TRAILER — Absolutely Sure, No Idea

If you've ever made a life path decision you couldn't fully explain — changed careers, bet on yourself, walked away from something that looked great on paper — you already know what this show is about.

Absolutely Sure, No Idea is for the person who's already made some version of the leap. Not the wide-eyed beginner. The one who's been in it, had some wins, taken some hits, and is still figuring out what's next.

Hosted by Piper and David, this is a show about creative careers, unconventional paths, and the honest, sometimes uncomfortable reality of building a life that looks a lot different than everyone else around you. Every episode features artists, entrepreneurs, and builders who've done something without a roadmap — and lived to talk about what that actually looked like.

Sometimes funny, sometimes heart-breaking, but always thought-provoking real conversations with people who chose the harder, messier, more alive version of things.

Season 1 is out now. Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode.

Connect with Absolutely Sure, No Idea:

Podcast Instagram: http://instagram.com/absolutelysurenoidea

Co-Host David Richardson: https://www.davomakes.com/

Co-Host Piper Watson: https://www.piperwatson.com/

New episodes drop every Wednesday — subscribe wherever you listen

Some people take the conventional path and spend years wondering what the other one looked like. Some people take the unconventional one and spend years wondering if they made a mistake. This show is for the second group.

Absolutely Sure, No Idea is a podcast about creative people, creative career changers, and unconventional entrepreneurs who chose a path without a roadmap — and are still figuring it out.

Hosted by Piper Watson and David Richardson, two people who've known each other since the nineties, grown up on opposite coasts, and each built incredible creative pathways without knowing exactly what it was going to look like.

In this intro episode, they get into who they are and why this show exists — David's journey from fronting a band on the Warped Tour circuit to building a cornerstone of San Francisco's queer club scene, getting sober, and eventually becoming a substance abuse counselor.

Piper's path from art school to a 3,000-mile bicycle trip through Eastern Europe to National Geographic photo camps to LGBTQ wedding photography to running a nonprofit and becoming a coach. And the moment on a mountain road in the Czech Republic where her life changed forever.

• What it actually feels like to not know what's next — and do it anyway
• The difference between being known for something and building something that means something
• Why the conventional path felt like it was never quite built for either of them
• What "absolutely sure, no idea" means to each of them personally

Connect with Absolutely Sure, No Idea:

Podcast Instagram: http://instagram.com/absolutelysurenoidea

Co-Host David Richardson: https://www.davomakes.com/

Co-Host Piper Watson: https://www.piperwatson.com/

New episodes drop every Wednesday — subscribe wherever you listen

Making a living as a documentary photographer has never been easy — but right now, it's a different kind of hard. National Geographic contributor Amy Toensing has spent over two decades doing the work anyway, and this conversation is about what that actually costs, and why she keeps doing it.

Today, Piper and David sit down with Amy Toensing — award-winning documentary photographer, visual journalist, and longtime National Geographic contributor whose work has taken her from Indigenous communities in Australia to opioid-ravaged towns in rural Ohio. Amy co-directed INHERITANCE (2024), a vérité documentary 11 years in the making that premiered at Slamdance and toured communities across the country.

Amy didn't pick up a camera because she wanted a career — she picked it up because it made the world feel more legible. What followed was two decades of fieldwork, a creative partnership with her filmmaker husband Matt, a production company, a kid, and an 11-year film nobody was really paying them to make. The industry she built that life inside of has been quietly contracting ever since. This is a conversation about what staying in it actually looks like.

Piper and David are surprised to hear why Amy's most meaningful image isn't from Papua New Guinea or Uganda — it's from a quiet lakeside campsite in the Adirondacks

• Hear what happens when an industry that trained you to hide behind the camera suddenly tells you to put yourself in front of it
• Sit with the question Amy and her husband revisit almost every week — and why there's no clean answer
• Unpack what it actually takes to follow one family for 11 years when documentary funding only goes to celebrity stories and true crime
• Hear about the easier path that would have required her to stop creating entirely — and what she did with it

Send this one to the creative person in your life who's been quietly wondering if staying scrappy is still a valid plan.

LINKS:

INHERITANCE (2024): https://www.inheritancethemovie.com

Amy Toensing: https://www.amytoensing.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amytoensing

If this one resonated, our conversation with Keenan Newman— a documentary filmmaker who made peace with using commercial work to fund the stories that actually matter — covers similar territory from a different angle. And our episode with Kim Manfredi, painter and yoga studio founder, gets into what creative reinvention actually looks like when you're doing it midlife without a roadmap.

Connect with Absolutely Sure, No Idea:

Podcast Instagram: http://instagram.com/absolutelysurenoidea

Co-Host David Richardson: https://www.davomakes.com/

Co-Host Piper Watson: https://www.piperwatson.com/

New episodes drop every Wednesday — subscribe wherever you listen

When burnout finally catches up with you, it doesn't always arrive as exhaustion — sometimes it arrives as a blood transfusion and a doctor telling you your heart might stop. Musician and mental health advocate Terra Lopez has spent over a decade making music as Rituals of Mine, building a career in an industry she loves, and quietly burning out doing it.

Today, Piper and David sit down with Terra Lopez — Sacramento-born musician, activist, NPR podcast host, and Community Manager at Backline, the nonprofit connecting music industry professionals with free mental health resources. Terra fronts the electronic R&B project Rituals of Mine, has toured with Deftones, Alice in Chains, and The Mars Volta, and hosts This Is What It Feels Like, which won NPR's Best Interview Award in 2024.

Terra started making music because it was cheaper than therapy. What followed was a decade of wearing every hat — artist, publicist, activist, podcast host — until her body made the decision she wouldn't. This conversation is about what happens after that, and what it actually looks like to fall back in love with something you almost walked away from.

• Hear the story of the week Terra was ready to quit music entirely — and the unexpected guest the universe dropped in her lap in return
• Unpack how she found work to truly sustain her music, and the key thing to look for.
• Hear why momentum isn't just a ‘nice to have’ for her — but a prescription for mental wellbeing.

If this one hit close, our conversation with Amy Toensing — National Geographic documentary photographer on keeping a creative career alive when the industry keeps getting harder — covers similar ground from a different angle. And our episode with Kim Manfredi gets into what it looks like to rebuild your creative identity after you've let one version of it go.

Terra Lopez: https://www.instagram.com/terralopez

Rituals of Mine: https://www.instagram.com/ritualsofmine

This Is What It Feels Like / TIWILF Project: https://www.instagram.com/tiwiflproject

Connect with Absolutely Sure, No Idea:

Podcast Instagram: http://instagram.com/absolutelysurenoidea

Co-Host David Richardson: https://www.davomakes.com/

Co-Host Piper Watson: https://www.piperwatson.com/

New episodes drop every Wednesday — subscribe wherever you listen

Jinji didn't go into this thinking she'd own a business. She arrived, looked around, and thought — how has this even happened? Thirteen years later she's still asking that question, just from a much deeper place. This conversation covers what it actually feels like to stay inside something without a plan, let it evolve, and trust that the next version of it will make sense when it gets here.

Today, Piper and David sit down with Jinji Fraser — award-winning craft chocolate maker, founder of Jinji Chocolate, and collaborator with Cacao Road Media, a documentary series amplifying stories of resilience across the cacao supply chain. Jinji has spent over a decade working alongside her father and best friend, advocating for women- and family-owned cacao farms, and building a business that keeps revealing new reasons to exist.

• We explore what it looks like when a business finds you instead of trying to plan it to a tee.
• The breakfast conversation with her dad that completely changed her personal mission behind the chocolate.
• Where the work is going next — and why it has nothing to do with chocolate bars

Jinji Chocolate: https://www.jinjichocolate.com

Cacao Road Documentary Series: https://www.instagram.com/cacaoroad

If this one resonated, our conversation with Terra Lopez — musician, activist, and someone who's rebuilt her relationship with her own creative work from the ground up — is worth your time. And Amy Toensing's episode gets into what it looks like to keep going inside a life you've built when the conditions around it keep changing.

Connect with Absolutely Sure, No Idea:

Podcast Instagram: http://instagram.com/absolutelysurenoidea

Co-Host David Richardson: https://www.davomakes.com/

Co-Host Piper Watson: https://www.piperwatson.com/

New episodes drop every Wednesday — subscribe wherever you listen