The Thought Lab Podcast The Thought Lab

Chevonne Powell is the founder of Meaningful Minds, a clinical Psychologist with a masters degree from the University of Johannesburg and has a Post Graduate Certificate in Education.

We sat down and discussed depression, anxiety and the use of methods other than standard prescriptions such as meditation and mindfulness. We talked about how and why she founded meaningful minds and her very interesting programs such as her self-development program.

We also discussed the disconnect between society and finding happiness and purpose. And finally we touched on what parents can do to avoid the dreaded helicopter syndrome that seems to be present in society today.

Brandon katz is a third-generation entrepreneur, specialising in Funding for innovation, Venture Capital, Section 12J, Government Incentives, Grants and R&D tax Rebates.

Brandon has such an incredibly rich entrepreneurial background with His grandfather founding Metro Cash and Carry and his father co-founding Jumbo, Consolidated and HCS.

We talked about his time at varsity, how he got into trading and starting his business which he sold within 4 years. We also discussed tech companies and start-ups and compared Johannesburg vs Cape Town and South Africa vs the rest of the world.

This podcast is definitely one for all the budding entrepreneurs and business owners alike.

Jessica Judkins is an M.Sc Bio-geochemistry Candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has worked on two notable papers the first being extremophiles and their connection with life on mars, and the second being the use of microorganisms to fight the toxins within asbestos.

While on maternity leave Jessica took some time out to discuss her findings and the implication her results have for the search for life on other planets and solutions for environmental care related to asbestos tailings. The Podcast also allowed me to get my inner nerd on and my fascination with extremophiles thanks to Dr. Paul Stamets and the Star Trek Team.

 

Daniel Friedman aka Deep Fried Man is a musical comedian, writer and satirist with his own quirky, unique style of performance and presentation. Daniel has performed at many of South Africa’s biggest comedy events (Blacks Only, Bafunny Bafunny, Kings and Queens of Comedy).

Daniel has won multiple awards (Comics Choice Award, Standard Bank Ovation Award), appeared in a host of TV shows and films (Material, ZANews, Comedy Central Presents Divine) and was a permanent cast member on multiple Emmy-nominated satirical news show Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola for seven seasons.

On the podcast Daniel helped me with an intro for the Thought Lab, we discussed politics, Daniel and roman Cabanac’s Verity podcast, we delved into some South African Politic, we also explored the unusual combination of being a comedian and journalist, we discussed saying no, and finally, Daniel sang me a song to close off the podcast.

Gilli Apter is a comic, writer and director. Gilli has worked as a comedy writer since 2005, on a variety of different platforms.

Her work includes: Marc Lottering’s sitcom, Loitering in Jozi; SAFTA-winning satirical news show, ZAnews and SABC3 sitcom, Those Who Can’t and Nik Rabinowitz’s one-man show, Fortyfied.

We spoke about a host of topics ranging from an in-depth look into the comedy industry, how she got into comedy and her first shows, being 30 and older, relationships and her new female only comedy show called Thundercats.

Dricus du Plessis is a Mixed Martial Artist boasting two EFC titles (Middleweight and Welterweight) and the KSW Welterweight Title, he was joined in studio by co-host Richie Quan. We sat down in the Tellytrack studios and discussed how Dricus started Mixed Martial Arts, His career as an amateur, his first fights and training, how he became a professional and joined EFC, his middle and welterweight title fights in the EFC, His recent fight for the KSW welterweight title in Poland. We also discussed how CIT is expanding, his new beer called Stillnox and then we discussed the news about about his up and coming title defense fight in KSW.