Wendy Mak on Instagram
Veera Brave Girl

In 2025, it's estimated that we see at least 4,000 ads, every single day. And the lines are becoming more and more blurred between what is "real" and what is AI generated.

In an era where the use of AI has become commonplace, what is the correct balance between increasing productivity and maintaining consumer trust?

Wendy Mak is the Chief Marketing Officer at MUFG Pension & Market Services, and is a regular speaker on topics such as AI, tech, and communications. In this episode, we also discovered that Wendy is an influencer on her personal Instagram page, where she shares content on fashion, beauty, and fitness.

Having the dual perspective of both a marketer and an influencer has granted Wendy a unique lens on the way that AI is used today. Wendy believes that using AI is important to promote innovation. However, she is also an advocate for clear labelling of Gen AI in advertising, arguing that this honesty is essential to maintain consumer trust.

Wendy also shares with us her work with 'Veera Brave Girl', a non-profit organisation that provides resources for migrant women.

We hope you enjoy.

Gabrielle Feather - Holding Both on Substack

This is one of the most intense interviews I’ve done. Surely.

Please check out our new Substack, which is an audio and textual hub for all things Vanilla Club Podcast, where we interact and engage with complexity in order to better appreciate simplicity.

This episode is a continuation of a run of episodes with Substackers whose writing we admire. Gabrielle Feather is a brilliant guest, who as you’ll see, brings a warmth and sensitivity and a remarkable emotional range to this special episode.

Gabrielle is known as 'Holding Both' on Substack, and describes her page as a space for the "in-between" - grief and awe, collapse and becoming, motherhood and undoing, hope and rage.

She is also a PhD Candidate at the University of Tasmania, working in the field of psychology, with a niche specifically in “climate and collapse aware psychology.”

In this episode, Gabrielle was prompted with some open-ended questions (sometimes these “simple” questions are the very hardest to answer), relating to the state of the climate, and the general proximity of the looming and intersecting crises we are facing.

We talk about how folks in their 30s and 40s today are the bridging generation between the old world and the new. We speak about how collapse is in fact a process, not a singular event. And that matters because we all play a part in life processes, day in and day out; we can’t therefore be fatalistic even in the face of crisis.

Gabrielle walks us through her own healing journey, her choice to have children, and the life and times of a young activist at the Wilderness Society. She speaks of struggling to find her life purpose in a system that she didn't believe in, and finding disillusionment at every turn, to then embracing the disillusionment, and finding joy on the other side of it.

Gabrielle also tells us about an experience she had with Ayahuasca, where the plant told her that emotional regulation is the number one thing that humanity needs to cultivate. Psychedelics are a smitch out of my wheelhouse but to hear the “pro” case for them and for mysticism writ large was thought-provoking and worthy of further reflection.

We were delighted to record and produce this episode. We hope you enjoy.

Mike Jones - Resilient Tomorrow on Substack
Anarcasper on Substack

Vanilla Club on Substack

With the introduction of our own Substack, we are introducing a short run of episodes with Substackers whose writing that we admire.

We came across Mike Jones' Substack 'Resilient Tomorrow' through his striking article - 'Convenience is the Cage'. In this article, Mike prompts us to reconsider what wealth really means, from shifting our perspective of wealth as money, to wealth as access and strong communities.

This "redefining of narrative" is one the seven pillars in Mike's key framework that he shares in the episode. Mike's aim is to provide his audience with steps for "exiting the system" that are actually approachable. He found that many are quick to diagnose the problem - yet few provide solutions that feel realistic or achievable. And at it's core, these solutions centre around sharing knowledge and building community.

Mike takes us through a little bit of his journey over the past decade that brought him to this turning point, or “exit ramp”, as he would put it. His tech background has provided him with a unique approach that we really appreciate, which is marrying classic community ideals with modern technology.

We hope you enjoy.