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 EP25 - Alone Time, Creative Work and When Money Enters the Room
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Episode 25 - Alone Time, Creative Work and When Money Enters the Room
Episode 25 opens with Steph and Jay checking in on the wonkiness of the world and the mental load of staying aware without getting consumed. They talk about how people cope differently, from staying plugged in to fully tuning out, and why it feels harder than ever to find calm while still caring.
From there, they get into the creative process, especially the role of solitude. Steph shares why working alone is energizing, how deep focus shapes her best work, and why being social doesn’t mean needing people around while creating. Jay reflects on the flip side, how the right city energy can be inspiring, but also distracting when it comes to getting work done.
Then the conversation turns practical: when does money enter creativity. They unpack the difference between making art for the sake of making it and building products where margins, materials, and price points have to be considered early. Steph breaks down the real cost of supplies and why art pricing is often misunderstood, and shares her shift toward art based products that require a more business minded structure. They close with rapid fire on future tech, fixing New York, and weird food combos.
Topics Covered:
- Staying aware in a chaotic world without burning out
- Solitude vs stimulation and how creatives actually work best
- The balance between deep focus and being energized by people
- When money enters creativity and why timing matters
- The real cost of making art and why pricing is misunderstood
- Product thinking vs fine art and working backwards from margin
- Rapid fire: tech we want, NYC fixes, and odd food pairings
This episode is a reminder that creativity needs both space and structure, and learning when to protect your process and when to think like a business is part of the work.