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 EP32 - Soft Launches, Calm Energy & Juggling the Buckets
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Episode 32 - Soft Launches, Calm Energy & Juggling the Buckets
In Episode 32 of Pickles and Pasta, Jay and Steph open with a real life teamwork moment in classic New York weather that turns into a reflection on momentum. After finally shipping something they had been organizing for a long time, they talk about the relief of checking things off and how February begins to feel lighter after an endless January.
The conversation then explores a question many creatives face: how do you soft launch something new while still building multiple projects behind the scenes? Steph shares why she is evolving Have Some Fun Today toward more artisan, one of a kind offerings like painted bags and original art without making a dramatic announcement, choosing a quieter approach that reflects a more grounded and sustainable way of working.
Jay adds the strategy perspective, explaining how clarity, support, and the right team make it easier to balance multiple “buckets” without burning out. Together, they discuss trusting your gut, avoiding pressure from people without skin in the game, and organizing projects by timeline, energy, and readiness.
They wrap with a rapid fire round on work styles, from jumping in versus planning to starting versus finishing and how they move from one project to the next.
Topics Covered:
- Soft launching new work while other projects continue
- Evolving Have Some Fun Today toward artisan art
- Creating sustainably without burnout
- Managing multiple project “buckets”
- Trusting your gut over outside pressure
- Team support and delegation
- Rapid fire: problem solving, follow through, and rest vs next
Soft launches still count. Stay grounded, keep your buckets organized, trust your gut, and build in a way you can actually sustain.