A Dose of Disruption

On this week's episode of Fix My Pitch With Shelly Bell, Shelly sits down with Bridget Jones, founder of Chisel Technologies, Inc. and BGV Alumni. They start the conversation by discussing what it means to take time off as a CEO and how that can help you shape your vision. They discuss how knowing your target audience well and how to properly communicate what you do to investors and key stakeholders.

This week Shelly talks with Tre Mosley Voice Actor and Coach. Tre tells Shelly about his journey and how voice-over found him. He shares how believing in himself, having faith and being patient were key early in his career. He also shares some great tips for those looking to get into the world of voice-over.

This week's episode is a Fix My Pitch With Shelly Bell edition. For this episode, we have the amazing Michelle Smart, founder of Bags to Butterflies. Shelly and Michelle went through how important it is to include the impact that your company is causing and the revenue it is creating in your pitch. They discuss how storytelling can have a positive impact on a business, especially in Michelle's case, since her company has a program that employs women that got out of prison recently and it's changing their lives.

This week's episode is a Fix My Pitch With Shelly Bell edition. In this opportunity, we have coming to the stage Christina Wright, founder of WrightNow Results, P/S: Make It Right, and BGV Alumni. Shelly and Christina went through how to transmit the power of your pitch and how to use data to your favor and communicate your impact. Shelly also dropped some gems on how to identify your competitors and get into the network that is funding them and could fund you too.

This week Shelly sits down with Jewel Burks, partner at Collab Capital, Head of Google for Startups in the US, and entrepreneur. Jewel shares her journey of how she became the investor she wished she had while building her company. Shelly and Jewel also discuss how intuition and manifesting can have an impact on your business, and some of Jewel's key learnings in the journey of going from founder to being acquired to being an investor.

This week's episode is a very special edition where a BGV alumni had the chance to pitch her business to Shelly and receive direct coaching to level up her pitch. They discussed what it means to establish credibility, how to really transmit your value and get those investor dollars, and more.

This week Shelly sits with Renee Montgomery Vice President of the WNBA Atlanta Dream. Renee tells Shelly about her journey to become a WNBA player and the importance of being in a community. She explains why people need to be trained by other entrepreneurs and what ownership means to her

This week Shelly talks with Sharita m. Humphrey a nationally recognized, award-winning finance expert and money mentor. Sharita tells her story of how being homeless inspired her to do become a financial educator. She shares great advice on what entrepreneurs need to know from a financial standpoint on when they should take the corporate leap and key factors on budgeting.

Alicia Wilson serves as the Vice President of economic development at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Shelly and Alicia discuss diversity in Corporate America and what it really means to get a seat at the table. She explains what economic development means to her and how you can be philanthropic at any level and at any age.

Michael Bruemmer is Vice President of the data breach group at Experian. Shelly and Michael talk about what a breach of data really is, how frequently data breaches happen, and how someone or a business can anticipate that it's about to happen.

Sandra Bernardo is the Senior Public Relations Manager at Experian the nation's largest credit bureau. Sandra and Shelly discuss how PR helps companies build relationships with the public. They discuss what it was like to learn the nuts and bolt about credit coming from a family of immigrants.

Alfred Duncan is an author, musician, and the founder of Black Men Ventures, brother organization to Black Girl Ventures. In this episode, Alfred and Shelly talk about all the exciting things Black Men Ventures will bring to the community. They also talk about mental health in business and the importance of helping yourself in order to help others.

Vanessa Simmons is a TV personality, entrepreneur, and creative director of the popular shoe line Pastry. In this episode, Vanessa and Shelly discuss her new vision for Pastry, her new podcast "Asking for a Friend", and building businesses with her daughter.

This week Shelly sits down with Michael Delgado, the Social Media Director for Experian. The two discuss how Delgado used his aptitude for storytelling and marketing to create his career in social media; how he used social networking to assist the Obama administration, and how social media has created a culture of social responsibility for companies, as well as his secret tips on how to maximize your social media presence.

This week Shelly sits down with Allie Ottoboni, the President of the eBay foundation which is dedicated to guiding million-dollar investments into programs focused on inclusive entrepreneurship. The two discuss how a trip to prison changed Allie's perception on entrepreneurship for marginalized groups, how to decolonize philanthropy to become more trust-based, and how the eBay foundation was able to provide quick relief to minority entrepreneurs during the pandemic outbreak.

How much more different would life be if discrimination was not a part of how - and where - we live? This week Shelly speaks with Thibault Manikin, a partner with Seawall Real Estate. The two discuss what it is like to discover racism, the importance of real estate in proximity to socioeconomic oppression, and how vital it is to bring the fight for equality into land development.

This week Shelly sits down with Lisha Bell, a technology guru who helped create some of the first online mobile payment applications, and an angel investor for multiple female entrepreneurs. They talk about the importance of timing when creating disruption in an industry, how to encourage skeptical audiences to trust your invention, and why we need more investors from different social and cultural backgrounds.

How do you safely allow your identity to inform and impact your work life as a person of color? This week Shelly talks with Aerica Shimizu Banks, a technology policy expert, inclusion innovator, and advocate for women entrepreneurs. They talk about merging personal identity and work, dealing with discrimination in the workplace, and how to safely address it.

This week Shelly talks with Rod Griffin, Lead Educator on Credit at Experian. Rod shares about his journey with credit and the steps someone should take to improve their credit score. He also mentions some common myths around it and how your money moves can create an impact on it.

What does it mean to live an intuitively guided life? This week Shelly talks with Shoshanna French, world-renowned Intuition Expert, Coach and Business Consultant. They talk about how an intuitive guided business translates into making big power moves. She shares what intuitive entrepreneurship and business consulting are, and how intuition can help you achieve your purpose.

This week Shelly talks with Jason Scott, a startup ecosystem builder at Google. Amid Covid-19 Jason launched the first black founder and women founder focused accelerator at Google. He shares his experience of launching an accelerator during a pandemic and the future of VC funding, incubators, and accelerators for underrepresented communities. He also talks about voice technology, AI machine learning, and its role in entrepreneurship.

What does it really mean to disrupt the status quo around Feminism and fairy tales? This week Shelly chops it up with CEO and co-author Catherine Connors to discuss her accidental entrepreneurship journey, Disney princesses as a cultural institution and the importance of empowering women and girls through storytelling. Catherine also shares her thoughts on the layers of Feminism and how inefficiently people refer to it. Have women been a disservice to themselves by believing the fairy tales and narratives of how women are supposed to love? Listen now.

What does it take to be a visionary, and how do you balance that with business? Shelly Bell speaks with Sonya Renee Taylor, an award-winning poet, author, activist and leader. Sonya explains the origin of and how she became an “accidental entrepreneur” with The Body Is Not An Apology, the work of creating a movement and how to navigate forming an environment where you are doing what you want to do rather than what you should do. Sonya also shares what comes next in her journey including a new edition of The Body Is Not An Apology book and a reparations initiative she co-founded, Buy Back Black Debt.   Key Takeaways: 0:00 Intro 1:24 Shelly shares the Shelly brief about cognitive diversity and allowing woman and people of color to head Treasury or the Defense Department in Biden's cabinet 6:45 Sonya shares a little background of how she started The Body Is Not An Apology, where the title came from and how it all began  11:15 Sonya talks about the process of how her movement changed from a movement to an accidental entrepreneurship opportunity and how entrepreneurship has been for her 14:58 Sonya explains why Facebook was shutting her and her Facebook page down  16:46 Sonya also shares the feeling of starting a business based off of a movement that allowed her to authentically be herself and what the challenge was for that 18:18 Sonya also talks about being a visionary and why introducing a product or a service early might not always be profitable  20:00 Sonya talks about why you should find a team that's grounded, practical and right now that can help you if you're a visionary 21:05 Sonya also talks about where she's at now in her life, why solopreneur was the biggest challenge for The Body Is Not An Apology and her vision 25:27 Sonya shares the importance of having co-founders in a business and what BuyBackBlackDebt is and what it does Books Mentioned:  The Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Shows Mentioned: The Washington Post: is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most-widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area, and has a large national audience.  The New York Times is an American daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership. Nicknamed "the Gray Lady", the Times has been regarded within the industry as a national "newspaper of record".  #BuyBackBlackDebt: is a project of interracial spiritual and economic relationship building. The goal is not simply to pay off the random debt of Black folks but to re-establish the possibility of human connections and relationship through disrupting active institutions of white supremacist delusion in Black lives.  Quotes Mentioned: “Sorry, yesterday was the deadline for complaints.” “Today is a new day.” “Gender diversity and racial diversity typically bring cognitive diversity.” “Your body is not an apology.”  “Your body is not something you offer to someone to say sorry for my disability.” “We're making things when we talk.” “Always being before your time is not always profitable.” Guests Social Media Links: Website: https://www.sonyareneetaylor.com/the-body-is-not-an-apology  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sonyareneetaylor/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sonya-Renee-Taylor-156089958718/  Email: info@buybackblackdebt.org http://soundcloud.com/sonya-renee-taylor 

Choosing the right language can help you tell the right story. But, what happens when people refuse to listen or are undeserving of the story? This week's guest discusses how to tell your own. Crafting your vision doesn't always mean following what someone else has done or is doing. Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia, VaynerSports, and Empathy Wines shares his perspective on the purpose of finding and communicating what works best for you. Key Takeaways: 0:00 Intro 0:33 Shelly gets to share the Shelly brief about Tiffany Haddish being asked to host the Grammy Awards and not be paid 4:10 Shelly talks about the Biden administration video that was leaked of Biden talking to black leaders and how people took it 8:37 Gary talks about how they connected with Shelly 9:44 Gary also explains why he decided to start his own agency as a businessperson and didn't on any other route 11:58 Gary also shares his routine and things that he does to keep his energy to do all the things he does and run his companies especially the mental stability 13:48 Gary shares his thoughts on e-commerce and the impact that it has on his businesses and the importance of always listening to people's needs or ideas 17:42 Gary talks about why he thinks it's a problem that the VC world is run by well-educated individuals and why he thinks people from big institutes like Harvard don't make great entrepreneurs 20:08 Gary talks about customer acquisition cost and the lifetime value as formulas to figure out how much you would make to invest in advertising in a particular platform 22:15 Gary shares his advice to the solo entrepreneurs to maximize the amount of value in their businesses 23:58 Gary talks about why you should not position yourself to others who are ahead of you, but motivate yourself to achieve what you want to be 25:32 Gary shares the advice he would you give to someone in the coaching realm 26:41 Gary also shares what he thinks will be the next big thing Shows Mentioned: Grammy Awards: is an award presented by the Recording Academy to recognize achievements in the music industry. K- Swiss: an American athletic shoe brand based in downtown Los Angeles, California and currently owned by South Korean firm E Land World Limited and its creator Kevin Randall. TikTok: is a Chinese video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people. Defund the police is a slogan that supports divesting funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3G7n21p0kY Quotes Mentioned: “Never waste your time trying to explain who you are to people who are committed to misunderstanding you.” “It's crazy that anyone will be asked to do something for free.” “Politicians are going to politics, because that's the way politics works.” “What people in power respond to is the word inefficient. “ “Changing our language can change the reaction that people have, even though we're telling the same exact story.” “The reality is everything's got its costs.” “Nobody's perfect.” “Learn how to make money, not raise money.” “Take the capital and find a way to get more attention to get more customers.” “You need to know who you are.” “It's very important for people to know who they are instead of who they wish they were.” “We need to stop putting entrepreneurship on a pedestal because it's not for everyone.” Guests Social Media Links: Website: https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk Facebook: http://facebook.com/gary Twitter: http://twitter.com/garyvee Instagram: http://instagram.com/garyvee YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/garyvaynerchuk?sub_confirmation=1 Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/garyvee  

Less than 10% of people making under $50K a year report identity theft. This week's guest studied the American credit system, stole the identity of people with low credit scores, rehabilitated their credit then used the credit for himself. Credit Genius, Flame Newton, served his time, apologized for the pain he caused, and flipped his knowledge into teaching people the American credit system to help his community.   Key Takeaways: - 5 Pillars of Credit Management - Not all Creditors are Weighted Equally - Being Debt Free Means You're Not in the Credit Game 0:00 Intro 0:56 Shelly gets to share the Shelly brief about owner of True Kitchen Kevin Kelly yelling at customers who were twerking in his restaurant and different people's opinions on that 9:25 Flame shares a little background story of his journey of how he used to steal identities and flip people's credit and then use it 17:31 Flame talks about why he always wanted to look different in a convention and how he used his different looks to get closer to people who showed hate or distrust towards him 19:31 Flame explains how he got loopholes to get inside someone's credit and use it to his own benefit 21:09 Flame talks about his method to max out 550 points in FICO scoring system to get the highest score available and also talk about the difference between the scoring models and why he took bad credit as opposed to taking good credit 24:25 Flame also talks about the Flame five pillars introducing the purdi system; the pay history, utilization, relationship, diversity and inquiries 35:29 Flame talks about another credit algorithm and how fast people can raise their credit scores 36:58 Flame also talks about the three ways that you can use to get approved for credit; automation, manual underwriting and team underwriting 37:47 Flame shares things that must occur in manual underwriting 41:54 Flame also talks about the importance of zooming out and looking at the bigger picture and not focusing on smaller things for you to raise the credit score Shows Mentioned: True Kitchen + Cocktails: A dynamic comfort food restaurant at its core created to deliver the best in food, drinks and vibes to Dallas and Texas. FICO: originally Fair, Isaac and Company, is a data analytics company based in San Jose, California focused on credit scoring services. Credit Karma: an American multinational personal finance company founded on March 8, 2007 by Kenneth Lin, Ryan Graciano and Nichole Mustard that offers free credit scores, reports and insights. https://www.creditchecktotal.com/ https://adoseofdissruption.libsyn.com/2020 Quotes Mentioned: “The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for.” “You should always act right.” “The onus is on the business owner.” “When there's too many people involved, I can find a loophole.“ “Do what you said you're going to do.” “Every person that I've ever met that was debt free is broke.” “There's no way that you can win the game without being in debt.” “Any time that the relationship is altered by one person doing way more than the other person, that relationship is going to have a strain.” “No matter what a mom's doing, she makes it look easy.” “Ask or beg.” “We all hate beggars.” “Your debt is a part of your wealth.” “It's not about the credit score; it's about the contents that all the credit profile.” “The quality of banks differs because the underwriters are different and they understand what it takes to get there.” “Everybody is so focused on the ball itself that they can't make a play.” “Look for somebody who's looking for you.” Guests Social Media Links: https://www.facebook.com/followflame1127 flame@flamenewton.com https://theschoolofcredit.com/about-tsoc/ www.accesstomoney.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/flame-newton-62b640117/

Whether you are idea shuffling, side hustling, or growing a business, moving from working in your business to working on your business is always the goal. A Dose of Disruption with your host, venture capitalist, Shelly Bell, will feature random thoughts, rants, and stories from entrepreneurs and established business owners to give you insights on how to grow your business cents.   Tech Entrepreneur and Venture Catalyst Shelly Bell brings you rants, stories, and compelling conversations on how to disrupt industries, raise capital, and build your tribe by moving people into your rhythm. Make sure to subscribe, rate, & review!