You know that phrase, “Be your best self”? This episode rips it wide open: from its shiny, self-help packaging to the industrial shame complex underneath.

Erica and Erin are joined by media scholar Laurie Ouellette to break down how makeover reality shows (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Biggest Loser, Wife Swap, etc.) didn’t just make for good TV; they quietly rewired our ideas about help, worthiness, and personal responsibility. What we mistake for glow-ups, might be about control.

Find out more about Laurie Ouellette…

Buy one of her books: https://bookshop.org/contributors/laurie-ouellette

• Viewers Like You?: How Public TV Failed the People (2002)
• Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-Welfare Citizenship (2008)
• Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (2009)
• The Media Studies Reader (2012)
• A Companion to Reality Television (2014)
• Keywords for Media Studies (2017)
• Lifestyle TV (2016)

Read her work as Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal "Television and New Media:" https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/television-new-media

Or as a Columnist at Film Quarterly: https://filmquarterly.org/tag/laurie-ouellette/

You know those phrases that sound important but mean absolutely nothing? Yeah, we made a list.

In this rapid-fire episode, Erica and Erin pull back the curtain on some of the most overused (and underwhelming) buzzwords in business, leadership, and personal development, or rather “Business BS,” “Leadership Lies,” and “Personal Development Delusions.”

It’s a roast. It’s a reset. It’s your permission slip to stop pretending these phrases are helpful.

In this episode Trash Talk, Erin and Erica take a step back to reflect on their podcast journey…from their first encounter in a Google Doc to deciding to turn their weekly coffee chats into a podcast, they share the behind-the-scenes story.

They also dive into the juicy bits of their personal histories, like Erin’s dumpster dive moment that launched her career (literally), and Erica’s museum exhibition background that led her to shaping big ideas for brands.

Tune in for a mix of branding, life lessons, and personal anecdotes, with a sneak peek at what’s to come in Season 2.

Links to passion projects that mentioned in this episode:

www.youtube.com/@MultigenMagic

www.youtube.com/@CalmTitsMedia