Pickles & Pasta with Steph and Jay
Welcome to Pickles & Pasta—a podcast about living creatively, loving boldly, and staying grounded in a world that often feels anything but.
Steph and Jay met (or as Jay says “reconnected”) just before the pandemic and have been building a life—and a creative partnership—ever since. Together, they live, work, and support each other’s ventures while navigating the messy, beautiful chaos of modern life.
No agendas. No sides. Just real conversations—sometimes deep, sometimes hilarious, always honest.
This is their space to talk about creativity, connection, relationships, and everything in between.
Pull up a chair. Let’s dig in.
About Steph
Stephanie Rado Taormina is the CEO and founder of Have Some Fun Today, a lifestyle brand inspired by her late father's mantra to live boldly and joyfully. With over 25 years of experience in branding, fashion, interiors, and entrepreneurship, she brings a sharp creative vision to everything she touches.
A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Stephanie has reignited her fine art career since 2021—creating emotionally driven abstract work and building a growing marketplace for contemporary art. While integrating her artistic voice into the evolution of HSFT, she also maintains an independent studio practice focused on exhibitions, fine art prints, and creative collaborations.
As co-host of the podcast Pickles & Pasta with Steph & Jay, she brings thoughtful, unscripted insight to conversations about creativity, culture, and navigating modern life.
About Jay
Jay Schweid is a native New Yorker, creative entrepreneur, and cultural shapeshifter with a career that’s anything but conventional. From launching JCS, a bespoke racket service trusted by tennis icons like McEnroe and Agassi, to co-founding The Spot—a legendary South Beach lounge with Mickey Rourke—Jay has always lived at the intersection of bold ideas and real-world impact.
He went on to create high-touch concierge and event services for celebrity and HNWI clients, and in 2012, launched ephelants, a media company focused on streamlining film and commercial production. Built to challenge industry inefficiencies, ephelants fuses creativity with technology to empower storytellers at every level.
Now, Jay is building Village—a visionary entertainment platform that will revolutionize how projects move from concept to distribution. By bringing together creators, fans, and investors,Village is designed to democratize the entire entertainment ecosystem and give everyone a seat at the table.
On Pickles & Pasta, Jay brings sharp insight, unapologetic creativity, and a relentless curiosity for what’s next.
Pickles & Pasta with Steph and Jay
Pickles & Pasta EP24 - Focus, Energy and The Journey
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Episode 24 - Focus, Energy and The Journey
This episode captures that strange early January shift after the holiday rush, when the world is technically “back,” but not really moving at full speed yet. Steph and Jay talk about what it feels like to be creatives during a season where other people slow down, while their own momentum keeps building.
They explore how conferences, awards season, and trend cycles flood the culture right after the holidays, and why Steph tends to block a lot of that out to protect her originality. From there, the conversation moves into something deeper: the way creatives pick up on energy in rooms and environments, and how that unspoken tension or empathy often gets channeled into the work.
The episode lands on a central anchor, focusing on the journey, especially when life feels full of landmines, shifting plans, and constant uncertainty. They wrap with a funny rapid fire and a simple reminder about stress: don’t do it twice.
Topics Covered:
- The strange post holiday pace of January
- Creative schedules versus traditional work rhythms
- The flood of conferences, awards, and trend noise
- Protecting originality and filtering cultural overload
- How creatives sense and process energy differently
- Turning empathy and frustration into creative fuel
- Staying focused on the journey amid constant change
- Rapid fire on time, childhood, and risk taking
- Why pre stressing only makes things harder
This episode is your reminder to tune out the noise, stay grounded in your path, and keep your focus on the journey, especially when life tries to pull the rug out from under you.