Who am I?

First and foremost, I am a storyteller.

That’s why I love history. I thrive on digging up and discovering lost stories and voices. Second, and almost as important, I am a performer. I love telling the story.

As the storyteller for ezjoLife I am the personality driving the story. I am a Comedian, an Actor, a Public Speaker, Congenital Anosmic and Rule Breaker. I put all my passions together in one place and created my dream job.

• READ MORE ABOUT MY LIFE AS AN ANOSMIC CHEF.

• WATCH #DIASMELLS STORIES ON INSTAGRAM

• Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

Storytelling is my history.

I grew up listening to audiobooks from The Library of Congress Talking Book Program. My brother had access and I snuck my books into his orders. I spent days at a time in my room listening to stories and voices.

Black Beauty was the most compelling story I’d ever heard. I memorized the dialogue and narration while creating a wide variety of accompanying sound effects. Without realizing it, those books taught me how to perform and they sparked my desire to become a storyteller.

A little FYI about me.

I don’t smell. Technically, I should say I can’t smell. But not just any run-of-the-mill “can’t smell” scenario. I have the super cool and rare version called “isolated congenital anosmia,” meaning I was BORN without the ability to smell. 

Almost like a superpower, but not.

I spent a large part of my childhood being told, “Smell! Breathe in through your nose and just smell.” That was great advice. Super helpful. I’ve been told plenty of times to brush my teeth, or politely been told that my deodorant has failed me.

And yes, I’ve even been told that now would be a good time to bathe if I wanted to get lucky.

I didn’t smell the poop in my daughter’s diapers. I didn’t smell the smoke when I almost burned my house down, twice. I’ve never stopped to smell the roses, not even once.

And yes, I cook and I can taste (very well thank you very much.) And no, I still can’t smell anything. Just in case you’re wondering “Why would I listen to her cooking advice?” or “That’s like being blind and saying you can drive a car.”

I have a few pre-prepared statements.

1. My recipes are delicious because I can taste them.
2. My food is good. I know this because people feel obligated to tell me they like it after I’ve spent all day in the hot kitchen.

No one has been poisoned or killed by my food, on purpose.

Read more about being an Anosmic Chef.

When life changes, you change.

In 2007 a literal wall of glass to fell on me. And it didn’t just fall on me. It knocked me down 4 feet off a ladder onto a concrete floor to make sure I got the point. I guess you could say I’ve always been stubborn and apparently needed to learn the hard way.

My parting gifts were vast and life changing:

• I’ve had to recover from a head injury
• Learn to manage chronic pain and inflammation
• Rehabilitate 3 bulging lumbar and sacral disks
• Have surgery on both wrists
• Accept that my abilities and capabilities were forever changed
• My lifestyle and career needed to adjust to accommodate my new life

My inability to smell became the least of my problems.

Since then, I’ve had to learn all the tricks and then some to survive in a totally different life. I’ve put my creative brain and fighter energy into discovering new ways to find money while working less with more freedom. Nice gig if you can get it, right?

But what about my pain?

I needed to manage my pain and that meant I needed to change what I ate. Simply put, eating the wrong foods will exacerbate pain and inflammation. I started the Paleo diet and lifestyle and I’ve never looked back. 

After a lifetime of talking, I created

People kept asking me about my new life. And I kept talking and my advice kept helping and people said I made them laugh.

I DECIDED TO CREATE EZJOLIFE.COM, AN ENTERTAINING, INFORMATIVE AND IRREVERENT LIFESTYLE BLOG FEATURING HUMOROUS STORIES, SYSTEM HACKING TIPS AND PALEO RECIPES.

It’s the place you want to look to when you’re in need of a little help or a little laugh.

Read more about ez jó?

Who am I? I’m Dia.

That’s spelled DIA like the airport (Denver International Airport) but they didn’t ask my permission and nobody sends me monthly royalty checks.

Dia means “day” in Spanish but my DNA isn’t Latin in any way. My middle name is Rael, a popular Spanish surname if that helps to further confuse the whole Latin issue.

Dia also means “Goddess” in Greek but my family doesn’t hail from Greece and my parents aren’t classics scholars or humanities professors.

So how did I, a nice Jewish girl, end up with 2 Spanish names?

My parents did a word jumble with their names and I came out with Dia Rael. That’s not bad considering I could’ve been named Dandelion Sulfan, or Alien Rondelle.

Who am I? I’m Dia. I tell stories. I like to entertain. And I’m here to help.