Ep72: Behind the Mic Producer Becky Guzak on The Hot Stove Society Radio with Tom Douglas

In this episode, we welcome Becky Guzak, a podcaster and producer passionate about helping others connect and build confidence through the joy of entertaining. Becky is the creator of the "Host with Confidence" podcast, where she inspires people to gather without stress. She is also the producer of the Hot Stove Society Radio Show, hosted by renowned chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas at his Seattle-based cooking school.

Becky shares her journey from her early connections to food, nurtured by family traditions, to her current role in the food industry. She recounts fond memories of her childhood, where food was central to family gatherings, and how her love for cooking blossomed later in life after attending a transformative cooking camp in Seattle.

Key Topics Discussed:

·       Early Food Memories: Becky reminisces about the nurturing experience of food in her childhood, where her parents' homemade meals sparked her appreciation for cooking.

·       Discovering the Joy of Cooking: Becky talks about her experience at a cooking camp hosted by Tom Douglas, which ignited her passion for the culinary arts and eventually led her to her role as a producer at Hot Stove Society.

·       The Evolution of Hot Stove Society: Learn how the cooking camp that Becky attended evolved into the Hot Stove Society, a year-round culinary school offering classes, private events, and team-building activities.

·       Behind the Scene y Radio Show. She shares how the show's format, featuring multiple guests and hosts, comes together seamlessly under Tom Douglas's experienced guidance.

·       Empowering Hosts Through "Host with Confidence": Becky discusses her podcast, "Host with Confidence," which aims to empower hesitant hosts by providing them with the tools and inspiration to entertain with ease and confidence.

·       The Importance of Joy in Cooking and Community: Becky emphasizes the role of joy and connection in cooking and how the Hot Stove Society fosters a sense of community through shared culinary experiences.

.       Hot Stove Society: Becky gives an insider's look at producing the Hot Stove Society

Websites:

https://hostwithconfidencepodcast.com/

https://www.hotstovesociety.com

Season2

Transcript

Michael Dugan: 0:52

Becky Guzak is passionate about empowering others to connect and build their confidence and communities through entertaining. She has enjoyed bringing people together and throwing parties her entire adult life with her new podcast hosts with confidence. Her mission is to inspire others to embrace the joy of gathering without stress. Becky is also the producer of the Hot Stove Society radio show hosted by the renowned chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas at a Seattle based cooking school. She loves that she gets to interview and learn from so many chefs, cookbook authors, restaurateurs, philanthropists, and many others. In the food industry, Becky, welcome to the show.

Becky Guzak: 1:38

Thank you, Michael. It's fun to be here.

Michael Dugan: 1:40

Oh, we're going to have a great time. So let's kick it off. Let's start out with how did you connect to food at an early age? Did you have a special dish or memory or something related to that?

Becky Guzak: 1:52

I think it, my connection to food was really around that nurturing feeling with your parents. My dad would make us breakfast on the weekends. And my mom would Make her own bread. At the time, I was irritated because we wanted Wonder Bread. My sister and I wanted real food that our friends were having.

Michael Dugan: 2:10

Real food? Real food,

Becky Guzak: 2:12

yeah. Wonder Bread and Oreos. But no, we got homemade sourdough bread and cookies. Oh my

Michael Dugan: 2:17

gosh!

Becky Guzak: 2:18

Chocolate chip cookies. I remember that. And then, I think food was always around being with other people and having fun. So that was it was something that just brought people together. So that's my memory. I don't have a specific dish,

Michael Dugan: 2:32

but

Becky Guzak: 2:32

just cooking with or being cooked for was just a really fun feeling. What a really special feeling.

Michael Dugan: 2:38

How old would you say when you started cooking? Did you cook alongside like to make sourdough from the starter?

Becky Guzak: 2:44

Yep. Probably I can remember about kindergarten age to five, age five,

Michael Dugan: 2:48

six,

Becky Guzak: 2:49

and then I wasn't a big cook growing up, I think it was, I didn't really love cooking until my late thirties.

Michael Dugan: 2:57

Okay.

Becky Guzak: 2:58

And I, that's really when it started, we went to a cooking camp in Seattle Tom Douglas, renowned, someone that we knew owned a lot of restaurants and we knew and he had these five, it was five days. My sister and I went. And it was morning is like nine to five and it was packed with demos from chefs from all over. And

Michael Dugan: 3:18

so

Becky Guzak: 3:20

it was hour after hour, we've got tastes. I think one camp we figured it was like over 150 tastes of foods and so we really were exposed to a lot and it was fun and we had competitions and games when you first walked in the morning and that just really got me going and seeing how the art of cooking was so special. And then I just. Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 3:44

There's something that, that triggers it triggered for me. I met a chef that just changed my life and I got so excited about cooking and I would go home. And I remember living with my parents because I couldn't afford very much. You were living paycheck to paycheck as a prep cook and I worked in this country club and they had just launched and the chef took me under his wing, almost like an apprenticeship. And he asked me to go home and take a full bag of oranges and just peel them. Like literally just, we call it filleting actually. You're peeling the fruit to perfection, right? And then you segment out the oranges.

Becky Guzak: 4:19

I love segmenting.

Michael Dugan: 4:21

I did that for my parents. And then to learn to saute, I took a bag of frozen peas and put them in a pan and I would flip them for like hours at home and they would go all over the floor and I'd put them back in again. And that's how I learned to saute. And why peas? Because they're just. They literally flip very easily and they're easy to track

Becky Guzak: 4:45

and

Michael Dugan: 4:47

if they're frozen, it's a lot easier. So it's

Becky Guzak: 4:49

inexpensive and inexpensive.

Michael Dugan: 4:50

Yeah. Yeah. But they were really entertained and I had this direction that I led into, I wanted to become a chef. And so I hear that, I hear those kinds of things probably going on in cooking school

Becky Guzak: 5:03

that you

Michael Dugan: 5:04

went to or the camp. Does

Becky Guzak: 5:06

he

Michael Dugan: 5:06

still do it?

Becky Guzak: 5:08

No, he's about 10 years ago. He what it evolved into is the hot stove society cook at culinary school. So those camps are what really inspired him and his team to make it bigger and make it more solid and something that can is sustainable and is year round and you can take a class how to make dumplings. They've got private events where they've got team building events, challenges, and I've been to one as a guest. And we do cook alongs and there are chefs that are side by side that would help. They really want you to succeed. It's all about fun and helping you build your confidence in the kitchen. And then people that weren't super into cooking they can sit on the side and sip some wine or sit back and watch and have a good time. And then we leave the room, they transform it into a dining room, come back. And then we have this big communal dinner. So they do a lot of fun events. So it really is, with all the stuff going on in the world, that being in the school is. About joy and leave politics aside, leave the big issues aside and just really immerse in connecting.

Michael Dugan: 6:15

Wow. That is amazing. That is really amazing. I, when I went to the hot stove society and. And attended a friend of mine. I'm giving a shout out, Lisa, you are incredible because we talked about this for over a year and she told me about it and I didn't even know about it and I can't believe it as a podcaster, as a food podcaster. I just fell in love. I was like, wow, this is amazing because in my mind, I saw things like Tom's in the front. With a microphone to the right of him is your coworker, the colonial director, Bridget. And then you're right behind them on another mic. So there's three mics, three people talking and doing interviews, and then they bring a fourth person in and the coordination of that has got to be incredible. I just have a one on one. I'm thinking about a co host, so I'm putting it out there to the world, but I just have one on one right now. And to do that with three or four people must be incredibly challenging. And you're the producer. How do you navigate that?

Becky Guzak: 7:16

It's a great question when it's pretty easy and effortless. As long as you put in the time to be thorough on who the guests are and make sure that you feel comfortable and there's nothing really scripted in these conversations, but it flows. And Tom is such a professional and he's been doing this for, he's been doing his radio show for almost 25 years. Someone told me to call him one take Tom. And it's true. He just, he's just honest and authentic. And has a lot of experience and loves to talk to people and has a knack of being able to ask people questions, open ended questions, and he's got so many stories himself. And then he's got a co host, either his daughter Loretta or Bridget charters. And it's, it really isn't, again, it just seems effortless. It's just, it's fun. It's joyful. It's like sitting around a table. Talking to friends.

Michael Dugan: 8:08

Oh, I love it. I love it. So let's get into it, but you have background in business, right? Is it international business? Is that right?

Becky Guzak: 8:17

Yeah, that's what I said in college, but I spent a lot of time. We had a software marketing and sales company back in the day when you would take products and someone wanted to get the, get on the shelves of maybe an egghead or. Costco.

Michael Dugan: 8:31

Okay.

Becky Guzak: 8:31

So me and my team would help people take their product and package it and market it and get it on the shelves of these stores and get into people's hands. But that was a long time ago. Sure. I think doing the radio show, it's just a culmination of transferable skills, loving people, excuse me, enjoying learning new things.

Michael Dugan: 8:52

Okay.

Becky Guzak: 8:52

And I think learning from others and learning from your mistakes too.

Michael Dugan: 8:59

Yeah. Oh, I make a lot of them.

Becky Guzak: 9:00

We make a lot of them. Yeah. No, and I've done a lot of nonprofit work, strategic plan

Michael Dugan: 9:05

and

Becky Guzak: 9:06

fun stuff like that. But the radio show, I was asked to be a guest producer for about six weeks right now. I think we just did show number 40, still having a blast.

Michael Dugan: 9:16

And this all started because of that event that you went to. Is that right?

Becky Guzak: 9:20

That's how I got to know Tom. Yes. Tom and his team. Yes.

Michael Dugan: 9:22

Yeah. So you got to know Tom in the event, which then became, eventually became the radio show. Then you were invited in to host for six episodes

Becky Guzak: 9:33

and

Michael Dugan: 9:34

then now how many

Becky Guzak: 9:36

40 up to 40. Yeah. That's incredible. It's fun to do. And it wasn't just the one camp. Me and my friends. We went to multiple camps. I was probably seven or eight years in a row. And then Tom would invite us over to his home and we would do cook alongs and we would do other foodie events, get together and chuck a bunch of oysters and learn new things together.

Michael Dugan: 9:58

And it's funny because I, in my mind, I'm like, what is the culture like with the hot stove society? What is it like to work with Bridget? And what is it like to work with Tom and the rest of the team?

Becky Guzak: 10:08

I think it's very collaborative

Michael Dugan: 10:09

and

Becky Guzak: 10:10

people encourage one another and they're also brutally honest too, in a good way.

Michael Dugan: 10:15

Good. Yeah. And

Becky Guzak: 10:16

there's, I think Tom, he's been an incubator for a lot of new chefs, in his early days, he's always, he'll invest in people. He'll support them, leaving him and moving on and growing. And he gets joy out of that. And that kind of trickle down feeling of wanting to help people want to. Elevate people trickles down through everybody that he's working with. That's what I see.

Michael Dugan: 10:43

Yeah. That's amazing. Can you describe what it would be like, I know what it was like for me when I came in the door, but what is the experience that you're trying to create when someone comes to listen to the hot stove society as a guest,

Becky Guzak: 11:01

I think the experience is just To have a good time and learn and speak up as well. If there's something that someone wants to say, encourage them to challenge themselves, if you're a little bit nervous, then do it like when we bring people on for trivia, a lot of fun with that, either, or the audience members, they're a little bit nervous. And that was me, I think three years ago.

Michael Dugan: 11:23

I remember you said that's amazing.

Becky Guzak: 11:24

Yeah. I was so nervous to answer the questions. And now I'm on the mic every week and there's no, it's very comfortable. So we're trying to create that comfortable feeling for it.

Michael Dugan: 11:37

And I think you're so good at it because you experienced that fear that, that sort of anxiety, your first time. And you remember that. That's a good

Becky Guzak: 11:45

point. Thank

Michael Dugan: 11:45

you.

Becky Guzak: 11:46

Yeah. That's a really good point. I can

Michael Dugan: 11:48

see it. I can see it when I listen. And when I saw you, I watched the engagement and all of you do. And it's amazing because you're like inviting people in to the party. And there's no intimidation factor. Some podcasters love to intimidate their guests or radio hosts. And I just don't understand that, but I think

Becky Guzak: 12:06

I love the word you use party.

Michael Dugan: 12:08

Yeah.

Becky Guzak: 12:08

I love that. I have a friend who told me years ago and I use this a lot. I love it. She said, if you, it was during a tough political time and she said, if you want a better world, throw a better party, meaning bring people together and talk. I love that one.

Michael Dugan: 12:22

Yeah. And so as a producer, you are finding guests, you're finding chefs, you're finding people in hospitality, philanthropists, how do you find your guests?

Becky Guzak: 12:32

It's super easy because so many people in this town know Tom Douglas. So I just start with, have you heard of the radio show or have you heard of Tom and a lot of people do. So I don't, I think, I don't think I've ever had someone say no.

Michael Dugan: 12:48

And

Becky Guzak: 12:48

how I find him is they either find us, they reach out to the hot stove or they've been guests in the past, or I'll go to a restaurant, local restaurant in my town and see something really cool or see, A new chef go talk and see how they treat the customers, talk to them and then invite them on the show. And that's been my approach is to let them know what's there and invite them in.

Michael Dugan: 13:15

Okay. And what do you look for in a guest? Is there anything special criteria wise?

Becky Guzak: 13:21

I think I'm always looking for charismatic guests. People that are both smart, I think charismatic is definition of the balance of having knowledge and passion and being able to relay that. That's what I'm looking for

Michael Dugan: 13:35

is

Becky Guzak: 13:36

charisma.

Michael Dugan: 13:37

Great. Yeah. And that goes a long way. It's similar to what I look forward to. What do you think the biggest challenges you've faced as a producer of the hot stove society?

Becky Guzak: 13:48

That's a great question. My first gut reaction is. I'm

Michael Dugan: 13:53

not trying to stump you.

Becky Guzak: 13:55

No, no, no, no. I, it's.

Michael Dugan: 13:57

I am a little,

Becky Guzak: 13:58

yeah,

Michael Dugan: 13:58

a

Becky Guzak: 14:00

challenge I'd like to have more hours in a day to, I think I just have to sometimes let things go. I'll go down, I'll do research and I'll over research things because I love food. I've got so much passion around all these topics and I'm not a chef, I'm a home cook, but I'm not, I haven't been a, so it's even, I'll just go down these rabbit holes of research. And so I wish I had more time, but the challenge is really, I, when I make a mistake or something happens, something goes wrong, I don't freak out. Maybe 10, 15 years ago, I would have now, I really just have this calm feeling of what did I learn from that? And I'll take notes or a lot of times I don't even need to take notes on what to do in the situation next time, because it's it becomes so obvious when you make a mistake. That's how you learn. I would say challenge that there's no challenge that's stressful.

Michael Dugan: 14:50

Is there anything that happened that really pushed you? You were like, Oh my gosh, how are we going to get through this? But you did.

Becky Guzak: 14:55

Yes, we did. But then I also quickly went to, okay, what's worst case scenario. So we had a taping once where we had a great show and a gentleman came in from New York who had, he's written over a hundred cookbooks. Oh. And so he came in special for the show and for his book tour. Okay. And it was such a fun show. And then I get the call from Chio Radio that all the audio is terrible. It just doesn't sound me. It just, oh my gosh. And it was a so I worked with other Sean the technical, we, he figured it out. We figured it out.

Michael Dugan: 15:30

Okay. It

Becky Guzak: 15:31

came up with let's use our YouTube footage. And we edit that and it wasn't perfect,

Michael Dugan: 15:36

but

Becky Guzak: 15:37

it still, and Tom Douglas never knew this, any of this happened. So we just, I'm not going to freak anybody out. And so we handled it and now I

Michael Dugan: 15:47

love Tom. He's amazing. Oh yeah. Behind the scenes things happen. I was telling you, I was telling you in the pre interview that I was interviewing a celebrity chef and my computer died. Right in the middle, and I heard him talking on the other end is like, is he going to come back? Is he going to come back? Let's crack open a beer. And so I booted back up in four minutes because I'm a tech. I was up and running and we just jumped right back into it and continued

Becky Guzak: 16:12

and awesome.

Michael Dugan: 16:13

Yeah, we've

Becky Guzak: 16:14

had a lot of, not a lot of, we've had the things that don't work are So the things that have failed is some of our zoom calls, there's a connection can drop or those kinds of things. So now when I first started, we were doing one or two zooms on each show and there's eight segments and now we just do one and we're even rarely doing zoom unless it's really important. Someone just can't get here or

Michael Dugan: 16:37

Yeah, no, I totally understand that. What do you think for you as a producer? Is the most rewarding part of what you do,

Becky Guzak: 16:48

I'd say when the guests come on and you can see that they get, they're getting a lot of joy out of the experience, built them up. And when we've got the audience members, when they, when I've sent out questionnaires, I'm not doing that anymore because everything was on your experience. from one to five, five being the best. I think I did maybe 60, 70 of 'em, and we had one, four and a half. Oh, wow. And so it's, it, that's just brings me a lot of joy that we're bringing joy to someone else during the day.

Michael Dugan: 17:20

What do you think that brings you to that four and a half, five level? What is it about your personality that you contribute? This just came to me. Oh,

Becky Guzak: 17:31

oh, I doing something you love and you're being authentic. And I do get joy outta elevating others. That just makes me feel really happy.

Michael Dugan: 17:40

Yeah, that's really that's part of hospitality. That's the true in my mind That's what I felt when Lisa and I walked in the door. We felt so welcomed. We felt so connected to everything

Becky Guzak: 17:52

Oh, I love to hear that,

Michael Dugan: 17:54

You don't even know who we are

Becky Guzak: 17:55

But

Michael Dugan: 17:56

it didn't matter and it's 25 to go there but it's this amazing breakfast this amazing experience for two hours and To meet you and Tom and Bridget and the whole staff and you get to talk about it Something that we're passionate about, which is food and chefs and, your guests. And we had a sample from Cafe Vita.

Becky Guzak: 18:14

Yes. Cafe Vita.

Michael Dugan: 18:16

My wife loves coffee. I drink a little bit. That whole experience is so powerful. Like I personally, I'm going to say it right now. I'm coming for a cooking class.

Becky Guzak: 18:24

Wonderful.

Michael Dugan: 18:24

Definitely coming. I'm not sure when. But I really want to bring my wife to, but

Becky Guzak: 18:28

absolutely doing it with a friend or family and

Michael Dugan: 18:31

A group would be amazing. I'll put it on our voice for chefs, Facebook

Becky Guzak: 18:35

group

Michael Dugan: 18:35

to say, Hey, does anybody want to come? Because I just want to experience it. I really, I've been binging hot stove society. And just to give you an idea, I have a long commute, so I stopped listening to my own podcast and I started listening to your podcast because it's so addictive and, obviously we're talking about it. What do you hope? That your guests take away from the experience that the people that come onto the mic, obviously they might be promoting the product

Becky Guzak: 19:04

or the restaurant to their book,

Michael Dugan: 19:06

but what do you want them to feel and experience when they leave?

Becky Guzak: 19:10

I love that question. Like you pointed out, make people feel welcome. I want them to feel welcomed and maybe thought about something in a different way. And that they've built a little bit of their confidence by putting themselves out there are even more comfortable to do it again. So what I love is when people just leave more elevated than when they walked in,

Michael Dugan: 19:30

You can feel the energy. We were a small group, but I just it's such a unique thing. You're in a hotel, a beautiful hotel in downtown Seattle.

Becky Guzak: 19:38

Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 19:39

You walk up to the second floor and you walk in and there's this big, beautiful sign that says hot stove society. And then you walk in and you're like in this commercial kitchen, butcher blocks that are tables. Cause obviously you cook on the tables, but the audience sits down and watches this. Taping of Cairo radio. And it's just, I'm breathless about this. Honestly, this is my review. I would love people to know. And I would also love for someone to say, I'm here from Boister chefs cause I heard it on the show. I would be so honored if I, if you reach out and you tell me that somebody from. The podcast came because of this conversation that means everything to me. And I know a lot of the chefs that you've interviewed. I haven't had a few on our show.

Becky Guzak: 20:29

Yes, Quinn from anchovies and salt. Oh

Michael Dugan: 20:32

my gosh. And it was so exciting. I just was driving down the road and I heard his episode, Becky and my brother just listened to my episode of anchovies and salt the same day.

Becky Guzak: 20:43

Wow.

Michael Dugan: 20:44

And I was like, that is very unique. Anyway. Yeah. I loved that you honored him and his passion and his purpose and those are the kinds of things that. That really, to me mean everything talking about that. Let's talk a little bit about your podcast, because I am really excited to learn about it and what drove you to become a podcaster?

Becky Guzak: 21:06

Great question. So a little over a year ago, actually about a year and a half ago, I was thinking about. What do I love to do? What brings me joy? And I just go back to all these parties and gatherings that we host and have, and it could be simple or big or whatever it is. It makes me, I love when I introduce people together and they become friends. I could fall off the face of the earth and they are good friends. And that just makes, I love that. So I was thinking about and I always think it's silly that I'd like to have fun. And then I thought, no, but it's what I really love to do. And it does connect people. And there's a lot of friends that don't feel comfortable hosting or having people in their home. All those excuses about my house isn't nice enough or it's dirty or, Oh, it's just overwhelming. I don't like to cook all those pieces. And I think, and I always have a solution for that. So I was thinking about writing, I was working on writing a book on how to host with confidence, how to, and I know in order to gain confidence, you have to have competence. And that only comes from trying new things.

Michael Dugan: 22:08

Willing to

Becky Guzak: 22:08

fail and following, learning from that and moving forward. So I was working on a book and then I have a good friend who's a business coach as well. And she had heard me on Tom's show on the radio show when I had done an East side review for the first time, super fun project. And she said, Becky you need to do a podcast on this. Book is stagnant for this. It's, but a podcast, you can keep evolving and learning and growing and interact and interview. So that I started down that path a little over a year ago and I had to learn, I knew nothing about the technology of it, so I studied up on that and. Started my first episode in January of this year, and I'm now at, I think, 25 episodes. And the whole point is I am encouraging other people to host, to get outside their comfort zone and invite people into their home. Or get outside their comfort zone and do something. So I'm doing the same thing myself. And I used to suffer from perfectionism. I'm a recovering perfectionist. And now I've just gained so much more momentum on it's okay to fail. What did I learn? And now next time is going to be better. So that's where that, where the podcasting piece came from. And I'm having a lot of fun with it. And I always said I was a private person. I never posted anything.

Michael Dugan: 23:31

Really? Oh my gosh. Pretty

Becky Guzak: 23:32

private. And now I've got a website. And I'm doing Instagram and it's fun. It's just stepping outside your comfort zone. And then you get that reward, that little rush of, Oh, then I could try learning new things. I've always loved new things, trying new things. So

Michael Dugan: 23:48

did you have imposter syndrome in the beginning where you felt like, Oh my gosh, people are going to think this is strange or anything like that? Or were you just, Nope, this is exactly what we need.

Becky Guzak: 23:59

I think I'm pretty honest with myself I'm not good at this yet. But I just, I love the idea of learning and getting better. So I'm not keeping my, I'm not spending any mental space in, I know what you mean about imposter syndrome.

Michael Dugan: 24:14

Yeah, totally.

Becky Guzak: 24:17

Yeah, I just saw a magazine article that I'm featured on and oh, yeah, I went what okay Putting myself out there and then just moving on

Michael Dugan: 24:27

Congratulations on that by the way You shared it with me and I read it and I was like, oh, this is really good for me imposter syndrome is all about like I mentioned before people may not know this on the podcast, but I was nervous when I read because I thought They're gonna think it's ridiculous. I'm gonna get criticized. All these people are gonna come on, with negativeness on social media. None of that happened.

Becky Guzak: 24:48

Wonderful.

Michael Dugan: 24:49

Initially, nobody listened except for my family. And then it grew, but I didn't know for months that my family was listening to the podcast. They never told me. I had anxiety around them listening. If you hear something and you really love it, give feedback to voice or chefs, give feedback to Becky, listen to her podcast and let her know and listen to hot stove and let her know, because that is so important and so critical. To do

Becky Guzak: 25:14

that. I agree. And being honest and that's just being honest and learning and

Michael Dugan: 25:18

being

Becky Guzak: 25:18

able to accept feedback, kind feedback

Michael Dugan: 25:22

and feedback too, is about, positive feedback, but you can give criticism

Becky Guzak: 25:27

in a

Michael Dugan: 25:28

positive way. And that's what we do in dose masters, which is this amazing organization that people learn to speak and lead all over the world.

Becky Guzak: 25:36

And that's what started me.

Michael Dugan: 25:38

Yeah. Oh, how did I get involved? Oh my gosh. So I was in school at WSU and I was taking a speech communication class and it wasn't very focused. Nobody wanted to be there. And I was really excited. I wanted to get over my fear of public speaking and the instructor caught wind of it. And he said, you should look at Toastmasters. And I waited 10 years to go to a Toastmaster meeting. And when I went, it was a disaster because they were not really in the program. It was sad. But later I went to another club at Boeing. I just fell in love. I was like, wow, they're all these people are here to help each other, to empower each other. Yeah. And 10 years later, I'm still doing it,

Becky Guzak: 26:21

but that's also another lesson in learning of just one step away, one person away from a whole new trajectory. Yeah. And so now if you want to do something, you probably won't wait 10 years.

Michael Dugan: 26:32

No, you're more comfortable

Becky Guzak: 26:33

now being,

Michael Dugan: 26:34

I dive in immediately. Oh,

Becky Guzak: 26:35

that's wonderful.

Michael Dugan: 26:36

Once you reach that peak and you realize that, that you're adding value, everything changes and your confidence goes up.

Becky Guzak: 26:44

That's true. And that it's a big part of. When my friend had asked me, do you want to continue to just be comfortable and or do you want to help me? I'm like, okay, no brainer. I'll do it. So it did take Wow.

Michael Dugan: 26:57

So you need a little nudging.

Becky Guzak: 26:58

Oh, I do Absolutely, but it really is around to help someone else Oh, for sure.

Michael Dugan: 27:04

Yeah. For me, Voice for Chefs was formed because I heard the crying of the hospitality industry. That's the honest truth. I felt so bad when the governor shut down all restaurants and now looking across the world, the devastation to hospitality and how hard people work in this industry, weekends, vacation, holidays, weekends, late nights, chefs work 16 hours sometimes a day. And so I wanted to do something to give back. And then I heard this voice and voice for chefs was created. That was the movement three years ago, and now I can't quit. It's too much fun.

Becky Guzak: 27:42

Oh, look how far you've come. And that's just another example of,

Michael Dugan: 27:45

yeah, but it's the same thing with hot stove. It's just I see it. I saw it. I get it. And I just, and the fact, if you come on as a guest and how you honor them and give them an opportunity, that's life changing for a lot of people, and that's why I really wanted to interview you because what people may not know is I literally came back to take pictures of hot stove society. I'm walking up the stairs and I see Becky. Leaving and I said, can I talk to you for a minute? Would you like to be a guest on the show? And you're like, why me?

Becky Guzak: 28:20

That's my first question. Why am I now? You get

Michael Dugan: 28:22

it right. I hope now you understand. This is the reason, right? Is because you connect to people, you empower them. You can change some of their lives, in, in hospitality and. That's an amazing thing and that's what I wanted to share on our podcast today.

Becky Guzak: 28:38

So I really appreciate that. And it's nice to be interviewed because it's more self reflective. I'm talking about other people, not myself. And so you're asking me these questions. I'm like what is my challenge there? So thank you for the question. All

Michael Dugan: 28:49

right. So a couple more questions. Let's talk a little bit about cooking. What is your favorite dish from the hot stove society?

Becky Guzak: 28:57

Ooh, that's a great question. I would say probably like the last one you have. It's cooking is it's so fluid. I don't have a specific. I love their chorizo sausages in there. I learned that was amazing

Michael Dugan: 29:09

by the way. Oh,

Becky Guzak: 29:09

what I love about they take a Swiss chart. I learned about the Swiss chard. That's what I just had

Michael Dugan: 29:13

for breakfast.

Becky Guzak: 29:14

You keep the stems, you cut those up and they're beautiful. Don't throw those away. Start with those in the pan first for about five minutes, then add the leaves. And now you're not throwing away all that stuff. And it's. Healthy, delicious. And so I learned something from Annie and the chefs there.

Michael Dugan: 29:31

Oh, man.

Becky Guzak: 29:32

For me, my favorite thing to cook is I'd love to just open up the fridge, either my house or someone else's house and make do with what we have. It's just a, it's a fun challenge.

Michael Dugan: 29:43

Like chopped.

Becky Guzak: 29:44

Yes, without the stress,

Michael Dugan: 29:45

right? Yes. Yeah. Without the stress. Without

Becky Guzak: 29:47

the stress. I've been doing that way before I ever saw chopped, but really fun to say, how can we take these ingredients and elevate them or don't. Take beautiful ingredients and don't mess them.

Michael Dugan: 29:56

I do that a lot. I love that challenge of the freestyle. Yeah. Freestyle creation. What about have you, do you travel?

Becky Guzak: 30:04

I do travel. I love to travel and that's goes in line with, I love new things. Yes. Yeah. Traveled a lot.

Michael Dugan: 30:12

Are there any special places that you've been to that that really bring out a memory, maybe a favorite meal somewhere in another country? I

Becky Guzak: 30:19

remember in Vietnam having pho for breakfast. That was very special. And it's just all those fresh ingredients and herbs. And then I love, of course, Italy. Amazing. I've taken cooking classes there.

Michael Dugan: 30:33

Oh, wow.

Becky Guzak: 30:33

Last trip was in France.

Michael Dugan: 30:35

Okay.

Becky Guzak: 30:35

Oh, I love travel.

Michael Dugan: 30:36

Yeah. We travel quite a bit. I always tell people that when I got married, I had to hang on because my wife, when she was young, she never went anywhere. So she just had this bug that every year we go somewhere in the world.

Becky Guzak: 30:50

Wonderful.

Michael Dugan: 30:50

And it's amazing. And we do it on a tight budget. We're pretty tight about it.

Becky Guzak: 30:55

That's even more of a fun challenge.

Michael Dugan: 30:57

So any last special message that you want to share with our audience and your audience?

Becky Guzak: 31:03

I think we've touched on it quite a bit, but really just step outside your comfort zone and go for it. Cause you're just, it's just gonna, you can sit back and be, you won't be as fulfilled if you're just, And if you're just comfortable and there are times in our life when we just need to be comfortable and there's stresses and other things, but really life is short. There's so much out there. Do a little bit more of what you love and go for it.

Michael Dugan: 31:26

Okay. That's beautiful. Last thing. How do we find you on your podcast? Where do we go?

Becky Guzak: 31:33

I've got a website. It's. Host with confidence podcast.com and you can listen there, but it's also on Apple. All the major, it just host with confidence.

Michael Dugan: 31:42

All the different directories. Yeah.

Becky Guzak: 31:44

Yep. They're all there. Yeah. Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 31:45

And the most popular Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio. Good. So you're registered everywhere. So that, yes,

Becky Guzak: 31:50

I learned how to do that. Awesome.

Michael Dugan: 31:53

Yeah, there's a steep learning curve as a podcaster, but it's a lot of fun. The journey is a lot of fun.

Becky Guzak: 31:58

Agreed. The journey.

Michael Dugan: 31:59

How do we get to the Hot Stove Society?

Becky Guzak: 32:02

Their website is. Hot stove society. com. And you can click under classes and that's, you can see when the tapings are and you can see what the great classes are. We're working on a, we're going to start a blog section under the radio section because we have all these great chefs and guests and they have resources and we want to have a place where people, cause we get a lot of emails on. Questions, or if we do a tasting panel or something, people want to know what the results were. So we're going to have a place to go back and have a resources page. So working on that. You have a hot stone society. com.

Michael Dugan: 32:35

Oh, that's awesome. And that'll all be in the show notes. You can also reach Becky through our website on the guest page. She's going to be a registered guest. And I'm so excited about that.

Becky Guzak: 32:45

Thank you. What an honor.

Michael Dugan: 32:47

And I am so honored to have you on the show. You are truly a voice for chefs. Oh

Becky Guzak: 32:52

you're so such an inspiration. Thank you.