 1: those longer form content where we're showing the lifestyles that
Speaker 1: we're leading and everything like that, that I think people
Speaker 1: genuinely care about it and ultimately stick around for because
Speaker 1: it's exciting if they're exciting times. I just finished making
Speaker 1: a part one of the part two of just a
Speaker 1: two parter for our little trip away in this past weekend,
Speaker 1: So hopefully I'm posting posting that tomorrow and then hopefully
Speaker 1: I remember on my first day in Hawaii on Sunday
Speaker 1: that I can post the second one.
Speaker 2: Is Hawaii a holiday? Is it an actual holiday?
Speaker 1: Fore? Yes, see, it's an actual holiday.
Speaker 2: But you know, I'm gonna make all the content.
Speaker 1: I know, it's like I'm gonna I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: make content. So it's like that in that regard, like
Speaker 1: it never stops, but it would be so awesome. Grace and
Speaker 1: I am very excited and take the Jurassic Park slicing
Speaker 1: the world to where it was filmed. So we're big.
Speaker 1: We're big fans of dinosaurs, so that's going to be
Speaker 1: huge for us.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see the content.
Speaker 1: We're very excited. We're very very excited for it.
Speaker 2: Well. I will make sure to include all of your
Speaker 2: links in the show notes. Ben, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for this incredible chat. I feel like I could keep
Speaker 2: picking your brain for like hours and hours and hours.
Speaker 2: But one very last question for you, which we finish
Speaker 2: every episode on. Do you have a favorite quote.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a big Disney guy, same big Walt
Speaker 1: Disney guy.
Speaker 2: Big huge favorite Disney movie.
Speaker 1: I see, I can't answer that question. I can tell
Speaker 1: you my favorite underrated Disney movie, and it's criminally underrated.
Speaker 1: It's Atlanta. It's the lost Empire quality film. The reason
Speaker 1: why it wasn't you know, it's not critically renowned now
Speaker 1: not well known, came out the first year as Shrek.
Speaker 2: Oh the Pixar like.
Speaker 1: Also overshadowed there, so sort of forgotten. But it's a crazy.
Speaker 2: Forgotten, forgotten forgotten. I've gotten like Atlantis. Yeah, so good right,
Speaker 2: You've also been to Disneyland like eight thousand times. I
Speaker 2: saw like eight thousand pictures of you there.
Speaker 1: I used to live in Orlando, where Disney World is,
Speaker 1: so I've had numerous annual passes to Disney World. I'd
Speaker 1: be there. I'd be there at least four or five
Speaker 1: times a week because I live so close, so I
Speaker 1: was going all the time.
Speaker 2: I'm going to admit I literally thought for a little while.
Speaker 2: I was like, is he in America because he got
Speaker 2: a job at Disney World? Like, is that why he
Speaker 2: was there?
Speaker 1: That's what a lot of people thought.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Magic Castle pictureles like, there's like eighty five
Speaker 2: of them on your page.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean that's a beautiful look and see
Speaker 1: that it's outseeming. I think just the way Disney does
Speaker 1: stuff is incredible. But that's beside the point. So while
Speaker 1: Disney like if you can dream it, you can do it.
Speaker 1: I loved that. I love that, But I just saw
Speaker 1: another quote. It's weird because I was got some like
Speaker 1: friends going through through some like I don't know, difficult
Speaker 1: patches in their life, right, character building exactly, And I
Speaker 1: was like, look, I'm a big champion of the idea
Speaker 1: that if you're putting in effort into something for long enough,
Speaker 1: it's eventually going to pay off. And I just saw
Speaker 1: a quote I think Forbes posted on their Instagram account.
Speaker 1: It was like Larry Bird the basketball player he once said.
Speaker 1: I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the quote verbatim, and
Speaker 1: it's like, if you put one hundred percent effort into something,
Speaker 1: eventually it's going to pay off. And I was like,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what I said to my friend like four
Speaker 1: hours ago.
Speaker 3: That's fantastic, And I am like, I just think that
Speaker 3: is so good to think of, because like, yeah, like
Speaker 3: TikTok's turned into career for me, but that was never
Speaker 3: the idea.
Speaker 1: But I put in so much effort into that. And
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, good old day management.
Speaker 2: Out here shout out to date that, and then all of.
Speaker 1: A sudden, I I started, you know, getting these collaborations
Speaker 1: going on. I was like, I put one hundred percent
Speaker 1: effort into this TikTok thing with absolutely no intention of it,
Speaker 1: you know, materializing into anything else than what it was,
Speaker 1: like spreading awareness and stuff like that, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, grace and I are wearing sketches and making
Speaker 1: taking photos for them. I was like, if the shoe
Speaker 1: fits classic sketches, that's funny because shoe brand.
Speaker 2: So I can't cope. I can't.
Speaker 1: It's just even my soul, you know, another one, another one.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, too much, too much? We did we
Speaker 2: need to cut out of.
Speaker 1: No, no, we're drunk.
Speaker 2: We need drunk on joy. Drunk on joy, drunk on.
Speaker 1: Joy, exactly right. Yeah, Like I said, I've never had
Speaker 1: alcohol in my life, so I feel like I have
Speaker 1: enough energy. I don't need any outside substances to enhance
Speaker 1: my experience of life. That's the way I look at it.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it is one hundred percent easy to
Speaker 2: believe that. Like, look at you, you're just a walking yay,
Speaker 2: it's just bananas.
Speaker 1: See. I think you are a product of what you
Speaker 1: surround yourself with.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: And my work, I'm with some of the most joyful
Speaker 1: people ever, So, like, it's hard to not be in
Speaker 1: a good move. That's true when you're around such uplifting
Speaker 1: and positive people. You know, like my soundtrack when I'm
Speaker 1: when i'm driving even from work, I'm listening to Disney hits.
Speaker 1: It's hard to not feel great about yourself when you
Speaker 1: listen to Go the Distance by Roger Bart from Hercule.
Speaker 2: Literally, I'm on my way, I can go. It's just uplifting,
Speaker 2: it's this is literally. So we were on a road
Speaker 2: trip the other day. We went to see Disney, like
Speaker 2: the classical music version of Disney by Candlelight the other day,
Speaker 2: and so because of that on the way home, like
Speaker 2: my Spotify open right now is on Disney.
Speaker 1: Hits, So how far I'll go first on their quality song.
Speaker 2: I'm more o G. I'm more like Lion King, Beauty
Speaker 2: and the Beast or Laddin, like the whole Frozen now
Speaker 2: not not into it. I'm o G. I'm like back
Speaker 2: in the nineties.
Speaker 1: So you just think you're too cool. You're too cool
Speaker 1: and him to enjoy.
Speaker 3: The wow wow you can't appreciate.
Speaker 1: But Molana is objectively fantastic.
Speaker 2: Agreed, Agreed, Moanentangles.
Speaker 1: Is better than Frozen. Disney hasn't seen the Tangles.
Speaker 2: I'm a puristurist. Well, thank you so much, Ben, I
Speaker 2: hope you have the best time in Hawaii. We will
Speaker 2: all be following along with so much joy.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. I'm very very excited to go.
Speaker 1: Never been family has, but I have never so looking
Speaker 1: forward to them finally taken me.
Speaker 2: We'll have an amazing time and hope you're season.
Speaker 1: Your yay always. Thank you so much