Passion Pod Passion Pod

Beth Stelling is a stand up comedian and tv writer based in Los Angeles, CA. Beth grew up in Dayton, Ohio before attending college and pursuing comedy and theatre in Chicago. After spending 4 years establishing herself in Chicago she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of a career in comedy. Since then she has built an incredible career for herself as a touring stand up comedian numerous appearances on major networks including full comedy specials on both HBO and Netflix. She also has an extensive list of acting roles under her belt as well as writing credits for numerous tv shows including Crashing, Strange Planet, and even Rick & Morty.


Beth performed for the first time in Eau Claire, WI at The Plus on June 9th for Clear Water Comedy and was gracious enough to let me interview her backstage before her performance. In this episode we discuss California living, how her life changed after her comedy special on Netflix came out, learning from past mistakes, what it really looks like to write for tv shows, how she creates her comedy specials, what to expect when you see her perform live, and much more.

Kathy Wright is the Director of Reverb Music Festival in Eau Claire, WI. Kathy has worked in the music festival industry with Country Jam and others for decades and has endless stories to share. The owners of Country Jam bought a beautiful new property a few years ago and had the idea to create a whole new music festival to share the space in the summer and so Reverb Music Festival was born with 2023 being it's first year. It's 2024 and Reverb is back and better than ever. While the festival was only a one day event last year, this year it has been expanded to two days and includes a whole new genre.






Friday August 16th will features the best in throwback hip hop including Pelly, Ka Lia Universe, Bubba Sparxxx, Mike Jones, Trick Daddy, Yung Joc, Twista, Ginuwine, and T.I..


Saturday August 17th will feature another great year of emo/pop punk bands including Amber Pacific, Emery, Secondhand Serenade, Anberlin, Hawthorne Heights, Story of the Year, and Yellowcard.


In this episode we discuss what goes on behind the scenes to make music festivals possible, stories for Reverb 2023, why 2024 will be even better, what music festivals bring to a community, why live music is so important, and much more.

Emily Carriveau is a content creator based in her hometown of Delano, MN. Emily is a stay at home mother of 3 boys who has had a lifelong obsession with crafting, garage sales, and fashion. When her sons wanted to get on social media she made her own accounts to "spy" on them, but quickly found that sharing her life online was not only fun, but also a career. Over the last several years Emily has become the Midwest Mom of the internet (@smalltownme) and has gained over a million followers across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.


Emily and her mom drove all the way out to Eau Claire, WI to record her first ever podcast interview on the Passion Pod. In this episode we discuss small town living, being a stay at home mom, her online origin story, finding ways to give back, going viral online, where she gets all her ideas, hiding gift cards around town, her tv show dreams, and so much more.

JamesG aka @jamesmakesmusic is a semi professional Heelyer and music artist/producer based in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. James has been making music under the moniker of JamesG since 2012, but it wasn't until he started posted videos of himself doing tricks wearing his Heelys in 2020 that his career started to take off. As his videos started going viral online his music found more success as well. These days James is self employed and living the Heelyer dream filming new tricks and making new music all the time.


In this episode we discuss the origin of his online persona, how he navigates the challenges of a life without consistent income, finding the right sponsors, the development of his music career, his music and life inspirations, and much more.

Lucas Beaufort is a French artist that travels and creates all over the world. Lucas started creating art at the age of 27 when he gave his brother a drawing for Christmas and his life has never been the same since. It's been 15 years since that first drawing and now Lucas has built an incredible career and life for himself. He paints murals, designs products, makes documentaries, and even published a book. Lucas grew up skateboarding and his love for the culture has been a huge inspiration in his work and opened the door for him to work and create with countless pro skateboarders, skate companies, and other legends in the industry. Although he doesn't limit his work to only the skate world, his passion for skateboarding shines through in everything he does.


This episode is truly a special one and was years in the making. Tune in and get inspired to chase your dreams.

Emma Dalenberg is a Minneapolis, Minnesota based stand up comedian. Emma grew up in a trailer park in Winona, Minnesota before moving to Minneapolis to attend college. Emma got her start in stand up comedy while she was still a student and a server at an Applebees. One open mic night was all it took for her to find a new obsession. Since then Emma has been steadily performing and building a career for herself. We recorded this interview in her apartment in Minneapolis shortly after she got back from her European tour "American Cream".


In this episode we discuss growing up in a trailer park, dealing with knee surgeries, experimenting with drugs, graduating from college, moving to Europe, making money illegally as a comedian, getting deported from Germany, going viral on social media, why we aren't so different after all, and what makes it all worth it.