We had the good fortune of connecting with Charles Odegaard-Hickmott and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Charles, what’s the most important lesson your business/career has taught you?
It’s a bit cliché, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I’m a big believer in collecting a lot of different skills, so you don’t have to depend on a lot of different people to get your project off the ground. And once it is off and running, you can bring in more people to help with those aspects that you don’t neccesarily want to deal with. But you’ll always have those skills to be able to recreate that aspect, or complete that task, later on if need be. Working in the restaurant industry is a lot like that. You start at the bottom and learn how everything works. As you move up in the restaurant, you can get other people to do those things, but you can always help out if necessary. The chef always knows how to do the dishes.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In 2019 I started a podcast with my friend and bandmate, Joshua Metz; probably a little too late to catch the early podcast wave, but I caught the bug. We continued to make that podcast (Everything and Nothing) for more than 4 years, in various forms. What started as two dudes and one mic passed back and forth evolved into a Zoom podcast, and then a live stage show, that we also livestreamed.
During the pandemic, I watched a lot of Twitch , and like a lot of people I decided to try my hand at livestreaming. I wasn’t totally successful, but it led me to marry those two concepts in my mind, podcast and livestreamed video, and I spent a couple of years learning about photography, videography, and basic lighting, trying to achieve a video podcast that looked really good.
In 2022, a mutual friend told me that a local business owner wanted to start a podcast, so I reached out, and together we assembled what would become GFY! Studios. Having that space, and more resources, allowed me to experiment with live camera switching, using multiple cameras, experimenting with and fine tuning lighting, and live producing and engineering a podcast.
I’m extremely proud of the studio and how our podcast looks. Not many people have the kind of video podcast production setup that we were able to put together.
And my favorite part is that the studio was never intended for just one project. I occasionally host my own podcast in the studio, as well as film YouTube videos, livestream, host game nights, and more. Its intended as a community studio. I want to be able to offer that space to people with little to no budget, to record their ideas and develop their projects, without having to stress about the technical side. And they can either take that raw video and audio, or I can edit it for them, so they have a polished finished project to take home.

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?
There are a lot of good places to eat in the Portland Metro area. Working with a cook, we tend to go eat a lot of good food. Wu-Ron’s ramen is immaculate, I reccommend it a lot. Teo bun Bo Hue or Tan Tan Delicatessen for pho, Fry Baby for fried chicken, Coquine market for cookies. I’m obligated to say Nonavo pizza in Vancouver, but even if I wasn’t I think it’s excellent. If you want good late night pizza by the slice, I heartily reccommend Baby Doll in Portland, or Hungry Sasquatch in Vancouver.
As far as places to visit, the Columbia Gorge has some of the most amazing, breathtaking scenery, and it’s less than an hour drive from Portland. Pro tip; all the tourists go to Multnomah falls, and not without reason, but check out Wahkeena falls, Wachlella Falls, Latourelle falls (if its open) instead. Much less crowded.
If you’re new to the Portland area, go see Edgefield at least once, or if you’re on the west side, go to Grand Lodge. These are old building restored as magnificent hotels. Edgefield hosts great concerts as well.
Portland has lots of great bars, like The Pharmacy, Paymaster lounge, Roadside Attraction, The Alibi. All great in their own ways. If you don’t want to drink, head to Rimsky-Korsakoffee House, a late night, all ages coffee and dessert spot with excellent vibes.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents, Kristin and Jeff, deserve a lot of recognition for being very supportive of my creative endeavors. And my grandparents for financial support. A big shout out to Joey, who wanted to start a podcast, so he took a chance on me as a producer and engineer, and built a studio in the basement underneath his pizza shop. Joshua Metz for encouraging me and pushing me. My friend Tyler Barron for encouragement, and for introducing me to Twitch, which led me down the rabbit hole to where I am now. And a bunch of people and channels on YouTube and Twitch for constantly inspiring me; Will Neff, GrainyDays, Vuhlandes, Alex Pettitt, Cyr, Phinn, and more that I won’t list in the interest of brevity.

Website: https://gfystudios.carrd.co

Instagram: @charliehickmott @gfy.studios

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-odegaard-hickmott-5333068a

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CharlieHickmott https://www.youtube.com/@authenticonlyshow https://www.youtube.com/@GFYStudios1

Image Credits
Charlie Hickmott, Joey Chmiko, Mario De Leon, Sasha Mereu,

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