Superfan Attraction: Personal Branding for Artists & Creatives with Diane Foy

Bret Shuford is a veteran singer, dancer, and actor of eight Broadway shows including Beauty and the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Little Mermaid and is currently in the Broadway cast of Wicked. He has appeared in several feature films including The Wolf of Wall Street, network television such as Law & Order SVU and The Good Fight, and several web series. Shuford’s best collaboration has been with ballet dancer, actor, and husband, Stephen Hanna, and together they host the Broadway Husbands' podcast.

Michael Des Barres has appeared in over 150 hours of American television, including roles on MacGyver, Seinfeld, and Roseanne, as well as more than 40 feature films and has sold over 7 million albums as both a recording artist and songwriter, beginning with his days as the frontman for such seminal 1970s bands as Silverhead and Detective. Michael was the touring singer for the Duran Duran spin-off group, The Power Station, performing at Live Aid. He was a member of Chequered Past, which included Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols and Clem Burke and Nigel Harrison of Blondie. A documentary on his life has just been released called Who Do You Want Me To Be?

My favourite story to come out of this pandemic is the Pandemic Pie Project by Bradley Harder. Bradley is a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur who has had careers in animation, fine art, film production, music, restaurants, bars, construction, and many more. During this pandemic, he started to bake pies for his friends and neighbors and before he knew it he was baking pies and giving them away to anyone who wanted one in Toronto. How amazing is that? I’ve tried the blueberry pie and it was fantastic!

Today’s show is a bit of a twist. I was recently interviewed on Rainbow Country by the fabulous Mark Tara and I thought you might like to hear it and learn more about me. Rainbow Country is a radio show on CIUT 89.5FM in Toronto and is also the #1 LGBT podcast going into its 5th season offering a blend of music and interviews giving voice to the LGBT community. Mark has some exciting things in store so I will be having him on the show soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this interview. Connect with me and let me know what you think.

Jennifer Pielak is a performing artist and coach from Vancouver, Canada. She’s a multi-disciplinary performer with over 15 years of professional experience in comedy improv, musical theatre, musical improv, experimental/physical theatre, singing, voice acting and TV/film/commercials. She has trained and performed at improv theatres and festivals across North America, founded the group Off Key Musical Improv, co-wrote the Ovation Award Nominated Connected: The Musical and has most notably performed in local theatre productions as Marcy in Dogfight and Maureen in RENT. She recently created and performed in an experimental musical theatre piece - about the inner voices in her head - called Inside Voices: A Musical in the Key of P for the Vancouver Fringe Festival with her long-time creative partner, Peter Abando (composer & musician). She can be seen playing Jessica Mulroney in the Lifetime Movie Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, and her improv skills have led her to book many commercials over the years (most notable are Lays, Danimals, Nintendo, & Paypal). Jennifer has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy and has over a decade of experience teaching kids, teens and adults.

Today’s guest is Jason McCoy who with The Road Hammers has won 5 Canadian Country Music Awards, a JUNO award, and SOCAN Songwriter of the Year. They are the best selling Canadian country band of all time. Before The Road Hammers, Jason was already a very successful solo artist winning the CCMA Male Vocalist of the Year twice, 3 SOCAN Song of the Year awards, 19 CCMA nominations and 5 Juno nominations. In 2006, he was awarded with the Global Artist Award at the CMA Awards in Nashville.

Today’s guest is the author of The Enneagram & You: Understand Your Personality Type and How it Can Transform Your Relationships, Gina Gomez. I am fascinated by personality type systems so it was great to learn from an expert on the enneagram. As a relationship coach, Gina shows us how using the wisdom of the enneagram can strengthen your personal, professional and romantic relationships. 

Dora Award winner, Anisa Tejpar is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School and is the Co-Artistic Director of Hit & Run Dance Productions. We had a fabulous conversation about the upcoming Encore! Dance Hall of Fame event by Dance Collection Danse where she is producing the performances.

You have the power to change lives with your talents. I help musicians, actors, and dancers cultivate authentic connections with audiences and industry gatekeepers so that they can build a thriving career in the arts, without feeling overwhelmed or doubting themselves. If you want to stop letting fear and a lack of knowledge hold you back, I can empower you with confidence and profile-building strategies to propel you to the next level.

Katie Zaccardi is a songwriter, artist, music industry professional, and certified yoga instructor. She is a wellness coach for women in music and the host of the Out To Be podcast. Through her work in both music and wellness, along with her own experience with a generalized anxiety disorder, Katie discovered the urgent need for a conversation surrounding mental health and self-care within the music industry.

With a career that spans over 30 years, dancer, choreographer Kevin A. Ormsby has performed with various companies and projects in Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States. He is the Artistic Director of KasheDance, and works as an Arts Strategies Consultant.

Toronto born and raised of Filipino descent, multidisciplinary artist Diana Reyes also known as FLY LADY DI, has been rocking stages for over a decade through Dance, DJing and Visual Art.

February is Black History Month and there are many events happening across Canada to celebrate.  TD bank held a launch event at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto this week featuring Hip Hop Pioneer Maestro Fresh Wes and Actor Tonya Williams with performances by Canada's R&B Soul Queen Jully Black and Juno Award-winning Reggae artist Exco Levi. In this episode, you will hear inspiring words from Maestro and Tonya about mentorship and their experiences in the entertainment industry.

As we are at the beginning of a new year and a new decade I thought that it was a good time to talk about future visioning. By taking a moment to really visualize what you want your life to be like in the future you can better determine the steps required to make it happen. 10 years in the future is a good time to think about because it is long enough away that anything is possible.

Widely considered one of Toronto’s Hip Hop legends, Solitair’s many contributions have made an indelible impact on the Canadian urban music landscape, and the music industry as a whole. As Solitair came into prominence as a highly sought after producer, he worked on albums by a number of Canadian heavyweights, including Choclair, Kardinal Offishall, Jully Black, k-os, Maestro Fresh Wes’ and The Rascalz.