Faces of Marketing

And just a month later, the brutal murder of George Floyd has sparked so many powerful conversations within the organization about racial equity. Traci is a natural leader and feels that running Friends of the Children- Portland is her calling. Growing up in NE Portland, Traci tells her story of living 2 lives — one in her predominantly African-American neighborhood and the other of where her mainly-white private school Catlin Gabel was on a 50 acre property in the woods. She is the daughter of legendary Kay Toran who runs Volunteers of America- Oregon, and has a beautiful relationship with her mom. One of her defining life moments was when her Dad died at just 42 years old and the powerful, positive impact he made on her life with the advice of always being the best at whatever she wanted to be.

Alice shares her story of growing up in Hong Kong and being the first in her family to graduate from college (halfway around the world at University of London). She also overcame a huge fear of public speaking and is a prominent keynote speaker on empowering women (and some men as well) on taking control of their financial lives.

Felicia is a long-term data queen and knows that showing (not telling) results leads to funding and growth of key initiatives that deliver systemic changes for thousands of folks who've been overlooked or struggled because of their race or gender or identity.

This podcast covers entrepreneurs like Kate Day who have a positive affect on their community, and what’s fascinating to me about Kate's story is that she created a powerful community in a few years that I never knew existed - women who garden or work outside who also want to feel good and have a sense in dignity in going out in public without having to change their work clothes. This spark of an idea has become a significant company called Dovetail Workwear with thousands of women all over the country as diehard loyalists to the brand.

I’m here with my Dad, Bob Buchanan. He happens to also be the best man in my wedding 19 yrs ago and my life + business mentor who invariably has a life lesson in nearly every conversation we have - it’s exhausting but endearing. Dad is a third-generation real estate developer and has run Buchanan Partners in the Greater Washington DC area for nearly 50 years. The core of what Dad believes in is family first and community a close second. He founded an economic development non-profit called The 2030 Group a decade ago and was instrumental in recently bringing Amazon HQ2 (2nd headquarters) for the Washington DC area.

I’m here with my Mom, Sharon Buchanan. She’s one of the most loving, engaging, dynamic, and entertaining people I’ve ever known. Mom is also an entrepreneur + founder of an art consulting company called Artists Circle that she started 48 years ago. Mom is the center of the family and has made a name for herself as a true leader in the art community in the Greater Washington DC area. She shares her life journey + entrepreneurial journey as one of few women business owners in the early 1970’s.

Ben McKinley, founder of Cascade Web Development, has been plugged into the Portland entrepreneur, tech, and business community, but where Ben's heart really sings is in mentoring 9-18 year old kids as the Head Coach of the MRT big mountain ski race team at Mt. Hood. All that stems from a his childhood experience of ski racing transforming his life from an insecure, chubby kid to a confident ski racer filled with joy with just being on the mountain. When Ben lost his Mom at 14 years old, skiing and mountain sports have taken on an everlasting spiritual connection to his mother who supported Ben in every way and was a role model for him of someone who followed her passions into adulthood and balancing that with always putting family first.

Su Embree and I first met 8 years ago in a small CEO group in the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). From then on, we became fast friends and it has led to some amazing collaborations, including me following her as a President of EO Portland. Su also joined as a co-founder of Emerging Leaders 3 years ago. In this episode, which first aired 20 months ago, you'll see Su exude warmth and wisdom, leading from her incredibly strategic mind and huge heart.

Kali Thorne Ladd has a unique ability in creating community among totally different groups of people and bringing them all together where we all feel a sense of belonging and beloved community. Nowhere is this seen more than in TASTE for Equity.

Jelani is a black man married to a white woman and they have a blended family of 6 kids and the topic of race comes up often in life and in conversation with the kids, so Jelani wrote a straight-forward book about it called "A Kids Book About Racism." That book sparked conversation and interest from all of his adult friends because it gave kids and adults permission to talk about such a difficult topic. What started as a small project is now a series of a dozen books around racism, feminism, body image, cancer, belonging, gratitude, and launching 30 new books every year!

Lou Radja, founder of Be More Give More, is a leadership coach around success and significance. Lou talks about the importance of finding what your personal hashtag is for this upcoming year + decade!

After moving 13 times in the first 8 yrs of her life, Sadie Lincoln grew up on a commune in Eugene, Oregon. At 21 yrs old, she had a vision of becoming a teacher of teachers in the fitness + wellness world. A dozen years later, that vision became barre3 - creating a movement of 100,000+ women in 100+ countries around the world.

Doug Johanson, CEO of Vista Capital Partners, leads the most intentional lives of anyone I know. He seemingly designed his entire life in high school, and it was all going according to a dreamy plan, until the plan fell apart when his wife Kristen was diagnosed with cancer and his 9-year-old son said "Dad, I'm having trouble breathing" and nearly died from a tumor in his stomach from Burkitt's Lymphoma. Fortunately, his wife beat cancer and his son Cole overcame lymphoma, but all of Doug's work and family and community commitments piled on and Doug began to have serious anxiety attacks. It was a wake up call for him to start creating real boundaries and taking care of himself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Doug recently completed a 10-day SILENT meditation retreat and meditates for an hour six days every week. The benefits are transformative and it's made how he engages with his family, his company, and the non-profit he co-founded, Beaverton High School Success Fund, so much more effective + meaningful.

Shari grew up in Milwaukie, Wisconsin in a working class, black neighborhood where she played with friends in the streets until dark. She has an intense pride in her Midwest upbringing and the value of work ethic and strong values. She majored in Philosophy in college and is fascinated by how systems work. Shari became a lawyer, then a TV news anchorwoman, then was recruited to run Dress for Success in Portland. She credits her childhood lemonade stand as the entrepreneur experience that has started her obsession with innovating.

Duncan Campbell, founder of Friends of the Children, grew up tough with mom and dad most often drunk or in jail, and he used that as motivation to become one of Oregon's most successful entrepreneurs with starting + growing a timber investing company Campbell Global and then starting Friends of the Children, Oregon's #1 Most Admired Non-profit for the past 5 years in a row. Duncan has story after story about perseverance and optimism in the face of bleak obstacles, but the current story playing out in his life is legacy and significance (success is secondary). The innovative Friends of the Children model of paid professional mentors matched with a small group of the most vulnerable children started in Portland as just an idea, backed by research, and has changed thousands of kids (and families) lives over the past 26 years. In just the past 7 years, Duncan has grown the impact of this model from 5 city chapters to 21 cities and growing. Each city requires a minimum $1.5M investment and a long-term commitment to the work.

The cops drove him to a homeless shelter and the Exec Director vouched for him to get 100% government assistance to pay rent for a year. Even with that, he got denied from dozens of vacant apartments because of his eviction + credit history. That gave Tyrone the idea to start OneApp, which is now rapidly transforming from a free rental application website and mobile app to be the only app that can be used to stay in compliance with Portland, Oregon and Minnesota’s new FAIR housing laws that take effect in just a few months. This means Tyrone has to scale a software team, negotiate with elected officials and landlords, fundraise $1M from investors, AND raise 5 young girls with his amazing wife. No problem, right?

When asked who inspires her most right now, she gives a key insight about Portland, describing a man on the Ross Island bridge who makes hats and invariably has a smile on his face. “He doesn’t have a sign, he hasn’t asked for anything. But he is just there working his craft every day.” 

Patrick is an Oregonian through and through — growing up in NE Portland and then Corbett at 12 yrs old. He was an incredibly independent and driven kid — in sports + academics, which led him to become the first in his family to go to college and eventually Harvard Business School. He credits the leadership training academy at P&G as the most impactful thing in his early professional years. The most painful thing he has ever endured was a turn-around at Farmer Brothers where he was working 24/7 for the largest shareholders who were the grandkids of the company founder. They hired private investigators to talk to his friends and follow him every day and yet Patrick resolved to serve them with grace and with excellence, successfully turning the company around. Tune into this podcast interview between Patrick and me.

Always humble, Monica shares her passion for being engaged in the community started in high school and continues to this day with entrepreneurship + tech at her kids high school and with Techtown Diversity Pledge initiative. She got the idea to start Zapproved in 2008 when seeing this huge shift of companies needing to store their data in the cloud. The company started as a general document + message collaboration tool and quickly found its niche in legal e-discovery software. Monica has had to work through the narrative in her head that she learned in society and in her family that girls can’t do everything boys can do. She is proving that women are more than capable to run amazingly successful companies and be truly comfortable in their own skin — that’s what she values most in people and herself.

As with all of us, Ray’s journey has not been a straight line to where we are now. He grew up in Manhattan, and as a kid in the early 80's, he’d be on the NYC streets near a paper stand, wowing people with what a computer could do. As an introvert, this was mind-bending to experience the amazing possibilities of converting strangers into customers and friends. It gave him the confidence to start and build tech-related companies from nothing into real businesses. And that confidence was hugely important when he had to drop out of college for a year to care for his ailing Dad. Tune into Ray’s powerful story in this podcast episode.

Manisha Thakor is founder of MoneyZen and VP of Financial Wellbeing at Brighton Jones. Manisha explains how she is one of Portland's best kept secrets even though she has written two books that are huge sellers - one called “Get Financially Naked - how to talk money with your honey” and “On my Own Two Feet - a modern girl’s guide to personal finance” and has been featured over 100 times on CNN, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and many more major media players. In this podcast interview, Manisha is amazing at explaining complex personal finance issues into simple terms and explain the emotions behind why we spend and invest the way we do. She talks about the personal connection to how and why she became so passionate about empowering women in gaining confidence in making sound personal finance decisions. Despite her tremendous financial knowledge and success, Manisha has struggled with bipolar and is now a mental health advocate who was able to somehow “push through” her mental health until being properly diagnosed.

Beverage industry prodigy Joth Ricci is President of Dutch Bros, co-founder of TASTE: United for Equity, and godfather of cold brew, to name a few of his many hats. Though the road has not always been easy going, in the face of such challenges as a dramatic downturn from day one of his role heading Jones soda, Joth takes it all with positivity, perspective, and the mindset that we learn the most in difficult times. From an active childhood spent embracing the outdoors and small town life, Joth entered college in his hometown of Corvallis. He graduated with visions of teaching and coaching basketball, but landed in business and quickly flourished. Now, he sees companies as classrooms, where he has the opportunity to teach others and go together towards improvement and people-centered success.

Allie Magyar is founder + CEO of event tech software Hubb and owner of Dynamic Events. Failure is a word that no longer scares this serial entrepreneur, who thrives in the fast-paced world of events, tech - and cars. In high school, Allie was absorbed in import car culture. Turning wrenches and cruising Broadway at all hours would accelerate to bootstrapping and putting on her own car show at 18. Though for a moment she thought she might be a music teacher, she quickly dropped her flute and was drawn back into the events world. Off her early success, she built up a 6-year career running car shows. At a pivotal moment, she found herself on the Portland Expo Center floor, $100,000 in debt at age 24. Nowhere to go but up. In time, Allie's tenacity and passion brought her to lead two successful companies, and to recognize that if you're failing, you're learning: you can pick yourself up and achieve. Today, she shares this important message, using her voice to help change the conversation and make space for women in the tech and startup spheres.

Eileen Park is Director of Communications for Mayor of Portland Ted Wheeler. Nobody would have guessed that this self-described intensely shy girl from New Jersey would follow in the footsteps of her idol Diane Sawyer--except for Eileen herself, whose growing clarity of purpose and self-confidence in college manifested in the chance to intern at NBC as Diane’s assistant. Through this magical opportunity, and transformative experiences studying abroad in Cape Town, Eileen blossomed into a globe-trotting, fearless reporter, landing everywhere from Beirut to Myanmar until discovering herself at home in Portland 4 years ago. Eileen set down roots and soon became one of the city’s most trusted voices as a KOIN 6 news anchorwoman. Just 6 months ago, she made a huge career change and entered Portland’s political sphere to shift from adding to the noise to bringing substance and humanity to the center of our discourse; to engage the community and foster more layered conversations that move towards positive change.

Cinthia Manuel is the Director of Emerging Leaders, an initiative providing pathways to leadership for traditional and non-traditional students of color and aspiring professionals. Cinthia made Oregon her home after moving from Mexico with her parents and sister as a 13-year-old. After a string of blazing successes in the marketing + corporate sphere, she landed in the nonprofit world and now works tirelessly to make Portland a city that truly embraces the rich diversity in its own backyard. Cinthia’s unfailing smile and matchless work ethic were imbued by the tight knit, loving family she grew up surrounded by in Mexico City, where she played outside and enjoyed games of Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo her dad brought her from the US. Since her unexpected landing in Woodburn, OR as a teen, she has always loved her community + adopted home—but now she’s asking it to do and be more for its people, to become a place where all not only have opportunity, but feel welcome, wanted and a true sense of belonging.

Ana Chaud, Founder of Garden Bar is, a shape-shifting force of nature. She danced her way through her childhood, growing in independence while navigating the bustling streets of São Paulo and embracing her creativity and passions despite a rigidly academic school environment and narrow societal narrative on the “right” professions to pursue. The veggies her mother gave her to snack on would later inspire her to open what is now one of Portland’s fastest-growing chains. Ana often found herself wondering “what’s my next life?” and encourages us all to make the leap, as she did when she moved from Brazil to the US without speaking English or knowing a soul. Always one to land on her own two feet, she built a series of successful careers, from reluctant interior design intern to the powerhouse entrepreneur she is today.

Mark Bitterman, founder of The Meadow and eponymous Bitterman Salt Co., is at the forefront of the artisanal food movement. His blending of premium craft goods and masterful storytelling create not just exquisite products but meaningful experiences and relationships within his devoted customer base.  Mark's childhood practice of letter writing nurtured a way with words, which, along with a naturally acute sense for the tactile, informed an ability to help others see the beauty in the details. As a kid, he was such a loner that he raised a large community of rats in his backyard chicken coop in Santa Barbara and routinely brought home live rattlesnakes to Mom. Mark's charisma found him loner-come-student body president in high school and later a writer-come-handyman in France - not to mention launched his salt empire and won him a James Beard Award.

Jessi Duley is pure energy and a badass entrepreneur. She is the founder + CEO of BurnCycle and comes from a family of entrepreneurs - her Dad (also her hero) is on his seventh business as a founder. Jessi has created a diehard following of melt-your-face, ride-or-die workout customers who live and breath BurnCycle. In the first 3 years of the company, she opened a new location at the same time as giving birth to each of her 3 kids. One beautiful thing about this interview - I didn't expect the conversation to so openly go into her struggle with mental health and the ups and downs that go with that. You can't get much more human than this interview- take a listen!

Kali Thorne Ladd is one of the most dynamic social entrepreneurs I know. She is co-founder and Executive Director of KairosPDX, which started as a charter school in North Portland, primarily for kids of color and started a movement in Portland for delivering equitable education for underserved kids, their families and the community. A defining moment for Kali was serving in the Peace Corps in South Africa for 3 years after college. In a post-Apartheid society, she saw first-hand how education defines a society and was determined to come back to the US and create system change to a US education system that chronically fails black and brown students. Her non-profit, KairosPDX, is one of the few bright spots in Oregon equitable education that is a model for how to transform our curriculum nationwide.

My sister + best friend, Kirsten Quigley, is founder + CEO of LunchSkins - an eco-friendly alternative to Ziploc baggies designed to reduce plastic pollution and sold in Target grocery, Whole Foods, Container Store and hundreds of retailers across North America. Kirsten shares openly about the extreme stress of betting the company on a new product line of recyclable paper bags versus the reusable fabric bags that consumers were using for years. As kids, we had a bunch of weekend adventures at our Maryland farm, but the thing that most defined Kirsten between high school and college was an international trip to Southeast Asia where she discovered that she felt most alive in uncomfortable places and situations that were most out of her comfort zone. That has served her well throughout her life and especially as an entrepreneur.

Justin Riordan, the founder + mastermind behind the world's first ever Guaranteed home staging company called Spade + Archer, shares openly about his life journey + entrepreneur journey and gives some old school marketing tips of bringing it back to milk and cookies. Justin has had a massive personal growth year in 2018 - 1) he launched a risky new service called Guaranteed that had never been done before, 2)hadn't heard from his birth father in 20 years and found out he was recently convicted as a child molester, 3) then his warehouse burned down on 4th of July. All in a matter of a few months, and Justin talks about this "flopportunity" as it led to a new building twice the size at same cost, huge increase in profitability, and doubled the size of the staff and company. Solid Gold!

Cathey Armillas is a marketer, speaker, and author of “The Unbreakable Rules of Marketing” and “How to Rock a TED Talk.” Cathey is a speaker coach to me and some of the best TEDx speakers I’ve seen, including a bunch of our entrepreneur friends. What touched me the most about Cathey’s life story is the inspiration and profound love she has for her younger sister, Karen — a sister who showed up for her again and again through Cathey’s dire moments post-divorce or roller-coaster emotions starting her own business. All of it.

Augusto Carneiro, founder + CEO of Nossa Familia Coffee, which is Oregon’s first B-corp coffee roaster. He holds strong values where family is always first. He grew up in Rio de Janeiro, spent his free time with extended family at their farm / coffee plantation an 8 hour drive away in the Brazil highlands. Augusto reached out to 120 college tennis programs and University of Portland was the one that accepted him. He became an engineer but his passion was to connect his vocation with family — leading him to import coffee from his family’s farm in Brazil and Nossa Familia Coffee was born. Like many of us, he fell into becoming an entrepreneur and a self-taught marketer.

Lou Radja, founder + owner of Be More Give More is one of the warmest, most inviting people you'll ever meet. He regularly speaks in front of hundreds of people, exudes confidence, and practices what he preaches about leading a life of success and significance. Not only does he run a company that does executive coaching and leadership training, but he started a school called EduCongo to help educate 2,000 kids who would not otherwise receive an education. All of this success came from singular life moments of pain and hurt (failing a key test at a distinguished high school in the Congo, or adapting quickly to not knowing any English at 17 yrs old and moving from Africa to Ashland, Oregon). There are dozens of life lessons that are relatable to ALL of us - that Lou literally teaches us in these key nuggets of wisdom and elements of the secrets to life. It's a podcast interview you don't want to miss.

I had the chance to interview an old friend who I nearly killed (youthful bravado + inexperience) in a mountaineering climb up Mt. Hood 20 years ago - Tim Goldsmid, VP of Marketing at Jack Link's, the largest and tastiest beef jerky company in the country. Tim shares his story of a life turning point in college where he took a year off during college to work in Crested Butte, Colorado. From that point onwards, his career has taken off! Tim shares his take on how major consumer brands will need to adapt to hyper-personalize their marketing efforts to be relevant in the near future.

Learn how one of Oregon's top entrepreneurs, Jill Nelson - founder/CEO of Ruby Receptionists, overcame some significant challenges in high school to run a 500 employee company that is one of the nations' Best Companies to Work. Jill was highly influenced by her Mom who was an artist + forbid Jill and her brothers to play by the rules and her Dad was an engineer and creator of systems. Jill herself is this beautiful melding of Accountant / Creative / Rule-breaker / Entrepreneur.

Kim Malek, founder/CEO of Salt + Straw - the most iconic artisan ice cream company in Portland + the country, talks about overcoming a seemingly insurmountable challenge of her father's business + the family going bankrupt her freshman year in college. Kim worked her way through college at tiny coffee company called Starbucks + eventually lived her dream of starting an ice cream company. Oh, and Kim is a state champion Synchronized Swimmer, too. You'll learn all kinds of stuff in this podcast.

Su Embree has this unique skill of listening to anyone talk and getting a profound insight that even the presenter doesn't know. Su 'Data Queen' Embree became President of DHM Research 20 years ago and recently co-founded a non-profit called Emerging Leaders that is creating pathways to leadership for professionals of color from college to company executives. When Su was 10 yrs old, she wanted to be 3 things - a Spy, an owner of a B and B, and a CEO. She's on her way!

Intentions become Thoughts become Things. After moving 13 times in the first 8 yrs of her life, Sadie Lincoln grew up on a commune in Eugene, Oregon. At 21 yrs old, she had a vision of becoming a teacher of teachers in the fitness + wellness world. A dozen years later, that vision became barre3 - creating a movement of 100,000+ women in 98 countries around the world.

As a kid, Jenelle Isaacson wanted to be a Punk Rock Nun when she grew up. Part of her wish came true as the lead singer of punk rock band Spread Eagle which naturally led her into being a real estate agent + starting Living Room Realty. Jenelle created a niche with clients who didn't fit the "perfect image" mold.

Farhad is a mix between George Clooney, Elon Musk, and a UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug mascot. He is revolutionizing the car repair industry with his company Green Drop Garage and its membership-based model that now has over 1,600 monthly members.

Living in Uganda at 22 yrs old + managing 200 women workers brought Julie Sullivan face-to-face with labor strikes + advocating for women's safety. She matured decades in just a couple years and came back to Portland, Oregon to start Ground Up PDX - an almond + cashew butter company that is all about social good, too!

Growing up in the England, Rebecca Armstrong learned when to go with the flow and when not to. In the creative agency world, it's adapt or die. On a whim, she decided to hop the pond all the way to Portland, Oregon in 1992 and has been here ever since. She runs a bad ass branding agency called North.

As an 8 yr old boy, Eli Caudillo moved from Mexico to a tiny town in Washington called Trout Lake, near Mt. Adams. He was the first in his family to go to college and figured out from a standardized test that he was always meant to be a Designer!

Coach of one of world's top competitive Cheerleading Team + eROI Senior Strategist, Cher Fuller shares her life story of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Climbing the world's tallest fire-lookout tree in Western Australia in semester abroad at college changed Morgan Armstrong's life forever. Overcoming that fear of certain death has propelled her to new heights. The most human of Human Resources Directors, Morgan Armstrong shares her life story of knowing since she was a little kid that she was always going to grow up to be a BOSS. And guess what? She is a boss.

Digital Designer Elijah Graham shares his journey of Parkrose High School in Portland, to being first in his family to go to college. He played basketball at a California college and then finding his home at George Fox University and excelling in design.

Design Manager Nick Escobar talks about overcoming massive fear in public speaking to be an accomplished stand-up comedian and how that has helped him overcome challenges in becoming a leader in his design career.

Ryan Buchanan interviews Lead Software Engineer Heidi Olsen on all the things growing up in Minnesota that made Heidi who she is. Heidi talks about leaning into being uncomfortable in college and pursuing her passion in African-American studies and then into journalism, design, and how her career took her into coding and development of websites and marketing campaigns. We also explore what all of us as consumers should expect from brands on how we'll be influenced to buy things in the future.