Nearly Verified

It feels pretty corny to go out and say this, but this episode literally changed my life. Just about 5 months ago I got to interview Swish Goswami, who is one of the co-founders and the CEO of Trufan. Trufan is a tech startup in Toronto that helps brands generate segment and activate first and third-party data to information that you directly get from your followers, whether it's email, phone number, mailing address, and the data that they're providing to you through Instagram or Twitter based on their activity and how they're engaging with you. In this episode, Swish and I dive into entrepreneurship, leadership, basketball, and mental health amongst a ton of other topics. It was such a genuine, and engaging conversation and I am really glad to get the hour to chat with him. At the time of this interview which was the start of May 2021, I had a full-time job lined up as I was finishing up my undergrad in the Summer, but this conversation changed things around for me. Crazy enough, after the interview Swish asked me what I'm doing after school, and let me know what he is going to be launching Surf, the browser extension that rewards you for just browsing, and needed to start assembling a team for the launch which was coming up in September at the time. After a couple of rounds of interviews, I went ahead and rescinded my initial offer, and came to work with Swish and the team here at Trufan in the Summer, about 4 months ago. I'm now working full-time as a Product Owner and it has been one of the best decisions I ever made. To Swish – I want to thank you A) thank you for coming on the show in the first place, and b) for giving me a shot at a career in tech with such an amazing company like Trufan. This team is incredibly talented and driven but more importantly, they are just a genuine, kind group of people that I love to work with every day. I hope you guys enjoy the episode, and I'm excited to get back to interviewing coming into the tail end of 2021. To connect with Swish and learn about his businesses: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swishgoswami/ https://www.instagram.com/goswish/ https://twitter.com/goswish Joinsurf.com Trufan.io Matt's contacts: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

My last podcast episode was posted 5 months ago. Finishing school + moving to a new city + starting fulltime work has really slowed me down on doing this, but I am very happy to get back into it :) More episodes coming soon! Mike founded Sustainable Waterloo Region and piloted Canada's first Green Economy Hub while completing a double degree in business and computer electronics at Laurier in 2008. Within five years, the Hub had engaged companies employing 14% of the region's workforce, all committed to setting and achieving voluntary climate goals. Mike also spearheaded the creation of ClimateActionWR, a collaborative effort that secured unanimous support from Regional and City Councils for our community's first-ever climate target (a 6% reduction by 2020, since raised to 80% by 2050) In response to global interest in replicating Green Economy Hubs, Mike founded Green Economy Canada in 2013 and led the award-winning organization until late 2018. Today there are 8 Green Economy Hubs across Canada supporting over 250 organizations lowering their impact and increasing their profitability. In the 2019 federal election, Mike was Kitchener Centre's Green Party candidate for Member of Parliament. Over the course of a 10-month campaign, Mike and his team made history: they knocked on every door in the riding (most of them twice) and increased the Green vote from 3% to 26% (from 1,500 to over 14,000 voters), the highest of any Green candidate in Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies. Thank you so much to Mike for coming on the show – we dove into his experiences and what they taught him along the way, and why it is so important to find passions in life that can drive your work ethic and your personals and professional goals.

Welcome back to another episode of Nearly Verified! This week I get to sit down with a good friend and super successful guy that is recently graduated from Laurier University. Blair Forrest has been a serial entrepreneur since he could remember. Whether it was a lemonade stand, garage sale, or selling on amazon, Blair has always tried to make the most of whatever side hustle he could get his hands on. Within the past 36 months, Blair has started AMZ prep, which is a full-service marketplace provider for companies looking to sell on Amazon and online. He has scaled his business with the help of grants, hard work, and trial and error. Blair recently won the fastest growing startup in Canada, and student entrepreneur of the year at Enactus Nationals. It makes it that much more impressive than he did all of this while completing his degree full-time. I've known Blair since my second year at Laurier and it has been unreal to see him and his business grow. Blair is hardworking, smart, driven and a great dude to sit down and talk to. Blair, thank you so much for coming on the show to chat and best of luck with everything to come for AMZ! If you want to learn how to sell online or more about Blair check out the links below: Website: https://amzprep.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairforrest/ Matt's Links: https://linktr.ee/Mattpuglisi

Hala Taha is the host of Young and Profiting Podcast, frequently ranked as a #1 Education podcast across all apps. Hala is also the CEO of YAP Media, a full-service social media and podcast marketing agency projected to generate over $1M in revenue in its first year. She is well-known for her engaged following and influence on Linkedin, and she landed the January 2021 cover of Podcast Magazine. Hala started her career in radio production while in college at HOT97 on “The Angie Martinez Show.” Later, she launched an entertainment news blog site, “The Sorority of Hip Hop,” where she led an all-female team of 50 bloggers. Together they ran the popular site, interviewed celebrities, produced radio shows, hosted parties/concerts, and nearly snagged a reality TV show on MTV! When the blog site boom slowed down, Hala took a temporary exit from the entertainment industry to get an MBA. She has 7 years of corporate marketing experience at HP and Disney Streaming Services. She started Young and Profiting Podcast and YAP Media as a side hustle, and now has several high profile clients and over 40 employees. Hala is an expert on networking, personal branding, Linkedin marketing, side hustles, entrepreneurship and podcasting. Hala's Links Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Website: https://www.youngandprofiting.com/ Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Matt's Link: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

Chris Walker, the CEO of Refine Labs, is changing the way B2B firms generate demand for their business. The landscape of advertising, and communicating your brand is transforming and refine labs is dedicated to easing that transition for businesses around the world. On this episode of Nearly Verified, I get to chat with Chris Walker about the state of marketing on the B2B level, diving into why the traditional methods of marketing are failing. We dive into the importance of valuing the right metrics, trial and error with marketing strategy, and much more. Chris is an expert in the world of marketing and product and it absolutely shows in his personal brand and company content. With a following of 55,000 on LinkedIn, his reach across industries is evident as he continues to provide value with his video content. Chris, thank you so much for coming on the show to chat with me! Your advice and insight was incredibly valuable and will help a lot of students learn about the importance of marketing. Check out Chris's content and the Refine Labs podcast below: State of Demand Gen Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1AJwHPDw2RuybeMnn7CnNP Chris LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-walker-41597028/ Refine Labs Website: https://www.refinelabs.com/ Matt's Links: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

David Meltzer is the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing and formerly served as CEO of the renowned Leigh (“Lee”) Steinberg Sports & Entertainment agency, which was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire. His life's mission is to empower OVER 1 BILLION people to be happy! This simple yet powerful mission has led him on an incredible journey to provide one thing…VALUE. In all his content, and communication that's exactly what you'll receive. As part of that mission, for the past 20 years, he's been providing free weekly training to empower others to be happy. David moves very very quickly through a ton of his philosophies and best practices in this interview and to be seal some of it went over my head when we first had our conversation but listening back there are a ton of actionable things he talks about whether it be eliminating fear, or 5 practices for better understanding time, the difference between motivation and inspiration, and so on. Overall, David thank you so much for coming to chat on the Podcast, your words pack a punch and it was really cool to hear your thoughts! David's Links: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube: @davidmeltzer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeltzer11/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeltzer2/ Link to David's training: https://dmeltzer.com/training/ Text Community: (949) 298-2905 Matt's Links: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

This episode I got to have Sofy Carayannopoulos on the podcast to chat. Sofy is an associate professor at the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. She currently designs, coordinates and teaches introductory business strategy courses to classes of over 200 undergraduate students, as well as a PhD class. She holds an MBA and a PhD in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from Schulich School of Business at York University, as well as a Bachelor of Commerce and Economics and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. Her award-winning cases have been published and distributed by the Laurier Institute of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and The Case Research Journal. Just like I say in the episode, Sofy is a core element in the BBA program from her involvement in extracurriculars to introducing the cohort of first-years to the University experience. Thank you for coming to chat Sofy! Links to Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

This episode I get the chance to chat with Devyn Kelly who is the Student's Union President here at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has had her hands full with adjusting to a completely different type of University semester. Her mission is to be the voice for the student body, bringing our concerns to the administration in an attempt to see change. She has been involved all over campus during her time at Laurier prior to this full-time role as president. She was a campus ambassador, hiring and recruitment coordinator and Board Member for the SU to name a few. In this conversation, we talk about her efforts towards voicing our concerns of exam accommodations, lockdown browser, as well as she explains the process that she takes in order to communicate these issues. I want to thank Devyn for taking the time to come on the pod and chat, I think we cover a good range of questions here and the goal was to give students a general idea of how and her team handles concerns, as well as how they are adjusting to this new type of operation under COVID. I hope you guys enjoy! --------- Student Union Links: Website: https://yourstudentsunion.ca/ Twitter: @students_union Instagram: @yourstudentsunion Links for Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

Jon is the Chief Experience Officer at Shay Rowbottom Marketing, who I had on for episode 6, and previously was working with his Father's forensic accounting company. Backtrack a little more, Jon was training and working with the WWE at the age of 18 to be a professional wrestler which unfortunately did not pan out. Instead, he took that energy, that charisma, and those camera skills to LinkedIn, and now helps other creators and entrepreneurs master the skill of video marketing. We dive into what it means to start creating content for yourself or your business, what goes into being comfortable on camera, as well as Jon's experience in this marketing space. Jon, thank you so much for coming on to the show, I really appreciate you taking the time and it was really fun to hang with you for an hour. I hope you enjoy it! Jon's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanpalmar/ Links for Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

This week, I interviewed Blake Pearson who is a Sr. BDR at Salesforce. Salesforce.com, inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management service and also sells a complementary suite of enterprise applications. Blake actually worked as a BDR where I did my first internship, but we just missed each other there. I heard so many great things about him I thought I'd go ahead and interview him! This was a cool one because as an assignment for my 4th-year sales management class, we have to interview someone in sales and ask them about their roles, responsibilities, hardships etc. So shoutout Grang Tanguay, this is the interview I'll be writing a report on. Overall, Blake is a great guy and has got some fantastic insight into the career of business development and sales and how he is navigating his first few roles in tech. Blake, thanks so much for coming on to chat I really appreciate it!!

For those of you who don't know, Ken Jackson is an economics professor here at Laurier, where he teaches a range of economics classes from your beginner micro and macro courses, to the economics of sports and poverty as well. Ken has his undergraduate degree and PhD in economics from the University of British Columbia and has been working for Laurier since 2008. On a personal level, Ken is such a genuine and kind person to chat with. Something that I really wanted to learn about was how he gained the skills to teach to 1000's of people at a time while keeping them engaged and learning. Overall, for years Ken has been such a positive influence for the Lazaridis school of business, and Laurier students that have come and gone through the years. He champions student's growth and teaches to see them succeed. Links for Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi

Marcel Morgenstern is an entrepreneur and small business owner in the wine industry within the Niagara region. He is a wine expert, a marketing creative, a father, soccer fan and above all an all-around nice guy. Marcel is a close family friend and family business partner, so it's awesome to have someone familiar come onto the show and chat about his experiences as an entrepreneur. Marcel has been very vocal in the wine community within Niagara and even jumped on the opportunity to make the “Restaurants of Niagara” Facebook page when the quarantine lockdown hit, which is now a very active group of over 20,000 people. We talk about his story and how he got into the wine and food industry, as well as his journey both as a sommelier and an entrepreneur. Links to Marcel: Pondview Website: https://www.pondviewwinery.com/ Marcel Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcelmo/ Restaurants of Niagara FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/251444969356104 Links for Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi NV: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0RrklLLe3YhVzydLc7ANw?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nearlyverified/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nearlyverified

This episode I have fellow Laurier students Lauren and Lucas Barnes chat about their social enterprise Last20! Founded by Lucas and Lauren in 2018; they began as a sustainable clothing brand - Last20 Apparel. Their products are sourced from plastic bottles that would have otherwise ended up in our landfills and oceans, 6 plastic bottles in every shirt. In 2019, they reviewed their operations and brainstormed industries that could benefit from upcycling plastic waste, they knew there was much more impact to be generated and this was the pivotal moment for the organization to focus on sustainable pavement! Last20 has been apart of the Enactus incubator at Laurier as well. Enactus is something different for everyone. Globally, Enactus chapters include 72,000 students on 1,730 campuses and impacts over 1.3 million people. Enactus fosters the development of social enterprises - businesses that don't only focus on profits, but on giving back to the surrounding community. Successful social enterprises are those that are self-sustaining and don't have to rely on grants and external funding to continue operations. All profits are reinvested back into the enterprises to help maximize social impact Link to Guest: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/last20pavement/ Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/company/last20apparel/ Website: https://last20.ca/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNdFYcpWbnKKv7Q6mscqgVg?sub_confirmation=1 Links for Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi NV: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0RrklLLe3YhVzydLc7ANw?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nearlyverified/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nearlyverified

Troy Osinoff is the Co-founder of JUICE, an NYC-based digital marketing agency credited by Facebook as being a top 1% agency and fastest-growing in NY, where he has helped clients such as Kenneth Cole, Paris Hilton d scale successful multi-platform marketing campaigns. Prior to JUICE, Osinoff helped a bankrupt shoe company reach profitability, grew a Grammy award-winning recording studio, created a viral media site called Make A Dare (which was featured on Dr. Phil), co-founded a media company with 1.7M visitors daily and created a viral Tumblr that was turned into a nationally sold book Osinoff also leads digital marketing for the largest HVAC company in the world ($4.2B annual sales), created a group of eCommerce stores grossing 7 figures of revenue, and was Head of Customer Acquisition at BuzzFeed. Troy is an incredibly driven and humble guy, and I really enjoyed getting the chance to speak with him. We chatted about his story of coding at a young age, the many ins and outs of growth marketing at his agency Juice, as well as entrepreneurship from Troy's lens and his advice to young people. Links for Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi NV: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0RrklLLe3YhVzydLc7ANw?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nearlyverified/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nearlyverified Link to Guest: Website: https://www.thinkjuice.com/ Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/troyosinoff/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/troy/

I heard that there is a 7 episode curse when starting up a podcast. That 7 episode mark is where a lot of shows lose steam and fizzle out. I thought it would be fitting to take a second at episode 7 and reflect on what I've started here with Nearly Verified. I take the time to look back at my 6 guests and share what our conversations meant to me, and what I took away from them. Also, I wanted to share a few key takeaways from starting a podcast in general. I also needed to send a shoutout to my guy Q for helping me out along the way. Thanks so much for following along! Links for Matt: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi NV: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0RrklLLe3YhVzydLc7ANw?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nearlyverified/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nearlyverified -- Sponsor: Blue Springs Irrigation & Lighting Website: https://www.bluespringsirrigation.ca/

Shay Rowbottom is the Queen of Linkedin, a marketing wizard, an expert in video, a storyteller, a new podcast host, and overall just a passionate person whose energy is contagious. She has worked with companies such as Petco, Yahoo and Buzzfeed, creating viral video content generating 10 of BILLIONS of views over her career. In this episode we discuss content creation, leaping into new experiences, and breaking down societies shame culture. Shay is such a genuine human being and I want to thank her so much for the time she took to come and speak with me as well as the positive energy she brought to the table. So so cool to have gotten the chance to learn more about her life! Hope you enjoy it. Links to my stuff: https://linktr.ee/MattPuglisi NV: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0RrklLLe3YhVzydLc7ANw?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nearlyverified/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nearlyverified Link to Shay: Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shayrowbottom Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/shayrowbottom Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/shayrowbottom Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shayrowbottom Website: https://www.shayrowbottom.com/

Today we have on Mark Metry, who is a phenomenal dude that has accomplished a ton at 23. He is on Amazon Prime's TV Docuseries "The Social Movement" attempting to solve some of the world's biggest problems. Mark is also the host of the Global Top 100 podcast called Humans 2.0 featured by Forbes, NASDAQ, and Yahoo Finance as the "Top 21 Growing Podcasts you must listen to in 2019." Mark's show has been listened to over 10 million times and features the greatest leaders of our time and frequently converses with Billionaires, Professional Athletes, and New York Times Bestselling authors for a shortlist. In 2013 he started the World #1 Minecraft server and as a result, was earning 6 figures at the age of 15. Once upon a time though, he couldn't make direct eye contact with anyone and suffered from social anxiety, health issues, and feeling woefully unfulfilled. It's for this reason and the fact that many others go through life feeling like this, that Mark decided to write and publish a book called Screw Being Shy, currently available on Amazon. This book is a guide on how to manage social anxiety and be yourself in front of anyone. Mark's Website: https://www.markmetry.com/ Mark's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-metry/ Mark's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Screw-Being-Shy-Anxiety-Yourself/dp/B085KQ2KMG ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsor: Blue Springs Irrigation & Lighting Website: https://www.bluespringsirrigation.ca/

This week I have the pleasure of speaking with Carol Leaman who is the CEO at Axonify. What is Axonify you may be asking? It is an online learning and communications platform built for frontline employees which are more important than ever now and is used by giant companies around the world such as Walmart, Bloomingdales, Rogers, and Longos to name a few. Carol has an undergraduate degree and masters from the University of Waterloo is a decorated entrepreneur in the tech space having a successful track record of past CEO roles, as well as she sits on the boards of a variety of Canadian high-tech firms. To put it simply, Carol Leaman is a badass entrepreneur CEO and thought leader in the space and we are very happy to have her on the podcast!

Buster Scher is the 19-year-old that has created a basketball empire on social media. He is founder of Hoops Nation, host of the Buster Show, and unfortunately a life long Knicks fan. He has hosted various shows for the NBA and done online consulting for hip-hop artists and NBA legends. On this episode, we talk about the rise of sports cards, Buster's path to social media stardom, as well as tips for young people looking to chase their passions. Congrats on reaching 1M followers on Insta man! Buster's Instagram: @Buster @Hoopsnation

This episode I have Sam Lister come on to chat! He is a 20-year-old LinkedIn phenomenon that started creating videos on his phone to document his journey of entrepreneurship, and inevitably people started catching on. He is the founder of Blnk Slate media, host of the Starting Blnk podcast, and a keynote speaker. At the age of 18, Sam got his first client from his Linkedin content and the rest they say is history.

He is a creative storyteller, entrepreneur, podcast host, TEDx speaker, E-sports enthusiast, and probably one of the most transparent and genuine people I have followed online. Quentin Allums or Q has founded several companies with Uran Misfit Ventures and the Strange on Purpose Studios being the most recent. Q has been creating content for years, building up his skills as a public speaker, community builder, leader, and business owner. Q and I dive into topics of building community, taking the first steps in writing "your story" and the importance of patience along the way.

Hi! My name is Matt Puglisi and welcome to the Nearly Verified Podcast. To give you some context about the name and theme of the pod, my mindset behind it was pretty simple. I feel like a lot of people, myself absolutely included, can get carried away with the idea of success. For some it could be making a ton of money, reaching a specific job title, or even getting verified on social media. The idea behind Nearly Verified is to learn about and most importantly enjoy every piece of the puzzle leading to that success!