Millennials Don't Suck

This week I spoke to Andrew Dunn, the founder of Siempo about building tech to fight digital addiction, how the world will change because of equity crowdfunding, and the race to the bottom of the brain stem. Andrew Murray Dunn is an Oakland-based entrepreneur and community builder who envisions a world in which technology protects and promotes human thriving. Prior to leading Siempo, Andrew was an early employee at Flexport ($3B+) and studied operations at UPenn Wharton (‘12).

I had the pleasure of sitting down at the home of Brandon Kleinman, founder of Laurel & Wolf and Vesta Home, about how he got his entrepreneurial start, how his 20s and 30s have differed, and why every little bit of experience along the way ends up mattering. Brandon got his professional start in the epicenter of story, Disney. There, Brandon was one of the first to recognize and utilize social media throughout Disney's parks and resort business. Following that, he created stories for some of the best brands in the world as the digital strategy head of TBWAChiatDay, where he earned Cannes Golden Lion, FWA Site of the month, and a host of other awards.

I interviewed Shaina Conners, COO of Global Sisterhood, about scaling a community, trusting her instincts, and moving cities. This is one of my favorite conversations in a long time. In talking to Shaina, it just really feels like she *gets it*. I'm not sure exactly what I mean by that, but I have a feeling you'll understand once you listen to this episode...

I set down with Amelia Baker and Mackenzie Munro, founders of Blonde Mamba. Frustrated with the quality and focus of content that was being made for teen and twenty-something audiences, Blonde Mamba was formed by a group of Gen Z creatives and digital influencers to develop and produce projects for mainstream networks and platforms, emerging digital content services, and brand partners. Between LA, London and Toronto, their team has developed content for platforms such as Snapchat Discover and Facebook Watch, as well as delivering internationally award winning short films.

This week I spoked to actor and influencer Veronika Dash about moving beyond the typecast, learning through mistakes, and the importance of timing. Veronika graduated, Magna Cum Laude, from the ‘School Of Dramatic Arts’ at the prestigious University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre. Upon graduation, she has become bicoastal, traveling between New York City and Los Angeles to work on upcoming pilots, films, and theater projects.  In her latest work, Dash can be seen alongside Jane Fonda and Harvey Keitel in the feature film "Youth," or La Giovinezza, directed by Oscar-Winner Paolo Sorrentino.

I sat down with filmmaker and thinker Michael Morgenstern to talk about his fascination with truth, the Internet, and how reality is becoming more and more warped each day. I found our discussion to be both terrifying and fascinating, but hearing how creative Michael gets in his pursuit of art is nothing short of inspiring to me. Check out his website here: http://everythingisfilm.com/ And follow him on Twitter too: https://twitter.com/mikemorgenstern

This week I spoke to Jenna Hage-Hassan of 4Thought Studios, an app development company based out of Detroit. Her and her team are working to change the narrative about digital technology and how it can benefit our lives, and are launching their first app to try and help Detroiters find more places around the city to explore. We had a lovely conversation about all that she’s up to, and she explained how she’s taken the unorthodox path to tech through two geology degrees, one in Lebanon(!).

I had the wonderful pleasure of spending 36 hours with Matt last week, and brought along the microphones in case our conversation veered into documentable territory. We talk about his recovery and the ebbs and flows of feeling hopeful and hopeless, and about how the timeline for recovery is completely dependent on the individual, and how he finds that freeing. I am blown away by the wisdom and the thoughtfulness that he effortlessly displays. I love this conversation and this man very much.

Ahmed Baba never fails to put the news in context of the larger picture, and today was no exception. We unpack the Roger Stone indictment, the latest in the government shutdown saga, and then go through a rapid fire overview of the #TrumpRussia collusion/conspiracy. Strange times.

One thing I love about interviewing people across such a wide spectrum is humans is that I get to learn about worlds that I would otherwise never explore. Today is no different. Cody Wheat is a Brand Ambassador for Sazerac, so basically his job is to be an evangelist for bourbon, and he also hosts the Shots of History podcast, in which he does these amazing deep-dives into the history of different spirits. So basically the dude knows booze, and as a minimal drinker myself, I'm a total novice. After this hour, I'm considerably more educated! I hope you enjoy.

Missy Modell is a creative in the most 2019 way possible. She writes songs for Netflix movies, advises brands who want to make an impact, and hosts her own digital TV show discussing taboo topics with other badass women. We sat down on her couch for an afternoon and talked about all these things, and more, while her two adopted Maltese pooches slept on her lap.

Ben Brown reached out to me over a year ago after hearing about the podcast and noticing the chance for collaboration. We chatted, and our shared vision for a future where young people had more of a role in policymaking was inspiring. A few months ago, we started our official collaboration, and it has been an honor to become a partner of the Association of Young Americans. It’s crazy that this organization didn’t exist before Ben started it, but now that it’s here, we’re already seeing results. We dive deep in this interview into how AYA started, the benefits of membership, and what their lobbyists are doing in Washington advocating for education reform.

This is a little bit of a different episode. Ben Lee interviewed me for his podcast, Rootstrap Radio, and I had so much fun with it that we decided to run it on the MDS feed as well. We dug down deep into the world of podcasting, our crazy political landscape, and life as a 20-something Angeleno. Check out his podcast and give it a subscribe if you enjoy. As I discuss further on the pod, my family home burned down last week. So, I apologize for the lack of posting/communicating from our various channels the past 10 days or so. These are trying times, but we are thankful for the chance to rebuild and move forward.

I interviewed Max Carver a few weeks ago and had my first ever technical difficulty. The interview got erased, and I called him apologetically asking for more of his time. So you’re hearing round two, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We talk politics, sobriety, how social media is slowly killing our society, and how acting has become just one tool in his arsenal of expression. We take a lot of twists and turns in this one. Enjoy. Have you voted yet!?!?? ELECTION DAY IS TODAY! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTE!!!!!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Radha Agrawal last year over the interwebs about the incredible community she's built with Daybreaker. Fast forward to now, she's now written Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life, and is on a book tour and happened to be in Los Angeles. I had her over for an afternoon on the couch, and we talked about the loneliness epidemic that is infecting everything from politics to romance. She made me cry multiple times, because it hit me like a ton of bricks just how lonely so many of us are. The work Radha is doing is so necessary, and I am continually blown away by how much of a badass she is.

I spoke to Britt Basel about her work helping sustain and preserve indigenous communities around the world, the work she's done in Mexico bringing clean water to remote communities, and the time she's spent with National Geographic leading photography expeditions.

I visited the Koio founders Chris and Johannes at their new Abbot Kinney store and learned about how why they started a shoe company and what's made it successful. We had to be out in the wild for this one, and even got kicked off a lawn at one point!

This week I talked to performance coach Fabrice Gautier about working with NBA players, how generations of high-performing athletes differ, and why mental health is just as important as physical health.

This week I spoke to Taylor Sharp, who directed an amazing new documentary called Hoops Africa, a collection of stories celebrating the growth of basketball on the African continent. We talked about our shared love of the continent, how he came to be a filmmaker (hint, not planned), and I enviously nerded out about all the NBA greats he got to meet while shooting this film.

Leah V. is a plus-size hijabi model, body-positive activist, and freelance writer. While attending her master’s program, she started to blog because she had gone through several eating disorders and was tired of sucking her stomach in while in public. She began being more candid about her struggles as a fat, Black Muslim growing up in Detroit and has been featured in HuffPost, Elle Magazine, and Buzzfeed. Just to name a few. When I had the chance to speak with her last week, we talked about her personal hero’s journey and why she was inspired to zig as an influencer when everyone else zagged. Within five minutes of talking to her, you can immediately tell that Leah is a special human being, someone who’s story is worth hearing. Check Leah out on on Instagram @Lvernon2000 Snapchat: LeahVDaily Facebook: Beauty and the Muse  Youtube: Leah Vernon Tumblr: Lvernon20

In light of another crazy week in Trump’s America, and today’s news that Paul Manafort is cooperating with Special Counsel Mueller’s probe, I had to get my buddy Ahmed Baba from Rantt back on the pod to help unpack these developments and put them in context for us. Ahmed also writes a wildly entertaining/informative/terrifying column called Unpresidented, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t had the chance to.

This week I spoke to Founder and CEO of Sukoon, Arshiya Kherani, about why she decided to create a line of modest activewear, what wearing the hijab means to her as a practicing Muslim, and the breadth of her experiences as a female entrepreneur in New York City.

This week I talked with Christopher Rivas about his obsession with storytelling, our shared distaste for social media in the context of it being more necessary than ever to curate a "personal brand," and why he stayed in Windsor Castle this summer.  The LA Times once wrote about Chris, "Christopher Rivas radiates a kind of organic manliness and decay; this confident joyfulness that says so much about the nature of war and the meaning of life. "  If that isn't badass, I don't know what is. Enjoy.

This week I spoke to CEO of Entertainment Design Corporation, Alex Calle about how the theme park industry is innovating, how his single mom used community theater in place of finding a babysitter, and the time his company built two dancing cranes.  Alex takes a unique approach to directing, producing, and design, utilizing his background in theatre to above all, tell a story. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, he has worked on Film, Television, Theater, Themed Entertainment, and Public Art Installations all over the world. Alex also serves as CEO of Entertainment Design Corporation (EDC), a company comprised of over 30 artists that designs and produces Branding Icon Attractions, Themed Retail Experiences, and Live Shows. In recent years, Alex worked on installing two 20-million-dollar Branding Icon Attractions for the Galaxy Entertainment group in Macau, and two E-Ticket Dreamworks attractions for Dubai Parks and Resorts’ Motiongate Themepark. Before that, Alex was based in Singapore bringing EDC’s Crane Dance project to life—a 70-million dollar Branding Icon for Resorts WorldSentosa. Alex’s film and television productions include the MTV MovieAwards, Pirates of the Caribbean II and III, and Starz’s Magic City. He has also served as the Art Director and Co-Designer for EDC’s last seven designs for Princess Cruises.

I spoke to T1 Advertising CEO Tommy Herd about the necessity of failure, the joy that comes from your internal vision for life matching your external manifestations, and how he builds a trajectory architecture for his brand clients.

This week I spoke to Eamon Armstrong about festival culture, our current crisis of masculinity, and went into great detail about his recent 10-day hallucinogenic ritual experience in Gabon. This one is nuts...

This week I spoke to Evora (Sergio) Baden about why we're all just looking for acceptance, how she discovered Evora, and her reasons for leaving San Francisco.  We've camped together at Burning Man for years but I had never had the chance to hear Evora's full story. It was an honor and a privilege.

I spoked to Thomas Doochin this week about why giving is so important, where our society is following short, and how our generation might change our collective trajectory.  Thomas is the founder of Daymaker, a digital giving platform that is the first of its kind. The company, which partners with local chapters of high-impact non-profits across the country, is the only online giving website that allows donors to purchase real gifts for kids in need year-round.  Thomas came up with the idea of Daymaker while studying for his undergraduate degree at UNC, and officially launched the company in 2015. To date, Thomas has lead Daymaker in facilitating giving for over 10,000 families in 48 states and 17 countries, helping more than 30,000 kids.

I had the chance to sit down with one of my favorite people this week, Ryan Jancula. We talked about the economic difficulties our generation is facing, creative ways to become a homeowner, and how he was able to set goals for himself and then execute on his vision.  At just 28, Ryan has built a team of real estate agents that sold more than $56 million in real estate last year, and was recently named to multiple 30 under 30 lists for Real Estate.

This week I spoke to Christina Bushner, a costumer in the Film and TV world out here in Los Angeles and an all-around badass. We spoke about the struggles she had to overcome as a teen spending time in juvenile hall and how she's built a life for herself in the world of entertainment.  I actually met Christina more than three years ago and didn't know how incredible her story was until we sat down for this interview. She's the perfect example of the thesis of our podcast, and it was an honor to hear her story.

I spoke with author Seamus Kirst about battling addiction, the joy and struggle of being #selfemployed, and his podcast, Mental Health Hangouts.  Seamus Kirst is the author of the memoir, “Shitfaced: Musings of a Former Drunk.” He is also a podcast host, freelance journalist, speaker and stand-up comedian. Seamus has written for publications including The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, Forbes.com, Vice.com, Refinery29, Advocate.com, HuffPost and UpWorthy. Check out the rest of our podcast episodes at www.millennialsdontsuck.com and follow us @mdspodcast on Twitter!

Matt joined me this week to talk to Satya Bhabha about creating massive immersive theater experiences, the influence of his Indian heritage on his life, and how acting has impacted his trajectory.  Satya's newest project is The Headlands Gamble, an extraordinary weekend trip for two with a thrilling storyline woven through it. You and a partner will be the detectives in an immersive mystery story set amidst some of the most beautiful locations in the North Bay.

I spoke to Khalila Archer, Program Director for iBme, about the value of community in a young person's life, how mindfulness isn't a "quick-fix" like it's sometimes described, and the importance of getting quiet in a world that seems louder every day.

This week I talked to Erica Mandy, an award-winning TV news reporter and host of the daily news podcast, theNewsWorthy, about making the transition from TV journalism to entrepreneurship. We talk about the difficulties she's faced in being her own boss, why neutral/unbiased news is more important than ever, and what it was like to work for a Sinclair-owned news station.  As a TV news reporter, Erica was live on the scene during terrorist attacks, wildfires and federal court rulings, to name a few.  She's interviewed politicians, CEOs, experts, and everyday people doing extraordinary things. Erica quit her job as a Los Angeles TV news reporter to launch theNewsWorthy: a daily roundup of politics, tech, business and entertainment that makes it faster, easier and way more fun to get all the news you need to know.

This week I spoke to Curtis Roberts, a young lawyer who spends his time helping small startups navigate the confusing legal world we live in. We talked startups, catching the travel bug, and the joy and struggle in being self-employed.  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mdspodcast Check out our website for show-notes and other fun stuff: www.millennialsdontsuck.com

I spoke to Matt Rizzetta, CEO of North 6th Agency, about building a company from his basement to 50 employees and offices in three cities, the challenges of balancing entrepreneurship and family life, and the trends he sees in public relations in the next couple of years.  Matt has served as CEO since N6A’s inception. Under his leadership, N6A has been ranked as the #1 fastest-growing agency in the United States in its revenue category by O’Dwyers, as well one of the 50 most powerful agencies in the United States by the Observer. Matt has been instrumental in creating N6A’s “Compete and Care” culture and “Embrace the Pace” atmosphere, which have been lauded as the most rewarding, collaborative and unique in the agency world by Forbes, Monster.com, New York Post, Chief Learning Office Magazine, Entrepreneur, and others.

This week, Matt rejoined me on the mic to interview the truly breathtaking poet, Jeremy Radin. We talked acting, poetry, life, and death, and Jeremy read some of his favorite poems for us. This was a beautiful afternoon, and I'm glad to share it.

This week I had the pleasure of talking to Kaniela Ing, who's honest and transparent campaign has helped his speeches go viral, gaining him national recognition. We talked about his reasons for running for congress, the sacrifices he's had to make, and how he made a name for himself standing up to Mark Zuckerberg.

This week I spoke to Susan Shain, an expert on the mysterious and fantastical world of seasonal jobs. She told me all about this population of nomads that travel with the seasons and work in exotic destinations all over the world, and how she has built community despite her lack of a home base.  Susan recently finished her first book, The Ultimate Guide to Seasonal Jobs, and writes all the time on her website, susanshain.com.

This week I spoke to Jordan Gross, the author of Getting COMFY about the life-changing benefits of developing a morning routine, foregoing his day job to pursue his passion, and what he learned from his greatest fuck-up.

I spoke to Vartika Ambwani a few months back about the challenges that come with scaling startups, the value added by diversity of thought on executive teams, and what it’s like being a woman of color in Silicon Valley.  Vartika is Director of Marketplace Operations at RealtyShares, an Advisor/Mentor at 500 Startups, Nasdaq, and First Round Capital.

I had a wide-ranging conversation with Ben Lee, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of the mobile app development company, Rootstrap.  We talked about his strategies in entrepreneurship (“I assume everybody is full of shit until proven otherwise"), the importance of decoupling business and personal relationships, and how the speed with which the Internet/social media can destroy someone's life has turned dystopian.

I spoke to Elyssa Feder, the founder of Rising Organizers, about how power dynamics are vital to understanding political organizing, her own come-to-Jesus moment after the 2016 election, and why she stopped being a Republican.  Rising Organizers provides mentorship, training, and strategy consulting work to other new and developing organizers and groups. They also run an intensive 8-week fellowship program to train new activists to become skilled organizers.

In light of everyone suddenly realizing Facebook knows everything about us and maybe isn't so great, I brought Brian Swichkow back on the show to talk about the technical details of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, what "Big Data" actually means, and what this Brave New World might actually look like for the next decade. Brian first became internet famous as the "guy who pranked his roommate with Facebook ads and made Facebook change their Terms of Service" and is best known as the Founder of Ghost Influence; the first paid Slack Community.

I spoke to Courtney Boyd Myers a few weeks ago about working to create a vertically-integrated food company from scratch, the power of building community through Summit Series, and how she got the idea to make kelp jerky. No intro in this episode as I am a sick boy this week and my voice is gone :)

This week I talked to Carri Twigg about the existential crisis she faced after achieving her childhood dream before she reached 30, the tug-of-war that's taking place between culture and demography in America, and what it was like to work in Obama's White House.  Carri was an Associate Director in the Office of Public Engagement and served as the White House liaison to the labor community. Before this, Carri served as the Labor Outreach Director at the Democratic National Committee during the 2012 election cycle, as well as for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. She is now the COO of Revolve Impact, and you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

I started following Seth Abramson on Twitter more than a year ago, and saw his feed as a keyhole into Robert Mueller's investigation. I found his ability to sift the signal from the noise in the realm of Trump-Russia investigation to be unparalleled, and have been simultaneously pleased that he's been right about everything thus far and horrified that he's been right about everything thus far.  In this interview, we talk about how this past year of Twitter notoriety has affected him personally, his broad explanation of the different threads that Robert Mueller might be looking at, and what gives him hope that we will be able to get off this knife's edge

I talked to Nathan Rubin, the founder of Millennial Politics, about young people being shocked out of apathy by Donald Trump, Twitter's bot problem, and the potential for new technologies to further erode our ability to discern fact from fiction.

I spoke to 24 year-old Spencer Bounds about why he decided to run for Texas House of Representatives against a 50-year incumbent, the dark money flowing through Texas politics, and why he left the Republican party.

I talked to Sarah McBride, the author of newly released book "Tomorrow Will Be Different," about being an advocate for trans youth in the context of the Trump Administration, why we have such a hard time talking about death, and what makes us hopeful. Sarah is the first trans person to address a national political convention and the Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. Joe Biden also wrote the foreword to her book! So that's pretty cool...

This week I talked to Jesse Damiani about what's new in cryptocurrency, cutting-edge trends in VR and my fear of a dystopian future (I just watched Altered Carbon and was very freaked out), and his biggest fuck-up (hint: it has to do with auditioning for a reality show...).  Jesse is Editor-at-Large for VRScout, CEO of Galatea Design, a regular contributor at Forbes, and the co-founder of Best American Experimental Writing.  He also actually looks like Thor and it's ridiculous.