Conversations with Grant and Carolyn Buckner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Grant and Carolyn Buckner.

Hi Grant and Carolyn; so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We met right before Christmas in 2016. Grant was two years out of school at NC State, and Carolyn was a recent graduate of UNC. We met through some mutual friends at the St. Nicholas European Christmas Market downtown, but we coincidentally were working at the same investment bank in RTP at the time, on the same floor even! Our group went to Flying Saucer Draught Emporium after, and we hit it off. Grant asked for Carolyn’s number before she left, and we went on our first several dates over the next couple of weeks. 10 months later, Grant proposed at Flying Saucer, and they were married in February 2018. Since then, we’ve both moved on from the bank, bought a house, and had two beautiful boys filling our lives with joy. Our lives are so busy between work and two kids that Grant pitched starting a podcast as a good way for us to have some devoted time to hang out and have a fun discussions regularly. We decided on a relationship advice podcast because of how often we individually get asked for relationship advice and because we have learned, implemented, and continued to learn healthy practices for relationships, romantic and otherwise. We’re certainly not professionals, but we enjoy getting feedback that we have helped listeners work through something.

You wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
We started with a weekly upload schedule and maintained that for about 15 episodes before that became untenable. With CB returning to work after maternity leave and getting used to having two kids under three, we could barely maintain our sanity, let alone a weekly podcast schedule. So we decided to space the episodes out further, which has been helpful and upsetting. It’s hard to admit you can’t keep up with a schedule you set, but it’s important to acknowledge limitations and be aware that business comes and goes; things will sometimes feel relaxed.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might need to become more familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I (Grant) am a “creative,” as much as I don’t love that term for the stigma I feel comes along with it. But the type of things I produce varies widely enough that it’s hard to categorize them under another banner. I create digital art, everything from portraits for individual clients to logos for small businesses. I also create many physical pieces in the form of home renovation and physical media artwork. I most recently worked as a marketing manager, doing a lot of photography and copywriting. Still, one of the most important lessons I learned from the podcast was using consistent and attractive branding. I designed our logo for “Break Up Already!” and the corresponding images for merchandise and social platforms. Our logo is one of the things I’m most consistently proud of regarding my work, as silly as that may sound. It’s just one image, but it perfectly encapsulates the mood and energy I wanted for the show, along with just being something I enjoy looking at. I took a lot of inspiration from an old Romantic Comedy movie poster starring Dick Van Dyke. Beyond the branding, I enjoyed returning to audio production after all these years. I was a content contributor for “Eye on the Triangle” at WKNC at NC State, and I missed the format.

How do you define success?
I see success as hitting a goal you set out to achieve, so it’s important to set reasonable goals. It’s great to try and stretch yourself, but if you consistently set goals you can’t reach, you’ll burn yourself out before you succeed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shows.acast.com/breakupalready
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/breakupalreadypodcast
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakupalreadypod
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@breakupalreadypodcast

Image Credits
The artwork is by Grant Buckner