Mindshare Matters

Cydni Tetro puts a lot of emphasis on family, in fact it was her family that encouraged her from a young age to go down the path that became her career. As a high school senior in STEM programs, she had the opportunity to intern as a software tester, which she says completely changed her planned career path and sent her to BYU to major in computer science. A theme of her life was always not being sure which direction to take when she got to an intersection in life or her career, so she would always keep all options open. That open-mindedness eventually led to a thrilling chapter working for Disney Research. That was the moment where she realized she'd be the architect of her own career path, building her own skill set and then deciding what to do with them.

Lianna Kinard has seen and experienced a lifetime's worth of change. She grew up in Hawaii with parents working multiple jobs to get by, moved on her own to live with extended family in Utah and to attend the University of Utah, got married, had children, and took a winding career path that started in a surf shop on the North Shore and led her to a large insurance company. On a chance meeting of strangers one night in Park City, she decided to apply to Harvard, getting accepted on her third and final try, finally achieving her graduate degree in Management. But as she looks back on the trials and tribulations that led her to where she is now, she sees an accumulation of life lessons. Instead of a “woe is me” attitude, Lianna makes the most of every situation she encounters, and now passes that knowledge and mindset on to her two young kids.

What a winding road Todd Deeken has had. As a child he moved from south Texas to England, spent a year in Finland, and came back to Texas all before he had graduated high school. His creative juices started flowing in junior high, when he became a prolific fiction writer, following that passion and making a successful career in Hollywood, working on some of the biggest blockbusters in history. After Hollywood, he moved to Park City, building a thriving business marrying two of his loves; filmmaking and automobiles. Now, he grinds out podcasts, YouTube videos, broadcast TV shows and feature length films full time.

A lot of people talk about living a quality life, but Guido Balocco truly did, both personally and professionally. Guido grew up in Northern Italy, learning the concepts of hard work that permeated the region. As a young man he competed in world-class auto racing. Soon after, he ended up the CEO, and eventually the owner, of Persol, the Italian luxury eyewear brand that was bought by giant Luxottica in 1995. There, he stressed the idea of “total quality”, everything from the glasses themselves to the highest-quality t-shirts the company would use in marketing efforts. In his 50s, Guido moved his family to the United States, settling in Miami where he led the Edward Beiner Group with the namesake founder, a company they finally sold just two years ago. Now as a retiree, Guido is focusing on the next phase of his “total quality” life, spending time with grandchildren, traveling, and getting back into his passion of racing cars.

Mike grew up in the looming shadows of an early Silicon Valley, before it developed its now-infamous reputation. Being surrounded by such entrepreneurial-minded people, including within his own home, Mike felt the pressure, yet was also humble enough to realize how lucky he was to know so many smart minds. He attended Stanford with a plan to go into engineering, yet after relocating to the Boston area where his brother was attending college, he began to explore the world of venture capital. Forty years later, Mike hasn't looked back. He's been involved in countless corporate successes, although he will admit he was a part of far more failures. Now living in Park City, he talks of going back to school to reignite some of his early passions, while also looking for the next early-stage business opportunity.

Despite growing up with a homebuilder as a father, Joel Shine vowed to never go into the industry himself. Decades later, and Joel has ironically become synonymous with homebuilding. Joel started off with a passion for photography, even receiving a scholarship from Eastman-Kodak to attend the Rochester Institute of Technology. Soon after, he returned to Southern California to study business. As a senior, he dabbled in buying apartment buildings as investment properties, and after a few successful years, he “woke up” as CFO of his father's business, sometimes working through the night to ensure he was never seen as “daddy's boy”. After years of both running homebuilding companies and managing the financial aspects of the industry, he now has been able to take a step back, slow down, and “chill out” in ways he never allowed himself during his younger years.

After a childhood that forced him to grow up faster than a typical kid, Dylan Ramsey went from the University of Pennsylvania to a year in Russia teaching English in the Peace Corps. After graduating law school, Dylan ended up managing the legal team for one of the biggest names in outdoor retail. Learn how his unique childhood shaped his future, and how that has molded his parenting style today with his own children.

The author of the acclaimed book, Red Shoes Living - Stand Out For The Positive in How You Work and How You Live, Lonnie Mayne has spent years helping to bring humanity into the business world. Drawing inspiration from his professional wrestler father, Lonnie strives to ensure he, and the businesses he helps, treat others as people first and employees or customers second.

It all started because of football for Julian Castelli. A burst of confidence after joining his high school team propelled Julian to the height of Wall Street with Goldman Sachs. There, he learned, listened, and absorbed all that he could, eventually turning to entrepreneurship with the founding of VacationRoost in 2007. Since, Julian has immersed himself in the SaaS world, and found his true passion in the connection he has with his children. From Wall Street to the sidelines as coach of his son's football team, Julian Castelli shares his wild ride with the Mindshare Matters audience.

Jason Ellis grew up in a trailer park in Rapid City, South Dakota, where he learned entrepreneurship at a young age. He took his skills upselling lawn care services and put them into selling cell phones. From co-founding retail pioneers Spring Mobile and Simply Mac to a seat at the head table of GameStop, Jason has been a part of the confluence of retail and technology for over a decade. But when a health scare put him in the operating room in 2012, he decided to make a major pivot, and has turned his eye toward small businesses, his family, and giving back to the community.

In this episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes Michelle Suzuki. She grew up in Hawaii as the daughter of a musician, then moved to Wisconsin where she experienced one of the hardest transitions of her life. Michelle graduated with a degree in Communications, starting out in government early on before getting exposed to the tech world. Her career blossomed from there through her dedication and determination, including taking entry level PR positions in order to prove herself. She grew up into companies such as Ancestry.com, Novell and Instructure.

Robin Jennings has lived a life most would dream of, including years as a professional baseball player and now an entrepreneur. But his time has been much more complicated, and more compelling, than one can imagine. In this episode of Mindshare Matters, Robin sits down with Bassam to discuss growing up in Asia and Europe, how it influenced his life direction, spending decades playing in the big leagues, and the struggle to find a new identity outside of baseball.

Eric Barnhart has a distinguished history of decades in public service, from the military to the FBI to Washington D.C. It was a fascinating time in his career, one that he cherishes to this day. "I never dreaded Mondays, and I never looked forward to Fridays." Find out how Eric went from serving FBI Director James Comey, to eventually working for Caterpillar.

In this special live episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes Aseem Chandra to talk about his early years in India, how Lincoln, Nebraska was his first introduction to the United States, and his eventual move to California that launched his career with Oracle, Omniture, Adobe, and how choosing education over skiing for his children led to some major life changes.

On this episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes Pierrette Tierney, member of the AtlasRTX Visionary Council and homebuilding expert. Pierrette reminisces about her time growing up in the Sonoma County wine country, spending time as a journalist for the London Bureau with CNN during the start of the Gulf War, and eventually ending up in the unlikeliest of places, in the sales and marketing department for one of the biggest homebuilders in the country. Shortly after starting her career in homebuilding, the 2008/09 housing crash happened, and that time became one of the most important learning experiences that has shaped her career ever since.

On this episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes Pluralsight Executive Vice President of Flow, Kathryn Murphy. Kathryn talks about growing up in chaos, how unsolicited feedback at home prepared her for her professional career and learning to code from her father. She also speaks to her early experiences as a female within the engineering sector and how she's fueling a growth in women getting interested and involved in the industry.

In this special live edition of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes Omniture and ObservePoint co-founder John Pestana. Early on in his time at Brigham Young University, John joined the computer club and launched his first venture, JP Graphics. Soon, JP Graphics became JP Interactive, and eventually Omniture. In 2009, Adobe Systems announced the purchase of Omniture for $1.8 billion, and in that same year John went on to co-found ObservePoint with Rob Seolas. John speaks about his dream of becoming a rock star and his musical career, living his authentic self, and making hard business decisions in order to maintain the friendships he cherishes so much.

On this episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes Instructure Chief Revenue Officer, Frank Maylett. Bassam and Frank talk about the times in our lives when we must take a step back to take a necessary step forward. Frank discusses his unique upbringing, how fear has motivated him to become the businessman he is today, and the times in his life where taking a step backward helped him to move forward. We hope Frank's story will help others understand the need for change in their own lives and how best to embrace that change.

On this episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes ExpertVoice CFO and COO, Heather Mercier. Bassam and Heather discuss the struggles of one's self-image, and our ultimate desire for acceptance among our peers. Heather talks about her childhood dream to work 150 hours a week, and how she's been able to balance a successful business career with her personal aspirations and commitments. We hope her story of self-acceptance will begin to inspire others to see value in their own accomplishments, and less in the views of other people surrounding them.

On this episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes AtlasRTX Chief Operating Officer Mike Bills. The conversation traverses a wide variety of topics, from Mike's early life struggles, finding his passion while attending Salt Lake Community College, and his ascension into a management position at the young age of 19. We are hopeful that Mike's story will begin to inspire others who are trying to find direction in their own lives and start down the right path to build a better future.

On this episode of Mindshare Matters, Bassam welcomes Electrical Marketing Solutions President, Pete Jones, to the show. Live from the office of AtlasRTX, Pete discusses his roots in Lubbock, Texas as an engineer and how he ultimately found himself in Utah. By the age of 26, Pete saw an opportunity to purchase a company in Park City, leaving him with just $6 in his bank account. Two decades later, Pete looks back on that major decision and how it impacted his life going forward. **** Subscribe to our video podcast! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnqB5zr3ALITEY_a8bFAKqA

In this episode of Mindshare Matters with host Bassam Salem, we welcome Event Network Founder and CEO Larry Gilbert. Larry's path to entrepreneurship was not a straight one. It involved a degree of chance, a lot of gumption, and incredible fortitude. It even includes a direct connection to the blockbuster movie Titanic. His entrepreneurial story was meaningfully impacted by the events of 9/11 and, more recently, with the pandemic of 2020. We are confident his story will not only inspire you, but will leave you motivated to tackle whatever obstacles comes your way.

In the inaugural episode of Mindshare Matters, with host Bassam Salem, we welcome Zenovate Founder & CEO Amelia Wilcox. As with most businesses where face-to-face interaction was critical, Amelia's company saw her revenue fall from a projected $6 million in 2020 to almost $0. Instead of waiting for the status quo to return, Amelia decided to embark on a complete rethinking of her company, and an entire new brand identity. We hope her story will inspire you as you navigate through your own obstacles. While some things are out of our control, we can choose to sit idly by or we can act and make the best out of any situation. **** Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch the episodes live!

Welcome to Mindshare Matters. This is the first, introductory episode of what will be a series of intimate and meaningful conversations hosted by Bassam. Our guests will be special humans who challenge norms, overcome obstacles, and inspire us. We'll be publishing episodes bi-weekly with special, live editions added from time to time. In this short episode, we'll introduce you to our host as he welcomes you to the podcast. Won't you join us for this journey?