Podcasts about company founder

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck and Sam are joined by Tyler Pager, White House correspondent for The New York Times and co-author of 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America. Pager offers a rare look inside both campaigns, including Trump's disciplined strategy, the behind-the-scenes fallout after Biden's exit, and even how a Diet Mountain Dew factored into the VP decision. Later, financial expert Gary Gigi explains what Social Security's future means for your wallet, and Hollywood insider Chris Fenton discusses rebuilding American manufacturing and the high cost of canceling conversations across party lines. Don't miss this week's episode!www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegroundsTruth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@breakingbattlegroundsShow sponsors:Invest Yrefy - investyrefy.comOld Glory DepotSupport American jobs while standing up for your values. OldGloryDepot.com brings you conservative pride on premium, made-in-USA gear. Don't settle—wear your patriotism proudly.Learn more at: OldGloryDepot.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground' to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comAbout our guest:Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent at The New York Times. He previously covered the White House at The Washington Post, where he won the 2022 Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. He graduated as the valedictorian from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and with distinction from the University of Oxford, where he earned a master's degree in comparative social policy. He lives in Washington, D.C.-Mr. Gary Gygi was hired by the Investment firm Dean Witter (became Morgan Stanley) after college and worked for the firm for about 15 years. During this time he achieved the position of First Vice President, Investment and branch manager of the Midvale, Utah office. Mr. Gygi won numerous sales awards and held the position of Branch Managed Money Coordinator and Branch Insurance Coordinator. Mr. Gygi left Morgan Stanley in 2003 to join the Investment management firm of Smoot Miller Cheney (later became SMC Capital) as a Senior Vice President. Mr. Gygi holds a dual registration so while affiliating with Smoot Miller Cheney; he also was a registered rep with Independent broker/dealer WBB Securities, LLC. In 2008, Mr. Gygi left SMC Capital to found Gygi Capital Management as President and CEO. Gygi Capital serves the Institutional and individual marketplace with investment management solutions. Gygi Capital is a State regulated Registered Investment Advisory firm located in Cedar Hills, Utah. Gygi affiliates with Union Capital Co. which is an independent broker/dealer firm.-Company Founder, Chris Fenton, served as GM of DMG North America & President of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group, internationally orchestrating the creative, investment, and business activities of a multi-billion-dollar global media company headquartered in Beijing. During his tenure he served on the board of Valiant Entertainment, directing its eventual acquisition, and he worked closely with both Marvel and Hasbro, executing various projects to monetize their IP globally. As an author, Fenton chronicled much of his time at DMG in FEEDING THE DRAGON: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, & American Business (Simon & Schuster).Most recently, and after three years of serving as President and CEO of Media Capital Technologies (MCT), a specialty finance company focused on strategic investments in premium content, Fenton stepped down to focus on formally advising companies, investors, brands, and Congress on how to best navigate sector disruptions and optimize America's complicated relationship with China and other challenging markets...AND HE LOVES IT!!! Follow him on X @TheDragonFeeder. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In Misty Copeland's 10 years as the American Ballet Theater's first Black woman principal dancer, she has inspired others to see themselves in ballet shoes and on stages across the world — and St. Louis is no exception. Erica Hill, founder of the Florissant-based dance company Pointe of Surrender, speaks to Copeland's influence — on herself and the Black dancers who come to her studio. Hill also describes Healing Humanity Through Arts, her dance company's nonprofit arm, and its work to make dance accessible to youth through school-based programming and scholarships.

Tracy Young has been on our radar for some time, having co-founded PlanGrid (acquired by Autodesk) and now co-founder of TigerEye - a GTM modern analytics platform. As a successful co-founder, Tracy has a natural sales background combined with her engineer background - a powerful combination.  On the TigerEye website, the company's core values are: Wholehearted, Humility, Kaizen, Trust, and Simplicity. Tracy discusses how she leads the company and has battled in her own head what a construction CEO or a tech co-founder looks like. It looks like her: a petite, Asian woman.  Tracy belives that the focus on a great leader should not be whether they are masculine or feminine but rather how they build their team - they have a vision, they're authentic, genuine, and are great communicators who care.  Follow Tracy on LinkedIn More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.  Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.  subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues https://womensalespros.com/podcast/   

Episode 91.  A wealth of experience comes from someone who joined the tech world with experiences at as such places as Google, Slack, Salesforce and most recently Humane. Not surprisingly, the experience eventually leads to becoming a founder herself.In this episode of the Lifetime at Work podcast, host Greg Martin interviews Brooke Hartley Moy, co-founder of the AI startup Infactory. Brooke shares her journey from being a history major with no programming background to co-founding a tech company. The discussion covers her career trajectory, insights on working at major tech companies like Salesforce and Google, and the challenges and benefits of starting her own company. Brooke also explores the future of AI, the importance of soft skills in the tech industry, the complexities of venture capital, and her experiences as a woman in tech. She emphasizes the need for continuous learning, adaptability, and the value of personal relationships in career development.00:00 Introduction to the Podcast00:23 Meet Brooke Hartley Moy01:07 Brooke's Journey into Tech04:05 Breaking into the Industry13:09 Starting Infactory15:42 Challenges of Entrepreneurship17:57 Venture Capital Insights23:53 Women in Tech34:27 AI Optimism and Skepticism40:22 Advice for Aspiring Professionals42:32 Conclusion and Farewell

And as if the above title weren't enough, Paul Hylenski is also a 5-time successful author, a pilot and a public speaker. Paul grew up in Delaware. He joined the Marines in 1999 and stayed with the Corps until 2007. He then left to join a large company and, as he put it, got the opportunity to observe both good and bad leaders. He and I talk quite a bit about leaders and leadership. I asked him if he observed bad leadership in the Marines. He said that people being human do find themselves not leading properly in and out of the marines. His insights about this are best left for him to tell.   Along the way Paul formed his company, Quantum Leap Academy. His company was formed to provide comprehensive training in AI technologies. He also formed VetMentor.ai, a service designed to assist military members in navigating the complexities of disability claims and career transitions with the aid of AI.   As you may be able to gather, AI is a subject Paul has learned a great deal about. He discusses how we all can use it much more than we do in ways that can and will benefit us along our life journeys.   Time passed for me quickly talking with Paul. He would love to hear from you, veteran or not. He has much to offer as you will see.       About the Guest:   Paul Hylenski is a dynamic business leader, software programmer, and motivational speaker with a deep passion for leveraging technology to enhance community and personal growth. After serving in the Marine Corps, Paul founded Quantum Leap Academy, a platform dedicated to providing comprehensive training in AI technologies. His vision extends into healthcare, where he has launched BioMarker Detect, an early cancer detection company. Paul's entrepreneurial spirit is complemented by his authorship, notably of his book 'Error-Proofing Humans,' which explores the intersection of human error and technological solutions. Paul's commitment to veteran affairs is evident through VetMentor.AI, a service designed to assist military members in navigating the complexities of disability claims and career transitions with the aid of AI. His efforts to democratize technology education are also showcased in his development of courses like 'Introduction to AI for Teens' and specialized training for veterans. Outside of his professional endeavors, Paul enjoys piloting aircraft and spending quality time with his family. His forward-thinking approach and dedication to service have made significant impacts across multiple sectors, particularly in AI education and veteran support.   Ways to connect with Paul:   LinkedIn : (1) Paul Hylenski | LinkedIn Website : www.quantumleapacademy.org   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hello everyone, and pleasant greetings to you wherever you happen to be today. I am Michael Hingson, the host of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. It's a lot of fun to be here. I really appreciate you joining us today. Hope that you have as much fun listening as I and our guest have in bringing this to you, I tell everyone who's going to come on the podcast that there is only one rule that everyone has to follow on the podcast or we won't do it, and that is, you have to have fun. And Paul Hylenski is definitely a person who said he would him force himself to do that. So Paul, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here   Paul Hylenski ** 02:02 today. Thank you so much. Michael, appreciate it. Thank you for having me on Well, Paul is a   Michael Hingson ** 02:08 former Marine. He is the founder and CEO of something called Quantum Leap. He does various things with AI and technology. He is a leader by any standard. He's authored, if I recall write five books anymore, any more coming up in the queue, we'll have to learn about that. But definitely not a person who is idle, a man of action in a lot of different ways. And we're really glad that you're here with us. So why don't we start if you would, why don't you tell me a little bit about you as kind of the early Paul growing up and all that kind of life and all that and how you got started.   Paul Hylenski ** 02:45 So, you know, I grew up in actual Newark, Delaware, so funny, there had a great childhood. Decided when I was in high school that I was going to enlist in the Marine Corps, so I wanted to be one of the few and the proud, and so I joined the Marine Corps, served in the Marine Corps, that was one of the best experiences of my life. Then after the Marine Corps, I actually got connected with a company with that was an aerospace company, and started working there as a frontline leader, and then from there, I saw a lot of bad leaders, and I saw some great leaders. And so I was able to, actually, as I kept going through the ranks, tailor my leadership towards how I wanted to be. And it was different. It was using science, psychology and leadership. And then as the AI revolution started happening, I started actually putting AI into business, and I wrote a book about AI in business, and then I thought to myself, well, now maybe I can impact the world in a bigger way. And that was what kind of drove me to start Quantum Leap Academy. And Quantum Leap Academy focuses on teaching professionals AI that's practical and and then that's really been my passion and mission is impacting the world with actually teaching how to automate and really make your life easier using AI   Michael Hingson ** 04:23 Cool. Well, you've been been doing a lot of stuff. How did you come up with the name quantum leap?   Paul Hylenski ** 04:29 A great story, but back in the 80s, there used to be an amazing TV   Michael Hingson ** 04:33 show, yes. So   Paul Hylenski ** 04:35 I thought, what better? You know, I was looking for a name that showed like, look, we're gonna go from where we're at now, and we're going to take this huge leap, and it's almost a leap of faith, you know, that we can use this new technology in in the forces of good. And so, you know, broke it out from my childhood. But, you know, kind of took the quantum leap. And then, you know, the academy. So, and   Michael Hingson ** 05:02 it kind of went from there, yeah, well, so you said that you left the Marines. Well, when you left the Marines, and you went then to a major company, and you started out in kind of initial leadership and so on, how did being a Marine help you in terms of dealing with an understanding leadership, much less what made a good leader and what made a leader, not necessarily a good leader.   Paul Hylenski ** 05:31 You know, for me, and I've done, I've done a few talks, and I've done a couple TED talks, actually, on this. And for me, the military is is is a great example of what they what I like to call the total leadership. So in business, normally what we do is we only worry about the people when we need them, or while they're at work or while they're accomplishing a mission. But in the military, we have to worry about the total person, because even the person's home life, or maybe things they have going on outside of the mission impact their ability to carry out the mission. And, you know, I've said a couple things you know about just both the military rewards people. So in the military, you get medals, and, you know, you get medals and awards for sacrificing yourself for the good of your people. But in business, a lot of times you get, you know, raises and promotions for sacrificing everyone around you for the good of yourself. And I think that's a flawed dynamic that I really got to see in action in the military, and I brought that into the civilian business life, do you   Michael Hingson ** 06:45 and looking back on it, if you will, and you talked about you saw leaders who were good leaders and not so good leaders in the corporate world. And I don't want to pick on the military, but did you see the same sort of thing at all in the military, or do they really weed out people who don't tend to to do very well in the leadership role? That's   Paul Hylenski ** 07:07 actually a myth. So most people think that there's only great leaders in the military.   Michael Hingson ** 07:15 You did find some that weren't necessarily so, okay,   Paul Hylenski ** 07:18 yes, yeah. And you know, like bad leaders tend to shape us in different ways, and sometimes better than the better leaders. You know, because you learn more from watching people who might be doing it wrong. But you know, it is great learning experience. I learned some things to do, and then I learned some things that did work, but yeah, absolutely, there are bad leaders everywhere. So   Michael Hingson ** 07:43 what would you define as as a bad leader? What are some things that you experienced or you've seen that made people not necessarily such great leaders?   Paul Hylenski ** 07:52 So for me, it's, you know, leading through intimidation and fear that was a practice that was made pretty common all throughout, you know, 1970s 1980s and the myth there was that people stayed because they were okay with the treatment. Well, in reality, the reason why they stayed to endure that horrible kind of leadership was because they had pensions. Well, the world now doesn't have pensions for most part. So people stay because they like the place or they like the culture. You know, another defining factor for me for leadership is, do I feel psychologically safe with that person? Yeah. And, you know, psychological safety and the ability to make state mistakes and the ability to make failures and view them as growth really defines a leader that's focused on the future and not just on the present or the past.   Michael Hingson ** 08:48 In the military, did people have much opportunity when they encountered somebody who wasn't necessarily a good leader to move elsewhere? I would think that that was probably more challenging to do than when you're working for a company, especially a large company, where you could transfer probably easier, is that true?   Paul Hylenski ** 09:08 Yeah, that that is true. So sometimes you had to endure it and and then you make the best out of a situation. And, you know, like I was saying earlier, sometimes that's where I learned, you know, as I was going through things that just didn't work, you know, and the way you talk to people and treat people, and just even the overall demeanor that you have as a leader, you know, matters. And everything you say is a communication, but everything you do is a communication as well. And a lot of leaders don't remember that, or they don't, you know, they don't visualize that I   Michael Hingson ** 09:45 know, for me personally, and you mentioned the whole concept of fear and intimidation, and I've experienced it from time to time for a variety of reasons, being blind and interacting with. People, I faced challenges because people tended to not necessarily view blindness as as they should. And so oftentimes I would have people say to me, Well, you got to work harder and different than everyone else, because you're blind and people aren't going to perceive you as being competent. Well, there's truth to that to a degree, but there are ways to approach that as a leader. And I would think that when you're telling someone all the time, you gotta be better, you gotta be smarter, and so on, as opposed to saying, how do we make sure that you shine as best as you possibly can? And I don't know when I adopted this method of operation, but one of the things that I discovered fairly early on was that as I was managing people, and when I started really hiring people and opening offices for companies, one of the things that I said to people was, look, I'm hiring you because you've demonstrated to me, or you've convinced me that you can do the job. So my job isn't to boss you around. My job is to work with you specifically to see how I can add value to what you're doing to make you the best performer that you can be. And what I discovered is that the people who really got that and understood it and chose to find ways that I could work with them and use the skills that I have, and oftentimes they took the lead in discovering what they thought that I could help with but we worked together, and when they got that concept, they really did perform a whole lot better than those who didn't get it.   Paul Hylenski ** 11:53 That's a great strategy.   Michael Hingson ** 11:55 Well, I think it's and it's important, because I think that fear and intimidation doesn't help anyone, and it doesn't help you or anyone to develop a real trust if you're just dealing with someone out of fear, as opposed to dealing with someone through trust and teamwork, it's a it can be a challenge. Yeah, I   Paul Hylenski ** 12:18 think you know, one of the things that we're finding out more and more and companies are finding out is they never really made significant headway to fix issues or to get real growth because of that fear and intimidation. And I mean, just take, just take mistakes. Right? If I'm afraid to make a mistake, I'm going to lie, cheat and steal my way out of that mistake. I'm gonna blame it on everyone else, but if I'm not afraid to make the mistake, then I'll tell you, as my leader, exactly what happened, and then as the leader, if you know exactly what happened, you can work corrective action and fix it and make the environment better. And that's where the beauty and the secret behind that is   Michael Hingson ** 13:01 well, or the other part of it is because you acknowledge the mistake and so on, the leader will let you do the corrective acting and take the corrective steps that need to be done, because especially that will be a good learning experience for you, but they're there to support you, which is really the issue.   Paul Hylenski ** 13:21 And I think when leaders change their mindset from failure being this negative connotation, and, you know, failure being this bad thing, to, hey, that's just another step towards our growth, you know. But what did you learn from it? Or what are you going to do different, right? All those things, then all of a sudden, people start to realize they're in a growth mindset. They can fail, they can learn, they can proceed, and then they end up growing. Yeah, and   Michael Hingson ** 13:49 I think overall, people really do want to grow. They want to evolve, but the leader is, or ought to be, the person to help really create that environment for people.   Paul Hylenski ** 14:04 Yep, and spot on. I mean, who wakes up in the morning and says, Hey, I'm going to be a loser today. I'm going to be a failure today, right? Nobody, so. But people fail, and people might not get something, they might not understand something, and you're spot on. The leader has to be the one that's their cheerleader or their coach or their mentor or giving them direction on Hey, you didn't really do well on this, but this is what you need to do next time. Similarly, a different way, or   Michael Hingson ** 14:34 you didn't do well. Do you have any idea of why? Because it's always great if you can figure it out. You know, I have worked with guide dogs since 1964 and it took a couple of dogs for me to develop and begin to articulate this. But what I learned is that every time I got a new guide dog, and we would spend time at the school or whatever, what I. Really doing there is beginning the process of creating a bond with a new teammate. And no mistake, dogs are as much a part of a team as anyone else. If you allow that to happen, most people really look down on on dogs, but the reality is that they have a lot of senses, and they have a lot to contribute. And the thing is, if you believe people like Cesar Milano and so on, the thing is, dogs really want to be a part, and they really want you to tell them what you expect from them. And in that sense, it's really cool. They don't have hidden agendas like people often do. And so the difficulty with people with hidden agendas is it makes it more difficult to trust them, and sometimes you can break through that. And the hidden agenda isn't such a hidden agenda that isn't necessarily a negative agenda at all, but we tend to be very closed in terms of trusting others, because we're always concerned about what hidden agendas they have. Dogs, I believe, do love unconditionally, but I don't think that they trust unconditionally. But the difference between a dog and a person is that a dog is generally more open to trust, unless something just really hurt them, which is something typically that it would be a person who did that. But dogs are open to trust. And if you create that trusting relationship, it is second to none.   Paul Hylenski ** 16:34 That's that's interesting. Know that?   Michael Hingson ** 16:38 Yeah, they The reality is that they want to please. They want to do a good job. So I've learned over the years working with guide dogs, it is an extremely stressful job for them, because they want to please. They want to make it work. And they're being tested whenever, for example, the harness is on, even when it's off a lot. But when the harness is on, they watch, and have to watch a lot what's coming up at the street corner, the curb is coming up. I got to stop at the curb and make sure that my person stops at the curb. I tell the dog to go forward, and the dog sees there's a hybrid car coming, and I don't know it, because it's in battery mode and so I don't hear it, but the dog, if I create a good, teaming relationship with that dog, the dog knows that it has the authority to not budge to make sure that we don't get smushed by the car. Likewise, if everything is fine, then the dog will go. But the dog has a lot of decisions to make in the in the guiding process. They don't lead, they guide. It's my job to know where to go and how to get there, and I need to learn that as I travel and make that happen. And the neat thing about it is that when the dog understands I'm doing my job, it feels a lot better about doing its job, and it knows what its job is. And in reality, what that ultimately means is that we form a good team, supportive relationship. And I think that is something that because just as relevant in person to person, leadership and teamwork as it is in person to dog relationships, oh sure,   Paul Hylenski ** 18:27 the ability to trust each other and feel safe with each other, absolutely. Yeah. So,   Michael Hingson ** 18:33 so you've done a lot. What got you started in dealing with AI? What? What attracted you to that? Yeah,   Paul Hylenski ** 18:40 yeah. My fourth book was actually titled The evolution of leadership. So aI had just kind of started coming online. I started researching AI, and then I thought to myself, Okay, well, now that I've researched it, I'm going to start actually using it. And then I went to actually input it into a few businesses, and once I realized, like, wow, like, I could automate 50 to 60% of the business with AI. And I started noticing, like we had time to be proactive, not reactive. Then, then I realized, okay, I'm we're on to something most anybody. If you ask them about AI, they're just going to say, chat, GPT. But there's, you know, 1000 different platforms. There's AI automations. So I thought, Okay, people just don't know. And, you know, the more senior people are, the least, the less that they knew about, you know, AI and chatgpt and everything. So I thought, Okay, well, the, you know, baby boomers and a lot of the you know, millennials, they're running companies right now, or they own companies, but they're the ones that are not able to really use AI or new AI. So you. Know, I've really tried to put a focus on teaching practical AI. So not just the, not just the theory and all the, you know, school type of material, but actually how to utilize AI to benefit you and your business. And that's been, you know, really fantastic since we kicked the academy off, we've gotten formally accredited. So when you take, you know, certifications, one thing that's different is a lot of places you'll take AI certifications, and you just get a little certificate, but no credits, and it's not formally accredited. And that was one thing we put a lot of attention into because as business professionals, the whole point of taking training is to grow in your, you know, career and grow in your job. So, you know, accreditation and credentials matter. But, yeah, that's what got me started, and then now it's become a passion. I, you know, I do free training for veterans. We actually even started a software as a service to help veterans put their disability claims in and streamline that process. So it's been it's been really fantastic. AI has opened up a lot of opportunities. How does AI   Michael Hingson ** 21:18 help in that whole process of doing the claims, applications and so on. What does it say? So it's   Paul Hylenski ** 21:23 absolutely great. So this was our startup company, which was a derivative off of Quantum Leap, and it's called vet mentor AI, so we'll be releasing it towards the end of the year, and we've already used, utilized it on, you know, test veterans, where they've actually allowed us to help them put their applications in. So the problem is that, you know, for first time submittals for veterans, it's a 70% rejection rate rate, so a lot of veterans either don't know what to do, or maybe they're afraid to do it. And then one of the big things is PTSD and anxiety. There's a fair amount of veterans that really have high anxiety, or maybe have issues from their PTSD, where this process is daunting and the fact of going in front of a medical examiner is almost impossible for them. So the way it does it, or what it does is it allows the veteran to basically in plain language, right? What's wrong? So they'll fill out a very simple form. It's something that you know, someone with basic education can fill out, and it's basically a questionnaire. And then we have a proprietary AI software that we actually built that analyzes all that data, and then it's trained on the VA rating manuals. It's trained on the VA forms, the VA website. And so what it does is it actually tailors the person's claim to the VA rating manual. And by wording it like that, it actually allows the veteran to get this comprehensive report, which even asks the person, Hey, did you have this medical documentation? Did you think about filing for this secondary claim and and so then the second part of this is we actually built an AI platform to allow the veteran to do a simulated CNP exam. So what a cmp exam is, it's a medical exam where the veteran has to go in and actually get examinated, and you know, then that that doctor will determine if they, you know, meet the criteria. So what we've done is we've actually utilized AI and allowed them to do their medical examination with an AI. It even has a voice, so that they can talk to it like a person and imagine and this has been wildly successful for our veterans that have high anxiety or PTSD, because they're able to practice their their CNP exam, and you know, it will critique their answers. It will let them know, you know, what, what their rating would be, and all this thing in the background. And it's really amazing, because then when they go in for their real one they've already practiced, and they are less anxious, they're less nervous about it, and they make better decisions. So the one great thing, and I'm so proud of this, because being a veteran, this was something that was really hard for me, was, you know, submitting my disability claims, so the average failure rate is 70% on the first time submission but with vet mentor, all of our veterans, we are currently at an 80% acceptance rate on first time submittals. So we've flipped the strip the script, and you know, instead of a 30% approval rate, we're up to an 80% approval. Boring and   Michael Hingson ** 25:01 it's interesting, because what I'm really hearing is that, to a large degree, the AI system is helping to train, much less helping to create the actual information that has to be submitted. So it's kind of a double pronged approach to solving a problem,   Paul Hylenski ** 25:20 yeah, and it's, it does it. It prompts them for, you know, something simple that I never realized in the beginning of the process was a personal statement. So it helps them to actually generate a personal statement about their illness or injury or disability. And then, even more than that, it prompts you to put it in the proper form. So most veterans don't know, but if you don't upload your personal statement in the 4138 Bravo form, they actually discount it. And there's a lot of veterans that are are submitting just a Word document with a little handwritten thing, but it, you know, the AI, actually, when we started doing this, the AI picked up that, hey, this must be done in this form. And when we were looking at it, we were like, Oh my God. We didn't even know that. So the AI taught us when we were actually making it   Michael Hingson ** 26:13 well. And how long have you been doing this? So   Paul Hylenski ** 26:17 we've been doing this for four months. Little over 20 veterans. So we're in the middle of, we're in the middle of the end stages of, you know, building the rest of the site and the platform. We basically, when we started, we kind of had three or four different types of AI systems talking to each other. So we're actually building and consolidating it just into one that's a nice little format for a user. And the beauty part with with our software is it's a one time lifetime fee, so you pay $50 which covers the cost of the AI software in the background, and you have it for life. So as your your disabilities get worse with age, because we all know they do. You have the software for the rest of your life, and it's for only $50 which is starkly different than the A lot of the companies out there, which you know they're preying on veterans. And what they do is they take 1000s of dollars or percentages off of their disability every single month. So that's one of the things that we wanted to do when I made this company. It wasn't to make money, it was to impact the world. So that's why we keep it just as a lifetime fee, just a $50 one time, and you're done. So the veteran basically just pays for the software is   Michael Hingson ** 27:43 bit mentor, a nonprofit like a 501 c3 company. So no,   Paul Hylenski ** 27:47 we're not right now. We haven't done any of that yet, just because we want to build the platform,   Michael Hingson ** 27:54 it's fair. Um, you've got to start somewhere, needless to say. So   Paul Hylenski ** 27:59 we've helped. We've helped over 20 veterans so far. So that was the big thing, was we get we got veterans in the beginning that we're like, Okay, well, let's try it out. And then, you know, we've done a couple pitches. We've, you know, been getting investments in, in the platform and everything. And the intention is, you know, I want to roll this out nationwide to help veterans. There's a little over a million pending disability claims right now, and if you just go off of the you know, the standard statistics, 70% of them will get rejected. Yeah, and that is a horrible thing for a veteran who maybe is having trouble at work, or maybe their disability is impacting their ability to get promoted and and to have to go through that after they've honorably served the country. You know that I'm trying to fix that?   Michael Hingson ** 28:53 Do you see expanding this and also working with people who aren't veterans by any chance?   Paul Hylenski ** 29:01 So we haven't thought of that. But that is a great idea. I was actually so we, we're in the VA Pathfinder system, because my intention in the beginning was actually to partner with the VA, because imagine a VSO, or, you know, one of the members from VA who are helping the veterans have this tool to help them. You know, I think that would change the game too   Michael Hingson ** 29:26 well. I'm thinking, for example, there are a lot of people with disabilities who have to navigate and interact with their state rehabilitation systems and so many other things that might very well benefit from what you're doing and also who will learn a lot, and that will help them with their confidence as well, which is kind of what prompted my my question, and my thought about it like   Paul Hylenski ** 29:50 we haven't yet, but you got my mind thinking now, and you know what happens when that,   Michael Hingson ** 29:54 there you go, yeah, well, that's, that's always, that's always a good thing, not. A problem. So when you started really integrating AI into healthcare and doing the things that you were doing, what kind of challenges did you run into, or are you running into?   Paul Hylenski ** 30:13 Yeah, the first one was when I started integrating it into business, I met a lot of resistance, because people don't understand it. So even something as simple as chat GBT, right? Just go real basic into AI. Chat GBT. There's so many people right now that either haven't used it or are not using it or don't even know all of the things that it can do. If you have a business, if you're a business owner, if you're a manager, if you are doing office clerical work, chat, GPT can probably boost your productivity just by 30% and you know, I mean instantly you will feel the benefit. I use it to write emails. I use it to do charts, data analysis. You know, there's a there is so many uses. You know, you can use chat GBT to build a game show that then you can use that game show to go train people on Excel. I mean, it's amazing the amount of limitless things that you're able to do with it. But chat TBT is literally like one grain of sand in the beach that is AI, and most people don't know that. You know, there's another platform that's make.com it literally builds automations. So this call our podcast right now, you could have an automation that it would literally transcribe the the podcast, then it could send it into four or five different directions. We could do Google Doc, we could do a Google sheet, we could put a summary about it. It would do everything all in one just by hitting one button. And so businesses are starting to use this because it's automating most of the clerical work that they do.   Michael Hingson ** 32:04 I know that I'm not using AI nearly to the extent that I could even chat GPT, and part of it has been that I've found some inaccessibility issues in some of the buttons that aren't labeled and so on. So gee, maybe I'll have to talk into giving me a better lesson on using some AI stuff, but I appreciate and understand the concepts of it, and so I know what you're saying, and I've used it to write articles in the past. And what I do when I when I bring AI or chat GPT into it, is I'll tell it to write something, and then my job is to look at that and massage it and make it my own and add my own stuff to it. And in fact, I've I've actually told chat GPT to create something, and I've told it to do it six or seven times, and I take the best of all of those, plus what I contribute to it, and turn that into the article that I actually publish. But the I think the most important part about it is that I really know what it's it's doing, and what I'm doing, and I know that I have to be the one to control it. I can't just go off and let chat, GPT create something and then submit it. That's not only worthless, but it's it's certainly dishonest. I've said many times. You know, teachers talk about students that use chat GPT to write their papers and all that, and then they turn them in, and sometimes you can tell that they're written by chat GPT, and sometimes you can't, but teachers are worried about that. My reaction, and I have a secondary teaching credential, so I do understand something about all this. But my reaction is, I think that for chat for teachers, chat GPT is great if kids go off and write their own papers, great if they use chat GPT to do it. Great because at the end of the day, you turn the paper in, and then the teacher calls you up during a period and say, not offend your paper, you're going to know real quickly who really did the work and who didn't. Yeah,   Paul Hylenski ** 34:11 and, and, you know, you brought up some good points there, right? So I have a, I have a colleague on LinkedIn who's the AI educator, and so what he actually has done is he's put a lot of AI into education, and there are softwares that a lot of teachers are using now that actually detect chat. GBT, yeah, detects AI. You know, one of the best things that people can do, and this is something that most people know nothing about, but you can actually create a digital twin of yourself, and it's very easy to do on open AI, so you can create an assistant that's actually trained on how you write, how you sound, right? And so this, we did this very easily for me, where I. Downloaded all of my posts, all of my interactions, and everything from LinkedIn, and I trained it on all of my books. So what happens is is you literally have an AI system that talks like you, has your same tone, has the same humor that you do. And when I do my posts and everything I do kind of the same thing you do, where I'll have my digital twin create the post and then I massage it or whatever, or go through it and read it. But what I've found is definitely for automations and definitely for email writing, these digital twins that you're able to create for particularly marketing as well. They're pretty spot on. I mean, you would have a hard time telling the difference between my digital twin and my writing. Of   Michael Hingson ** 35:48 course, you're leaving yourself open to the obvious question, which one are you the twin or the real person? But that's okay, yes,   Paul Hylenski ** 35:56 that's a good one today. Are   Michael Hingson ** 35:59 you a robot or not,   Paul Hylenski ** 36:01 no. But people don't realize that. And you know, the beauty part of it, Michael is like, so if you own a small marketing company, I mean, you could create 30 to 60 days of content in literally a couple hours. If you have a digital twin, and it changes the game, because you're able to scale businesses, you're able to do things. You can set automations up. You know, on some of my emails, particularly my personal emails, depending on what is in the email, I have automations where the AI actually responds to the email and it sends it to my drafts and then, so at the end of the day, we do as I look at the draft email. I click it, I click it, I click it up. I don't like the way that read it. I'll delete that and write it for real. But for the most part, I'd say it's about 90% perfect. And you know, I took, I take maybe about two hours of emails and turn it into about 1520 minutes. And so then it gives me an extra hour and some change every single day just on that task.   Michael Hingson ** 37:06 So here's a question, actually. So you do the process that you just described, and you go off and you massage some of the emails because you didn't like the way your twin created them. How do you then make sure that your twin gets trained on your changes.   Paul Hylenski ** 37:23 Plus, you know, I mean, you That's exactly it's the whole point is you have to what I'll do is I'll basically copy and paste the email, put it into my digital twin and say I did not like maybe the word, a couple of the words they used, or I didn't like the tone of this email, and so that's the beauty part with chat. GPT, yeah, and you know, any, pretty much, any, AI, the whole point of it is fine tuning it, so you have to, but most people don't realize that you can talk to the AI because it responds. So like, if you say, I don't like this, it's not going to do that, and it's so important, and one of the hacks that a lot of people don't do. So when I create something, let's say a business plan or a coaching plan, and I'll create it, I'll ask chat GBT to critique it for me and then improve it. So now I have it created, then I have it critique it and improve it, and pretty much, at the end of that, I have a pretty perfect document. And that's changed a lot of the the ability that I but most people don't realize you can actually have it critique its own work,   Michael Hingson ** 38:36 yeah, and that's and that's the reason I asked the question, because that's really the whole point. It is a, it is a process, and AI is opening so many things. I work with a company called accessibe, and accessibe uses AI and what's, what's called a, well, it's, it's a, it's a process where it can generate the code that will make a website more accessible, called an overlay. Some people say they don't work and so on, because they believe that you got to manually code it. But in reality, I can find manual coders who don't always do a good job. But what accessibe does is that they have created a system out of necessity. They're in Israel, and in 2017 Israel said, websites need to be accessible. And these guys that all started this company in 2015 and the company was making websites for people, well, suddenly they had to make everything accessible. And they created an AI process that does a lot of that. It's expanding and it's improving over time, because there are things that it it didn't do well, and there are things that it will get better at as it goes forward. But the fact of the matter is that it does help make websites a lot more inclusive than they ever were. So for example, if you're a person with epilepsy and you go to a web. Site that uses accessibe, and there are blinking elements on that page that could cause you to have a seizure. You can go into a particular disability profile on accessibe That's for people with epilepsy, and disable those blinking elements. And the way it all works is that accessibe's widget transmits the code not to the website and modifies the website code. It transfers the information directly to my browser and and my browser and my screen reader that verbalizes to me doesn't care where the code comes from, as long as it's there. So it's really pretty clever, and it and it's and it's making quite a difference. It's got a long way to go, but AI is new autonomous vehicles have a long way to go. They're pretty new, but they're getting better. So it's, it's a process, right?   Paul Hylenski ** 40:52 We're at the beginning of this, and it's, you know, starting to really grow. And so, like, you know, people, people just, you know, a lot of people are still resistant to it and, and there's good reasons for that, right? I mean, this is going to be very dangerous as much as it's going to be good, right? I mean, with the deep fakes and all the ability that you allow people to do with it, they but there's that much good with it too and knowing it. And once you start knowing it and knowing what to look for and learning it and everything, then you can start to pick up on maybe some not so good ways of using it, or, you know, the ethics about it, or, you know, the transparency about Yeah, how do   Michael Hingson ** 41:38 you balance the technological innovations and the ethics in, in what you do, yeah,   Paul Hylenski ** 41:45 for me, so that's part of what we teach in the academy. So like, the first and I have five levels there. Each level goes up, but in, in the first level, it's all about, like, AI and business. So there's a fair amount of, you know, ethics, transparency and everything about proprietary data, not putting certain data into it, you know. So for me, it's that is the biggest key, because especially with vet mentor, you know, you're dealing with really touchy areas, medical information and everything. And, you know, while it's kind of sanitized because of our process, you know, it's still it's new. And, you know, and with anything new, there's going to be some type of resistance, there's going to be questions, and people with the lack of information, they make up their own, right, and that's where you get a lot of the confusion about AI right now, but I think it's important to realize that, you know, this is new, so you have to tread carefully. And you know, the best way to actually protect yourself is to educate yourself, yeah, um,   Michael Hingson ** 42:55 and, you know, the internet and itself, it's got the dark web, and the web that's not so dark, and there are, there are going to be people who will misuse it, but what we we need to learn is how to bring ethical decisions into it, and over time, hopefully, we can bring down a lot of The the so called Dark Web, and let people know or or get people to understand that's inappropriate behavior. And I think the same thing with AI. And yes, you're going to see people who get fooled. You're going to have a lot of challenges, but there is so much positivity that can come from it that is is even more important than the negative parts,   Paul Hylenski ** 43:41 yep. And I think, you know, there's, there are companies out there, because I've talked to a couple of their CEOs that are actually building AI systems to detect negative AI, right, like, so they can detect the deep fakes and everything. And, you know, AI the one, the one touchy thing that it's done so in the in the past, you know, before the internet and everything, if somebody wanted to steal from you, they had to walk up to you and steal from you. They had to pick pocket you, or actually rob you. So you got to see the person's face as they were taking something from you. When the internet came, you had hackers that had no face, right? He was just this person on the other end of the computer, and they could steal your information or steal your money. Well, the problem with AI in this manner is, and why we have to be careful and we have to protect against this is, now it's your daughter. Now it's your husband, your wife, your boss, that comes on the screen and says, I need you to make this transfer. I need money, right? And it's really the thieves, but they've been able to clone, you know, your family member, so now the people stealing from you look like and sound like people that. You care about, and that is why it is getting drastically more difficult to identify some of these, you know, really tough ways that it's being used. So I'm excited to see the innovation that keeps us going to come out, you know, with some of these companies to actually screen for those deep fakes, because then I think once you can get rid of or regulate some of that negative usage, then people really will just focus on the positivity that it gets.   Michael Hingson ** 45:29 Yeah, because the reality is that it can be so positive for everyone, and that if people really learn that and catch on to it and ethically use it, there's, there's no end to the capabilities and the positive things that they can bring about.   Paul Hylenski ** 45:48 I mean, you have 10 year old children now coding websites because they've made it so easy they can literally type in to code a game. People are making their own games. You can go on Claude AI and literally make a web application. Just by saying, make a web application for a loan calculator. So you can create anything in the world. And before, I used to have to know how to code if I wanted to make something like that. Now I just type in what I want, and it spits it out,   Michael Hingson ** 46:20 yeah, yeah, and it's it is going to get better, which is really what makes it so cool. And I hope that people will catch on and understand that being positive and doing it ethically really is better and worth more than than the alternative.   Paul Hylenski ** 46:39 And I think so too. I think once we figure ways to have the AI protect against the AI, I think, I think it'll be even better, too. And, you know, I'm excited, because from the students that I've had in the academy, so many people from beginner level to where they thought they knew, you know, they thought they knew chat GBT. They thought they knew automations. It's been great because you see the light bulb click on, when some people are like, Oh, my God. Why was I taking a week to do that? And you just did it in five minutes. And you know, our level four is where you actually learn how to build a software as a service. And you know, our students walk away with a fully functional AI business. And there's not many schools, there's not many academies that you'll ever walk away with actually real practical knowledge or a real business.   Michael Hingson ** 47:38 Yeah, and that's what makes it so cool, and it it certainly helps to empower people a lot, doesn't it?   Paul Hylenski ** 47:45 Yeah, I mean, we had a school teacher build a CRM platform that then she took and she went and sold it to five different companies, and they're using her platform that we built in two days with AI, it was so crazy. And she's like, I never thought I'd be able to do something like this. And it's true, because five years ago, she would have never been able to do that, because that wasn't her specialty. Right now, you know, she built a fully functioning Software as a Service, and it was, it was the most beautiful thing to see. Her eyes light up at the end of it, where it was, like, I just built this.   Michael Hingson ** 48:24 Yeah, it is so cool that she's recognizing that she's still the one who did it and she used tools, but she's still the one who did it,   Paul Hylenski ** 48:34 yep, yep. And it's, that's really what's amazing is you can, you know, you show people, I bring up, you know, a lot of examples, but most, most people don't realize what they actually have the power to. And a lot of people come on, especially the level one people come in and say, I can't learn this. This is just so hard for me. And then once you start breaking it down to a very simplistic level of, hey, this is how to prompt. This is how the system reads your words. And once you understand that, then everything else starts to make sense. And it's so beautiful, because you have people, you know, creating things they never thought they could before, yeah. And   Michael Hingson ** 49:20 that's what makes it so fun. And people do want to be creative, which is great. You've written several books. I know one you've written. I'm intrigued about. We haven't discussed it yet, error proofing, humans Tell me about that.   Paul Hylenski ** 49:33 Yeah, so error proofing, I love the title. Oh, it's great. And, you know, I got so many comments on that so that book, actually, I'm so proud of it, because it was an Amazon bestseller. You know, I've been on a book tour with it and everything. So I originally brought that book up because I thought, okay, error proofing humans there. So everybody you know commented and said, You can't error proof a human. That. Is the whole point of the book. So every human in the world makes anywhere from three to five mistakes per hour, if they're trained on a topic. Now that goes up by 11 times, potentially if they're they're not trained. So you have people every day making mistake after mistake. Now, most of them are what they call micro mistakes, and they're detectable, right? So you can detect, okay, I typed in the wrong letter, so I hit the backspace or whatever. But when you're doing some tasks, if you have that many mistakes, sometimes you don't detect them, or sometimes you can't correct them, and that's when we have accidents and injuries and everything. So the whole point of the book is, what if you could error proof processes and finally make an error proof human so what we do is we follow, and I did all the in the book. It's all the science and psychology behind human error, how to eliminate it or mitigate it. And one of the one of the key strategies that I'll leave with, like your viewers and listeners, is the Swiss cheese method. Now you can use this in your in your house, you can use this in your business. And it was made up by air, created by a guy named James Reason. And what he said was every process was like a piece of Swiss cheese. It had holes that the error or the accident could go through. So the only way to truly error proof human is to layer peace upon peace upon peace. And every failure you have means that the process isn't robust enough, so you have to add another layer of process. And what happens is, after a while, just like pieces of Swiss cheese laid up on after each other, the holes don't line up after a while, and all of a sudden you have error proof humans. And so we've done this in multiple businesses, and it has transformed their quality numbers. It has transformed their safety numbers. And what happens is, and when you can get people behind things like this, you know, you change the entire culture of the of the company or the business, or even at home. You could do these things that I say it in the book. You can do this with your children. You can do this with yourself, right to to make less and less mistakes. And you know, one of the things that a lot of people don't realize too, one of the other key main things, and then I'll get off the book, but one of the key main things the book is, you know, a high frequency, low risk activity like walking. So 30% of all injuries in a workplace are slips, trips and falls. And you'd ask yourself, well, how come people can't walk? Well, they can walk, right? But, well, I don't look at my feet when I walk, because it's a high frequency low risk, so my mind becomes immediately complacent. But if I were to drive a fork truck, or, let's say, operate a crane with a heavy load, every little sound that thing makes, I'm going to be on super high alert so people don't typically get injured on those high risk, low frequency jobs. So what you have to do in a workplace is you actually have to change the risk dia or dynamic to make it feel more risky. And by layering process after process, and sometimes check after check, you increase the risk profile, which decreases complacency,   Michael Hingson ** 53:44 yeah, which makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Yep, and, and I think that that in reality, we take so many things for granted. Gi, I don't know. I think there are a lot of drivers out there who consider driving like walking. It's high frequency and low risk, and it's not. And the way they drive, though, you'd think they think otherwise, yep,   Paul Hylenski ** 54:06 and that's why there's a lot of accidents, you know, but, and you know, there's a study that said the most accidents happen closer to the person's property, closer to the person's house. And you know, when you look at that, it's because I'm getting closer to home. I'm comfortable with the area. I become more complacent, and now I might run through that stop sign, or I might, yeah, make that turn a little faster than normal. So it's it's really important in an environment, and as we as leaders craft our environment. We need to look at the risk profile. We need to look at our processes.   Michael Hingson ** 54:47 It's also true that what we have to do is to learn to be more disciplined about what we do. And I think that's a lot of what you're saying. When you get closer to home, you tend to be more undisciplined, but you've got to keep the discipline. Plan all the way through the process? Yeah, absolutely. And that doesn't necessarily always happen. Were you a pilot when you were in the Marines? No,   Paul Hylenski ** 55:10 so I was a, I was actually worked on helicopters in the Marine Corps, and then after the Marine Corps, I said, you know, I want to, I want to fly and and so I got my pilot's license. It was one of the best things I ever did in my life. And, you know, it taught me a lot about complacency, because being a pilot and checklists and everything, the entire cockpit is designed to defeat complacency, yeah, and, you know, but I was telling a story last week, you know, the most deadly time for a pilot is between 250 and 500 hours. And you think to yourself, again, these are experienced pilots, like, why would somebody, you know, be more dangerous than than a brand new pilot? And it's because of that risk protein as a brand new pilot, everything matters. I'm going through every single checklist item, every noise that the aircraft makes. I'm hyper vigilant. But after about 250 or 250 to 500 hours, now I'm confident. I'm used to the plane. I'm we might skip my checklist, I might do something riskier than normal, right? And that's the complacency death trap, right there.   Michael Hingson ** 56:28 Yeah. And so after 500 hours, you have done it enough that, in theory, it dawns on you. I've got to stay disciplined. I've got to do this the right way, like I did at the beginning, and it makes me safer, and it makes the flight safer.   Paul Hylenski ** 56:45 Yup and, and sometimes, and a lot of pilots have told me that sometimes during that little 250 to 500 you have a lot of near mistakes or mistakes that you learn from pretty quickly. Yeah and, and then that's enough for them to say, Yep, I gotta break myself of this. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 57:05 exactly, right. Well, and we're we're seeing so many things at airports now. It's crazy. I don't understand how so many airplanes either collide with each other, or other equipment collides with them and so on. How come we're seeing a lot more of that than we used to   Paul Hylenski ** 57:22 think. Well, I have to be honest, I think as the travel keeps getting more and more, right, you're going to probably see a lot more of this, because it's taxiing. So taxiing for a pilot is at one of those low risk, yeah, high frequency things, right? I'm just, I'm literally down, I'm not in the air. You feel safe because you're on the ground. You're, you know, you're steering it. And a lot of times, they're also very task saturated while they're taxiing. Yeah, so one thing most people don't see is while they're taxiing, they're going through checklists, they're prepping. And, you know, you don't have a good view of around you in the cockpit. You only have a window that you really can't see in the back. And you know, so the reduced visibility, the high you know, high task saturation, and then that, you know, high frequency, low risk. It's perfect environment for complacency to crop up   Michael Hingson ** 58:20 well. And the reality is, a lot of times it's not a pilot's fault that something happened. They're also relying on other people, whether it's air traffic controllers or whatever. And so there are just a lot of issues, and I think that it is something that hopefully National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA and so on, will work more on to try to eliminate more of those accidents. I have a friend whose daughter went on a vacation last Saturday with her husband, and as they were backing away from the terminal, they got hit by some sort of piece of equipment, and it to late, everything by a day. I don't know any of the details, but just so many of those things happen. We we've got to not allow things to be taken for granted. But I, I would not at all say it necessarily wasn't any way a pilot error, because there's no way to for me to know that, and it probably wasn't, but it still happened, which is, which   Paul Hylenski ** 59:19 is, there's humans everywhere. So humans are prone to mistake. And you know exactly the point of the book is, you're never going to error proof a human, but you can air proof processes. Yep,   Michael Hingson ** 59:32 you can do that. Well, if people want to reach out to you and learn more about you, what you do, maybe become involved in your courses and so on. How do they do that?   Paul Hylenski ** 59:41 Yes, so the best, and I love for people to do this. I have a fantastic network and a community on LinkedIn. So the best way to reach me, and you can reach me personally, is through LinkedIn. Just look up my name, Paul Hylenski, and then if you are interested in. Learning. Ai Mike, it's Quantum Leap Academy. So it's www, dot Quantum Leap academy.org, so it's gonna be.org yeahlin ski   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:12 for me,   Paul Hylenski ** 1:00:12 please. So, h, y, l, e, n, s, k, I,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:17 so, Paul Hylenski on LinkedIn, which makes sense? Yep, and that's it cool. Well, I want to thank you for being here and being a part of this today. It's been educational for me, and it's been a lot of fun. I value the time that we spent, and maybe in the future, if you think we ought to talk some more, I'm always glad to do that. We can, can do more of this, but I really appreciate all the sound knowledge and advice that you shared, and I hope everyone out there listening and watching appreciated it as well. Love to hear from you. If you would let us know what you thought about our podcast today, you can reach me through email, Michael M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, Michael hingsons, M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O n.com/podcast, wherever you're listening, though, we hope that you like this well enough that you'll give us a five star rating as a review. We really value your reviews. We love them. Please give us a review. And if you've reviewed us on earlier podcasts, don't stop. We'd like to hear it about this one too. We really look forward to your comments and your thoughts. If you know of anyone who ought to be a guest, and Paul you as well. If you think of anyone else who you think ought to come on our podcast, we'd love to hear from you. We're always looking for new friends to make and new people who have stories to tell. So feel free to do it, and we, we'd love to to hear from you in whatever you do. So Paul, again, I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely a lot of fun and and I hope we get to do more of it in the future. Yeah. Thank   Paul Hylenski ** 1:01:59 you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity, and this has been great. Thank you, Michael,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:07 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Today, on Notable Leaders' Radio, I speak with Kevin Eikenberry, Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group and author. Kevin shares his journey from growing up on a family farm to becoming a successful leader and business owner.   In today's episode, we discuss: Embrace the journey! Kevin Eikenberry shares how flexibility in leadership involves embracing the 'both/and' approach, allowing for flexible leadership. Let's navigate life's complexities with an open mind and a flexible heart. Context is everything! Consider the backstory; it could change your entire perspective. Kevin Eikenberry reminds us that understanding context makes us smarter and more effective leaders. Pause and reflect; you might discover a different truth. Life and leadership exist in the "gray area," not just in black and white. Kevin talks about the importance of embracing “both” rather than either/or, highlighting the complexity of life and leadership. This concept encourages flexibility and adaptability, which is crucial for effective decision-making and problem-solving. Focus on others can lead to greater success.. Kevin emphasizes the importance of shifting focus from oneself to others for personal and professional growth. This reinforces the value of empathy and collaboration in achieving success. Influences of the Past: Kevin shares a heartfelt reflection on how his father influenced his views on leadership and business. Growing up on a family farm, he gained firsthand experience in diverse leadership roles and decision-making from a young age.   RESOURCES: Complementary Resources:   http://KevinEikenberry.com/gift    Pre-order your copy of his newest book: Flexible Leadership: Navigating Uncertainty and Lead with Confidence by Kevin Eikenberry. https://amzn.to/4iMPS9S  Guest Bio Kevin is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group – a leadership and learning company based in Indianapolis, IN with a team across the United States.  He has spent over 30 years helping organizations and leaders from over 50 countries become more effective. Global Gurus has listed him on the list of most influential thinkers on leadership for the last four years.  His blog https://kevineikenberry.com/blog/ and podcast https://RemarkablePodcast.com are among the most popular on leadership.    Remarkable Leadership, From Bud to Boss, and The Long-Distance Leader, The Long-Distance Teammate, The Long-Distance Team, are among the books he has authored or co-authored.    Website/Social Links http://KevinEikenberry.com  Info@KevinEikenberry.com  https://www.facebook.com/KevinEikenberryFanPage  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevineikenberry/  https://www.instagram.com/kevineikenberry/  https://x.com/KevinEikenberry  Belinda's Bio:  Belinda Pruyne is a renowned Leadership Advisor, Executive Coach, Consultant, and Keynote Speaker recognized for her ability to transform executives, professionals, and small business owners into highly respected, influential leaders. As the Founder of BelindaPruyne.com, she partners with top-tier organizations, including IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, BBDO, Hilton, Leidos, Yale School of Medicine, Landis, Discovery Channel, and the Portland Trail Blazers. Recently, she led the redesign of two global internal advertising agencies for Cella, a leader in creative staffing and consulting. She is also a founding C-suite and executive management coach for Chief, the fastest-growing executive women's network. A thought leader in leadership development, Belinda is the creator and host of the Notable Leaders Radio podcast, where she has conducted 95+ interviews with top executives and business leaders, revealing the untold stories behind their success. Previously, as Executive Vice President, Global Director of Creative Management at Grey Advertising, she oversaw a global team of 500 professionals, gaining deep expertise in client services and executive leadership. With 25+ years of experience, Belinda is a trusted advisor to startups, turnarounds, acquisitions, and Fortune 500 companies, delivering strategic, high-impact solutions in today's fast-evolving business landscape.     Website: Belindapruyne.com Email Address: hello@belindapruyne.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/belindapruyne  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NotableLeadersNetwork.BelindaPruyne/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/belindapruyne?lang=en  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belindapruyne/ 

On this episode we get to meet and listen to Sydney Elaine Butler. I definitely believe Sydney is unstoppable for many reasons. First, growing up she had a speech disability as she will describe to us. Also, however, along the way she was diagnosed with other disabilities including being on the autism spectrum. Like all of us who are different from the “norm” Sydney had her share of challenges from others. However, she learned to deal with them and move forward.   In college she decided to get a degree in business and eventually she determined to enter the human resources field. After being out of college for only a bit over a year and during the time of the pandemic, Sydney formed her own company, Accessible Creates. She consults with companies and company leaders primarily about disabilities and she helps to create better retention and overall attitudinal environments for employees with disabilities.   We discuss many of the issues faced in the workplace and beyond by people with disabilities. I believe you will find Sydney's views and attitudes quite refreshing and often innovative. I hope Sydney has offered some takeaways you can use in your own worlds.       About the Guest:   HR Professional | Founder, Speaker, and HR/DEIA Consultant at Accessible Creates | DEIB Facilitator | They/Them Pronouns   It is Sydney's understanding that their professional purpose must be to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to be successful regardless of barriers in their way and that they must as a professional remove these barriers. Sydney conducts training and consulting for other companies on how to be more Accessible and Inclusive from a Human approach and how to recruit and retain more diverse individuals through the lens of Intersectionality/Human Resources as well as other areas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in an authentic manner at the company they founded called Accessible Creates due to understanding the barriers that exist within the workplace for diverse individuals.   Ways to connect with Sydney:   https://linktr.ee/sydneyelainebutler Website: https://www.accessiblecreates.ca/   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well and a gracious hello to you, wherever you happen to be today, I am Michael Hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected mean, and it's deliberately called that, as I've explained a few times before, because most of the time when people talk about diversity, they never talk about disabilities. They talk about sexual orientation and gender and race and so on, but disabilities get left out. In fact, I talked to one person on this podcast who said, when I observed you don't mention disabilities. Oh, that social justice. It isn't the same. Heck, it's not anyway. Leaving that aside for the moment. Our guest today is someone I've been looking forward to chatting with for a while. In her name is Sydney. Elaine Butler, and Sydney is in Canada, and she has formed a company actually called accessible creates Cindy. Sydney is very familiar with disability. She has some and I'll leave that to her, to you know, to talk about, but she brings an empathy and understanding. I think that's extremely important, and that all of you will appreciate listening to. So let's get on with it. And Sydney, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset and really glad you're here.   Sydney Elaine Butler ** 02:43 Thank you so much for having me. Michael, well,   Speaker 1 ** 02:46 it's my pleasure, and we're really glad that you're able to finally get here. We've been working on this for a while, and we've had to postpone a few times. Sydney's had one thing or another going on, but that's okay. We, we, we are unstoppable, so we always find a way to succeed, right? Exactly. Well, why don't you tell us a little bit, maybe, about the early Sydney, growing up and some of those things. Yes, to start at   Sydney Elaine Butler ** 03:11 the beginning, right? Oh, where do I start? Um, so growing up, I first knew I had a speech impediment, and so I couldn't say my R's properly, and sometimes I would speak too fast. Sometimes still do tell me to slow down if I need to, but I sometimes I wouldn't speak because I was too scared to say my R is wrong and to speak too quickly. And so I had to go to speech therapy from a young age, and didn't understand that it was really different. You know, I just realized that all my other classmates living class to go do this, but it was mindful, and it's what I knew. I also walked on my tippy toes a lot. So then I had to start going to physical therapy, and I was also playing soccer, and my parents told me a lot of different things to get me active and to get out there. And then we also the Girl Guides of Canada, which is like, equivalent to Girl Scouts in America. And so I enjoyed that, and that's when I started to really find, find my voice and find what I'd like to do, and start becoming more outgoing and starting to exploit when things   Speaker 1 ** 04:27 Ah, okay, so was the speech impediment a manifestation of something else or what?   Sydney Elaine Butler ** 04:36 Yeah, so my dad also had a speech impediment growing up. I think it was just, it wasn't, I think in hindsight, it was tied to my neurodivergency, but didn't really know what that meant at the time, and at the time, we've seen a separate and knew that, I think a lot of people think that the speech impediments, i. Or something you go out of and think about a lot of kids have speech impediments, and so sometimes now it still manifests as I stutter sometimes, because then my brain goes too fast and my mouth can't catch up. Yeah. And so just realizing that my brain thinks a little differently, and I think that had a part to   Speaker 1 ** 05:17 play in well. So along the way, you discovered that you were also involved with other disabilities, I guess,   Speaker 2 ** 05:25 yes, and so I think I also I kind of had depression when I was in high school. And so I think that led to me not knowing, you know, if I wanted to be alive or not, frankly. And so back to other disabilities and understanding that all these different things. So like, I felt like had to almost do the camouflage and blend in to like, for example, I say, would hang out with the nerds and be more nerdy, or hanging over the jocks and be more of a jock. And it didn't really have a sense of self. I think that played a role in that, in my mental health and being having other disabilities.   Michael Hingson ** 06:08 How did your parents handle all of that?   Speaker 2 ** 06:12 I think they just treated me as you know, their child, you know, and they, for example, they would want me to go on to teach therapy. Oh, I need physical therapy now, because I'm walking my tippy toes and my my calf were too tight. And so they just did the best they could, and tried, you know, a lot of people, I think they never tried Kindle that was different. They just okay, this is what city needs to do the best and he can. And so I am very thankful for them for that, because I never felt like I was different. I just knew I had needed to get different things to be successful, but I didn't really know the details and the depth of what was happening.   Speaker 1 ** 06:55 When, when did you figure all of that out? Or when did doctors or whatever, finally come up with a diagnosis that made sense.   Speaker 2 ** 07:05 Yeah, I think when my after, shortly after, I started college, and I was like, kind of, I'm still living at home, but really think that kind of becoming more independent, seeing that I could do some things I could do really well, and other things I was struggling with, and then going to the doctors, explaining the things I was experiencing, and really understanding that, oh, okay, this and that, you know, finding out what is happening with me and how to best help myself and help and being patient with myself. Because I think a lot of times you can get so frustrated because you don't know exactly what's wrong, but you know something's wrong. And so I think by getting that, helping doctors, and getting help, even just expressing my limitations, and also I was, at the same time myself, helping kids, teens and hours with disabilities, and I related to them so much. And so I think that's what prompted me to go to the doctors in the first place and be like, I relate more to this population. Why is this and why am I so good at my job working with these individuals, we were others that I felt like, I was like, don't and so just seeing that, oh, yeah, that makes more sense, that, you know, autistic and all these different things that make up who I am,   Speaker 1 ** 08:22 right? So how long ago was it that you were in college?   Speaker 2 ** 08:28 I was so I was in college. I started in 2015 okay? And I graduated in 2018 and then I went to university from 2018 to 2020 because my college actually offered, the university offered a duty completion program, and so that was really beneficial. So   Speaker 1 ** 08:46 you were fairly recent in in the process, I've had some people on unstoppable mindset who were in their 30s before someone was able to accurately diagnose that they were different because they had autism, and I know that it is, for example, autism, and I know that for the longest time, people just didn't know how to to understand it or describe it. So at least in a sense, I guess although it still took a while for them to figure out with you still it was, it was better that it happened now than years ago when they weren't able to explain it or or even really understand it.   Speaker 2 ** 09:32 Yeah, and I think this is misconception that I think previously in the years, like you said, it was more like either there was very specific criteria around what they thought autism was, but now we understand it's a spectrum and how it impacts, you know, people that you know, males versus females. And so I think it's like, oh, you know, the lack of empathy is seen associated with autism. But like you said at the beginning, I have lots of empathy. And I think have hyper empathy, you should have to use a thing in females that are autistic.   Speaker 1 ** 10:07 Okay, so what did you get your college and university degrees in?   Speaker 2 ** 10:13 Yeah, so I studied Business Administration, human resources. So my aunt actually, she was human resources on a cruise ship. And I thought at first, when I was applying for university and in college, I because at college first, because I thought I was actually going to be environmentalist, because I high level. I've always wanted to change the world. So I thought, you know, with climate change and global warming was like, I want to be an advocate and talk about, you know, what's it better do to help the planet? But I didn't have the math grades for that. That was one of my strong suits and so. But I also took business as an elective in school. Like, oh, this seems like an interesting elective. I'll take it, and actually did quite well in it. And I like people helping people. And I thought, you know human resources, even though we know they mostly help the employer, I can also help people in the workplace. And there's so many different diverse aspects of human resources. And so that's why I decided to study human resources in school.   Michael Hingson ** 11:18 You just avoided the math part of business, huh?   Speaker 2 ** 11:20 There is, there was still math in business. But it's funny because I actually took statistics during my college and that that math made a lot of sense to me, like my brain. I became a statistics tutor, actually, and it was so funny seeing the one eight, the 180 of how I did math in high school versus how? And now I'm doing math while also paying for COVID Now,   Speaker 1 ** 11:46 well, at least you made it through, yes, which is, which is pretty cool. So when you, when you got out of college and university, what did you do? How soon? Well, let me just ask, What did you do? Start with that. So   Speaker 2 ** 12:05 I graduated from university in 2020, December, and so that was quite a challenge, as you can imagine, because I was actually supposed to have an internship that summer, and then the world shut down. And I remember I had an interview on my mom's birthday, March 18, which is the day the world shut down. And then they sent me an email that Friday and said, if it wasn't for the pandemic, for what's the COVID variant of the COVID virus that's going around, you would be getting the shop. This is a tip, but unfortunately, now we're closing our doors because of the pandemic. Yeah? And that was very frustrating, because I was like, I could have had this traditional and it was HR. Was it HR position mixed with statistics, and I just mentioned my love of statistics. And so it was going to be perfect, right? But it didn't happen. And so then I had another interview the last week of before I graduated from my degree. And again, I said, if you just had a little bit more experience in human resources, you would have got the job. And so if I got that job back when I had the internship, I would have bought this job. And I was very frustrated and but I didn't let that stop me. I was like, Okay, what kind of HR jobs do I want to have? What impact do I want to leave on human resources? Because right now, the market is a mess. You know, a lot of people losing their jobs and don't have jobs and love companies are still closed from the pandemic, because we're still very much in the thick of it in December of 2020, and so I started attending human resource webinars, volunteering with other we actually have a local HR association here where you can get your designation from, and I was part of it, and they got a discount because I was a student not too long ago. And instead of volunteering with them, seeing how I consist, and then they actually had a big conference, and I met someone there that helped them. He had to take down 500 emails. He's like, Oh, can you take down 500 emails? Because we're not going to finish this webinar on time. Can you take down 500 emails? And I'm there, kind of with my new COVID Puppy in bed, because I didn't have my camera on, just taking down all the emails. He said, Oh, can you send it to me? And so I sent him the email. And so actually worked at the HR startup. He had a little bit because he messaged me. He's like, I'm impressed that you took down this email so fast. Do you want to come work at an HR startup with me? And at the time, new grad, wanted to get my feet wet. Want to see what happens. And so I joined there, um, but he was bootstrapping, and so he can only pay me peanuts, basically. And I was also, he's, like, he's, I encourage you to look for traditional work, but you can also get getting some experience here. I. And so I did that. And then also, then I actually applied for summer job, virtually and remotely, for a nonprofit organization called Skills for change. And I was like, I'm passionate about accessibility and disability inclusion and HR and human resources. And I was their HR clerk for eight weeks because the Canadian government actually paid for it. They have a Canada Summer Jobs Program, but they gained funding, and I made the recruitment process more accessible. I during Obama's session, I talked about disability pride month, because I was there during Disability Pride Month, and really that I posted that on LinkedIn and some research like, Hey, do you want to come speak about neurodiversity in the workplace? I saw your presentation that you posted on LinkedIn, and I was like, okay, so I did that. And I really liked doing presentations and so and then I realized I could do more by starting my own company. I applied for a traditional job still, but maybe I can get my foot in the door by starting my own company doing little trainings about HR, disability inclusion, neurodiversity. What does that look like? And, yeah,   Speaker 1 ** 16:15 so when did you so that's how you started accessible creates.   Speaker 2 ** 16:18 It was kind of informally starting accessible creates, you know, just like, it was kind of like planting the seed, I say. But then it was just like, I also, I was like, maybe I can make like, wellness bracelets as well. And like, they all these different things, and make fidget toys, and have all these different proponents. And then it kind of branched off to okay, I can do presentations. Oh, I think people also looking for consultants that have a unique skill set to look at policies and procedure, to look at job descriptions. And so it kind of took off into a world of itself,   Speaker 1 ** 16:53 all right, well, and so you're, you're still doing it.   Speaker 2 ** 16:59 Yes, it's going to be three years a month from today, actually. Wow, August 31   Michael Hingson ** 17:06 Wow. It'll be how long on August 31   17:09 two years, three years, which is cool.   Speaker 1 ** 17:13 Well, so you're, you're obviously having some, some good success with it.   Speaker 2 ** 17:20 I feel very lucky, but I'm also like, the amount of nos you get as a business owner or someone just trying to put your services out there, like, this is what I have to offer. And so I feel you're so lucky. You got all these opportunities on like, the amount of people that say no to me, or, you know, the things you don't see behind the scenes. And so just keeping at it and building my network and building my connections is so important. And so and finding people, I think sometimes, as business owners and entrepreneurs, we want to help everyone, but we can't help everyone, right? And so finding that niche, okay, who can I really support here in this area?   Speaker 1 ** 17:59 So what are you finding? Are the areas or the kinds of places where you specialize?   Speaker 2 ** 18:05 Yeah, I found like, because, again, I have that human resources background and so leveraging that. I think it's funny because when I first started it as, okay, my I'm going to do, I was kind of advertising as I have HR knowledge with like, also have this expertise of disability understanding, disability inclusion, accessibility in neurodiversity. And now it's kind of been like, now people like, Oh, you're the neuro diversity person that talks about neurodiversity there in Canada or talks about disability inclusion. I can also do human resource consulting. They're like, oh, we need an HR consultant, but we want to sprinkle in those other things. And so people that are looking for that niche is really cool and really impactful, and also looking at policies and procedures, I think is because it's a huge undertaking and to really and so finding the niche of clients that they know they need to modify the policies and procedures, but they just kind of overwhelmed, and don't know where to start. And so that's where I come in, yeah.   Speaker 1 ** 19:08 And so you're able to help create policy or modify policy. And yes, what's, what's probably, would you say the biggest misconception that you have encountered when you're dealing with companies regarding the whole idea of disabilities,   Speaker 2 ** 19:26 yeah, I think the biggest misconception is that it's only the entry level position that people with disabilities want jobs, especially because actually most people with disabilities that actually were more likely to get post secondary education and to continue getting educated. And so it's really interesting to see the bias that employers have against people with disabilities. And think, Oh, you get, you know, this funding from the government to help, you know, pay people with disabilities that can't work, but that's not enough money. They're like, Oh, that's enough money you can live on that you can. Live on that and really understanding that if someone wants to work, they should be able to work. And that accommodation is not you getting more to do your job, it's leveling the playing field to make sure you can do your job and be successful at your job, and everyone deserves that. And   Speaker 1 ** 20:17 how are you able to change attitudes and perceptions about that?   Speaker 2 ** 20:24 Yeah, I really kind of challenge like, Oh, what do you currently think of disability, you know, and really making them think internally and like, you don't have to say it out loud. You don't have to, you know, just getting them thinking, why do you have this misconception of disability? What does what disability representation Have you seen in media, right? And so what really challenging what they think of when they think of disability. And so I remember, I was actually talking about HR strategy and accessibility strategy and merging them together at a conference I spoke at last year. And I was like, Oh, I left my cane at home. You can't tell today. And there was such because they were kind of like they were paying attention. But they weren't, like, folio paying attention. You can tell them about folio paying attention. So I made that joke, and then everyone was kind of like, there was like, a little bit of Lacher in silence, and then they were completely interested. It's like, okay. They're like, Oh, yeah, wait. Why did I, you know, have this misconception of what a disability looks like? And so it's like, let's get get into it,   Speaker 1 ** 21:31 and at least then you're able to open the discussion. You know, I've talked about it on unstoppable mindset a few times, but I have a different definition of disability than than most people. And I'll explain very briefly. People keep saying to me, well, disability, I say, disability doesn't mean a lack of ability. And they say, Well, of course it does, because disability starts with dis, and I say, Well, okay, but what about disciple, discern, discreet and so on. They all start with this, and they're not negative. No, disability isn't a lack of ability. And over the last year, a few things have happened that caused me to to come up with a different definition. And mainly it came about because I was at a hotel in Hollywood, California last year at three in the afternoon when we lost power in and around the hotel, and suddenly everybody started to scream, and they're running around trying to find or reaching for flashlights and smartphones and so on. And I realized disability is something that everyone has sighted. People have a disability, and their disability is their light dependent and and the reality is that we need to recognize that, in fact, everyone has a disability. Every single person with eyesight has the disability of being light dependent. Now, at the same time, you cover up your disability, because Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb, and we have worked so hard to create light on demand that disabilities are covered up. Disability of light dependence is covered up. It is until it can't be, because suddenly the power goes out or whatever. But the reality is, everyone in this world has a disability. The thing is that disability is a characteristic that manifests itself differently for different people. It doesn't mean, though, that you don't have it. Of course, most sighted people won't necessarily buy into that, until suddenly they're stuck without light for a good period of time. It doesn't change the fact, though, that their disability gets covered up.   Speaker 2 ** 23:50 That's that's a very good point. Michael, I think again, that what is the perception of what a disability actually is and how someone interacts with it, and then how it impacts how someone shows up in the world and how the world views them. And so I think really understanding that, again, it's a spectrum it impacts, and then this is so many different types of disabilities, and what does it actually mean to be disabled?   Speaker 1 ** 24:19 Well, and that's and that's exactly it. That's why I use the definition that everyone has a disability. It's just that it manifests itself differently for different people. And we need to start to recognize that, and if we really intellectually recognize that, then we begin to change our thought about what a disability is and recognize that maybe it has nothing to do with how well people think or how well people can work. We just need to use and find alternatives when necessary. I mean, look at look. At most buildings, office buildings, they have lights so that people can see where to go, to walk down a corridor, or they have Windows people can look out, or sometimes open for heater or whatever. But typically, they don't necessarily open, but they have a lot of different kinds of things to accommodate light dependent people, computer monitors, but they won't necessarily buy a screen reader for a person who is blind, even though that screen reader might not even cost as much as a monitor. Today, you have coffee machines that are touch screen we provide so many accommodations for employees based solely on eyesight, for example, or right handedness, or any number of other kinds of things. And we we really need to learn as a society to move beyond that. But that's where the challenge is, of course, isn't it?   Speaker 2 ** 25:58 Yes, I think it's a we're constantly making accommodations and making adjustments or making things easier for humans, you know. And how does accessibility play a role in that, and making sure that everyone has the ability to access what they need to access, and to do it the best way they can.   Speaker 1 ** 26:19 So how would you in and, of course, I've, I've perhaps messed this up by coming up with the definition of disability that I did. How would you find accessibility? How would you define it? Today,   Speaker 2 ** 26:34 I feel like disability is more like I feel like people think it's like the medical condition you have or the experience you have, but I really think it's like the barriers that people put in place, you know, and like the editorial barriers someone's values is towards someone that looks different or appears different, someone's barrier the barriers to accessing different tools and different resources and really understanding that in disability can be permanent, it can be temporary, it can be situational, kind of like you were getting at with that everyone has a disability and that it it can it looks different every day, and that there's No one size fits all right, have disability, and it's embedded ability as a spectrum.   Michael Hingson ** 27:26 So then, how would you find accessibility?   Speaker 2 ** 27:30 Yeah, so I think accessibility is synonymous for a lot of people, for people providing access, for people with disabilities, but I define accessibility as people have resources they need to do their day to day or to be successful girls that have a disability or not,   Speaker 1 ** 27:52 Right? And it's all about education, isn't it?   27:58 Yes?   Speaker 1 ** 28:02 So in the HR world, what could, what could HR do, and how can we deal with making human resources more accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities?   Speaker 2 ** 28:19 I think right now, Human Resources HR is trained to really, oh, look, we recruit, we want to recruit more people with disabilities. We want to hire more people with disabilities, but understand that there's 25% only 25% of people that have disability actually disclose in the workplace that they have a disability, and disclose to human resources they have a disability. And meanwhile, there's probably a lot more than that in the organization and in the workplace. And so we're looking, okay, what are your retention strategies look like for developing people that have, you know, disabilities? What is, why is, you know, looking at management? Why is it? Oh, you're doing good this job, this promote you to management. Okay, not everyone wants to become a manager, or it isn't, you know, have the skills become a manager. Okay? What a you know? What other approaches you can use to develop an employee? How can you look at your culture to evaluate how people with disabilities are treated and how they feel? Is it is in finding out where those gaps are, or most people with disabilities having those issues with management, because management's not understanding how to better accommodate and support employees with disabilities. Is it the co workers making that experience as human resources themselves causing these issues, and really figuring out where the issues lie for that particular organization, and increasing learning how to better increase retention?   Speaker 1 ** 29:41 So what do you? What do you do with accessible creates and so on, to really help in the education process and to helping with with truly having more of a higher retention for persons with disabilities? Yes.   Speaker 2 ** 29:57 So I, for example. To audit the policies and procedures, see how they regards to accessibility. They have any language around accessibility, because a lot of organizations, you know, there's the ADA in America, and they have that in their policies and procedures. Meanwhile, the ADA is just the bare minimum and just coming to actually get a lawsuit. But what are the best practices you're actually implementing? Do you have an accommodation policy procedure so people know how that can be accommodated, and managers and resources know how to best accommodate that employee, you know, and then also providing provide coaching. So brand coaching, if you know, for example, for the narrative version to our disabled employee and they need a bit more assistance knowing how to better advocate for their rights and advocate for themselves in the workplace. So also working in conjunction doing a management training on okay, if your employee comes to you with this information, what, what do you do and how to address that, and how to make sure that someone feels safe enough to disclose or discuss disclose that they need support from you to better do their job, yeah?   Speaker 1 ** 31:01 How do you deal with the employer, or even someone in HR, but somebody in authority at a company that says, Well, yeah, you raise good points and we'll implement them, but it takes time. We just can't jump into it.   Speaker 2 ** 31:18 Yeah? I I say, you know, like good things take time, but really understanding that, I think a lot of times, sometimes they scared to make the wrong choice and make the wrong decision. But I think also, just like by not doing anything and not taking the time to do things, take time, we all know this, and being able to be transparent with your employees. Hey, we're implementing this thing. Because I think a lot of times management, or, you know, human resources, are doing these good initiatives, but they're not communicating that to the fellow employees what's being done. And so I think just being transparent and being able to be flexible and be open with, you know, the employees, and being honest, yeah,   Speaker 1 ** 32:06 it is hard, because people really tend to think that we got to move slow. But the reality is, if you don't take the leap and start recognizing you're treating some people in a substandard way, and make the conscious effort to change it, then you won't. I mean, we have, we have seen so many shifts in the world. Smartphones came along, and everyone adopted them very quickly, because they saw the value of it. And I've dealt with people who are interested in making their internet websites more accessible, and some of them say, well, we got to do it, because if we don't, we'll get sued. And some people say, and rightly so, we've got to do it because it's the right thing to do. But when you then switch that to Well, what about hiring people with disabilities and so on, or what about changing attitudes within your organization? It's Well, that just takes more time, and I question whether it really should take more time, or should you really adopt a policy and then work to bring people up to it. Yeah,   Speaker 2 ** 33:23 I think it's kind of a mix of both, you know, I think it's obviously, it's going to take time, but also, what are you putting in place to get it most efficiently and get it as quickly as possible, to make it as much people understand, to make to really break down those barriers and to get people having these discussions and having these conversations and just challenging what the norm was in the organization, and why do we have these preconceptions of what disability is in the workplace, and disability inclusion and things are going to take time, and that's okay, but Really understanding okay how are you saying yourself and your organization are for the best success to better support all people in the organization? And   Speaker 1 ** 34:08 that's really the issue, isn't it? Because it's all about conversation. It's all about education. And the biggest problem I see in general in terms of dealing with people with disabilities within organizations or anywhere with the law, with whatever is that we just don't engage in the conversation, and probably some of that is fear. Oh my gosh. I don't want to become blind like them, and it could happen to me. I gotta avoid that, or or any other disability I might end up in a wheelchair. I don't want to do that. And so there's, there is a level of fear that enters into it, but also it is just having the conversation and starting to really make people more aware of you. What disabilities really are and what they're not, and doing more of a concerted effort to make that conversation happen, I think we'll do more to help educate and get people to move and realize maybe our attitudes and our ideas aren't what we thought they should be. Yeah,   Speaker 2 ** 35:19 and it's like understanding, why is there that fear? You know, it's like because of what how media portrays it. It's because of stories you've heard, you know. And we all have our different struggles, you know, going back to your point about what you said, you know, we all have disability in some ways. We all have different struggles. We're all human beings. We all have good and bad days. And so what is the fear stem from? And, you know, people, a lot of people, are scared to say the wrong thing, but the worst thing you can say is nothing at all, right? And, you know, and so I think, like, well, I don't want to say the wrong thing about disability. I don't want to, you know, the cancel culture, or wherever they call, you know, these days, yeah. And so it's just like, the worst thing you can do is not say anything, because, you know, just negative your own growth and the organization's growth by not even wanting to make those mistakes. And you know the difference between intention and impact. You know, it's maybe so impact someone if you say the wrong thing, but be like, Hey, I'm learning. You know, even if you're a management or human resources, I'm learning every day. Can you know I'm going to make mistakes? And again, that transparency piece is so important, because we all know we're humans, we're going to make mistakes. And I think sometimes an organization, they really put managers and human resources on a pedestal that it shouldn't be the case because Ken, we're all human. At the end of the day, we're all, you know, here to do a job, and we're going to make mistakes, and that's okay. And so really coming off the pedestal be like, I'm learning. I want to do better how you know, and being vocal and being transparent about that is so crucial.   Speaker 1 ** 36:56 I think you raise a really good point. And I think that that the issue is, as you said, saying nothing is the worst thing that you can do. But I also think whether some of us who have disabilities, in the traditional sense of the word, if I'm going to use that, some of us don't want to be teachers. We're tired of having to explain. But the reality is, we are the best teachers. We are other than are. We're the best information providers, and we really should understand and be patient, because if we know that really, people behave as they do because it's an educational issue and they haven't got the education, who's in a better position than we are to address that and and so I agree with what you're saying. One of the things that I hear all the time is, well, you're visually impaired, which I think is the worst thing that anyone can say about anyone who has any kind of eyesight issue. We're not visually impaired, visually we're not different. We're not visually different and impaired, we are not it's like Deaf people have learned if you say deaf or hearing impaired, they're they're liable to execute you on the spot. They recognize that it's deaf or hard of hearing and slowly, although not nearly fast enough, blind people are starting to learn visually impaired is the wrong thing to say, because it contributes to the lack of understanding. Because you say impaired and we're not blind, and low vision is a lot more relevant, and certainly not not negative. But if we aren't willing to help educate, then we're doing our own disservice to all   Speaker 2 ** 38:47 of us. Yeah, I think to your point that you know, it's like, sometimes we're tired of explaining things and don't want to advocate, but we're the best teachers, and we're also giving that space to it's like, do you want to share? Do you want to talk about your experiences? Do you feel comfortable? Do you feel up to talking about it? Hey, I don't feel like talking about it right now. Little time, and that's really okay, or little time, oh, I'm willing to educate you today and explain my experiences to you. And so I think there's sometimes too much pressure that of people like, oh, I always say, I'm like, ask people questions. People want to answer your questions, but they don't have capacity. You don't have the energy to answer your questions. That's okay. But hey, another time and be okay with that. Yeah. And I think just giving as human beings, giving each other compassion and giving each other that grace so important to drive this work forward.   Speaker 1 ** 39:46 Well, I think it is important to to find a mutually agreeable time. And maybe that's part of the discussion is I really would rather not talk about this now. Can we set up a time to talk about it and and. So working toward that, I think, is extremely important to be able to do, because we are going to be, by definition, the best educators in terms of disabilities. And you can also get different people with a disability who will say different things. There are still some people who like visually impaired, but that's what the professionals have ingrained at us, and it's a process to get that out of our psyche and recognize that it's low vision and blind and not visually impaired. I would prefer just blind. For anyone who has lost enough eyesight that they have to use alternatives to print to be able to function, I would prefer just to use blind. But the reality is that's probably a larger step than most people are willing to take today. So blind and low vision works for a while, but at some point, we're going to have to recognize there's nothing wrong with being blind or there's nothing wrong with being in a wheelchair, or there's nothing wrong with being deaf or being a person somewhere on the autism spectrum, there's nothing wrong with any of those. It's just that we're going to do things differently than you're used to? Yeah,   Speaker 2 ** 41:22 I think language is so important too, because, like, the you know what the professionals say, what the all the research is saying, but it's a What does that person identify with? But you know what they identify and what is their experience like? And really talking to them, to, you know it's like. And I think a lot of times we we even when we're educated, this is my personal experience. This is how I want to identify with a person with a disability, or I identify as a disabled person, you know, we preface that, and so I always make this joke. I'm like, people like, oh, do I say he's visually impaired? Do I say, you know, he's low vision? Do I say he's blind? It's like, well, his name is Michael, so call him Michael, you know, yeah,   Speaker 1 ** 42:04 and, and you can always ask, yeah, but his name is Michael, and that's really the issue. One of the discussions that I've been involved with of late is sort of related to the whole first person language. It's about descriptions. I notice in your bio you have a description, long, brown, curly hair, wearing a silver necklace and a red blouse. What do you think about the whole concept of providing or needing to provide, descriptions, especially if you're in a meeting with people who don't see   Speaker 2 ** 42:42 Yeah, I think it's important. And I think and asking the person, do you want a description? I think, I think there you go. I think sometimes, by people want to just, it's politically acceptable, but really talking to the person, hey, do you need to pick up description to me, but what will make you most feel most comfortable? He was asking that to anyone. What can I do in this meeting to make you feel most comfortable? What do you require of me to get the best experience out of this? And so just asking the person, and   Speaker 1 ** 43:14 that's really the key, isn't it. There's nothing wrong with asking personally. I don't need descriptions. Now, I've never been able to see with eyes, so it's never been an issue for me. But I do know that there are people who have become blind later in life who may want descriptions and and that's fine. The other side of it is, is it really going to add value say to a meeting? That is, does a description of a person really make you more comfortable? And I don't, you know, I don't know the answer to that for a lot of people. I do know, for me, it just takes time away from the meeting. But that's but that's me, and I understand that the one of the reasons I brought it up was that a couple of weeks ago, I was involved in the meeting, and after the meeting, one of the people wrote to everyone who was there and said, You know, I went online trying to find descriptive words for people with disabilities to provide those same descriptions for people with disabilities, but I can't find them, and most of us said, Why do you need them? Because the reality is, there are a lot of different disabilities. There's no one real answer, and I do agree that we shouldn't hide who we are, but we can take this descriptive symbolism and and beat it to death so often too. Does it really make sense to have descriptors of people with with a disability?   Speaker 2 ** 44:58 Yeah, I think I. Yeah, it's like, what, who is the person you know getting and what does that look like? And so I think understanding that, I feel like there's so many things and so much information coming out about disability right now, how to be most inclusive, that sometimes we forget the nuance of just the human experience, yeah, and   Speaker 1 ** 45:23 yeah, well, and that's what we essentially told the person who asked the question, that it's not and a number of people did. It's not really relevant to do it for disabilities as such. But I think your point is, is also well taken. You can always ask, and if somebody wants a description, then give them a description and and then move on. But it is, it is something that I I've been in meetings, and I've heard way too often you'll have 10 or 12 people in the meeting, and they're asked without finding out whether people want it when you first speak, give a description of yourself. By the time you're done with that, you've wasted another 10 or 12 minutes of the meeting, which is only an hour long anyway. And what have you really gained from that? And and again, I understand that there are some people who might like that, because they used to see but I but I think that we can take it to an extreme, which doesn't help. Yeah, I think   Speaker 2 ** 46:31 really understanding, what are the needs? What are the what's the reason behind the meeting? What are the needs of the meeting? Who's attending the meeting? Do they know? Do they do the people need it? They not need it. And again, providing even, like, for example, closed captions. But like, I think closed captions are so important in the thing like, oh, it's for people only, people that are hard of hearing and but it's like, for example, sometimes it's like, oh, it's better for me to process information if I see it written, instead of just hearing it or hearing it and seeing it. And so it's a cool what is it adding to the meeting instead of, you know, yeah, what's the value   Speaker 1 ** 47:13 and things like closed captioning? I absolutely can understand. And I think that meetings should have closed captions. And I don't care what the meeting is, we should get into that habit. And the other, the other thing I would would say is that, again, descriptions are a different situation, because what does it really add to the meeting and but again, some people may really want it. So it's a it's a question to ask and then go from there. But I would say closed captions. Another one is one of my favorites. Somebody created this terminology, no Braille, no meeting. That is to say, especially when a blind person, for example, is involved. But I would say in general, it would be better to do this, and that is, if you're going to have a meeting, don't bring handouts to the meeting, disseminate them in advance. Because if you have a meeting and you're giving people handouts and you're talking, they've got to split their time between listening to you and reading the handout. And I don't care what handout it is, you could take a few minutes early enough to disseminate handouts so that people can all be prepared. But especially that works for people like me who aren't going to read those handouts, because you're going to create them from a copy or anyway, or you're going to print them in a multiple way, but probably don't have access to a Braille embosser or some way to get them to me. And so the reality is that documentation should be provided in advance, and I think again, it's a habit that we should all get into, then we don't have to worry about it when somebody comes along who really needs to have those, those services.   Speaker 2 ** 49:03 Yeah, I completely agree. I remember, I think I started doing that a couple years ago. It was like, why I even myself? You know, I like to be okay with the agenda. I like to know the agenda, know what we're going to talk about. And so I have Knowing that ahead of time is so important. And you we all have such busy lives, so even if you don't have a like you said, traditional disability is going to help you better prepare for that meeting and feel more at ease going into that meeting and going into this conversation. And it helps everyone at the end of the day.   Speaker 1 ** 49:34 Sure, it does. Were you ever treated poorly or have any real challenges because of the fact that you have a disability?   Speaker 2 ** 49:44 Yeah, I think, like I mentioned the beginning, my, my speech impediment, my, I think people would make fun of my the way I would speak and so, and I just like, I don't talk like that. You can, you know. And. That made me feel very uneasy. And then also, going back to, you know, dealing with depression in high school, people didn't understand, really, what it was to have depression, and so like, Oh, it's just all in your head. Or, like, and then I would kind of do some kind of reckless thing because I didn't like I said I didn't care if I lived or died. And so they were like, oh, and kind of make fun of me and or use it to their advantage to put me in other situations that weren't not the best for me. And so this also led to complex PTSD, and so just understanding that when sometimes people don't fully understand something that more likely to make fun of you, and not because, again, the impact work is intent, right? So sometimes they just kids being silly and not knowing really what they're doing, but sometimes in demolition attack of using someone's disability against them, right?   Speaker 1 ** 51:06 As as you may know, I worked in the World Trade Center and escaped after, well, on September 11, after the buildings were hit, and people, even to this day, say to me, Well, you didn't know what happened, did you? And I said, No, not at the time. Well, of course, you didn't, because you couldn't see it. They revert to that type, even though, in reality, the building where it was struck was 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. And so one of the things that I say to people is, well, the last time I checked Superman and X ray vision are fiction, and the fact of the matter is, on my side of the building, no one knew what happened when we were going down the stairs. Not one single person anywhere around us knew what happened, because they were all on the other side of the building from where the plane was hit, and typically many floors below where the plane was hit. So of course, nobody saw it, but, but they want to revert to type when it comes to dealing with, say, a person who's blind. Well, of course, you couldn't see it, so you wouldn't know. And that is just unfortunate, because, again, I think it contributes or comes from the lack of education. Yeah,   Speaker 2 ** 52:21 I think a lot of the whenever someone says something, sometimes it just like becomes for that misunderstanding, the missing, that the lack of education. That's why education is so important. In disability, you're talking about anything because, and sometimes I feel like people almost like the fear or the unknown fill in those gaps, and it can cause huge problems. Yeah,   Speaker 1 ** 52:48 what is one thing that you wished people knew? Well, it's really two questions, one about disabilities and the other is about accessibility.   Speaker 2 ** 53:00 I think I wish for people knew about disabilities, is that I think the ability that it's a spectrum and that impacts people differently, and can impact impact the individual themselves differently every day again. You know, for example, if I didn't get enough sleep, it could contribute to other environments, factors that make my conditions act up, and for accessibility, I think that, yes, accessibility is an ominous with, you know, people with disabilities and giving resources people with disabilities, but accessibility allows us all to have the resources And the tools we need to be successful, and that it's kind of the bare minimum of what you should be doing. Yeah.   Speaker 1 ** 53:50 And I think for me, if there were one thing I wish people knew about disabilities, is it's okay to ask. It's okay to want to know more. And I always will. If people ask me a question, I will, I will answer. One of the things that I encounter often is I'll be anywhere from an airport to a hotel to a store, and a child wants to come up and pet my guide dog. And the parents will say, Oh, don't go pet that dog. That dog might bite you don't know anything about that dog, as opposed to saying it's a guide dog and the dog is working. Now, some people do say that, but a lot of people don't. For me, my policy is if I hear a child asking, especially when parents respond in the negative way, I will always stop take the harness off. Say no, it does okay. They can visit with the dog, and then it gives me the chance to to say when the harness is on, the dog is working. It's got a job to do, because the dog make sure that I walk safely. But the dog. Dog isn't going to bite you, and I don't want you to be afraid of dogs just because, but you should always ask. It's okay to ask and do that. I think that's that's really important, but oftentimes parents continue to create a fear level that we don't need to have. So if a child wants to interact with my dog, I will always stop. If an adult wants to. If I have time, I will stop, and if I don't, I will not stop. And I'll say, here's why I'm in. I'm in a hurry. I've got to get here. I really don't have time. I wish I did, but I will, whenever I can, I will stop and let people interact. I'll take the harness off because the dog needs to relax too, and the dog knows when the harness comes off, they can visit, and they know that they're supposed to focus. But even so, when somebody pets pets, a dog, even in harness, they're going to look, because the dog really likes the attention. So it's a matter of of dealing with it. But by the same token, the bottom line is that I think, again, it's all about education. So I don't mind letting people pet the dog, but only when the harness is off. When I've had a couple of times that people would ask, and I say, not right this moment. And then they go right ahead and pet the dog. And I know that they pet the dog because the dog is looking and I can feel the leash move. And when that happens, I will give the dog not a hard one, but a leash correction, saying, leave it. And the people will say, Oh, don't yell at the dog. I was the one that was petting the dog and said, No, you don't understand. You got the dog in trouble. The dog knows better. I'll deal with the dog, then I'll deal with you. But, but, you know, it's, it's an educational process, but with kids, I'll always stop. I think it's important that children learn what guide dogs are and that that they are friendly. The only thing I would say is, I hope they're not holding an ice cream cone at the time, because they'll lose the ice cream cone. What would you tell your teenage self if you could go back right now and do that?   Speaker 2 ** 57:01 I would tell my teenage self that be authentically you, because, like I said, I felt like I was a chameleon in high school. And so by being more me, embracing my differences, embracing who I am, embracing all these different things that make up who Cindy is, and really living into that, and also giving myself with a bit more grace and compassion, because I guess I could do some things and things I couldn't do, and now understanding okay, there's some things I can do and Some things I can't do, and that's okay, and that I'm worthy, and that I think, yeah, I think that's it   Speaker 1 ** 57:49 okay. I think that's fair. Well, if people would like to reach out to you, maybe take advantage of your your services and so on, and interact. How do they do that?   Speaker 2 ** 58:01 You You can send me this. I have a form or a website that you can fill out, and my website is and my website is accessible, creates.ca   Speaker 1 ** 58:10 so accessible creates.ca so they can go there, and they can reach out and so on and and take it from there. Yes. And they can write you and ask you all sorts of questions,   Sydney Elaine Butler ** 58:23 if they choose, if they choose.   Speaker 1 ** 58:25 Well, Sydney, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun and educational, and I've learned a lot, and I really appreciate your time. I'm glad we finally were able to make this happen, and I hope all of you out there come away with a little bit of a different view of disabilities and all of us who typically experience that then, then you had before. Love to hear your thoughts. Love to get an idea of what you think. Please feel free to reach out to me. You can reach me at Michael h i@accessibe.com that's m, I C H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or you can go to our podcast page, w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, and Michael Hinkson is spelled M, I C H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O n.com/podcast, wherever you're listening or watching on YouTube, please give us a five star rating. We value your ratings, and would really appreciate you taking the time to rate and comment. We love your comments. We love getting your feedback, and so would definitely appreciate you doing that. If you know of anyone who ought to be a guest on our show, our podcast and Sydney, including you, if you know anyone who ought to be a guest, please let us know. Reach out, introduce us. We're always looking for people who want to become guests on unstoppable mindset. And so with that again, Sydney, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a. A lot of fun. Any last words that you want to say?   Speaker 2 ** 1:00:03 Yes again. Thank you so much, Michael for having me on your podcast, and I look forward to seeing how I hope. I look forward to keeping in touch and seeing other conversations   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:20 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Ever wondered if the stock market could be a force for good of investment? Buckle up, because we're about to challenge everything you thought you knew about wealth and investing! Owen O'Malley - a financial freedom educator who supports clients with multi-million dollar portfolios - and I dive deep into the true meaning of wealth

In this episode, I ask the founder and CEO of AI company BotsForThat, Daniel Lawrence, what he makes of the DeepSeek news and what it means for AI now and in the future...

It's weird to be shown the door of the company you founded, but that's what happened to Rand. 

Now in her third career, Doni Belau founded the women-only tour company called Girls' Guide to the World in 2009. What started off as a love for France and showing others how magical it was led into providing what is now a very curated, intentional world-wide travel experience for solo women to experience the world together in small groups.There is a huge range of options that includes sixty tours in 40 countries where the focus is anything but just checking off the top 10 tourist places. It ranges from seeing how life is for women in other countries, to attending women's sporting events, to going on safari in a lesser-known region of Africa. Doni has more than 15 years of experience in the travel industry. Before that, she had a long career in television production, stayed at home when her kids were young, and then worked in the not-for-profit arena and politics. (She started a not-for-profit in South Africa helping kids with HIV in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha. Wow!)When not leading trips, she divides her time between France, New Orleans, and a sailboat named Relish – a testament to her adventurous spirit. Send Julie a text!!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I absolutely LOVE being the host and producer of "Women with Cool Jobs", where I interview women who have unique, trailblazing, and innovative careers. It has been such a blessing to share stories of incredible, inspiring women since I started in 2020. If you have benefitted from this work, or simply appreciate that I do it, please consider buying me a $5 coffee. ☕️ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/julieberman Thank you so much for supporting me -- whether by sharing an episode with a friend, attending a LIVE WWCJ event in Phoenix, connecting with me on Instagram @womencooljobs or LinkedIn, sending me a note on my website (www.womenwithcooljobs.com), or by buying me a coffee! It all means so much.

Lauren Wang, founder of The Flex Company, is transforming the menstrual product industry with bold innovations and a tendency to break taboos. Driven by her own health needs and a staggering lack of progress in menstrual care, she spent years developing Flex Co's unique menstrual disc and menstrual cups. She shares challenges, including scaling an unknown product via traditional retail outlets, and the leap to embrace authentic marketing as a means to build community. It's often taken relentless focus on her mission for Lauren to overcome the obstacles and biases on her path to 30,000 stores, and growing.Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeRead a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

MotorTrend's Ed Loh & Jonny Lieberman chat with Moment Motor Company Founder & CEO, Marc Davis! "When you think about driving a classic (car) every day, this is the best way to do it." - Marc Davis.0:42 - About our guest.2:50 - Converting classic cars into EVs since 2017.4:50 - The Evolution of Electric Vehicle Components.8:52 - Crashed Teslas.10:00 - Challenges of Classic Car Conversions13:15 - It's not for every classic!18:30 - Driving Experience: Preserving Classic Car Feel.20:41 - Current Technologies and Future Directions.22:00 - Manual transmissions??29:04 - 1966 Porsche 912 conversion story.30:57 - Cost and Client Experiences.32:04 - Unique challenges; the 1966 Austin-Healey.39:37 - The Evolution of Classic Cars.44:39 - Other cars?48:00 - From Passion to Profession.56:15 - Challenges in Electric Conversions; Scout 80.59:10 - Scale of the company. Waiting list.01:01:04 - Client Stories and Unique Projects.01:11:54 - Industry Connections and Future Innovations.

“If you can persevere and have a good attitude and spirit, [I think] more good things are going to come for you” on the Daily Grind ☕️, your weekly goal-driven podcast. This episode features Kelly Johnson @kellyfastruns and special guest Adam Rosen @adamirosen. Adam is the founder of Email Outreach Company. His company helps businesses develop their cold email outreach in order to gain more sales opportunities. Adam is also the host of The Rise w/ Skrizz & Adam, a podcast highlighting everyday people to make their way in the music industry and startup world.  S6 Episode 30: 11/05/2024 Featuring Kelly Johnson with Special Guest Adam Rosen @adamirosen Audio Credit Intro and Outro: Daniel Chayra Follow Our Podcast: Instagram: @dailygrindpod https://www.instagram.com/dailygrindpod/   Twitter: @dailygrindpod https://www.twitter.com/dailygrindpod   Podcast Website: https://direct.me/dailygrindpod   Follow Our Special Guest: Instagram: @adamirosen Twitter: @adamirosen Website: https://eocworks.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dailygrindpod/support

Justin Brock is a Husband, Father, Marine Corps Veteran, Company Founder with 70,000,000 dollars Exit Value, and a firm believer in the power of a team with positive momentum! Top 3 Value Bombs 1. Get to run through walls, get some revenue flowing and begin to build around on that. 2. Getting the right person where you can build a culture around and finding somebody who is smart, hungry to learn and humble is very important. 3. Gratification is finding success and sharing it with other people. Connect with Justin on Instagram - Justin's Instagram Sponsors HubSpot Grow better, faster with HubSpot's all-in-one intuitive customer platform. Visit HubSpot.com to learn more ThriveTime Show Attend the world's highest rated and most reviewed business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and football great Tim Tebow at ThriveTimeShow.com/eofire

Justin Brock is a Husband, Father, Marine Corps Veteran, Company Founder with 70,000,000 dollars Exit Value, and a firm believer in the power of a team with positive momentum! Top 3 Value Bombs 1. Get to run through walls, get some revenue flowing and begin to build around on that. 2. Getting the right person where you can build a culture around and finding somebody who is smart, hungry to learn and humble is very important. 3. Gratification is finding success and sharing it with other people. Connect with Justin on Instagram - Justin's Instagram Sponsors HubSpot Grow better, faster with HubSpot's all-in-one intuitive customer platform. Visit HubSpot.com to learn more ThriveTime Show Attend the world's highest rated and most reviewed business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and football great Tim Tebow at ThriveTimeShow.com/eofire

Send Julie a text!!Jamie Mittelman created the media production and content company, Flame Bearers, to ensure there's a go-to storytelling platform for elite women in sports (which includes Olympians and Paralympians!) What started as a podcast during the pandemic has become a mission to show girls and women that if you can see it, you can be it. 85% of sports media goes to men. Doesn't that blow your mind?!That means only 15% of sports media coverage goes to women, and often, there's a quality issue. The vast majority of that coverage really doesn't paint them in the ways that they want to be portrayed. The Solution: Flame Bearers! Jamie's mission is to provide role models for young girls in various sports and to ensure that female athletes are proud of their media representation.We saw the women during the Paris Summer 2024 Olympics completely rocking it! It is hard to NOT want to see more of these women and know more about who they are! You can here more women's stories from the female Olympians and Paralympians themselves who will be or who have competed during the summer 2024 events on the Flame Bearers podcastAnd...the Paralympics are about to start on August 28th, which means we get to watch more incredible female athletes compete for gold medals. Woohoo!(Haven't heard too much about or ever seen the Paralympics? Jamie shares how the Paralympics is essentially the equivalent to the Olympics for athletes with physical disabilities.)Jamie Mittelman - Guest Flame Bearers LinkedIn accountFlame Bearers IG accountFlame Bearers websiteJulie Berman - Podcast Host & ProducerJulie Berman's LinkedIn Profile@womencooljobs (Instagram)www.womenwithcooljobs.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I absolutely LOVE being the host and producer of "Women with Cool Jobs", where I interview women who have unique, trailblazing, and innovative careers. It has been such a blessing to share stories of incredible, inspiring women since I started in 2020. If you have benefitted from this work, or simply appreciate that I do it, please consider buying me a $5 coffee. ☕️ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/julieberman Thank you so much for supporting me -- whether by sharing an episode with a friend, attending a LIVE WWCJ event in Phoenix, connecting with me on Instagram @womencooljobs or LinkedIn, sending me a note on my website (www.womenwithcooljobs.com), or by buying me a coffee! It all means so much.

John Burley With 35+ years of investing experience and thousands of (personally) completed real estate deals, hundreds of millions of dollars raised, John Burley has the perfect mix of street-savvy knowledge and sound investing principles. John is a Pioneer in the Real Estate Investment Business, originally trained in the World of Wall St., in 1989 he left and founded his Private Equity Company, where he serves today as the Founder & CEO.  It is a leader in the industry, with holdings in multiple countries and a dozen different states.  His was among the first ever companies to bring Single Family Home (SFH) Portfolio Real Estate to the Private Equity Community. John is an International #1 Best Seller with over One Million Copies Sold.  His books include:  Money Secrets of the Rich and Powerful Changes.  He has also produced over 100 books and audio programs during his career. Because John is a Professional Investor, he makes his living actually DOING deals and not just teaching theory from the stage.  The bottom line is: John walks his talk. For this reason, John is only available to speak at a few events per year, his last event for 2019 is November 1-3. John greatly looks forward to sharing with you what you need to take your Real Estate Investing Business to the next level.

We're getting fully caffeinated on The Beer Hour this week! We'll speak with Dean Cycon, founder of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Company, about getting his start as a lawyer for Native American rights, exploring coffee farms, and why 'organic' is so important when it comes to coffee.

Neil Tanna is a lawyer turned tech company founder! His app “Howbout” helps to ease the difficulties people encounter when making plans. This episode Neil speaks about his journey to founding “Howbout”, how they found funding, growing the app and how to build a healthy work culture.New Episodes every Monday!www.stringcastmedia.com

Josh Nielsen, founder and CEO of ZenCastr, shares the company's origin story and how it evolved to address the challenges of remote podcast recording. He discusses the importance of solving real problems for podcasters, such as poor audio quality and guest management. ZenCastr has expanded its services beyond recording to help podcasters with distribution, editing, and monetization. Nielsen emphasizes the need for podcast networks catering to small and large creators, providing cross-promotion and monetization options. He also highlights the importance of onboarding and engagement in helping podcasters navigate the complexities of the medium. Nielsen reflects on the growth pains of scaling the business and the value of having a co-founder to share the load and provide different perspectives. He acknowledges the transition from being a developer to a business leader and the challenges of social interaction in that role. In this conversation, Josh, the co-founder of Zencastr, shares his experience transitioning from being a solo developer to leading a company. He discusses the challenges and key takeaways of this transition, emphasizing the importance of continuous growth and learning. Josh also talks about the fundraising process and the decisions involved in scaling the business. He shares insights into the tech stack used in building the platform and the considerations for future-proofing the code. Additionally, he provides guidance on hiring the right people and finding a balance between programming and leadership roles. ----Credits:Hosted by Michael Smith and Ryan RoghaarProduced by Ryan RoghaarTheme music: "Perfect Day" by OPM The Carton:https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggsFeature with Zack Chmeis of Straight Method up now! https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggs/zack-chmeis-35dae817ac28 The Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist:bit.ly/eggstunes The Plugs:The Showeggscast.com@eggshow on twitter and instagramOn iTunes: itun.es/i6dX3pCOn Stitcher: bit.ly/eggs_on_stitcherAlso available on Google Play Music! Mike "DJ Ontic" shows and infodjontic.com@djontic on twitter Ryan Roghaarhttp://rogha.ar

British-Ghanaian Founder and CEO of Puzzle Company, Very Puzzled, Patrick Adom, is saving families and bringing them together, by getting them away from the daily distractions of toxic television, social media feeds and other things. He's also making his own family proud by building a company and a product that they can be proud of, that he can leave behind to his daughter one day to be in full control of! Listen to the full episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4itaiuSgW1JkBloyj5JfWX Watch full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SIgxIT5T-_E?si=xVeIUg9K9gX9j-vY Let us know your thoughts! Join the conversation on our Social Media handles @thesoundofaccra on all platforms and @thesoundofaccrapodcast for TikTok and YouTube!   Social Media  YouTube: https://youtube.com/thesoundofaccrapodcast Website: https://thesoundofaccra.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesoundofaccra/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesoundofaccra Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesoundofaccra Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/thesoundofaccra Linkedin: https://gh.linkedin.com/company/the-sound-of-accra Support the show https://www.paypal.me/gofundad Listen to more episodes below https://thesoundofaccrapodcast.podbean.com/ All other links https://linktr.ee/thesoundofaccrapod About The Sound of Accra Podcast Our mission is always the same, to promote Global Ghanaian excellence. And always to bring you closer to Accra, whenever you are, with powerful stories that make you want to take action in your career, business or personal life.  For 4 years, we have been championing Ghanaian business, entrepreneurship and Creators through podcasting.  To this date, we've achieved 10s of thousands of audio downloads worldwide and published well over a 150 episodes. We are trying to grow our global audience and reach more people and become an established brand in a go to resource for learning about native and diasporan Ghanaian Creators, entrepreneurs and founders worldwide.  I'm kindly asking for your help. Yes, all of you. To leave a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, the most popular podcast platforms that you all listen to us on. If you have feedback for our shows or would like to share what you would like to hear from The Sound of Accra Podcast, please email info@thesoundofaccra.com About Patrick Explore the incredible journey of Patrick and his unique take on the importance of simple activities like puzzles in daily life. As a successful entrepreneur in the toy industry, Patrick delves into how some of the most straightforward tasks can bring about mindfulness, stress relief, and foster stronger family ties. He discusses how in the current age, where an average family is largely consumed by digital screens, these distractions often rob away precious moments of family time. Patrick's puzzles are designed to draw children and parents alike, paving the way to positive engagements over dinner tables, ultimately contributing to better mental health. Patrick's undeniable success can be gauged by the popularity of his puzzle products and his notable mentions in reputed media outlets such as Forbes and Channel 4. On the topic of his achievements, Patrick speaks candidly about his proud moments including winning the coveted titles at the Junior Design Awards and the Independent Toy Awards in 2023. Despite his impressive accomplishments, Patrick recounts his biggest achievement being the approval and pride of his family. He opens up about the disappointment of a missed opportunity on Dragons Den in 2020, but how it only fueled his desire to make his family proud. In this intriguing conversation, audiences will get an insight into the importance of maintaining work-life balance, the power of simple tasks in stress relief, and the driving force behind passion and perseverance. Patrick's remarkable story and his insightful sharing serve as a motivation for aspiring entrepreneurs and creators aiming to start their businesses.

According to American Express, Black women start businesses at six times the national average. Black women also hold more advanced degrees than any other group of women. In this episode, Dr. Karen celebrates the life and journey of Janice Bryant Howroyd, a remarkable and inspirational African-American woman who was the first to create and operate … The post Janice Bryant Howroyd: The First African-American Woman Billion Dollar Company Founder (Episode # 466) first appeared on TRANSLEADERSHIP, INC®.

Karoline Rose is the leader and heart of KRose Company and Cattleman U.She also owns and operates a farm to table store called the Ranchers' Daughter. Karoline prefers to spend her days in sale barns or on the ranch, but she's a pro at working from anywhere and will pour her heart into taking care of her clients. Karoline hopes to elevate people's businesses to the best of her abilities, whether they're young entrepreneurs or experienced ranchers. Karoline sits down with host, Tyler Schuster, this week to chat about CEO life, the resources her companies offer and her advice for future women in agriculture. www.krosecompany.comwww.cattlemanulive.com - all about our online educational membership, as well as the CU Planner, Profitfinder, She's a Hand Ranch Camp, and so much more!The Cattleman U Podcast The Cattleman U Podcast on Spotifytheranchersdaughtermt.comSocial Media Handles: @cattlemanu @krosecompany @rose.karoline @the_ranchersdaughter

This past season on “Elevator Pitch,” Alexandra Baker, the founder of In the Kitchen with Alexandra, pitched her condiment Pikliz (pronounced "pick-lees") to our board of investors. While they didn't bite on her ask, they were so fired up by her passion that they awarded her $10,000 from Amazon Business. Alexandra sat down after her successful ride on the elevator to discuss her pitching strategy and the growth of the globally inspired foods industry.

Foster Coulson, entrepreneur and founder of The Wellness Company, joins this episode of The Jeff Dornik Show. He breaks down the mindset that one must take in order to launch TWC. Not only is this company growing exponentially, but it's doing so by creating a legitimate alternative to the current healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. While Big Pharma is trying to keep you perpetually sick, the team at The Wellness Company see their mission as keeping you healthy. We also dive into the entrepreneurial spirit that is needed to create a parallel economy. We discussed many of the shared values we have between his launching of TWC and my launching of Pickax, and the similarities in the huge tasks we are undertaking in our respective industries. We also highlight the importance of the individual American to vote with your dollar. Stop supporting companies that hate you and are centralizing power for the Globalist Elite. Instead, shift your resources to support freedom loving companies that are dedicated to raising up humanity, of which The Wellness Company and Pickax are committed to. I highly encourage you to check out all of the amazing products by The Wellness Company. The most important thing every person should have is their Medical Emergency Kits, so that you are prepared with the most common prescription drugs you'd need in an emergency situation. Also stock up on Spike Support, to help rid your body of the Spike Protein. They also offer Telehealth services so you can have access to a doctor in the comfort of your own home. He also announced that they are in the process of launching physical clinics around the country. To stock up on supplements, emergency medical kits or to sign up for their Telehealth membership, use code JEFF for a 10% discount at https://twc.health/jeff. Tune in LIVE to The Jeff Dornik Show every day at 8pm ET only on Rumble! Sign up for pickax, the social media platform that protects free speech, is not beholden to Big Tech, has algorithms that amplify your voice and provides monetization opportunities for content creators. https://pickax.com Subscribe to The Jeff Dornik Show on Substack to get all of Jeff's shows, interviews and articles directly to your email inbox. Become a paid subscribe to get access to his weekly exclusive show for paid subscribers only. Subscribe at https://jeffdornik.substack.com.

What you'll learn in this episode:   How Gabriela made the leap from air traffic control to jewelry design, and when she knew it was time to quit her full-time job Where the inspiration for Latitude Jewelry's collections came from How Gabriela navigates selling her jewelry internationally Gabriela's advice for people who want to take a risk in their careers   About Gabriela Rodrigues Gabriela Rodrigues is the CEO and jewelry designer of Latitude Jewelry. Born in Brazil, her lifelong love affair with aviation and travel was sparked at an early age by her mother, Lúcia who was an air traffic controller.   Gabriela has always had an artistic side and a flair for fashion, having studied for a degree in Fashion Design at college. Her interest in designing jewelry began later, when she did a yearlong goldsmith course to indulge her creativity. It was also a welcome escape from her stressful and challenging work life in air traffic control. Friends and family wanted to buy her designs and her very first jewels were inspired by her experiences and travel background. Latitude Jewelry was born in 2019, and Gabriela took Amelia Earhart, a pioneer in aviation, as the inspiration for her first commercial range, the A.E Collection.   Additional Resources: Latitude Jewelry Website Instagram Photos available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript:   Gabriela Rodrigues changed careers from air traffic controller to founder and designer of Latitude Jewelry, but she didn't leave her past behind. Her jewelry collections are inspired by everything from the sunsets she saw from her air traffic control tower to the aviation icon Amelia Earhart. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about how she undertook her career transition; how she fleshes out her many ideas; and how her past career prepared her for the challenges of entrepreneurship. Read the episode transcript here.    Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. If you haven't heard part one, please head to TheJewelryJourney.com.   Today my guest is Gabriela Rodrigues. She's founder and CEO of Latitude Jewelry. She's speaking with us from Portugal, but she was born in Brazil and lived there for many years. Welcome back.    How else were you prepared? Were you prepared for the changes or the fast pace of business?   Gabriela: Since I decided to open this business, my goal in this business was always to be sold in all places—in as many places around the world. So, I was preparing myself for this. I studied about taxes, customs, pricing, currency and everything. I was very well-prepared, not only about the designing part of the business. I studied how to develop a collection, branding, marketing, but also how to manage a business, pricing jewelry, because it's very different from other kinds of products. I'm always studying and preparing myself to be where I am. Does it mean I know everything? No. I'm far from it. I'm always desperate, but I think I'm doing my best to be here. So, I've been preparing myself since I decided to have a business.   Sharon: How is pricing jewelry different from other commodities?   Gabriela: That's another problem from Brazil because we deal with the gold prices now, but this is something that everyone deals with in the industry. We also have the problem of currency because we negotiate all gemstones in dollars. The ups and downs of payout in dollars make it a mess for us to price our jewelry there. It's kind of crazy because one day the currency exchange is O.K., the other day the dollar goes up. It's insane how we do things there.    Of course, the gold is something the industry, wherever you go, is having trouble with. If there's a rise in gold prices, all the industry will suffer from this. The dollar price exchange with the Brazilian real is a mess. It complicates a lot of our business there because we are not selling in dollars; we are selling in real, so if the dollar goes up—our costs are in dollars and also the gold prices. It's insane, but we do our best.   Sharon: Does the inflation allow you to make money overall?   Gabriela: I think inflation doesn't really get to people who have money to invest in jewelry. In general, of course. It's more about reaching your target. I don't think about inflation, but I think about the mood in the countries. If you try to understand how everything is going during a political problem, this can make it worse or better, but not inflation itself. People who really have money to buy jewelry, it won't affect them that much, I think. So, you're able to make money.   Sharon: You've mentioned that Amelia Earhart is an inspiration to you. Why is that?   Gabriela: Even before working on that airline, I knew her history about being a pilot during a time that there weren't many women pilots. She was so adventurous, so smart. She worked as a nurse during the war. She had her own clothing line. She was an amazing and complete woman, not only a pilot. She was always challenging herself. Even before working in aviation, she was an inspiration for me.    So, when I came up with the name and what I was doing for my first collection, I felt she was a great person to take inspiration from for my first collection because of her strength, her adventurous spirit. I liked her even before working in aviation. So, that's it.    Sharon: I didn't know that she was all those things, besides being a pilot whom everybody knows. You mentioned a collection. If you have one pendant, that's not a collection. Is it a connection to things? What is a collection?   Gabriela: The first collection we made was to Amelia Earhart. It was five or six pieces of jewelry, like earrings, necklaces, all with the same motif, the compass and her last flight route. That was one collection. I also have an Around the World collection where I have these pendants. This is a kind of collection that I consider Latitude classics. I'm always adding designs to this collection. It starts with small pendants, and now I have a smaller one. I have a locket. Now, we are about to launch a spinning globe where you can set stones in the places that are important to you. So, this is a collection I'm always adding new jewelry to, new designs.   There is the Twenty-Four Hours collection that was inspired by my sunset. Usually when I talk about collections, I mean at least three or four jewelry pieces with the same motif. But I always do one piece or one jewel or one ring outside of the collections just because I feel like it and I have an inspiration I think will work. So, I create pieces without collections also, not being part of collections.   Sharon: The pieces that aren't part of a collection, do you think someday they might grow into their own collection?   Gabriela: The first collection grew. The first collection was the first five pieces. Now there are more than 10 because I'm always adding designs to this collection. Around the World also started with only one pendant and now we have pendants, earrings, necklaces, lockets because it's all about the globe. Twenty-Four Hours is another collection. I want to add some new designs to this. If my mind and my creativity give me another idea, I can add a new piece to these collections. I don't have any problem with it. I just do whatever my mind asks me to.    Sharon: What is your favorite gem you like to work with, like behind the gold map? Let's say you overlay something.   Gabriela: Lapis lazuli. It's my favorite since before having Latitude. I love the intensity of the blue, and I think it matches the globe perfectly, the map. The stones have inclusions, these fades, sometimes in white and gold, so it looks like you're actually looking at the earth from outside when you put it behind the map. I love the way it looks in the world pendant, but it's a gemstone I really liked even before. I really liked the color. I used to work with it on the bench with contrasting color stones. I have an earring I made myself with lapis lazuli and another stone. The contrast of the colors is amazing. I love that earring. Yeah, it's my favorite stone, lapis lazuli.   Sharon: Is it harder to work with than other stones? Is it more difficult or less pliable, or does it shatter more easily?   Gabriela: No. This design is like a rounded cabochon behind the map. I have done it with different quartzes, smoky quartz, onyx. Malachite also looks great. It's just your favorite color. You can choose and put it behind your favorite stone. There's a friend who wants me to make one in amethyst. I promised her. I need to take care of it. I'm going to do it.   Sharon: Do you have a list on your website where the customer chooses the stone and sends it off to you for the order?   Gabriela: No. We have many options separated so you can choose, but we also have the contact form if they want. If they want to change any color or any stone, just contact us. If it's a stone we don't have and we've never worked with before, we are glad to look for it and tell the client if it's possible. We will work on it. If it's not possible to have it on that piece, we are very open. We like the ideas that sometimes come up. They come up with nice ideas, so we are there for them. We just want it to be meaningful to the person who buys it.   Sharon: You have talked about the map of the sky that looks like you're looking down at earth from the sky. Have you considered making a map of the sky or a celestial map?   Gabriela: Yes, actually, I have a client who keeps asking me to design—we have a constellation in Brazil. We see it from there and it's very known. I have this client. She keeps saying to me, “You need to design that.” I've been thinking about how to get this constellation into a piece for her. Sometimes I have this idea of working with stars and constellations, but I have so many ideas. I need to organize my mind step by step, choose what I'm doing next. I keep my ideas, my notes. One day.   Sharon: How do you home in on what you want to do next or what you're doing now? How do you narrow it down?    Gabriela: I don't. I'm a total mess in this case. I'm always doing one million things and seeing what's coming, what's ready first. I keep a huge amount of notes, a huge amount of designs. I send them to the manufacturer, to the 3D modelists, and I work with what I have in my hands. Someone gave me back this one that works, so let's do this. Sometimes I sit down and organize everything.    We had a child's collection in Brazil. That was very nice to work with. I had a person help me with the design, the sketching. The ideas were mine, but we worked together and created this beautiful collection for kids. Sometimes I just choose what I'm doing next, but I'm usually overwhelmed with ideas and designs. I never know exactly what is next. That's how my mind works.   Sharon: Do you ramp up for the holidays? I realize you haven't been in business that long, but do you do more because of the holidays, because of Christmas and New Year's and everything that's coming? Do you ramp up?   Gabriela: Yes, we usually get prepared four months before. We reorganize our inventory, see what has sold better. Maybe sometimes we come up with a new design to sell during the holidays. I think it's the best time to sell jewelry. It's Christmas and Mother's Day, maybe, but mostly Christmas, Valentine's—not for Brazilians. Valentine's is another date; it's not the 14th of February. In Brazil, we celebrate it in June, I think. It's also a good time to organize and make pieces and to think about how to offer this jewelry and make more sales.   Sharon: When you were designing jewelry and doing air traffic control at the same time, did you daydream about being a full-time jewelry designer?   Gabriela: Yes, all the time. Since I decided to go with opening the company, opening Latitude, that was always my dream. But it's hard because I had a very nice job, and every month my payment was there. It's not a decision you make just because I wanted to live from my jewelry and from my creativity. It needs to be calculated. So, when I felt I was comfortable with the brand, the brand was reaching what I expected from it, then I decided to quit. For example, I wasn't able to travel because of my job. It was contrasting. I couldn't do what was needed for Latitude because I had a job. When it came to this, I decided to quit, but it was like four years of wanting to but I couldn't. I'm not impulsive at all, so I do very calculated things to do them the best way possible.    Sharon: What was your calculation to leave? You couldn't travel, let's say. What was your catalyst? What was the big steppingstone?   Gabriela: I don't think there was a big step, a milestone, for this. It was just step by step, seeing how Latitude was growing and selling better and appearing in some magazines, seeing that people really liked my jewelry. I wasn't happy in my job. Now I remember. I was about to take part in Inhorgenta in Munich, the jewelry fair. I was working, and I said, “I won't send anyone in my place to take care of the Latitude stand. I need to go there. I need to see how people react to my jewelry. I want to participate in that and then I can create.” By that time, I couldn't have any vacation or holidays. I said, “O.K., Latitude is working nicely, making some money. I'll be able to leave for Latitude. Now it's demanding my full attention.” I think it was this, participating in Munich in the Inhorgenta fair. I needed to quit because I couldn't send anyone else in my place. I really wanted to be there representing my designs, representing my brand. That's why I think I was there.   Sharon: Was that part of your calculation, that you had to be in charge, or you had to be on the front lines seeing what people thought?   Gabriela: Yes, I think it's important for you to see how people react to your product. Of course, we are designers; we love to create things. Sometimes, when you are a designer, you don't really care about how people react to your business because you just want to create something that fulfills your creative side. But when you have a business and you need to make money from that, it's your business; it's your way of life now. You need to see how the customer will react to your product, and you need to make adjustments if they're needed. Nobody better than me. Anyone could do this. Someone could be there in Munich and say, “People like your jewelry,” and those were the comments, but I needed to be there to see how they reacted. I'm the designer, but I'm also the owner of this company. I need to make it work.    Sharon: What were some of the comments you got that motivated you to take the next step, to leave air traffic control?   Gabriela: I was growing. I was appearing in some magazines. I was starting to sell more frequently, and I was unhappy in my job. It was more about how I was feeling in that job, and how I felt that I was failing with this new business because I couldn't have my attention fully directed to the business. It was a time that I couldn't keep doing that the way I was. It wasn't about what people think.    Actually, people always say—not my mom; she was always very supportive—but people say, “You're going to quit this job? It's such an important job. You have your payment every month. You are going to follow your dream?” I went, “Yes, that's it.” I don't regret it at all. I miss my friends. I miss the job. At the end, I wasn't happy, but I was proud of being an air traffic controller. But it wasn't what I wanted to be anymore. People were saying, “Don't do that,” and I went and did it. I quit and I'm very happy now. I'm happier than I was, and that's it. You don't have to follow the others. Just go with your plan. I always planned in advance, so it wasn't a surprise to anyone that I quit because I was doing it step by step. When the moment came, I just quit. You don't have to involve the others. Just don't do it.   Sharon: Pardon?   Gabriela: Don't care about the others' opinions. Just don't do it. If they really want what is best for you, it's their idea of best and not yours. It's not what's going to really fulfill you and your dreams in your life. So, just go for it.   Sharon: That's good advice. Thank you very much for being with us today. We really appreciate it.   Gabriela: Thank you, Sharon, for having me. It was a pleasure to talk to you.    Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

Matt Wahlstrom is the Founder of Epic Roll, a serial entrepreneur, a former MMA fighter, and a Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Tom DeBlass. Matt is partnered with two of his friends, Zoltan Bathory of the famous rock band Five Finger Death Punch and Heather Grace Gracie, granddaughter of Carlos Gracie Sr. Matt shares his story as a graphic designer fighting in the north-east MMA circuit, the early days of Epic Roll, his corporate career in the fitness industry, his real estate business, how he found his bottle company and much more! Epic Roll was born out of Matt's passion for Jiu-Jitsu. He set out to fix what he found lacking with Jiu-Jitsu and wanted to create the most comfortable, light, yet durable equipment for himself and his students. You can follow Matt on IG: @epicrollbjj or online at www.epicrollbjj.com, www.theonbottlecompany.com, or www.mjhomesalesva.com The BizJitsu Podcast is sponsored by Union Staffing Group, a full-service boutique recruitment firm that unites great companies with high-performing sales, marketing, and operational talent.  Follow us on Instagram: @BizJitsu_Podcast | @vincepacleb | @archie_dane

What you'll learn in this episode:   How Gabriela made the leap from air traffic control to jewelry design, and when she knew it was time to quit her full-time job Where the inspiration for Latitude Jewelry's collections came from How Gabriela navigates selling her jewelry internationally Gabriela's advice for people who want to take a risk in their careers   About Gabriela Rodrigues Gabriela Rodrigues is the CEO and jewelry designer of Latitude Jewelry. Born in Brazil, her lifelong love affair with aviation and travel was sparked at an early age by her mother, Lúcia who was an air traffic controller.   Gabriela has always had an artistic side and a flair for fashion, having studied for a degree in Fashion Design at college. Her interest in designing jewelry began later, when she did a yearlong goldsmith course to indulge her creativity. It was also a welcome escape from her stressful and challenging work life in air traffic control. Friends and family wanted to buy her designs and her very first jewels were inspired by her experiences and travel background. Latitude Jewelry was born in 2019, and Gabriela took Amelia Earhart, a pioneer in aviation, as the inspiration for her first commercial range, the A.E Collection.   Additional Resources: Latitude Jewelry Website Instagram Photos available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript:   Gabriela Rodrigues changed careers from air traffic controller to founder and designer of Latitude Jewelry, but she didn't leave her past behind. Her jewelry collections are inspired by everything from the sunsets she saw from her air traffic control tower to the aviation icon Amelia Earhart. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about how she undertook her career transition; how she fleshes out her many ideas; and how her past career prepared her for the challenges of entrepreneurship. Read the episode transcript here.    Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the first part of a two-part episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it's released later this week.    Today, my guest is Gabriela Rodrigues. How do you say your whole name?   Gabriela: Gabriela Rodrigues da Cunha, but Gabriela Rodrigues is O.K.   Sharon: And you're founder and CEO of Latitude Jewelry. She's speaking with us from Portugal, but she was born in Brazil and lived there for many years. In 200 episodes of the Jewelry Journey, I've talked to people all over the world. I've also talked to many people who did not originally start out in jewelry. Maybe they were in finance or another profession they didn't find creatively fulfilling. Somehow, they discovered jewelry, and they were put on that path. I've talked to many guests, but this is the first time I've talked to anyone who used to be an air traffic controller. After working in this profession in Brazil for seven years, she decided she wasn't being creatively fulfilled and started her jewelry journey. We'll hear all about that today. Gabriela, welcome to the podcast.    Gabriela: Thank you, Sharon, for having me. I'm very glad to be here.   Sharon: That's such a big swing, an air traffic controller to jewelry.   Gabriela: Yes, certainly. It's been a crazy path.   Sharon: Had you ever studied jewelry making before?   Gabriela: Yes. In 2017, I was very stressed by my job as an air traffic controller, and I found out there were jewelry places in my city, as in most cities. I was very surprised. I went there to calm down my mind. Here I am now, a jewelry designer with my own brand.   Sharon: Did you think about designs as you were beating with the hammers to make something?   Gabriela: Yeah. The first day I entered, I learned some techniques. It was a very basic class just to show me what it was about, but in the second class, I was full of ideas. I created a ring that was my best seller then. It was a very nice and inventive ring. People loved it so much that I had to make a rubber mold of this ring. I sold like 10 of it, and I said, “Maybe I can do that.” That was how my business started and this new job and profession. I've always been creating things in my mind since that time.   Sharon: Did that ring, that rubber mold, encompass the latitude on the world map?   Gabriela: No, that was another design. It was like 2017, but it was very nice. I really wanted to bring it to my business, but it was kind of narrow, and it was for two fingers. It was a two-finger ring, and it was very inventive and beautiful. Latitude came in 2019, two years after, when I really decided to have a business. I did all the branding process to understand what I wanted to create, what I wanted to sell. Then we had all the development of the collection with the compass. The world pendant has another nice history. I can tell you.   Sharon: Please tell us.   Gabriela: It's funny, because I was doing the class just to calm down my mind. I created this beautiful ring, but on the very first day, I also had this idea of creating the world rolled in gold and lapis lazuli. I created that pendant in my mind the very first time I went to the class, the second time. I could only see it in gold and gemstone four years later. I spent all the time doing this class with this piece in my mind. It was just a class where I wanted to create beautiful things and calm my mind, but that was the first piece I imagined. It was the globe with lapis lazuli and gold.   Two or three years later, when I decided to have my business and was doing the branding, I came up with the name. It was kind of a coincidence. One year or six months later after the launching of Latitude, I made that piece. I think it was meant to be called Latitude and be about travelling and my passion. So, the pendant came first. Latitude came after. It was like a coincidence, a very nice coincidence and maybe destiny, I might say.   Sharon: Like your fate, your destiny. Did you consider anything else besides jewelry when you wanted to start your own business?   Gabriela: I was very stressed in my job. I was always trying to figure out something to do, maybe clothing, shoes. I had been a shoe designer before, but I was like, “I don't really believe in how fashion is going nowadays.” You have to create pieces, new collections, like every two weeks or you're left behind. So, I wasn't sure. I knew I wanted a business, a new life, but I couldn't figure out what I would do.    Then I went to the class not thinking at all about a business, and I just fell in love. It wasn't a choice. Jewelry chose me. That's how it had been. It wasn't my choice, like “I'm going to work with jewelry.” No, I just noticed how amazing this business is, to create something from metal and gold and how much effort and work you have to put in your creations. So, jewelry chose me, and I just follow it.    Sharon: What made you think you could run and build a jewelry company?   Gabriela: Good question. I wanted a business, and I wanted to quit being an air traffic controller. That wasn't really a choice. I just did what I needed to do to accomplish what I wanted, which was working with something that fulfills me in other ways creatively and being able to travel to meet people around the world, creating beautiful and meaningful things that people connect to. I think it was natural. I just wanted people to get to know my pieces, my jewelry. It was natural that was creating a business.   Sharon: You became an air traffic controller because of something your mother said to you. What did she say to you? That's what your website says.    Gabriela: Actually, she was an air traffic controller. So, it wasn't something she said, but something she was. She became an air traffic controller when I was 15. By then, I understood what the job was. It's hard. It's stressful, but I didn't have an idea of how challenging, how difficult and how smart she needs to be. When I was older, I went to work at an airline in the same airport where she works. She's still an air traffic controller. I started to talk to the pilots and they said, “Your mom is an air traffic controller? Oh, she must be awesome. I want to meet her. This is such a hard job. She's probably very smart and intelligent. I want to meet her, and I want to visit the tower.” I was like, “Oh.”    Working in aviation, I started to understand how big and important this job is. Then that spark hit me, and I said, “O.K., I can do that.” I always admired my mom, but I really didn't have an idea of what she was doing until I started working with an airline. Then I went for the tests and all the training, and I became an air traffic controller myself for almost eight years, I think.    Sharon: When you decided to go into other things, because you did a few different things before you ended up in jewelry, did she say, “Gabriela, why are you leaving? You've put so much into this”?   Gabriela: I think she was always supportive. Anything I wanted to do or decided to do in my life, she was always there for me, supporting me. Of course, giving me advice and trying to show me what she thinks is best, but she was always very supportive. It wasn't a quick change. I didn't decide to start the jewelry thing and quit immediately. I worked in both jobs for almost four years. Since I decided to open Latitude, I spent four years working both in the company and in air traffic control. I quit air control to take care of Latitude full time last year in February. It's been like one-and-a-half years that I've been only an entrepreneur and owner of Latitude and a designer. So, it was a long process that brought me here, and she was always there supporting me.   Sharon: Your website says you have a flair for fashion. Can you give us some examples of that?   Gabriela: Yes, when I was child, I really wanted to be a fashion designer or a costume designer. There was a time I really wanted to design costumes for movies and TV shows. I was always passionate about this. I know a bit about how to make clothes and design clothes. I was really into fashion. My major in college was fashion. I have a fashion design degree. I also worked as a footwear designer for a while. Almost a year, I think, I'd been designing shoes.    Sharon: If you were pursuing fashion, did you know you were going to be an air traffic controller at that time?   Gabriela: No. What happened is when I went to college, I really didn't feel like I fit. I wasn't comfortable there, but it was my dream from my teenage years, my childhood. I was like, “What am I doing here?” After graduating, I went to design shoes. I was a bit happier, but I still was not feeling like I belonged there. I was very emotional and sad, not knowing what to do in my life, and my mom told me, “Come back and start working at the airport.”    I found myself a job at an airline and I was thinking about my life. By then I was like 20 years old, 21 years old. I was very young. Then working at this airline, I decided to follow my mom's steps. I've been totally in aviation. My mind was totally on aviation for 10 years. I can't remember a day that I'd pick up a pencil to design anything. It was like 10 years of blank in my creativity. I didn't create anything during this time.    Sharon: When you did travel, did that influence how you saw jewelry or how you drew jewelry? Did it influence you?   Gabriela: Now, when I travel, I'm always inspired, not only to design jewelry. When I'm traveling, I get overwhelmed with things. I see the color, the people, this mall of places and food, and I start creating everything. Even homeware is floating in my mind. I have so many ideas, and the way I choose to translate these ideas and these thoughts is jewelry because I feel comfortable designing jewelry. I think it's a very meaningful object, and it's long lasting. Jewelry is forever if you take care of it. I think the best way to translate my experiences is in jewelry. My travels help me to keep my mind running and full of colors and ideas.    Sharon: Do you ever take a pencil to paper and put down some of these ideas, the housewares or other things?   Gabriela: Yes, I actually have many ideas for housewares or leather goods. I want to have some leather goods in addition to jewelry because I think it matches. Like the cover of a jewelry box, those kinds of things. Yes, I'm always creating. I have notebooks full—and yes, they're real notebooks, not iPads or anything. I like paper. I'm always sketching things, like, “One day I'm going to build this,” and maybe I will. I keep my ideas well preserved and saved for the time I will need them.    Sharon: Did you see jewelry as a way to connect to people?   Gabriela: Yes, most of the time it's about family traditions and family histories. I want mine to be that. I create my pieces to connect people and start conversations, to make people talk about their experiences, their memories, their dreams, their wishes, their adventures. Jewelry is able to create these connections to people. I'm very proud to be working with such an amazing object.   Sharon: Do you consider jewelry, your pieces specifically, a conversation starter?   Gabriela: Yes, I think so. If you're living in my world, I think most of the people who buy my jewelry have this kind of lifestyle, the same wishes and dreams. If I see someone with a piece of jewelry like the ones I design, I'm always getting information and trying to understand what the meaning behind that piece is. I'm sure my jewelry does this to people, because I receive emails from clients sometimes. All this is so meaningful. Someone started to talk to me, and I had to tell him about my history with this country or the Morocco collection. I told this person about the history of this pendant and how it is meaningful for me. So yes, I think my jewelry starts conversations and inspires people. They start talking about the meaning behind this jewelry.    Sharon: Have you ever seen somebody wearing a piece and gone up to them and said, “Hey, that's mine,” or “Why are you wearing that?”   Gabriela: No, not like that, because the people that I would be able to meet, I've already had this conversation with them before they buy from me. But they always tell me why they are buying and how meaningful that jewelry is for them because of the stone, because of the history behind it, because of their lifestyle, their adventures, their spirit. I'm always in touch with these clients to know why they are buying this jewelry. They are always very happy to tell me.    Sharon: It's like a focus group, but they're not a focus group. They give you feedback, but they're not formally giving it to you.   Gabriela: Right.   Sharon: On your website, you also say that you have some moments of pure beauty. They're few and far between, but can you tell us some of them?   Gabriela: Yeah, on the website, we're talking about the sunsets I experienced from the tower when I was an air traffic controller. I missed this view so much. I used to work in a very high tower with a view. The weather in Brazil at some times of the year is very dry, so the sky during the sunset gets the most colorful shades I've ever seen in the sky. It goes from very light blue, it becomes pink, and then you see that it's red. The sky is fully red. Then it starts to become orange, then it's violet, and here comes the night. It's so beautiful. I've been traveling a lot. I've been to many of the most beautiful sunsets in the world, because every place you visit has the most beautiful sunset, but I've never experienced a sunset as I experienced in my tower where I used to work. It was just amazing. This view was the best ever during sunset.   Of course, I'm always traveling, so I've been seeing many beautiful things. My first trip was to the U.S. alone, by myself. I remember getting to the Grand Canyon, and it was such an amazing view. I was mesmerized. I didn't have any reaction more than just looking. I was thankful and grateful. I was like, “This is what I want to do forever.” It's just being able to see the beauty in the world. The Grand Canyon was a great experience. I think that was the place that started my wish to travel and experience the most phenomenal world.    Sharon: I'm impressed that you went to the U.S. by yourself and you traveled around by yourself. Wow! Tell us how your business works. Who are your clients? Do you have male jewelry? Do you just design? How does that work?   Gabriela: I mostly sell online in Brazil and worldwide. In Brazil, we usually work from Instagram and WhatsApp. We have an online store, but all sales are mostly done on Instagram and the international website. I can ship to any country in the world now. We have some genderless jewelry, but we are working on a male collection, and I think they're liked. We're also trying to get some retailers. We've been talking to some. Soon, I think the jewelry will be available in some stores around the U.S. and in Europe. Let's cheer for the best. I think we'll be taking over the world soon. I hope so.   Sharon: I hope so too, if only for your sake. So, you design and then you give it to somebody else to make.   Gabriela: Yes, I make all the designs. The designs are exclusive. I do everything, and I have the manufacturers here in Portugal and in Brazil produce the jewelry. I have a high standard of quality with gemstones and everything. I'm very careful with the quality of the product.   Sharon: I don't know how it works, but you have an Instagram. If I order something from Brazil, is it the same as ordering from an international Instagram?   Gabriela: No, I have the same Instagram, but I have two websites. If you search for Latitude online if you're in the U.S., you'll find out our international website. If someone in Brazil searches for Latitude Jewelry online, they will find our Brazilian website. The Instagram is an account where we show our pieces, our jewelry. It's still only one account, but I'm probably getting an international Instagram. In Brazil, all the business I make is on Instagram and WhatsApp. They just reach out to me and ask whatever they want to know about the jewelry they are buying. Of course, we can change to WhatsApp, but here and internationally, it's only online. If someone asks me on Instagram, I can help, but the business is here. Internationally, business is done online, not on Instagram. That's the difference between places.    Sharon: I know you can sometimes order from Instagram if you click “Buy” or whatever. What's the most surprising thing you've encountered being an entrepreneur with Latitude Jewelry as opposed to an air traffic controller? What did you not expect?   Gabriela: I expected everything, to be honest. I was excited to open the business. I was very prepared emotionally for the pressure I would find, maybe not as much pressure. I'm used to working under pressure as an air traffic controller, but I think running a business, running a company, there's a lot more pressure. So, at least I was well-trained as an air traffic controller. I can do pretty well with the pressure of being an entrepreneur. I wasn't surprised because I was very well prepared to be where I am now.   Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out.

Today's guest is Evan Hafer. Evan is a U.S. Army Green Beret combat veteran, the CEO of Black Rifle Coffee Company, and host of the Black Rifle Coffee Podcast. He served the United States for more than 20 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman, a Special Forces soldier, and a CIA contractor. He made over 40 combat deployments during the War on Terror.  Evan has long been passionate about great coffee, roasting beans in his garage and bringing duffle bags full of coffee with him on deployments. In 2014, he started Black Rifle Coffee Company. Today, Black Rifle Coffee Company's mission is serving “coffee and culture to people who love America.” They are veteran-founded and operated and have made it their goal to hire 10,000 veterans and assist individuals transitioning out of the military. Evan also established the BRCC Fund, a nonprofit that supports veterans and first responders and helps conserve the American outdoors. BRCC also offers content aimed to educate and entertain across several platforms including the Black Rifle Coffee Podcast, the Black Rifle Coffee Company YouTube Channel, and Coffee or Die Magazine. In 2020, they launched Free Range American, a lifestyle brand and platform focused on the outdoors, Second Amendment news, and American history.   You can follow Evan on Instagram @evanhafer You can learn more about Black Rifle Coffee Company at blackriflecoffee.com and by following them on Instagram @blackriflecoffee SPONSORS: Navy Federal Credit Union: Today's episode is presented by Navy Federal Credit Union. Learn more about them at navyfederal.org Schnee's:  Head over to Schnees.com, you can score up to 30% off your new pair of mountain boots! Use promo code: JACK23 Black Rifle Coffee Company: Today's episode is also brought to you by Black Rifle. Purchase at http://www.blackriflecoffee.com/dangerclose and use code: dangerclose20 at checkout for 20% off your purchase and your first coffee club order! Danger Close Apparel: Check out the new Danger Close apparel.  FOX Special Forces: Don't miss new episodes of  Special Forces every Monday on Fox. Featured Gear SIG: Today's featured gear segment is sponsored by SIG Sauer. You can learn more about SIG here. Badass Work Bench  Fort Knox Safe Safariland IncogX Holster SIG MPX  Black Rifle Coffee Company

Sri Vanarasa Govinda Rao is the founder of Surabhi Drama Company in 1886 (the then name of the company name is Sri Sarada Mano Vinodini Sabha). He is the trend setter for Surabi Drama heritage. Surabhi Drama Troupes are still existing because of the strong foundation and strict discipline established by Sri Giovinda Rao. Kiran Prabha narrates the inspiring life journey of Sri Govinda Rao in the episode.

Jim Chanos, Founder and President of Chanos & Company discusses his investment outlook and the latest on China with hosts Tim Stenovec and Simone Foxman. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Topical Tuesday's episode, I spoke with Ray Hightower who is a commercial real estate investor and tech company founder, and his firm, Bridgetown Partners, buys commercial real estate in Arizona, Tennessee, and Texas, with a special focus on 50- to 150-unit multifamily properties. Be sure to tune in if you're interested in learning about: How he got involved in the industry and quickly built credibility as he transitioned from tech to real estate The role mentorship has played in his development as a real estate investor His advice for folks looking to break into the industry and fast track their success How his skills from being a tech company owner have benefitted him in the world of real estate To your success, Tyler Lyons Resources mentioned in the episode: Ray Hightower Website Podcast Invest Interested in investing with Asym Capital? Check out our webinar.   Please note that investing in private placement securities entails a high degree of risk, including illiquidity of the investment and loss of principal. Please refer to the subscription agreement for a discussion of risk factors. Tired of scrambling for capital?  Check out our new FREE webinar -  How to Ensure You Never Scramble for Capital Again (The 3 Capital-Raising Secrets). Click Here to register.   CFC Podcast Facebook Group

In this episode of Served Neat, Jen discusses the misconception that once a business reaches a certain level of success, all problems disappear. She shares her realization that founders can portray themselves however they want online, crafting a perfect image of their lives. Jen also opens up about the not-so-fun aspects of entrepreneurship that successful founders often don't share with their audience. Tune in to hear the truth behind the glamorous facade of success. We are talking about: How to navigate tough conversations with clients. Ways to embrace all sides of success.  How to handle the difficult task of letting employees go and gracefully parting ways? How forming and maintaining a tight-knit circle helps you as a business owner.   How To Get Involved: Get ready to elevate your business game with Served Neat - the podcast that's all about taking your business to the next level! We serve up expert advice on sales, marketing, mindset, and business strategies to help you make six-figures and beyond. Your host, Jen Hartmann, is the mastermind behind Neat Marketing. She's a PR strategist, coach, and marketing expert who helps business owners and their brands grow, scale, and succeed. When Jen isn't busy leading her team, developing new strategies, or setting goals for her company, she can be found sipping on a glass of bourbon, exploring new places, and hanging out with her sweet pup, Bruin. So, pour yourself a glass of your favorite bourbon and get inspired! Tune in to Served Neat to gain insider knowledge and learn how to start and grow your business like a pro. With Served Neat, taking your business to the next level has never been more fun!   Looking for more?  Sign up for our weekly newsletter -  Neat Marketing Check out our blog If you're ready to start using PR for your own business, book a call with us!  

Belinda Voigt saw a gap in the market of sports injuries and rehabilitation after watching her kids struggle through rehabbing after ankle sprains, sore knees etc, so she developed the RE3 Ice Compression pack. @re3compression Shop RE3 Compression HERE THANK YOU for listening, I really do appreciate everyone who tunes in each week.   Click Here To Become a VIP member (Join DK's coaching app here, try 7 days FREE using the code DKTRIAL)   4 WEEK MINDSET AND PERSONAL GROWTH PROGRAM   Hire me as your private mentor   @djkfitness   Join my free email list here   Read The Ultimate Flexible Dieting Guide here   SHOP DKFITNESS MERCH HERE   Use code DJK10 on all EHPlabs supplements for 10% off   Intro by Will Sparks.   Find this episode helpful? Share it with a friend or post a screenshot to your social media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most emergencies last less than 72 hours. Luck favors those who think the most about their preparation before an emergency even occurs. For this episode, Fran Racioppi is joined by Christian Schauf, founder and CEO of Uncharted Supply Company, live from the 2023 Sandlot Jax and GORUCK Games. Christian launched Uncharted with an investment from Shark Tank after pitching the SEVENTY2 survival system; a kit designed specifically to keep you alive for the first 72 hours of a crisis. Fran and Christian unpack the secrets to securing an investment from the Sharks, the up's and down's of entrepreneurism, and just what is in the SEVENTY2. Christian also shares his three keys to successful product design and why there are no life hacks on the road to success. Learn more about Christian Schauf and Uncharted Supply Company and pick up your SEVENTY2 or follow him on social media. Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website. Subscribe to us and follow @jedburghpodcast on all social media. Watch the full video version on YouTube. Highlights:0:00 Welcome to The Jedburgh Podcast 2:30 Christian leads USO music tours through the Middle East4:31 The SEVENTY2 sells triple expectations on Shark Tank7:23 What's in the SEVENTY2?11:26 There are no life hacks13:25 Determining new product ideas15:36 How to get people to think about preparation22:44 Christian's three daily foundations to successQuotes: “If you were away from home and your 10 year old son was home alone what could you give somebody like that would tangibly change the situation for the better. (4:12)“I'm a big believer in burning the ships…You go for it if you believe in it.” (5:31)“I want them talking positively about us because that's going to drive sales.” (6:12)“It was about the most likely things that can happen to you…and making sure we had a wide range of products that can sustain life.” (8:35)“It's a hack society. A life hack. It gets you nowhere.” (12:39)“The people that are the most prepared think about it the most.” (15:57)“Keep doing the right stuff in the right way. It's gonna work out.” (21:17)Christian Schauff's Three Daily Foundations To SuccessTake care of yourself through sleep and fitnessSurround yourself with the best peopleFocus on high qualityThis episode is brought to you by Jersey Mike's, Compass Workforce Solutions and GORUCK.

Vivek Ramaswamy is an entrepreneur and Republican candidate for the 2024 US Presidential Election. He joins Dr. Drew for a LIVE interview about his campaign, his opposition to “woke” policies, the recent Supreme Court ruling on Affirmative Action in colleges, and his experiences as the first Millennial Republican to run for president. Vivek Ramaswamy founded the biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences in 2014. He is the NYT bestselling author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam”, “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence” and “Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn't Vote For”. Find out more at https://vivek2024.com and follow him at https://twitter.com/VivekGRamaswamy 「 SPONSORED BY 」 Find out more about the companies that make this show possible and get special discounts on amazing products at https://drdrew.com/sponsors • PRIMAL LIFE - Dr. Drew recommends Primal Life's 100% natural dental products to improve your mouth. Get a sparkling smile by using natural teeth whitener without harsh chemicals. For a limited time, get 60% off at https://drdrew.com/primal • PALEOVALLEY - "Paleovalley has a wide variety of extraordinary products that are both healthful and delicious,” says Dr. Drew. "I am a huge fan of this brand and know you'll love it too!” Get 15% off your first order at https://drdrew.com/paleovalley • THE WELLNESS COMPANY - Counteract harmful spike proteins with TWC's Signature Series Spike Support Formula containing nattokinase and selenium. Learn more about TWC's supplements at https://twc.health/drew • BIRCH GOLD - Don't let your savings lose value. You can own physical gold and silver in a tax-sheltered retirement account, and Birch Gold will help you do it. Claim your free, no obligation info kit from Birch Gold at https://birchgold.com/drew • GENUCEL - Using a proprietary base formulated by a pharmacist, Genucel has created skincare that can dramatically improve the appearance of facial redness and under-eye puffiness. Genucel uses clinical levels of botanical extracts in their cruelty-free, natural, made-in-the-USA line of products. Get an extra discount with promo code DREW at https://genucel.com/drew 「 MEDICAL NOTE 」 The CDC states that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and reduce your risk of severe illness. You should always consult your personal physician before making any decisions about your health.  「 ABOUT the SHOW 」 Ask Dr. Drew is produced by Kaleb Nation (https://kalebnation.com) and Susan Pinsky (https://twitter.com/firstladyoflove). This show is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 「 ABOUT DR. DREW 」 For over 30 years, Dr. Drew has answered questions and offered guidance to millions through popular shows like Celebrity Rehab (VH1), Dr. Drew On Call (HLN), Teen Mom OG (MTV), and the iconic radio show Loveline. Now, Dr. Drew is opening his phone lines to the world by streaming LIVE from his home studio. Watch all of Dr. Drew's latest shows at https://drdrew.tv Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Original Special Forces Regiment needs a beer named The Originals. Then again, so does Det-A, Pineland, The Tribe, and of course the Jedburgh. Fran Racioppi travels to San Antonio to spend the day, and share a Jedburgh beer, with fellow Green Beret and Founder of Longtab Brewing Company Dave Holland. Dave founded Longtab out of a love for beer after a colossal failure of a home brew and to honor the legacy and lineage of US Army Special Special Forces, the Green Berets. Named after the iconic Special Forces special skill badge, Longtab has quickly become a landing spot for current and former special operators, as well as those looking to step into a history lesson on what it takes to be America's most elite soldier.Fran and Dave cover what it takes to brew great beer in a classic German style, how Dave and his team weathered the COVID shutdowns just 66 days after their opening, how to complement great beer with great food and robust coffee, and why Longtab is committed to honoring the legendary Green Berets who gave their lives in defense of freedom.Learn more about Longtab Brewing at longtabbrewing.com and on social media at @longtabbrewing.Special thanks to the Green Beret Foundation for supporting the production of this episode. Support the Green Berets of all generations today at greenberetfoundation.org.Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website. Subscribe to us and follow @jedburghpodcast on all social media. Watch the full video version on YouTube.Highlights:0:00 Welcome to Longtab Brewing2:45 The meaning of the Army Special Forces longtab4:49 Canning “The Originals” Hefeweizen 5:51 The stories behind the name of each beer8:52 The brewing process started with a home brew kit 11:18 Building the Longtab team13:25 Opening the doors 66 days before COVID lockdowns16:43 What's it mean to be a Green Beret20:31 Complementing great beer with great food22:23 Brewing good coffee next to the beer24:12 Jedburgh Beer and the legacy of US Special Forces27:36 Dave's three foundations to successQuotes: “The longtab is the longest special skills tab in the Army.” (3:15) “They started with the #10 to fool the Russians into thinking that there were nine more groups.” (5:34)“What we try to do is, at least 4-5 times per year, dedicate a beer to a fallen Green Beret.” (8:07)“Everything that we put in our beer is all manufactured and made right here in the United States.” (9:58)“The first beer was done on our kitchen stove. It was a colossal failure.” (10:54)“The food has become as big a component to this business as beer.” (22:12)“A lot of people that like good beer also like good coffee.” (22:36)Dave's three foundations to successMonday meetings to coordinate the weekMake a list of to do's every nightDrink beer!This episode is brought to you by Jersey Mike's & Compass Workforce Solutions

We are grateful to have David "Miz", founder and CEO of Lox and Company come on this fun and easy listening episode to tell us about his journey both in the military and business world. Kick back and enjoy a proper origin story capturing the spirit required to get out there and forge your own path. Toss in a healthy dose of patriotism and awareness and you get Lox. Swing by loxandcompany.com to source some great products that will undoubtedly help you be as fly as possible! Thank you for hanging out with the team. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pathfivepodcast/support

Adam von Rothfelder is the CEO of the Strong Coffee Company, but he didn't get there over night. Adam found his way into the fitness and wellness space because he wanted to be the best. After the loss of his brother caused Adam to turn inward and heal some deep wounds, Strong Coffee was born—a company made by and for people who want to be great in everything they do. Strong Coffee isn't just a run-of-the-mill product, it's a lifestyle and a brand with personality and heart, and that's no accident. Adam is an expert at brand building, and as coaches and trainers who want to make a real impact on your clients, you'll definitely want to tune in to this episode.   Jill is a fitness professional and business coach who effectively made the transition from training clients in person and having no time to build anything else to training clients online and actually being more successful. Today, Jill helps other coaches to do the same.   Connect with Adam! @strongcoffeecompany @vonrothfelder Strongcoffeecompany.com   Connect with me! Instagram: @jillfit | @fitbizu Facebook: @jillfit Website: jillfit.com

The exciting story of today's remarkable guest, entrepreneur Arturo Elizondo, started in the border city of Laredo, Texas. But his innate curiosity and desire to effect positive changes in the world led him to the hallowed halls of Harvard University, to study food security in Geneva, and even to an internship at the White House. But it was really his time spent with the United States Department of Agriculture that truly opened his eyes and changed him forever. And with so many incredible opportunities within his grasp, Arturo took a long hard look at our broken food system. He looked at the environmental devastation it inflicts, the toll it takes on human health, and the cruelty inherent in animal agriculture. That's when he decided to do something about it. Today he's the co-founder and CEO of The EVERY Company – a revolutionary food technology company based in San Francisco that's creating a healthy, planet-friendly protein that people know and love, without the animal! “We're focused on becoming the infrastructure to the food industry broadly, and to help support and enable every food company to transition their ingredients from animal-based products, in a way still like animal proteins, but without using the animals. So you can make the same cakes and cookies and omelets and frittatas and protein shakes and powders, but all without having to use an animal.” - Arturo Elizondo What we discuss in this episode: How a philosophy class at Harvard inspired Arturo's transition to veganism. How curiosity has been integral to his success. The transformational experiences he had while working at the USDA. How The EVERY Company is aiming to change our food system. The origins of meat as a staple in Latin American diets. How he survived in San Francisco while pursuing his dream.  The process and benefits of fermentation to create animal-free protein. The tools that helped him become a better leader. Resources: The EVERY Company: https://theeverycompany.com/ Instagram: EVERY™ (@theeverycompany) • Instagram photos and videos Facebook: The EVERY Company Twitter: EVERY™ (@theEVERYcompany) / Twitter   Dairy-Free Swaps Guide: Easy Anti-Inflammatory Meals, Recipes, and Tips https://switch4good.org/dairy-free-swaps-guide SUPPORT SWITCH4GOOD https://switch4good.org/support-us/ ★☆★ JOIN OUR PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP ★☆★  https://www.facebook.com/groups/podcastchat ★☆★ SWITCH4GOOD WEBSITE ★☆★ https://switch4good.org/ ★☆★ ONLINE STORE ★☆★ https://shop.switch4good.org/shop/ ★☆★ FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM ★☆★ https://www.instagram.com/Switch4Good/ ★☆★ LIKE US ON FACEBOOK ★☆★ https://www.facebook.com/Switch4Good/ ★☆★ FOLLOW US ON TWITTER ★☆★ https://mobile.twitter.com/Switch4GoodNFT ★☆★ DOWNLOAD THE ABILLION APP ★☆★ https://app.abillion.com/users/switch4good  

Liz Prestella is a tire specialist and mechanic in NASCAR as well as the founder of Torq'd Clothing, a clothing line that makes work wear designed for women by women in racing and similar trade industries. On today's episode of the Hazard Girls podcast, Host Emily Soloby sits down with Liz to learn all about how following her passions led her to where she is today.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former NASA designer Garrett Finney took time to share his vision for the Taxa Outdoors habitats that his company builds. From window placement to places to attach a hammock indoors or going miles off the beaten path the thinking behind these vehicles is a step above. Learn the kind of thinking that makes Taxa habitats so different - and possibly right for the way you camp. You can find this week's podcast at our home on the web or wherever you enjoy getting podcasts: https://www.stresslesscamping.com/podcast/0198 The StressLess Camping podcast is a weekly RV podcast with information, tips and tricks to help every RVer and camper enjoy some StressLess Camping.

In this podcast episode, we talk with Ryan Blair, a former gang member turned successful business owner. Ryan's story shows that with perseverance and hard work, anyone can overcome obstacles and achieve their goals. He shares valuable insights on the power of having a calling and the importance of focusing on your strengths and passions to create a meaningful life. Join us for this inspiring conversation to learn from Ryan's journey and gain valuable lessons for your own life. Discover Your Success Path TODAY!

Part 2:  From Engineering Manager to Outdoor Apparel for Plus Sizes Company Founder with Raquel Vélez In this episode, Rachel chats with her friend and client, Raquel Vélez, a Puerto Rican woman from New Jersey, who discovered a passion for skiing only to be hindered by the lack of plus-size outdoor apparel. Raquel took matters into her own hands, launching a successful Kickstarter for her flagship product: The Ponderosa Pants. Raquel Vélez is now the founder of Alpine Parrot, an outdoor apparel company making clothes for bigger bodies. She is a mechanical engineer and roboticist turned software engineer turned CEO, who loves hiking and created Alpine Parrot to make the outdoors more inclusive and accessible to the plus-sized community. In part 2 of this interview with Raquel, you'll hear: -Raquel's experience with Kickstarter, and does it actually work? -Why Shark Tank is a huge marketing opportunity -Raquel walks us through her wear-test program and grading process that are being sought after by other companies -Explanation of how the industry is handling body changes and sizing -What's coming up in 2023 for Alpine Parrot   We can't wait to hear what you think of this episode   From: https://www.thebusinessofapparel.com  Powered By: https://www.unmarkedstreet.com  To connect with Rachel, you can join her LinkedIn community here: LinkedIn. Or Connect with us on Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/unmarkedstreet/  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076027998346  https://twitter.com/UnmarkedStreet  https://www.pinterest.com/unmarkedstreet/    To connect with Raquel, you can go to her website: Alpine Parrot Or Connect with her on Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/alpineparrot/ https://twitter.com/alpineparrot 

Are you a working parent? If so, what does work-life balance mean to you? Well, Adrienne Paolini of Child and Company is redefining work-life balance for the modern family.  Adrienne is the owner of Child and Company, a family-friendly co-working space offering private offices alongside child care. As a working professional, she saw the opportunity to create a flexible space where parents could drop-in with their young children to gain more productivity and peace of mind. Adrienne's background is in healthcare technology and challenging the status quo in traditional industries is something she's passionate about. She created Child and Company to give parents working remotely a different option than daycare and nannies. She also sees Child & Co. as a destination for all parents who need another creative outlet for their family. Adrienne is originally from Alabama but has called Boca Raton home for her family over the last 9 years. In this episode, we discuss: Her journey into creating Child and Company. The values of Community, Independence, Hospitality, Wellness, and Creativity that guide Child & Co. and the services that are offered.  Valuing & supporting her employees, her leadership style, and the importance of continuing to development in business and leadership.  Challenges she has faced as a business owner and tips for women that want to start a new business.  Being intentional with our actions in motherhood, and our businesses.  What's next for Child & Co.  Resources mentioned in this episode: Think Again by Adam Grant Learn more about and Connect with Adrienne at Facebook, Instagram and download the Child and Company App on Android and Apple. Connect with me:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.motherhood.village1/ YouTube: The Motherhood Village - YouTube LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolegcumberbatch/  Website: https://www.themotherhoodvillage.com/ Loved this episode? Leave a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-motherhood-village-podcast/id1487274178

In this episode of Bourbon With Friends. The guys are joined by Company Founder and Master Blender Jason Brauner. We try 4 delicious versions of Buzzard's Roost and one of them ends up being one of the top 10 rye's we've ever had!Since opening Bourbon's Bistro in 2005, Jason has had an active single barrel program allowing him to work side-by-side with many of Kentucky's leading master distillers. Through those relationships, he not only has gained a tremendous amount of knowledge but also garnered the respect of those distillers.  Jim Rutledge says: “If I could pick an understudy for J.W. Rutledge Distillery when it gets going it would be Jason. That is how much I respect his passion and his palate”. The knowledge gained through these distillers combined with his overall passion for the industry grew into a desire for Jason to go from just selling whiskey to making whiskey.Kentucky Eagle INC. - Kentucky Eagle is growing and in need of talented people with a passion for wine and spirits. We are looking for sales positions and operational roles. We are a family owned and operated company that offers above industry average compensation, up to 7.5% 401K match, health-life-dental-vision-life insurance, car allowance, and cell allowance. Positions are available in markets around Kentucky. Please visit kyeagle.netcareers to apply.Check out their website - www.kyeagle.netBlind Barrels - Blind Whiskey Tasting Kit that was born to disrupt the whiskey industry by showcasing American craft whiskey that don't make their way to liquor store shelves due to distribution limitations. Blind tastings are all about discovery, education, and removing brand bias, and Blind Barrels hits home with whiskey communities by supporting the very best in smaller distillers who are making the most amazing, innovative, and delicious products that you can't get at your liquor store.Instagram - blindbarrelsFollow us on Instagram @bwfpodcast

Christina Flach is CEO and founder of Pretty Girl Makeup. She is a renowned celebrity makeup artist with experience working with celebrity clientele, magazines, and big name brands. She has been featured in Vogue, People, Time, and Elle, as well as campaigns for Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Macy's, and Bloomingdales. Christina also writes articles detailing the must know tips, tricks, and hacks of the makeup, wellness, and nutrition industries. Christina has participated in numerous podcasts, TV, radio, and magazine interviews to raise awareness for the causes she holds close to her heart, and is the Beauty Expert on NBC in California. Christina is a single mother of four, as well as a philanthropist. She raises funds and awareness for anti-sepsis causes, having lost her husband to sepsis. She also started the Beau Friedman Outdoor Classroom at the Edna McGuire School in Mill Valley, California, raising money for the Baby Beau and Ken Flach Educational Funds at the Northern Light School in Oakland, California. She lost one of her sons sixteen years ago. Education and nutrition are top interests for Christina. Christina uses her platform to promote the importance of feeling beautiful from the inside out. She inspires women to be the best version of themselves and how to overcome life's greatest obstacles. She believes happiness and attitude are a choice, and wishes herself a good morning each day and setting her intentions. To learn more: www.prettygirlmakeup.com www.christinaflach.com Follow her on Instagram at @prettygirlmakeup and @christinaflachmakeup --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/maria-leonard-olsen/support

Meet the woman re-imagining what Langston Hughes' home would have smelled like. Teri Johnson, Founder of Harlem Candle Company pays homage to iconic figures and spaces of the Harlem Renaissance through her luxury candles and fragrances. To do this, she and the perfumers she works with become investigators, conducting hours of research to get every note just right. And lucky for us, Harlem Candle Company has recently expanded to Harlem Perfume Company! We chat about everything from Teri's new perfume launch; her fragrance muse: her glamorous Aunt Barbara; and a recent collaboration with… The White House?! PLUS ENJOY A LTD. TIME EXCLUSIVE PERFUME ROOM DISCOUNT! FRAGS MENTIONED: 1509 Oil Matthias, Nemat Amber, Harlem Candle Company: Lenox, Speakeasy, St. Nicholas [The White House Gingerbread], Lolita Lempicka, Diptyque candles, Harlem Candle Company Josephine, Jean Patou Joy, Harlem Candle Company Langston, HCC X THE MET: Seneca, Harlem Perfume Company: Billie, Langston; Harlem Candle Company: Speakeasy and Langston reed diffusers; Harlem Perfume Company Josephine 15% OFF harlemcandlecompany.com CODE PERFUMEROOM15 (through Dec 8) SHOP PRODUCTS MENTIONED: https://shopmy.us/collections/86378 NOV SMELL CLUB: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nov-smell-club-savory-gourmands-tickets-461855731927 FOLLOW TERI/HARLEM CANDLE CO: @terijohnsonnyc @harlemcandlecompany FOLLOW PERFUME ROOM: @perfumeroompod (IG) @emma_vern (TT)

Periods are for women only! That is the message the tampon company Garnuu is sharing with anyone who will listen. Garnuu founder Macy Maxson promises her company will never refer to women as a “menstruate or bleeder, chest feeder... [or] a pregnant person. … We're keeping women and we're keeping periods to be a girls only club.” Maxson joins the “Problematic Women” podcast to explain why she is speaking out against a movement that she says is trying to erase women. She also shares how her company is fighting for women overseas who are at risk of becoming human trafficking victims. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.