Post-Anniversary Episode
Off Script: One Year of Talentless
with Desiree Goldey & Ashley King
About This Episode
One year of Talentless. Thirty-seven episodes. Two hosts who somehow still like each other. And a whole lot of people who tuned in along the way — thank you.
For our post-anniversary episode, Des and Ashley did the thing they've been avoiding for a year: they turned the mic on themselves. No guest. No script. No agenda beyond "let's actually let people meet us."
If you've been listening for the strategy, the receipts, the guest interviews — welcome to the softer side. This one's about:
- The two TV characters that make up Desiree (spoiler: they're both named Olivia)
- Why Ashley is a Shrek pretending to be a Ted Lasso
- Their most awkward hiring manager stories (yes, one involved the words "what about her breasts?")
- The vendor-hire nightmare that made national news
- Why Desiree wanted to write murder novels on a dog farm
- Ashley's dream of bagging groceries at Stanton's (still on the table)
- The bro culture of HR podcasting and why we started this in the first place
- Ashley's brother-in-law Brian, and why we do this work
It's honest. It's a little messy. It's the two of us at our most us.
Thank you for a year of showing up. Here's to year two.
Episode Transcript
Full conversation — searchable and screen-reader friendly
Ashley: Welcome to the Talentless Podcast. It's been one year and Desiree has finally let me open. I'm just kidding, it petrifies me. Plus, she's absolutely excellent at it because she has a full script ready to roll and I have nothing.
Desiree: Thirty-seven episodes in, folks, and for those who have been along this crazy ride with us — thank you so much. If you're new, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Today you're gonna learn a little bit more about us as people, which is scary, and not all our crazy ideas about recruiting. We're going to be interviewing each other.
Ashley: What TV character do you feel describes you the most? Like if someone was like, give me the ten-second version of you — who is that character?
Desiree: I'm two Olivias. I'm a mix of Olivia Benson from Law and Order SVU and Olivia Pope from Scandal. Olivia Pope is kind of hard-ass — she's always three steps in front of everybody else, always scheming. Olivia Benson has a heart and really cares about people, but she's still very blunt about her delivery. Mix those two and you get me.
Ashley: As a person, I feel like I'm a Shrek. I feel like I'm very "get off my swamp" energy. But I think in real life, at least what I get told the most, is Ted Lasso. So many people are like, you remind me so much of Ted Lasso. He's just very positive almost to a fault, but in a way that is hopeful. In my head I want to be a cold, multi-layered onion. But in real life I'm Ted flipping Lasso with Golden Retriever energy who's like, come over here and I'll never leave you alone ever again.