Meet Matt DiGennaro | Editor/Producer, LIVE! From the Beach Bungalow” & Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt DiGennaro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, what’s your definition for success?
When we first started our podcast, “LIVE! From the Beach Bungalow,” in 2019, we kicked it off with a joke about why each of us had decided to take part. I said I was doing it to get famous. My co-host, Nate, said he was doing it for the money. And my other co-host, Pat, said he was doing it to make himself and others happy. I feel like these are three vastly different yet common ways of defining success. Two and a half years later and we’re not rich or famous, but we’re all happy. Ultimately, that’s what has always driven the three of us to create and it’s how we continue to define the success of our show. In a world that was becoming increasingly self-serious and daunting, we set out to create an escape for anyone in need of unplugging or resetting. We believe we succeeded in doing that. But we all contain multitudes as it relates to success. In “real life,” I work as an accountant for TV and film. Pat is a personal trainer. Nate is an engineer. In addition to that, I’ve self-published two poetry books. It’s fine that nobody really read them. The mere accomplishment of finishing the books were a success. For Nate, being a father is an aspect of his life where he finds daily fulfillment and victories. For Pat, building imaginative DnD campaigns for his friends gifts him with moment of triumph. Success is different for everyone and changes all the time. But bringing joy to others, and perpetuating joy in one’s own life, is the highest level of success. There is no monetary value that can be placed on making a person’s life a little bit happier, even for just the length of a podcast episode.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Nothing comes easy. I achieved the level of success I have in my professional career by believing in myself and my goals, working hard, treating people with respect, and never letting setbacks define me. Wanting something isn’t always enough. It sounds generic to say, but it’s true: you have to be hungry for it. You have to really push for it. It’s gotten me where I wanted to be in the non-creative ventures of my adulthood. Creatively, the cost is even higher. There is a lot of gray area when it comes to putting yourself out there in the world creatively. It can’t just be the best. It has to be the best, and trendy, or noticeable, or seen by the right person at the right time. You post the most beautiful photo ever at the wrong time of day and algorithms bury it underneath a sneezing giraffe. That’s why when it comes to our podcast, we’re still hungry and still pushing for it. One of our running jokes on the show is that whenever we do something wrong (ex. our audio quality is poor) we always say “it doesn’t matter, our 20 listeners won’t care.” We don’t only have 20 listeners. But we don’t have 2,000 listeners either. We are still growing, still pushing, still hoping for a break that will take us to the next level of podcast listenership. We don’t delude ourselves into thinking we’re doing anything profound or groundbreaking. For an hour a week, we are three big idiots talking about food or animals or pop culture or whatever we really feel like. But we do believe that our show (and in a sense our “performance” on the show) is a legitimate form of artistic expression. And we are proud of it all.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One of the best things that ever happened to me was putting down roots in Atlanta. The city is so full of life. It’s so bizarre, so flavorful, so bursting with color and energy and art. As long as the weather isn’t surface-of-the-sun heat, a walk along the belt-line to Piedmont Park is on the schedule for Saturday morning. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll catch a musician posted up with giant speakers, performing for the park-goers on the roof of his van. Grab a bite to eat on the deck at Henry’s on the corner of 10th and Juniper. Be sure to see the Atlanta Botanical Gardens before heading back for some rest. Of course, you can’t miss some of the great coffee shops Atlanta has to offer. I like to get a bite at Press and Grind in Virginia Highlands, walk down the street to browse Virginia Highland books, and go next door to PERC for one of their unique lattes. On a nice day, you can walk through the neighborhoods there and admire the giant, gorgeous homes. If my guest is lucky enough, there will be an art festival happening somewhere in the city. Otherwise, there is always a concert or comedy show in town and the venues in Atlanta are top-notch. Everywhere you look, the city is overflowing with life.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
On behalf of the Bungalow Boiz, I would like to thank those who listen to our show every week. Those listeners include our loved ones, who encourage us to be our silly, unusual, flawed selves.

Website: BeachBungalowLive.com

Instagram: @livefromthebeachbungalow

Other: Anyone interested in a copy of my poetry book can find a link at www.MattDiGennaro.com