There's a human behind that bio. Just like all of us who have bio's and also humanity behind it. I think it's one of the most awkward things in the world is to always read. Like, hey someone, read your bio and you're like, yeah, I do do those

things. But also I've been like meeting it with some curiosity of like, why is that uncomfortable for me? And I think it's also growing up in my familial environment as a young person and trying to always shy away. And you know, in my culture it's like, don't be the one that's seen all the time and don't be visible, try to blend in, you know. For those who aren't watching and like I'm Asian American, I'm from Hawaii and that was definitely like

something that was imprinted in me. I'm trying to just like embrace that part of myself to be like, yeah, I did do those things and I'm proud of them. I love that. In Australian culture, which is where I was born and where I'm currently residing, you know, we do have something called like Tall Poppy Syndrome where this whole idea of like, don't get too big for your boots, cut yourself down, don't be too proud of your achievements. So it was something I had to fight heavily against when I lived in the US for eight years, which was being a little bit more loud and proud about my achievements to sort of compete with the American bravado that I sometimes found myself having to compete against. Mm-hmm.

That's interesting. Yeah, as long as the Tall Poppy's not like, I know everything because I'm taller. So everyone else, all you other Poppy is quiet down. I think it's okay as long as there's some humility and curiosity about what are the other Poppy's seeing.

Well, we already have our first sound bite from this episode. All you other Poppy's quiet down. So on that note, so to give the audience a little bit of background. So we first met, like my first role for Coltramp when I moved out to San Francisco in 2015 was head of community and I had a chance to attend, see a Mexican conference in San Francisco. So I believe it might have been a 2016 event where we first cross paths. Did I, do you think I've got that date right?

Oh, I mean, I'm not great us with dates, but yeah, but I think that's probably around the time that we met. Yeah.

Your talk on that stage was very captivating. You always love when people feel like I can see sort of their authentic self through the way that like in the first five minutes, they're just expressing themselves like solely from the heart, the way that you were dressed was like, I'm just like, this is just a guy who is living in his body and expressing himself and straight away. I just found it very captivating. So I'm like, I need to learn more about this person.

Oh, thanks. Yeah. No, I remember, you know, watching some of the, you know, presentations before me and being like, Oh, wow, mine is very different. I hope this is going to be okay. And having a lot of fear actually and anxiety of, you know, especially because I was younger then and I was like, Oh my gosh, does my story have worth in value? And I'm going to, should I change everything about it in these last five minutes before I get on stage to make it sound more like them? I'm glad I didn't do that. And yeah, and that's something I've learned throughout time that, you know, folks want to hear different expressions and ways of sharing stories and different truths and different realities because that's reflective of our really diverse world. So I'm just again leaning into that and being like, yes, that is me. And I'm going to share that and shine that part of

me. I love that. So I think back then you were doing some work with IDO, which was one of my sort of favorite culture and customers and a company got to spend a little bit of time with when I was living in the US, you've then gone on to work on some really interesting projects, spent time in academic institutions, working directly with companies. And then you have gone down the incredible route, which I would love to do one day of punishing yourself with writing a book. And yeah, so you've been on quite the journeys and we're going to talk a little bit about curiosity and this book that you've written, but also just your journey and who you are as a human and why I think the culture of us audience can learn so much from you. But you know, from that moment in San Francisco in 2016 to today, a lot has happened. A lot has been on that journey. So I'd love to maybe just check in and go like, how are you arriving here today? Who is the Scott that is sitting in front

of me? Well, I was really touched by when it was one of the conversations you did in the podcast where you blew my mind and you said your name sell backwards is Nomad. And I was like, oh my God, he's right. That's a wild. I love that. And my last name, Shigeoka means the desert mountains that disappear into the distance. That's Japanese in origin. I didn't find that out until my 20s, actually. And I was like, wow, it's really important to know your names and the meaning of them, the origins of them and what that can elicit. And for me, the deserts really, it reminds me of going on journeys and voyages and traveling and sort of being nomadic. And I think we share that. When people look at my career, they're like, wait, you're a journalist, but you worked in music festivals, but you also did theater, but also worked at a design corporation. Like, you know, it's like, what? I don't understand. Now you're at academic, now you have this curiosity book like, what is this about? It's a very winding journey. But I think that is all driven by my love for curiosity. I'm just a very curious human. That's like the one value that really describes me. And I think today I'm just carrying that part of myself that was, you know, a young child growing up on the islands in Hawaii and being super curious about everything that was around me. And, you know, that is what I'm arriving to today presently is like, I have that little boy that's inside of me that would like pick mangoes with my grandparents out on our mango tree. And I would just like look at everything that's around me and just like sense everything that's around me. And yeah, obviously I've learned a lot through age and through time, you know, age is your greatest teacher. So I'm also arriving, hopefully with a little more wisdom, but still a lot left to learn.

I love that. I would love to. There's some things. And threads there that I would love to pick up on. One is I want to come back to the music journalism piece because there's a question I'm dying to ask you. But you mentioned I've heard you say this in the past, one of your sort of favorite ways to expand a checking question like, Hi, what is your name? What do you do is to be like, what is the story of your name? And I know you mentioned this sort of the story in the history of your Japanese last name. I'd love to learn a little bit more about why that is such an interesting question for you. And I guess what did you learn about your Japanese ancestry that has really impacted your life and going back and really just understanding a name which when we say it all the time, it's like, you know, you can look someone up on Slack or teams like that's a person's name and you just at them all the time, but we don't always go a little bit deeper to understand who is this person I'm sitting with and what can I learn through those sort of like metadata pieces, which is our naming conventions. Yeah.

And I'm curious about the story of your name. I think, you know, for me, what I love about the question is that it really helps you to understand, you know, who a person is, but also the people around them who name them. And also the relationship to their name because especially in the community that's that I'm from the LGBTQ community, you know, we all have different relationships with their names. Some of them are dead. Some of them we no longer use. They do not describe who we actually are accurately. And so that's a really interesting conversation for those who want to share that insight of their name. Also, just there's cultural components. There is, you know, maybe you don't know the story of your name. So it kind of like gets you to want to ask your, you know, your parents or your family about that, which happened to me. I remember when someone was like, what does Shigeoka actually mean? And I was like, oh, I don't actually know. I should figure this out. You know, and so, and names have so much power in a lot of ways, right? It's something we carry around with us. We use it as a symbol to represent who we are, where we've come from oftentimes, although there's very different naming conventions and different cultures. You know, and so I think if something carries a lot of weight and value, then we should understand in a deeper level and try not to dismiss it or be like, I know everything about, you know, this person based on their name, you know, which comes from our assumptions and our biases and, you know, our arrogance rather than really just understanding what someone's name is to them, right? And so I think that's like really juicy for me. And yeah, my mom and my dad, you know, they named me Scott Keoni Shigeoka to represent the three different cultures that, you know, I inhabit my body and my life. Scott being my more American side, Keoni being, you know, I was born and raised in Hawaii, and then Shigeoka being my Japanese ancestry. And so I like that I carry all of these different parts of me. I think it helped me to really understand, well, I have all these worlds inside of me that I hold and that I bring into the spaces around me. And then I need to honor, you know, in every space that I'm in. So yeah, what about you? Like, what's the story of your name?

No, I love the way that you explain that and just kind of like one of my sort of favorite ways to operate in this world is like to be in conversation with my experience, not just to kind of like document it, like actually go, what is coming up with that? So well, I guess the thing that I've had to do a lot on this podcast is always, you know, so say, well, my name is like kind of like, I'm like born in Australia, third generation Australian, very Australian, but like, you have to kind of say my name in a French way. It's like, daymon, not daymon. And then I moved to America, I tried to order a coffee or something or get a sandwich at Whole Foods. And they were like, diamond is diamond here. I'm like, I'm not that shiny. Like I would love to be a diamond, but it's daymon. And that was just a battle that I would always go on. And then my dad, my dad's name is Paul and my middle name is Paul. So the first born son on his side has always sort of taken on the middle name. And then my last name is always funny because I did a similar thing. I'm like, I've got this really like, really punchy kind of like, clots. It's like, not like, it's not the most romantic last name to say. And I'm like, what is the story of that? And it's got German heritage as you might pick up from it. And it literally means like, wooden block. It's like the cloths clan was solid and reliable. I'm like, well, I guess that's a good

try. Yeah, that is a good story. And I loved what you shared also about daymon and diamond, like that sort of mix up at like a Starbucks or something. I think that also shows how when we don't get names right, we can sometimes feel really misunderstood or unseen. I know that happens a lot in work cultures. And that's one of the things we really want to avoid is being misrepresented, not seen, or mischaracterized in some way. And it really starts for something as simple as a name. You know, so I think it's going back to those fundamental blocks, like your last name to do so. So yeah, thanks for sharing your story. I love that.