Today's episode is one of my all-time favorites and one that sort of kick-started a certain level of confidence and comfort for me as an interviewer.

Salmasa Kayla is the subject of the show and this was originally published on March 15th, 2017.

I'm re-airing the episode because I'm actually on vacation visiting my brother in Italy,

who is stationed here in the U.S. Army. I'll be back in the U.S. next week with all new episodes.

But Sal really made this interview easy for me. And I learned from many of you through the

feedback that both Sal and I received that hearing

surf personalities talk about life is far more interesting than hearing them just talk about

surfing. These moments with Sal gave me confidence to push into moments that presented

themselves with Britt Merrick. It helped me lean into moments of

vulnerability later with Maurice Cole and Derek Hind. Just discussing everything from losing a

dog to struggling with depression, going through divorce, just really kind of common human

experiences.

And when I started doing this podcast back in 2013, I was always steering conversations back

towards surf-centric talk because that's what I thought I was supposed to do.

It was a surf podcast, and I just kind of felt the need to make it very surfy.

But I remember having an epiphany through this conversation specifically with Sal.

That was crystal clear to me and that it was almost instantaneously confirmed once I published it by feedback from you listeners, that this human interest focus seems to

resonate in a much more meaningful way. And I'll be honest, it's kind of where I'm most comfortable

having the conversations. So I'm excited to share this episode with those of you who weren't

listening to the show back in 2017. And even if you were,

maybe this is worth, I think it is worth a re-listen. So anyways, before I get to Sal,

today's episode is brought to you by our brand new sponsor, Vayer Watches.

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