Full Episode HERE.

From tiki bars to temples, from corporate cocktails to ancient consciousness, Mattias Dylan Horseman has seen it all…and stirred it with grace. In this heartfelt, wide-ranging conversation, Mattias shares the real story of what happens when a world-class brand ambassador leaves the job, the platform, and the identity to search for a little magik.

We explore his journey across Peru, Bali, the Himalayas, and Egypt, the lessons of silence and service, and what it means to create spaces where people are seen, safe, and sparked. There’s talk of shamanic bodywork, yoga in rice paddies, flavor inspiration in soap aisles, and a definition of hospitality that just might change your life.

Whether you’re behind a bar, starting over, or just craving something real — this episode is for you.

Expect to Learn:

• • Why internal hospitality might be the most important kind
  • The shift from brand marketing to creative life agency
  • What it’s like to follow intuition through airports, alleys, and Andes
  • The real magik of a great bar (hint: it’s not just the drinks)
  • How heartbreak, curiosity, and presence fuel true hospitality
  • A hilariously disastrous banana garnish competition story
  • What HR could look like

Links & Resources:

• • ⁠Finding Magic (Website)⁠ — Magic with a “K”
  • ⁠@thebarpoet on Instagram⁠ — Mattias’ personal account
  • ⁠Shannon at 108.kindredspirits⁠
  • ⁠Finding Magik on Instagram⁠

Service starts now.

Follow the show:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I’m looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. You can find more of my work at⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠my blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and all my social links are at the bottom of that page.

Classic Episodes You May Like:

-#10:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nat Harry, cocktail expert!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-#14:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Dr. Shalini Bahl, mindful marketing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-#22:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doug Frost MW MS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-#23:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeffrey Morgenthaler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.

Cheers

Mattias Dylan Horseman (00:01.771)

Hey, how’s it going?

Andrew Roy (00:02.583)

Alright, Matthias, how’s it going?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (00:05.409)

How are you?

Andrew Roy (00:06.379)

Good, good, can you me? See me well? All that?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (00:09.42)

I can hear you great. How’s it going over here?

Andrew Roy (00:11.767)

That’s great. You got a little smoke in the corner. Oh yeah. No, I love it.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (00:13.324)

Yeah, you can hear me in theory?

I was trying to connect my camera but for some reason today my… what do call it? Those little boxes for some reason is not working. So was a little frustrated.

Andrew Roy (00:31.073)

That’s how it is. The technology only works about half the time. The same with cell phones, reception. yeah. Yeah. I’m good. I made it back, tried some needs. You kind of cut off for a second there, but you’re back now.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (00:34.613)

It’s good, isn’t it?

God, how are you?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (00:48.066)

You’re good, sorry, I’m clicking buttons to see if it was something I could do, but all good.

Andrew Roy (00:51.879)

Sure. The good thing too, just as like an aside, Riverside, one of the reasons I like it, even if you hear some delay or a little bit of like, you know, it’s not as exactly clear because it’s each side recording and uploading, it turns out like a clear product at the end. That’s it’s one of the things I really like this platform a lot.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (01:12.3)

Hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (01:16.686)

Do know, I was actually gonna ask you about that, because I’ve been looking at doing some stuff on there and I was like, I’m fascinated to hear how it is to work with. So that’s great, do you know?

Andrew Roy (01:25.163)

Yeah, yeah, no. Yeah, because I don’t know what it is. A couple of the people that I’ve filmed with in New Mexico have had just terrible reception and like, you know, just audio that I like in the middle of it. I was talking to Tim Gaser and I’m like, I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to use this. But then I listened to the audio file and I saw the video is like perfectly clear. It’s just the yeah, just.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (01:48.757)

wow.

Andrew Roy (01:50.711)

That is one thing though, at the end, if you don’t mind leaving the browser up until it says it’s done uploading, because it like uploads throughout, just in case. Yeah. The one downside, you can only schedule three people at a time unless you pay for like a top tier. And so like, I just have to plan it out and remember to schedule after I film with someone.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (02:01.154)

Sounds good to me.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (02:11.319)

always the way.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (02:17.632)

gosh. Well that’s not, that’s not too bad. You mean three people at once?

Andrew Roy (02:18.753)

Yeah.

I like three people in the future, so once you’ve met with someone and you only have two scheduled coming up, you can add that next one, but it’d be nice if I could just put everything in and forget about it. But yeah, who knows? Maybe that’s the one thing. What’s that?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (02:29.922)

Nice.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (02:33.804)

Yeah. I love it. You got a good set up too.

I said you got a good setup too.

Andrew Roy (02:42.467)

yeah, yeah, this is my, if you could see this side, he wouldn’t think so, but this side at least is, these are like the books and like, this is all the like clothing and all my work stuff and so, yes. yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I thought we’d just get into it. I had a funny question to start with and just, you know, I was just hoping to celebrate what you’re doing nowadays and.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (02:58.658)

I love it, this is so great. I’m so excited to chat.

Andrew Roy (03:10.465)

We see where the conversation leads us, but yeah. And then just to make sure I’m saying it right, Matthias Horsman, right?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (03:13.496)

Sounds good to me.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (03:19.0)

So, Mattias,

Andrew Roy (03:20.171)

Mattias, okay, I’m glad I asked, yeah. Because I listened to a couple interviews, I didn’t hear anyone say it, so I was like.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (03:27.086)

I’ve lived in so many places around the world, but it’s kind of funny because it’s like wherever people are from, that’s kind of how they say it. know, it’s like if it’s Switzerland, it’s Matthias. If it’s Germany, it’s Matthias and so forth and so on. yeah. And then I guess to start with, I always just like to kind of take a breath with you as the host and just kind of say like, thanks for having me on. And like, I really appreciate this sinking even from a distance. It’s so nice to be in like…

Andrew Roy (03:40.947)

So, Mattias. Mattias, okay.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (03:56.571)

present moment with you. So thank you very much.

Andrew Roy (03:57.985)

Yeah. Well, thank you. You know, I, I love that so much. We might just begin here, but yeah. So, Madius, thank you for taking a moment out of your day to just sit down and talk with me. So that’s awesome. I know I was trying to think, I think when we last saw each other was probably an Arizona cocktail week. And so that’s going to be like 2018.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (04:05.922)

place.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (04:13.622)

It’s really great to see your day.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (04:22.894)

sounds about right.

Andrew Roy (04:25.611)

maybe even before.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (04:28.558)

Yeah, at least 2018, probably. If not, 17.

Andrew Roy (04:31.211)

Yeah, what’s it feel like to not be at Tales of the Cocktail? Which is right now, yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (04:37.526)

I know it’s right now. I was thinking about it the other day because all the memories are popping up on Facebook, you know? And it’s beautiful to see that because life isn’t a circle or a loop or something like that. It’s more of a spiral. And I think more of us as we move through, we always are moving in these different directions and we’re always maybe experiencing similar things, yet with a different perspective because of the experiences that we’ve had.

Andrew Roy (04:42.551)

Mm-hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (05:02.708)

And Tales is something where I treasured my times at Tales, you know, for so many years, every July, heading down and being there with everybody in the heat. the last couple of years, I’ve the But you know, it’s funny, there’s always a toast I used to give, always. And it was always, it’s not the weather that keeps us warm, it’s those that you hold close to you. And the last year and a half to two, well, the last couple of years of my life have really shown me, I think,

Andrew Roy (05:14.292)

the heat, yes.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (05:31.488)

a truer sense of what that actually means than I ever really understood before when I used to give that toast. You know, it’s like the chance to get together in New Orleans is beautiful for the industry because it’s people from all over the world coming to this one place, right, to experience each other’s magic. And I think what’s fascinating is I’ve been able to experience that in so many different ways over

the last year and a half, which has shifted my perspective on the way that I used to experience hospitality. And that idea of welcoming people into a space, or even just around a bar, is this beautiful moment where people’s light gets to converge in a single moment. And for just that brief time, you get to see somebody else, you get to witness them in their present state, and to be able to…

Andrew Roy (06:06.465)

Hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (06:28.414)

move with that energy for whatever time you’re present with them. And I think Tales is such an incredible place for that because you get to cross paths with so many stars that are out there. And at the end of the week, when Tales finishes, there’s this moment where you leave the city and while in the moment it may feel like, God, I’m tired, I feel so drained or so alive.

Andrew Roy (06:40.321)

Hehehe.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (06:57.002)

on two ends of the spectrum and you leave this place. If you zoom out, I genuinely see it like a firework display, just back out into the world with all of these lights who came to visit one place that have then shared in each other’s energy for that week, going back out to their homes to then be able to carry some of that magic back to their locations around the world. And I think if you think about the magic and the beauty of what Tales is, it’s that.

Andrew Roy (07:26.935)

Yeah, I like that.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (07:28.194)

So yeah, I I do miss it in certain ways, but also to be able to be on the outside and witness that firework display happening down there, that’s also beautiful too.

Andrew Roy (07:39.391)

Yeah, you don’t always have to be at the center of the firework display. For sure. Yeah. Now you said a word so many times in that last moment that you really hit on what I was gonna ask, finding magic. So what’s going on? You know, I gave you a phone call about a week ago when we were setting this up and you had, think one of the most interesting recounted stories.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (07:43.778)

Yeah, sometimes it’s terrifying.

Andrew Roy (08:08.527)

More more info in one phone call than I expected from any human being. I think you started off in South America and into me at the Himalayas and everywhere in between. So like what have you got going on right now?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (08:22.712)

You know, it’s so funny. about a year and a half ago, I left Hendrix on February 29th, actually. I think it was the perfect day for a Hendrix ambassador to leave being a leap year. And it it’s been a really interesting journey because I left to go and start what I was thinking was going to be this creative marketing agency, right? Called Finding Magic. Because I had this idea, I was like, I want to go and find and show the magic in the people that I love in the world.

Andrew Roy (08:32.352)

Makes sense, yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (08:49.762)

Right? And so I just had this idea and I’d been part of this beautiful industry and this beautiful framework that was built around, you know, William Grant and sons and the marketing teams there were incredible. And they gifted me the most amazing experiences in my entire life. And in that structure of the of the industrial side of hospitality there that comes from the, you know, the marketing side of the alcohol companies.

I got to witness a lot of the ways in which money was just kind of spent and transferred between agencies and all these different things. And there’s something just didn’t quite sit right with me when it came to some of the mechanics of how the industry was working. So I thought, what if, what could I, how could I do this in sort of a different way? Because it just seemed like there was more of a heart centered approach rather than this like funneled system.

Andrew Roy (09:24.822)

Mm-hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (09:48.6)

that could be implemented. And so I kind of left with this idea. And along the way, it has changed so many beautiful iterations as I’ve changed. But finding magic went from just being this creative marketing agency that I had a dream of to being what we’re calling a creative life agency. Because the truth is, I realize now that marketing is not.

Andrew Roy (10:09.975)

Hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (10:13.4)

just about selling things. At least I don’t believe that the next iteration of what marketing can be should be about that. It’s about a way of being to me. And the first thing that I did after I left Hendrix was I went and I gave a speech at the Hyatt Lifestyle Hotel Summit that was happening with a dear friend of mine, Miranda Breedlove, who’s the director of beverage. And she invited me down and I gave a talk called The Spirit of Hospitality.

And the first layer of that talk was all about internal hospitality. So I truly believe that there’s this quantum model of hospitality that surrounds every single person and just throughout the world that I find so beautiful. The first layer is that internal hospitality side of things. It means how can you be hospitable to yourself? Because if you can be hospitable to yourself, then it like ripples out to those around you.

which is that middle layer of the mesolayer of hospitality is your connections with those around you. And then finally you have this macro layer of hospitality, which is the sort of ripple effect outside of your direct contact. And along the journey, I didn’t realize it, but the moment I kind of finished that speech, I got sucked into that first layer and I went deep into internal hospitality.

And along the journey, I went through the process of finding magic. But at the end of the day, even though we know that magic exists all around us, I think it’s just a reflection of the magic that’s inside. And every single person in the world has this beautiful light that makes them them in their unique way. And some lights will attract you towards them, some will repel you away. And I just went on this process of…

Andrew Roy (11:57.717)

Hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (12:01.08)

finding magic in myself for the last year and a half, and I took a break completely from social media and all those things. And along the way, I just happened to meet some of the most incredible people around the world and go on these adventures, which I never even intended to necessarily do. But when you listen to the wind, sometimes it can take you to the most amazing places.

Andrew Roy (12:25.205)

Yeah, yeah, no, and I, you know, one of my favorite quotes that you have on your website, it’s magic is something you remember you are not something you learn how to do. And I think you’re kind of speaking to that it just, it’s in you, you know, you just have to step out of the way.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (12:41.998)

Truly, and you know, I think we come along with so many times, like in the hospitality industry especially, like we’re, it’s such a beautiful place because innately, it’s an energetic industry, right? Like bartenders, servers, hosts, anybody who owns a restaurant, they’re there to hold space for people to be able to feel safe, to be able to bring their fullness of themselves into these moments, to relax from whatever pressures might be existing in the outside world, to celebrate, to commiserate, to…

be with each other in a beautiful third space and a safe space. And unfortunately, one of the things that is so prevalent in this world is not being allowed to feel your true essence and who you are because of the limitations and these slow little buildups of societal expectations that have created such prisons.

for being when actually who we are are just prisms of light and we exist in this beautiful full spectrum of stuff and it’s so beautiful to witness somebody in their full light and I feel like my definition of hospitality has totally shifted over the last few years of these journeys and really understanding the power that it means to be able to hold space for people in their truth.

Andrew Roy (13:52.823)

Mmm.

Andrew Roy (14:03.755)

Hmm. Yeah. Do you have a working definition of hospitality that you go off of or? I know that’s

Mattias Dylan Horseman (14:09.934)

You know, I wouldn’t say a working definition, I would say an evolving definition, because I feel like when we find these things that define us, we often confine ourselves to that understanding. And so if we’re able to be able to set our own foundation and sort of have these sacred agreements with ourselves in this way. So hospitality for me is that idea that I can welcome somebody into a space and just witness them in their entirety without.

putting any of my expectations to be a limitation on them. And I feel like there’s a lot of beauty that comes with somebody in their truth because when somebody stands in their truth and their full light, you’re able to then reflect on that and see where you stand and how it makes you feel. Because I may love something and you may not love that, but by me loving it, you understand that it’s not for you.

And what a beautiful way that is to align as just a way of being.

Andrew Roy (15:03.809)

Yeah.

Andrew Roy (15:10.177)

Yeah, no, that really does touch to what you were saying. It’s, know, that light will pull you towards sometimes and sometimes it will push away, but it just, it just is. Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (15:23.938)

You know, I’ve been writing so much recently about this. Just, I don’t know, this phrase just keeps coming to me and I keep writing about it in different forms, but it’s about, I feel like life is like dancing through a forest of magnets.

You know, it’s like we have this beautiful magnetic field around us of our, of what we love, of what we don’t like, of our boundaries, of the things that we desire, the trajectory that we’re heading in. And so as we’re heading towards these things, we move amongst these fields that can either empower us or they can shift our direction to somewhere else. And I guess ultimate hospitality is to be able to help.

somebody just clear the way for themselves to be able to find the path towards what it is that they’re feeling they desire. And I think for me that act of not viewing things as positive or negative in the sense of good or bad, but just realizing that things are pushing and pulling you away energetically from that space is so impactful.

and we can go back in our lives and re-examine certain aspects, I think sometimes, to be able to take away some of that emotional debt, the emotional charge that can be placed on certain experiences that we have. And I actually would be like using the example of me leaving Hendrix. It’s a very positive experience in my book.

in a lot of ways, and there was also a lot of negative things that were kind of on the back end of that that I, you know, never really shared or anything. But the fact that I’m able to go back into my life and to be able to realize that without that experience that I had and being able to see behind the veils that I looked behind in the corporate world, I was able…

Mattias Dylan Horseman (17:17.614)

to now see it as this incredible experience that guided me to exactly where I needed to be. And so then all of a sudden, the people that I thought were the worst, or the bosses who I never really resonated with, I’m like, wow, they became my greatest teacher. And so now I’m actually filled with so much gratitude for those people in their exact fullness and in their entire life, because without them,

Andrew Roy (17:25.111)

Hmm.

Andrew Roy (17:30.615)

Yes, yes,

Mattias Dylan Horseman (17:47.136)

I would not be where I am today. And that, I think, is just one of the most incredible things about our minds, is we’re able to go do this kind of work.

Andrew Roy (17:48.982)

Hmm.

Andrew Roy (17:55.627)

Yeah, that’s a powerful kind of alchemy, you know? The things that once held me back and where the problems are, my teachers and my guides now. I am… thanks.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (17:59.821)

It is.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (18:05.186)

Yeah. And I mean, alchemy is such a great word there. That’s a beautiful word. The transmutation of elements and to move things from one state to another. And all we do as mixologists is really, you know, mix things up. So why not mix emotions? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew Roy (18:18.519)

From one state to another, yeah.

I am wondering, because I think you have a really open and accepting sort of view of what I’m feeling from you. And I’m trying to think, do you feel like you always had that? Do you feel like that’s something you gained just traveling so much? Because I know you traveled a lot lately and I can only imagine you’ve traveled a ton as a Hendrix ambassador. So where does that come from? Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (18:49.87)

Yeah It was the greatest gift getting to travel with that, you know, like I’m eternally grateful if anybody ever in the industry has like a dream to To be an ambassador to travel the world like I highly highly recommend looking at that kind of role It’s beautiful. Just don’t get lost in it And I think for me Truthfully, no, I didn’t I think I’ve always had an elements of it, you know, like since I was a kid definitely for sure but

Andrew Roy (19:07.383)

Mm-hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (19:17.622)

The truth is, think, as with so many things in life, my truth is that it came with really going down the paths of heartbreak and being torn open and unleashing an entire world within my world that I didn’t even know existed. And in that world that I had to explore for many years, that’s where I started to understand the deeper realms and the deeper levels.

that were beneath the surface that I had been playing in.

Andrew Roy (19:50.167)

We always hope that it’s the nice, positive, easy things, but those are never the lessons that we need. Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (19:57.75)

It always seems to be that way, doesn’t it? But I suppose, again, it’s like you get put into these fields to go and explore. And I guess I’m lucky because I preached the words of curiosity so much when I was with Hendrix, like through and through. I don’t ever actually, you know, I understood a surface level definition of what that was, but it was, it wasn’t until I was in the, like the depths of my soul and in spaces that took a lot of energy to navigate and, you know.

to be curious about the dark. That was probably the moments where I started to understand what the true definition of curiosity is to me. Because around the corner in the dark can lie the scariest things. And to walk the garden of my mind at midnight with a broken heart was probably one of the scariest places I’ve ever been.

Andrew Roy (20:36.161)

Mm-hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (20:49.538)

And around every corner I had no idea what was going to be there. And I went through this process of learning to love it and learning that around those corners actually I was finding beauty and I was finding things that needed to be nourished and nurtured. And I got to kind of explore what actually nurturing myself was like, which I hadn’t really necessarily done before because I’d entered a shadow of a lot of different

archetypes in my life throughout my journey. And in those moments, that’s kind of, guess, where I started to really uncover the beauty of the shadow and the strength that’s possible to find in there. And yeah, that was, yeah, the last, the last, I would say five years in my life have been transformative, to say the least.

Andrew Roy (21:40.949)

Yeah. So do you mind, you don’t have to go through the entirety of it, but just some of what happened post Hendrix. Cause you told me some of your journey on the phone and it’s just such a inspiring journey all through the world. Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (21:57.838)

So I gave the talk with Miranda at Hyatt for the spirit of hospitality and from there I got kind of beautifully, as I mentioned before, got sucked into the first layer of what hospitality meant to myself, for me inside, to my own emotions, to my body, to my mind.

And the first story that I wanted to tell as part of this new kind of creative agency that I was kind of thinking about was a dear friend of mine. His name is Russ Papas, and he’s one of the most incredible body workers that I’ve ever met. He’s like does this shamanic body work. He’s a masseuse and he is just…

He’s a light in this world and he has guided me through some of the most beautiful situations. So he leads these retreats down to Peru, to the jungle, up in Iquitos in the north of the country. And he’s been building this healing center with some shamans there and he’s been studying with his family for the last nearly decade. And, you know, he had kind of been struggling with some of the aspects of the business and saying like, people just don’t want to like…

sign on fully sometimes to the experience. Because it’s obviously a very big experience to go on, so it can be a little kind of intimidating. And so I thought, well, why not? I’ll just go and tell the story so more people can see how beautiful it is. And I went down. said, I don’t know what this is going to look like. I have no idea when I’m going to get you the content or the footage or anything like that. I said, I’m just coming down with a camera, a notebook, and a pencil.

And so I was like, what a great way to start a marketing agency is just with a few things and a backpack. And so I went down and we ended up going to a Kitos and then going into the jungle from there and sitting with these shamans in ceremony, which was just incredible to witness their magic and to hear the lineage and to walk through the deep jungle and to just witness them finding these plants and cutting them open and

Andrew Roy (23:52.087)

You

Mattias Dylan Horseman (24:00.738)

having the sangre de drago, the blood of the tree drip down and collect it in a bottle for them just to be given out. And then like, take this, put it on the mosquito bite. So heal it. I still have some today that I use for pretty much everything. yeah, right? And so I went down there and after I came out from that ceremony, I realized that I’d left a lot of things behind that I needed to process a lot of stuff.

Andrew Roy (24:14.756)

man, I need to get some up here, yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (24:29.962)

And so I went from there and I started to integrate back in Los Angeles. And I got back here, I literally unpacked my suitcase and I’m pretty sure I repacked it the next day. And I literally booked a ticket to Bali on the way to the airport. And then I booked my accommodation while I was sitting on the runway. And then when I got to Bali, I spent a few weeks there. And the first morning when I got out of the villa that I was staying in,

I had my backpack, a laptop and like a change of clothes. And I literally got to the end of the alleyway and I had this decision to make. I literally looked left and right. And that I realized at that moment was the biggest decision that I had in my life. And I literally was like, okay. And so I turned left, I turned right and I followed it right because that’s the way that my heart told me to go. And later that day I ended up finding this yoga class by this wonderful teacher, Carlos Romero.

And I ended up actually going down and doing a workshop with him for a few days in the south of Bali. And I actually just spent a month and a half with him in Bali earlier this year doing another teacher training. So it’s funny how sometimes those seemingly small or big moments, just as like a turning of left or right, can actually guide you on such a path that can lead you through years to come. And yeah, from Bali, then I went to…

Andrew Roy (25:51.041)

Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (25:53.826)

the Northern Thailand and I spent about a month and a half studying yoga and philosophy at the foothills of the Himalayas and the amazing little venue called the Garden of Mindfulness or Suan Sati as it’s called up there, living in the rice fields and just getting to really connect with my body and connect with my mind and to understand some of the philosophical approaches that have been.

passed down from lineage to lineage with some incredible teachers. And I think it was there that I really started to see this idea of like, my whole life I’ve been spent behind a bar with people from all walks of life coming up to the bar and being in these completely different worlds. But right next to each other, you’d have somebody who’d literally from the other side of the world, somebody from this side.

somebody who’s this type of job, somebody who’s this type of job. And each of them have built their lives upon the frameworks that they’ve understood and that they were raised through, you know, whether it’s religions, beliefs, science, education, all these different things, the knowledge that were passed. And I started to look at all of these ancient practices and my studies of science. I have a degree in psychology, so I kind of have that type of mindset and background.

Andrew Roy (27:09.125)

Thank

Mattias Dylan Horseman (27:11.542)

And so I’m looking at all of these different things and I’m like seeing this beautiful pattern emerge where they’re almost weaving together in this most incredible way. And I was like, wow, like it’s so beautiful to see what can happen when we actually mix these frameworks together, just like ingredients. You know, they all have their unique origins, but when you mix them together, my gosh, the flavors are beautiful. And so.

Yeah, after studying there for a month and a half, I came back to the States. And one of the key moments there was I was under a mosquito net and I called my best friend Shannon and I said, do you want to do Finding Magic with me? And she was like, yes. So when I got back to States, we started kind of like working together and merging our frameworks, right? Because Shannon had this incredible couple of concepts. She’s based in Phoenix, Arizona, but now we split time between there and here in Santa Monica.

And so we started merging these kind of frameworks together and it was like two rivers meeting, just combining all of these beautiful different origins and ideas. And then we went traveling again. So we went to the UK and I took her on a journey to where I had first really experienced a pivot point in my journey over the last few years at a yoga festival there called Verve. And it was just so amazing to be back and to go to the most magical places in the UK.

and spend some time. And then, you know, there was a couple more trips there. We ended up actually in Egypt studying sort of the ancient practices of the Egyptians and that where the beautiful, you know, cradle of civilization is and sort of seeing how incredible the buildup of that history was. We sailed down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan and just had the most incredible journey there. And I think

Andrew Roy (28:38.709)

Hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (29:05.09)

Feeling the energy of these ancient temples is so beautifully reminiscent of like when you go into this like a great bar almost these days. It’s like you get to go in and you feel the magic of the people who’ve put in so much energy and love into a space. It’s kind of the same thing, but just on a couple thousand years history timeline instead of right now.

Andrew Roy (29:26.967)

Yeah, I mean, you could feel that intentionality in the bar. And that was something someone planned for years. And I mean, I haven’t I haven’t had the pleasure of going to Egypt, but I can only imagine.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (29:33.838)

Mm-hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (29:38.68)

You know, it’s funny how I think so many things in our life can become portals, right? Like we watch movies and we get transported into a whole other world that was this director’s frequency, right? Like he just, a director had an idea and they put it onto the screen. And when they put it onto the screen, you get beautifully sucked into this world. The same could be said about painting.

You know, an artist expresses their true feelings as they’re like throwing paint onto the canvas or drawing a picture or writing words as is my favorite medium currently. And to be able to write a piece that conveys the true essence of your heart, God, just, can be so powerful. And in the same way, when somebody creates a drink or when somebody creates a place or a space,

all of a sudden it just becomes this beautiful portal into somebody else’s world. And I think that’s where I always looked for bartenders who were creating in that way. And I love a lot of the branded competitions and the things that happen out there to support the industry. I do. And I also love and respect the people who truly create from their heart first and foremost.

Andrew Roy (30:43.991)

Hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (31:00.03)

And I think there’s just such a beauty in witnessing a true creation that comes from somebody loving a moment. And that’s why I think those branded excursions that we always used to do on the advocacy side was so important. Because you’re not just bringing people to talk about the brand, you’re bringing them on an experience. And I was just lucky enough to be part of some amazing experiences with Hendrix over the years, which I loved. Yeah.

Andrew Roy (31:20.919)

Yeah, I would even go as far to say known for kind of some of the more interesting experiences.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (31:32.118)

And I think that’s the real testament to the amalgamation of the team that was there. know, like, mean, Charlotte Boise coming over and starting that sort of like ethos within the brand ambassador community at William Graham really to be for a long time. They were the epitome of what I think brand ambassadors can be in this world because it was just such an amazing group of people. And still there are some absolutely fantastic people there. Some of my favorites in the world.

Andrew Roy (31:36.407)

Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (32:01.92)

And yeah, and when you see the…

I almost look at it kind of like a color palette, like a painting. When you have like all these different colors on the palette, you’re able to then mix in certain ways to be able to create the masterpiece. And I think when I look back at my time at William Grant, like all of the colors that were on that palette were just so beautiful. you know, specifically getting to work with, you know, Mark Stoddard, Eric Anderson and Barnes Henderson was like, it was just a really beautiful experience for so many years. It was great.

Andrew Roy (32:31.671)

Yeah. You know, speaking of like a palette to create something, I actually shared your story with my brother when I got down when he was in his competition, but I was going to ask, would you share with us how you picked the flavor combinations in your first competition? Because I thought that was so, so brilliant. That’s it. Definitely. I’ll share my, my first competition, which is a horror story later, but yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (32:44.119)

Nice.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (32:52.894)

Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (32:59.86)

I want to hear that one. That’s great. And it’s funny, I was in the UK. I was bartending. I’d been bartending in a tiki bar for a long time. And I ended up working at this beautiful place that ended up, it was underneath a beautiful Michelin star chef, Simon Radley. And we, I remember this competition came up and I was kind of terrified. So I walked down the soap aisle in the supermarket.

Andrew Roy (33:01.175)

yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (33:21.71)

And I looked at all the different flavor combinations and I was like, oh my God, lemon for beanie. All right, bergamot, that’s cool. Like, let’s do this. And so then, you know, I went back to the drawing board and I was like, all right, let’s use some of this. I think I had some sherry, some apples, lemons, and beautiful other like little tidbits of flavors in there. And yeah, it’s funny where inspiration can strike from. You never know. Yeah.

Andrew Roy (33:46.325)

The new Dove ambassador, yes.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (33:48.936)

Yeah, mixing soap flavors. Yeah, but I mean, I think no go on,

Andrew Roy (33:50.647)

Yeah, no, please, please, please you find a silly story. So

Mattias Dylan Horseman (33:57.582)

I was just going to say that I think it’s going back to that where inspiration can strike. is so funny. Like last year, actually, when we were back in the States after we got back from the UK, I’d met this wonderful human being just on a garden center one night late while we were playing music. And a quick conversation, literally no more than I would say 10 minutes, led to probably one of the most beautiful friendships I have in my life right now. And I actually ended up traveling to Zimbabwe.

after we were in Egypt via a couple of weeks in Spain and then ended up trying to tell his story. And in telling his story of going back to Zimbabwe and being a musician and playing his first concert since before COVID and that he was visiting back home, I fell back in love with photojournalism and the idea of just really trying to capture moments.

And that, think, was a beautiful point of inspiration where you find something in life, just a moment, and you’re able to weave that back in throughout the experiences to kind of guide you on your way. And I would say that the same was true with me when I started to get through my career as a bartender. you know, in the hospitality industry, I would taste something somewhere so random, like for me, I remember cherries. Like I had cherries on a drive one time, and it probably was one of the most

beautiful flavor experiences of my life. And so since then, I always have had an affinity for making things made of cherry, you know? And it’s like, think that’s where I always find that next layer of understanding of bartending and the love that comes in there is when you can weave in elements of your own life into these moments, rather than just mixing on predetermined flavor combinations that I used to find in soap aisles. And so then finding my own combinations became beautiful.

Andrew Roy (35:29.164)

Hmm.

Andrew Roy (35:45.946)

yeah.

Andrew Roy (35:50.667)

Yeah, no, mean, when you really do follow those things that you’re interested in, those things that really inspire you, those are when the cool drinks come around. Like, I remember one of my best drink creations came from me wondering if I could make a popcorn simple syrup. And I just, got obsessed with that idea. I thought that would be really cool to see if I could do it. And some really cool cocktails came out that. Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (36:16.046)

It’s amazing. And I suppose you could take the same analogy and use it for life. That’s the energy we were talking about before. You know, when you find something that interests you, something that sparks that passion, you follow it and you follow that path until it goes no further or you’re putting energy into it. And eventually you might find that the energy that you’re putting into that popcorn kernel pops and becomes something beautiful.

think we do have the same propensity in our lives to be able to follow our passions into our dreams eventually and kind of making them happen.

Andrew Roy (36:53.431)

Before I forget to sell tell the story I’ve got to tell you the first competition story or people will be listening and shouting into their microphones. Yeah So it was a don q competition rum. I went with a Plantain infusion. I forget the exact ingredients, but I remember I got the drink exactly where I wanted and then I got the like banana Garnish exactly the way I wanted it to taste

Mattias Dylan Horseman (36:59.598)

Peace.

Andrew Roy (37:22.827)

but I was new and I never thought to, because I was caramelizing the banana, I never thought to see what it would look like when I put it on the glass. I just made sure the tastes were perfect. You know, I was all excited first time and you know, you’re nervous in a competition. You don’t know to expect that. I make the drinks, I caramelized this banana, I put it on and if you’ve caramelized a banana and caramelized it too much, it turns into this sludgy mess.

And so I look at this drink and it’s just runny banana going into a drink that does not look appealing at all. And I mean, you’re there and that’s it. And so I this drink to the judges, a smile on my face and I got last place, dead last. like, I drink did taste good, but I totally deserved last place there.

So I told my story and yours, because I think you won to my brother. So I said, it can go well, it could go poorly. You come back from it though. So.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (38:27.734)

Yeah, and you were still in the competition. So that’s great.

Andrew Roy (38:30.935)

I didn’t give up. Definitely saw it through.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (38:33.644)

Yeah. Well, did you ever go back and perfect a cocktail?

Andrew Roy (38:40.599)

I, I did serve the drink without the garnish for a while in the bar. Yeah. So it just, yeah, I didn’t think through that garden and you know, I knew it was a valuable lesson to do things, start to finish as a test run before you do it any like ever again, cause you get nerves are the great killers and you don’t think about when you’re on the spot. Yeah.

I learned a lot of lessons, let’s say that. yeah. Finding magic. So how could someone support your project? Where could someone find you or hire you? I see like on the website, there’s a bunch of different things. I saw the weekly tuneup, I saw some stained glass. Like what are you all known for?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (39:12.162)

That’s amazing. Yeah, that’s so great.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (39:36.94)

Yeah, so what we’ve been doing is collecting those stories of these practitioners around the world. And the truth is, really, the most beautiful part about this last year was the kind of the unfolding of ourselves as artists. And I think coming from a framework of this, the beautiful corporate structures that I was in, of actually, it was really interesting to have to unlearn a lot of those things to be able to enter into a new space. And so becoming…

An artist is a process of removing a lot of those frameworks and understandings and limitations to just reveal what’s inside. So we’re selling our art projects to be able to then fund the journeys to go and find the people in the world that are truly making a difference in their communities and to tell their stories. So if people want to support us, they can go online and we’re just about to release an art project in the next couple of days, which I will save for that release, but I will say we’re

Andrew Roy (40:27.505)

cool.

You

Mattias Dylan Horseman (40:31.672)

pre-selling those to be able to fund a very beautiful immersive experience that we want to implement here in the US somewhere and the first state of that tour. So we would love if people just could follow along on the socials on Finding Magic and me at the Bar Poet and my best friend and business partner Shannon, 108.kindredspirits. So I think there’s these beautiful ways that people can follow along and engage.

And if people really want to support us, the most honest way they can do it is to take a beautiful deep breath and to flow in a direction that makes them happy. I think that’s ultimately our mission is to help people just remember the magic that’s inside them. And if we can live in the way that we are just to try and bring that frequency

back to the world a little bit. I’ll share a story that just happened the other day, actually, it was the 4th of July. And I was down watching the fireworks from pretty much right underneath them. And as we looked up, the marine layer came in so thick that you couldn’t see the fireworks. It was literally just flashes of light, almost like a strobe light, right? And I kind of just looked at it in that moment and I thought about the world currently.

Andrew Roy (41:45.975)

Cool.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (41:55.038)

and how there is so much noise going on in the world that sometimes it’s this cloud that exists in front of these amazing lights that are happening. And I feel like that could be reflected into each of us and how sometimes we have this cloud that exists around our mind of these pressures and these expectations and these things going on around us that we don’t allow our full light to shine. And I think in that way,

The weekly tune-up is part of my frequency adjustments. And the goal of that is to be able to have people come and to be able to just breathe for an hour. So every week I’m opening up an hour on Sundays just to come and breathe for anybody who wants to do it. And then part of that is leading into my frequency adjustments where I take on clients to be able to help them walk through specific phases of their life.

if anybody needs it from, you know, C-suite executives all the way through to people just navigating starting a business. It’s incredible the power of presence and to be able to tune through the static and to hear really what your heart is trying to say and to what your true soul is trying to sing can be life-changing and especially in such a noisy world. So I share that to…

just exemplify, I guess, where we’re at and what we’re trying to do and to just help tune through the static a little bit. And my goal eventually is to be able to have this sort of creative life agency where we’re actually helping businesses rather than just with their marketing externally to help them align internally within their own system so that whatever message

Andrew Roy (43:26.412)

Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (43:43.916)

whatever product, whatever thing they’re trying to create and share with the world comes from a place that is supportive of all of the community with inside that industry and organization. Because I think when an organization starts to become truly humanized and harmonic within their structure, it switches to this organism that actually helps those that exist within it to thrive, not just survive. And I have seen so many examples of organizations that just are there.

as this sort of extractive method. They help people to live, but they don’t necessarily help them thrive. So I have some projects that I’m working on with some incredible practitioners at relooking at what HR truly means. And instead of it being about human resources, it’s more about human resonance and helping those that are within the systems to truly exist in the fullest that they can, rather than just protecting companies.

Andrew Roy (44:18.263)

Mm-hmm

Mattias Dylan Horseman (44:42.702)

from litigation.

Andrew Roy (44:44.757)

Yeah, compliance. No, I like that. I think it really nicely parallels kind of your journey of the external hospitality into that internal hospitality in your focus. Yeah, it’s

Mattias Dylan Horseman (44:58.434)

Yeah, I think that I’m right at that point in that same model that I presented a year ago, from the internal to the mezzo to the macro level. Like I moved from the internal level from the last year where I took a complete break from socials to now coming back to being able to look at it in a beautifully different way. And now the goal for the next phase, however long, there’s no rush, is to just focus on helping people to try and…

exemplify that internal hospitality into their communities around them. And I think that hopefully eventually you’ll see this ripple effect of the hospitality industry. Because I genuinely believe that the hospitality industry is probably the industry that I think could change the world. Because you have all of these people from all different walks of life and my friend Chris once when we were talking described it as this like land of misfit toys.

And I think it’s just such a beautiful thing that behind a bar you can have somebody who has a PhD, who has a master’s degree, who was a doctor, a lawyer, who was a mechanic. You can have anybody in the world. You can have people who loved hospitality like me so much that they pursued it for their life career. And when you have all of these people behind bars holding space for people in the world where they come in from the outside and the pressures of life to be able to celebrate.

commiserate, to be with somebody else and be witnessed in their truth. If you have all of those people illuminating life into these people and to be able to hold space for their light to shine as brightly as it can, I truly believe that hospitality industry can change the world. And if we could view it more in that way, I feel like owners, operators become these hubs for

literal charging stations in the world for happiness. And we’re changing that right now because the world’s relationship with alcohol is shifting. And people are starting to realize that the definitions of hospitality doesn’t just fall into bars and restaurants, but it falls into creating these unique third spaces that are available and applicable to a vast degree of people. And I think we’re in this beautiful shift and it’s an honor to be in this part of time.

Andrew Roy (46:58.325)

Mm-hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (47:18.668)

right now watching that happen and being a part of it.

Andrew Roy (47:18.839)

Thank

Yeah. Well, I couldn’t imagine a better champion for that sort of hospitality than honestly you. So thank you. Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (47:29.282)

Thank you, I really appreciate that, thanks. Well, it’s because I’ve met amazing people along the way that have guided me into this path. So thank you for being part of that journey and for being right now.

Andrew Roy (47:40.961)

Yeah, I do have a question for my sake because I always struggle with this. The weekly tune up, there’s a suggested donation but left blank. Is there like an average or like what do people normally do? Because I’m off some Sundays I was thinking about joining but I always get, I’m always like, man, I don’t know.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (47:58.434)

Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (48:01.998)

Do you know what’s funny? So with that, I have this unique view on money, I guess. And I truly believe that money is just a physical manifestation of energy, right? It’s just the system that we’ve been taught to attribute to our value. So when people want to engage with it, the reason why I say I suggest a donation, and there’s actually a few options, I believe in there of like, if you want to buy me a cup of tea,

Andrew Roy (48:07.063)

Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (48:28.706)

you can buy me a cup of tea at like $7. live in Los Angeles. It’s expensive here. So it’s like, know, a cup of tea.

Andrew Roy (48:33.367)

Okay, well, I saw the cup of tea, I didn’t think about, I didn’t look for prices on it. Okay.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (48:39.788)

Yeah. So it was that I also, there’s a couple others on there. Like I have one that you can pay it forward and buy somebody else a cup of tea. And so then every week I will actually be going to a cafe and buying people tea with whatever money people buy that with. it’s kind of literally paying it forward. And then you can support our projects too, if you want to, because again, energy exchange is key. Sometimes people want to show up and they may not have the financial ability to, so there’s always room to just come and breathe for sure.

but if you do have some energy to give right now, then you know that actually by passing that energy to somebody else who’s giving you something in return, like holding space, you’re then able to fill their tank and fill their cup with energy so that they can go and do the work they need to do. And when I started to look at it more like that, I started to really be interested in the

structures and value systems that are placed within the corporate side of things because it’s just fascinating how people engage with that and the conversation around money is very difficult to have often because people aren’t willing to truly be open about their needs, wants and desires.

But the moment that I was able to truly have those conversations, I started to be able to help and invite people into their true value. And it’s been wonderful to witness some of the people I’ve worked with navigate through understanding their true value and actually then charge accordingly and be able to live the life that they want to live, not just survive in a life that is below their potential and threshold.

Andrew Roy (50:26.615)

Hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (50:28.084)

So yeah, so when I say suggested donation and there’s the little example there, that would be what I mean by that. And it is something that I struggled with too, through very much, but thought very intently about. And even still with my current pricing models for my frequency adjustments, you know, it’s very much based on an energy exchange of this is what this means. And if you give to this life, here is what I’m doing. This is what you’re filling, you know, like

Andrew Roy (50:31.223)

You

Andrew Roy (50:40.439)

Mm-hmm.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (50:57.002)

And sometimes people actually even just offer to fill some of those cups because it would bring them joy to fill those cups. And so I feel like we’re in this beautiful threshold of a new model from a financial system that I think might come out. We’ll see. Who knows? The blockchain is trying to rewire the world in that way.

Andrew Roy (51:17.407)

Yeah, mean, 2025 is a very interesting time to be alive for sure. Yeah. yeah. I know you’re in California, the thick of all the technology and all the fun. So, yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (51:23.379)

I mean, we’ll save that one for a separate episode because I think we could talk for hours about the final result.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (51:32.64)

It’s fascinating. But I remember a seminar and I’ll share this document with you too. I did a seminar years ago at BCB that was about talking about money. And I did that and I actually that was kind of a bit of a nugget that got seed that got planted in my life that led me to really being able to create my own framework around the discussions that I have with people and money. So maybe you’ll find it useful or anybody else will find it useful too. So I’ll share some of that with you.

Andrew Roy (51:59.575)

Yeah, I’d love that. Awesome. Well, Maddie, a source and thank you for taking a few moments out of your day. I really appreciate you. Where should people listening, where should they go to learn more about you? Or where do you like people to follow you online?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (52:08.024)

Thanks so much.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (52:12.59)

If you’re on social media, please, the bar poet, please feel free to follow me there. Or you can follow Finding Magic, finding underscore magic on Instagram or on all of the different platforms. So you can go to findingmagic.com and it’s got all of the links there. And it’s magic with a K. All the other domain names were taken and we figured let’s redefine magic.

Andrew Roy (52:34.263)

I just assumed that you chose the K.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (52:38.338)

Yeah, I think it was meant to be, you know? It’s a beautiful way. And I just am really appreciative of this moment in time to be, know? I think that’s what’s important. And to share this moment with you, to be able to share this story, I think is really special. So thank you.

Andrew Roy (52:42.016)

Yeah.

Andrew Roy (52:57.697)

Yeah, no, it was an awesome way to spend an afternoon. So thank you. And those of you listening, if you didn’t write that down, I’ll have those all in the show notes. So you can just click on over and go check it out. thank you again.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (53:11.544)

Thanks so much, Andrew. Appreciate you.

Andrew Roy (53:13.943)

So I’ll cut it off out there. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for taking some time out of your morning, my afternoon.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (53:21.038)

Oh dude, thank you, I appreciate you. Sorry if I waffled on a bit about some random things.

Andrew Roy (53:24.471)

No, no, it was awesome. If you ever find yourself in Omaha, Nebraska, please give me a call.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (53:31.84)

I’m Meg, you know, you know Austin Foster?

Andrew Roy (53:35.223)

Foster Foster, why does that sound familiar?

Mattias Dylan Horseman (53:37.046)

He’s not in Omaha, but he’s up in Sioux City.

like right on right on coast of Nebraska and South Dakota and Iowa.

Andrew Roy (53:45.301)

Yeah, but why do I know that name? What? Okay.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (53:48.238)

He’s just big industry fella and he’s got a distillery that he’s building in Sioux City and he’s just an amazing human being. But last time I was in Omaha, I would imagine, yeah, last time I was in Omaha, I was with him. So I love it out there. And I have a dear friend who’s a breathwork and healer out in, I want to say great Grand Plains, Great Plains, something like that.

Andrew Roy (53:54.301)

Okay, he’s probably someone I follow too.

Andrew Roy (54:14.519)

So small city, small city out here. Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (54:17.432)

Some small city like north of Omaha. But yeah, yeah, at some point I have no doubt that Nebraska would be back on my things. But yeah, I’ve been to Nebraska before and I love it there. Where are you working now then?

Andrew Roy (54:28.093)

Yeah, it’s a cool spot. It’s a steakhouse called Mahogany Prime Steakhouse. yeah, I joined them in Oklahoma that came up here. So I haven’t been in Santa Fe for almost 10 years now. It’s too bad, but yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (54:33.57)

Nice. That’s right. That’s right. I love it.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (54:40.824)

Yeah.

Mattias Dylan Horseman (54:44.962)

so good.