Max Nimaroff is a Brooklyn-based parent, SVP of e-commerce at Oats Overnight, writer, Discord community builder, aspiring Court Street shop owner, and self-described outsider who has spent his whole life stitching together people who wouldn't otherwise be in the same room. He's also a Pokémon master (of sorts).

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Why a portfolio career is artistry by another name
• His grandfather who ran an ice cream shop, manufactured children's dresses, and robo-traded from his Upper East Side apartment, and what Max learned from him
• What it feels like to leave a job and watch years of work relationships disappear
• Why he built 500+, and what "real community" looks like online
• His dream of owning a store on Court Street

Find Max:

• 500+ Community: whop.com/500-plus
• Substack: readmaxos.substack.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/max-nimaroff/
• Text him: (516) 660-7269 (his idea, not mine)

Thanks for listening to 'Be Cringe'! Find us online:

• Instagram: @becringepod
• Substack: thismightbecringe.com
• Listen to the pod: becringe.riverside.com

Seth Werkheiser is the founder of Social Media Escape Club, a freelance email marketer, and, among many (many) other things, has been on the internet in earnest for 25 years.

Over the last two-and-a-half decades, Seth has found his place on the internet, through places like his 2001 heavy-metal blog (Buzz Grinder), his AOL music blog (Noise Creep), and being an early adopter of places like Twitter (he was user number 2,700, or so), Flickr, and something called 'IRC', a text-based platform where he used to make plans with people before going to local shows.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• The early internet in all its glory (including a little trip down memory lane).
• How he accidentally discovered SEO
• How spending time away from social media can allow you to spend more time on your craft
• Why most of us wouldn’t know what to do with virality, even if growing more slowly is, well, slow
• Why 50 subscribers can be more impactful than 5,000 followers

Find Seth

• Social Media Escape Club: socialmediaescape.club
• Substack: socialmediaescapeclub.substack.com
• Seth's Blog: sethw.xyz

Thanks for listening to ‘Be Cringe’! Find us online:

• Instagram: @becringepod
• Substack: thismightbecringe.com
• Listen to the pod: becringe.riverside.com

Lia Zneimer is a former marketing VP, writer, author, theater kid at heart, and dog mom to Waffles.

She is working on her YA novel set at theater camp, while navigating the many swim lanes of her career and finding comfort in being able to go back and forth between in-house roles and working for herself (while writing her book)

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Giving ourselves the permission to define our own success in our career.
• Going back in house, and seeing that as part of a larger career ecosystem.
• Being theater kids (I promise, we move on quickly).
• Writing a novel, using the 'author' label before it's published, and having big dreams for where it can go.
• Being brave enough to examine your career and ask "do I like this or am I just good at it"

Find Lia

• Substack: getrecharged.substack.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liazneimer/

What Lia Shared:

• Mary Jantsch’s Pie Chart, referenced here
• A plot twist… by Lia Zneimer

  Lia talks about standing in front of three opportunities, and which one she ended up choosing

• The tech dream is a nightmare by Max Pete
• Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen

Thanks for listening to ‘Be Cringe’! Find us online:

• Instagram: @becringepod
• Substack: thismightbecringe.com
• Listen to the pod: becringe.riverside.com

Devon Hunt is a writer, a retreat host, and someone who is drawn to taste, style, and how it comes about.

She went to a good school, snagged a business degree, became a CPA, and spent the better half of a decade at a Big 4 firm. She checked promotions off one by one in a career that felt predictable, until one day, she chose to step off the treadmill.

In this conversation, we dig into what apathy at work tells us, why the fear of making the wrong choice keeps people stuck longer than the wrong choice itself ever would, and what happened when Devon finally gave herself permission to want more (and allowed herself to be seen doing it).

We get into:

• Why passion fall-off is a signal worth listening to (and why pushing through isn’t always the answer)
• What burnout leave looks like (spoiler: it’s not a bubble bath)
• The difference between an opportunity finding you and working your ass off to be in the right place for it, and how they often coexist and seem to intermingle
• Why publishing her writing was more difficult for her than the writing itself
• Why fashion and aesthetics deserve intellectual rigor

Find Devon

Substack: closetbrainrot.substack.com

Thanks for listening to 'Be Cringe'! Find us online:

• Instagram: @becringepod
• Substack: thismightbecringe.com

If you know someone who'd make a great guest on the pod (yourself included), fill out this form!

Amanda Jackson is a marketer, a writer, a crocheter, a crafter, a baker, an illustrator, and even an ice skater. Said another way: she's a creative who experiments and brings a beginner's mindset to everything she does.

In this conversation, we get into:

• Why it's okay (and encouraged) to have hobbies we're not immediately good at
• The lessons she brought to the ice and the mic after watching this one classic Disney Channel Original Movie
• What it means to 'donate your talents' to a corporate job as a creative
• How being yourself in front of teenagers will humble you quickly
  

Find Amanda:

• Substack: http://mandaroostack.substack.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandajacksonamj/

Thanks for listening to 'Be Cringe'! Find us online:

• Instagram: @becringepod
• Substack: This Might Be Cringe
  

If you know someone who'd make a great guest on the pod (yourself included), fill out this form!

And if you have read this far, I did in fact find Amanda's first venture into podcasting. Listen here.

Max Pete is a community builder, writer, speaker, and amateur DJ who has spent over a decade showing up online as himself. He doesn't craft a persona or show up differently depending on the situation or environment — he is the same person in every room he enters.

In this conversation, we dig into how he got there, the ways ego and identity can help us make decisions, and why being yourself is often the scariest option (but for Max, it's the only option).

We get into:

• How his experiences as a kid shape how he shows up with others today
• How to know when it's finally time to let something go, even if it's something that is seemingly doing well and that other's enjoy
• What it means to build community without it being a strategy
• Scarcity vs. trust as decision drivers
• Career growth and thoughts on living for retirement
  

Find Max:

• Substack: Max's Newsletter
• LinkedIn: Max Pete

Thanks for listening to 'Be Cringe'! Find us online:

• Instagram: @becringepod
• Substack: This Might Be Cringe

If you know someone who'd make a great guest on the pod (yourself included), fill out this form!

Welcome to episode 1 of 'Be Cringe'. In this solo episode, I talk through some of my inspiration for starting this podcast and where we're going in the future.

You can find me online through my Substack, This Might Be Cringe, or Instagram, at @thismightbecringe and @becringepod.

If you'd like to sponsor a future episode or know someone who'd make a great guest, please get in touch at hi@julielaufer.com.

There is something you want to do — you've just been letting your fear (of embarrassment, of failure, of whatever) get in your way.

Welcome to Be Cringe, the podcast that explores what happens when you start living for yourself and stop worrying about all the other noise. This might be cringe, but we're doing it anyway.

You can find me on Substack or Instagram, and if you know someonw who'd make a great guest you can reach out to me at hi@julielaufer.com.