From Dan: While it was not part of the plan, this episode about having a family while working in the creative world is coming out a few days before Father’s Day (in 2025, or whatever stardate equivalent if you are reading this from some ancient looking device after the collapse of humanity... which seems right around the corner).

Being a father was not something I wanted for myself, nor did I have it as a square on my life bingo card. If I had gone until today and not been one, I assume I would have been fine, but honestly, I cannot imagine my life without the two creatures who grew up to be fine people and my best friends.

I did it all while writing and publishing comics, organizing conventions, and just doing things that were satisfying me on both a personal and professional level. I think had I not been writing, I would have found it challenging to be happy as a dad, and maybe I would have been one of those guys yelling at the ref during youth hockey.

Oh, yeah, wait, I was one of those guys.

Anyway, this is my favorite episode because it addresses topics that are important to me. It also marks a turning point in my relationship with my co-host and producer, Emily Parent. You might notice I'm starting to treat her with something like kindness. Every week I thank Emily for creating this platform. I hope you find something useful in this, and all, of the episodes and I would love your comments and feedback.

Other stuff:

Dan and Emily LIVE, a free live podcast recording, is happening in San Jose on June 26th at the Art Boutiki. Come have a beer, bring some questions for Dan and Emily, and celebrate the fact that for the time being we are here on earth making art together. Check out ArtBoutiki.com for more info!

Also we have an instagram: @unexpectedmentorpod -- follow here to see us goof around talk about art.

Also check out The Unexpected Mentor Patreon to support this show and more things like it.

Other links:

• The Unexpected Mentor official website
• The Art Boutiki official website
• Me on Instagram: @indie.sweetheart.emily
• The Art Boutiki's Instagram: @artboutiki

BYE SEE YOU NEXT WEEK WE LOVE YOU (emily typed this part)

Hi! Emily here! A few months after this episode was recorded, tax season came around and I had to file my taxes for the first time as a person who had made real money from her creative business. I was so freaked out about doing something wrong that I big-brain-smartly waited until the literal day before the filing deadline to even start. Dan, being the dad-type that he is, saw my obvious panic and invited me to come sit at his venue while I filled out the tax paperwork. He promised that he would do his best to help me out if I got stuck or confused. So Dan and I hung out all afternoon on that overcast Monday, and he went about his normal weekday tasks in the music hall while I sat in the corner and did my honest best not to commit any tax related crimes. We spent about four hours that day in a focused silence sparsely interrupted by my calling out to ask him whether or not something counted as a write off. No matter what he was in the middle of, he always paused it to come help.

When I listen back to this episode now, it's super apparent to me that Dan was coming at this conversation with the same desire to help -- both me, in that moment, and you listening now. He and I both want to live in a world where people can be creative and make a living while doing it. This episode is our way of trying to make that world a little more possible. We sat down at the mics and he told me everything he could think of about how to be my own creative business in hopes that I might be able to benefit from his hard-won wisdom.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for tuning in and chatting with us on Instagram and generally being very nice to us. It's been the most fun thing giving this podcast over to you guys after months of it just floating in the timeless ethereal space that exists between my and Dan's microphones.

And on the topic of business, here's the things I like to remind you:

We're getting scarily close to hitting our first 1k followers on instagram @unexpectedmentorpod !! I think once we hit that number I'll make a little t-shirt to celebrate. I think I'll make it look really bad, like a child drew it, because I know Dan is gonna look at it and say "No one is going to buy this" and then I'll have the chance to prove him wrong.

Also if you'd like to help make my taxes next year really scary consider supporting us on The Unexpected Mentor Patreon.

Also also, Dan and I are hosting a LIVE PODCAST EVENT in like 3 weeks but I'll tell you about that later I'm tired of typing.

Other links:

• The Unexpected Mentor official website
• The Art Boutiki official website
• Me on Instagram: @indie.sweetheart.emily
• The Art Boutiki's Instagram: @artboutiki

Bye I love you happy Thursday. Next week is Dan's favorite episode ever you definitely are going to want to hear it.

Hi from Dan Vado... Listening to this episode the night before its release, what stands out to me is that I was surprised by how much Emily had remembered from the previous weeks of work. It gave me the feeling that there was something here worth listening to. You'll hear Emily recite parts of what I call my "origin story" and even now I can hear how much she seemed to care about the lessons of my journey. I remember that this got me feeling for maybe the first time that there was something to this podcasting thing.

Tracing my path from comic book store to comic book publisher to finally music venue owner, mistakes are covered, successes are highlighted, and advice is offered to people who are probably not listening.

(Hi from Emily... It's me. I'm people. I most definitely wasn't listening hard enough at the time. Luckily, I made up for it relistening to the conversation multiple times over.)

Episode five of The Unexpected Mentor -- Lessons from SLG Publishing.

BTW -- we have an instagram: @unexpectedmentorpod where we've as of late been talking about some of SLG's greatest hits.

Also check out The Unexpected Mentor Patreon. As we speak I'm designing a cool patron-exclusive t-shirt, and a few other surprises are coming into view on the horizon.

Other links:

• The Unexpected Mentor official website
• The Art Boutiki official website
• Me on Instagram: @indie.sweetheart.emily
• The Art Boutiki's Instagram: @artboutiki

Bye I love you happy Thursday see you next week for some SERIOUS BUSINESS talk.

Em here! I called Dan this morning to tell him how nervous I was about this episode because we attempt to tackle so much in this short 30 minutes. We move from the idea of having a creative process to applying that process toward writing about identity to the use of identity as a pathway to creative genuineness... and all of the ways that telling a "genuine story" has shown up as a guiding light through Dan's career with SLG. Dan has a personal credo on the value of making art that one NEEDS to make as opposed to making stuff you want to make or think you should make, and that serves as a major undertone for a lot of these early episodes.

One big piece of SLG History you'll hear us referencing is Jhonen Vasquez's Johnny the Homocidal Maniac, which attracted a fair bit of attention when Dan was publishing it in the 90s. (Or so I've been told -- I was a baby at the time so my knowledge of alternative comics was somewhat limited.) I'll add that to the links below if you want to check it out.

BTW -- we have an instagram: @unexpectedmentorpod where I post little video clips of our favorite episodes bits.

Also check out The Unexpected Mentor Patreon. We're putting together a little list of nice things we can do for patrons, so if there's something you want to see or have (t-shirts, full uncut episodes, live recordings, etc) let us know on Insta.

Other links:

• The Unexpected Mentor official website
• The Art Boutiki official website
• Me on Instagram: @indie.sweetheart.emily
• The Art Boutiki's Instagram: @artboutiki
• Mentioned in this episode: Johnny the Homocidal Maniac

Okay thanks see you again soon :)

Hiya! Emily again. Episode three. Fear of screwing up.

Back in November when we recorded these first few episodes, I was so excited about the vision for this project that I would often go home and edit our long conversations down to a rough-cut episode just a day or two after recording. It became a ritual for Dan and I to sit around a laptop and listen to it together the next time we met and discuss (or, more often, vehemently disagree about) what was interesting and what needed to be cut. When we listened to this episode I remember he gave me a really skeptical look and said "Do you really think this is going to resonate with anyone?" -- In response to which I INSISTED that this episode was the best one yet.

I still believe it is. Let me know what you think.

BTW -- if you're not following us on Instagram, check us out: @unexpectedmentorpod (I mostly just post silly little video clips of me and Dan arguing)

If you like this thing and you want to see more things like it, join us on The Unexpected Mentor Patreon. Your support is immensely appreciated and we love you.

Here's a few other links:

• The Unexpected Mentor official website
• The Art Boutiki official website
• Me on Instagram: @indie.sweetheart.emily
• The Art Boutiki's Instagram: @artboutiki

That's all. Hope you love it. Hope you go make something cool. Hope we can all get a little braver and push through how scary it is to make that thing we NEED to make.

Love you. See you next Thursday.

Dan Vado here, welcome to the second episode of The Unexpected Mentor. I’m assuming you are here because you listened to and found something interesting in the first episode. As Emily mentioned in the previous episode notes, I was (at the time of this recording) involved mainly because I was trading my time for some help with my music venue's social media. I discovered that deep inside the person I was doing my best to make go away was an extraordinarily talented and smart young person whom I now have the privilege of working with and stealing the spotlight from where I can.

Mentorship is weird; I didn’t even realize it’s what I was doing, so the title here rings true. Since the first episode's release, I have heard from many people who told me that I had helped them in some way in their creative or professional lives.

I hope you get something from this as much as I have gained from being part of it.

Here's some links:

• The Unexpected Mentor Official Website
• Follow Us on Instagram
• Support Us on Patreon
• Emily's infamous book: Butterfly Net: Poems
• The Art Boutiki Music Hall and Comic Shop in San Jose

Produced and edited by Emily Parent. Music by Dillon Vado. Episodes post every Thursday.

Emily here. Truly, honestly, thanks for tuning in. This podcast means a lot to us.

This episode was our proof of concept. Neither of us were convinced at the time of recording this that the other party would have anything of value to say. At the time, I think Dan was just hoping to get some free social media consultation and I was certainly hoping to bring more exposure to my newly published book. It's not until somewhere in the middle of this first episode that we stop and listen to each other and realize that the other might have something interesting to offer.

The conversation in this episode was recorded in November 2024. Stay tuned for the next few weeks and you might find yourself inspired, like I was, to be a little more honest in your creative endeavors -- and in your overall life.

Love you. Here's some links.

• The Unexpected Mentor Official Website
• Follow Us on Instagram
• Support Us on Patreon
• Read for yourself that book we pick apart: Butterfly Net: Poems
• The Art Boutiki Music Hall and Comic Shop in San Jose

Produced and edited by Emily Parent. Music by Dillon Vado. Wise advice by Dan Vado. :) Episodes post every Thursday.

On The Unexpected Mentor, unlikely friends Dan Vado and Emily Parent attempt to sort out the truth of what it means to live – and attempt to make a living – as an authentic, independent artist.