Episode 3

About Blake

After spending more than a decade as a copywriter and creative director in the corporate world for companies like Meta, and nearly as much time touring in a hardcore punk band, Blake decided to start posting his stories to TikTok at the beginning of 2022. He tells stories about parenting, grief, growing up, and where they sometimes collide. You may have seen his “This Week in Fatherhood" series where he shares his experience of fatherhood, insights on life and passion for jiu-jitsu. 

Our conversation

In this episode, we chat with Blake, a content creator and dad, about the highs and lows of parenthood.  We chat about family life, fatherhood, loss, and of course how jiu-jitsu relates to navigating the challenges of raising young kids. 

The conversation touches on sobriety, growing up as an only child versus in larger families, raising kids through a pandemic and how these experiences shape our parenting styles. 

Blake's Bio

Blake Kasemeier tells stories about parenting, grief, growing up, and where they sometimes collide. After spending more than a decade as a copywriter and creative director in the corporate world, and nearly as much time running around the country in touring hardcore punk band, Blake decided to start posting his stories to TikTok at the beginning of 2022 and has had a remarkable and unlikely ascent into the hearts and minds of parents, and kids of parents all across the internet. 

In 2018 he lost his mom to a brief but brutal fight with lung cancer and decided to document his experiences with loss in a nine-part podcast series called Good Grief. This podcast has been described as an “emotional geography of loss” and even four years after posting the final episode it still generates hundreds of listens a month. Blake also holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a degree from Berkeley where he wrote his Honor’s thesis on CrossFit, and has written for some of the world’s leading health and fitness brands. 

What you would tell your best friend before they have kids? 

Lower your expectations (for your kids) and you will enjoy it so much more. And then lower your expectations for yourself. And honestly, when your expectations are lower for yourself, you're so much more available for like coaching.