The Accent Podcast

Marina Toybina is a six times Emmy Award winning costume designer, who is behind the fascinated costumes of The Masked Signer show on Fox. She won awards for her work at The Masked Signer, Super Bowl Halftime Show (w/Katy Perry), 55th Annual Grammy Awards, SYTYCD, and X Factor.  Marina was born in Moscow, USSR, but when she was 11, her family immigrated to USA, settling in Phoenix, AZ. Her incredible journey from constant struggles to the pinnacle of the industry is one that is worth hearing! TIME STAMPS 01:20 The Masked Singer and its costumes 07:00 Creating costumes 12:40 What it feels like to win an Emmy Award  16:30 Life after the Emmy's 17:55 USSR - beginning of the journey  23:35 Choosing a career as a fashion designer 25:00 Starting a Fashion Line – GLAZA 29:20 First celebrity client 31:35 Pivot to Costume Design  34:30 X-Factor and SO You Think You Can Dance TV shows  38:00 Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show with Katy Perry 44:55 Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Usher, and Ariana Grande 46:35 Stylist for Eminem and Dr. Dre video, and conversation with Dre. 48:20 Working with Celebrities 50:00 Why do people in the Entertainment industry fail?  52:40 Outside of your comfort zone 54:30 Ten years of nothing before holy shit  57:50 Determination vs Competition 01:01:10  Friends, family and future 01:06:10 Blitz   Watch more than 50 Episodes of The Accent Podcast on www.Youtube.com/TheAccentPodcast

Graham Weaver is founder and managing partner of Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm that invests in software and services businesses. With over 20 years of experience in private equity, Graham founded Alpine based on the belief that exceptional people create exceptional businesses, a PeopleFirst philosophy that guides the firm's choices today. When he's not inspiring growth at Alpine, Graham teaches a top-rated strategic management course at Stanford's Graduate School of Business or posts on his blog - www.GrahamWeaver.com. In this interview Graham takes us to a journey from his childhood in suburbs of Ohio, to his school athletic life, college, and career. He then walks us through early days of Alpine, which despite underperformance of its first fund, ultimately became one of the best performing firms in the industry. 

Jeremiah Tower is likely the first Celebrity Chef in the US. A food lover from childhood, he had no formal culinary education before beginning his career as a chef at Chez Panisse, making the place famous for its authentic cuisine that is currently known as California or American style cuisine. Jeremiah later opened one of the most famous restaurants in the country in 1980s - The Stars, which became the major attraction for celebrities. Anthony Bourdain produced a fantastic documentary on Jeremiah - The Last Magnificent, which tells his story.  I sat down with Jeremiah to discuss details that weren't included in the documentary, and we covered everything from his early childhood to his latest experiments with the restaurant industry. 

Jim Grant is the founder of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, a twice-monthly journal of financial markets popular among some of the most famous investors. Over past 35+ years of the publication, Grant developed a cult following on Wall Street.   In this interview we discussed Modern Monetary Theory and its limitations, Keynesian and Austrian Schools of Economics, recent government actions in response to COVID, Jim's life, career, and founding Grant's Interest Rate Observer. 

Dominique Crenn is the owner of Atelier Crenn restaurant in San Francisco, and is the only female 3 Michelin Star Chef in the US. In her recent memoir - Rebel Chef: In Search for What Matters - she shares her fascinating life story from French orphanage to the pinnacle of culinary art.  In this interview we discussed Dominique's journey: influence of her parents, challenges she had faced (she didn't have a formal culinary education), building Atelier Crenn, her battle with cancer, and many other things.  01:10 How is Atelier Crenn adapting to COVID? 04:45 Changes COVID will bring to the restaurant industry 08:20 Restaurants move towards healthy choices 10:10 Thoughts on her Memoir 15:00 Adoption & childhood 17:30 Favorite childhood memory 18:40 Mother's teaching 23:45 Young Dominique 24:15 Leaving France 26:00 Jeremiah Tower 30:45 The origin of confidence and how it was applied at Stars 34:17 Nature vs Nurture 37:40 Blending past experiences and starting Atelier Crenn 42:00 Netflix – Chef's Table 44:20 Choosing investor, and balancing art and business 46:30 The role of Michelin Stars 50:02 After achieving everything one could dream of, what drives her now 52:00 French President's dinner and Allen Ducas 55:12 Women in the Restaurant Industry 56:55 Defeating Cancer   59:30 looking for the biological mother 01:00:50 Blitz

Eicca Toppinen is the founding member of the multi-platinum metal band Apocalyptica, which has a cult following around the world. Its first album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos was released in 1996 and turned the heavy metal music upside down due to the band unique sound - the new music style is now called Symphonic Metal. In this interview we covered the history of the band, changes in the music industry, Eicca's life and creative process, and collaboration with Metallica & other bands.  Time stamps: 00:15 Streaming live concert 03:23 How are albums and features songs are written 08:24 Creating a band 14:53 International tours 17:00 How do musicians make money 18:50 Genesis of Apocalyptica 24:00 Plans for future 27:30 Metallica's 30-year anniversary 29:00 Describing each member of Apocalyptica 33:48 Describing each member of Metallica 35:44 Getting to know Eicca 39:30 Choosing to become a musician 45:00 Writing music for Movies and Plays 47:27 Process of writing a music 50:49 Main motivation 54:54 People Behind  the curtain

Given the amount of information about COVID (often contradicting), I thought it would be a good idea to have a discussion with an expert to make sense of it. I interviewed Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at UCSF, whose team has been working on COVID response from the very beginning. We covered everything from How COVID affects human body to Vaccines to Hydroxychloroquine to conspiracy theories, and everything in between. Dr. Wachter also answered a bunch of my trivial questions: - Does he wipe groceries and mail? - Is he comfortable going to a Gym? - Does he think it is safe to send kids back to school?; and many other questions. You can find more episodes on www.Youtube.com/TheAccentPodcast  Rough outline: 01:33 Who is Dr. Robert Wachter 03:22 How COVID affects people with different pre-existing conditions 07:45 Effective treatment, but not Hydroxychloroquine 15:00 Vaccines are coming in February 2021? 21:22 Why is COVID picking up again? 26:27 Do masks actually work? 30:50 Shortage of PPE and Testing – supply in China 36:10 First signs of the Storm 42:35 Is COVID human made virus? 44:56 Day-to-Day activities: Wiping groceries? Fly? Eat out? Gym? 57:28 Digital transformation of medicine

Tom Steyer is a Political Activist, Environmentalist, and Philanthropist. He is well known to the general public for his recent run for Democratic Presidential Nomination (2020 election), and for his career as a founder of Farallon Capital - a multi-billion hedge fund. Tom was recently appointed by the Governor Gavin Newsom to Co-Chair California Task Force on Business and Job Recovery that is focused on re-opening CA for business post-COVID lockdowns.  We spoke about BLM protests, COVID, Tom's run for Democratic Presidential Nomination, his childhood, lessons he learned from his parents, and philanthropy. 01:45 George Floyd and Black Lives Matter 03:20 Structural Racism in USA 07:12 Co-Chair of Task Force for reopening California after COVID 09:20 There is no going back 12:11 Reconciliation of the struggling economy and booming markets 14:20 Grade CARES ACT and Federal Reserve's response to COVID 16:43 Administration's response to COVID too bad? 20:25 How fun was the Presidential campaign? 23:30 Those arguments on the stage – are they real? 25:43 Childhood in New York 26:30 Tom's Mother and what he learned from her 30:00 Philanthropy is a Rich person writing a check – it is not sustainable

Vitaliy Katsenelson is a famous value investor and a CEO & Chief Investment Officer of Investment Management Associates. Vitaliy has written several books on investing, including Active Value Investing and The Little Book of Sideways Markets. We spoke about value investing, Vitaliy's investment process, his view on diversification, his biggest mistakes, his bucket list, and many other things.  Time stamp 00:40 Who am I 02:14 What's Value Investing? 05:50 Is Warren Buffett a value investor or a GARP investor? 07:20 Diversified stock portfolio vs concentrated stock portfolio 09:50 When do you sell stocks 11:32 Case study: Twilio  15:15 Vitaliy's stock picking process 17:14 Learning from biggest losers: Electronic Arts  22:14 The investment management Industry gets dumber and smarter at the same time 25:20 Time management between investing, writing, and having a family 28:07 Investment advice to non-investors: unusual budget 33:47 USSR influence on a future investor 37:38 From analyst to CEO 38:30 Blitz 41:51 Advice to youth Visit:www.TheAccentPodcast.com Music: Bensound.com  

Lou Ferrante is a former mobster of the Gambino Crime Family, who did his time in prison, and then turned his life around becoming a bestselling author and a sought after TV personality. Lou's book, “The Mob Rules: What Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman”, became a best seller and was named The Best Business Book by Forbes. It was subsequently translated into 16 languages. His TV project, “Inside The Gangsters' Code”, explores different gangs around the world and has been successfully running on Discovery Channel since 2013. We spoke about his path to the Gambinos, his arrest, his time in prison, the transformation he has gone through, his books, John Gotti, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, and many other things. 01:45 Who is Lou? 03:30 Writing a bestseller 10:15 Fake diversity 12:00 Meeting George Weidenfeld 14:30 History of Mafia – contradictions 16:54 What is mafia? 19:20 Growing up in Queens 24:00 Crime in DNA 25:20 Prison stories 29:51 Mafia's role in the streets 32:50 Day-to-day in Mafia 38:20 Snitching - Sammy “The Bull” Gravano 43:50 Arrest 47:00 Times have changed – Snitching 2.0 55:57 Prison is the greatest thing happen to me 1:01:45 “Mein Kampf” and other first books 1:04:00 Life advice to youth Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com soundtrack: Bensound

Fengsuo Zhou is a President of Humanitarian China, a non-profit organization that is focused on development of a civil society in China to promote rule-of-law, human rights, and freedom of expressions.  Fengsuo was one of the student leaders during the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989, and after the massacre ended up on the list of 21 Most Wanted issued by the Chinese government.  In this interview we discussed what happened at the Tiananmen Square 30 years ago, Fengsuo's role in the protest, his arrest, and the life afterwards.  01:35 Humanitarian China - support to political prisoners 04:30 Million people on Tiananmen Square 05:23 China erases memory of the Massacre 06:25 Going back to the Square 09:35 From mourning to political protest 15:10 Becoming a student leader 21:34 Democracy within reach 24:35 Massacre starts 26:00 List of Most Wanted 27:36 Arrest and Prison 30:15 Exile 35:30 Current Hong Kong protests 37:42 How would China be different if student movement succeeded 40:40 Hope for China 41:47 Beyond totalitarian regime   Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com  Soundtrack: www.bensound.com  

Dan Primack is a Business Editor of Axios, where he runs the daily Pro Rata newsletter and hosts the daily Pro Rata podcast, among other things.  Previously, Dan was with Fortune.com as Senior Editor, where he covered deals and dealmakers, from Wall Street to Sand Hill Road. At Fortune, Dan launched a very popular newsletter, Term Sheet, which covered venture capital, Wall Street, M&A and other deal-related topics.  Prior to Fortune, Dan was an Editor-at-large with Thomson Reuters, where he launched both peHUB.com and the peHUB Wire email service.  Here you have it - ALL "must subscribe" daily newsletters about deal and dealmaking were created by the same person - Dan Primack.  In this interview we covered various subjects, from Uber's IPO and Slack's direct listing to Dan's favorite music band.  Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com   

Guy Kawasaki is the Chief Evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool. He is a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz and an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley). Guy is widely known around the world for his books and speeches on entrepreneurship, and his early work at Apple alongside Steve Jobs.  We covered many subjects, from his childhood in Hawaii to his path to Apple, and from his student record to 15 books he has written, including recently published Wise Guy. We also covered entrepreneurship, venture capital, business operations and many other subjects. Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com    

    Keith Teare is a serial entrepreneur, who has built two $1 billion dollar companies, helped to raise a billion dollar VC fund, and was in the founding team of TechCrunch.  Born in the UK, he learned how to code at an early age, and later started his first tech company. If you think it sounds familiar, you are wrong: Keith ran the company to pay for his passion - political activism.  We covered many subjects: from the class-conscious United Kingdom to blockchain, from bootstrapped companies to venture capital trends, from Karl Marx to a rapper Lil Backwood, and from Keith's childhood to his life advice to young people. Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com  

Javier Mendez is the founder and head coach of American Kickboxing Academy, the leading Mixed Martial Arts teams/schools in the world.  Throughout his spectacular career he has won world championships himself, and raised numerous world champions in both Kickboxing and MMA.  Javier's notable students include Daniel Cormier (UFC Heavy- and Light-Heavyweight champion), Cain Velasquez (former UFC Heavy weight champion), Khabib Nurmagomedov (UFC Lightweight champion), Luke Rockhold (former UFC Middleweight champion), and many others.  In this interview we spoke about Javier's life and career, genesis of Mixed Martial Arts, qualities required to become a champion, and his famous students.  For more episodes visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com  

    data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Tom Kalinske is Chairman of Doodles, one of the many Ed-Tech ventures he has been involved in.  Throughout his fascinating career, Tom has built several multi-million dollar Ed-Tech companies, changed the video gaming industry as the CEO of SEGA America, revived Barbie doll and created He-Man and The Masters of the Universe animation series as the CEO of Mattel. Each of Tom's business endeavors could have been a bestselling book; and the fact that he had so many of them makes Tom a truly remarkable businessman and an entrepreneur. For more episodes visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com  

Heidi Ridley is CEO of Rosenberg Equity, one of the premiere quantitative investment management firms with $22 billion in assets under management.   Her life story is fascinating: she was born in Iran; her family lost everything during the Iranian Revolution, had to leave the country to an start everything from scratch in the US. On top of this, Heidi's personal career path is truly remarkable - from her job as a restaurant manager, to the CEO of the most male-dominated filed (quantitative investing) within one of the most male-dominated industries (asset management).  Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com

PJ Pereira is a Co-Founder and a Creative Chairman of Pereira O'Dell, one of the leading advertising firms. Over its relatively short history, Pereira O'Dell won every major industry award, including countless Cannes Lions and Emmy Award. In his native Brazil, PJ is known as the author of the best-selling book, Gods of Both Worlds.  His life story is inspiring, his view of the advertising business is unique, his passion for martial arts is contagious, and his love for his family is limitless.   www.TheAccentPodcast.com

  Michael Hoffmann is a Co-Founder & President of one of the best-known placement advisory firms - Probitas Partners. Since inception in 2001, Probitas Partners has raised nearly 90 funds and over $68 Billion for both established and emerging investment managers.   Michael's knowledge of the alternative asset management space, in particular private equity and real assets, makes his view on the today's trends especially valuable. Whether you are a top PE firm raising your 10th fund or a newly created "shop" raising your very first fund, you will find something interesting in this discussion. You will also learn about Michael's life and career as well as the story behind Probitas Partners' from its very first official meeting at 9:30 am on September 11, 2001 to its present state.  Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com Soundtrack: bensound-memories

Thomas Weisel is the founder of Montgomery Securities, an iconic boutique investment bank that was sold to a predecessor of today's Bank of America.  Upon exiting Montgomery Securities, he started another investment bank, Thomas Weisel Partners, which was later sold to Stifel Financial, where Thomas currently is a Co-Chairman.  His success stories in business, in sport, in art, and other areas of life have one theme in common - he pushes himself extremely hard to become very competent in the subject-matter. This can be said about other successful people, but when you hear Thomas' story, you realize that he takes it to a whole new level. Visit www.TheAccentPodcast.com music: bensound-memories