Matthew Souza (00:00):
One sec, Kevin,
Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Like BAM we’re live. Okay. BA we’re live BA we’re live. I was thinking about making a shirt that said, bam, we’re live. And it’s like a chess tattoo. Should I button these or not button these button, these or not button? Um, I, I have this, uh, I have this heater that I plug in every morning in my office.
Matthew Souza (00:17):
Yeah, lemme go turn mine off.
Sevan Matossian (00:20):
I leave the door open too, just to get fresh air in here. And I don’t, I don’t think my eat are strong enough to over
Matthew Souza (00:27):
Overpower.
Sevan Matossian (00:32):
Hey, I think today will be my sixth day of basically eating raw meat. I eat raw meat one day. That’s basically when I say I only ate raw meat, I eat other. I just don’t need anything. That’s not raw.
Matthew Souza (00:42):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:43):
Uh, I did have a bite of chicken that wasn’t raw one day.
Matthew Souza (00:46):
How many days is this? Now?
Sevan Matossian (00:48):
Today’s day, like five or six. And, and we had like on accident, I bought three gallons of milk. Like I, every time I went to the store, I bought another gallon and my wife’s like, you gotta drink a lot of milk. So I normally don’t drink a lot of milk. And so I’ve been get a ton of milk, uh, raw ground beef yesterday. I didn’t even make it through a pound. The first day I made it through a pound. Oh, deves you might not want to hear this part. I don’t think your people eat cow Racist. When I was in India, the cows are just allowed everywhere. I know we’re early today. We’re early. We’re early. We’re a few minutes early, man. We, we have we’re early.
Matthew Souza (01:24):
Gotta see if this works first.
Sevan Matossian (01:26):
When I was in India that, um, they would have, they, they have these super highways there, you know, like 6, 7, 8 lanes, each direction, beautiful highways. But if the cows like decide to come up and lay on the highway, They lay on the highway. No one messes with them. They, they re-root all the traffic. It’s pretty. It’s not like it’s uncommon either. Like I was there for a month, all over India. I must have seen it half dozen times.
Matthew Souza (01:53):
Cows are sacred there. Right.
Sevan Matossian (01:54):
My gardener just, uh, Text me. What’s he want? Oh, money. What’s he? Uh, am I missing some of the chat notes? So, so basically I’ve just been eating people, keep asking me my DM. So I just wanna tell you a little bit about it. I’ve been eating raw meat, raw ground beef. Um, just get it from the store. I, I even bought it from just like behind one of those glass counters. One time. And the dude back there who worked there, like I think his name was Juan.
Sevan Matossian (02:24):
He told me he, I go, I go, Hey, want, where, where do you, how old does this meet? He goes just a day. And I go, would you eat it raw? He goes, I do eat it raw. I’m like, you eat raw meat. And he’s like, well, I mean, I barely cook it. When I make hamburgers, I was like. I was like, where do you get it from? He said, we have Chuck. I don’t know what that is. But I’m assuming it’s a big chunk of meat and we just grind it back here. So I was like, all right, hook it up, brother. So I had that one day and then the rest has been packaged. Like it’s, it’s like fancy packaging that says I buy it. One stores, nine bucks a pound, another store. I buy it. It’s 14 bucks a pound. And it’s like organic ground beef.
Sevan Matossian (02:55):
Anyway, I’ve been buying that. And mostly what I’ve been doing is I have a half pound in the morning and a half pound in the evening. And, um, my wife puts it in a food processor with a, like a half a stick of butter. And then when she pull in, in some salt, when she pulls it out, I dribble a little honey on it and I eat it. Um, and then, and then I allow myself to these many avocados as I want as many, uh, greens as I want, like out of a clam shell. Um, and last and I, and last night I had an apple before I went to bed. I’ve been drinking some milk. I had one raw egg that was easy probably today I’ll have more raw eggs.
Matthew Souza (03:28):
How’s your stomach been?
Sevan Matossian (03:30):
Uh, awesome. All unicorn, poops, you know? No like, oh, and I’ve been drinking. I that whole be stuff. Can you bring up the whole be website? And I’ve drinking this yeah, one day I had three pints of this with milk. Yeah. That I’ve been drinking that that’s, um, I bought that from the liver king 64 bucks for the bag. That’s that’s not cheap, but, but I think it’s gonna last me the whole month.
Sevan Matossian (03:54):
And uh, I even took a scoop of that and split it into three little cups and gave it to my kids. Like split one, man, scoop amongst three kids with a little bit of whole milk. Cause I just bought too much milk. So it’s kind of perfect timing. And um, yeah, we’re early today. Heidi, miss Heidi. We are early man. You guys yesterday, I’m trying to have a serious conversation with, uh, with now. I know how my parents feel when I was a kid, I was trying to have a serious conversation. And Jim Henzel and people are like, when are the shirts coming? And I’m like, so did man create God? Or did God create man? I’m like, I want my shirt. I’m like,
Matthew Souza (04:28):
Goodness,
Sevan Matossian (04:30):
Logan, why you gotta ask that? Why you gotta ask that? No, they didn’t have raw milk. I didn’t drink raw milk. Why are you ruining my story? Just assume it’s raw. Hey, I’m breaking news for you guys. Breaking news, breaking news. Roman Kro will not be coming to the CrossFit games this year. Instead he will be fighting in Kiev.
Matthew Souza (04:50):
Dude. Think
Sevan Matossian (04:52):
Of what’s happened in our country. I’ve I’ve never like, I, I never blamed, uh, Trump for like, like all the problems in our country. I never blamed to Obama. I never blamed to. I’ve never liked been like the guy who just blames the it, this, this is just, this is just crazy. It what this guy has done to this country. A a, a feels very safe going to school now. But you as a citizen in Los Angeles, do not feel safe, going to whole foods. I mean, what,
Matthew Souza (05:20):
What,
Sevan Matossian (05:23):
I’m all for a, trany feeling safe to go to school. I grew up in trany Villa, baby. I love everybody
Matthew Souza (05:30):
Should feel safe going to
Sevan Matossian (05:31):
School, everyone, but do wanna separate. You have, you have to take care. You, you cannot, you, you, you cannot ma you cannot be so concerned. He’s he’s let the complete country fall apart. Do you remember when Trump took office and we were all scared, oh my God, this psychos gonna start a war. This psychos gonna start a war. We, we have some, we have a, we have a retarded man, old retarded man, not by birth, but, but, but through the R word, The R word, yes, we have a retarded man. Um, who has, um, and I, and I mean that in the clinical sense, um, that’s happened a cumulatively through age who is in office, who, um, is running this country. It’s nuts. It’s it’s it’s I, I wonder, I wonder what those people think. Who thought Dave Castro was unprofessional? What they think of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. I’ve I’ve never seen anything like this.
Matthew Souza (06:30):
No need to think deeply into that. They weren’t, they weren’t wronging anybody. You know, they’re on the side of, of justice.
Sevan Matossian (06:38):
Oh, this is so bad. It’s so bizarre. I seriously don’t think that guy Roman is coming now. I don’t think so. It’s crazy down banana pants. Thank you, Alan. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
Matthew Souza (06:48):
You. What, what if, like, I mean, I realize there’s bigger issues, but what a look for him? Like he’s like, yes, I finally got, he said that like, we’re going to war and he’s like,
Sevan Matossian (07:01):
I, um, yeah.
Matthew Souza (07:04):
Making lie of that situation as I do.
Sevan Matossian (07:07):
Do you see
Matthew Souza (07:08):
The comment I left on Jerry news?
Sevan Matossian (07:10):
Oh no, please, please pull him up. So, so last I really like what you do. So SU showed me this thing. He on big accounts, um, he’ll be the first comment to make a comment and he makes a wise crack. And then, and then he gets shitloads of likes. It’s so weird. Um, that’s like the it’s so weird. How some people think of social media. I could give two if I got canceled. The only reason why, like, I even like my Instagram is for this one reason, it allows me to wave that blue check mark around to find guests. Other than that, I have no, like, I have no attachment to social media. And yet there’s a whole generation that sees social media, like breathing air. Like they’re like I took six months off. Like, so what I made my first comeback post on December 20th, 19, December 20, 20, 21, I made a comeback and it’s a new me. Shut the a up, you weird. Do you have no pride, Pride to sin? You should have some pride, always leverage your ego.
Matthew Souza (08:10):
My favorite is I’m taking a break for a while.
Sevan Matossian (08:12):
Anyway. I like what you do with, uh, social media. And I’m trying to jump on that bandwagon. You, you, um, you don’t like, I never get likes on my posts or like my, my, my posts get nothing. I, I don’t even look at the likes or, or, or your in, how is your engagement? How about you go yourself? My engagement. I posted that picture. Cause my son’s doing some badass, but they, uh, I like what you’re doing. And I, and I’m trying to do it too, where you go to a post and you’re the first person to say something you make a wise crack. And the goal is to get as many likes there, like on someone else’s post it’s so good. I’ve been above five pounds. I do get off on that. It’s like, it’s like a climbing a a, you know, like when you’re a kid, you climb a ladder and there’s like that one step, like you get to that. There’s like steps to the top. And you’re like, oh. Like you like, like you, but you go up there anyway and you stand up there for a second, like two steps from the top. And then you come down. That’s what it’s like. So that, that kind of excitement. What were we gonna say, Susan?
Matthew Souza (09:07):
No, I, I was gonna say one of ’em is the most I’ve gotten is over 5,000 likes.
Sevan Matossian (09:12):
Holy.
Matthew Souza (09:13):
Yeah. So it has
Sevan Matossian (09:14):
To be, do you know where that post is? Could you pull it up?
Matthew Souza (09:17):
Yeah, I’ll try. I tried to pull I,
Sevan Matossian (09:20):
Yeah. Whose account was that on? Like Rogans or something? Bartel sports. Oh, that’s so cool. I get sometimes I’ll get ’em into the hundreds. Well, that one comment I made on Noah’s account that one. I wasn’t even trying to do that, but I think I got like over 500 likes. Oh, there she is. Yeah, there she is. Yes. Bam. Leah. What’s up girl.
Leah Shutkever (09:41):
Very good. Thank you. I’m really, really sorry that I’m late. I have technical difficulties.
Sevan Matossian (09:47):
No, we were just talking about the, um, soldiers, the Ukrainian soldiers who are, or the Russian soldiers who are vacationing in the Ukraine. It was no problem.
Leah Shutkever (09:55):
Okay. Got you. The important stuff.
Sevan Matossian (09:57):
Yes. The important stuff. Uh, I listened to, um, I did, I I’ve done like a three day. Uh you’ll like this, do you, you know what? You’re, you’re big into fitness. You’re you’re uh, athlete, girl. Do you know what the assault bike is?
Leah Shutkever (10:12):
I do.
Sevan Matossian (10:13):
So I spent the last three days on the assault bike, Leah, um, Leah, Leah shut Keever
Leah Shutkever (10:21):
Stuff along
Sevan Matossian (10:22):
Videos, you know, what’s funny you did that show with, uh, you did that show in 2020 with AMA amazing or be amazing. Do you remember that? Amazing. It’s a 28 minute show. There’s no eating in it. It’s just you answering questions.
Leah Shutkever (10:37):
Yes. I, I do remember.
Sevan Matossian (10:39):
And at the very end and you’re like, and I like this, cuz there’s not a lot of Seon MEOC either. And you’re like, and the one and, and, and you can find me. I’m the only Leah shut Keever and then the voice comes on and goes, thank you, Leah, shut ke. And I’m like, dude, she just said her name. She just said, like, she just said a name.
Leah Shutkever (10:55):
Yeah. A lot of people get it wrong, but you appreciate the people if you get it right. It makes it all the better.
Sevan Matossian (11:03):
But when you have a name like that, it’s like, my name is Seon. Like you, by the way, that’s Matt down there. Leah.
Leah Shutkever (11:08):
Hi Matt.
Matthew Souza (11:09):
Hi. Nice meet
Sevan Matossian (11:10):
You. Um, when you have a name like that, you’re just used to it, right? Like after like the third grade, you’re like, it, whatever.
Leah Shutkever (11:17):
Um, God, I wish it was that easy. No, I was really bullied in my name. So I hated it for such a long time. I loved Leah or Leah, Leah or Leah and Chuck Keva. I, I heard everything and I was just, I hated it until it became my brand. And then it’s the greatest thing in the world that it’s so unique because I mean, yeah, it’s a brand within itself. So
Sevan Matossian (11:41):
Yeah, go to Google, put in Leah space. S H and bam. It’s you, you own it. Yeah.
Leah Shutkever (11:48):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (11:48):
You own it. That
Matthew Souza (11:49):
Be brilliant.
Leah Shutkever (11:50):
Isn’t it?
Sevan Matossian (11:51):
It’s cool.
Leah Shutkever (11:52):
And that was completely like non calculated. It’s something that I should probably thank my parents for, but there we go.
Sevan Matossian (11:59):
What is the, what is the name?
Leah Shutkever (12:02):
Uh, it’s Russian actually.
Sevan Matossian (12:04):
Oh, okay. I apologize for the Russian joke in the beginning then.
Leah Shutkever (12:07):
No, it’s no, it’s it’s all good. My ancestors were, um, Russian and Polish. So we have the SU name, which
Sevan Matossian (12:17):
Is, are you Jew?
Leah Shutkever (12:19):
I’m Jew.
Sevan Matossian (12:20):
Wow. No, what? That explains everything
Leah Shutkever (12:24):
It does. It does.
Sevan Matossian (12:25):
You’re an overachieving, super brain focused. Gogetter oh my God. It’s really remarkable watching your interviews. Yeah, you are next level.
Leah Shutkever (12:35):
Holy
Sevan Matossian (12:36):
Cow.
Leah Shutkever (12:37):
Yeah. I, I’m not public with a religion because I, it’s not as, um, kind of widely accepted over here in the UK and I have a lot of followers in countries that probably wouldn’t appreciate it. So I mean,
Sevan Matossian (12:53):
them.
Leah Shutkever (12:54):
I get that.
Sevan Matossian (12:55):
I got three J boys. They’re gonna take over the world. I arm me and my wife’s Jewish that’s yeah. And it’s crazy. What, what a, um, do you know why my, my kids are, uh, I don’t mean to like brag my kids, my, my wife’s Ashkenazi. And I didn’t know that I’ve been with her 20 years and I didn’t know that until recently. And the Wiki page, those are just smarter people. Like people are like, you can’t be racist now I’m telling you these, these group of people are smarter than that group. Maybe not the Japanese, but everyone else.
Leah Shutkever (13:23):
No,
Sevan Matossian (13:27):
You got that one wrong.
Leah Shutkever (13:29):
Yeah. I think it’s interesting because it’s when you are in that space, you see it in other people, but you don’t have to say anything. I’ve been speaking to a lot of production companies in the states. Yeah. And they know that. I know that they know that. I know that they know that nobody’s asked the question.
Sevan Matossian (13:48):
Wow.
Leah Shutkever (13:49):
Like Jews know Jews. You just know, yeah, you don’t have to talk about it. You just all know you’ve got the same sort of same mentality, same work ethic. You find understanding about business and money and people. And that’s all that needs to be said. So it’s like, it’s a cool little group to be a part of without officially being a part of it.
Sevan Matossian (14:10):
This, this, I was in a, I I’m in Northern California and Southern California is totally different. My wife’s from Southern California. And like, I’m so proud of my kids’ Jewish heritage. And she’s like, and like, I, and she’s like, you can’t say that they’re out to get us. And I’m like, nah, I shut the up. No, one’s out to get anymore. Um, but, um, I was, I was in a whole foods in New Mexico. One time. That’s like, I’m on the west coast of the United States along the Pacific ocean and the whole foods in Mexico’s like, uh, 500 miles. I don’t know what is that like? Uh, eight, uh, 1200 kilometers or something east of me. Okay. I was just there. I dunno what I was doing there. And I’m in the whole foods there. It’s in the middle of the desert. Whole foods is our grocery store here in the states. And uh, she, um, the Hoy toy one, like just like where all the track people go. Yeah.
Leah Shutkever (14:58):
Yeah. I saw you.
Sevan Matossian (14:59):
And um, a as I’m checking out, a lady walks up and she goes, it’s nice to see someone from the tribe here. And my wife’s like, yeah, she’s she saw your nose. And she was like, she thought you were Jew. I was like, what? Racist?
Leah Shutkever (15:15):
But you see my, my background. So it’s so interesting when you say that, because I think we
Sevan Matossian (15:20):
Grow up, you look Lebanese, by the way, you don’t look Jewish. You look Lebanese. Yeah. Go ahead. Look
Leah Shutkever (15:24):
Lebanese, look, Greek,
Sevan Matossian (15:25):
Look. Yeah. Greek, Italian look. Greek is. Oh my
Leah Shutkever (15:28):
God. I’m I’m so Arab as well. I went to Egypt. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (15:32):
And I, yes. You’re a princess. I can. You’re a, you’re a, what’s your name? You’re Cleopatra. Yeah. I see you.
Leah Shutkever (15:39):
I promise you. I have been many places around the world and I’m so racially ambiguous. It’s been the absolute biggest blessing of my entire life. Cause I don’t have to explain myself. I can culturally appropriate most cultures and nobody will say anything. Yeah. But so yeah, for me growing up with my parents, so my mum is GU Ireland. So she’s from south America, but She’s um, Swiss, Italian, Latin American and Egyptian. And my dad is English and Russian. So I’m very across the board. My parents were both moved away from home. Quite young, traveled quite a lot, learned a lot of the world and kinda said to me, look, just keep, just keep the Jewish thing on the DL. Like be
Sevan Matossian (16:25):
Yourself. Yeah. Yeah. They tell, tell
Leah Shutkever (16:28):
You public enemy number one, right?
Sevan Matossian (16:31):
A black, the black kids and the Jewish kids. Get that. It’s it’s, it’s uh, I apologize for having such strong opinions on it. It’s a mistake. Stop telling them that, let people find out on their own, let people find out on their own.
Leah Shutkever (16:43):
You know, my parents were in the business, they run a greeting card company and they have a lot of customers, much, many older customers. And they come in and I’ve heard stories from my parents where an older person will say something like something derogatory about Jewish people. Yeah. And my dad will say, have you ever met a Jewish person? They’re like, oh God, no, never, never, never. And then my dad will just put his hand out to shake their and they’ll be like, no, he’s like, what are you expecting? Did you think I was gonna have horns or something? What, what were you expecting? Can you imagine? And so I just think that there is this like underlying impression that I think hasn’t yet been fully eradicated. Um, but I think if you, if you put your best like foot forward and show yourself as a person, as opposed to a religion or a color or whatever, and people just accept you as the person, the human, the personality that you’re, the world would be so much more beautiful. Come on. Like,
Sevan Matossian (17:46):
I don’t even know. Do you know like, like, um, what, two stories? One yesterday I was in the bathroom. I shouldn’t say this because I, I don’t ever see this in my, in my hood, but I was in the bathroom at the beach and I come out of the bathroom and I see it’s written on the wall. It says, Jews. So why I have no idea, but I, I put it on my Instagram and I go, yeah, if you’re a hot chick, please find my threes sons when they’re 18 and outta me, please Smash that. Yeah, please.
Leah Shutkever (18:15):
No,
Sevan Matossian (18:15):
Yes. Choose. Yes. Especially if you’re a hot chick and find my sons please. And be STD free, clean goodness. Yes. all the J it’s just so crazy. But I like, I could see like why like if, if, oh my God, I I’m trying to think of like, like, um, I, I UN I understand like, why you don’t like, you want, you don’t want your neighbors to like, be like meth heads. Right. Because then they probably steal from you and or heroin. Like, I don’t get what the angst is towards Jews. Like I don’t get, like, I don’t see. I can’t even like pretend to not like Jews. Like what? Like, what am I still us to hang on? Like, what’s the, what’s the, Let me Google it for you. We could see, I, I, I just don’t get it’s for those of you who don’t it’s for those of you who don’t know, uh, do Leah Lea.
Leah Shutkever (19:04):
Oh, Leah, Leah, both. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (19:06):
Um, when I was a little kid, I was fascinated with the Guinness book of world’s record. And at the time it was a little book like this. It was a paperback and it was thick and it had every record in it. Now it’s like a skinny hard back and it just has a few with pictures and it’s really a shame. I wish they would. I, I like the one that has all the rec. Yeah. It’s like that. When I was kid, it was amazing. It was a small paperback that had like 10,000 pages. It was like the Bible, the writing was so small, only little kids could read it. Yeah. I was fascinated by it. And so I stumbled across Leah on Instagram. And I saw that. She said she set, uh, I think 20, 20 records in 20, 20, 27 and
Leah Shutkever (19:45):
20, 20, 20. Uh, I think I did 15 in 20, 20, something like that.
Sevan Matossian (19:50):
Okay. She said a ton of a ton of records. And, um, and I was just fascinated and I was like, oh, maybe I’ll I, I have a blue check mark. Maybe if I DM her, she’ll DM back and like a sucker. She fell for it. And bam
Leah Shutkever (20:02):
She’s here every time. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (20:04):
Every
Leah Shutkever (20:04):
Time
Sevan Matossian (20:05):
I I’m I’m so shadow, bam. My account is worthless except for the fact that I, that I can D that blue check mark will get people on my podcast. People will respond to it. And, and I’m, I’m the same way. Like if you DM me and you have blue check mark, I’m like, oh, who’s this. And it’s always like some volleyball player with like 1200 followers from like Ukraine or Serb. I’m like, how’d you get a blue check mark. Um, can, can we, can we, did your parents meet by the way your mom’s from Guatemala? You said
Leah Shutkever (20:36):
Yes. Um, they met in Israel. They were both, um, out there. Yeah. Yeah. My mom grew up in like a very, um, it’s quite intense over in Guatemala. It’s a very, it’s very, um, it’s a lot of social class type, a lot of standards, a lot of things to live up to and be part of. And my mom is, uh, non follower of rules and, and decided it’s not for her. And she wants to travel. So she left. My dad was pretty much after the same thing. And I met on an OPA. And then
Sevan Matossian (21:16):
What was the word you used? They met on a what?
Leah Shutkever (21:19):
OPA. So it’s like abuts.
Sevan Matossian (21:21):
Okay. And will you tell us what a, what a, what a kobu is for people who don’t know it’s, it’s basically a farm work kids go to, to pretend like they’re old school Jewish people, but really they’re just to meet their mate and.
Leah Shutkever (21:33):
Um, so in, I don’t like to think of my parents like this. So this is like a PG version. Um, so books is basically a community that all a load of people that all lived together. And back in those days, he would all live in like a village, which is all secured. Um, there were 400 people living in this particular books. Um, and everybody has a job. Nobody earns a salary. Everyone works towards a community. So my dad worked on the farms there, and my mom worked in the chicken cos in the kitchens, um, doing laundry and things like that. So it’s a very wholesome way of living. And at the same time, you kinda learn Hebrew. You do all your classes. If you need to convert or whatever it may be. You can also do that at the same time.
Sevan Matossian (22:20):
So it’s, it’s, it’s like church camp basically, but hardcore and, and, and, and you meet, it’s a good place to me to make, uh, of similar, similar values.
Leah Shutkever (22:29):
Yes. I think it’s a great way to just broaden your horizons, just across the board with people from around the world, all seeking out their heritage, religion, something else, other people, and kind of getting out of like that small town mentality, which they may feel like they’re living in wherever they’re. So, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (22:52):
It’s like burning man for Jews. Do you know what burning man is?
Leah Shutkever (22:55):
It wasn’t a cult. It’s not a cult,
Sevan Matossian (22:57):
No burning. Man’s not a cult. It’s a place where, which people go to do drugs in the desert, the United States. Exactly what a cult would say. No, no burning. Man’s a huge party. I just saw these aerial views of these circular farm and Bernie man, Bernie. Man’s kind of like that. It’s a big circular, just drug Fest. Okay. And, um, and does your mom speak Spanish?
Leah Shutkever (23:18):
She does.
Sevan Matossian (23:19):
Oh man. Yeah. And have you done a Kubus?
Leah Shutkever (23:23):
No, I have not.
Sevan Matossian (23:24):
Oh, and how old are you?
Leah Shutkever (23:26):
I’m 31.
Sevan Matossian (23:27):
And you got a, a, a buff, like builder boyfriend with like tattoos and stuff too. I see him like, like in some of the videos. Right.
Leah Shutkever (23:35):
Um, I am single, but that was my ex yes. Thanks for making it awkward.
Sevan Matossian (23:39):
Ah, yes. Very awkward. So your life man, your life really is. Um, man, there’s a lot to unpack here. Um, and
Leah Shutkever (23:51):
Let’s
Sevan Matossian (23:51):
Go, do you have an agent?
Leah Shutkever (23:53):
I don’t have an agent. I manage all my own contracts, all my own jobs, et cetera.
Sevan Matossian (23:59):
Wow, man, why you don’t, you don’t have, well, I’m gonna start in the middle here. You and your boyfriend were together. Was he a big part of your business?
Leah Shutkever (24:09):
Um, he was a big part of my mentality. So he was ex-military he was working as a psychotherapist. So I learned a lot about psychology, about performance, anxiety and what he was good for. Um, as part of my kind of world, is that he knew that I had certain insecurities and he was very good at putting me on track to perform well. So that was where he kind of came into all of that. But ultimately before that relationship and now as I am now, um, I do everything for myself, which is videography photography, anything to do, presenting, eating, performing world records, all the paperwork, admin contracting, everything is me.
Sevan Matossian (24:54):
Um, wow. Is this the same gentleman you met? And is this the same gentleman that showed you the bikini contest in 2013?
Leah Shutkever (25:02):
No. It
Sevan Matossian (25:03):
A different guy
Leah Shutkever (25:05):
To be finding these guy. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (25:09):
Well it makes sense. I mean. Look at you. Like you’re not, you’re not gonna date Humpty Dumpty.
Leah Shutkever (25:15):
It depends. It really depends. Um, no, my in two, my boyfriend then was Abu. I had no idea about at all. I was just this chick. Um, I was overweight as a child. I was very insecure, incredibly insecure. Um, and I didn’t like the way I
Sevan Matossian (25:35):
Look.
Leah Shutkever (25:35):
I still, I think it’s pretty common if I’m honest. Um, I didn’t really like the way that I looked, but I wanted to do something about it. So he suggested to me, um, why don’t you a bit more about nutrition getting body building and you can kind of develop the body and build the body that you want to build as opposed to just eat to gain weight. And I got into body building and I got into weight lifting and it really did change my life because it created a level of discipline, which I knew that I had, but I needed to direct it somewhere. And I learned about, and then the food came back into my life. So I was an overweight kid who loved food. And then I thought I had to take that out of the equation to be skinny and I lost weight, but I wasn’t happy food came back in. My happiness came back and the body started to build. So I got myself to a point where I was happy with what I was doing and able to maintain it fairly easily. And then a competitive kinda crept in to my world. And now I’m just this balancing act like with calories every single week,
Sevan Matossian (26:40):
It, it is a phenomenal space you’re in because food is the ultimate drug. Yes. It, it, obviously every time you stick something in your mouth, um, your hormones do get affected. I mean, it is the controller of our hormones. Um, and what’s the least you ever weighed in one of the podcasts I was watching, you said that you were determined to get to a size zero. What?
Leah Shutkever (27:05):
Well, not me necessarily. It was just, that was the fashion at the time. So in the UK, especially, and I remember this distinctly, there were magazines all over the place. Um, we are talking and it was just advertising Victoria Beckham, um, Kate MAs that really tiny.
Sevan Matossian (27:27):
Oh yeah. Kate MAs was a stick. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Leah Shutkever (27:31):
The wavy looking go face. That was what was fashionable at that time. And me, I was, I was not even built to be that size, so it would never have mattered. How hard a diet, nothing. I would never, ever be what I envisioned myself to be. But I was fascinated with the modeling world, fascinated by super models and fashion.
Sevan Matossian (27:55):
Well, you wanted to be attractive. So people would like you, right? I mean, that’s what I wanted to be. Yeah.
Leah Shutkever (27:59):
I wanted, I wanted to be attractive so I could like myself more. Oh, that was more the thing I, I struggled because I stood out so much the way that I was the family, I was from the, my background, everything was different. My
Sevan Matossian (28:14):
And your, your family’s weird even wait, do you live in London? Did you, were you raised in London?
Leah Shutkever (28:19):
No. I was raised in Birmingham, which is the second city.
Sevan Matossian (28:23):
Okay. I just think of the UK, London, but so were you just the weird family? You got the Jew, Guatemalan Polish, like you guys were like the monsters, like just like you just culturally just were different. Like you ate different food, you guys talk different. You guys were just smarter than everyone, the whole.
Leah Shutkever (28:40):
So I find that I relate the most to, when I speak to like Indian girls and they tell me about their school experience back at the same time as me, it was like, I was the only Indian girl. I was the only person with the different food and the different mom and the weird accent. And I never swore, and I had a level of respect for teachers that other kids didn’t have. Yeah. I could make a, and I could cook from a very young age and I had capabilities and a personality that other people just didn’t. And I think that that was so, um, brought, it was just so looked down on by other kids and I was entirely unable. I found it. You
Sevan Matossian (29:22):
Were UN unable, you were unable
Leah Shutkever (29:25):
UN fanciable. I, I, people just, I just wasn’t in any way. Couldn’t I,
Sevan Matossian (29:32):
It was what’s that mean?
Leah Shutkever (29:33):
It just, it means, um, so you know what fancy name, when you fancy someone, you are like attractive if you’re attractive.
Sevan Matossian (29:39):
Yes, yes.
Leah Shutkever (29:40): Yeah. I was UN UN fanciable, so I just had nothing attractive going for me at that time in that place. And so with all of my friends being attractive people and all of this, I felt very much the outsider. So for me was all about conforming to become, um,
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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