If you were to ask a year ago, I would've said by day, Anna works 9-5 as a finance manager, and by night, she's LateNightAnna. But since then, she is all in on LateNightAnna, cooking, creating and building a food content brand that started with a viral Basque cheesecake during Covid.

In this episode, I sit down with Anna to talk about her journey from competing in MasterChef as a teenager, to starting a home baking business from scratch, to documenting her life in her 30s through food, travel and content creation. We chat about how she balanced a corporate career with creative passion, growing up Chinese-Australian in Sydney, performing on stages from singing competitions to national finals, and what it really takes to stay consistent when you’re building something on the side.

If you've ever thought about starting a side hustle, chasing a creative dream, or just love food content, this one's for you.

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Anna's Links

Youtube Channel

https://www.instagram.com/latenightannaa

https://www.tiktok.com/@late.night.anna

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Items mentioned

Noodle bowl: https://www.amazon.com.au/Sets-Containers-Microwavable-Restaurants-Self-Adhesive/dp/B0DPJVT1NW/

What we made: https://bylatenightanna.com/fire-carbonara-instant-noodles/

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Need a photobooth? Reach out to SonofaBooth

Want to get in touch? Send us an email at ⁠⁠ricenmicspodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

Follow us on our socials: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/ricenmicspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: aKu - Love Shine | aKu - The Final Blow

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Chapters

0:00 Intro

2:07 Background, corporate life

6:42 Anna's singing journey, different languages

10:57 The basque cheesecake, covid business

17:26 How do you make a living?

21:54 Masterchef appearance

24:18 Why food content?

26:52 Mukbang, our relationship with food

31:37 Bao bae, starting a fast food brand

35:18 Growing up with food, inspiration

39:10 How did you learn to cook?

41:24 When was enough income to replace the corporate gig?

45:12 More followers =/= More income

49:27 Pivoting to long form content

51:43 Culinary Class Wars dishes

56:29 Travel content?

59:42 What is 'latenightanna'?

1:02:04 Son of a Booth ad

1:03:34 Cooking starts

1:06:53 Light vs dark soy sauce

1:12:58 Ingredient you can't live without

1:20:56 Are instant noodles your guilty pleasure food/personality?

1:23:47 Go to dish to impress someone

1:26:47 Drawing on cups

1:29:33 Advice for other content creators

1:37:14 Outro

Weddings hit different when it’s your close friends, and even more when you’re part of the chaos behind the scenes.

We sit down with Nathan & Annette to break down their wedding day - the planning, the emotions, the cultural expectations, family dynamics… and the moments that nearly didn’t go to plan.

I also reveal a big announcement of my own...

We chat through everything from proposals and adrenaline, to budgets, vendors, tea ceremonies, first dances, and what it actually feels like once the day is over and married life begins.

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Corey's mum's catering: msbunmee

Nathan's wedding venue: Highline

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Want to get in touch? Send us an email at ⁠⁠ricenmicspodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

Follow us on our socials: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/ricenmicspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: aKu - Love Shine | aKu - The Final Blow

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0:00 Intro

3:11 Describe the wedding in one word

4:48 Tung's big announcement

9:07 Which knee to get on when proposing, adrenaline

14:50 Business class is crazy, having kids

17:14 How did Tung design the ring, new drip, wedding season

21:15 Picking the wedding venue

25:20 Parental input for the wedding, food choices, styling

30:54 The tea ceremony, Nathan's big reveal

37:03 Getting all the vendors, Tung becoming MC

40:52 What almost went wrong? Saving money

45:26 Consider being a celebrant

47:56 Feelings leading up to the wedding

50:23 Planning, parents inviting friends

54:29 The deck of cards

57:07 Budget, mid, high end venues, food options

1:00:28 Vendors for the wedding

1:04:58 Picking the first dance song, highlights

1:12:39 Would you change anything?

1:18:22 Planning Tung's wedding

1:20:24 How it feels to be married

1:23:14 Nerves, advice for future grooms/brides

1:26:54 BUDGET

1:29:12 Start planning

1:33:36 The photoshoot, potential destination wedding

1:39:05 Questions from viewers, engagement watches

1:42:54 Outro

Note: There will be video soon, working through some tech issues. Otherwise YouTube is where you can find it for now!

We’ve hit that stage of life where everyone’s either getting engaged, married, planning a Japan trip, or trying to buy a house. And somewhere in that chaos, the words “mortgage broker” keep popping up, but what do they actually do? Are they just a fancy search engine for home loans?

In this episode, Michael Nguyen joins us to break down the world of mortgage broking, answer the questions most first-home buyers are too scared to ask, and share what it’s really like working in the industry. Whether you’re buying soon or just curious, this one clears up a lot.

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Michael's email: michael@professionalhomeloans.com.au

https://www.professionalhomeloans.com.au/

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Want to get in touch? Send us an email at ⁠⁠ricenmicspodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠

Follow us on our socials: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/ricenmicspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: aKu - Love Shine | aKu - The Final Blow

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0:00 Intro

3:04 Inspiring kids with Dai Le

5:33 Growing up, selective schooling PTSD

14:00 TAFE, uni offers and experience

20:34 Becoming an Apprentice Broker

23:28 How do brokers get paid? The cutthroat side

28:10 Cut out the broker and save?

31:18 Struggling as an apprentice, abusing free gym trials

36:38 Getting from start to finish for a loan, compromising

40:02 Where to buy IPs

45:32 Can brokers get loans for themselves? Apprentice life

52:48 Be the dumbest guy in the room

55:26 Teaching other colleagues

57:23 Apprentice vs now

58:20 The self employment struggle

1:02:24 Fluctuating income, the first deal ever

1:04:56 Bad vs good broker

1:06:33 Why not go for the cheapest rate?

1:10:51 5% deposit scheme

1:13:38 Biggest first home buyer mistakes

1:18:02 Emotions of buying a place

1:22:24 Toughest deal

1:25:08 How afterpay/credit card churning affects home loans

1:27:17 Advice for aspiring brokers

1:31:11 Outro