Process The Podcast

"My parents owned a five star luxury hotel that they built when I was ten... it formed me in a way that I cannot even comprehend." — Arielle Thomas For over 140 episodes, Arielle's been the one asking the questions. This week, she turned the mic on herself. With so many new listeners joining after the Merit episode went viral, it felt like time to rewind the tape, who she actually is, how Process the Podcast came to exist, and where her seven-figure production company, Cinema Thom, stands today. From growing up behind the scenes of her parents' five-star hotel, to a teenage sales job at Scanlan Theodore, to acting school in New York, to directing a Kmart TikTok vertical that helped drive enormous value for shareholders. This is the full, unfiltered walk through everything that built the person behind Process. It's personal, it's honest, and it's the episode to send anyone who's ever asked, "wait, how did you get into this?" INSIDE THE EPISODE: 00:00 — Process the Podcast and Arielle's Origin Story 01:15 — Growing Up in Hotels: The Lyall 03:53 — Learning the Value of a Dollar 05:32 — Moving to New York for Acting School 06:12 — Coming Home & Arielle's Acting Career 08:05 — Behind the Camera With Meat and Potatoes 12:00 — Working with Kmart 16:13 — The TikTok Era 20:30 — Global Expansion: Anko Philippines 20:57 — How Process the Podcast Came to Be 24:00 — Process Today 30:15 — Cinema Thom Today 33:00 — What's Next? Enjoyed this Episode? Join our Community! Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram, @arielle.thomas Us, on Instagram, @processthepodcast Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast New here? We're now on YouTube with a companion panel alongside the video, worth a watch if you're a visual person! Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one! This episode references past projects (Meat and Potatoes, Deadline Gallipoli) discussed for personal/educational commentary. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

"It's an object of obsession about one woman... you genuinely get an intimacy that you cannot find anywhere else." — Grace O'Neill & Paulina Paige Grace O'Neill and Paulina Paige have built magazines and campaigns for some of the biggest names in fashion media. But this time, they threw out every rule they knew and started from zero with no guardrails, no existing audience, no safety net. The result is Persona: a biannual, single-subject magazine that reads more like a coffee table book than a glossy, with its debut issue built entirely around Bella Freud. In this exclusive interview, Grace and Paulina walk through exactly how Persona came together, the cold email that convinced Bella Freud to say yes, the unpublished 90s photo archive they talked a photographer into handing over, getting the rights to a Lucian Freud portrait, and the real numbers behind launching a $75 magazine with zero followers. It's a rare, honest look at what it actually takes to build a print product from scratch in 2026 - the creative risk-taking, the budget conversations, and the trust it takes to hand a stylist "a little kernel of an idea" and let them run the thing. INSIDE THE EPISODE: 00:00 — Intro: Grace & Paulina The Lead-Up to Persona 05:27 — From Massive Infrastructure to Doing It All Themselves 07:41 — What They Knew Going In 14:26 — What If a Magazine Had No Rules? 16:47 — Deciding on Bella Freud 18:52 — The Cold Email That Got Bella Freud on Board 22:08 — The Moment They Knew It Was Really Happening 22:57 — Building the Book Around What They Had 31:35 — Is It Really an Australian Magazine? 34:16 — Talking Budgets: Landing Dior & Reframing Beauty With Mecca 42:14 — What It Actually Takes to Print 44:18 — Production vs. Printing 48:23 — The Launch Gamble 53:32 — How Much Room Does This Take Up in Your Life? 58:24 — Partnership 1:00:29 — Where the Creative Stimulus Comes From 1:04:00 — Second Issue? 1:08:32 — Where to Find Them 1:10:15 — Persona Launch Party Take a look at Persona: Persona Magazine: www.persona-magazine.com Instagram @thepersonamagazine Connect with our Guests: Grace O'Neill on Instagram: @grceoneill Paulina Ortega on Instagram: @paulinapaige Enjoyed this Episode? Join our Community! Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram, @arielle.thomas Us, on Instagram, @processthepodcast Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one! This episode includes references to third-party archival imagery and licensed material (including works connected to the Lucian Freud estate) discussed for educational commentary. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

"The beauty of great satire is you blur the line of whether or not something is true or not true."- Claudia Bursill Before she was Miss Double Bay, Claudia Bursill was just a uni student with a Woolworths review that spiralled into a national news story. Today, that same anonymous meme account is her literal resume; it's how she landed a job at the Betoota Advocate, and now leads talent and business development at its sister agency, Leverage. In this episode, Claudia breaks down the real mechanics behind building a satire brand: why great comedy always "punches up," never down, how she decided to reveal her identity after years behind the account, the brand deals she's turned into some of her most-shared content, and why she thinks a running joke can build more trust than a perfectly polished post ever could. INSIDE THE EPISODE: 00:00 — Intro: Claudia Bursill A.K.A Miss Double Bay 01:30 — The 'Miss Double Bay' Persona & Origin Story 02:33 — Origin Story: The Woolworths Avocado Review 06:25 — The Identity Reveal 10:57 — Miss Double Bay (MDB) & Job Opportunities 13:01 — Why Authenticity Beats the Traditional Influencer Brief 14:59 — From Meme Account to Writer to Business Development 16:12 — The Future of the Creator Economy 17:23 — A Day in the Life at Leverage 20:16 — What Is Satire, Really? 20:54 — The Golden Rule: Always Punch Up 24:41 — Turning a Moment Into Content 30:12 — Climbing & Fighting the Cringe Mountain 33:41 — Riding a Trend the Right Way 40:32 — Your Relationship With Your Phone 46:12 — PNLs in Media 48:18 — Trivia Night! 52:17 — Closing & Where to Find Her TRIVIA NIGHT TICKETS! Get it here Connect with our Guest: Miss Double Bay on Instagram: @missdoublebay Claudia Bursill on Instagram: @claudiabursill The Betoota Advocate: @betootaadvocate Enjoyed this Episode? Join our Community! Your host, Arielle Thomas on Instagram, ⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ Us, on Instagram, ⁠@processthepodcast Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one! This episode includes third-party references (news coverage, satire case studies) used for educational commentary. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Aila Morin is the founding Chief Marketing Officer of Merit Beauty, one of the fastest-growing brands in the beauty industry. On this episode of Process, host Arielle Thomas sits down with Aila for a rare, in-depth conversation about brand building, marketing strategy, and product development, from Merit's earliest days as an anonymous Instagram account to its most recent Clean Volume mascara launch. Aila walks through how Merit built a loyal community before the brand even had a name, why the company skipped paid advertising entirely for its first four months, and how a single UX fix increased sales by more than 100%. She also gets candid about product failures, the emotional weight of building something people trust, and why Merit has no interest in using AI in its creative process. This conversation covers founder transparency, marketing strategy, brand building, product development, and the beauty industry from the inside, a masterclass for anyone building a brand, working in marketing, or curious how one of beauty's most consistent companies actually operates day to day. INSIDE THE EPISODE: 00:00 — Intro 00:38 — How Merit Came to Be 03:15 — Finding the White Space in Beauty 05:10 — Building a Brand That Doesn't Need the Product 07:17 — Learning to Sell from the Shop Floor 09:46 — The Secret Instagram Account That Became Merit 11:33 — Skipping Paid Ads for Community as a Focus Group 13:12 — Why Great Brands Aren't Built on Virality 16:59 — Reinventing the Foundation Stick 22:13 — Data Over Market Reports: Building Clean Volume 26:11 — The Kaizen Approach to Product Development 29:24 — Story First: How a Launch Actually Gets Built 34:15 — Why Merit Never Starts With the Grid 35:20 — Casting With a Story: Whitney Leavitt & Karen Pittman 38:10 — Self-Doubt Behind the Confidence 40:28 — Owning Polarizing Reviews 42:17 — What Hasn't Worked 44:30 — The Unglamorous Reality of Running Merit 46:22 — Building a Brand That Lasts 100 Years 49:00 — Clean Volume's "See to Believe" Sampling Strategy 50:37 — The Future of Social & Why No AI Creative 52:41 — Arielle's Personal Encounter With Merit 55:36 — Beauty: Shame vs. Belonging Connect with our Guest: • Aila Morin on Instagram: @ailamorin • Merit Beauty on Instagram: @merit • Website: meritbeauty.com Enjoyed this Episode? Join our Community! • Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠: • Us, on Instagram,⁠ @processthepodcast •Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one! This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Your showreel might be quietly costing you clients, and no one's telling you that. In this solo petite episode, host Arielle Thomas walks through the exact framework she's using to recalibrate Cinema Thom: why clients now hire for problem-solving over taste, the real difference between a showreel and a case study, and the asset-mapping system replacing both. Part life update, part masterclass in founder transparency; including the six months she went quiet online, why that was a mistake, and the Tyler the Creator clip that changed how she thinks about promoting her own work. In this episode, you'll learn: The real difference between a showreel and a case study and why clients now expect both How to build a campaign asset map (Arielle's own team framework) Why "Rome wasn't built in a day" should be a content strategy, not an excuse The system Arielle's team uses to keep posting consistently without her being the bottleneck INSIDE THE EPISODE: 00:00 — Intro 00:43 — Why Clients Hire Me Now 02:54 — Showreel vs. Case Study, Defined 03:35 — Building the Asset Map 05:15 — Put Out Your Work (Tyler the Creator clip) 06:19 — Systems & Processes 08:15 — Behind-the-Scenes Beats the Hero Shot 09:15 — The Recalibration Roadmap 11:04 — Who Do I Want to Be? 12:12 — Closing & Community Enjoyed this Petit? Join our Community! Cinema Thom: @cinema_thom ( https://bit.ly/4fwwZI7 ) Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby) Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl) Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf) Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one! This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please get in touch with [email protected]