Know First

Alex Maier is a husband and a father to 2 boys. He’s a singer-songwriter, producer, trumpet and guitar player, AND in the coming months, after years of planning and pining to do so, Alex and his family will find themselves moving from his native Chicago, Illinois to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a full-time career in music. Alex is a well-known fashion and art photographer as well as the creative director at BLVDier, a custom men’s clothing company in Chicago. In what spare time he can find, he loves to pursue athletic endeavors, like boxing and rowing. He’s a good friend of mine, and he’s the author of the theme song you’re listening to right now.

Bo Nelson is the co-owner of Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters in Kansas City. In his cafes, Bo seamlessly blends rural and urban life, a reflection he says of the city he serves. Bo grew up on a farm, working his family’s 10-acre nursery where he honed his horticultural skills, learned the basics of business and developed a healthy work ethic that shows up in everything he does.

Ana Andjelic is a strategy executive and the author of The Business of Aspiration. Forbes lists her among The World’s Most Influential CMOs. She specializes in — building brand-driven modern businesses. Ana earned her doctorate in sociology and worked at many of the world’s top brands and advertising agencies. She is a widely read columnist, an in-demand speaker and a highly regarded advisor. 

As this is the week of Thanksgiving, and as I am a week away from entering my fourth decade on earth, I’m overcome with reflection, contemplating what has comprised my life, and my wife has been quick to point out, I’m going through a very typical midlife crisis in an otherwise atypical time, a time in which our collective human experience has met possibly its truest test.... Oh, and we're moving back to Chicago.

This week it’s my pleasure to welcome onto the Know First Podcast a couple of friends who just announced their engagement. Seattle native Stacey Rozich and Milwaukee native Sam Macon now reside in Los Angeles, California with their two cats. Stacey is an artist, illustrator and accidental muralist. Sam is a writer and director of various motion picture projects across a spectrum of styles, profitability and running time. 

Paul Munford is the founder of Lean Luxe, a newsletter for the modern luxury business set, sharing noteworthy developments happening in retail. Launched in July 2016, Lean Luxe is a big picture briefing on the businesses, personalities, and broader trends driving modern luxury and the HENRY (High Earner Not Rich Yet) economy.

Jessica Murnane is a creative consultant, the founder of Know Your Endo, and the author of the One Part Plant cookbook. Her next book, Know Your Endo: An Empowering Guide To Health + Hope With Endometriosis will be released this coming April.

My wife Marla Wastler is a twenty year veteran of the publishing industry, working as a sales director for titles like Cosmopolitan, Food & Wine and Domino Magazine. Earlier this month, she made a serious career pivot going to work for an experiential marketing agency and fabricator called Star, builders of branded environments that enhance in-person and virtual experiences through discovery and storytelling.

Ernest Wilkins is a writer and media entrepreneur whose work has appeared in publications like the Chicago Tribune, Complex, GQ, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Find his work and subscribe to his popular daily email newsletter, Office Hours, and be on the lookout for his new project Gameday Grails. 

Sarah Shelton is a community activist based in St. Louis, Missouri. She’s the founder of Girl Louie, a creative storytelling organization whose mission is to help women claim their spaces, define their voices, and help them grow their businesses. She focuses on providing a platform for women to learn, grow and support one another.

Ryan Martin is the owner of denim label, W.H. Ranch Dungarees. A 2004 graduate of the Apparel and Textile Design program at Kansas State University, Ryan’s training prepared him to make the finest pair of couture jeans on the market. Various publications have called W.H. Ranch one of the best denim labels in the world. After years of methodically building a following for his handmade denim in Colorado, Martin relocated to his hometown of Kansas City in 2017 with his five children and wife of fourteen years.

Lauren Yates is the designer and creative director of W'menswear, an independent brand for hard-hitting women. You may also know her from her blog Ponytail Journal, from her excellent cooking videos on Youtube, her podcast, The Ponytail Show, and from her time writing for Vogue Australia. 

Lauren and Josh Block live in Fort Worth, Texas with their 4-&-1/2-year-old daughter. Lauren is the founder and owner of Hey Gang!, a kids (and now adults!) clothing brand. She cut her teeth at Austin boutiques The Royal Family and bows + arrows and after that she built Shinola’s wholesale business. Josh is a musician and studio owner. He’s produced chart-topping records for talented musicians like Leon Bridges, Robert Ellis and Lola Kirke. Before he founded Fort Worth’s Niles City Sound, he was the drummer in the band White Denim. He holds a degree in Jazz Studies, and he’s excited to announce that his second recording space, Salad House, is on schedule to open by year’s end.

My 9yo step-daughter lives in St. Louis, Missouri with me, her mother, her sister and her cat. When she's not remote learning because of COVID-19, you can find her playing lacrosse, basketball or boxing. She loves to binge watch Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Scooby Doo, Who's the Boss? and The Golden Girls all while making creations with her beloved Magic Clay. She recently received two Alex Morgan Barbie Dolls which she'd like to give away to two lucky listeners.

Jorge Suquet is an actor based in Madrid, Spain. We trained together at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. It was there that we became friends, and we have remained close friends for the past sixteen years. You’ll learn a little bit about the path Jorge has taken since our lives took us away from New York City. I encourage you to seek out his body of work. He references many Spanish properties like Freedom and Angel o Demonio, and he displays his abilities as an English actor on the Starz program, Black Sails as well as Isabel Coixet’s The Bookshop, co-starring Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, and Bill Nighy.

A 20 year employee of Patagonia, Kourtney Morgan is the senior designer on Patagonia’s sportswear team designing all things fleece. She is also the creative director for Recrafted, a Patagonia project begun in collaboration with the company’s Worn Wear project first developed to act as a set of tools to help customers take the position of mutual responsibility… extending the life of the products Patagonia makes by providing significant resources for responsible care, repair, reuse, resale, and recycling at the end of a garment's life. Recrafted features up-cycled clothing and a variety of bags from used garments and liability fabrics. It was due in part to the Recrafted project that Kourtney was listed in this month’s Fast Company Magazine as one of the most creative people in business, alongside the likes of covergirl and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, Joy Buolamwini, actor Ryan Reynolds, choreographer Twyla Tharp, and Kourtney’s personal favorite, singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, artist, actor, writer, music theorist, and filmmaker, former Talking Head David Byrne. 

A. Micah Smith is an Art Director in Kansas City who specializes in illustration, campaigns & brand design. His goal for every one of his projects is to make his audience smile. He believes humor and happiness are the keys to scaling the walls of doubt or distrust and ultimately they are essential in bringing people and new ideas together. He began his career making shirts and posters for his favorite bands and has since created campaigns and experiences for clients like TED, Target, ESPN, and Pepsi. He's been fortunate to have his work recognized in many books and magazines and most recently on his Mom’s refrigerator.

“And We’re Back!” Call it a comeback. Know First is a podcast filled with stories and conversations that will connect you with the simple fact that the only way to succeed is to try and try again. Weekly conversations with thought-leaders who’ve faced challenges and lived to tell the tale. It’s all designed to inspire and re-energize the drive innate in all of us.