In this special 4-year anniversary episode of the Voice4Chefs Podcast, host Michael Dugan sits in the guest chair—interviewed by Arthur J Byrnes from Podmasters Advanced Toastmasters Club. Michael shares his deeply personal journey through Toastmasters, revealing how it helped him conquer imposter syndrome, find his voice, and launch a globally recognized platform that amplifies the stories of chefs and culinary professionals worldwide.
This inspiring episode features reflections on growth, leadership, and the power of community—highlighting how a Toastmasters foundation helped shape a podcast that now reaches listeners across continents.
Plus, enjoy featured insights from:
Greg Gazin, co-host of The Official Toastmasters Podcast – On the power of storytelling and digital platforms for leadership
Whether you're a podcast creator, culinary professional, or Toastmaster, this episode will leave you motivated to pursue your passion with courage and clarity.
Key Takeaways:
- How Toastmasters helped Michael build confidence and launch Voice4Chefs
- Lessons learned from interviewing chefs, bakers, and culinary artists
- The link between public speaking, storytelling, and culinary leadership
- The importance of mentorship, community, and showing up authentically
00:57 Meet Arthur Byrnes
01:58 Interview with Michael Dugan Begins
03:20 Michael Dugan's Podcast Journey
04:28 The High-Performance Leadership Project
09:39 Memorable Podcast Episodes
14:54 Unexpected Opportunities Through Podcasting
26:13 Future Plans for Voice4Chefs
29:31 Podcasting Insights and Challenges
36:36 Round Robin Feedback
Toastmasters Resources
Join our club: https://podmasters.toastmastersclubs.org
Join Toastmasters: https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
Season2
Welcome Chef Steven Leung as our new cohost.
IG: themindfulwok
Your support and contributions are vital in sustaining and expanding The Voice4Chefs podcast.
Your donations aid in amplifying the voices of chefs globally.
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/voice4chefs?locale.x=en_US
Share your thoughts! Leave a comment or 5 star review.
https://www.voice4chefs.com/reviews/new/
Volunteer contact ChefMichael@voice4chefs.com
Connect with our Culinary Stories:
https://linktr.ee/voice4chef
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michael Dugan (00:01):
A heartfelt thank you to Toastmasters
around the world for helpingme turn a vision into reality.
Through the High PerformanceLeadership Project, I gained
the tools, confidence, andcommunity support To launch
the Voice4Chefs podcast.
This platform is dedicated toall of you in Toastmasters,
leaders, mentors, andfriends who inspire others
(00:24):
to find their voice.
And use it to make an impact.
A special thanks to digitaltransformation in Seattle,
Washington, where it all beganand to Podmasters Advanced
where they hosted the four yearcelebration of Voice4Chefs and
(00:44):
where the journey will continue.
Let's dive right inwith Ali Blakeman, the
Toastmaster of the day.
Ally Blakeman (00:57):
Mr. Arthur Burns.
Arthur joined Toastmasters11 years ago in 2014.
He is one of the foundationalkey members of our club
here at Podmasters.
Arthur has had severalinteresting careers,
including a carnival Barker,an aerospace engineer, an
(01:18):
education staffer, and anelected city commissioner.
Arthur resides inDaytona Beach, Florida.
Tonight, Arthur is makinghis triumphant debut in
his podcasting journey byinterviewing Michael Dugan
who is celebrating his fourthanniversary of Voice4Chefs.
(01:39):
Please help me welcome tothe floor and Arthur Burns
as we join him in his studiofor his triumphant debut
of his podcast, Arthur.
Arthur Byrnes (01:50):
Wow that's quite a introduction to live up to.
Thank you, Madam Toastmaster.
And I'm here, not for myself,but to interview Michael Dugan.
First I want to saythat Michael, is a hero
of mine and a mentor.
(02:11):
As he has almost 100 podcastepisodes online where he
interviews great chefs fromaround the world, and yet he
takes time to help others whoare just starting out with
his patience and knowledge.
Michael holds degrees inculinary arts and hotel and
(02:35):
restaurant administration.
He began his career inthe hospitality industry
and then transitioned to asuccessful tech career in 1995.
In 2021 he launched The Voicefor Chefs podcast, now heard
in over 70 countries connectingaudiences with chefs and
(03:00):
culinary artists worldwide.
It's notable at this pointthat he has close to a hundred
episodes online in his constantmission to help others.
He is currently developinga keynote to inspire
Toastmasters to share theirmessages through podcasting.
I will say, hello, Michael.
(03:23):
It's good to see you.
Hello, how are you?
I am sitting here.
And basking in this wonderfulToastmasters meeting.
Michael Dugan (03:37):
Yeah, we have a lot of amazing people
and thanks for doing thisI am so excited to have
this conversation with you.
Arthur Byrnes (03:43):
I'm always good to chat with you.
And I met you throughPod Masters and it is a
Toastmasters club, and Iknow that you've been a
Toastmaster for a long time.
How long has your Toastmaster'sjourney been, and did
your Toastmaster's journeyhelp lead you towards
(04:06):
becoming a pod master?
Michael Dugan (04:09):
A pod master, and a podcaster?
I like that.
It's almost like analliteration, I would say.
Oh my gosh.
I've actually lost countin years, so I think I'm
up to about 14 years.
Arthur Byrnes (04:24):
Wow.
Michael Dugan (04:24):
And I'm a lifer.
There's no question in my mind.
The journey has been amazing,and what I'd love to share is a
moment that happened four yearsago I was mentoring somebody
in our club called DigitalTransformation, and I remember
(04:45):
anju was very nervous and Iwanted to show her pathways,
and I wanted to help herunderstand that once you get
beyond level one, level two,there's all these projects.
There's all these new andexciting things that you can do.
So I saw a seminaron Advanced Pathways.
It was led by Kyle Hall ofDistrict 32, which is our
(05:08):
neighboring district in theSeattle area, and Kyle was
leading this concept of helpingpeople understand what do you do
when you get beyond the basics?
of Pathways.
So in the middle ofhis presentation, he
loves to interact.
He loves to ask people questionsand bring the audience up
(05:29):
and do lots of things, andhe creates amazing workshops.
So he said, is anyoneworking on a level four?
Level five podcast.
And I had this idea in myhead that I really wanted
to do a podcast to interviewchefs or to honor chefs.
(05:50):
And, it goes back a littlebit to the reason is
because in 2020, governorJay Insley in Washington
State closed all restaurantsbecause of the pandemic.
But I looked aroundthe world and realized
all around the world.
Restaurants had closedfor weeks, even months,
and it devastated thehospitality industry.
(06:14):
Having spent 10 years in therestaurant business and studying
to be a chef I woke up one daywith the idea that I wanted
to give chefs a voice and doa radio show or do a podcast,
but I was so hesitant becauseI had imposter syndrome.
I didn't know whatpeople would think.
I didn't know if theywere gonna hate it.
(06:36):
I thought my family wouldjudge me and so this
imposter syndrome crept in.
And when I went to thispathway seminar and I
listened to Kyle, he was soinspiring that I said, I'm
interested in doing a podcast.
And I rememberhis words exactly.
He said, that's easy.
(06:59):
Your level four project.
Is your podcast, but yourLevel five project is your high
performance leadership project.
And I went, I've doneone of those before.
And he goes, the project isabout creating your podcast,
your mission, your vision, yourvalues, and gathering group
of people together to do it.
(07:20):
I left that seminarand I was so inspired.
I can't even tell youbecause it broke down all the
barriers of imposter syndrome.
It broke down all the barriersof planning because I was
able to gather an executiveassistant, a life coach, and my
wife who did all the design andhelp me with all the creativity
(07:42):
helped me get to my why.
I was missing one person.
And I thought, whoam I gonna get?
Who's the next person thatI wanna bring into the high
Performance leadership project?
And I said, okay, I know.
So I called Kyle up and I gotthe, number of excuses that
I got, I can't even tell you.
(08:03):
It's I don't have time.
I'm really busy I'm workingon this other project.
And then I called himagain, and then he said yes.
And he was amazing.
He is so connected all over theworld to Toastmasters Baxter
Kent's here tonight and anotherperson that I really value,
(08:24):
and I know Baxter's nodding hishead, I know he is right now
because Kyle is in district two,where I was from is in district
32, is in other districts.
He's probably in five or sixclubs and he was number three.
In the world championof public speaking.
He's also a senior marketer anda visionary in Toastmasters.
(08:46):
He's worked every role.
I think he's been a districtdirector and probably beyond.
So for me to have thatkind of vision, that kind
of high level visibilityin Toastmasters was epic.
It was just epic andthat's how it started.
Wow.
Arthur Byrnes (09:09):
I keep saying almost a hundred podcasts.
How, many is it?
I, believe you justreleased one today.
Michael Dugan (09:17):
Today?
Yes.
83. But technicallythere's a couple that
aren't really episodes.
They're just updatesand things like that.
Don't we don't deal intechnicalities here.
No.
83. But I will tell you,this is an amazing episode.
I worked hard on this.
I was working on it tillthree o'clock today.
'cause I had technical failures,but it was so incredible.
(09:39):
Ashley Brown is outta Colorado.
And I'll just giveyou a little tidbit.
So Ashley Brown is part ofan organization called MAPP.
And MAPP is an organizationled by Joanna James,
who's one of my heroes.
I met her through my friendChef Mimi and Chef Stevens here.
So he knows ChefMimi and some others.
But Joanna basicallycreated this organization.
(10:04):
And it's about advocacy,mentorship, and leadership for
women in hospitality becausethey don't get as much of
an opportunity as men do.
And I was floored when I mether in Las Vegas two months ago.
And so this episode I dedicatedto her on Mother's Day.
And also Ashley is a motherand an incredible chef.
(10:27):
She was on chopped.
She runs one of the toprestaurants in Colorado
called Four by Brother Luck.
And Brother Luck isa celebrity chef.
And when I put thisinformation out, he texted
me and said, thank you.
Wow.
And so for me, this isan incredible episode.
It's the launch of season four.
She's a MAPP member.
(10:49):
She's connected toeverything that I believe in.
And she's an incrediblestoryteller and she's never
been on a podcast before.
So that's the joy that I havethat's happening right now.
Arthur Byrnes (11:02):
So, we build this as, I was gonna give
you a grilling and grill me.
My first grillingis 83 episodes.
That's two a month.
And you have a full-time job.
Michael Dugan (11:21):
Yeah.
Arthur Byrnes (11:21):
So why aren't you quit your job?
'cause you should be doingan episode every day.
We should have.
I want to all ofthose episodes out
Michael Dugan (11:29):
there.
It's funny, Arthur, I knowso many chefs all over the
world now because of this.
I, have a list of people thatare ready to go and, Chef
Steven's here tonight, andI want to give a shout out
to him because he's gonnabe my co-host and I'm so
excited to bring him on board.
(11:50):
I've known him for aboutfour years and I have
so much respect for him.
He used to be the executivesous chef of the Cosmopolitan
Hotel in Las Vegas, and hehas an amazing philosophy
on leadership with treatingpeople with respect.
Incredible person.
So I'm, really excited.
So I think we're gonna have moretime to produce more episode.
(12:12):
, yeah, they're 83 is a lot.
I, know,
Arthur Byrnes (12:14):
I listen sometimes I do one month, some
podcasts that are one a day
Michael Dugan (12:17):
yeah.
Yeah.
Arthur Byrnes (12:18):
They
Michael Dugan (12:19):
do it full time.
Arthur Byrnes (12:22):
Yeah.
So there's moregrilling coming up.
That was just a, minor grilling.
Good.
Good.
What did you what?
What advice do you giveto someone who says, Hey,
I want to be a podcaster?
Michael Dugan (12:39):
Ooh.
The first thing is what my wifeasked me, what is your why?
I. Why do you want a podcast?
What's the reason?
Is it a project in Toastmasters?
Because you can check itoff the list in a month.
But if it's something thatyou really, wanna do in your
heart and soul, like for me.
(12:59):
When the pandemic hit andI saw what was happening,
I missed that industry.
I, I had been in it for 10 yearsand my why was really connecting
to all these people that weresuffering with mental health
challenges and being able totell their stories and lift
them up, and that was my why.
So what is your why?
(13:21):
Equipment's easy.
It's not thatexpensive to start.
I spend too much.
I spend over a thousand dollarsa year because I want it, the
quality, and I wanna honorthe people that I interview.
It's so important to me,but you can do it for a
couple hundred dollars.
You really could.
So, there's that.
Also, I would encourage them,like I did, and I'm gonna go
(13:44):
around the world soon and dothis in a keynote, is to think
about the idea of the HighPerformance Leadership Project.
Because if you get a group ofpeople together that are charged
up and they want to help you,and they're also working towards
something in Toastmastersit's a slam dunk.
It's something thatif you're gonna do a
(14:06):
podcast in Toastmasters.
That is the way to do it.
Arthur Byrnes (14:11):
You missed the advice that you, gave
me because I, forgot.
You can see peoplethat do podcasting
just using their phone.
You don't need to spendhundreds of dollars.
True.
And you've kicked mybutt a couple of times.
Yeah.
The quality, just do it.
Like the Nike slogan.
(14:32):
And that's the hardest partis just getting up there and
actually starting to do it.
And you have given me a lotof motivation to get there.
That's why I'm happy to bedoing this interview with you.
I'm really glad.
Has your podcast taken youplaces that you might not have
(14:56):
been to before you did that?
Michael Dugan (14:58):
Oh my gosh, so many.
I. You know the firstpart was clubhouse.
It Clubhouse isn't as strongas it is or as it was, but
approximately three and a halfyears ago, I joined Clubhouse
and I met this amazing groupof people in something called
Food Is Religion, which wasa club online, and you would
(15:21):
use your app on your phone andjust click on it and people
would start talking and theywould have moderators, much
like we have Toastmasters.
So the moderator was basicallythe Toastmaster leading a group.
But what was so interestingis you could push a button
on your phone and that personthat's listening could now be
in speaking, they could be upon stage on the virtual stage.
(15:43):
So we were in a club, a lotof us called Foodist Religion.
I. And they had 5,000people all over the world.
And so my podcast started togrow internationally because
people were listening and Iwas sharing the information.
I was given an opportunity byone of my really good friends,
Mimi Land Chef Mimi Lan.
She's a Michelin trainedchef out of Florida.
(16:05):
I remember she would give methese incredible opportunities
and one of the opportunities shegave me, I will never forget,
was to partner with Chef Steven,who's listening right now.
And I came into a roommuch like we have a Zoom
. He was talking about Asiancuisine and he knows so
(16:29):
much about this cuisine.
And I was hosting, or Iwas co-hosting with him
and learning, and he wasteaching me and we would have
conversations with people fromall over the world about food.
And I was likeoverwhelmed because.
I didn't know as much.
He's a true chef.
He's a very talented chef,and he could connect,
(16:53):
and I was connecting.
I was learning.
And then eventually ChefMimi had me do my own room.
So I started talking about food.
I started talking about thepodcast and things like that.
But then she said, I wantyou to do a cooking class.
Now I want you to imagineeveryone that's listening.
If you were not seeing whatwas going on and you were just
(17:14):
listening, you would hear thesound of a sizzling in a pan.
You would hearthe knife cutting.
And these were chefsthat I interviewed live.
Wow.
With people coming fromall around the world.
And the cooking class was thechef making a signature dish.
So I met celebrity chefsthrough Mimi and others
(17:35):
in Food as Religion.
And then I interviewedthem on my podcast.
So that's how thedoors opened, right?
But then it got betterbecause eventually she wanted
me to do a food talk show.
So it was just like the podcast.
And I produced a lot ofthose episodes and put
them on the podcast.
So that's a, that'sanother door that opened.
But there's lots of things.
(17:57):
Let me share one more.
My aunt lives in Vegas and lastyear we went to the U2 concert
because my wife surprised mewith tickets for Christmas.
So in February we wentto the U2 concert, and I
remember my aunt saying, doyou know who James Trees is?
And I said, no I, don't.
But I started Googling himand realized that he's an
(18:20):
amazing celebrity chef in LasVegas, and it just turned out
that she was connected to himthrough my cousin Christina.
Her husband, Joe Cain he,partnered with James Trees
and they built a bunch ofrestaurants in Las Vegas.
She took us to one of 'em,amazing Italian restaurant.
On Friday night, on Saturday,we had plans to go to Esther's
(18:42):
kitchen and Chef Steven knows,'cause he lives in Vegas, he
knows about Esther's kitchen.
But the food wasabsolutely amazing.
We had brunch there.
My wife loves brunch, sowe went there and then that
morning out walks the chef.
He looks at us and he says,hi, I'm James Trees, and Joe
told me that I should reach outto you and introduce myself.
(19:05):
And he spent probablyabout 45 minutes with us
and then he gave us a tourof his brand new kitchen.
and eventually it ledto me asking him if he'd
come on the podcast.
And so I got to interviewa celebrity chef.
Wow.
Arthur Byrnes (19:19):
So time flies and I wanna make sure
we get to a lot of things.
Okay.
And I had actually heardthat you had to apologize to
somebody named Carrie becauseyou went on vacation to a
tropical Isle Paradise andended up doing a podcast there.
Michael Dugan (19:39):
Well, actually, I didn't have to apologize
to her because she was theone that made it happen.
Jenn Haston (19:44):
Wow.
Michael Dugan (19:44):
She asked the owner if they would interview
on my podcast, so we did a liveepisode and she was sitting on
a couch inside the office ofthis Tahitian restaurant owner.
Named Tia and we did aninterview there live, and
then she treated us to brunchright after we sat down and
had amazing Tahitian foodfrom, the local culture.
(20:09):
That was Carrie.
Actually I didn'tapologize to her.
I was really grateful.
Arthur Byrnes (20:13):
That's good.
I, and it's a great episode.
I hope everybody getsto listen to it now.
Here comes the major grillbecause I happen to know
something about you that youmay not want to talk about.
It's okaywith all of these strangers,
but can you tell us why with allof your degrees in culinary and
(20:36):
hospitality, why you left thefood business?
Michael Dugan (20:47):
It's also the same reason I would say I
launched the podcast becausechefs work really tough hours.
If you can imagine, a lotof us have a nine to five
or eight to five day.
Sure.
They work 60, 65 hour weeks.
Wow.
And they work holidays,they work weekends,
(21:08):
they work all the time.
And it's really tough tomaintain a relationship.
When I was in the business, Ihad a hard, the hardest time
I had to work Valentine's Day.
I. And every time, Christmas,Thanksgiving and, it
wears on you, it wearson your mental health.
So feeling that, I thoughtI wanted to own a restaurant
(21:29):
and I was in a restaurant inNapa Valley, one of the top
restaurants, chain restaurantsthat I wanted to work for
coming out of college.
And I was the assistantmanager on duty.
And one night we hada drive by shooting.
I was the manager on duty.
Though I had todeal with the cops.
I had to deal with stressfulstaff members, send them
(21:50):
home and, also comp a lot ofmeals and all this stress.
And I got home at fouro'clock in the morning.
I started at 3 (21:57):
00 PM and I just broke down mentally and
I started crying and I went,I don't wanna do this anymore.
So then I walked in the nextday and my manager Debbie said,
did anything happen last night?
I said, I don't know,because I forgot.
I put it on my mind and shehanded me the police report
(22:18):
and she said, if somethinglike this ever happens,
call me anytime of night.
Three weeks later I gavenotice and I left the
restaurant business forever.
So that was the catalystthat really pushed me out.
Arthur Byrnes (22:33):
It's, a sad story, but yeah
it's a, backstory thathelps us understand.
Back to great chefs.
You interviewed anotherchef from Las Vegas.
James Trees I listened tothat and I was spellbound.
Michael Dugan (22:56):
He's amazing.
Arthur Byrnes (22:57):
You actually had to make a two episode for that.
Michael Dugan (23:03):
Yeah, two parts.
Because two parts we'vegot this limited time
and I never wanna cut offthe stories of the chefs.
And it was so beautifulbecause we were
connected through family.
So I was very emotionalin the beginning and I
had to hold it together.
And then he was veryfrustrated, and he was honest.
But then towards the end, it waslike this cathartic healing that
(23:26):
happened in our conversation.
And he's an amazing human being.
He worked for Gordon Ramsey.
He helped build KitchenNightmares and Hell's Kitchen.
And he worked for the top chefsin the entire world in some of
the Las Vegas casinos, includingEric Rippert, who was best
friends with Anthony Bourdain.
Yeah.
And to me that was just epic.
(23:47):
But he tells that story abouthaving been invited on one
of the shows and Chopped.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he basically toldhim, heck with you people,
I am not gonna do this.
Because they were manufacturingdrama.
And Gordon too.
He was doing that and hegot sick of it because
(24:08):
he wanted to help people.
It was very interestinghow he felt about it.
He was very honest.
And this funny part to giveyou the backside, which we
call the green room, whichisn't recorded, his PR person.
That he works with waswith him to make sure
that he didn't swear.
(24:29):
He didn't say a lot of things,but they're best friends.
And honestly, I didit live on video.
They were cracking open beers.
Arthur Byrnes (24:37):
Yeah.
Michael Dugan (24:37):
And, who did they It was amazing call
Arthur Byrnes (24:39):
When the meals were horrible, but he
wanted to impress some VIPs.
Who did?
Who did the big top chef call?
James.
James.
Because he builtyeah, he built the back kitchen.
It was so cool to hear that
Michael Dugan (24:51):
story.
I know.
It was amazing.
And you talk about doors, right?
Or you talk about opportunitiesthat after that episode aired,
I started getting some verybig people reaching out because
they heard that I had a PRperson that I worked with.
I had chef.
Kirk Bachman, who's thepresident of The Auguste
(25:12):
Escoffier School of CulinaryArts in Colorado, which
is one of the top cookingschools in the country.
That was the result of James,which I wish he was here because
I wanted to share that with him.
But if you look behindme just, really quick,
you see the Purple book?
Oh yeah.
That was written by AugusteEscoffier in the 18 00's.
Arthur Byrnes (25:31):
Oh wow.
Michael Dugan (25:32):
And literally carried over in generation
to generation his.
Grandson or great, grandsonruns or co-run August
esca with Kirk Bachman.
And so to me, full circle,'cause I went to cooking
school and used that bookto learn to be able to
interview him was epic.
(25:53):
And James was epic.
Just, unbelievable theopportunities that happen
when you podcast thedoors that come open.
You would not imagine.
That's why I encouragepeople to podcast.
Arthur Byrnes (26:04):
I, have a ton of questions.
Okay.
But I can't get 'em all in.
I know.
Can you tell me what's next
Michael Dugan (26:11):
for Voice4Chefs?
Absolutely.
So I always feared that questionwith apo, imposter syndrome,
esp, honestly, especiallysince I got started, right?
Chef Steven is going to be aco-host for Voice for Chefs.
Wow.
And I'm very excited aboutthat because we have a
really strong connection.
(26:32):
And like I said, it goesback three and a half years
because I got the opportunity.
Learn from him and nowhe's gonna have the
opportunity to learn from me.
'cause I'm gonna teach himhow the podcast works and,
learn about technologyand things like that.
But there's that.
But MAPP is, probably the mostimportant piece, I would say of
(26:57):
what's going forward becauseJoanna, James, the CEO,
I wanna be involved andI became a MAPP member.
And I'm gonna be interviewinga lot of MAPP members to give
them a chance to come on thepodcast so they can get ready
to talk to the media as chefs.
'cause they never getthose opportunities.
So I thought create thoseopportunities and I'm partnering
(27:19):
with a lot of people in MAPPto do a lot of this work
and I'm very excited about.
So that's one.
Also, I've launcheda YouTube channel.
I'm working on a Patreon.
Because again, it's over athousand dollars a year, so I'm
hoping that people are gonnacontribute and support the show.
My dream is to be able tohire or find someone that
(27:42):
would edit the podcast togive me the freedom and
creativity to just interview,and then I can produce a lot
more episodes very quickly.
So that's what's coming next.
Arthur Byrnes (27:54):
That is so neat.
I'm, gonna keep watching.
It's an amazing podcast.
I am a meat and potatoes guy.
I don't like all the fancyfoods, but yet when I hear
you talk to the chefs and theyexplain how they do things
and so much of it, they,some people think of.
(28:21):
Cooking as an art.
Some people thinkof it as a science.
What do you see
Michael Dugan (28:29):
it as?
This is a very interestingquestion because I never knew
I was creative because I can't,when I draw, I can't draw stick
figures and things like that.
When I write, you can't read it.
It's just almost impossible.
(28:50):
So for me, I neverfelt creative.
My mom's an artist.
My wife is an amazingartist, and my family,
there's a lot of artists.
But then one day my wife said,you're a chef, you're an artist.
And then I realizedthat artists create.
But they say that cookingis an art, and baking is a
(29:11):
science because baking isall about exact measurements.
Oh yeah.
And cooking.
You have the freedomto be creative.
Arthur Byrnes (29:19):
Thank you.
It was a pleasure and an honorto be able to interview you.
Michael Dugan (29:29):
Everyone that's here today, some of you're
considering launching a podcast.
PodMasters Here isthe place to be.
We, are being, we are havingthe opportunity to reach
out to some amazing peopleand to come and interview.
We're also learningfrom each other.
This is a really greatplace to learn how to
podcast, so consider it.
(29:50):
The other thing is if you'reinterested in Voice for chefs
and you want to help, I'malways looking for somebody
that might wanna learn andI'm a really good teacher.
That's what I've been told.
And the final thing is.
Take today.
Before you leave, pick anepisode on Voice for Chefs.
Listen to it.
Go out to our websiteand write a review.
(30:12):
And five stars goes along way 'cause we wanna
lift up the chef's voice.
Thank you, Arthur.
Arthur Byrne (30:20):
Thank you Michael.
And I will return it toour Toastmaster of the day.
Ally Blakeman (30:27):
Thank you Arthur, and thank you Michael
for sharing your story andbeing so open with us today.
The next portion of our meeting,I would like to introduce
our general, our executiveproducer, also known as our
general evaluator, who willintroduce the next segments of
our meeting, Ms. Tricia Murphy.
(30:49):
Would you like to takeus into the Q&A and then
the round robin please?
Tricia (30:54):
Hello everybody.
So, for the next portion of ourmeeting, I will open it up for
audience question and answers.
Jenn Haston (31:02):
Hi, Jen.
Go ahead Jen.
Thank you so much forsharing your journey with us.
Michael I'd, love to hearmore about what makes it
hard to do what you do.
Michael Dugan (31:16):
Oh.
Oh.
What makes it really hard?
Honestly, imagineit's Mother's Day?
I wanted to spend time withmy wife this weekend and I
made a really strong effort.
But I also knew I hadto prepare for this.
But I also had to get areally important episode
launched, and I was strugglingwith the technology and
(31:36):
I work in technology.
And so that made it reallyhard because I spent three
hours today trying to getthis technology to work so I
could produce this episode tohonor this amazing chef and
to start the launch of seasonfour and wanting to spend
time with my wife and my dog.
I.
(31:59):
It's very time consuming, butit's incredibly rewarding.
And once you get things down,normally when the technology's
working, we, there wasan outage for one of the
products I used this weekend.
Normally when it's working.
You can streamline a lotof things like editing.
You can get done pretty quick.
You can knock out reelslittle video, short video
(32:20):
clips for marketing.
You can do those kind of things.
Really what makes it hard is tospend more time with my wife.
That's why I'm excited thatChef Steven's part of our team.
And Jen, I'm hoping you comeback on 'cause maybe you'll
have some time 'cause you'vebeen an amazing supporter.
So I think that'swhat makes it hard.
Thanks for the question,
Tricia (32:41):
Ally you have a question?
Ally Blakeman (32:43):
Yes, Michael.
Longtime listener.
First time caller.
So my question for you today is,
Michael Dugan (32:51):
I love it.
Ally Blakeman (32:52):
How do you deal with days and times that
you struggle for inspirationand days that you really
struggle to record a podcast?
Because we all have thosedays where sometimes we
just we're not feeling it.
How do you overcome, haveyou ever had those days?
Oh,
Michael Dugan (33:08):
absolutely.
Today,
Ally Blakeman (33:09):
Oh wow.
Can you tell us how youovercome those times?
Michael Dugan (33:14):
I've learned to step back.
So my goal today was to releasethis episode, this amazing
episode for season four withAshley Brown at one o'clock.
I didn't get it out tillalmost three o'clock.
I posted on Facebook andsaid, I just want you to
know there are technicalchallenges because people
expect consistency, right?
(33:37):
So it's really hard toalways get that on the dot.
And again, if you're busy withother things, I. It, comes fast.
I try to get a lot of editingand stuff done during the week
so that the weekend I have freetime and I feel more relaxed.
But sometimes when itcreeps up, it makes it hard.
(33:59):
And the hardest thingfor me, like I said, is
I really need more help.
I want to coach other people.
Maybe it's in Toastmasters.
Maybe there's somebodythat's excited to learn.
I'm excited to teach, but Iwanna interview more chefs.
And that's what makes it hard isI have a list right now that's
wide open all over the world.
(34:19):
And what makes it hard is Ican't do that because I have
to slow down, not speed up.
It's a great question.
Ally Blakeman (34:27):
Thank you for answering that, Michael.
Tricia (34:29):
Melissa?
Jodi (34:32):
Yes, I'm right here.
Michael, I just want toknow how do you balance
work and your podcast?
Michael Dugan (34:43):
Honestly, I want this to be my work.
I was.
In conversation with NPR tosyndicate this podcast, people
say, you have a radio voice.
It was really happening,and then they laid off
half the staff at theUniversity of Washington.
And so my dream fell apart.
But for me, it's very hardto balance and I've gotta,
(35:08):
I gotta get better at it,honestly, because I wanna be.
Spend more time with my wife.
I wanna spend more timewith other parts of my life.
But at the same time, I reallylove connecting with these
chefs and helping them in theircareers and helping them get
connected beyond what they see.
(35:30):
So it's very, I'm very drivento do that, but that's what
makes it hard, is that Ican't interview all the chefs
that I want to interview.
Great question.
I know we're runninglow on time, but I want
to ask we're, yeah.
Or answer thisquestion really quick.
Chef Mimi just joined andshe asked about i've been
(35:51):
waiting to have my own podcast,but know that with a busy
schedule as a chef and myperfectionism, I can relate.
I'll have to spend alot of time editing.
Just wondering if there'sa service out there
where you can tell me.
To each episode, pay them toedit all the way if needed.
I'm just rereading it.
(36:12):
How much and isthere such a thing?
There is, there definitely is.
Chef Mimi.
There's a lot of, Fiverr Ithink does a lot of editing.
I actually know someonewho loves their editor and
they're not that expensive.
So if you want to reach out,she's a friend of mine anyway,
but if you wanna reach out,we can chat about it anytime.
Tricia (36:34):
Okay so, now we will move on to our round
robin feedback evaluation.
And this is for both podcasters.
If you have anycomments for either.
Either podcaster,anybody's hands up.
Joanie (36:53):
I loved the conversational tone
and banter between you.
I can say, I am not the podcast.
Listen, tor type.
I went into this listeningas if I were on clubhouse and
listening to you on a podcast.
The tone made it engaging.
(37:15):
I liked both the chef's use ofdescriptive language, and I like
Arthur's banter where there was.
Comedy and fun associated withhow he was introducing it to
keep everyone engaged becausethough I can see the visuals, I
think technically on a podcast,no one would be able to.
(37:36):
So the banter gave thatkind of a connection with
the words, et cetera.
What I can suggest is.
Putting in more descriptivelanguage on both sides
for both the interviewerand for the interviewee.
Because technically if it'ssupposed to be a podcast, I'm
not gonna be able to see you.
I'm not gonna be able tosee the smile, the laughter.
(37:59):
So when you made a joke about hehaving to apologize, the person
he was supposed to apologizeto, I'm assuming was his wife.
I assumed was his wife, butit helps if you told me this
before so I could follow alongwith the story as someone new.
But overall, great workon the use of time.
(38:19):
Love the banter and theconnection back to you.
Fred Bergeron (38:22):
Speaking of, wife, Carrie
has her hand raised.
Carrie Dugan (38:26):
No, I just really wanted to compliment
both Arthur and Michael.
Both have such passion.
Number one, Arthur in theinterviewing style that
you have is very nice.
And Michael, your passionjust explodes out of the
computer here and I'm upstairs.
(38:48):
Anyway, congratulationson four years and I know
how hard it has been.
And yet so rewarding.
And I don't know, Ithink for all of you
doing podcasts, I thinkit's a wonderful way to
really excel much faster inToastmasters, I would say.
(39:13):
So congratulations.
Fred Bergeron (39:15):
Greg has his hand raised.
Recognize that Greg is thehost of the Toastmaster
International Podcastand came as a guest to our club.
Greg (39:31):
Michael, thank you for inviting me to come out today.
Absolutely.
An honor to be here.
I'm Greg Gazen firstof all, Arthur, great
job on the questions.
I thought the questionswere extremely appropriate.
They were well targeted.
Obviously you did your homework.
I noticed that there was atiming, there was a little
bit of a timing issue.
So perhaps feel free if youhave to, if the questions a
(39:54):
little bit or if you find thatperhaps your guest is straying
help, feel free to call them in.
It's not, a rude thing to do.
Michael Dugan (40:02):
Overall very, impressive interview.
Thank you, Greg.
Greg (40:06):
Michael.
I thought that youdid a phenomenal job.
I love the fact that youwere very specific and very
purposeful, and you gavenames, dates in places.
So that just said, as opposedto saying I talked to this chef,
you, gave that information,which was extremely valuable.
Your passion and your excitementis just, it's really obvious.
I also love the fact thatyou were transparent,
(40:28):
even mentioning how therewas challenges with your
relationships and ofcourse that creates, it
makes you very, real.
Two little quick,little tiny points.
I noticed you were lookingdown at your screen.
It's because everyoneis there on the screen.
I felt that you were talking tome and I would've loved for you
to, for me to see you directly.
So occasionally try to look up.
(40:49):
Okay?
And one other littlesuggestion, and this is
very valuable, especially ifyou're trying to encourage
someone to do something,is to have them imagine.
Imagine yourself havingyour own podcast or picture
yourself on the cover of amagazine, something like that.
And if you do somethinglike that, then you pause.
It adds even moreimpact to your appeal.
(41:12):
Overall, thank you.
I'm glad I was able to get back.
In fact, I've managed tojust get back in time.
Michael Dugan (41:17):
Oh my gosh.
Tricia (41:19):
Greg.
Thank you, Greg.
Thank you for that.
And we will have to moveon to our improv master,
our improv portion of themeeting for table Topics.
Topics.
So with that, I will turn itover to our improv master, Fred.
Fred Bergeron (41:32):
Thank you Madam.
Executive Producer.
This is a session we rarelyhave in our club, but for
occasion such as this, wedecided to have it based on
the theme of food and cooking.
And I did it a little different.
I've got it by categories.
So whoever volunteers or getsvoluntold, I'm gonna ask you
(41:54):
a category you're gonna pick,and then I'm gonna pick a
question from that category.
So who would liketo be my first.
Victim table topics,participant, improv
participants, any.
How about you, Baxter?
(42:15):
Oh, actually Gregraised his hand.
Okay.
Greg let me, pull up, let mepull up the categories here.
Your categories are cooking,adventures or disasters.
The chef within.
Or food for a thought.
Which categorywould you like Greg?
Greg (42:34):
Like cooking disasters.
Fred Bergeron (42:37):
Okay.
What's the biggest cookingmistake you've ever made?
Would you like me to repeat it?
Greg (42:45):
Nope, I'm good.
Thank you very much for thatquestion, Mr. To master, I have
to take myself back about 20years I was dating a young lady
who really, loved banana bread.
So of course I lookedaround, I tried to find
different types of recipes.
I, I looked for ways to tryto improve what was in it.
For example, I added somewalnuts and I looked at
(43:07):
using some chocolate chips.
So of course I went out,I got all the ingredients.
Now I know banana breadis an easy thing for
you all, but not for me.
When I was finished withthe recipe and it came out
of the oven, it looked likesoup, and for the life of
me, I could not understand.
I think it's because I mistookbaking sugar for flour.
(43:30):
They looked very, similarto me, and they were in a
jar that weren't marked.
Now all was not lost becauseinterestingly enough, it
tasted quite interesting.
My girlfriend at the time reallywas not overly impressed, but
when I poured it over vanillaice cream, she said, what?
This isn't really bad,but it would be okay
(43:51):
if you didn't make it.
Again, Mr. Topic, masterFellow, Toastmaster.
That was one of mydisasters in cooking.
I've learned, I've come along way from it since, but
it's a certainly a storythat I'll never forget.
Back to you,
Michael Dugan (44:04):
There's some very important people that
are here that haven't spoken.
I wanna make sure theyhave an opportunity.
Fred Bergeron (44:10):
Oh, I didn't see him on the,
yeah, if I didn't see him.
Go ahead, Michael.
I was calling on whowas on the I, I'm
Michael D (44:14):
staring right at 'em.
The first one I want you toknow about is an incredible
person that I recently met,and that's Ashley Brown.
Chef Ashley Brown.
I released her episode today.
She's been extremely busy.
It's Mother's Day, she'sa mom and a chef, and
that is a lot to do.
Ashley, if you can jumpin for just a second.
I know you're here.
(44:35):
Hi.
Expo (44:35):
Yeah.
Michael Dugan (44:36):
I'm so happy you're here.
Expo (44:38):
Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
Sorry if my voiceis a little raspy.
I was on expo.
Michael Dugan (44:44):
Ah.
Expo (44:45):
Call it everything.
It was a busy, brunch.
Michael Dugan (44:48):
What's an expo for people here that
are not in the chef world?
Ashley Brown (44:51):
Expo in the chef world is the one who calls out
all the tickets and they arethe neck of the service you
gotta be looking at everything.
You gotta be communicatingeverything, checking up on
quality and time management,all of it, your, the eyes,
(45:14):
the ears, the body of serviceright next to the hostess.
Yeah, it was, we hadMother's Day brunch.
We did not do a regular service.
We, normally open fromthree to 3:00PM to
10 (45:26):
00 PM but today was.
It was at 10:00 AM to 3 (45:28):
00 PM and it's six o'clock, six 30
my time, and we just got out.
But it was very successful.
Happy Mother's Day to the, thosein the group that are mothers.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you Michael for,the invite, and I am
excited to be here.
(45:50):
And, I want to tell you,I am so honored that
you came on the podcast.
You are an amazing storyteller.
You really are your stories.
As I was editing, I couldnot believe the stories, and
everyone that's here rightnow, there's 22 people.
I'm gonna challenge each oneof you to click on that link
because that is the latestepisode of Voice for Chefs
(46:11):
and show Ashley some love.
Show her some love.
She is amazing and sheruns Four for a celebrity
chef named Brother Luck,who is incredible and her,
conversation, the conversationthat we had it's unreal.
I released it to honor mothers.
(46:34):
For Mother's Day.
Thank you.
And I and Joanna James too.
Who started MAPP andthat's how I met Ashley.
So it's probably for me oneof the most emotional episodes
I've had in a long time.
Oh.
And it's driving the directionof the podcast right now, so
Fred Berger (46:50):
Thank you, Michael.
And I see other namesI miss, so let me know.
I see chefs.
We'll go with Chef Steven.
And then it lookslike we have Thanks
Ally Blakeman (46:57):
Ashley.
Fred Bergeron (46:59):
We have Chef Steven.
We have Joanie and Beth.
So Chef Steven, you're up next.
Steven (47:08):
Hi everyone.
I'm driving back fromLos Angeles to Vegas
I'm just listening.
Can't turn on my camera.
Thank you, Michael, somuch for inviting me.
First time I have everbeen onto a Toastmasters.
Yes I heard, of it a lot,but quite interesting.
And so glad to meet everyone.
So glad that.
(47:29):
Everyone get to grill Michael.
I'm just very excited.
We have a lot of things goingon planned in the future,
and, just looking forwardto meeting everyone again.
Thank you so much.
Fred Bergeron (47:40):
Thank you.
Thank you, Steven.
And we got Joanie Ithink I skipped you.
Go ahead, Joanie.
Joanie (47:45):
It was a culinary delight for me.
I heard Michael sayfood as a religion.
If you say food, youare calling my name.
I don't care if I'm watchingthe food network because I'm
hungry and I just pretend thatthey're doing it all for me.
Or just discussing theamazingness of how food is.
(48:07):
I really enjoyed this.
I like learning about podcasts,but I like the fact that
the topic was food more.
So overall, I had a great timetoday and it's the first time
I've seen a meeting run likethis, so I got to see another
way of doing Toastmasters,and I was invited by Alison.
Thank you for inviting me.
Alison.
Ally Blakeman (48:26):
Thank you for joining.
Joni.
Loved having you here.
You've just listened to yourfirst abbreviated Toastmaster
meeting and a celebration offour years with Voice for Chefs.
(48:47):
Launched through a highperformance leadership
project in Toastmasters.
A heartfelt thank you to Toastmasters
around the world for helpingme turn a vision into reality.
Through the High PerformanceLeadership Project, I gained
the tools, confidence, andcommunity support To launch
the Voice4Chefs podcast.
This platform is dedicated toall of you in Toastmasters,
leaders, mentors, andfriends who inspire others
(00:24):
to find their voice.
And use it to make an impact.
A special thanks to digitaltransformation in Seattle,
Washington, where it all beganand to Podmasters Advanced
where they hosted the four yearcelebration of Voice4Chefs and
(00:44):
where the journey will continue.
Let's dive right inwith Ali Blakeman, the
Toastmaster of the day.
Ally Blakeman (00:57):
Mr. Arthur Burns.
Arthur joined Toastmasters11 years ago in 2014.
He is one of the foundationalkey members of our club
here at Podmasters.
Arthur has had severalinteresting careers,
including a carnival Barker,an aerospace engineer, an
(01:18):
education staffer, and anelected city commissioner.
Arthur resides inDaytona Beach, Florida.
Tonight, Arthur is makinghis triumphant debut in
his podcasting journey byinterviewing Michael Dugan
who is celebrating his fourthanniversary of Voice4Chefs.
(01:39):
Please help me welcome tothe floor and Arthur Burns
as we join him in his studiofor his triumphant debut
of his podcast, Arthur.
Arthur Byrnes (01:50):
Wow that's quite a introduction to live up to.
Thank you, Madam Toastmaster.
And I'm here, not for myself,but to interview Michael Dugan.
First I want to saythat Michael, is a hero
of mine and a mentor.
(02:11):
As he has almost 100 podcastepisodes online where he
interviews great chefs fromaround the world, and yet he
takes time to help others whoare just starting out with
his patience and knowledge.
Michael holds degrees inculinary arts and hotel and
(02:35):
restaurant administration.
He began his career inthe hospitality industry
and then transitioned to asuccessful tech career in 1995.
In 2021 he launched The Voicefor Chefs podcast, now heard
in over 70 countries connectingaudiences with chefs and
(03:00):
culinary artists worldwide.
It's notable at this pointthat he has close to a hundred
episodes online in his constantmission to help others.
He is currently developinga keynote to inspire
Toastmasters to share theirmessages through podcasting.
I will say, hello, Michael.
(03:23):
It's good to see you.
Hello, how are you?
I am sitting here.
And basking in this wonderfulToastmasters meeting.
Michael Dugan (03:37):
Yeah, we have a lot of amazing people
and thanks for doing thisI am so excited to have
this conversation with you.
Arthur Byrnes (03:43):
I'm always good to chat with you.
And I met you throughPod Masters and it is a
Toastmasters club, and Iknow that you've been a
Toastmaster for a long time.
How long has your Toastmaster'sjourney been, and did
your Toastmaster's journeyhelp lead you towards
(04:06):
becoming a pod master?
Michael Dugan (04:09):
A pod master, and a podcaster?
I like that.
It's almost like analliteration, I would say.
Oh my gosh.
I've actually lost countin years, so I think I'm
up to about 14 years.
Arthur Byrnes (04:24):
Wow.
Michael Dugan (04:24):
And I'm a lifer.
There's no question in my mind.
The journey has been amazing,and what I'd love to share is a
moment that happened four yearsago I was mentoring somebody
in our club called DigitalTransformation, and I remember
(04:45):
anju was very nervous and Iwanted to show her pathways,
and I wanted to help herunderstand that once you get
beyond level one, level two,there's all these projects.
There's all these new andexciting things that you can do.
So I saw a seminaron Advanced Pathways.
It was led by Kyle Hall ofDistrict 32, which is our
(05:08):
neighboring district in theSeattle area, and Kyle was
leading this concept of helpingpeople understand what do you do
when you get beyond the basics?
of Pathways.
So in the middle ofhis presentation, he
loves to interact.
He loves to ask people questionsand bring the audience up
(05:29):
and do lots of things, andhe creates amazing workshops.
So he said, is anyoneworking on a level four?
Level five podcast.
And I had this idea in myhead that I really wanted
to do a podcast to interviewchefs or to honor chefs.
(05:50):
And, it goes back a littlebit to the reason is
because in 2020, governorJay Insley in Washington
State closed all restaurantsbecause of the pandemic.
But I looked aroundthe world and realized
all around the world.
Restaurants had closedfor weeks, even months,
and it devastated thehospitality industry.
(06:14):
Having spent 10 years in therestaurant business and studying
to be a chef I woke up one daywith the idea that I wanted
to give chefs a voice and doa radio show or do a podcast,
but I was so hesitant becauseI had imposter syndrome.
I didn't know whatpeople would think.
I didn't know if theywere gonna hate it.
(06:36):
I thought my family wouldjudge me and so this
imposter syndrome crept in.
And when I went to thispathway seminar and I
listened to Kyle, he was soinspiring that I said, I'm
interested in doing a podcast.
And I rememberhis words exactly.
He said, that's easy.
(06:59):
Your level four project.
Is your podcast, but yourLevel five project is your high
performance leadership project.
And I went, I've doneone of those before.
And he goes, the project isabout creating your podcast,
your mission, your vision, yourvalues, and gathering group
of people together to do it.
(07:20):
I left that seminarand I was so inspired.
I can't even tell youbecause it broke down all the
barriers of imposter syndrome.
It broke down all the barriersof planning because I was
able to gather an executiveassistant, a life coach, and my
wife who did all the design andhelp me with all the creativity
(07:42):
helped me get to my why.
I was missing one person.
And I thought, whoam I gonna get?
Who's the next person thatI wanna bring into the high
Performance leadership project?
And I said, okay, I know.
So I called Kyle up and I gotthe, number of excuses that
I got, I can't even tell you.
(08:03):
It's I don't have time.
I'm really busy I'm workingon this other project.
And then I called himagain, and then he said yes.
And he was amazing.
He is so connected all over theworld to Toastmasters Baxter
Kent's here tonight and anotherperson that I really value,
(08:24):
and I know Baxter's nodding hishead, I know he is right now
because Kyle is in district two,where I was from is in district
32, is in other districts.
He's probably in five or sixclubs and he was number three.
In the world championof public speaking.
He's also a senior marketer anda visionary in Toastmasters.
(08:46):
He's worked every role.
I think he's been a districtdirector and probably beyond.
So for me to have thatkind of vision, that kind
of high level visibilityin Toastmasters was epic.
It was just epic andthat's how it started.
Wow.
Arthur Byrnes (09:09):
I keep saying almost a hundred podcasts.
How, many is it?
I, believe you justreleased one today.
Michael Dugan (09:17):
Today?
Yes.
83. But technicallythere's a couple that
aren't really episodes.
They're just updatesand things like that.
Don't we don't deal intechnicalities here.
No.
83. But I will tell you,this is an amazing episode.
I worked hard on this.
I was working on it tillthree o'clock today.
'cause I had technical failures,but it was so incredible.
(09:39):
Ashley Brown is outta Colorado.
And I'll just giveyou a little tidbit.
So Ashley Brown is part ofan organization called MAPP.
And MAPP is an organizationled by Joanna James,
who's one of my heroes.
I met her through my friendChef Mimi and Chef Stevens here.
So he knows ChefMimi and some others.
But Joanna basicallycreated this organization.
(10:04):
And it's about advocacy,mentorship, and leadership for
women in hospitality becausethey don't get as much of
an opportunity as men do.
And I was floored when I mether in Las Vegas two months ago.
And so this episode I dedicatedto her on Mother's Day.
And also Ashley is a motherand an incredible chef.
(10:27):
She was on chopped.
She runs one of the toprestaurants in Colorado
called Four by Brother Luck.
And Brother Luck isa celebrity chef.
And when I put thisinformation out, he texted
me and said, thank you.
Wow.
And so for me, this isan incredible episode.
It's the launch of season four.
She's a MAPP member.
(10:49):
She's connected toeverything that I believe in.
And she's an incrediblestoryteller and she's never
been on a podcast before.
So that's the joy that I havethat's happening right now.
Arthur Byrnes (11:02):
So, we build this as, I was gonna give
you a grilling and grill me.
My first grillingis 83 episodes.
That's two a month.
And you have a full-time job.
Michael Dugan (11:21):
Yeah.
Arthur Byrnes (11:21):
So why aren't you quit your job?
'cause you should be doingan episode every day.
We should have.
I want to all ofthose episodes out
Michael Dugan (11:29):
there.
It's funny, Arthur, I knowso many chefs all over the
world now because of this.
I, have a list of people thatare ready to go and, Chef
Steven's here tonight, andI want to give a shout out
to him because he's gonnabe my co-host and I'm so
excited to bring him on board.
(11:50):
I've known him for aboutfour years and I have
so much respect for him.
He used to be the executivesous chef of the Cosmopolitan
Hotel in Las Vegas, and hehas an amazing philosophy
on leadership with treatingpeople with respect.
Incredible person.
So I'm, really excited.
So I think we're gonna have moretime to produce more episode.
(12:12):
, yeah, they're 83 is a lot.
I, know,
Arthur Byrnes (12:14):
I listen sometimes I do one month, some
podcasts that are one a day
Michael Dugan (12:17):
yeah.
Yeah.
Arthur Byrnes (12:18):
They
Michael Dugan (12:19):
do it full time.
Arthur Byrnes (12:22):
Yeah.
So there's moregrilling coming up.
That was just a, minor grilling.
Good.
Good.
What did you what?
What advice do you giveto someone who says, Hey,
I want to be a podcaster?
Michael Dugan (12:39):
Ooh.
The first thing is what my wifeasked me, what is your why?
I. Why do you want a podcast?
What's the reason?
Is it a project in Toastmasters?
Because you can check itoff the list in a month.
But if it's something thatyou really, wanna do in your
heart and soul, like for me.
(12:59):
When the pandemic hit andI saw what was happening,
I missed that industry.
I, I had been in it for 10 yearsand my why was really connecting
to all these people that weresuffering with mental health
challenges and being able totell their stories and lift
them up, and that was my why.
So what is your why?
(13:21):
Equipment's easy.
It's not thatexpensive to start.
I spend too much.
I spend over a thousand dollarsa year because I want it, the
quality, and I wanna honorthe people that I interview.
It's so important to me,but you can do it for a
couple hundred dollars.
You really could.
So, there's that.
Also, I would encourage them,like I did, and I'm gonna go
(13:44):
around the world soon and dothis in a keynote, is to think
about the idea of the HighPerformance Leadership Project.
Because if you get a group ofpeople together that are charged
up and they want to help you,and they're also working towards
something in Toastmastersit's a slam dunk.
It's something thatif you're gonna do a
(14:06):
podcast in Toastmasters.
That is the way to do it.
Arthur Byrnes (14:11):
You missed the advice that you, gave
me because I, forgot.
You can see peoplethat do podcasting
just using their phone.
You don't need to spendhundreds of dollars.
True.
And you've kicked mybutt a couple of times.
Yeah.
The quality, just do it.
Like the Nike slogan.
(14:32):
And that's the hardest partis just getting up there and
actually starting to do it.
And you have given me a lotof motivation to get there.
That's why I'm happy to bedoing this interview with you.
I'm really glad.
Has your podcast taken youplaces that you might not have
(14:56):
been to before you did that?
Michael Dugan (14:58):
Oh my gosh, so many.
I. You know the firstpart was clubhouse.
It Clubhouse isn't as strongas it is or as it was, but
approximately three and a halfyears ago, I joined Clubhouse
and I met this amazing groupof people in something called
Food Is Religion, which wasa club online, and you would
(15:21):
use your app on your phone andjust click on it and people
would start talking and theywould have moderators, much
like we have Toastmasters.
So the moderator was basicallythe Toastmaster leading a group.
But what was so interestingis you could push a button
on your phone and that personthat's listening could now be
in speaking, they could be upon stage on the virtual stage.
(15:43):
So we were in a club, a lotof us called Foodist Religion.
I. And they had 5,000people all over the world.
And so my podcast started togrow internationally because
people were listening and Iwas sharing the information.
I was given an opportunity byone of my really good friends,
Mimi Land Chef Mimi Lan.
She's a Michelin trainedchef out of Florida.
(16:05):
I remember she would give methese incredible opportunities
and one of the opportunities shegave me, I will never forget,
was to partner with Chef Steven,who's listening right now.
And I came into a roommuch like we have a Zoom
. He was talking about Asiancuisine and he knows so
(16:29):
much about this cuisine.
And I was hosting, or Iwas co-hosting with him
and learning, and he wasteaching me and we would have
conversations with people fromall over the world about food.
And I was likeoverwhelmed because.
I didn't know as much.
He's a true chef.
He's a very talented chef,and he could connect,
(16:53):
and I was connecting.
I was learning.
And then eventually ChefMimi had me do my own room.
So I started talking about food.
I started talking about thepodcast and things like that.
But then she said, I wantyou to do a cooking class.
Now I want you to imagineeveryone that's listening.
If you were not seeing whatwas going on and you were just
(17:14):
listening, you would hear thesound of a sizzling in a pan.
You would hearthe knife cutting.
And these were chefsthat I interviewed live.
Wow.
With people coming fromall around the world.
And the cooking class was thechef making a signature dish.
So I met celebrity chefsthrough Mimi and others
(17:35):
in Food as Religion.
And then I interviewedthem on my podcast.
So that's how thedoors opened, right?
But then it got betterbecause eventually she wanted
me to do a food talk show.
So it was just like the podcast.
And I produced a lot ofthose episodes and put
them on the podcast.
So that's a, that'sanother door that opened.
But there's lots of things.
(17:57):
Let me share one more.
My aunt lives in Vegas and lastyear we went to the U2 concert
because my wife surprised mewith tickets for Christmas.
So in February we wentto the U2 concert, and I
remember my aunt saying, doyou know who James Trees is?
And I said, no I, don't.
But I started Googling himand realized that he's an
(18:20):
amazing celebrity chef in LasVegas, and it just turned out
that she was connected to himthrough my cousin Christina.
Her husband, Joe Cain he,partnered with James Trees
and they built a bunch ofrestaurants in Las Vegas.
She took us to one of 'em,amazing Italian restaurant.
On Friday night, on Saturday,we had plans to go to Esther's
(18:42):
kitchen and Chef Steven knows,'cause he lives in Vegas, he
knows about Esther's kitchen.
But the food wasabsolutely amazing.
We had brunch there.
My wife loves brunch, sowe went there and then that
morning out walks the chef.
He looks at us and he says,hi, I'm James Trees, and Joe
told me that I should reach outto you and introduce myself.
(19:05):
And he spent probablyabout 45 minutes with us
and then he gave us a tourof his brand new kitchen.
and eventually it ledto me asking him if he'd
come on the podcast.
And so I got to interviewa celebrity chef.
Wow.
Arthur Byrnes (19:19):
So time flies and I wanna make sure
we get to a lot of things.
Okay.
And I had actually heardthat you had to apologize to
somebody named Carrie becauseyou went on vacation to a
tropical Isle Paradise andended up doing a podcast there.
Michael Dugan (19:39):
Well, actually, I didn't have to apologize
to her because she was theone that made it happen.
Jenn Haston (19:44):
Wow.
Michael Dugan (19:44):
She asked the owner if they would interview
on my podcast, so we did a liveepisode and she was sitting on
a couch inside the office ofthis Tahitian restaurant owner.
Named Tia and we did aninterview there live, and
then she treated us to brunchright after we sat down and
had amazing Tahitian foodfrom, the local culture.
(20:09):
That was Carrie.
Actually I didn'tapologize to her.
I was really grateful.
Arthur Byrnes (20:13):
That's good.
I, and it's a great episode.
I hope everybody getsto listen to it now.
Here comes the major grillbecause I happen to know
something about you that youmay not want to talk about.
It's okaywith all of these strangers,
but can you tell us why with allof your degrees in culinary and
(20:36):
hospitality, why you left thefood business?
Michael Dugan (20:47):
It's also the same reason I would say I
launched the podcast becausechefs work really tough hours.
If you can imagine, a lotof us have a nine to five
or eight to five day.
Sure.
They work 60, 65 hour weeks.
Wow.
And they work holidays,they work weekends,
(21:08):
they work all the time.
And it's really tough tomaintain a relationship.
When I was in the business, Ihad a hard, the hardest time
I had to work Valentine's Day.
I. And every time, Christmas,Thanksgiving and, it
wears on you, it wearson your mental health.
So feeling that, I thoughtI wanted to own a restaurant
(21:29):
and I was in a restaurant inNapa Valley, one of the top
restaurants, chain restaurantsthat I wanted to work for
coming out of college.
And I was the assistantmanager on duty.
And one night we hada drive by shooting.
I was the manager on duty.
Though I had todeal with the cops.
I had to deal with stressfulstaff members, send them
(21:50):
home and, also comp a lot ofmeals and all this stress.
And I got home at fouro'clock in the morning.
I started at 3 (21:57):
00 PM and I just broke down mentally and
I started crying and I went,I don't wanna do this anymore.
So then I walked in the nextday and my manager Debbie said,
did anything happen last night?
I said, I don't know,because I forgot.
I put it on my mind and shehanded me the police report
(22:18):
and she said, if somethinglike this ever happens,
call me anytime of night.
Three weeks later I gavenotice and I left the
restaurant business forever.
So that was the catalystthat really pushed me out.
Arthur Byrnes (22:33):
It's, a sad story, but yeah
it's a, backstory thathelps us understand.
Back to great chefs.
You interviewed anotherchef from Las Vegas.
James Trees I listened tothat and I was spellbound.
Michael Dugan (22:56):
He's amazing.
Arthur Byrnes (22:57):
You actually had to make a two episode for that.
Michael Dugan (23:03):
Yeah, two parts.
Because two parts we'vegot this limited time
and I never wanna cut offthe stories of the chefs.
And it was so beautifulbecause we were
connected through family.
So I was very emotionalin the beginning and I
had to hold it together.
And then he was veryfrustrated, and he was honest.
But then towards the end, it waslike this cathartic healing that
(23:26):
happened in our conversation.
And he's an amazing human being.
He worked for Gordon Ramsey.
He helped build KitchenNightmares and Hell's Kitchen.
And he worked for the top chefsin the entire world in some of
the Las Vegas casinos, includingEric Rippert, who was best
friends with Anthony Bourdain.
Yeah.
And to me that was just epic.
(23:47):
But he tells that story abouthaving been invited on one
of the shows and Chopped.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he basically toldhim, heck with you people,
I am not gonna do this.
Because they were manufacturingdrama.
And Gordon too.
He was doing that and hegot sick of it because
(24:08):
he wanted to help people.
It was very interestinghow he felt about it.
He was very honest.
And this funny part to giveyou the backside, which we
call the green room, whichisn't recorded, his PR person.
That he works with waswith him to make sure
that he didn't swear.
(24:29):
He didn't say a lot of things,but they're best friends.
And honestly, I didit live on video.
They were cracking open beers.
Arthur Byrnes (24:37):
Yeah.
Michael Dugan (24:37):
And, who did they It was amazing call
Arthur Byrnes (24:39):
When the meals were horrible, but he
wanted to impress some VIPs.
Who did?
Who did the big top chef call?
James.
James.
Because he builtyeah, he built the back kitchen.
It was so cool to hear that
Michael Dugan (24:51):
story.
I know.
It was amazing.
And you talk about doors, right?
Or you talk about opportunitiesthat after that episode aired,
I started getting some verybig people reaching out because
they heard that I had a PRperson that I worked with.
I had chef.
Kirk Bachman, who's thepresident of The Auguste
(25:12):
Escoffier School of CulinaryArts in Colorado, which
is one of the top cookingschools in the country.
That was the result of James,which I wish he was here because
I wanted to share that with him.
But if you look behindme just, really quick,
you see the Purple book?
Oh yeah.
That was written by AugusteEscoffier in the 18 00's.
Arthur Byrnes (25:31):
Oh wow.
Michael Dugan (25:32):
And literally carried over in generation
to generation his.
Grandson or great, grandsonruns or co-run August
esca with Kirk Bachman.
And so to me, full circle,'cause I went to cooking
school and used that bookto learn to be able to
interview him was epic.
(25:53):
And James was epic.
Just, unbelievable theopportunities that happen
when you podcast thedoors that come open.
You would not imagine.
That's why I encouragepeople to podcast.
Arthur Byrnes (26:04):
I, have a ton of questions.
Okay.
But I can't get 'em all in.
I know.
Can you tell me what's next
Michael Dugan (26:11):
for Voice4Chefs?
Absolutely.
So I always feared that questionwith apo, imposter syndrome,
esp, honestly, especiallysince I got started, right?
Chef Steven is going to be aco-host for Voice for Chefs.
Wow.
And I'm very excited aboutthat because we have a
really strong connection.
(26:32):
And like I said, it goesback three and a half years
because I got the opportunity.
Learn from him and nowhe's gonna have the
opportunity to learn from me.
'cause I'm gonna teach himhow the podcast works and,
learn about technologyand things like that.
But there's that.
But MAPP is, probably the mostimportant piece, I would say of
(26:57):
what's going forward becauseJoanna, James, the CEO,
I wanna be involved andI became a MAPP member.
And I'm gonna be interviewinga lot of MAPP members to give
them a chance to come on thepodcast so they can get ready
to talk to the media as chefs.
'cause they never getthose opportunities.
So I thought create thoseopportunities and I'm partnering
(27:19):
with a lot of people in MAPPto do a lot of this work
and I'm very excited about.
So that's one.
Also, I've launcheda YouTube channel.
I'm working on a Patreon.
Because again, it's over athousand dollars a year, so I'm
hoping that people are gonnacontribute and support the show.
My dream is to be able tohire or find someone that
(27:42):
would edit the podcast togive me the freedom and
creativity to just interview,and then I can produce a lot
more episodes very quickly.
So that's what's coming next.
Arthur Byrnes (27:54):
That is so neat.
I'm, gonna keep watching.
It's an amazing podcast.
I am a meat and potatoes guy.
I don't like all the fancyfoods, but yet when I hear
you talk to the chefs and theyexplain how they do things
and so much of it, they,some people think of.
(28:21):
Cooking as an art.
Some people thinkof it as a science.
What do you see
Michael Dugan (28:29):
it as?
This is a very interestingquestion because I never knew
I was creative because I can't,when I draw, I can't draw stick
figures and things like that.
When I write, you can't read it.
It's just almost impossible.
(28:50):
So for me, I neverfelt creative.
My mom's an artist.
My wife is an amazingartist, and my family,
there's a lot of artists.
But then one day my wife said,you're a chef, you're an artist.
And then I realizedthat artists create.
But they say that cookingis an art, and baking is a
(29:11):
science because baking isall about exact measurements.
Oh yeah.
And cooking.
You have the freedomto be creative.
Arthur Byrnes (29:19):
Thank you.
It was a pleasure and an honorto be able to interview you.
Michael Dugan (29:29):
Everyone that's here today, some of you're
considering launching a podcast.
PodMasters Here isthe place to be.
We, are being, we are havingthe opportunity to reach
out to some amazing peopleand to come and interview.
We're also learningfrom each other.
This is a really greatplace to learn how to
podcast, so consider it.
(29:50):
The other thing is if you'reinterested in Voice for chefs
and you want to help, I'malways looking for somebody
that might wanna learn andI'm a really good teacher.
That's what I've been told.
And the final thing is.
Take today.
Before you leave, pick anepisode on Voice for Chefs.
Listen to it.
Go out to our websiteand write a review.
(30:12):
And five stars goes along way 'cause we wanna
lift up the chef's voice.
Thank you, Arthur.
Arthur Byrne (30:20):
Thank you Michael.
And I will return it toour Toastmaster of the day.
Ally Blakeman (30:27):
Thank you Arthur, and thank you Michael
for sharing your story andbeing so open with us today.
The next portion of our meeting,I would like to introduce
our general, our executiveproducer, also known as our
general evaluator, who willintroduce the next segments of
our meeting, Ms. Tricia Murphy.
(30:49):
Would you like to takeus into the Q&A and then
the round robin please?
Tricia (30:54):
Hello everybody.
So, for the next portion of ourmeeting, I will open it up for
audience question and answers.
Jenn Haston (31:02):
Hi, Jen.
Go ahead Jen.
Thank you so much forsharing your journey with us.
Michael I'd, love to hearmore about what makes it
hard to do what you do.
Michael Dugan (31:16):
Oh.
Oh.
What makes it really hard?
Honestly, imagineit's Mother's Day?
I wanted to spend time withmy wife this weekend and I
made a really strong effort.
But I also knew I hadto prepare for this.
But I also had to get areally important episode
launched, and I was strugglingwith the technology and
(31:36):
I work in technology.
And so that made it reallyhard because I spent three
hours today trying to getthis technology to work so I
could produce this episode tohonor this amazing chef and
to start the launch of seasonfour and wanting to spend
time with my wife and my dog.
I.
(31:59):
It's very time consuming, butit's incredibly rewarding.
And once you get things down,normally when the technology's
working, we, there wasan outage for one of the
products I used this weekend.
Normally when it's working.
You can streamline a lotof things like editing.
You can get done pretty quick.
You can knock out reelslittle video, short video
(32:20):
clips for marketing.
You can do those kind of things.
Really what makes it hard is tospend more time with my wife.
That's why I'm excited thatChef Steven's part of our team.
And Jen, I'm hoping you comeback on 'cause maybe you'll
have some time 'cause you'vebeen an amazing supporter.
So I think that'swhat makes it hard.
Thanks for the question,
Tricia (32:41):
Ally you have a question?
Ally Blakeman (32:43):
Yes, Michael.
Longtime listener.
First time caller.
So my question for you today is,
Michael Dugan (32:51):
I love it.
Ally Blakeman (32:52):
How do you deal with days and times that
you struggle for inspirationand days that you really
struggle to record a podcast?
Because we all have thosedays where sometimes we
just we're not feeling it.
How do you overcome, haveyou ever had those days?
Oh,
Michael Dugan (33:08):
absolutely.
Today,
Ally Blakeman (33:09):
Oh wow.
Can you tell us how youovercome those times?
Michael Dugan (33:14):
I've learned to step back.
So my goal today was to releasethis episode, this amazing
episode for season four withAshley Brown at one o'clock.
I didn't get it out tillalmost three o'clock.
I posted on Facebook andsaid, I just want you to
know there are technicalchallenges because people
expect consistency, right?
(33:37):
So it's really hard toalways get that on the dot.
And again, if you're busy withother things, I. It, comes fast.
I try to get a lot of editingand stuff done during the week
so that the weekend I have freetime and I feel more relaxed.
But sometimes when itcreeps up, it makes it hard.
(33:59):
And the hardest thingfor me, like I said, is
I really need more help.
I want to coach other people.
Maybe it's in Toastmasters.
Maybe there's somebodythat's excited to learn.
I'm excited to teach, but Iwanna interview more chefs.
And that's what makes it hard isI have a list right now that's
wide open all over the world.
(34:19):
And what makes it hard is Ican't do that because I have
to slow down, not speed up.
It's a great question.
Ally Blakeman (34:27):
Thank you for answering that, Michael.
Tricia (34:29):
Melissa?
Jodi (34:32):
Yes, I'm right here.
Michael, I just want toknow how do you balance
work and your podcast?
Michael Dugan (34:43):
Honestly, I want this to be my work.
I was.
In conversation with NPR tosyndicate this podcast, people
say, you have a radio voice.
It was really happening,and then they laid off
half the staff at theUniversity of Washington.
And so my dream fell apart.
But for me, it's very hardto balance and I've gotta,
(35:08):
I gotta get better at it,honestly, because I wanna be.
Spend more time with my wife.
I wanna spend more timewith other parts of my life.
But at the same time, I reallylove connecting with these
chefs and helping them in theircareers and helping them get
connected beyond what they see.
(35:30):
So it's very, I'm very drivento do that, but that's what
makes it hard, is that Ican't interview all the chefs
that I want to interview.
Great question.
I know we're runninglow on time, but I want
to ask we're, yeah.
Or answer thisquestion really quick.
Chef Mimi just joined andshe asked about i've been
(35:51):
waiting to have my own podcast,but know that with a busy
schedule as a chef and myperfectionism, I can relate.
I'll have to spend alot of time editing.
Just wondering if there'sa service out there
where you can tell me.
To each episode, pay them toedit all the way if needed.
I'm just rereading it.
(36:12):
How much and isthere such a thing?
There is, there definitely is.
Chef Mimi.
There's a lot of, Fiverr Ithink does a lot of editing.
I actually know someonewho loves their editor and
they're not that expensive.
So if you want to reach out,she's a friend of mine anyway,
but if you wanna reach out,we can chat about it anytime.
Tricia (36:34):
Okay so, now we will move on to our round
robin feedback evaluation.
And this is for both podcasters.
If you have anycomments for either.
Either podcaster,anybody's hands up.
Joanie (36:53):
I loved the conversational tone
and banter between you.
I can say, I am not the podcast.
Listen, tor type.
I went into this listeningas if I were on clubhouse and
listening to you on a podcast.
The tone made it engaging.
(37:15):
I liked both the chef's use ofdescriptive language, and I like
Arthur's banter where there was.
Comedy and fun associated withhow he was introducing it to
keep everyone engaged becausethough I can see the visuals, I
think technically on a podcast,no one would be able to.
(37:36):
So the banter gave thatkind of a connection with
the words, et cetera.
What I can suggest is.
Putting in more descriptivelanguage on both sides
for both the interviewerand for the interviewee.
Because technically if it'ssupposed to be a podcast, I'm
not gonna be able to see you.
I'm not gonna be able tosee the smile, the laughter.
(37:59):
So when you made a joke about hehaving to apologize, the person
he was supposed to apologizeto, I'm assuming was his wife.
I assumed was his wife, butit helps if you told me this
before so I could follow alongwith the story as someone new.
But overall, great workon the use of time.
(38:19):
Love the banter and theconnection back to you.
Fred Bergeron (38:22):
Speaking of, wife, Carrie
has her hand raised.
Carrie Dugan (38:26):
No, I just really wanted to compliment
both Arthur and Michael.
Both have such passion.
Number one, Arthur in theinterviewing style that
you have is very nice.
And Michael, your passionjust explodes out of the
computer here and I'm upstairs.
(38:48):
Anyway, congratulationson four years and I know
how hard it has been.
And yet so rewarding.
And I don't know, Ithink for all of you
doing podcasts, I thinkit's a wonderful way to
really excel much faster inToastmasters, I would say.
(39:13):
So congratulations.
Fred Bergeron (39:15):
Greg has his hand raised.
Recognize that Greg is thehost of the Toastmaster
International Podcastand came as a guest to our club.
Greg (39:31):
Michael, thank you for inviting me to come out today.
Absolutely.
An honor to be here.
I'm Greg Gazen firstof all, Arthur, great
job on the questions.
I thought the questionswere extremely appropriate.
They were well targeted.
Obviously you did your homework.
I noticed that there was atiming, there was a little
bit of a timing issue.
So perhaps feel free if youhave to, if the questions a
(39:54):
little bit or if you find thatperhaps your guest is straying
help, feel free to call them in.
It's not, a rude thing to do.
Michael Dugan (40:02):
Overall very, impressive interview.
Thank you, Greg.
Greg (40:06):
Michael.
I thought that youdid a phenomenal job.
I love the fact that youwere very specific and very
purposeful, and you gavenames, dates in places.
So that just said, as opposedto saying I talked to this chef,
you, gave that information,which was extremely valuable.
Your passion and your excitementis just, it's really obvious.
I also love the fact thatyou were transparent,
(40:28):
even mentioning how therewas challenges with your
relationships and ofcourse that creates, it
makes you very, real.
Two little quick,little tiny points.
I noticed you were lookingdown at your screen.
It's because everyoneis there on the screen.
I felt that you were talking tome and I would've loved for you
to, for me to see you directly.
So occasionally try to look up.
(40:49):
Okay?
And one other littlesuggestion, and this is
very valuable, especially ifyou're trying to encourage
someone to do something,is to have them imagine.
Imagine yourself havingyour own podcast or picture
yourself on the cover of amagazine, something like that.
And if you do somethinglike that, then you pause.
It adds even moreimpact to your appeal.
(41:12):
Overall, thank you.
I'm glad I was able to get back.
In fact, I've managed tojust get back in time.
Michael Dugan (41:17):
Oh my gosh.
Tricia (41:19):
Greg.
Thank you, Greg.
Thank you for that.
And we will have to moveon to our improv master,
our improv portion of themeeting for table Topics.
Topics.
So with that, I will turn itover to our improv master, Fred.
Fred Bergeron (41:32):
Thank you Madam.
Executive Producer.
This is a session we rarelyhave in our club, but for
occasion such as this, wedecided to have it based on
the theme of food and cooking.
And I did it a little different.
I've got it by categories.
So whoever volunteers or getsvoluntold, I'm gonna ask you
(41:54):
a category you're gonna pick,and then I'm gonna pick a
question from that category.
So who would liketo be my first.
Victim table topics,participant, improv
participants, any.
How about you, Baxter?
(42:15):
Oh, actually Gregraised his hand.
Okay.
Greg let me, pull up, let mepull up the categories here.
Your categories are cooking,adventures or disasters.
The chef within.
Or food for a thought.
Which categorywould you like Greg?
Greg (42:34):
Like cooking disasters.
Fred Bergeron (42:37):
Okay.
What's the biggest cookingmistake you've ever made?
Would you like me to repeat it?
Greg (42:45):
Nope, I'm good.
Thank you very much for thatquestion, Mr. To master, I have
to take myself back about 20years I was dating a young lady
who really, loved banana bread.
So of course I lookedaround, I tried to find
different types of recipes.
I, I looked for ways to tryto improve what was in it.
For example, I added somewalnuts and I looked at
(43:07):
using some chocolate chips.
So of course I went out,I got all the ingredients.
Now I know banana breadis an easy thing for
you all, but not for me.
When I was finished withthe recipe and it came out
of the oven, it looked likesoup, and for the life of
me, I could not understand.
I think it's because I mistookbaking sugar for flour.
(43:30):
They looked very, similarto me, and they were in a
jar that weren't marked.
Now all was not lost becauseinterestingly enough, it
tasted quite interesting.
My girlfriend at the time reallywas not overly impressed, but
when I poured it over vanillaice cream, she said, what?
This isn't really bad,but it would be okay
(43:51):
if you didn't make it.
Again, Mr. Topic, masterFellow, Toastmaster.
That was one of mydisasters in cooking.
I've learned, I've come along way from it since, but
it's a certainly a storythat I'll never forget.
Back to you,
Michael Dugan (44:04):
There's some very important people that
are here that haven't spoken.
I wanna make sure theyhave an opportunity.
Fred Bergeron (44:10):
Oh, I didn't see him on the,
yeah, if I didn't see him.
Go ahead, Michael.
I was calling on whowas on the I, I'm
Michael D (44:14):
staring right at 'em.
The first one I want you toknow about is an incredible
person that I recently met,and that's Ashley Brown.
Chef Ashley Brown.
I released her episode today.
She's been extremely busy.
It's Mother's Day, she'sa mom and a chef, and
that is a lot to do.
Ashley, if you can jumpin for just a second.
I know you're here.
(44:35):
Hi.
Expo (44:35):
Yeah.
Michael Dugan (44:36):
I'm so happy you're here.
Expo (44:38):
Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
Sorry if my voiceis a little raspy.
I was on expo.
Michael Dugan (44:44):
Ah.
Expo (44:45):
Call it everything.
It was a busy, brunch.
Michael Dugan (44:48):
What's an expo for people here that
are not in the chef world?
Ashley Brown (44:51):
Expo in the chef world is the one who calls out
all the tickets and they arethe neck of the service you
gotta be looking at everything.
You gotta be communicatingeverything, checking up on
quality and time management,all of it, your, the eyes,
(45:14):
the ears, the body of serviceright next to the hostess.
Yeah, it was, we hadMother's Day brunch.
We did not do a regular service.
We, normally open fromthree to 3:00PM to
10 (45:26):
00 PM but today was.
It was at 10:00 AM to 3 (45:28):
00 PM and it's six o'clock, six 30
my time, and we just got out.
But it was very successful.
Happy Mother's Day to the, thosein the group that are mothers.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you Michael for,the invite, and I am
excited to be here.
(45:50):
And, I want to tell you,I am so honored that
you came on the podcast.
You are an amazing storyteller.
You really are your stories.
As I was editing, I couldnot believe the stories, and
everyone that's here rightnow, there's 22 people.
I'm gonna challenge each oneof you to click on that link
because that is the latestepisode of Voice for Chefs
(46:11):
and show Ashley some love.
Show her some love.
She is amazing and sheruns Four for a celebrity
chef named Brother Luck,who is incredible and her,
conversation, the conversationthat we had it's unreal.
I released it to honor mothers.
(46:34):
For Mother's Day.
Thank you.
And I and Joanna James too.
Who started MAPP andthat's how I met Ashley.
So it's probably for me oneof the most emotional episodes
I've had in a long time.
Oh.
And it's driving the directionof the podcast right now, so
Fred Berger (46:50):
Thank you, Michael.
And I see other namesI miss, so let me know.
I see chefs.
We'll go with Chef Steven.
And then it lookslike we have Thanks
Ally Blakeman (46:57):
Ashley.
Fred Bergeron (46:59):
We have Chef Steven.
We have Joanie and Beth.
So Chef Steven, you're up next.
Steven (47:08):
Hi everyone.
I'm driving back fromLos Angeles to Vegas
I'm just listening.
Can't turn on my camera.
Thank you, Michael, somuch for inviting me.
First time I have everbeen onto a Toastmasters.
Yes I heard, of it a lot,but quite interesting.
And so glad to meet everyone.
So glad that.
(47:29):
Everyone get to grill Michael.
I'm just very excited.
We have a lot of things goingon planned in the future,
and, just looking forwardto meeting everyone again.
Thank you so much.
Fred Bergeron (47:40):
Thank you.
Thank you, Steven.
And we got Joanie Ithink I skipped you.
Go ahead, Joanie.
Joanie (47:45):
It was a culinary delight for me.
I heard Michael sayfood as a religion.
If you say food, youare calling my name.
I don't care if I'm watchingthe food network because I'm
hungry and I just pretend thatthey're doing it all for me.
Or just discussing theamazingness of how food is.
(48:07):
I really enjoyed this.
I like learning about podcasts,but I like the fact that
the topic was food more.
So overall, I had a great timetoday and it's the first time
I've seen a meeting run likethis, so I got to see another
way of doing Toastmasters,and I was invited by Alison.
Thank you for inviting me.
Alison.
Ally Blakeman (48:26):
Thank you for joining.
Joni.
Loved having you here.
You've just listened to yourfirst abbreviated Toastmaster
meeting and a celebration offour years with Voice for Chefs.
(48:47):
Launched through a highperformance leadership
project in Toastmasters.
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