Red Bull: Risk Made Me Do It

Seeing Janet Jackson as a child in Houston changed everything for Arlan Hamilton. The music star looked like her and exuded confidence, and Hamilton came away believing that nothing was impossible. That belief was challenged when she abandoned a successful career in music to try and launch a career in tech. She talks about launching her Backstage Capital venture fund from a food court without a prospect of where to sleep that night, and how that prepared her for the roller coaster of the tech industry and life in general. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Less than 2 percent of the companies funded by venture capital companies are run by African Americans, and the number of women founders has plateaued at 17 percent for the last four years. Next week's guest is looking to change all that. In this week's preview, we tease Arlan Hamilton's pivot from music tour manager to venture capitalist focused on funding companies started by women, people of color and members of the LGBT community. She's got an enormous task ahead. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A fall down the stairs at the age of 30 changed Kimberley Chambers' life forever. We talk to the open-water swimmer and first ever woman to swim the treacherous passage from the Farallone Islands to San Francisco Bay. Stretching 30 miles it passes through the 'red triangle' where 38% of America's shark attacks take place. Recorded at San Francisco's South End Rowing Club, we talk to her about her relationship with sharks, and the allure of operating at the bleeding edge of risk. Her documentary on the attempt appears at the Mill Valley Film Festival this month. Trailer at https://www.kimswims.com/film/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Even as jellyfish tormented her, open-water swimmer Kim Chambers accomplished one of the rarest feats in extreme endurance sports when she completed the Ocean's Seven. Ahead of next week's full interview with her we let her tell the story of how she pulled off one of the most dangerous swims of her career. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Former pro snowboarder Mike Basich has become a pioneer in the off the grid movement. He's built a self-sustaining 300 square foot home on 40 acres in Tahoe, guided by the philosophy that any creative endeavor is only worth it if you invest sweat equity (and not the Silicon Valley kind). He stops by the Red Bull podcast to talk about what it takes (physically and mentally) to live off the grid and how he pioneered the art of the action selfie - more than a decade before GoPro. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Snowboarder Mike Basich was taking action selfies before GoPro was even an idea. On this week's preview podcast we talk to him about his most epic one ever; a jaw-dropping 120ft jump from a helicopter. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A quick heads up to all friends of the pod that we've changed the name but are still bringing you the same tips, tricks and nuggets of inspiration from top performers from the worlds of adventure, culture and innovation. A rebranding of The Red Bulletin podcast, this week the preview talks about why we changed it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Photographer Mark "Cobrasnake" Hunter built his first career as the world's premier nightlife photographer through his willingess to talk his way past velvet rope and connect with his subjects on the sweat-soaked dance floors of the world's most exclusive after-parties. But when the night life became too much, he reinvented himself as a fitness guru, and used the same enthusiasm and energy that made him a darling of dance floors to motivate people to move out of their comfort zone. We talk to the LA resident about the evolution of photography in the age of Instagram, and about building community (and the one thing he wishes he still had from his early success). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Before Instagram, nightlife photography was ruled by Lastnights arty and Cobrasnake. Ahead of next week's guest, we take a trip down memory lane and gawk at the wool hats, wild patterned shirts, Pabst blue ribbon and the oh-so-NSFW imagery that defined the web sites of the two party photographers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Assia Grazioli-Venier overcame not one, but two major medical setbacks and used them as fuel to transition her career into new areas. We talk to the venture capitalist, high level digital strategist and youngest member of the Juventus Turin board of directors about how a desire to be useful informs everything she does. Warning: pod contains cool-sounding Italian-accented English. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ahead of next week's podcast interview, we look at how our guest's chance in encounter with a man on a train ended up with her becoming the youngest member of the board of global soccer powerhouse Juventus Turin. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A freak fire accident in Thailand left Colin O'Brady believing that he'd never walk again. Last year, he became the youngest person ever to scale the highest peaks on all seven continents and reach the North and South poles. Of the estimated 45 people to have ever accomplished the dizzying feat, only two finished within a year. He did so in 139 days. We talk to O'Brady about goal-setting, manifesting your dreams and the path he took to mastering an entirely new sport in a short amount of time.For an extra dose of inspiration be sure to check out his recent Ted Talk "Change your mindset and achieve anything" See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

No, it's not a Menu item at some far-flung Dennys, but the pinnacle of the adventure profession: Climbing all seven summits, and reach both the north and the south pole. Only 45 people have done it in history and ahead of next week's podcast with the youngest one of all of them (who broke two records in the process), we dive into the dangers of the perilous journey, and some of the men who have completed it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Batstone thinks career narratives are bullshit. He's pivoted more times than he's gone the straight and narrow. And it's gotten him to a radical new mission: upending the way major corporations do business. We talk to the globe-trotting entrepeneur and author on a book on human trafficking, about building social impact and profit into the business model, the value of making small bets and knowing when to jump in feet first. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The idea of the fastest-growing organic drinks company in the US was the brainchild of 50 of the most influential minds in Silicon Valley, an idea they conceived of in 24 hours. Now that company is looking to forever change the way business is done. Ahead of our chat next week with REBBL's founder, we look at the audacity of including profit and social impact into your business model. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Street-meat slanger, online moonshine salesman, startup founder, Sam Parr has worn many hats in his ridicuously young career. But none has fit as perfectly as The Hustle. His young tech and business news company has ambitions of taking on Vice Media. But first, he had to learn how to write. We talk to Sam about the power of the written word in the digital age, how to properly cold-e-mail a CEO and why failing isn't all its cracked up to be. If you're a wannabe entrepreneur, or one in the thick of things, you'll want to listen to this hustler. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ahead of next week's podcast guest, we dive into The Hustle, a newsletter for startup founders and entrepreneurs that has exploded in popularity in the last few years. We fly up to San Francisco to check out the third annual HustleCon, and the loyal following of founders and funders it has brought together. Mainly, though, we look at how something was built out of nothing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ron Finley planted some vegetables and fruits in the cracked sidewalks outside his South Central Los Angeles home and started a green movement. But first he got hit with an arrest warrant. We talk to the Gangsta Gardner about his transition from fashion designer to food activist for the communities who need it the most and the Silicon Valley tech types who love him for it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Carlin Isles recognized early on the gift he had. And a difficult childhood in foster homes with his sister only increased his resolve to take advantage of it. Today, Isles is the fastest man in one of the fastest growing sports in the US: rugby. We talk to him about the importance of recognizing your own talents, using his speed to inspire others and why he never went to senior prom. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rugby vs. Football for American market domination has thus far only had one clear winner. But with the rise of brain injuries in football and the increase in the popularity of kids' rugby programs, is that about to change? Ahead of next week's guest, US rugby and sprinting star Carlin Isles, we take a look at the sport's' future in the US. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pasquale Rotella's love affair with electronic music began in an underground club. His fascination with spectacle had its roots in a youth spent on the Venice Beach boardwalk. As founder and CEO of Insomniac, his Electric Daisy Carnival is electronic dance music's top festival in the U.S. But all he wants is to make it bigger. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How the premiere event for dance music in the US, the Electric Daisy Carnival, got its start in underground raves in warehouses in dangerous, and far-flung, corners of Los Angeles. Ahead of next week's guest, one of the most important names in dance music, we dive into the rise of a music festival that has cemented dance music's weird and carnivalesque reputation in the U.S. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Overcoming crippling dyslexia, Don Montague has become one of the chief innovators in the action sports space. A pioneering windsurfer and kitesurfer, his bizarre idea for a kite-powered sailboat eventually caught the attention of Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who became the founding investors in a company dedicated to creating a new energy source. Later this Summer, Montague and a small team will attempt to set a speed record sailing a kite-powered 60-foot trimaran from San Francisco to Hawaii. But the goal is bigger than that. By showcasing the benefits of kite power, Montague and his team hope to paint a future in which kites help power our energy grid. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sure, there are the personal gurus and the private jets, but the ultimate status symbol of the Silicon Valley elite might just be a kite and a surfboard. We look at the Valley's peculiar obsession with kitesurfing, and the role Larry Page and Sergey Brin had in making it grow. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rebecca Rusch has won nearly every extreme challenge she's tackled. But her evolution into the "Queen of Pain" began with a childhood struggle with her body. We speak to the top endurance athlete about her relentless drive to excel, the hallucinations that come with pain and the personal journey down the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam that forever changed her. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Leadville Trail 100 is one of the most difficult biking races in the world. And yet it regularly attracts the top names in the mountain biking community and local heroes alike. Ahead of next week's podcast with top endurance athlete Rebecca Rusch, we dive into the race's particulars but also into the life of the charismatic founder who created it as an act of desperation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Surfer, musician, on-camera talent, Sal Masekela has worn a number of hats in his two-decade (and counting) career. From commentating on the X Games to producing the VICE World of Sports, he talks to us about the through line in all of his storytelling. And the family history that helped shape him. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The first ever X Games featured competitive bungee jumping, kite skiers flying way off course and so, so much neon. We look back at the adrenaline-soaked birth of an industry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Entrepreneur Tom Bilyeu used his family problem with obesity as the fuel to start a billion-dollar company. He’s since transitioned into a new line of work, querying entrepreneurs and empowering listeners on his successful podcast, Impact Theory. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Magician Adam Trent knows that his performance discipline isn't always fully appreciated. In a hilarious hour of conversation he talks the triumphs and humiliations of his life as a magician, his power to connect to an audience of any size, and a new series on RBTV which has him criss-crossing Europe with magic serving as his only currency. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

All of LA looks like a movie set at times. Even more so when you're standing in front of the Magic Castle. Ahead of next week's interview with magician Adam Trent we dive into the wild, weird history of the Gothic mansion near the Hollywood Hills where entrance is only guaranteed in formal wear and by invitation. Magicians have never felt so cool. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When former happy-go-lucky pro surfer Jon Rose hit the skids in his personal life, a trip to Indonesia transformed him. We talk to the founder of the water filter nonprofit Waves4Water about selfishness, the problem with the 'humanitarian' label, and his recent decision to give up a permanent place of residence for a life on the road. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ahead of our conversation with a surfing humanitarian, we take a look at the global issues around access to water and the unique group of nonprofits - and their personalities - looking to change that. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When David Colturi steps to the edge of the 89-foot cliff diving platform, it takes everything he has in his years of experience to control and focus the fear coursing through him. Then it takes only 3 seconds for him to hit the water at speeds upwards of 52 mph. We talk to the former college diving champion and Red Bull Cliff diving athlete about his summer as a show jumper in the midwest, training his mind, and the challenge of building a career in a niche sport. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ahead of next week's podcast with cliff diver David Colturi, we rewind the clock to a man named Teddy Stauffer. The Swiss-born big band leader fled the Nazis and created a nightlife paradise in the sleepy fishing village of Acapulco in the 1940s and 50s. The crown jewel? La Perla, where Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth gathered to party and watch the famed cliff divers of La Quebrada breathe new life into an ancient sport. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Dylan Bowman laces up his shoes to prepare for another 100-mile race, he's not chasing competitors, or split times, but silence. The ultra-runner is one of the bright young lights in the painful, and often dangerous, endurance sport. He tells us what he learned from overtraining, pushing the pain threshold and why his worst attributes serve him well on the trail. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For a sport as odd as ultrarunning, it's somehow fitting that the first man to complete a 100-mile race is Gordy Ainsleigh. In 1974, the Vietnam-war protesting, free-love-having Northern California native decided to enter a horse race without a horse. And because of that, an athletic movement was born. We talked to Gordy about love, untrustworthy friends, and how the two forces conspired to create ultrarunning's grandaddy race, the Western States 100. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A multi-instrumentalist at a young age, Tom Holkenborg never met a music genre he didn't like. He went from a Dutch new wave band to producer of the international mega-hit "A Little Less Conversation," with which he accomplished two things: getting Elvis Presley's estate to agree to the sample, and putting his name on the global charts. So what did he do next? Moved to Hollywood to start at the bottom as a film composer. Holkenborg stopped by and talked to us about the importance of failing and the slow, slow path to a career that now includes composing the soundtracks for Deadpool and Mad Max. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this age of Hollywood blockbusters, the star actors and merchandising possibilities often outshine the music. That was the case in 1933 as well, until a child prodigy rescued one of the potential biggest flops of its time - King Kong - with something called a film score. Ahead of next week's chat with musical talent and composer Junkie XL (Mad Max, Deadpool), we dive into the life of Max Steiner, who went on to compose the scores for Gone with the Wind and Casablanca, and ushered in a new era of film composition. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A hell-raiser at a young age—when he got into knife fights and raced around in the hotrod scene—Robert Williams grew to become the leader of a rebel art movement. A painter of pornographic, eye-popping illustrations steeped in the counter-culture of the 1960s, Williams was creating work that put anyone who sold it at risk of imprisonment. But his faith that he would find an audience endured. And he did. The southern raconteur spoke about creating Juxtapoz magazine, the high stakes of the art game, and why the hell all of us have gotten so damn complacent. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was the most creative builder in the booming hotrod scene of the 1950s and 60s—and the cartoons he drew captivated wannabe bad boys across the country. Things were cruising until he got mixed up with the Hells Angels. In this preview podcast, we delve into the life and legacy of one of the most colorful men in American car culture. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

More than a festival or eye-popping art and fashion extravaganza, Afropunk is a cultural movement. For black folks who feel mis-cast as Hip-hop and R&B enthusiasts, for members of the LGBTQ community, and for all those who think differently. Guiding it are founders Jocelyn Cooper and Matthew Morgan, the polished daughter of civil rights fighters and a London hustler of the most worthy order. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.