Podcaster & Coach Alex Manzi: Becoming Your Best Self & Daring to Dream

"I didn't know what I wanted to and not until very recently did I
discover that. I've had lots of different career paths but I still
managed to get myself into some really good positions in terms of
work. It's not the end of the world if you don't know what you want
to do until you're 30, 35, 40 or whatever. That's just part of
life. You've just got to roll with it."  My guest this episode
is Podcaster, Coach and Social Media Producer Alex Manzi. Born and
bred in London, Alex says he “never got on with” with school and
found greater purpose working at his Uncle’s delicatessen at the
weekends.  It wasn’t a surprise, then, that Alex decided to
forgo University in favour of hitting the ground running in the
workplace. From working in a pasta factory to delivery driving, he
spent his first year as a jack-of-all-trades before working at a
factory for almost three years.  While he considers this a
dark and directionless time, it was also when he created his Music
Blog 'We Are SME' and Club Night called Wanderlust. By day, he was
stretching canvases onto their frames and by night he was furiously
writing about his favourite new musicians. Eventually, he landed
his first job in Media at an Events and Marketing firm, before
embarking on a career in Advertising.  In 2014, he became BBC
Radio 1Xtra’s Social Media Producer, where he spent four and a half
years tweeting and Instagramming about music. At a point, however,
he couldn’t help but feel something was missing. He stooped back
into that familiar dark place, finding solace in motivational
podcasts and books. This motivated him to create his very own
podcast ‘Dreamer’s Disease’ - a podcast dedicated to telling the
inspirational stories of others, in a bid to inspire himself and
his audience.  Almost 80,000 plays later and after four years
at 1Xtra, Alex has now taken a leap to pursue his passion
full-time, to see where Dreamer’s Disease can take him. I had the
pleasure of working with Alex at the BBC and was so impressed when
he started his own podcast on the side. Seeing him go ahead and
pursue his dreams stoked a fire inside me, and served as an
inspiration to get my podcast off the ground. I absolutely love how
honest and candid Alex is when talking about some of life's more
difficult subjects.  In this relatable chat, Alex talks about
how he felt lost for most of his twenties, unsure of what he really
wanted to do. He explains how his decision to reject the usual path
of university in favour of working has served him in the long run,
and how feeling directionless has been the cause of some of his
darkest moments. Alex also explains how he found purpose and
re-discovered himself, to now be in a position to help others do
the same with his Podcast Dreamer's Disease and new Coaching
Business.  **Follow me:** Twitter:
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[@IAmAlexManzi](https://twitter.com/IAmAlexManzi) **Instagram:**
[@iamalexmanzi](https://www.instagram.com/iamalexmanzi/)
**Facebook:**
[@iamalexmanzi](https://www.facebook.com/iamalexmanzi/) **Follow
Dreamer's Disease**
**Twitter: **[@DreamersPod](https://twitter.com/DreamersPod)
**Instagram: **[@the_dreamersdisease](https://www.instagram.com/the_dreamersdisease/)