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Exploring the Culinary World with Chef Collin Hilton In this episode of the Okays Cook podcast, host Chris Whonsetler engages in an enlightening conversation with renowned chef Collin Hilton at CRG Grow. Collin shares his culinary journey, discusses his experience winning the World Food Championship, and provides insights into making his pasta in broth gourmet dishes. The episode dives deep into his innovative cooking techniques and the philosophy behind using real ingredients. Additionally, Collin offers practical tips for making homemade pasta, tackles common challenges, and reveals some of his favorite creative twists on traditional recipes. The discussion also covers Colin's upcoming ventures and contributions to the culinary scene, making it a must-listen for food enthusiasts and aspiring chefs alike. 00:00 Road Trip Begins 00:29 Welcome to the Okayest Cook Podcast 00:35 Discussing the CRG Grow Garden 00:56 Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Rendezvous 01:12 The Double Meaning of the new Okayest Cook Stickers 01:54 Eat Real Food Philosophy 02:39 Cooking and Events at CRG Grow 03:42 Challenges of Home Gardening 04:12 Cilantro and Coriander: A Flavorful Discussion 05:35 World Food Champion and Traeger Game Day Ring 06:59 Notable Meals and Tofu Talk 09:28 Exploring Sichuan Pepper and Habanero 14:04 Chef Colin Hilton's Culinary Journey 21:38 World Food Championship Dish Breakdown 33:19 MOKAO Event and Dish Insights 34:17 The Coffee Element in Pasta 34:49 Incorporating Chocolate in Savory Dishes 35:15 Unique Flavor Combinations 36:17 Presentation and Practicality 37:51 Challenges of Cooking with Coffee and Chocolate 39:29 Building a Balanced Dinner 50:59 Exploring Pasta Shapes and Techniques 52:48 Tips for Making Perfect Pasta 53:46 The Importance of Resting Dough 59:01 Cunningham Restaurant Group and Future Plans Collins Pasta Recipe: Green Seaweed Dough 6 g Aonori (nori powder) 42 g Basil 170 g Whole Egg 50 g Egg yolk 6 g Salt 10 g EVOO 360 g OO flour Water As needed Earthy Orange Dough 300 g 00 flour 60 g Buckwheat 10 g EVOO 5 g Salt 150 g Whole Egg 50 g Egg Yolk 40 g Tomato Paste Regular Pasta Dough 360 g 00 flour (3 cup) 10 g EVOO 5 g Salt 150 g Whole Egg (about 3) 60 g Egg Yolk (about 3) Water as needed Scale flour into bowl. Form a crater in the middle and scale salt, EVOO, Whole eggs and Egg yolks into the center (if adding other liquid, now is the time to mix in. If it's an herb, chop it or blend it up first, then mix it in as liquid). Mix with spatula until loose clumps are formed. Transfer to a clean work surface, scraping all remaining dough off the spatula and out of the bowl. Chop and mix with bowl scraper. Begin kneading until smooth ball consistency, adding a few drops of water as needed. About 8 minutes. Wrap in plastic and rest 30 minutes before rolling into desired shape. Find Collin & CRG: Collin Hilton: https://www.instagram.com/collinhiltoncooks/ Cunningham Restaurant Group: https://www.crgdining.com/restaurants/ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/crgrestaurants/ CRG Grow: https://www.instagram.com/crggrow/ Mentioned in Episode: Row 7 seeds - https://www.row7seeds.com/ habanada - https://www.row7seeds.com/products/habanada-pepper-seeds?_pos=1&_psq=haba&_ss=e&_v=1.0 Dr. Hoby - https://www.instagram.com/hobywedler/ Nate Spangle - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ejTpcErpgjo4Evu8zUi7O?si=ec5b6d7b925f4571 World Food Championship - https://worldfoodchampionships.com/ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/worldfoodchampionships/ Food Science Books to look for: On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee: http://bit.ly/4mN0VlU The Food Lab by Kenji López-Alt: https://amzn.to/4dNw5pg More at OkayestCook.com Connect with us on Instagram @Okayest_Cook And facebook.com/AnOkayestCook Video feed on YouTube.com/@OkayestCook Crew: Chris Whonsetler Email: Chris@OkayestCook.com Web: ChrisWhonsetler.com Instagram: @FromFieldToTable & @WhonPhoto
Payton Smith is on the campus of Troy University this weekend for the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership conference. Payton was selected by the faculty and staff of Clarke Prep to be our 2025 HOBY representative. Founded in 1958, HOBY's mission is to inspire and develop our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service and innovation. HOBY programs provide students selected by their schools an opportunity to recognize their leadership talents and apply them to become effective ethical leaders in their home, school, workplace, and community. Hopefully it will be an amazing weekend making memories...Article Link
Experiencing the world isn't just about sight, it's about tasting, touching, hearing, and smelling, too. Using all our senses helps us connect more deeply to the world around us.Dr. Hoby Wedler is a chemist, entrepreneur, and advocate for inclusivity. He holds a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from UC Davis and founded the Wedland Group to explore how our senses shape emotions and connections.He creates unique food and drink experiences that help people appreciate the little things in life. He also works to break stereotypes about disability, inspiring others to reach their full potential.Dr. Wedler is also the founder and CEO of Hobie and Company (Hobie and Co online), part of Wedland Group. His company offers amazing blindfolded tasting experiences that help people explore their nonvisual senses.He shares his passion for sensory experiences on TikTok, where he has around 200,000 followers.Lastly, he runs Emotitec (emotitec.com), a company based in Italy.Key Moments09:14 Embracing Unseen Experiences 16:17 Empowerment Through Disability 19:19 Redefining Independence 28:24 Diversity Fuels Success 34:43 Supporting Blind Children 39:47 Parents Presuming Competence52:36 Sensory Experiences FounderConnect with Dr. Hoby WedlerLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hobywedler CEO at Wedland Group: https://wendland.efsadvisors.com/ President at EMOTITECH: https://emotitech.com/
The rise of NOLO wines (non-alcoholic or low-alcohol alternatives), is attracting attention in the beverage industry. Listen in as Michael and I and our good friends and fellow wine industry professionals, Hoby and Justin, taste through sparkling, white, rosé and red non-alcoholic wines and share our unfiltered responses with each other! Learn about the different methods used to create non-alcoholic wines, preserving flavor during alcohol removalHow are de-alcoholized wines different from the sparkling grape juice we were all served as kids during the holidays?Can Nolo wines fully replace traditional wines, or are they just enjoyable alternatives?We tasted: Zilch sparkling roséFre Rose and Sauvignon BlancGiesen New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Red BlendHand On Heart Cabernet SauvignonAriel Cabernet SauvignonOther resources and links: Podcast website: www.sipwithnikki.com: Sign up there to be part of our SIP Community and receive my free Wine Tips download Did you know I make my own wine here in Sonoma County? My 2021 Sollevato Sangiovese is available to be shipped to most US States. Use the code PODLISTENER for 10% off. It's a delicious, medium bodied, aromatic red wine that is perfect with pizza, pasta and your charcuterie spread!You NEED some delicious California Olive Oil from our awesome sponsor American Olive Farmer. Use code SipWithNikki for $10 off your order!If you'd like to Support the Podcast, you can buy me a glass of wine and get a shoutout on a future episode.Please leave a RATING or a REVIEW (on your podcast listening platform), or thumbs up and subscribe (on YouTube!)Questions? Comments? Guest requests? nikki@sipwithnikki.com
In a Sip with Nikki first, I have 2 ENCORE guests with me: Karen MacNeil (Season 1 Ep 24) and Dr Hoby Wedler (Season 1 Ep 13). The three of us came together to talk about an exciting new initiative that Karen started and that Hoby and I are big supporters of. We gathered in Karen's office St. Helena and shared a very special bottle of wine from an epic year. This lively and heartfelt conversation touched on so many topics like:What is “Come Over October” and why you need to be a part of it!Karen's CAREER HIGHLIGHT moment and why wine is bipartisanHow understanding texture can help you buy wineThe Naked Cowboy in Time Square and his connection to all of this (Check out the Video on Karen's Instagram)Visit the Come Over October Website to learn how you can get involved and find entertaining tips and ideas! And don't forget to use #comeoveroctober to tag your pictures, and videos! Check out and Follow Hoby's Instagram to see his inspiring videos!Shout out to Ray Ray's Tacos, a new spot on Main Street in St. Helena. We had an awesome lunch there after our recording session. Try the QUESO!If you need a unique and delicious wine to share with your Come Over October friends, try my Sollevato Wines...yes I'm biased, I make it! Use code PODLISTENER for 10% off your order. I can ship to most states in the US!Olives and Olive oil from our awesome sponsor American Olive Farmer. Use code SipWithNikki for $10 off your order!If you'd like to Support the Podcast, you can buy me a glass of wine and get a shoutout on a future episode.Please leave a RATING or a REVIEW (on your podcast listening platform), or thumbs up and subscribe (on YouTube!)Questions? Comments? Guest requests? nikki@sipwithnikki.com
TEMPORADA 5 I EPISODIO 4 ROQUE DI PIETRO I HOBY DE FINO PARTE 2 Segunda y última parte de la charla con el director de Colección Vademecum y el multifacético periodista Hoby de Fino que se subieron al Rascacielos para un viaje musical que despegó con historias acerca de su admiración por Charly y continúa en este capítulo final regado de más anécdotas y data de dos tipos amantes del rock argentino y conocedores como pocos de ese mundo tan fascinante. ¡Esperamos la disfruten tanto como nosotros! También pueden ver este contenido en YouTube. Gracias a "Mundo Tazas" por las hermosas tazas y a Pablo "Mambo" Rivas por el cuadro de Federico Moura que nos acompaña siempre! Grabado en "Tunel 57" con las manos mágicas de Carlos Princz. #rascacielos5tatemporada #roquedipietro #hobydefino #coleccionvademecum #charlygarcia #rascacielos5tatemporada
Episode 114 | Dr. Hoby Wedler (Ph.D. Chemist, Sensory Expert and Entrepreneur) joins the podcast! In this episode, Hoby discusses his successes in academia and business, his experiences with forming friendships, business partnerships, and finding love as a blind man, and how he uniquely uses his senses to "see" the world. SEE-THROUGH is hosted by Lance Johnson. Based in New York City, Lance is a video editor living with a rare and incurable eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa (or RP for short). In most cases, RP causes legal-blindness by the age of 40. Now 34, Lance uses SEE-THROUGH as a platform to explore his inevitable future of blindness through his transparent conversations with his guests. ------------------------- SUPPORT SEE-THROUGH: Merch: https://seethroughpod.com/merch ------------------------- HOBY WEDLER LINKS: Website: https://www.hobywedler.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hobywedler TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJDHovTiWBk ------------------------- FOLLOW SEE-THROUGH: YouTube: https://bit.ly/3JRSPEO Instagram: https://instagram.com/seethroughpod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@seethroughpod Twitter: https://twitter.com/seethroughpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seethroughpod Website: https://www.seethroughpod.com/
TEMPORADA 5 I EPISODIO 4 ROQUE DI PIETRO I HOBY DE FINO El director de Colección Vademecum y el multifacético periodista se suben al Rascacielos para un viaje musical repleto de anécdotas y personajes. Un recorrido por el rock argentino con epicentro en el amor que le profesan a Charly, los comienzos de la editorial, el secreto para encontrarle el pulso rockero a las cosas y muchos datos como para sentarse y degustar de la primera parte de una charla que empezó con sol y terminó de noche.... También pueden escuchar este contenido en Spotify. Gracias a "Mundo Tazas" por las hermosas tazas y a Pablo "Mambo" Rivas por el cuadro de Federico Moura que nos acompaña siempre! Grabado en "Tunel 57" con las manos mágicas de Carlos Princz. #rascacielos5tatemporada #roquedipietro #hobydefino #coleccionvademecum #charlygarcia #rascacielos5tatemporada
Gavin, Fia, and Mike have had a busy few weeks! Early June is always a busy time for us, because we all volunteer for the same youth leadership organization called HOBY. We've all been volunteering for this organization for over 10 years and in this episode we talk about why we do it, and why you should volunteer in your local communities as well. HOBY's website: www.hoby.org Palaeocast Gaming Network video Gavin made about the new Pokemon Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIgFW91jPXc Follow us on Twitter Topic form Guest Form Leave us an audio message Youtube Channel --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dead-podcast/message
Hoby Wedler shares his experience building businesses as a successful entrepreneur in the Food & Beverage industry after earning his PhD in Chemistry. He was born blind with microphthalmia, and developed his palate and love for cooking through growing up in a family who supported him through high expectations. His curiosity and thirst for knowledge will hopefully pair well with your day and leave you feeling inspired.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stories-of-vision-loss--5626029/support.
Now in his fourth season with the Crew, Hoby Milner has learned a lot about himself and playing MLB over his career. In this exclusive interview from Spring Training, Hoby talks about the loss of Devin Williams,Pat Murphy as manager, the Brewers bullpen as a whole, customizing his glove, The Firemen series, and more! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This episode features Hoby Wedler interviewing Charlotte about the podcast and how it came to be.Send questions to storiesofvisionloss@gmail.comThank you for listeningHoby's podcast: https://heardandempowered.orgBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/stories-of-vision-loss--5626029/support.
S5, E3: Brewers' broadcaster and former pitcher Tim Dillard joined us to discuss his old post - the bullpen. 13:00 - Previewing the Brewers' bullpen 13:00 - Williams 18:30 - Uribe 23:00 - Payamps 26:00 - Peguero 28:00 - Hoby 38:30 - Hall and Gasser 43:30 - Breakout pick (big surprise) 51:00 - What pitchers do in the bullpen --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thebarrelbanter/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thebarrelbanter/support
I first met Dr Hoby Wedler when he led my wine education team and I through his signature “Tasting in the Dark” experience. We were blindfolded and tasting the wines (thought) we knew very well, in a whole new light (or lack thereof). Dr. Hoby Wedler is a Chemist, Sensory Expert, Motivational Speaker and Entrepreneur who happens to be blind since birth.After your virtual time with Hoby, you'll have a new perspective on how to take in the world around you, especially when it comes to things like Seeing Flavor and Tasting Color!You'll hear about: 10:58- The call from Francis Ford Coppola that inspired him to create Tasting in the Dark13:57- His first chemistry teacher who questioned how chemistry would “work for him”, until he told her “No one can see atoms”…. (Mic drop)22:55- His thought on the questions around the health benefits of wine35:26-How he identifies color44:52- His reaction when I snuck my newly released 2021 Sangiovese into our “blind tasting”You can find and follow Hoby here!www.hobywedler.comAll social media platforms: @hobywedlerEmail him your burning questions: hoby@hobywedler.comGet our Sip Spotlight Wines Here!Wine #1- Hoby's Choice: Chianti ClassicoWine #4 -The trick I played on him with my own wine: 2021 Sollevato SangioveseIf you'd like to Support the Podcast, you can buy me or Hoby a glass of wine or our producer Kathryn a bourbon) we would be so grateful!Please consider Rating, Reviewing and Following Us on Apple Podcasts!“Delightful and fun. Now I love my Monday Commute” (kpjscarbs). Sound like you? I'd love for you to leave your own review!How? Click Here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with Stars and select "write a review" and let us know what you loved most about this episode! If you haven't already, please FOLLOW the podcast! We have so many more exciting episodes coming out, and if you're not following you might MISS then! Click here to Follow! Get my Free Wine Tips Cheat Sheet here: https://www.sipwithnikki.com/resourceQuestions, suggestions and guest requests? nikki@sipwithnikki.com
Skąd te kalosze? Cofnijmy się do końcówki XVIII wieku. W Anglii panowie nosili wówczas wysokie buty z wywiniętą cholewką najczęściej tzw. buty heskie. Przywieźli je do Anglii walczący pod brytyjską flagą żołnierze z Hesji. Były wysokie do kolan, wykonane ze skóry cielęcej miały wcięcie w kształcie litery V i ozdobne frędzle z przodu cholewy. Takie właśnie buty z Hesji nosił Arthur Wellesley, Książe Wellington, pogromca Napoleona pod Waterloo. Wellesley na buty zwracał ogromna uwagę. Kiedy w stroju żołnierzy bryczesy zostały wyparte przez cieńsze luźniejsze spodnie, Wellesley postanowił zmodyfikować ulubione obuwie. Wellesley zlecił swojemu szewcowi zmianę fasonu, m. in. poszerzenie cholewki i usunięcie frędzli. Nowy but stworzony przez Hoby'ego był bardziej funkcjonalny, wygodniejszy i trwalszy, a jednocześnie elegancki. Wellington nie tylko na polu walki zakładał nowe buty. Często zapraszany na ekskluzywne przyjęcia, tam również się w nich pojawiał. A że uchodził za ikonę mody, wkrótce znalazł licznych naśladowców, najpierw wśród oficerów, później wśród arystokracji. No i buty zyskały wielką popularność i nową nazwę - The Wellington boots. Wellington boots tryumfy modowe święciły do lat 40 XIX wieku, w latach 50 cholewy stawały się coraz krótsze, w 60 sięgały już tylko kostki. Prawdziwe Wellingtony używano już tylko do jazdy konnej. W 1852 roku, angielski przedsiębiorca Hiram Hutchinson poznał Charlesa Goodyeara. Hutchinson odkupił od Amerykanina patent na produkcję obuwia, założył we Francji firmę i zaczął masowo produkować pierwsze gumowce pod marką À l'Aigle czyli orzeł. Gumowe, nieprzemakalne buty w przystępnej cenie odniosły z miejsca niezwykły sukces. A 3 lata później w Szkocji osiadło dwóch przyjaciół ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, aby produkować gumowe Wellingtony. Założyli spółkę Norris & Company, kupili młyn w Edynburgu i rozpoczęli masową produkcję. Dziś ich firmę znamy wszyscy. To Hunter Boot Ltd. Firma swój prawdziwy rozkwit firma zawdzięcza zamówieniom wojennym. Podczas obu światowych wojen korona zamówiła dosłownie miliony par gumowych butów dla żołnierzy w europejskich okopach. W połowie lat 40 buty zaczęły szybko zyskiwać popularność wśród cywilów, szczególnie tych z terenów wiejskich. W 1956 roku Hunter Boots Ltd. wprowadziła na rynek słynne „The Original Green Welington”, dziś nieodzownie kojarzące się z krajobrazem brytyjskiej wsi. I czy o takim fenomenie mogło zabraknąć piosenki. No nie mogło. Szczególnie w Szkocji, gdzie oryginalne wellies powstają. Billy Connolly szkocki śpiewak i kpiarz twierdzi, że Szkota w Kilcie spotkać dziś można już tylko w Edynburgu, w wellingtonkach zaś chodzą wszyscy w highland. To jest nieodzowny element ich narodowego stroju. Napisał na ten temat stosowna piosnkę. Pomysł i melodię zaczerpnął z XIX wiecznej szkockiej piosenki Davida Shawa „The Wark of The Weavers”. Autor doceniając ciężką pracę tkaczy, w pieśni wymienia obszerną liczbę powodów, dla których powinniśmy być wdzięczni tkaczom za ich pracę. A piosenka Billa nosi tytuł „If It Wisnae Fur Yer Wellies”, czyli przekładając na nasze „Gdyby nie Twoje kalosze?”. Wymienia wiele zalet noszenia wellingtonów, od ochrony przed deszczem do ochrony przed powiedzmy niemiłym stóp aromatem. W ostatniej zwrotce krytykuje partie rządzącą i opozycję. Piosenka powstała w 1972 i szybko stała się niezwykle popularna w całej Szkocji. Audycja zawiera utwory: „The Wark of The Weavers”, wyk. North Sea Gas, słowa i muzyka: David Shaw „If It Wisnae Fur Yer Wellies”, wyk. Billy Conolly, słowa: Billy onolly, muzyka: David Shaw
This was originally recorded in 2019 and appeared as Episode 67, when this was sill The Dissect Podcast. Currently we are deep in print, digital, and construction projects that prevent us recording with the frequency we once insisted upon. However, as we went through the archives we discovered some real gems of conversations that merit revisiting.Hoby Darling made us feel like under-achievers once we learned his background. His law degree is from Northwestern, his graduate degrees in business from UC Berkeley and Columbia, and he worked for Volcom and Nike before becoming CEO of Skullcandy, then executive director of Jaybird/Logitech. He has raced Ironman events, competed in CrossFit, and coached a number of top performing athletes. This impressive resumé pales beside his mission, as a founding member of the Liminal Collective, "to advance the limitless potential of humans, preparing and supporting those who take pioneering steps in extreme, unexplored, and unknown spaces." During the podcast we spoke about the Logitech Cognitive Performer Summit, where in 2019, Mark joined a panel to discuss the influence of the natural environment on creative output. The initial impetus of that first summit came from asking, "What does the science of performance look like? And how do you fill a room with people who think alternatively about these theories to discuss and advance ideas derived from but not yet proven by science?" Many scientific positions are old; the experiments were done years ago, and it takes time to peer-review, publish, and then apply the conclusions in the real world to demonstrate actual utility. Besides, "the science" often shuts down (public or common) inquiry by declaring definitive conclusions … which places a box around an idea thus defines the boundaries of future exploration. Traditionally, when it comes to scientific or casual inquiry, attention has focused on physical performance (in sport) because it is visible, but at the highest levels the bodies and capabilities are similar so why are some athletes or performers great? This drives some to examine the influence of cognitive ability on physical performance and oddly enough, as test and analytical capabilities have improved, we've seen that the top performers in E-Sports are making the fastest decisions on the planet under highest cognitive load. This psychological performance used to be invisible — it's only in the last years that we could begin to observe it, and analyze it. If we agree that, "desire is the highest octane fuel that there is," the next question must be, "How do we quantify or measure or reproduce the desire that affects high performance in any arena?"This path of inquiry requires new eyes, new ideas, a conceptual openness disassociated from from the steps and positions previously taken or used. Michael and Hoby used a simple analogy in the conversation regarding the shift away from plastic bottles to contain and transport water towards aluminum cans, which are far more reusable and recyclable ... that's all well and good but also self-limiting. What's the moonshot here? Instead of going from 1 to 1.1 we should be going from the plastic bottle to not needing a container or vessel at all … let's return to 0 and discover a new and different solution. We must be more creative when seeking modern solutions to age-old understanding and the problems those conclusions caused; when you no longer have a hammer you must find a different way to drive the nail … or … you have to become the nail. Our physical experiences have led us to examine the influence of psychological ‘fitness' on performance, learning, and exploration but it's clear that understanding the utility of fitness in the context of such inquiry is lacking. We use the process of developing fitness to teach people how to change behavior … if they learn to control a single aspect of their condition it opens them to the idea that there are other parts of life and behavior one might consciously influence or change. "I don't know how to be the person that I want to be so I sought a guide … I looked for a situation within which there was no judgement about my current condition yet much opportunity to change that condition existed.”Deeper into the conversation we addressed how poorly we as human beings are able to select the right person for a particular task or position; when it comes to choosing quarterbacks, CEOs at start-ups, or the right individual to augment an existing team, "you're better off flipping a coin." Concepts like emotional self-regulation, compassion for others, self-efficacy, the willingness and desire to be curious, resilience and grit do not present during interviews or result from psychometric test … so how do we make better selections? If we can eventually understand that then the outcomes will be more predictable, and better for our species as well as the spinning orb we inhabit. Dig in, this is a good one. https://www.liminalcollective.co/who-we-are
Welcome to Episode 1497, the Blind Guy's Guide to Blind Tasting with Hoby Wedler, moderated by Dominga Cotarella This is the wine2wine Business Forum 2022 Series. The sessions are recorded and uploaded on Italian Wine Podcast. wine2wine Business Forum is an international wine business forum, held annually in Verona Italy since 2014. The event is a key reference point for wine producers and a diverse variety of wine professionals eager to develop and grow their wine business worldwide. About today' session: We use all five senses to take in 100% of the information we experience in life. Eyesight comprises 85-90% of this information. Why? We will discuss and attempt to answer this question during this session. Sensory literacy is the ability to be able to take in data from all five senses, parse that data, and make logical conclusions. We will explore sensory literacy. Wine is a beverage that we all think we know and love. But when have we had the opportunity to taste wine without eyesight? In this educational and entertaining presentation, Dr. Hoby Wedler, Wine Educator and Ph.D. chemist, will walk participants through how wine is a near perfect example of the intersection of art and science. When we think about art and science, we tend to separate them into separate buckets in our minds. However, they are extraordinarily similar and have an exceptionally fine intersection between them. Wine straddles this introduction brilliantly and this presentation will explore this concept along with many more by considering both scientific and artistic aspects of grape growing, wine making, and wine tasting. Guests will be blindfolded and asked to prime their aromatic vocabularies with a series of aroma samples prepared by Hoby and his team. These aroma samples define olfactory vocabulary words, much like a dictionary provides definitions to words in written and spoken language. The experience will conclude with a tasting of four wines where we will smell, taste, and analyze the four wines in detail as a group. More about today's speaker: Dr. Hoby Wedler is an insightful, disarming, and passionate thinker who loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, Hoby helps turn dreams into realities. Hoby has been completely blind since birth. He is a chemist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life over known territories. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. In 2011, Hoby founded a non-profit organization to lead annual chemistry camps for blind and visually impaired students throughout North America. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola. He has since expanded the program to a global market in a variety of industries and special projects. Hoby uses his highly-trained palate and acute sensory insight of his surroundings in his work as a sensory expert and product development consultant. Over the years, Hoby has become a motivational speaker, a mentor, and an educator committed to making the world more inclusive and accessible for all. Forbes Media named Hoby as a leader in food and drink in their 30 under 30 annual publication. In 2021, Hoby was named a 40 under 40 Tastemaker by The Wine Enthusiast. Hoby is dedicated to impacting everyone he works with by unlocking doors, overcoming challenges, increasing awareness, and expanding their horizons. Connect: Instagram: @hobywedler Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hobywedlerphd Twitter: @hobywedler LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hobywedler/ Website: http://www.hobywedler.com/
The Four Star Leadership Podcast: Core Principles of Leadership with General Tommy Franks
Four Star alumna and UCU scholarship winner Katie Hewlett talks about how her program experience elevated her leadership skills and led to the creation of an impactful service club, Monsters for Munchkins. Get inspired by this young leader! About Our Guest: Katie Hewlett is a native of Honeyville, Utah. She is a Four Star 2022 alumna and the 2023 Understanding Community Understanding scholarship winner for her Monsters for Munchkins initiative, a service club that has made and donated more than 1,000 felt monsters to hospitals.She has served as both HOBY and RYLA ambassadors and served as a state 4-H ambassador and a state 4-H FCS ambassador. She also attended Georgia's National Congress, the National Youth Summit Series in Washington, D.C., 4-H Nationals in Denver and FBLA Nationals in Chicago. In addition, Katie started her own business called Creative Book Folding. This business works to save books from landfills by creating beautiful works of art out of recycled books.She plans to attend Utah State University in the fall to study business management human resources and minor in communications.
Jon Jansen and Luke Arcaini discuss what was happening during Bryce Harper's at-bat against #Brewers pitcher Hoby Milner on Wednesday night, and talk other #MLB action.
Trained in chemistry and born blind, Hoby Wedler, an entrepreneur and sensory expert, has trained his palate to pick up aromas and nuances in wine more acutely than most. Hoby describes how he does "Tasting in the Dark," which helps wineries connect with buyers and his thoughts on accessibility in the wine industry. Detailed Show Notes: Hoby's backgroundBorn blind, studied history and chemistry (Ph.D.)Francis Ford Coppola asked him to design a blindfolded wine experience, which became "Tasting in the Dark"Went into food & beverage, consulting on product development, comparative set tastings, and aligning wines with wine critics' palatesTasting in the Dark structureTry to make people feel comfortable under blindfoldUse eye masks to change attention away from sightPrime the aromatic vocabulary w/ samples of aromas found in winesCreate memories through a truly blind tastingMost impactful for trade teams, distributors, buyers, and for higher-end wines w/ 3-tier distributionE.g., Coppola did tasting for Safeway Group (grocery w/ wine stewards) and saw a significant increase in sales at Safeways for 5+ years afterwardReasons people buy wineLike the labelRead about the wineLike the story, particularly for premium wines ($20+)Most consumers don't know what they're looking forBlind tasting helps imprint a story with the wine in people2018 - Thomas Keller used Tasting in the Dark to train front-of-house staff to enable them to describe food and drinks betterAligning w/critics' palatesMostly aligned on aromatics and mouthfeel, abv levelsWineries can adjust when to send certain wines to criticsSometimes helps wineries w/ blendingWine & accessibilityChapoutier is classic example w/ braille labelsAccessible websites importantQR Codes put in the same place can help bring people to accessible websitesThis can lead to unexpected benefits; e.g., wheelchair ramps were found to be useful to many more than those in wheelchairs Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Babs Drougge och Matilda Rånge på P3 Nyheter förklarar morgonens stora nyheter, alltid tillsammans med programledarna för Morgonpasset i P3: Linnéa Wikblad och David Druid. Ryssland anklagar Ukraina för att ha försökt mörda Vladimir Putin med hjälp en drönare som ska ha skjutits ned vid Putins residens. Därför ska Ukrainas president Zelensky elimineras, menar ryska politiker. Men Ukraina tillbakavisar all inblandning, och menar att attacken iscensatts av Ryssland själva.Sen pratar vi om en kyrkogård i Bräkne-Hoby som börjat odla kryddor, rabarber och potatis alldeles intill gravarna. Äckligt och respektlöst tycker vissa, medan andra tycker att det bara är fint.
December 30, 2022 edition of “In Perspective” The post In Perspective, 290, With Dr. Hoby Wedler, Blind Chemist and Entrepreneur appeared first on Branco Events.
As Dr, Hoby Wedler puts it, wine is just two ingredients, yeast and grapes. Yet when people talk about how wine tastes it's more complex and described through the lens of fruit flavors or perfumes or other plants and trees. As a food and beverage sensory expert Dr. Wedler's clients rely his abilities to translate those complexities into products that you and I enjoy. There is a twist though. Dr. Wedler is blind. Hoby earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of California, Davis, and is the founder and director of the nonprofit organization, Accessible Science. In our conversation Hoby was a fountain of so many ideas that, we ran out of time during the original recording and resumed the next day. I guarantee a few of these you can put into action as you look towards a goal for today or a year from now. One thought I had, that probably you do to… Is it true that when people who lose one sense can gain super abilities in another? Or maybe “super-abilities” are through plain hard work? Stick around.
Episode title and number: Looking Beyond Eyesight Featuring Dr. Hoby Wedler & Jackie Summers | Season 2 - #10Brief summary of the show:Welcome to Season 2 Episode 10 of Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R. This month's episode centers on a beautiful partnership of two individuals who come together to create a unified front to combat systemic barriers. Topics revolve around barrier-breaking, sensory literacy, privilege, diversity, blindness, aromatic symphony, and more.Dr. Hoby Wedler's Bio:Dr. Hoby Wedler is an insightful, disarming, and passionate thinker who loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, Hoby helps turn dreams into realities. Hoby has been completely blind since birth. He is a chemist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life over known territories. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. His fearlessness is infectious, and he has actively paved the way for others to join him in his quest to follow passions regardless of the challenges that lie ahead.Jackie Summers' Bio:An acclaimed author, public speaker, and entrepreneur, Jackie Summers is the founder of JackFromBrooklyn Inc. and the creator of the award-winning Sorel Liqueur. After being diagnosed with a spinal tumor and given a small chance to live, Jackie Summers not only beat those odds, but left his decades-long corporate career to create Sorel as a way to honor his Barbadian heritage. Following 623 failed attempts, Summers perfected the first and only shelf-stable sorrel liqueur. Most recently, Summers was nominated for the James Beard Media Award for Personal Essay, Long Form, and was honored among Wine Enthusiast's Future 40 and Food & Wine magazine's Drinks Innovators of the Year. Summers' mission is to tell stories of marginalized peoples in their own voices.Bullet points of key topics & timestamps:0:00 | Welcome2:16 | How Hoby & Jackie Met6:36| Hoby's Blindness Journey16:40 | Jackie Speaks On Hoby's Contributions21:05 | Jackie's Background & Build Your Own Table24:37 | Hoby's Crash Course On Sensory Literacy32:52 | Jackie Talks About Sorel's 2022 Awards37:44 | A Little History On Sorel38:43 | Connecting With Hoby & JackieConnecting With Hoby Wedler & Jackie SummersWebsite: hobywedler.comSocial Media Platforms: @HobyWedlerEmail: hoby@hobywedler.comJackie's Website: sorelofficial.comInstagram: @theliquortarianPersonal: @JackieSummersFinding Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R.Each podcast episode along with its transcript will be posted here and to Bold Blind Beauty. You can also find Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R. on iTunes, Google, Amazon Music, Anchor, Spotify, or whichever podcast platform you prefer. Subscribe today!Connect with Bold Blind Beauty to learn more about our advocacy: Join our Facebook community @BoldBlindBeauty Subscribe to our YouTube channel @BoldBlindBeauty Check out our website www.boldblindbeauty.com Thanks for listening!❤️
Born with the rare condition, Microphthalmia, Dr. Hoby Wedler has been totally blind since birth and is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life. Among many things Hoby is a chemist, food scientist, sensory awareness expert, entrepreneur and lives with an abundance mindset. He stops by to share his sight loss story and how a wholesome upbringing shaped his work ethic and lead him to the realization that food and flavor are his visual art form. Hoby also talks about his work with Jackie Summers, the first legal black distiller in the U.S. and founder of Sorel, the most awarded liqueur of 2022. Earlier this year, Jackie tapped Hoby to help scale the production of Sorel while maintaining quality and improving the formula. By combining his heightened senses with his knowledge of organic chemistry, Hoby is using his unique perspective to maximize Sorel's sensory experience, from brightening its signature ruby red hue, to enhancing each individual flavor and ingredient. While discussing their shared love of music and sound, Hoby shares an incredible story of pairing wine and music from the Dave Matthews Band in a truly unique version of Tasting In the Dark. :: SHOW LINKS :: Connect with Hoby: https://www.ambiguouslyblind.com/guests/hoby-wedler/ For show notes, guest profiles, photos, blog and more information, visit AmbiguouslyBlind.com and connect on: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin This is a listener supported podcast. Please consider donating to build and sustain our community of :: GUEST LINKS :: Sorel: https://sorelofficial.com/ Hoby: https://www.hoby.com/
Research shows that volunteering can make people feel happier and more confident. Maybe you know and admire a teen who is always willing to help. What motivates these youth to serve? And how can parents help their child become more involved in the community? In today's episode, we'll answer these questions and talk about why your teen is probably thinking about how they can make the world a better place. Dr. Andy Harris is an assistant professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Utah State University. He also works closely with HOBY, a youth leadership group, and the Utah Association of Youth Councils. At Utah State University, Dr. Harris studies the civic attitudes and behaviors of teenagers, especially the community service efforts of young people. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/everydaystrong/message
On today's episode Dr. Hoby Wedler discusses the impact of the five senses on how we experience and remember the people and products we interact with. Listen in as Deborah and Hoby explore how Hoby created a unique perspective of flavors by learning to cook as a child experiencing blindness. He also shares how he uses that perspective to teach others how to create sensory experiences that are memorable while keeping an open mind to new opportunities. Dr. Hoby Wedler is an insightful, disarming, and passionate thinker who loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, Hoby helps turn your dreams into realities. Hoby has been completely blind since birth. He is a scientist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life over known territories. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. His fearlessness is infectious, and he has actively paved the way for others to join him in his quest to follow passions regardless of the challenges that lie ahead. In 2011, Hoby founded a non-profit organization to lead annual chemistry camps for blind and visually impaired students throughout North America. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. He has since expanded the program to a global market in a variety of industries and special projects. Over the years, Hoby has become a motivational speaker, a mentor, and an educator. He is also committed to making the world an inclusive, equitable, and accessible place for everyone. In his work, you will find a unique trilogy between sensory awareness, scientific knowledge, and a love for sharing his insights. Numerous people and organizations have recognized Hoby's work over the years. To name a few, President Barack Obama recognized Hoby by naming him a Champion of Change for enhancing employment and education opportunities for people with disabilities. Also, Forbes Media named Hoby as a leader in food and drink in their 30 under 30 annual publication. Hoby's dedicated to impacting everyone he works with by unlocking doors, overcoming challenges, increasing awareness, and expanding their horizons. You can connect with Dr. Wedler here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hobywedler/ Create a personal career strategy that develops the leadership and communication skills you need to assess challenges, showcase your skills, and demonstrate your ability to be a C-Suite Leader. Learn more about the C-Suite Academy here: https://bit.ly/csawaitlist22See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Two years ago, Haja and his wife Hoby welcomed the birth of their daughter Harena, their joy overflowing following years of longing and some heart-wrenching disappointments. The Far East podcast is narrated by John Doherty. Subscribe to the Far East magazine at https://goo.gl/5ukmQX
Join me today as I interview Hoby Hanna, president of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. As the market shifts and changes, we'll discuss how agents can best navigate the changing real estate landscape, plus how the Howard Hanna Enterprise is poised for growth, all of this and more in today's episode.
Dr. Hoby Wedler is an insightful, disarming, and passionate thinker who loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, Hoby helps turn your dreams into realities. Hoby has been completely blind since birth. He is a scientist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life over known territories. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. His fearlessness is infectious, and he has actively paved the way for others to join him in his quest to follow passions regardless of the challenges that lie ahead. In 2011, Hoby founded a non-profit organization to lead annual chemistry camps for blind and visually impaired students throughout North America. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. He has since expanded the program to a global market in a variety of industries and special projects. Over the years, Hoby has become a motivational speaker, a mentor, and an educator. He is also committed to making the world an inclusive, equitable, and accessible place for everyone. In his work, you will find a unique trilogy between sensory awareness, scientific knowledge, and a love for sharing his insights. Numerous people and organizations have recognized Hoby's work over the years. To name a few, President Barack Obama recognized Hoby by naming him a Champion of Change for enhancing employment and education opportunities for people with disabilities. Also, Forbes Media named Hoby as a leader in food and drink in their 30 under 30 annual publication. Hoby's dedicated to impacting everyone he works with by unlocking doors, overcoming challenges, increasing awareness, and expanding their horizons. Learn more about our podcast Enabled Disabled, please visit: https://www.enableddisabled.com/ Ways to Contribute to the Enabled Disabled Project The Enabled Disabled Project is funded and supported by Gustavo Serafini and patrons like you. Every dollar goes a long way to make this project possible, and to help connect people from around the world. We keep our patrons posted on the latest development and resources made available because of your support. https://www.enableddisabled.com/contribute --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/enableddisabled/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/enableddisabled/support
The Brewers survived a tense 4-3 week in which they improved their standing in the National League Central, but when does Milwaukee need to add difference makers on offense? Brewers reporter Todd Rosiak takes an early look at the trade-deadline landscape for a Brewers team in flux with some players returning from injury, and another key one lost with one. Are the Brewers better than the Cardinals? Andrew McCutchen rebounds, Rowdy Tellez socks two homers against his old team and a check-in on Keston Hiura. Then, podcast host JR Radcliffe sits down with Brewers reliever Hoby Milner and gets to know one of the surprises of the 2022 season. Music intro: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music. Music clips: "ABC" by Jackson 5, "Red Hot Memories (Ice Cold Beer)" by Jerry Lee Lewis, "Pursuit Music Logo" on SoundCloud and Bob Uecker on WTMJ 620-AM radio.
There's a leader within all of us. How do we identify leaders in ourselves and our communities?It takes kindness and a whole lot of courage to discover the leader within ourselves, and to honor the leaders we find in others!This past week we had the privilege of chatting with some amazing students and fellow leaders from New York State at the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Conference. Huge thank you to Bradley Cech for this opportunity!For more follow us on Instagram @courageouslykindpodcast Questions? Comments? Concerns? email us at courageouslykindpodcast@gmail.com For more, follow us on Instagram. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Check out our website here, or send us an email at courageouslykindpodcast@gmail.com Be kind to yourself and others today :)
Bräkne-Hoby, en plats där ett av Sveriges mest uppmärksammade rån sker sommaren 2003. Värdetransporten ska innehålla cirka 15 miljoner kronor och rånarna har lagt åtskilliga timmar åt att planera rånet. Det dom inte visste var att polisen, sedan en tid tillbaka, var dem på spåren. Rånarna slår till mot värdetransporten och konfronteras av polisen. En eldstrid utbryter, två av rånarna tar en av väktarna som gisslan och flyr från platsen. Den tredje rånaren ligger död på marken, träffad av polisens skott. En av rånarna, som sedermera dömdes för rånet, heter Toni Tuunainen. Här hör du honom berätta, bland annat, om sin uppväxt i miljonprogramsförorten Norsborg söder om Stockholm. Hur det kommer sig att han redan som ung började att begå brott. Toni berättar även om rånet och hur det var att se sitt ansikte på löpsedlarna, om drogerna, de snabba pengarna men även om sin vändning till det liv han lever idag. Idag har han lämnat det kriminella livet bakom sig och arbetar brottsförebyggande som föreläsare och coach. Han har även skrivit boken; "Jag var Sveriges mest jagade rånare : mina år som yrkeskriminell"
The concept of a full sensory experience could be easily misunderstood or misinterpreted by people who have access to all their senses. Unfortunately, there is always a natural tendency to lean into one other than the others. There's no better person to talk about this than Dr. Hoby Wedler. Dr. Hoby is a Ph.D. chemist, an entrepreneur, a TEDx speaker, and he is 100% blind. He chats with Ben Baker about navigating life without sight and why it's so much better to live while using all the senses. He explains how he goes about understanding a world he's never visually seen but only perceived with other senses. Hoby also shares his unique upbringing that allowed him to take accountability for success and dream bigger and better each time. Join their chat for a fascinating discussion on the value of understanding and optimizing our senses.
Hoby was born blind, but had incredible parents that helped him stay positive and motivated. He has his Ph. D. In Organic Chemistry from UC Davis, and is now an entrepreneur having started several companies. He helped develop Tasting in the Dark, and consults with companies on improving their sensory experiences. Learn more about his companies at Hoby.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careersfortheblind/message
NY SERIE UTE NU! LYSSNA I PODME APPEN. I början av 2000 talet sveper en våg av värdetransportrån över Sverige. Gärningsmännen är inte sällan tungt beväpnade och redo att använda sina vapen mot polisen. Under våren 2003 hamnar de kända rånarna Amir och Toni på polisens radar. De är båda dömda för grova rån och nu verkar de planera en nytt rån tillsammans med en tredje person, Fredrik, som precis suttit av ett straff för ett uppmärksammat styckmord.
Dr. Hoby Wedler Hoby's Essentials Biography Dr. Hoby Wedler is an insightful, disarming, and passionate thinker who loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, Hoby helps turn your dreams into realities. Hoby has been completely blind since birth. He is a scientist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life over known territories. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. His fearlessness is infectious, and he has actively paved the way for others to join him in his quest to follow passions regardless of the challenges that lie ahead. In 2011, Hoby founded a non-profit organization to lead annual chemistry camps for blind and visually impaired students throughout North America. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. He has since expanded the program to a global market in a variety of industries and special projects. Over the years, Hoby has become a motivational speaker, a mentor, and an educator. He is also committed to making the world an inclusive, equitable, and accessible place for everyone. In his work, you will find a unique trilogy between sensory awareness, scientific knowledge, and a love for sharing his insights. Numerous people and organizations have recognized Hoby's work over the years. To name a few, President Barack Obama recognized Hoby by naming him a Champion of Change for enhancing employment and education opportunities for people with disabilities. Also, Forbes Media named Hoby as a leader in food and drink in their 30 under 30 annual publication. Hoby's dedicated to impacting everyone he works with by unlocking doors, overcoming challenges, increasing awareness, and expanding their horizons. http://www.hoby.com (www.hoby.com) Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/officialhobywedler (www.facebook.com/officialhobywedler) Linkedin.com/hobywedler Instagram.com/hobywedler Tiktok.com/@hobywedler www.marlanasemenza.com Audio : Ariza Music Productions Transcript : Vision In Word Marlana: Today's guest is truly incredible. Dr. Hoby Wedler loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, he helps turn your dreams into realities, completely blind since birth. He is a scientist and entrepreneur and a sensory expert. He's dedicated to impacting everyone who works with unlocking doors, overcoming challenges, increasing awareness, and expanding their horizons. Welcome Hoby! Hoby: Marlana, thank you so much for this honor, I really appreciate it. It's an exciting opportunity to chat with you. You know, we talked a few weeks ago, I think we have so much in common, and we're both artists at heart, and there's just so much to talk about. Marlana: Well, you know, I have to tell everybody listening that I have made my life as a photographer, so, I've made it through what I see, and you have taught me how to see differently. Because I think so many of us rely on simply what we see. And we judge by what we see, we assess by what we see. And we forget that we have other senses. And when I watch the way you create experiences, whether it be for yourself or for others, you make them so full and rounded. So how do you go about that? Hoby: Yeah, you know, I think that for someone who's actually lacked one sense, which is the sense of eyesight, for my whole life, you know, I really do have a different approach to how I take life and how I live life, you know, it's about embracing the non-visual senses that we have, but creating opportunities out of those senses that create that
Today's episode features Dr. Hoby Wedler, who had been awarded Champion of Change in 2012 by President Obama, Forbs 30 under 30 in the food and drink category in 2016, and Sacramento Business Journals 40 under 40 in 2016. We talk about his upbringing, being completely blind since birth and how that has caused him to use his other senses in different ways, his nonprofit that helped blind and visually impaired kids in STEAM fields, how he developed Tasting in the Dark (a blindfolded wine experience) in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola Winery, his work with Senspoint, and so much more! Links below for more information on Hoby and his work: https://www.hobywedler.com/ https://hobysessentials.com/ https://senspointdesign.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJDHovTiWBk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_1pB2n3Etw If you end up enjoying this or other episodes, make sure you rate it on apple podcasts or share it with a friend or family member. And if you or someone you know is interested in being on an episode, message me on Facebook or Instagram at The Get Rich Podcast, email me at thegetrichpod@gmail.com, or message me on LinkedIn at Richard H Rycraw --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Dr. Hoby Wedler is an insightful, disarming, and passionate thinker who loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, Hoby helps turn your dreams into realities. Hoby has been completely blind since birth. He is a scientist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life over known territories. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. His fearlessness is infectious, and he has actively paved the way for others to join him in his quest to follow passions regardless of the challenges that lie ahead. In 2011, Hoby founded a non-profit organization to lead annual chemistry camps for blind and visually impaired students throughout North America. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. He has since expanded the program to a global market in a variety of industries and special projects. Over the years, Hoby has become a motivational speaker, a mentor, and an educator. He is also committed to making the world an inclusive, equitable, and accessible place for everyone. In his work, you will find a unique trilogy between sensory awareness, scientific knowledge, and a love for sharing his insights. Numerous people and organizations have recognized Hoby's work over the years. To name a few, President Barack Obama recognized Hoby by naming him a Champion of Change for enhancing employment and education opportunities for people with disabilities. Also, Forbes Media named Hoby as a leader in food and drink in their 30 under 30 annual publication. Hoby's dedicated to impacting everyone he works with by unlocking doors, overcoming challenges, increasing awareness, and expanding their horizons. Learn more about our podcast Enabled Disabled, please visit: https://www.enableddisabled.com/ Ways to Contribute to the Enabled Disabled Project The Enabled Disabled Project is funded and supported by Gustavo Serafini and patrons like you. Every dollar goes a long way to make this project possible, and to help connect people from around the world. We keep our patrons posted on the latest development and resources made available because of your support. https://www.enableddisabled.com/contribute --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/enableddisabled/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/enableddisabled/support
Dr. Hoby Wedler has been blind since birth and, as you will hear in this episode, is definitely unstoppable. He is a scientist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. Hoby has just launched his own line of spices and other tasty products. He is also a recognized public speaker. Among other positions, Hoby serves as the board chair for the Earle Baum Center of the Blind in Santa Rosa California. Now, come hear this inspiring and unstoppable person in action. Some directories do not show full show notes. For the complete transcription please visit https://michaelhingson.com/podcast About Our Guest: Dr. Hoby Wedler is an insightful, disarming, and passionate thinker who loves to bring people together to help them see new possibilities. With the heart of a teacher, Hoby helps turn your dreams into realities. Hoby has been completely blind since birth. He is a scientist, an entrepreneur, a sensory expert, and is driven by his passion for innovative, creative, and insightful thinking. Hoby is remarkably tuned into his surroundings and has frequently chosen to walk the unbeaten paths in life over known territories. In 2016, Hoby earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Davis. His fearlessness is infectious, and he has actively paved the way for others to join him in his quest to follow passions regardless of the challenges that lie ahead. In 2011, Hoby founded a non-profit organization to lead annual chemistry camps for blind and visually impaired students throughout North America. In the same year, he began opening doors to the world of wine aromas by developing Tasting in the Dark, a truly blindfolded wine experience, in collaboration with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. He has since expanded the program to a global market in a variety of industries and special projects. Over the years, Hoby has become a motivational speaker, a mentor, and an educator. He is also committed to making the world an inclusive, equitable, and accessible place for everyone. In his work, you will find a unique trilogy between sensory awareness, scientific knowledge, and a love for sharing his insights. Numerous people and organizations have recognized Hoby's work over the years. To name a few, President Barack Obama recognized Hoby by naming him a Champion of Change for enhancing employment and education opportunities for people with disabilities. Also, Forbes Media named Hoby as a leader in food and drink in their 30 under 30 annual publication. Hoby's dedicated to impacting everyone he works with by unlocking doors, overcoming challenges, increasing awareness, and expanding their horizons. 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 also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. 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 01:23 Welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, we have really fascinating guests. He comes from the scientific community, as an essence, have I as you all know, because of my getting a master's degree in physics and being involved in various scientific endeavors, and our guest today Hobi Wendler comes from a different process. But by the same token, he also comes from the scientific world, specifically chemistry. You're going to hear about that, and lots of stuff today. So hope you welcome to unstoppable mindset. And thanks for being here. Dr. Hoby Wedler 01:58 Mike, thank you so much. It's a real honor to be here. I think it's so cool what you're doing with the podcast and just very happy to be a guest. Michael Hingson 02:07 Well, I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun. And I think we'll find some interesting things to talk about. So my Dr. Hoby Wedler 02:13 it's all about, it's all about just jiving, and in coming up with, with topics that makes sense Michael Hingson 02:20 and stuff. Yeah, exactly. So needless to say, I think we played it a minute ago, you are blind, you've been blind your whole life. Dr. Hoby Wedler 02:29 I have never seen anything. There you go. Well, I've Michael Hingson 02:32 had a little bit of light perception I did when I was growing up. And I didn't even notice that it went away. But at one point in my life, it suddenly dawned on me that I'm not even seeing light anymore. And when I went to an ophthalmologist, I find out that cataract had developed over my eyes, but I couldn't convince them to get rid of the cataract because it's not going to do you any good. And I said, Well, I might see light again. Dr. Hoby Wedler 02:55 Mike, what is it? This is an interesting question. As someone who has literally never been able to see at all, what does it feel like to see like you describe that sensation? Michael Hingson 03:06 I don't know how to really describe it. So the problem is, it's like, I asked people all the time, what is it like to see red? Or what is it like to do? Or what is it? Or since we both do it? What is it like to hear? We can simulate not hearing by completely covering our ears and cutting out all sounds? And there are ways to do that. I don't know whether that's exactly the same as profoundly deaf people experience not hearing, but how to describe hearing as such, or how to describe seeing, yeah, I don't know how to do that. I've only heard people do it with analogies. You know, red well, they talk about hot fire rages. Yeah. So let me see if I can try this. Have you ever been walking along and crashed your forehead into a wall or something? Dr. Hoby Wedler 04:06 I was born blind, you know? Yes. Michael Hingson 04:09 Well, you know, but you might be really good. But when what happens? What happens? What do you experience the the moment you do that? Dr. Hoby Wedler 04:17 It's that feeling of sudden stopping and a little startling. Michael Hingson 04:24 So for me, when that happens, you know, you've probably read books where someone gets hit on the head and so on. And suddenly they see stars and yeah, and, and I'm wondering if you see any other kind of foreign or you experience any other kind of foreign sensations? I Dr. Hoby Wedler 04:40 don't know. You know, it's so funny because as someone who's never been able to see, I honestly don't know. It's such an interesting and good question though. You know, it's interesting actually thinking about senses in general in the sense of smell. Because the and that's an area where I do a lot of work and spend a lot of my time a lot of people lost either their sense of smell or taste or both during the pandemic that we're just coming out of, or maybe not. And, and talk about the fact, I've read countless articles now say, I just find it all fascinating. They talk about the fact that they didn't realize how much they used those two senses until they weren't there until they weren't there. And I find that so fascinating, because you and I, whether whether it's subconscious or not, we use our sense of smell the navigate all the time, or I think we do I do. Michael Hingson 05:38 Well, actually, in the spirit of full disclosure, I discovered in 2013, that I had lost pretty much all of my sense of smell and a lot of sense of taste. And it happened, I think, because I took one of those cold medications that in fact, caused that to happen. And it's never shaken it there. Well, there was zinc in it. And, you know, there have been others where I know that people haven't had that problem, but there were some that did. So I don't know what the formulary was that created that and caused it to happen. But, um, so I don't smell as well, I can still taste some differences in in wines, and certainly differences in foods, but it's not as sharp as it was. Dr. Hoby Wedler 06:28 I'm sorry to hear that. That's no fun to lose that sense. It isn't. Michael Hingson 06:31 But you know, the other side of it is that I know what I had, and I know the experiences from that. And so it still is helpful when I experienced tasting and so on, to know what was there. And so I can sort of fill in some of the gaps, which probably is is similar to what happens to people who lose their eyesight. I imagine that's true. They can they can fill in the gaps or not. And that is one of the reasons I'm a firm believer in people who are partially blind when they discover they're losing their eyesight, and they go to centers to learn about techniques. I am a firm believer that people should learn to travel under sleep shades centers should really be teaching people that it's okay to be blind and don't use your eyesight as much as you can. Yeah, because the reality is that they may very well lose the rest of it. And if they start to recognize now that their their world is really one of being blind, then their eyesight will help them all the more for it and that will turn to trust a cane. Ken Jernigan, the past president of the National Federation of the Blind, created and wrote an article called a definition of blindness, which anyone can read if they go to the NFB website, www.nfb.org NFP being National Federation of the Blind. But what Dr. Jernigan says, Because you are blind, if you have lost enough eyesight that you have to use alternatives to eyesight to accomplish tasks. Absolutely. Which doesn't mean that you've lost all of your eyesight. Dr. Hoby Wedler 08:13 Yeah, no, it doesn't. And I say, oh, go ahead. Go ahead. I was just gonna say in that sort of vein, I honestly think and this is often contrary to what a lot of sighted people think. I think you and I have it easier than the people who have partial sight? Michael Hingson 08:30 Oh, I think so in a lot of ways, because we grew up with it. But also we we had parents who encouraged us and we had other parts of the community that encouraged us, and our makeup allowed us also to resist people telling us what we couldn't do. Dr. Hoby Wedler 08:46 Right. Well, and I, to your point, I think so much of success, or there is a failure in the disabled disability world comes down to the support system that surround early on and particular particular families and that parental support. Man, that's a huge thing. If our parents were overly protective of us and held us back and locked us away when we were babies. Think about what we wouldn't have done and tried to do now. Michael Hingson 09:16 I have, I have met people who actually lived in Chicago when I lived in Chicago. I was born in 1950. So you can do the math, anyone. But for the first five years of my life, I lived in Chicago. I was born two months premature. A lot of kids were it's a part of the whole baby boomer era, right? But I have met people since both even as a child but then later, whose parents sheltered them a lot more. And I saw and continue to remember what I experienced about what they could and couldn't do and how house self sufficient or independent, or even mentally thinking about being self sufficient or independent they were or they weren't. And the reality is that kids who are more sheltered, don't grow up learning a lot of the things that that they could learn just by being out in the world. And that's why I am a firm believer that parents need to what we would probably say today is take more risks. It is that's absolutely right. It isn't really a lot of risk taking it is really, your child being exposed, Dr. Hoby Wedler 10:33 it might feel like risk taking, but it really isn't, you know, it's I mean, it is, in some ways, if there be take that, you know, if you if you do things that are, some people might, I can see why people would call it that. But you know, there's another another element of parenting. Children who are blind that I think is so crucial and often gets unnoticed is the idea of talking and seeing what you're doing. That is where my parents really one of the areas, they really excelled. They in the kitchen, for instance, when they were making breakfast, they would describe I remember my mom describing exactly what she was doing. And I didn't think anything of it at the time, I was pretty young toddler. But now when I think back on it, I realized the whole point of that was that things didn't just happen mysteriously, you know, if you imagine raising a sighted kid and you get them a bowl of cereal, you know, they're going to see you get that walk over to the cupboard, get the bull's eye, okay, now I know where the holes are stored, or my cereal comes from, they're gonna see the box of cereal come out of a different cabinet, they're gonna see the cereal get poured into the bowl, they're gonna see the parent, go to the fridge and get the milk, they're gonna see the spoon get taken out of the drawer and set down on a napkin next to the bowl, and then they're gonna see this bowl be set before them. And it's not a mystery. But if you don't say anything, and you do all that with a blind kid, they're not gonna know the milk goes in the fridge. They're not, they're not gonna be able to figure that stuff out. So it's, you've got to talk about it. Michael Hingson 12:03 And the children whose parents did that the chil the children whose parents recognized that no matter what the disability, it didn't mean that their child didn't have gifts and that they needed to do everything they could to and Hance or allow children to learn to use those gifts. Isn't that those are the lucky kids. Dr. Hoby Wedler 12:28 Yeah. Yeah. And there are relatively few of us. Michael Hingson 12:32 And there are relatively few of us. Some people are good. Some people have learned it later in life and have done well. But from from a standpoint of kids, there are there there are apparently, few of us, you're gonna ask, Dr. Hoby Wedler 12:47 Oh, it's just gonna ask us for sort of mentioned that a comment or a question, rather, that I get a lot of the time is would you ever want your eyesight? And my answer to that is a resounding no. Because I don't want to have to learn how to really live in this world. I know braille, I read Braille, very proficiently, I don't need to learn print, I don't need to know what it looks like to drive down the road, I can roll my window down and smell the air, I can listen to the air blow by. So it's no I don't, I don't need to change the world I live in because I love the world I live in. And I don't want to throw the same question back at you. And ask you, you know, what is your response to that question? Michael Hingson 13:27 I respond a little bit differently than you. But it amounts to the same thing. And that is? Well, yeah, I suppose I might be interested in doing it only because it would be another adventure. But the reality is, I'm very comfortable in my skin. And I and I also know, in a sense, what visually I don't see. So driving down the road, the experience of driving and doing the things that that sighted people do, being able to drive and avoid that car that's coming at you and then stick out your your finger at them or so on. So some of that we don't get to do but also. I know that the time is coming, that we're all going to change. So I I have actually driven a Tesla down I 15 going from Delhi up here down toward Riverside and so on. Dr. Hoby Wedler 14:24 I do not I tell me a little more about the story. How did this happen? Michael Hingson 14:29 I was going down to do a speech and the person who was taking me down, owned a Tesla. And we talked a lot about the technology and he said you want to drive it and I said sure. And so I reached over and basically it was in a a well, copilot I won't say a self driving mode but copilot so it was watching what was going on on the road. And basically it required that someone keep their hand on the wheel. So it wasn't that I was doing a lot of work. But we had programmed into the GPS where we were going, and the Tesla and the automation, steer the vehicle, we avoided cars and so on. So I got a great feel for it. And I recognize that the car was in control. But I've also been to Daytona, yeah, in 2011, for the Rolex 24 race and the Blind Driver Challenge, the challenge where Mark Riccobono, the current president of the National Federation of the Blind, drove a car independently around the Daytona speedway. And that was using technology that gave him the information so that he could drive the car, not with automation, like in a Tesla, but literally drove the car, avoiding obstacles, and so on. And he had to do all of the work. And I did, I did drive the simulator, so I got a feel for it. But I also know that we're all eventually going to be using autonomous vehicles, a lot of things are going to change. And the other part to answering your question is, oh, my God, I don't want to be able to see and do what those people do. There are too many crazy drivers on the road. I don't want to be responsible for that. Dr. Hoby Wedler 16:11 You got it? Yeah, absolutely. Tiger. Michael Hingson 16:15 But you But you, you had very good parents, you were very fortunate in terms of being encouraged to do what you you do and what you did. So where did that take you? You went out of high school, you went into college? What did you do in college? And what was your major and all? Yeah, you Dr. Hoby Wedler 16:32 know, my parents, just to just to circle back a little bit, or, or, like, they dispense still on my biggest supporters. And, you know, they, they did two things really, really, really did many things really well. But I'll focus on two right now. My brothers two years older and sighted. And the first major thing is they treated us with the same high expectations, I was not given lower expectations to follow, because I happen to be blind. And keeping us both to the same high high standard was really crucial to me growing up and, and being an active participant in this world we call home. They also taught us that the most important thing we can do is to take responsibility for ourselves, our lives and our actions. And hey, if we take responsibility and challenge ourselves in situations, and we succeed, we deserve the credit for that success. And frankly, if you fail, you deserve to take the blame. And that that pushed me and my brother so far. I see a lot of a lot of blind kids with sighted peers. There's a little bit of jealousy. And there's a lot of Oh, yeah, you know, we have high expectations of one and not the other. And I just, I just don't think that's necessary. And I think it actually really creates bad feeling so, so grateful and very happy now that my parents just really pushed me and in a nice way, and expected, by the way, that we would have the same ultra high expectations of them. So that was a really powerful thing. Um, after high school, I went on, I was in high school when I fell in love with chemistry. When it came time, I took physical science and loved chemistry there. And then when it came to my junior year, I said, Well, shoot, I'll take the test to get an honors chemistry. And I'm not sure the instructor was really expecting me to take the test and get the top score on it. But I ended up taking the test. And then she's in a pickle of God, he took the test now what do we do get to get these, you know, we got to get him into the class. So sure enough, I came into the class. And it was a Yeah, it was a great experience, we found someone to work with me who had taken the class before, as my eyes in the laboratory. But the instructor would would do something kind of interesting. She would tell the class, you all should think about studying chemistry. It's amazing. We live it, we breathe it, we eat it, we drink it, it really describes the world around us. And I know the physicists out there saying now physics is a little more fundamental. So you can comment there, if you will. But I think chemistry is pretty darn fundamental. And she would tell me when I was in her classroom, getting assistance, solving problems and that sort of thing. I'd say, hey, let's, uh, you know, I want to study chemistry, I actually want to do what you're asking us to do. And she would say, Oh, holy, it's really impractical. It's such a visual science. I don't know how that's gonna work. And I still vividly remember the day the exact day that I went into a classroom was the second week of the second semester. It's early in the morning before students arrived. And I said, you know, you've been telling me that chemistry is a visual science and that it probably wouldn't make sense for me to study. But I gotta tell you, nobody can see at us. So therefore chemistry is truly a cerebral science. And she had a light bulb go off and said, Hmm, that's interesting. You're right. And from that point on, became an absolute supporter and ally, and still is a dear friend and supporter and everything I do. So that was an incredible opportunity to realize that, hey, chemistry really isn't a cerebral isn't visual science, it's in our head, we use our eyesight for some of what we pick up in the laboratory. But if you think about the electromagnetic electromagnetic spectrum running from, you know, very small distances of Pico meter length waves all the way up to several meters, there's only one little tiny itty bitty part that we can see, which is between 704 100 I should say it in a different order, 407 100 nanometer wavelength light. And that means there's a whole lot of other light that can be detected, that has nothing to do with our eyesight. And we used a lot of that light in terms of radio waves and microwaves and that sort of thing to understand what's going on in our in our chemical samples, and then review the data. So I ended up long story short, I'm sure you wanted a shorter answer than this. But I ended up studying chemistry in college and not really knowing that I was a nerd at that point and wanted to teach, I always had the heart of a teacher, that was always my goal is to, is to teach. Dr. Hoby Wedler 21:18 I got a degree in United States history as well, because I knew that I was going to be in graduate school in order to teach and I didn't know how accessible chemistry was going to be. And I didn't necessarily want an assistant, you know, looking over my shoulder 16 hours a day in the laboratory. So I thought, well, let me let me study history, so that I have a backup plan. And I was actually and I minored in math just because I'm a nerd and can't help myself and found abstract algebra really useful for chemistry. And it's like, I took those three courses. And I don't know, some career counselor, some advisor in the math department said, you know, you're only two courses away from a math minor. Oh, okay. Well, I took a logic class and a history of math class, which I loved as well. And ended up with a minor in math. But beside the point, I ended up, I was ready to apply to history graduate schools throughout the state, actually, of California. When I met my graduate advisor, who studies Computational Chemistry, I worked in his lab for a while as an undergraduate. And as great mentors often do, he sort of saw a future for me in chemistry in computational chemistry, before I kind of saw it for myself, and just recommended that I study chemistry and in his group, and apply and hopefully get into graduate school, so I did, ended up doing both my undergraduate and graduate work at UC Davis, University of California Davis, which was interesting. And a reason one reason for that there's a few reasons but one main one, Mike, is that I didn't want to have to convince another group of staff in the chemistry department and faculty that I could do what I could do, it was just easier to work with people who are believed in me and trusted me, quite frankly, I'm ended up earning my PhD in 2016, and have gone on from there and done nothing in chemistry. Michael Hingson 23:07 Well, as a physicist, I'm glad that we were able to help you by inventing light for you. So you know. But yeah, thank you, I really think I think both physics and chemistry are part of the universe, and it isn't really fair to ever say one is so much better than the other. I believe that's true, we would have a hard time living without chemists or physicists. And and I think both of us could also say, and we would have a hard time living without engineers, who everybody seems to pick off. So it's okay. Dr. Hoby Wedler 23:40 We think we can handle the nitty gritty stuff, but we need someone to build things for us. Okay. Michael Hingson 23:44 Yeah. And and we need someone to figure out what it is that we need to do to handle the nitty gritty. So the mathematicians count as well. Dr. Hoby Wedler 23:52 That's it. No, absolutely. Well, Michael Hingson 23:55 so you just said a very interesting thing. You graduated in 2016, with a PhD in chemistry, and then haven't done anything with it since? Why? Dr. Hoby Wedler 24:08 Well, and I won't say I've done nothing with it. Once again. That's one society. Well, sure, once once you go that far, you're always a scientist. And I will always consider myself a chemist. I wanted to teach. I told you that. And I had the honor of teaching some undergraduate classes. And so my desire to teach was to get people early on, excited about something maybe they didn't know they were excited about. So I wanted to be that instructor who came into the freshmen chemistry class with, you know, four or 500 students at 8am. On a Monday morning after a long weekend partying and get some of those students. Now, 90 plus percent of them are there because chemistry is a prerequisite and they just can't wait to get it over with. Yeah, I want to get some of those students excited about studying chemistry beyond this, this general chemistry course. That was my passion. I wanted to be a chemistry lecture to the very early chemistry students, because that's when you can shake people and help change how they think about what's possible for them. And I taught several of those courses at Davis and I realized something that was hard to realize, which is that students did not speak chemistry, they want some explanation of what they see on the screen. But what they really want to see are pretty pictures and animations and videos showing exactly what's what's happening with a lot of this years. And that there's and then we put this over here, and we can see this red thing down over there and then be ready for the test on Friday. Now, I can't explain chemistry to you very well. But I need to use my words, mostly. Now, I do understand that many concepts are very much supported by images, and and graphs and charts and diagrams, and whatever the case may be. So I absolutely would spend time with assistants putting together PowerPoints with some of those images. And what I realized is I was spending a lot of time and money working on basically making beautiful presentations with beautiful video clips, and animations and things that would slide in and slide out and fly around just to keep the students entertained. And I'd have to spend hours memorizing these presentations so that I could talk about them cohesively as I, as I showed them, basically. And that was all time spent working with several different assistants. The other thing that I found disappointing was that students didn't read the textbook, if I would say, Okay, we're focusing on Chapter two sections three and four. Tomorrow, I would say maybe 2% of my students actually read the book, and came ready to talk about it. And for for those students out there, I will just tell you, if your instructor teaches from a book, read the book ahead of time. So that lecture feels like a review. Right? That's, that's really crucial, in my opinion. So one thing led to another and while I was in graduate school, concurrent with my graduate tenure, I had the opportunity of working with Francis Ford Coppola, I know you have as well. He asked me through a friend, I met him. And he asked me to host a truly blindfolded Wine Experience. And he said, You decide how this is done. The reason I'm asking you to do this, is I don't want it to be gaudy. And Dr. Hoby Wedler 27:38 you know, so gamified, I want it to be real and authentic. And I commend him for wanting to have a blind person design and run this program, because I can use the blindfold. And I will never tell you, Hey, this is what it's like to be me, that would be silly. But what we can do is we can use the blindfold not at all as a toy, or as something gimmicky. That's the other thing Francis said, he said, above all OB, this can't be gimmicky, and I couldn't have agreed more. So, you know, we built out the experience. Where the blindfold is literally something that temporarily removes a sense that we use for to take in a lot of our information if we're sighted. So when we remove it logically, our other senses were differently. And we can focus on different variables, maybe we can focus more on how wine smells, maybe we can focus more when we're not distracted by our eyesight on how wine tastes. And maybe we can just focus on what's being sat around us a little more the voices that we hear that way, the chair we're sitting on feels, all sorts of things. And by the way, I really do believe and this is sort of an aside, that if you're going to do blindfolded stuff, you have to do it tastefully, and you have to do it well. And there are some programs out there that do it well, and there are a lot of programs out there that don't do it well. So I am one who really takes pride in giving sighted people that temporary experience and not distracted by eyesight in a way that does not be little, or suggests that this is what it's like to be me or anything of the sort. And I'm very, very careful about that. By the way. Michael Hingson 29:18 That's one of the concerns I have about things that are called dining in the dark is that most people say you'll get to see what it's like to be blind. No, you won't. You don't have any of the training. You don't have any of the background. But I like what you say which is that if you treat eyesight as a distraction, or if you treat being blindfolded, as a way to avoid the distraction that goes along with eyesight, then you can use your other senses, which in fact for something like tasting are just as important, if not more, so unless There's something that's an absolute requirement for the presentation of the food. Absolutely. And, and I understand that, and I appreciate that we watched Food Network a lot, we see things about presentation and was my immediate reaction as well. So the taste of the food, but I also do appreciate that there is a place for presentation, but for tasting and so on, you need to get rid of distractions. It's like anything else, you need to get rid of distractions to focus on what it is that you want to focus on. And the last time the last time I heard, we didn't have eyes in our mouths so that we could see the wine as we're tasting it exactly in our mouths. So yeah, but But I hear what you're saying. So you did that with France. Dr. Hoby Wedler 30:43 Someone asked me a funny question. When I was a freshman in college and the dining hall. They said, How can you eat when you don't know where your mouth is? And my response to them was like, That's news to me, I guess you with a rearview mirror on your head all the time? Not? Okay. You know? Yeah. It's just interesting. People's people's perception, people's perceptions. Yeah. So you work with friends you work through that, for a while actually took took it on the road pretty soon after we started as a hospitality experience for his wineries in Sonoma County, right. And as soon as the Sales Team National Sales Team heard about it, they wanted it for them. So we brought it on the road. And what's great about being a computational chemist is that my laptop was my laboratory. And my advisor was very willing to say, go travel and figure out what you want to do. So I worked with them. And I got really involved in this in the world of food and beverage, and that community in the sensory aspects of food and beverage and met a lot of really neat people who I thought were really interesting and really cool. And this is concurrent with teaching, feeling a little less accessible than it honestly could. So one thing kind of led to another and I found myself really loving the world of sensory design and designing high end experiences and products to an extent based on our non visual sensory input. And logically that works into food and beverage quite well. So I do a lot of personal consulting in the in the food and beverage world on product development, on tweaking products to make them even better than they already are. These sorts of things, we still do a lot of speaking a lot of these tasting experiences, when and where desired. There's nothing regularly scheduled, but I do them a lot as a consultant. And then I love thinking about creative as well. So it's not only science and taste, it's it's science and art, and how can we straddle that very fine intersection between science and art. And the way that I've come up with is through being creative. So I'm a creative thinker, and I thought that creative was a good thing to focus on. So I actually co founded a creative and marketing studio called cents point in 2017. And my business partner, Justin is here in California with me, our third partner, is our creative director as well, man named Jody Tucker, who's based down in Adelaide, Australia. And because of my love for food and beverage, and in gaining popularity in the industry, I just this last year started my own brand of gourmet seasonings, it's expanding a lot right now, by the way, in terms of the products that we have out there, we currently have two products on the market, hoagies essentials as the name of the brand, and we have a rosemary, salt, and a blend of sort of an all purpose dry rub that we're calling happy paprika, but that line is expanding very quickly into about half a dozen more products, probably before the end of the year. So we're really excited about that. Michael Hingson 33:38 Well, we're gonna need to get some of those to, to put on meat when I barbecue and I do the barbecuing and the grilling in the house. So absolutely. We need to to work that. But so I'm going to ask right now, and I'll probably ask at the end, if people want to learn more about that. How do they do it? Dr. Hoby Wedler 33:56 Where do they go to hobi.com? And that's H ovy.com. And that's got all my stuff? My my personal website, the homies essentials brand site, everything's there. Michael Hingson 34:07 Yeah. Are any of the hobbies essential products being sold in any kind of mainstream markets yet? Or is it too new Dr. Hoby Wedler 34:14 not a Gaussian distribution in Novato at p hardware? And you know, which it very well, it's a great place, isn't it? Yeah. And then Rex hardware up here in Petaluma, which is another H store and a couple of markets out in Sebastopol. So we're small but we're growing that retail presence. Michael Hingson 34:34 So when do we get to see you on Shark Tank? Oh, you know Shark Tank? Dr. Hoby Wedler 34:41 That'd be fun. Yeah, I'm an entrepreneur. I do a lot of it. Michael Hingson 34:45 There you go. So when do we get to see you on Shark Tank? That's the question. Dr. Hoby Wedler 34:48 Ah man, well, maybe sooner rather than later my funding dries up. Michael Hingson 34:53 Or don't wait for it to dry but enhance it. There it is. There it is one of the things that in impressed as me and you know, needless to say, we've known each other a while and I've had a chance to, to watch you and so on and see what you do. You, you really do talk the talk. And by that I mean and walk the walk. But you, you act as a role model in a lot of ways. So yes, you've formed hobbies, essentially, yes, you helped create sense point design. But you've also taken it further, in that when you see opportunities to address issues regarding disabilities, I've seen that you've done a lot of that. And I know that one of the things that you have taken a great interest in is the whole idea of inclusion and access on the internet. Dr. Hoby Wedler 35:43 Yeah, I do care a lot about that, and many other things as well. We started a nonprofit, which is now on hiatus called accessible science that basically basically brought blind kids together for annual chemistry camps, that enchanted Hills camp for the blind, and taught them how to do hands on organic chemistry. That was what we call it, but really, it was to teach them they could do whatever the heck they wanted them or how visual the career seems. And we've had students come from that and become, you know, get their get their PhDs and masters and all sorts of things and fields, they didn't really think were were possible for them to study. So it's kind of fun to just open minds a little bit to what's possible. And, and because the word mindset is in the, in the title of your part of your show here. You know, I think it's all about forming the right mindset. And with the right mindset, we can do anything we want. And the same thing, I think it's about, you know, making the internet more accessible, is all about mindset, and all about really thinking about the user while designing the webpage. Michael Hingson 36:52 You have, you have clearly done a lot in the the the internet world and so on. And you've used your experiences with sense point design, as I said, and hope is essential as to to role model, what kinds of ways have you helped to influence what's occurring with access in the internet and so on? Dr. Hoby Wedler 37:13 You know, number one, I just I think it's when we design websites for our clients, we think about that. And we want a solution because not all of us are accessible web accessibility experts. So our what I loved is kind of obsessively is a part of your life. When I found out about accessory it made perfect sense to me if there's a if there's an automated tool that we can use to help make websites fully accessible, that's exactly what I want. Because my team aren't necessarily experts in the in the accessibility. I mean, we know about accessibility and the WCAG you know that but some of these some of these people are really our experts and frankly, a lot of our clients can't afford what it takes to maintain a website is fully accessible it's 1000s of dollars a month. So they get really excited when I present them with a solution that's only $49 a month that makes their site very accessible across many different platforms. So that's that's the main way that I have found to fully it will take to make fully accessible the websites we consult on or design Michael Hingson 38:27 how did you find accessible How did you discover it? Dr. Hoby Wedler 38:30 That's a really funny story. I actually found excessively initially because my brother was chatting with your CEO about possibly investing in the company I'm not sure where that conversation went but he mentioned excessive yes or no that's interesting. And then a few years later a couple years later I saw the solution when looking for just good automated tools to make websites more accessible and contacted someone in your in your sales department a woman by the name of Jenna Gemma Fantoni don't know if you know her. But she then set us up as a as an affiliate partner accessory. So since point is an affiliate partner of accessory, and it's really easy to to use and make your site accessible. Michael Hingson 39:15 What do you think about the people who have concerns about using an artificial intelligence system and an automated solution to help address access and inclusion, as opposed to the manual coding traditional way of dealing with it? Dr. Hoby Wedler 39:32 I think there's a solution for every client and it's not going to be the same for anyone. I think if you can afford the the manual coding, which again is going to be several $1,000 a month, use it if that's what you want to do use it. I don't see any problem with automated tools. You know if we were talking about cars becoming more automated, I'll tell you that Elon Musk back in September We were a group of four civilians up to space, they orbit at higher than the International Space Station at 519 kilometers. These people didn't know how to fly spacecraft, but the automated spacecraft, flew them around the earth and low Earth orbit for 72 hours, launched them and brought them right back to Earth. And, boy, if that's not if that's not a suggestion that that automation and some AI can really help, I don't know what is. So when it comes to websites, I see absolutely no reason that it's a that it's a problem. Sure, there are things that it might miss. Yeah, that's, that could be true. But what's great about that you and I have an extensive talks about this. But when we find a problem, and we fix it in the back end of accessibility, we're fixing it for all the people who have accessible, not just that one website. So it really, it really is a practical solution. And I don't understand this one or the other approach, you know, it's let's be more inclusive and think about what's best for the client. You know, I've got clients who are more small wineries or use very small organizations that can afford to make their make their stuff fully accessible by hard coding. They are really excited by an option that makes their site accessible and usable by all parties. The other thing that accessory does the overlays like accessibility really well. And I think accessory does particularly well is thinking about other disabilities. It's not just those of us who are visually impaired. Think about blinking pulsating cursors for people with epilepsy, and how that might stimulate seizure. There's so many things that we can that we should be considering when we think about accessibility. And I really like a solution that includes all all parties and all folks in in that, that solution. So I really, I really do believe in accessibility, Oh, no. Michael Hingson 41:59 Well, I have maintained for quite a while that when we talk about disabilities, and so on. In reality, the concept of diversity has gone away. People never talk about disabilities or very, very, very, very rarely talk about disabilities. When it comes to diversity. I mean, we were hearing regularly, especially every year around Oscar time about how there has to be more diversity. There have to be more women, there has to be different racial content, we have to have more directories of Dr. Hoby Wedler 42:36 diversity, the photo has to look more diverse Michael Hingson 42:39 in the photo, but they never talk about disabilities being a part of it. Why is it that we don't have a blind movie director? And why is it that we can't there's there's no reason. Now I don't know how to do it. And I am not interested in being a director. Although I'm sure I could learn to talk like one you know, and all that but, but I'm not really interested in being a movie director. But I suspect that there are some blind people who have the knowledge and the talent, certainly people in wheelchairs and so on. And Marlee Matlin is a person who is deaf has done a great deal in, in the entertainment world. But the reality is we don't get included. How do we change that conversation? At a basic level in society to get more inclusion, about people with disabilities, the conversations that we have? Dr. Hoby Wedler 43:37 Yeah, it's an interesting question. You know, I think I see that from from multiple different angles, the first thing I'd say is that I personally believe that a blind person's perspective is an extremely diverse one, and a life that was lived very differently than others, and should be listened to. I also think that diversity means literally bringing people with different perspectives. It's not how they look or what their you know what their gender is, or anything like this. It's sure those things matter tremendously. But it's about the perspective that they bring that their upbringing and their background brings to the table. And I think if you have a more diverse team, you're going to have more perspectives at the table to come up with a broader solution to a problem. And frankly, in a business setting, a more diverse team is going to increase your bottom line fairly dramatically. Why specifically, are people with disabilities not included? I think we're trying to change that. I think we're trying to remind people, Hey, we, you know, those of us with disabilities have have perspectives that are very unique and very worth considering. And, you know, I think we need to just show society, what it is that we can do. You know, it's that's one of the reasons that I was happy to get the graduate degree that I got. And I imagine it's the same for you, even if you don't end up using it, you know, for academics, you know, people know that We know how to work hard. And but I think that a lot of the reason we don't get included is because not because people don't are angry with us and don't want to include us. It's simply because they don't know how to include us. They don't know what we can do. I think it's our job to educate people and say, Hey, no, we we can be right. They're at the table with you, you know, and help solve problems and all that sort of thing. Michael Hingson 45:24 I think there's a fear element, but it comes down to not knowing right? People are also afraid of things they don't understand. They don't understand primarily disabilities. And they're also afraid, well, that could happen to me, which is probably the the best thought that they can have. Because the reality is, it could happen to you. So why aren't you including people up front who have disabilities, or who have those characteristics that you do not have? It's disabilities as a, as a classification is one of those characteristics that most people, including most people who happen to have disabilities today are not born with? It's true, but it is a characteristic that anyone can acquire. Dr. Hoby Wedler 46:06 It's no one minority group that we all can and probably will join, if we live are lucky enough to live long enough, Michael Hingson 46:12 in one way or another? Absolutely. And there's no reason for a lack of inclusion, one of the things I really love about accessibility is that it is really helping in its own way to change that the very fact that it's a scalable solution. Yeah, it's a solution that can work in so many ways. And accessibility is also now creating a suite of products that go beyond the overlay. But the other thing that I think that happened this year, that really excites me, is that excessive, be created a series of television commercials. Yeah. And everyone in the commercial had disabilities. It was all done with actors. Incredible. Dr. Hoby Wedler 47:00 Yep. Showing and showing that this actually matters. And we are not only going to help people with disabilities, we're going to put them we're going to put them in our advertisements, putting them to work. Yeah, absolutely. Michael Hingson 47:14 And the reality is, I don't I don't know all the the video vignettes that were shown, but I know a number of them. And the reality is that it really shows that we can be anywhere just like anyone else, which is, of course, one of the things that I hope people learn from, from my story, you know, we wrote thunder, dog, and so on, and it's all about fine people can be anywhere just like you including near the top of the World Trade Center in escaping. And it and it isn't luck to escape anymore than for anyone else it is in strategy. It is absolutely strategy and preparation. Yeah, it Dr. Hoby Wedler 47:55 is. And being ready for that day. When it comes frankly, and, and having the training that you need. You know, I by the way, I'll just say something about commercials and people with disabilities, I've seen something that I don't particularly enjoy, which are people with disabilities being used for advertising purposes. And then to see the company not hiring people with disabilities, that's a little frustrating. So if we're going to show people with disabilities, let's make a commitment to bring them in on our team as well. Michael Hingson 48:25 I think that's important. And I also think that companies that say that they're accessible, and they have a lot of visible stuff relating to so called Accessibility, don't really need to prove it. I've seen any number of products that come out, or get updated over the years, and accessibility gets broken. That should never happen. I agree. And it's it's truly unfortunate that those those kinds of things occur. Yeah, of course, it's easy to sit here and say excessive he can help with, with APA well with internet stuff right now to address that. And we'll see what happens with apps down the line. But sure, but but the fact of the matter is inclusion is something that we all should take very seriously. And we should adopt a more inclusive mindset. There's there's nothing wrong with doing that. Dr. Hoby Wedler 49:17 No. It's important. Michael Hingson 49:21 Well, it is and we have to do our part. And I think you've said it very well. We do have to be the educators and we we must work in an environment where we don't get offended or upset when people ask us questions, especially when they're really legitimately and obviously trying to learn. The last thing we want to do is to not be good teachers and discourage people. No, that's Dr. Hoby Wedler 49:48 absolutely true. I would I would agree with that head over heels. Michael Hingson 49:54 So where do you go from here? What what's next in your adventurous life? Dr. Hoby Wedler 49:59 I think Working on this season's brand, getting it out there really, really trying to try to put together I'm actually working on a show right now just about experience in the food and beverage industry that we're going to try to popularize here. And that's going to be in the next probably latter half of say latter half, maybe mid mid part of, of 2022. And, yeah, just growing from there and see where see where the journey of food and beverage takes me. How's that? Michael Hingson 50:30 Can you tell us a little about the show? Or is it too premature? Dr. Hoby Wedler 50:32 It's pretty premature. I'll hold off on that. But I'll tell you why. After we do our pilot, maybe maybe you'll be kind enough to have me on again. And I'll tell you, Michael Hingson 50:41 I would love to and you know, of course, if you need another blind person to to volunteer in any way, let me know. Dr. Hoby Wedler 50:48 Thank you very much. I will do that. Even if tasting Michael Hingson 50:51 isn't my forte at the moment. Well, I can taste salt. But you also do some other work. You're involved with some other nonprofits. I know you're the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Euro bound Center for Dr. Hoby Wedler 51:05 the Blind. You and I both care deeply about the Euro bond center and are on the board. This great, it's a blindness Training Center in Santa Rosa, California, serving four counties, Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Mendocino, and I live in Petaluma, which is in Sonoma County. And it's pretty great to have an awesome training center in our backyard. Michael Hingson 51:27 It's it's interesting, because during the pandemic, URL by Baum did some very interesting things to help keep classes going. And I know you did. And I participated remotely in some of the orientation and mobility classes in some of the other classes. Partly for encouragement, but also partly to help teach alternative techniques and use our skills to help people understand even if it's remotely how they can use good cane skills and other skills to be able to function. I was really impressed with Earl balms innovative approach to that because I saw other agencies that didn't do nearly as much of that. They had this well suspend classes until the the pandemic was over or until it lessened. Right, I'm not sure as you I'm not sure if it's over or not, or close to being over. But Earl balm was very creative in some of the things that it did. Dr. Hoby Wedler 52:28 Well, they pivoted in less than a week. It was really fast. Yeah. And really cool to see, by the way. Michael Hingson 52:36 And and they've done it well. Yeah, they have. Dr. Hoby Wedler 52:39 Yeah. Well, I also serve on the board of the Petaluma Educational Foundation, where basically fund or private foundation funds, grants and scholarships to students all over Petaluma. So I have fun with that, too. More than chemistry, Michael Hingson 52:53 I hope. Dr. Hoby Wedler 52:55 We do fund all programs. Yes. Yes, that's right. That's cool. That's fun. It's fun to get out there and be involved. Michael Hingson 53:04 And that's, that's really it. Right? It's, it's all about having fun and enjoying what you do Dr. Hoby Wedler 53:10 is because when you do that, it doesn't feel like work. Michael Hingson 53:14 And an incentive really isn't. Well there any last things you'd like to say any last thoughts you have that you want to leave with people. Dr. Hoby Wedler 53:22 Don't forget to live life with the most positive mindset you can have. And a great way to feel good about yourself is to challenge yourself and succeed. So I always say, abundance mindset, the more people you know, the better. The more opportunities you have in the world, the better just Just live your life to the best of your ability. And don't forget to have a little fun while you're doing it. Michael Hingson 53:47 And that makes you unstoppable. And I that's exactly what it's all about. And that makes anyone who does that unstoppable will hope you Wendler, thank you for being with us on unstoppable mindset today. It's been a lot of fun. One more time, how can people reach you and Dr. Hoby Wedler 54:03 just visit hoby.com That's the best way to get in touch with me. All my contact info is there and there's a contact form. You can find our Hoby's Essentials product line there. You know you see a link right from that website to us. So that's that's the hub for everything. Michael Hingson 54:24 Cool. Well thank you for being here. And if and if any of you listening will please do so I hope that you'll go to your podcast host or you can go to MichaelHingson.com/podcast that's M I C H A E L H I N G S O N.com slash podcast and give us a five star rating. We would appreciate your ratings and your comments. You're also welcome to reach out. To me. The easiest way is through email. You can email me at MichaelHI M I C H A E l H I At accessiBe.com. accessiBe is spelled A C C E S S I B E. So Michaelhi@accessibe.com. we'd love to hear from you hear your thoughts what you think about the show. And hopefully you or anyone listening if you think of others who ought to be guests on on the unstoppable mindset podcast would definitely appreciate you letting us know and and suggested many others. Well, great, we we hope that you will fill our calendar with Dr. Hoby Wedler 55:30 lots of will not be I will not be shy to introduce you. Michael Hingson 55:33 Please do not be shy and we won't be shy about inviting you back. So well. Thank Dr. Hoby Wedler 55:38 you very much Michael Hingson 55:39 me posted and we'll we'll Dr. Hoby Wedler 55:40 I shall. Thank you, Michael. It's been a pleasure. Michael Hingson 55:45 Thanks again. Hopefully this has been really fun, which is of course what you want us to do. 55:49 Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Michael Hingson 55:59 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.
Dr. Hoby Wedler is an entrepreneur, chemist, visionary, and teacher. He is a passionate scholar who helps brands think beyond the visual and embrace all of the senses. Dr. Wedler has been completely blind since birth. In 2016, he earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry, and he continues to pave the way for others to join him in following their passion, regardless of the challenges that lie ahead. Dr. Wedler is the Vice Chairman of the Board for the Earle Baum Center of the Blind and the Vice President of the Petaluma Educational Foundation. He is also the US Client Services Director of Tucker Creative and a Founding Partner of Senspoint. Dr. Wedler's long list of achievements includes being recognized by Barack Obama as a “champion of change” for enhancing employment and education opportunities for people with disabilities. Forbes Media also named Dr. Wedler as a leader in food and drink in the annual “30 Under 30” publication. In this episode: According to Dr. Hoby Wedler, we use our eyesight to take in 85 to 90 percent of our surroundings, compared to the mere 10 to 15 percent of the other four senses. Even in the craft beverage industry, our eyesight keeps us from fully experiencing the richness of all five senses. So, how can you create an immersive, sensory experience, and what will it do for your business? Dr. Wedler is changing the world one bottle at a time through sensory literacy experiences like “Tasting in the Dark,” where guests explore the world through their non-visual senses. With a heightened awareness of these underutilized senses, people can gain more of an appreciation and understanding of the world around them. Plus, you can focus on the non-visual senses to create a great customer experience for your winery! In this episode of Legends Behind the Craft, Drew Hendricks is joined by Dr. Hoby Wedler, an entrepreneur, chemist, visionary, and teacher. Together, they talk about how to accelerate happiness by enriching the moments that matter through sensory experiences. Dr. Wedler shares his insight into the non-visual senses and explains how to create an inclusive, collaborative community. Plus, Dr. Wedler offers his advice for making your business stand out through multisensory branding. Stay tuned!
Schools have typically supported our students' emotional needs in real time through counselors, educational programs, and direct teacher outreach. Over the last challenging 12 months, those needs have heightened and, especially in remote learning, addressing them has been a challenge for our educators. Today's episode shares a unique way that schools can support children's emotional needs as well as remedy Zoom fatigue! Make sure to listen all the way through for a special treat at the end of the episode. About Our Guest: Jared Campbell, Singer/Songwriter Jared Campbell is an award winning singer/songwriter from Upstate New York and has been traveling the country performing for thousands of people and hundreds of schools over the past decade. He's shared the stage with Jason Mraz, The Zac Brown Band and even Journey! His music has also been featured on MTV and he's been acknowledged by Billboard Magazine as one of the top independent musicians in the northeast. His main focus is allowing his music to impact the lives of his listeners by experiencing joy, finding comfort through pain, and looking past obstacles towards living a better life. His songs are said to be uplifting, thought provoking and emotionally heartfelt. Jared mixes humor, stories of life on road and personal experience to relate to the audience set before him. Young people have walked away with life changing experiences such as finding their true passion in life, appreciating others around them and ceasing to bully those that are different, stopping their attempts at suicide and forming life lasting relationships with the friends and family surrounding them. He pursued a career in music from an early age, which earned him spots on national stages with many top performers. He was thrust into the school system in 2006 when he saw the need for character education through the power of music. He recognized that his songs spoke to the heart of the issues that many young people were facing including suicidal thoughts, self harm, bullying, troubles at home etc. Since he began performing in schools he has literally crossed state lines from the northeast to California speaking for thousands of young people and has had the opportunity to be the keynote for many national and state conferences with groups like HOSA, 4H, FBLA, Prevention Links, School Counselor Associations, HOBY and the list goes on. You can find him at jaredcampbell.com. This show is brought to you by K-12 Clothing. K-12 Clothing is a PTA-Dad created business focused on providing high-quality school apparel while increasing access to educational resources through fundraising in schools. Learn more at k12clothing.com
I had the honor to interview Brian Bogert who for me, is a real life superhero in a sense. He has dealt with his share of adversity and he continues to brush himself off while continuing to bust through barriers to create his best self. I admire all that he has accomplished in his life and he's here to help other accomplish the same and more. He goal to impact over a billion people is lofty yet if there is anyone who can do, I'm putting my money on Brian. This was a special episode as Brian was so gracious and share so much and sometimes the conversation gave me a lump in my throat as we went deep. I sure hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did creating it with Brian. Thanks for listening! Much love, Joe Brian Bogert: Human Behavior and Performance Coach, Keynote Speaker, YouTuber, Podcaster and Course Creator Founder - Brian Bogert Companies Website: https://brianbogert.com/ No Limits: https://brianbogert.com/no-limits/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogertbrian/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bogertbrian YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmhaMgY8q-tMMCj0rpGg7iw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-brian-bogert-companies/ Email: info@brianbogert.com Podcast Music By: Andy Galore, Album: "Out and About", Song: "Chicken & Scotch" 2014 Andy's Links: http://andygalore.com/ https://www.facebook.com/andygalorebass If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. For show notes and past guests, please visit: https://joecostelloglobal.libsyn.com Subscribe, Rate & Review: I would love if you could subscribe to the podcast and leave an honest rating & review. This will encourage other people to listen and allow us to grow as a community. The bigger we get as a community, the bigger the impact we can have on the world. Sign up for Joe's email newsletter at: https://joecostelloglobal.com/#signup For transcripts of episodes, go to: https://joecostelloglobal.lybsyn.com Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joecostello Transcript Joe: Ok, today, I want to welcome my guests, Mr. Brian Boger. Brian, welcome. Brian: What's up, Joe, I love I love that shirt you're rockin no limits, soldier, right there. I Joe: Hey, Brian: Love it. Joe: There you go. You know what? So since we're talking about the shirt, we've brought it up. Explain to me the purpose behind this shirt. I know that you give all the money away to Brian: One hundred Joe: Charity. Brian: Percent of the proceeds, huh? Yeah, so I'll first describe kind of what no limits is just high level and then we'll talk about kind of where this is. No limits is is part of our branding. And it's this belief that I genuinely feel like we all can live with no limits. It's not that we're unlimited and we can do anything we want. It's that we can live significantly beyond the limits we place on ourselves and certainly be on the way the world has placed limits on us. And so that infinity sign, there's a lot of intentionality around it, which is really about awareness and intentionality and how those weave together to help us find who we are so we can live with no limits with our life in alignment. And so as we've been building this brand, there's always been this altruistic philanthropic side of me. Everything I do and desire for me to be financially successful is also for my ability to distribute that wealth back out into the community. So when we had an opportunity that people started to really attach to the brand and what they were doing were like, you know what, let's make some apparel. And we've got, I think, five different t shirt designs, both in men and women. We actually also have a dog design, too. I'll explain that in a second. Brian: But the reason we did it is one hundred percent just to allow people to attach to it. You see, there's not Brian Bogot companies and stuff written all over it. Right? It's really the infinity in no limits and embedding people in that. And one hundred percent of the proceeds are going to nonprofits that we're going to rotate on a quarterly basis. And so, you know, it's just another cool way. You know, I'm not gonna make a bunch of money off t shirts. That wasn't something that needed to move the needle. But, you know, people can attach to the brand and feel like they're doing something better. Their investments also helping more lives. And a big part of who I am, I'm on a mission to impact a billion lives by twenty, forty five. This is just another way to perpetuate that. The dog shirts are that we're an animal family and my wife is like obsessed with them. And she's like, we can't have apparel without matching dog apparel, which just saw me die laughing because I still think it's so ridiculous. But I love my wife to death and every time my animals wear clothing, it just makes me laugh. But it's been cool because, yeah, those are those who go to support our local Humane Society and ASPCA as well. So some of the proceeds. Joe: That's great. Yeah, and it's a beautiful shirt. I'm always nervous about when you can't you can't feel it first, but when I took it out, I was like, I don't know. I've been in the gym a lot lately. I might be a little a little too big for him. It's like fit perfect. It makes me actually look better than I should look. So I Brian: Well, Joe: Appreciate Brian: You know, Joe: It. Brian: I'm super anal about t shirts as well, so I'm actually happy that he said that because I before we ever posted them, before we started selling them, we actually tested a bunch of shirts. And I wanted to make sure that they fit and they felt like I like shirts to fit. Not that that means everybody else needs to like what I like. But I've had so many other t shirts and different apparel that they just don't fit right in. You never wear it. And I'm like, if I if I'm going to buy something for my own brand or have something for somebody else, I want something that people feel comfortable in. Joe: Yeah, Brian: So Joe: Yeah, Brian: I'm Joe: So Brian: Happy that you feel that way. Joe: Yeah, and besides wearing it out like normal, like this with her jeans and whatever, I definitely am going to get some more because I think it's cool and it'll be a gym shirt for me. And then I think people will come to me and go, that's cool, what is that? And then send more people your way. So that's my goal. Brian: I'm so grateful, yeah, for the gym one, you're going to get one of those embrace pain to avoid suffering shirts. That's Joe: There you go. That's Brian: That's Joe: Right, Brian: That's that's the motto in the gym that's Joe: That's Brian: Going to help push you, man. Joe: Right. All right, deal. So I always I know you've told your story a zillion times, I'm sure. And I want you to tell as much or as little as you want to bring us up to today. So however, you can kind of let the audience Brian: All Joe: Know. Yeah. Brian: Hold it a million times, so I feel like I know the points I want to hit, so I'll just I'll just run with it. I'm going to ask you and anybody who's listening, unless they're driving to just close your eyes for just one second. And I want you to imagine going to a store, having a successful shopping trip, heading back out to your car. And it's a beautiful day. And you think you're just going on with the rest of your life like it was just any other normal shopping trip. And then you get to your car and you turn your head and you see a truck barreling 40 miles an hour right at you with no time to react. Go and open your eyes. That's where this portion of my story begins. My mom, my brother and I went to our local Wal-Mart to get a one inch paint brush. And anybody who's known me followed me or even in the few minutes we've been talking can probably tell. I've always had a lot of energy. It's the first one of the car and not a surprise to my mom because I want to get home and put that paint brush to use. You know, this is back in the days, though, before they had key fobs. So I had to literally wait for my mom and brother to close the gap of those four or five feet, catch up, stick the key in the door and unlock it to get on the other way. Brian: And as it happened, the truck pulls up in front of the store and a driver, a middle passenger, get out. And the passenger all the way to the right felt the truck moving backwards. So he did what any one of us would do, Joe, and he screwed up and put his foot on the brake instead of the gas combination of shock and forced Zoom up onto the steering wheel, up onto the dashboard. And before you know it, he's catapulting across the parking lot 40 miles an hour right at us with no time to react. Now, we were in that spot, so we went up into the median, went up to the car in the median, ultimately knocked me to the ground, ran over me diagonally, tore my spleen, left the tire tracks, scar on my stomach and continued on to completely sever my left arm from my body. So there I am laying on the parking lot on one hundred and fifty three day in Phoenix, Arizona, my mom and brother just watched the whole thing happen and they look up and they see my arm 10 feet away. Fortunately for me, so did my guardian angel. She saw the whole thing take place, she was a nurse that walked out of the store right when this happened. Brian: She saw the literal life and limb scenario in front of her and she rushed immediately into action. She focused on life. First, she came over and stopped the bleeding and she saved my life. And then she instructed some innocent bystanders to run inside, grab a cooler filled with ice and get my detached limb on ice within minutes. Had she not done one or both of those things, I either wouldn't be here with you today or I'd be here with you today with the cleaned up stop. That's just the facts, right? So I will expedite a whole lot of the rest of that particular story. We can dig deeper if you want to. But as you can imagine, there was years of recovery that came from this. Twenty four surgeries and a whole lot of lessons and observations. What I've definitely learned is that I have an extremely unique story. I'm sure that your listeners weren't expecting it to go there today. But what I've also realized is that we actually all have unique stories. And what's important is that we pause and become aware of the lessons we can extract from those stories and then become intentional. How do we apply to our lives? And we all have the ability to do that. We also all have the ability to tap into the collective wisdom of other people's stories, to shorten our own curve, to learn something to share with you two primary ones. Brian: And then we'll just see where the conversation goes. The first is I learned not to get stuck by what has happened to me, but instead get moved by what I can do with it, and the second I didn't realize until far later. I was a kid. I was seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 years old when I was going through the meat of all of this. Yes, I was the one doing the the therapy. Yes, I was the one having the surgeries done to me. But I was also being guided through the process. So I was a little bit in a fog. My parents, however, were not they were intimately aware of the unceasing medical treatments, years of therapy and the idea of seeing their son grow up without the use of his left arm was a source of great potential suffering for them. So they willed themselves day in and day out to do what was necessary. It was tough to embrace the pains required to ultimately strengthen and heal me. So whether it was intentional or not, what they did was they ingrained in me a philosophy and a way of living which I embody and everything I do now, which was to embrace pain, to avoid suffering. And I believe when that's done right, that's also where we gain freedom. Brian: So it's these concepts that I use to not only become this unique injury, but how my business partners and I scaled our last business to 15 million with the span of a decade. And now how is a human behavior performance coach and entrepreneur? I flip that on its head. You will have individuals and organizations just like you, just like the people listening, become more aware, more intentional, and who they already are, their most authentic selves. You see, I believe that's when magic starts to happen and the door starts to crack to perspective, motivation and direction. And that's when people have the opportunity to have joy, freedom and fulfillment and to back into their lives. And those are the reasons I'm spending the next twenty five years of my life committed to trying to impact a billion lives on this planet. Because if we can reduce the level of suffering that people experience, which there's a lot, and we give them the chance to experience joy, freedom and resentment, we give them the permission to be exactly who they are and know the world will embrace them and love them for exactly who they are. And we can bring vulnerability and authenticity into everything we do, which are the glue that binds human connection. Then we can come together and leave this world a lot more. Beautiful place for my kids, my grandkids. Joe: Well, let me start here first. Do you still are you still in contact with that nurse? Brian: You know, I am actually on a mission to find her right now. I've never spoken with her. And so part of the reason I also talk about that role in that process on so many platforms is I want there to be a lot of exposure and hopefully the world is going to help me track her down because I just want to say thank you. Joe: Sure, that time that I've heard the story, it was like, I need to ask him that question, I'm just wondering if they're in connection with each other. Brian: We're not I'm actively looking for her right now. Joe: Got it during the time you were going to school. How did you handle I would assume you were treated differently, right, Brian: Of Joe: By Brian: Course. Joe: Your by your friends and teachers and they always whatever the case might be. How did you handle that? Brian: Yes, so I think I handled it from a place to survive and protect myself, although I didn't realize that's what I was doing until far later. I didn't I didn't like being the center of attention and I didn't like. Being defined. By boundaries that were placed upon other people's view of what they'd be capable of in my scenario, and so I got this really adamant approach to I'm not going to be defined by those boundaries and I'm going to break beyond boundaries for my entire life, because why not? If I want to do something, the limitation is inside. Right. I need it. And there may be a physical limitation in some ways, but like I can always overcome the physical limitation. If I have a will and desire, that's great enough. But what happened right to protect myself is I created this intellectual narrative, which was I'm good, I'm strong, I'm capable. I don't need anybody's help. And it served me really well for a long time during that period of time, I was able to really hone my emotional intelligence because I got so good at wanting to divert attention from me that I got very strong in my ability to read people, read environments, read situations so that I could almost ensure that that attention wasn't on me. And so it honed those skill sets. And it also honed my mental toughness, which, again, I'm a huge believer is a big part of the equation to be kind of successful. That intellectual narrative ended up biting me later in life. And when I was 20 years old, I broke my arm in a snowboarding injury. Brian: Compound fracture almost lost it again. And that was the moment that I realized the power of our narratives because the world bought into mine. I had I had sung that preached that narrative so strong. I never even said those words right. That's just the message that I was sending with my energy and how I showed up and how I interacted. And now all of a sudden, I'm in my most vulnerable period ever as an adult, not having the same infrastructure and support system that I had at home that I probably took for granted up until that point, how much support I had. Now, sitting in this vulnerable position, I didn't have the courage to ask for help. So I had a lot of friends, a lot of family. Nobody showed up and they didn't show because they didn't love me or didn't care about me. And they showed up because they just believe Brian's goody strong is capable. He doesn't need anybody else. And so that's kind of the during that whole school adolescent period. Right. It was really about me proving that I could overcome the physical limitations, that I could protect myself, that I could get myself there. But what I really downplayed the importance of was the importance of human connection. So that whole next year of my life, I shifted to vulnerability and authenticity and how do I hone the relationships that I was developing so strongly through emotional intelligence to be able to focus on a true connection. Joe: So it sounds like your parents were super special. Did they go out of their way and whatever normal way for them to handle it, to not limit you from doing anything like when somebody knocked on your door and said, hey, can Brian come out and play and we're going to play football? Did they say, Brian, go have fun? Like, is Brian: Yeah. Joe: That the approach they took? Brian: You know, nobody's ever asked me that question, you just gave me chills when you asked that. I think it's a blend, honestly. They did. They never wanted to be the reason that I didn't do something. But as you would expect, all parents have a protection mechanism that kicks in. So immediately after the accident, I was I was in slings and during surgeries for a few years. And so that first year after the accident, no, I wasn't going out and playing at the level that I would have right between seven and eight. But it wasn't long after that that it was it opened up. We started having good friends in the neighborhood. We played football in the street. We played basketball on the street. We rode bikes nonstop. And so they were never going to tell me that I couldn't do those things. Now, what they didn't want me to do, they didn't want me to join a football team where we were playing tackle because for obvious reasons, I get hit really hard on that arm. Even though the doctor said the bone wasn't strong, we don't know. Right. So so they would limit it in terms of like, exactly the application. But at the same time, they got so used to me doing what I was doing that whenever the phone rang and it was somebody a number that my mom didn't know back then, she was expecting insert branded something again because I needed I think they appreciated the fact that that's who I was when I was born. Brian: I mean, I was always the guy that was pushing the limits even before this. This gave me perspective in humility that I wouldn't have had otherwise. And so they at least were aware enough to recognize, like Brian's got a higher risk threshold and probably has an even higher one after the accident than he would have had anyway. And they they knew that they needed to give me those outlets to be able to spread my wings and be free. So they always encouraged. Right. Like, if I wanted to go mountain bike and do jumps, they'd be like, OK, you're going to get hurt. And then if I got hurt, we'd figure it out. Right? I mean, within reason, they gave me the freedom. I think they made the right decision to not let me play tackle football. Who knows what could have happened, but did I play on other sports teams? Absolutely. So, yeah, I think my parents really did encourage and they still do to this day, despite the fact that they know you know, I think my mom has just gotten used to constantly being on edge, like expecting that Brian is going to do something crazy and get hurt. That's how we find our limits in this world, is we've got to push them. Joe: Well, tell her to not follow your Instagram account so she doesn't have to see you squatting. Four hundred pounds. I saw that. I saw the photo of you sitting there. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I can't watch this. This is killing me. Brian: Well, I mean, and that's one of those things I had to learn, right? I mean, my biggest limitation for some of those things is my hand strength. And so I have to get creative and I figure out how to do things. And when I first started deadlifting, I mean, I knew I couldn't deadlift with a normal bar because of the imbalance in my body already, but I could deadlift with a bar and protect myself for the most part. Well, that worked really well until the one time that my strap broke Joe: Oh. Brian: While I was lifting. And this was like early on. So I had to, like, learn these things. Well, my instinct wasn't to just let go of the bar on the other side. And I think so what you saw the other day, I wasn't 400 pounds. I think it was two hundred and Joe: Yeah, Brian: Forty. Joe: I know, I just I couldn't remember, Brian: But Joe: But. Brian: But I but I have I have reps significantly above 300 pounds. I don't say that to impress. I rest to the point I was doing that in this one scenario when the strap broke and I didn't let go on my right hand because it wasn't instinct, because I wasn't expecting the strap to break. And this was a learning experience because it tweaked me really bad. And I mean, I didn't deadlift for a few months after that. I had to recover. But once I started getting back into it, it changed my form. It changed my focus, it changed my attention. And now I'm like intimately aware of, like every movement on the strap. And I'm like ready at any moment to just drop so that I don't tweak my back. But my core strength is a big part of my ability to not be in debilitating pain every single day. Those deadlifts keeping my upper thoracic, keeping my shoulders, keeping my back because I don't have a lot on the left side of my back, keeping them strong is essential for me to not be literally in debilitating pain every day. Brian: And so those are the those are the pains I have to embrace. I've got to embrace the pain of figuring out how do I lift in a way that pushes my body, gets the hip hinge in there, gets the movement, my back and my core strength and all that stuff engaged in a way that's going to allow me to maintain a livable amount of pain in my back because the imbalance versus debilitating suffering. So it's funny that you mention that. But yeah, I think my mom is just used to it. My wife is too. I mean, my wife is incredible. She literally is like I know that if you set your mind to something, you're just going to go do it. And there's a high degree. At some point you going to get hurt. She's like, but what am I going to, like, box you in and continue? Like, you're just going to go do it anyway. I was like, yeah, see, like, I love that, right? It's like just let people let people spread their wings. Joe: That's right. Well, that's great before we get off of this subject and move on. I know that you and Blake do mountain biking, Brian: Yeah, we do, Joe: Right? Brian: Yeah. Joe: And that's like a big thing he loves to do with you and you with him. And so that's got to be at least I mean, I've done it and that's a lot on the arms. Brian: Yes, so what's funny is I have no other perspective because I didn't learn how to mountain bike until after my injury, I didn't I didn't learn how to mountain bike when my when my son did at five and six and seven. So, yeah. It isn't in balance. Yeah, it is difficult. And I did it for almost. Let's see, I did it for probably 20 years before I actually started adapting my bike. And so there's no tricep, so Tricep and Laerte are the two muscles that you absorb, all of it, all of the impact with when you're mountain biking outside of the suspension. So I don't have a lot of tricep. So there's an automatic imbalance in my body, but I've learned how to balance it because I didn't know any other way and I was motivated and wanted to do it. Mountain biking is one of the few places that I'm absolutely free. And the reason I'm absolutely free there is I don't have the ability to think about anything else. Almost any other workout I do, almost anything I do like there's time to think. Mountain biking, you've done it right. You know, like you've got to be on your game. Brian: One hundred percent focused on what's ahead of you. And so because of that, I've learned how to how to modify my body, my weight distribution, the way that I actually handle the handlebars. But two years ago about I started researching modifications for people with upper extremity injuries. And I landed with this company in the UK that they're actually right now building a product for me that I think is going to take my mountain biking to the next level, which is cool. But what I did is I got a steering stabilizer almost like the ones they have on their bikes. There's a company in the US called Hoby and they make these steering stabilizers for for mountain bikes. So I ended up getting that which what it essentially does is it's a spring unit which snaps the bars back to being straight. I thought it was going to help me more going downhill than uphill. What's crazy is it's actually helped my climbing more than anything because I can pick a line and put all the power I need to in the pedals and not worry about the imbalance in the handles, because it'll it'll keep my lane pure Joe: Yeah. Brian: And with slight, rigid and then downhill. It just gives me more confidence as well, because if I were to hit a bump and it goes on the left side, your weight goes forward, the handlebars collapse. Right. And just like twist the bars, this steering stabilizer stabilizer allows me to balance it with the muscle structure having the right arm and how I can balance my body on the left and then hope, hope he breaks is also another brand that I actually found out they just released this last year, a brake unit that has two master cylinders in one unit so you can have your front and your rear brake both on the same side. I've always never used the front brake in mountain biking Joe: Sure, Brian: Because my right Joe: All that Brian: Side Joe: Pressure. Brian: Is always Joe: Yes. Brian: What you want to be able to use primarily anyway, right? Whereas road biking, which I do a lot of the front brake is more important. Mountain biking, the rear one's more important. So I was always able to get around the corners, but I never had the confidence that I could actually stop and modulate my brakes effectively. So I would take things a little more cautiously now that I have these brakes on both sides and I can truly modulate, like just with, like little twitches in my fingers and the steering stabilizer and it's changed my mountain biking game. I can go out there and rip at a level that I've never been able to with confidence. And then there's like I said, these are these two other products that I'm really excited about. But, you know, one of the things I never knew any different, I wanted to do it and I figured it out. And I think that, again, that's one of those things that I could have just told myself, like, nope, you can't do it. You don't have tricep, you don't have a lot. But I genuinely believe if you want something badly enough and you take the time to think, plan and put things into trial and error, you start to realize you can do a lot more than what the world conditions us to believe we're capable of. Mountain biking is just another example for me on many things that I've been able to break those boundaries and expectations. I see I go mountain biking. People are like, how do you do it? I'm like, how do you do it? I mean, you could you could explain to me with a fully abled body how you do it, but I wouldn't understand because that's not my experience. Joe: Yeah, that's crazy. So, Blake, is your son Addisons, your beautiful redheaded little daughter? With what happened to you, do you believe that certain people on this earth are have the power to get through some of these things where I just think about what you've gone through? I think about even my own brother, who, when he was young, why they were there at my parents house, they were splitting wood with one of those hydraulic splitters. That goes really slow. Right. But the Brian: Oh, Joe: Log Brian: Yeah. Joe: Slipped and he had like these two fingers crushed Brian: Yeah, Joe: And Brian: Yeah. Joe: Then, you know, reconstructed but not usable in a sense. Then he lost his son at 21 years old in a car accident. And I think about this and I go, God, I. I am not I don't have the capacity to handle something like that. And I guess when it happens, it's different. Right? You figure it out. But I almost feel like certain people I don't know if they just they're born to be able to handle these things. And if this is more for the audience Brian: Yeah. Joe: That might hear this and go, oh, God, there's all of these things that come into people's lives that they're they're given to deal with whatever that might be. And is it just the chosen ones that can handle it? That's why they've it just doesn't make any sense to me. So that's. Brian: Yeah, so. I really appreciate the direction your questions are going. By the way, I just have to compliment you on that. You're asking a depth of questions that don't often get contemplated. And I think that there's a lot of truth behind even what you said. You know, it's interesting if you even think about what you just said when you were talking about your brother, you say, I look at him and I'm not sure that I could have handled it. And the reason I pay attention to that is because that is what I truly believe in, how the world has viewed me, they have viewed my limits through their own lens of what they believe they're capable of. I don't think that people truly know what they're capable of until they're tested. And that can be done either intentionally or externally, right? Sometimes we get tested not by our choice. Clearly getting run over by a truck was not by my choice, but it was a test. And I could show my strength to myself into the world by how I stood back up and what I've now done with it. Why I say I have a unique story is it doesn't matter the trauma that I experienced because it's unique solely to me. The trauma that your brother experienced, the trauma that other people experience with divorce or loss of a loved one or financial despair or like you name it, we all have our own unique challenges that we face. And I don't care who you are, if you're still on this planet and you're still standing. You are a survivor. None of us get through this world unscathed. Brian: None of us. Perspective allows us to really pay attention to what other people are going through, but what perspective is really doing is allowing us the opportunity to get in someone else's world to gain perspective, to apply to our own. So it's not necessarily about what each one of us are inherently able to handle. It's that I think we're all dealt a unique set of cards and it's how we play those cards that matter. So the thing about pain, and I'm just going to speak to that, because my experience was pain, your brother's experience was pain. He had physical pain, probably emotional and spiritual pain with the loss of two fingers and a deep emotional, mental, spiritual, and probably manifested as physical pain with the loss of his son. Pain, that's what it is. Now, pain can't be measured independent of the person experiencing it. But the one thing we know is that it's a universal human experience, we all experience pain. And so what's important is not to question can I or could I have handled that? But just to say I've handled everything that's ever been thrown my way and I'm still standing here today. So what that tells me is you're probably capable of handling a lot more than you thought you were capable of at a prior period in your life. And if something were to happen that's devastating, right in that moment, you have to choose, is this going to define me and keep me stuck or am I going to use this as fuel to who I'm capable of becoming because of what I've gone through? That's why I said earlier I learned not to get stuck by what's happened to me, but I get moved by what I can do with it. Brian: I realize I have a gift not just in my own natural abilities and gifts and intuition and emotional intelligence and all the things. But this has given me perspective that I couldn't I couldn't have gained any other way. I can put myself in other people's shoes and know what it feels like to not be seen, to know what it feels like, to feel like nobody understands me, to know what it feels like, to have people question everything I'm capable of for my entire life, even if it has nothing to do with my physical ability, even if it's one hundred percent mental, one hundred percent job and application, they view me. As not capable of doing I know what that feels like and I've had to battle that my whole life, I don't know a single person on this planet who has never felt that way. We all feel that we all experience and it's real to each one of us uniquely so I know it's probably a lot longer of an answer than you were hoping for, but the depth of the question, I think, required that approach because it's not about what you believe you could handle based on other people's circumstances. It's about what you already have handled and what you're very capable of handling if you change the way you think and feel about what you're capable of, which, again, is typically limiting in our own belief system. Joe: So because we're doing this recording and you and I have not talked about what we could talk about or what we couldn't talk about, I want to ask this and obviously I can always edit it out. And you Brian: Free Joe: Know Brian: Game, buddy, go ahead, go ahead. Joe: What? So when does someone say, like, did you ever have these dark moments? And this is not the part of the question that I'm going to ask. This is just in front of it. And you ever have a moment that you said, why me? Like, did you ever Brian: Absolutely. Joe: Ok? Brian: Absolutely, and I have those moments still today when I get when I get hit with certain things. The reason I was able to shift out of that so quickly, I remember being seven years old and that was the first thing I remember when I woke up, one feeling like it was a dream. And then I was like in this hazy state of like what this altered reality felt like, it didn't feel real. And then it was probably a day or two before I really came to and was like awake, awake, not just like in that dazed awake. At least this is from memory, I don't know the exact timeline. This is just how I feel it. And I literally remember. That question. Weiming. What is the rest of my life going to look like, like this sucks. I felt sorry for myself. I was given the opportunity to snap out of that quickly because the uniqueness of my story drew a lot of attention to it and there was a lot of families in the ICU with us who were coming up to us saying, we're so sorry for what happened to you. This is so horrible. We can't believe how hard this must be for you as a family. Let us know whatever we can do to help. Just getting wrapped with love and support from strangers to strangers saved my life. Right. That's crazy to think about. A stranger went into action and saved my life. Had she not chosen to do that, I wouldn't be here. Brian: So I don't take that lightly, but what's happening in the ICU with these families is we start to realize that these families that are giving us just unfiltered support. Are also questioning whether or not their kid is going to survive another 30 days from the terminal illness that they're in the ICU with. Only immediate threat to my life and not at that moment knowing whether or not I'd be able to use my arm. I knew I'd be alive and over the course of the next ten years, being with those kids and all of us who wanted to rally around this cause to help more people, to bring perspective, motivation, direction to an organization that helped us so holistically in a healing process, either physically, emotionally, spiritually, whatever. Right. I lost multiple of them to their terminal illnesses over the course of the next ten years. And so although I don't think about them every day, when I'm asked questions like that, it really centers me on grounds me because I'm here happy, healthy and productive, living a life that many would dream of. And those kids didn't have the opportunity to do so. And so I have to just know and honor that it was me for a lot of reasons, I might not know all those reasons in this lifetime, I believe I know a lot of them at this point, but I still ask that question. I mean, last week was an unbelievably challenging week for me. Joe: I saw the story and, yeah, that's part of where, Brian: Yeah, Joe: You know, this Brian: I mean, Joe: Is Brian: Last Joe: Going. Brian: Week Joe: Yeah. Brian: Was an unbelievably challenging week for me, for a variety of reasons. One was around this fabricated reality, around a date that in some ways is very significant, in other ways is not significant. But coincidentally or coincidentally, I got kicked in the stomach multiple times last week. And yet it didn't really totally faze me in a way that brought me down to the deepest, darkest moments, because every time I face those things, every time I start to ask the question, why me? It starts to reveal itself faster and faster the more I go through the pain. And and and so I now have this element of trust in surrender where the literally last week I was like, why do I always have this stuff happening? Why am I the one that has to deal with this? Literally? I mean, I said to my wife last week and then in the same breath, I'm like, I know why. And so for those that did ask that question still. I would just encourage you to recognize that there absolutely is a resum. Nothing happens by accident. You could call this my accident, but this was for a purpose, it wasn't on purpose, but it was for a purpose. And I realize that now more holistically than I have in my entire life, but it's the same thing for everybody else. I mean, I guarantee that your brother has learned from his experiences and having to adapt and do things with the loss of two fingers. He's had to learn and adapt. What does it mean to be a parent? And there's so many are out there who live on their lives without their child. Still a part of it. Parents aren't meant to outlive their kids. Joe: Correct. What's Brian: Right, Joe: The what Brian: And. Joe: The worst car I could think of? Brian: And by the way, there was this pending doom around this date last week that was connected to that for me, as well as from a parent's lens now. And the data is reference to a couple times I didn't I didn't say specifically on the show, but this last Saturday, March 6th, was the day that my son, who's my little clone, my little mini me, my my only boy and my oldest. Was the exact same age to the day that I was on the day of my injury. Twenty nine years separated. And. There was a lot to that most of what happened in the 10 days leading up to it had nothing to do with my son. But they were absolutely clarifying moments that needed to take place in that window. And Saturday was kind of a new start for me and a whole variety of ways, which was just unbelievably cleansing and freeing and purifying. And so even the questions last week, why me? Why does this always happen to me? Why do I have to be the one to do this? We're very clear. I know, and I think all of us do we just fight and we resist because it's not in alignment with what the world tells us. It's not in alignment with what the narrative is externally. Right. But it's not about being the victim. It's about recognizing that if we have ownership and accountability with everything we do, we recognize that there's always a reason, there's always a cause, and there's always a way through it if we desire it enough. That's when we start to become free. Joe: Ok, so here's the the part where I want to talk about Blake and Addison really quickly, I don't want to stay because, you know, I know you're super productive, positive guy. And I don't want this episode to be like the Debbie Downer episode. But you went through a lot in your life up to this Brian: Yeah, Joe: Point. Right. Brian: Yeah, Joe: And Brian: A lot. Joe: Then, Blake, I remember you talking about this, so I'm only bringing this up because I think you've talked about Brian: Yeah, Joe: It and. Brian: I've shared publicly on stuff, I'm sure I know where you're going, Joe: Yeah, Brian: But go ahead. Joe: So so you said it is is on the spectrum, right, and so you there's an extra amount of attention that has to happen Brian: Of course, Joe: There. Right. Brian: Of course. Joe: So then you deal with that another moment where you said, why me? Like, I haven't I haven't. I gone through enough. Why me? Right. And then now you have yet a third time now with with Adderson with her here. Right. And I could be another time we go. What is it going to stop. Like why me. Right. I'm sure there's people out there that do not handle this anywhere near as well as you do. And I'm hoping your words of wisdom, if they run across this episode, that it will help them understand how you I mean, you can look at their beautiful faces and go, oh, it doesn't matter. You know, they're amazing. It just it's a it's a small little blip on the radar. But it's still some people can't even handle the bullet. So Brian: They Joe: That's, Brian: Can't. Joe: You Brian: They Joe: Know. Brian: Can't. And by the way, there's a lot more depth and truth to that statement than than you probably even realized, I mean, to the point that when we found out about our daughter's hearing loss. The audiologist actually said to us she does have loss and she could benefit from hearing devices. And I paused and I said. She could benefit, like are you saying she needs hearing aids, like is her hearing profound enough that it's not like she would benefit? She she needs it to restore it to what we would expect are going to be? And she said, yeah. I said, why didn't you just say that? And she said, because most parents don't want to hear it. And she said that even when they do want to hear it, she said, because of the reports that we get when we plug in hearing aids, even if they go through the process of getting hearing aids, even if they go through the process of doing these things, she said. Most kids, the hearing aids live in a drawer. Because of some reason, right, that either the parents don't think it's important they're embarrassed by their kid or whatever, like there's a whole slew of things. You're exactly right. And in both those moments, by the way, when we found out about our son's diagnosis on the autism spectrum and we found out about our daughter. Brian: It was it was challenging, right? It was absolutely challenging for both my wife and I and we both we both grieved in different ways. And why I choose the word grieve is any time we have a vision for our lives. And that reality that we've created gets stolen from us, we experience loss. We literally go through the grieving process, the multiple steps of grieving, sometimes it's anger that manifest first, sometimes it's just like absolute depression. But but recognize it for what it is like having something happen to your kid and realizing that they might have an altered future from what you always desired and hoped for them. You have to process that, but then once you process that and you start to realize like this doesn't define the kid, just like a mine accident didn't define me right. What this really does is it's a gift because what getting both of their diagnosis is as early as we did, what allows us to do is wrap them with services, wrap them with all the support they need to close the gap between whatever their diagnosis limits them from doing to what a typical kid might be capable of doing. It shortens that gap early in those foundational early development years so that it won't really ever hurt them. Brian: Plus, the more that we talk about it not as an ailment, but just a part of who they are, right. It's no longer a label. It becomes a term of empowerment because they recognize that like they have superpowers as a result of what their diagnoses are. So the answer is yes. There's there was absolute grieving for both my wife and I, for both children. We're well beyond that at this point. But it hung with us for a while. And and there are still moments where the difficulty and complexity of our household that most people will never understand and ours is light compared to what some other people's situations are. Right. So we keep that in perspective, too. Is it harder than most parents and most households might have to be? We believe so, but it's not about like we have got it more difficult than what they have. It's just this is the cards were dealt, so we're going to play them as best we can for both of our kids. We know how lucky they are to have us. My wife is brilliant. My wife is brilliant and what she has done to allow our kids to feel authentically who they are in safe, despite all of these things, despite the fact that they know they're different in certain ways and honoring and cherishing, encouraging them to just make do the things that make their hearts happy and stand up for what is right and know that they're worthy of receiving love like exponentially. Brian: And all these things, like my wife and I were partners, but our kids are lucky to have us at the counter to that is we also feel extremely privileged to have our kids because they have challenged me to go to depths of myself, my soul, my emotions that allow me to be more effective in the world. That had I not recognized those scenarios for what they were, which is we can handle them and let's figure out the plan forward. It probably would have made me feel stuck longer than it did. And so for those parents that are listening out there that might have kids like this or even if there's not a diagnosis, but you just have a challenging time or there's an injury or there's something like, again, nothing happens by accident. And so the only way through it is through it, and if you if you desire something on the other side, then you've got to go through and that's really what it comes down to. Joe: Really powerful and I appreciate you sharing leading up to this interview, I wanted to talk about those things and I was just like, I know he's talked about it, but I I didn't know how to actually go after it and Brian: You did it beautifully, my friend, it was Joe: Think Brian: Great. Joe: I'm grateful that you shared. And so, OK, so now you and I know this is a big jump, but I just want to I know we Brian: Yeah, Joe: Have limited Brian: No, let's go. We got it, yeah. Joe: We have limited time and I don't and I want to get to where you are today. So then you get into the insurance business. Correct. So you're in that for you grew a company. I think it was from like. Brian: Quarter million to 15 million over the span of a decade. Joe: You just picked that that was just a career that you pick at one point and. Brian: Yeah, you know what's funny, I saw depicted it sort of picked me up, I was my junior year in college, was deciding that I needed to go get an internship. And so I started looking at a whole bunch different places. And I actually ended up getting into insurance because my one of my childhood friends and my childhood girlfriend, in fact, that we grew up together. And a lot of ways I always had her parents were like second parents to me for a lot of years. And I always had a great lot of respect. But I always viewed her dad as this very successful man. But I knew nothing about what he did. And I reached out to him as a mentor, frankly, and just said, hey, I'm going out. I'm doing these interviews and I have these things. And I talked to my own parents and they're successful. They've done these things as well. But I wanted extra perspectives. And he ultimately was like, I'm going to pass on your resume to so-and-so. And if you don't get a call in three days, call me. I was like, OK, not a clue what it was. It was the only one that was in insurance. Right. Very, very amazing opportunity. And it just took off from there. And nobody grows up wanting to be an insurance, right? I mean, and if they do and if you're listening to this, I apologize if you always had a desire to be an insurance. I know there's some people who love it. I never loved it. It was a great vehicle for me. And it was a great testing ground for me to grow and develop who I was as a professional, who I was as a man. I kind of grew up in it, but yeah, no, I didn't seek out insurance. I kind of fell into it and it just it fit. Joe: Right. So while you were there with your inner voice saying there's more out there for me, I want to do more, whatever it might be. I mean, how did you make the jump then when you left Brian: Yeah. Joe: There to now what you're doing, which is the coaching and the speaking and and the podcast. And I mean, I, I look at your website and I get tired just looking at all the all the different menus that I could take a look at stuff. And then I went into the podcast when I was like, wait, is he doing actually three podcasts? Like, how is he doing all this? So how did you decide how did you decide you were going to leave insurance and then pursue the Brian Bogot we know today? Brian: Yes, so I'm going to start with the first question you asked, which was, did I always know? I knew for a long time I've always had this gut feeling that like there was something meaningful that I was meant to do. No idea what that meant. OK. And then I conditioned that out of myself, and when I first got out of college, it was like bright eyed and bushy tailed, I was going to go take over the world and make a ton of money. Right. I'm going I'm literally going to be running the company. I'm going to climb the corporate ladder. I mean, it was all external. And, you know, this is one of the things I talk about now is I chased the what like so many of us did. Right? I chased what house, what car, what amount of money, what amount of success, what image do I want to portray? What, what, what, what, what. And I lost the who along the way. And I woke up one day after having accomplished all the words that I ever desired, way earlier than I thought I would have, in a way bigger level than I ever thought I would. And I realized, like, what have I been doing all this for? The more money I made, the less I cared about money, the more I got into a successful career, the more I was like, why am I doing to myself? And then I'm running in circles with people making six, seven, eight figures who all were having high of success and they were all miserable to. Brian: And so those were the turning turning point moments over the probably the last seven to eight years, maybe six, seven years, if I'm being real honest, because when I first started coaching, it was because I had my son and I always said that I'm going to do everything for the benefit of my family always. And I did. But then six months went by when my son like that and I realized I missed all of it except the first week because I was burning the candle at both ends, I was still living the life that I was to create this abundant amount of external success and validation that I needed to prove to myself I could do it and I never recalibrated my life. So part of providing everything for my family is with finances and security and opportunity and safety and all those things. But but but it's also love and leadership and presence and connection. And I don't want to be that guy that did everything for his family, then woke up twenty five years later and never had a relationship with any of them. Brian: They decided that I didn't serve a role for them outside of money. It's not all about money. It never was all about money. And so it was the first in my life. I didn't have the people in my life, the mentors, the experience or the intellect myself to figure out how to fix it. So I hired my first coach. And he said to me, a month of working together, because you're going to be doing this, like, what are you talking about? He said you need to be coaching and speaking. So you've been on stages since you were seven because you've got a unique ability or a unique story and you have an ability that you're not afraid in front of groups. And he's like, you're all about building people and building businesses. Like you're always helping. You're always finding ways to level people up. You're always helping them connect dots. And I was like, yeah, whatever. I was like, I'm paying you a lot of money. Not that's how great I have to figure out this stuff. And I completely threw it out the window. And then it just kept trickling. It kept trickling in every single month for about nine months. Brian: And then this crazy experience happened, which again, nothing happens by accident. But the universe gave me the sign that I needed, which was he told me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear. And that's when I started to desire a little bit more and started to feel like maybe I wasn't in alignment. But I had to ask the question if I'm going to jump in being in coaching, is this complementary or conflicting to everything else I had because I was so significantly invested mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually and monetarily. Right. In this other business that we built, that was the fruits of its labor were just starting to pay off. And it's like, let's let's make sure that we forge ahead on what we're doing here. So I started coaching and speaking and I did it alongside for about five years and then summer of twenty nineteen comes around. And again, I told you, I'm running in circles with people that are miserable. And I realized my relationship with my clients started shifting to more coaching relationships. We were placing multi million, hundreds of millions, tens of millions of dollars of insurance for people. And my conversations had nothing to do with insurance with the people that I was actually interacting Joe: Right. Brian: With at the C Suite. Joe: Yeah. Brian: Right. I was coaching them on how to be better people, how to be better leaders, how to change the culture of their business, think through and problem solve on things that really had nothing to do with insurance. But the insurance was how we were in the door. And so the more that started to migrate, we have this connection moment summer twenty nineteen with my wife and I. We go away for a weekend and it was one of those that like mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally, like brother, like our souls were bonded like we were one and we're driving back to pick up our kids and she looks, everybody goes, how would you feel if you did have to go to the office on Monday morning? And I was like, that's a pretty loaded question. Joe: No. Brian: Why don't you tell me more? Well, I had some other I had some other health stuff that impacted me pretty significantly a few years back. I'm good now. It's all all squared away. But she said, I think you let some of this stuff allow fear to enter into your world in a way I've never seen you operate. She said, I feel like you've convinced yourself that we need the money, the status, the prestige, the security, the all of the above, what's been built. She said, I'm here to tell you we don't I don't care if we live in a cardboard box. What we need is one hundred percent of you. And she said, I don't know if you see it or not, but I see you dying a little bit inside every single day. You live in insurance. And and so she said, I think you're barely scraping the surface of your potential, nor do I think you have any impact on the world that you want. And then she said, you know, there's nobody on this planet I'd rather take a bet on than you. We took a big bet on you once and it paid off. Why don't we double down on that bet and see what you can do? And so, you know, this was one of those moments where I was flooded with fear, flooded with a whole bunch of emotions. And I had to spend three months really unpacking it with complete awareness, complete intentionality, understanding where my blocks were and ultimately came to the decision that I needed to embrace the pain of walking away from the easy button, from the sure thing, to avoid the suffering of not ever knowing what I could become or what I'd be capable of doing from an impact perspective. Brian: So you fast forward to today and you know, I spent 10 months unpacking that business left at the time, the best year ever in that industry, the year I left and was simultaneously building the foundation for where we could go. And, you know, I'm not sure if I said it or not yet on this show. I think I did. Yeah, but but that's that's now where I'm so clear and convicted on this billion lives. I genuinely believe, like we've got an opportunity to to change the world and make people feel at a level that they've never felt and feel free. And so I know what that miserable, dark place looks like. I've spent a lot of my life in moments like that. No one deserves to feel that way, but a lot of people do. And right now, I feel more free, more fulfilled, happier and more like myself than I have in my entire life. Everybody deserves to feel how I'm feeling right now. And so when I started to get the curiosity, I didn't even lean into it. My wife pushed me. And she, along with my other coach, told me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear, and it's not lost on me, the courage it took in my wife to take that leap of faith with me and give me the push knowing it could upset her entire lifestyle. And so that's what I had to honor because my kids are watching, I don't want my kids to see me do what I want my kids to see me do what's right. Joe: Incredible. I love it, so your podcast, what are there, is there are there three, is that Brian: You Joe: Right Brian: Know what, I actually Joe: Or. Brian: Don't even have my own yet, Joe: Ok. Brian: I I'm in the process of developing a few. What you've probably seen as I have Bogarts Bullets, which is a regular consistent thing, but and it's going to be repurposed into a podcast. But right now it's just on YouTube and it goes on all my social channels. We have a marriage hack's string that we've started that my wife and I, we've now done we've only done one episode, but we repurpose it into three. And then my content team and strategist's decided that there are a whole lot of thought leaders, influencers, speakers in the world that create intellectual content similar to what I have for years, Bogarts, bullets putting things out, podcasts, other pieces of content to get distributed. And then there's bloggers that are much more niche, but there's nobody that's doing both. And so he's like. If you talk about how you live, you talk about these philosophies, you talk about these guiding principles, these lessons, these things that you do. Why don't we pull the curtain back and show people behind the scenes that that's actually how you operate. And so those are the three things that you've probably found is bogus bullets, the marriage tax and then the No Limits blog. And all three of those, although they're not currently set up as podcasts, one of them will be repurposed that way. And then I'm actually in the process right now. I'll be a co-host on at least two podcasts. We're going to be launching here soon, likely three if this other concept takes off. The podcasting world has kind of changed my world in a lot of ways, in a way I never saw coming. And I've been on over one hundred and fifty other people shows in the last seven, eight months, and it's allowed me to have opportunities to meet people like you. Right. And the connection with Ken Joslyn and Steve Sams. Right. Which both were people that I was on their platforms, on their shows. Like it's allowed me to align myself with incredible individuals on this planet so that we can truly have collective impact. So those are the three shows that currently exist. But they're not podcast currently. Joe: Got it. OK, so you have things coming up, I know that you're doing the Ken Joslin's Brian: Yep, Joe: Boot camp, right? Brian: Yep, yep, I'm doing his boot camp in April, I've done two of his I've got some other speaking events coming up. And then we've also got a few things launching that I'm really excited about. So we're still doing all of our work with no limits university, which is really like the concepts and the philosophies to help people understand who they are, leading them on intrinsic journey. But we also have another entity in a movement that's called Who before what that's launching as we speak, which is really an attempt to help us change the language and narrative in society about putting more emphasis on what we do versus who we are. And it's not that one or both don't matter. It's that they both matter. But one needs to lead, which is who. And so we're going to change the narrative because it's this whole idea that you go to a networking event. And the first question everybody asks is, what do you do? And even if you asked who you are, like, tell me who you are. Ninety eight percent of people answer with what they do, not who they are. Joe: So Brian: Part of the Joe: True. Brian: Pain and suffering that exists on this planet, as so many people don't know who they are. And so a lot of the core of the work with everything we do with our coaching and the No Limits university and those things are all about that. But we're actually creating a specific movement to bring into conscious awareness this idea of who needs to be before what. Joe: I love that is the university and the who before. What are they separate from your actual coaching piece Brian: They're Joe: That you Brian: All Joe: Do Brian: There, it's all kind of integrated, Joe: Ok? Brian: So, yeah, my my I would say my one to one coaching is the only thing that's kind of outside of that umbrella. It all fits on the same coaching philosophies. But just with the people I work with one to one, it's it's just inherently different than the other structure that we have. But it's the same philosophies, what you'll know about me and a lot of what we do with the no limits you and everything is this idea that we truly have the ability, if we are aware enough and influential enough to build a life of alignment that can become self-regulating. So for me, I'm very clear on who I am. I'm very clear on where I'm headed. I'm very clear on the impact I want to have, as well as the hierarchy of importance in my life. Family being first. Right. After that, because I'm so clear, everything I do is in alignment with where I'm headed. So when you ask the question, are they all, yeah, they're integrated because they're all holistically apart and in alignment of where we're going to impact a billion lives. How those are translated look a little bit different. But they are all towards the same intent, which is to impact a billion lives. Joe: So it's the YouTube channel, it's eventually some podcasts on their way. It's but no limits university. There's the Who before what portion of that? There's the coaching, which is one on one with you. Correct. Speaking engagements. When when? I mean, obviously, you still do it virtually, but you're actually going to be live at that bootcamp coming Brian: Yep, Joe: Up in Brian: Yep. Joe: April. So as that opens up again, I mean, when I watched you on the Growth Now summit, which I attended, your portion of, it was brilliant. I Brian: Oh, Joe: You Brian: Thank Joe: Know, I Brian: You. Joe: Just said, I mean, you're an amazing speaker. Brian: Thank you. Joe: You're just not talking to us. But you bring people in to the story. Brian: Thank Joe: And Brian: You. Joe: I just Brian: Thank Joe: Sat Brian: You. Joe: There and I was like, oh, this is unbelievable. Like, I would have paid thousands of dollars to Brian: Thank Joe: Watch. Brian: You. Joe: So it Brian: Thank Joe: Was amazing. Brian: You. Joe: Did I miss somewhere on your website? Because it's just so much on there. I can't figure out. Brian: No, Joe: But Brian: You Joe: Is Brian: Didn't miss you didn't Joe: It. Brian: Miss anything. There's going to be new sections actually built on the website, Zoom. Let's put it this way. You listed a lo
For more information on Alan, visit: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPKTLpvmGrT0JN_NGHv4BNQ/featured Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AlanCadiz/posts Lesson business: https://hstwindsurfing.com/hst/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hstmaui/ I hope you enjoyed this episode, more interviews coming soon! Episode Transcript: Aloha. It's Robert Stehlik with blue planet surf. Welcome to the third episode of the blue planet show all about Wingfoot foiling. And this episode is with Alan CodeHS and he is such an inspiration from the very early days of wing filing. He's put out great videos and content and all is always on the latest equipment. So it's really cool to be able to talk to him about the history of our young sport. And I just wanted it to say, honestly, that, I'm a little bit of an introvert. So for me to be able to reach out to these people and ask all these questions and what I want to know about. Yeah. And all that from my home office in the garage is such a cool thing and I really enjoying it. But to be honest, also, it is a lot of work to, set the appointments, prep for the interviews, film it, edit it, and then post it. So I'm not going to be able to do this on a weekly basis. But I'm shooting for every two to four weeks. I'm going to post a new show. This is my third show and I have another show lined up with Annie Reichert another interview coming up soon, and then I have a few more in in the works. Definitely going to keep them coming, but just not on a weekly basis. And of course, if you can't watch this whole video on YouTube, it's, it is a long interview. You can also listen to it as a podcast and on Android or Apple devices, you just open your podcast app and search for the blue planet show, and you'll be able to listen to it while you're driving or doing chores and so on. You can do other things while you're listening as well. So without further ado, please welcome the third guests to the blue planet show. Alan, Kunduz welcome to the show. It's great to have you. You've done so many great videos about wing filing and teaching people out to wink. I really appreciate that. And thank you for joining me on the show. So can we start a little bit about your background and just tell us a little bit how, your background and how you got into wink foiling eventually. Thank you, Robert. Thank you for having me on the show. I've enjoyed your first step. So it's yeah, in a wing foiling for me, like so many people have been, life-changing, it's so addictive and my path to wing foiling has been by chance, really. I come from a background of water sports But it turned out that my neighbor put together a wing to try on a foil board. Let me back up yeah start with how you grew up and all that, like way from the beginning. I'm from Kailua. Boy went to Caldwell high school grew up right near Kyla beach, just a short 32nd walk down to the beach and We lived in enchanted lakes when I was I think I went to third grade elementary, and then we moved down to the beach when I was 12 and it didn't take long before I started surfing. And the neighbor had a Hoby cat that I had access to. And when I. Turned 18. I started wind surfing. I worked at Froome sailing company. I don't know if you remember that little boat store, as you come into Kyla. And Dean was my mentor in the early days, taught me how to sail, set me up with my first wind surfer. Gave me time off to go winging or sorry, wind surfing. When the wind was up on and back then wind surfing was the rage, the addiction. And I. I went to college, but then I dropped out so that I could go wind surfing. I had a opportunity to go to Malaysia, to compete for Neil pride back then. And I thought this opportunity doesn't come along too often. I'm going to take a semester off and go to Malaysia and wind surf. And that turned into about a 10 year career in wind surfing, competitive wind surfing. And I ended up on Maui. The wind is so strong over here. I came over for a month to a two Winser for a month prior to one of the contests. And after the contest was over, I was pretty settled in and there wasn't any need to rush home and ended up staying on Maui on. And I had spent a number of years training and competing and, but I wondered, am I going back to college? What am I going to do? And I fumbled into teaching wind surfing and discovered I had a knack for it. And before too long, had a nice little business going teaching. High-end wind surfing, mainly jiving and water starting. But then people wanted to have their family and friends learn. So I started a beginner program and. The school grew. I've been based in high-tech surf sports for the last 30 years, but I worked with the majority of the shops here on Maui, teaching their clientele, the different water sports. So windsurfing was the main thing, but of course, when there was no wind, we'd teach them just going back to Kailua, growing up in Kayla. That was when Robbie nationals grew up in Kailua too. So did you went surf together with those guys? Robbie and Pete Cabrina and those guys, or? Funny, he has Pete Cabrini lived right next door, right over the next fence. Yeah. And I remember watching him wind surf and doing his first jumps and he. He was shaping boards and he was an inspiration. So I thought, okay, I gotta do this too. Robbie traveled in different circles. He was a little bit younger and it seemed to me he was always off on tour, but he brother, I went to school with his brother and Randy. Yeah. And we were partners in crime going over to windsurf diamond head. And I spent more time with Robbie. I'm sorry with Randy. Okay. Okay. So when, or how did the transition to wing foiling happened? Actually? Do you still windsurf or are you just mostly wing foiling now? Not so much wind surfing. I still run the wind surf school, although COVID has changed that right now, but my daughter is more into wind surfing than whinging. Although I'm trying to convert her to wing surfing on. From wind surfing kite surfing came along and that was all the rage. So I jumped into that and I live the kite surfing, eat, sleep tight surf, eat, sleep, kite surf did some competitions and did the whole peak, but then got over it and got more into sub paddling. We did a lot of sub. In fact, I got a picture here I can share. Yeah let's do some screen sharing. So we get a little bit of more visual stuff too. This was, we did a lot of competition. I don't know how many hundreds of Kosta runs I've done from a LICO down to Kahoot Harbor. Wouldn't be the equivalent of Hawaii, Kai to diamond head kind of thing on. That looks like one of the early SAC boards. Is that the one? No it's styrofoam, but yes, you're right. It's one of Mark rapper, horse SIC boards or sandwich Island construction. Yeah. And Mark is good. Friend of mine known him for decades. He and I, we did the sup paddling and then Kailani. Showed up with that sup board with the foil on it, that kind of rocked the world. And we looked at that and we're like, wow, that looks so cool. And backing up a couple of weeks from that video review Mark, perhaps worse. And my neighbor, Ken winter, and I were having dinner. And after a couple of bottles of wine, we've talked about. Taking one of Ken's foils and putting it on my board and Mark would do the classwork and we thought about, okay, we're going to do this. We're going to put the foil on the set board and we're going to try it out. And it never happened. And about two weeks later, Kai comes out with that video of him going down the coast now putting it together as one thing, but making it work, what Kyle did was exceptional, and I don't know if we would've had the. I don't think, I don't think we would have stuck with it as hard as it was, but after watching him, we were inspired. So we did get some foil boards, both Ken and Mark. And I, we got the foil boards and we started going from Alico when it was blowing 25, 30 knots. And right away, we learned it was really hard. And I had no foil experience and people were telling me, Oh, you got to learn behind a boat. You got to learn in the surf. And I'm like, I don't want to do that. I just want to do it going down the coast. And I was convinced I could do it. And eventually I got a LICO 200 and I could do it and I could stay up for hundreds of yards at a time. And at that point, everyone else was getting pretty good. I can remember one episode where we went. Was that on a really long race board, or what kind of board were you using at that time? At that point we were using I think they were like eight foot sup boards and we were just starting to figure out, and these were Mark was making them custom boards. We're just starting to figure out that the shorter, the board, the more easier it was to pump you didn't have that swing weight up front right on. We were getting smaller and smaller boards. And I have another picture here. Let me see if I can cue it up here. This board here. This was my latest sup board that Mark had shaped for me. I think it was just under six feet. That's about 85 liters had just the front strap, which I use to help pull up on the board, trying to get up on foil. And so it was about this time. That we were trying to go down the coast and having some success. Ken winner was right there with us and he actually was a skilled foiler. He could win sir foil. He could kite foil, but sup foil was tough for him. And the board he had was 130 liter fiberglass board. It was pretty heavy. And trying to pump that up on foil was really taking its toll on his shoulders. One afternoon he was out there in the driveway with this little inflatable wing and, we had seen wings have been around for a long time. And Ken winter is your neighbor, right? So you can see him in his, in your neighbor's driveway playing around with his inflatable toy. Yes. A little background on Ken he's been involved in wind surfing and water sports, his whole life. I first met him in Kailua and the, I think it was 1981 or 1982 Pan-Am windsurfing world cup. And he actually won the event. So I didn't really know him. I knew he was the winner. Kan winner was the winner. And then later on, when I went on tour, I competed with him the number of different venues. But he's always stayed with it as a board designer. Is that kite designer, windsurf designer, and probably the last few years more kite surfing. So he's he's getting new prototypes all the time out there, testing them in the Maui waters and the of wind. And so I knew he had access to, to prototypes. So anyway, he's out there with this inflatable wing and my first impression it was something like you'd get at K-Mart, a little blow up toy. And I thought, what is he doing with that? Can you explain that he was going to use it to get up on foil and go down the coast with us? And I thought he really wants to be out there with us. And then the entertainment began, we'd go out and Alico. And Mark and I would make a left turn and head towards Colley Harbor, and Ken would be going out to see like, where's he going? He'd go over the horizon before we'd see him. And then we'd seen him coming back and I didn't know it at the time, but he had a hard time. I'm going deep, a goofy foot. He needed to switch to regular foot to go deep or to go straight down, wind. And so it was difficult for him and he didn't like most of us, we go to the Flatwater spot, in the Harbor or maybe down to canola, I think on a wahoo, you go over to where is it near Pearl Harbor. I've seen some videos that K lagoon Island. Yeah, that's a good, big, beautiful spot there. So remember we're going out in 25, 30 knots, and he's trying to figure out how to go down wind. And it was entertaining for Mark and he had incredible yard sales where it's like, Oh, is he okay? Wait. Okay. Yeah, I see him. He's back on his board. Did our, Oh no, he's lost his wig. You'll give chance. We'll get the ring. And that happened a few times. And so this went on, I think it was may of 18 when you start. So not that long ago, really think about how quickly the sports progressed. That's true. So it was later towards the fall that Mark and I were waiting for him. And I saw him coming down the swell and he was surfing right. And surfing, left and surfing. And each time he would turn the wing. And I just looked down. I said, that is poetry in motion. I'm ready to try this. And at the end of the run he let me try it. And I fumbled out and fumbled in. But just that short little run, I got to my feet and got it going for a few seconds. And I'm like, okay, I want to try this some more. So that first wing was that like a prototype made by duotone or was it like who, how, who made it and how was it made, built and stuff like that? Duotone has a factory and they, I'm not even sure where it is in Asia or wherever they make their product. And he dials up a plan on his computer, sends it off via email and a short time later he's the FedEx truck is pulling up. Okay. So that first one, did it have a boom, like the wing foil or very first one had a stretch on it. Okay. And the, they had sewn some webbing on it. That was so flimsy that just after a couple, three or four runs, the webbing has had peeled off. Not, it just deteriorated. And then his first one with a boom, I'm not sure what he did. I think he went to the hardware store and he bought a mop or something and removed the, he had the dowel and the little brackets, and then he had lashed those brackets on. And then not too long after that, he was getting a guy here on Maui to 3d print a front end. It was about that time that I took an interest in wanting to try it. So we went down to canola and the first day I, like so many of us that got my knees were rubbed raw and what I was getting rides and I was staying up wind. And remember, I'd come to the sport with knowing how to foil and. Knowing how to sail both wind surf and kite surf. So the wing was pretty intuitive for me and knowing how to foil it came together. And I'm sure I've seen other people just step on and go right from the beginning, but Yeah, I think you have the background in wind surfing and you know how to use a foil, then it's a very easy transition. That's what Zane was saying too. Like the very first time he jumped on it, he was already trying to backflip and civic guts. Yeah, but that's in St. Schweitzer. So yeah. Anyway, the first few the first, second day I tried it, I fell on the boom and broke the front end, the 3d 3d printed front end. And I said, Ken, I can make one that won't break. I've got a TIG welder. And I welded up as simple front end and we were able to lash that on and that that made a huge difference. In the tightness of the rig now, coming from a windsurf background, I've always preferred the boom. It just feels more natural to hold the boom on. And I think Ken he's do a tone, has a couple of different models. They have the unit which has the wing, the handles as well. But I prefer the echo style. Yeah. I'm the same way. Cause this is my windsurfing background. I really liked the boom. And just being able to move your hands around and describe the boom without looking for the handle and stuff like that. But I guess recently I started using wings with handles too, and I kinda got used to that. And there's some advantages to to that, to the handles. I think one thing about the duo Tom booms is that they're add quite a bit of weight to the wing. And you do notice that when you try a later wing. They are coming out with a new model here soon, but the time by the time this interview airs, I think they'll have announced their new product. And I've got some video of that. Yeah, let's talk about that new that's the duotone slick wing, right? We've already seen the videos and stuff of it, which is an interesting concept. So it combines a an inflatable struck with a stiff boom kind of attached to it. Yes, let me see. So it's the slick incorporates the boom into the strep. One of the it's a lot lighter. Yeah. I don't know all the details, but I can tell you that the length of the boom here is the same for all the different sizes. I think they're going to go from a two and a half meter all the way up to a seven meter. With half increments. So four, four, five, five Oh five, five, et cetera, on. And the same boom will fit all the models. So you can just buy one boom for your quiver, or you can buy a boon for each one. Now they also come in carbon as well as the aluminum and the aluminum boons are gonna have a little bit of a oval shape to them, which are very comfortable on your hands. And it gives you a sense of where the wing is without looking at it, what position that wing is in. I know that the carbon one is about a half a pound lighter than the aluminum one and just the size of it is going to be considerably lighter than the echo. And the boom just slides into these nylon pouches on the front and back, I guess it looks like it. Yes. Now the, when you S when you look at that front, let me see if I can get a little bit better angle here that front attachment that's going to be changed slightly. There's there's going to be some padding, some webbing straps that actually Velcro to hold that in. Apparently the guys in Europe, when they were doing tricks, where they back winded that was coming loose. So they've modified it. This is it. This is actually not a production wing. It's one of the prototypes with the logos on it. So there's still a few more changes to make, but for the most part, this is what the wings will look like. So I'm wondering you're saying the boom is the same length for all sizes. So on the bigger wings, have you. Like sometimes I like to put my hand way in the back, like when you're doing a duck jive tag type of turn or or going steep up when you, you want to put your hand way back sometimes. Is it, do you ever feel like you want to put your hand further back then the boom goes or does that no, it's not an issue because the wing is so much tighter. That the range of sheeting in and sheeting out is very tight. It's very tight wing. I don't think I haven't had that problem. So how does it feel on the wave when you're luffing it behind you? Attracts really nice, better than the unit was. I haven't written the unit. I'm sorry. I meant echo the echo, the one. Yes. It's better than the echo. Now that the, if you think of the center strut as on, but the center stride is like the keel in the wind, or like the tail on a kite, it's going to keep the wing pointed into the wind because the strut acts like the rudder echo never had that. And that's one reason why it oscillated so much. Oh yeah. That makes sense. You have to remember a little bit back in. It was 18 that can started and the fall of 18 on it started to get out in videos and social media. And all of a sudden everyone was interested, not just Enthusiasts, but manufacturers, can you make a little video of it? Like action or dispensary? So one of the Delta things with, unlike the echo with the center, strut, it floats. Now if you're used to, that's nothing new. If you're using a wing that on has a center structure. But it's really nice compared to the echo when it sits on the water. It doesn't say that the bloom doesn't sink in when the wind catches it. Yeah. That's nice. Now, when do you think this will be actually in ready in the stores? When can we get our first shipment at blue planet? You're asking the wrong guy here. That's the one thing that's been frustrating me with the duo times is they're kinda hard to get and hard to know when we can actually get them, I think it's not just do a Tom. I think some of it can be chalked up to, the worldwide pandemic, they had to shut their factories down just like we did to, shut our restaurants down and on the supply chain was effected. I know that they were having trouble getting cloth. And this is just secondhand information I'm hearing from my neighbor. I think he did tell me that they have produced a number of units already. But then there's shipping, if it's coming by boat and you heard about that content container ship that went down well, not went down, but all the containers fell over. Yeah. Apparently high-tech had a number of F1 wings. In one of those containers. Oh, wow. So a lot of products was lost there. So it's, I don't know if it's just duo tone. Maybe the other manufacturers have different sources, but no, it's the same. I guess ozone has their own factory, so they're Little bit more it's more clear, like how long it's going to take and when they're going to ship it and stuff like that, you can, it's easier to predict, but yeah, I know. I know. Everybody's I know just the materials you have to order six months in advance. So this is a video that I put together with the little GoPro speedometer. And what I can tell you about the performance of these wings is that they are head and shoulders better than anything I've written. They're super tight. They go up wind unbelievable that the outline. You know that they have a square shape, so that wing tip, you can bring it right down low to the water. And it's really efficient. If the wing tip does catch, it clears really easily. Yeah. They're really tight. Now this is a four or five though that I'm using. And this was just a couple of days ago. The wind's been cranking here. And I was really powered up with this four or five or 20 miles per hour. That's pretty fast. So that's a port or starboard. Tack is my weak side. I'm a regular foot. So this is my stronger side. And this is costly Harbor that we're looking at. Turn the sound down. Whoa, there you go. At 26 miles per hour. That's. Yeah, that's impressive. What foil are you using? What, yeah. What do you have any advice on the foils on I'm using a GOFO? Gofoil on, I have all their I have a lot of the different models on I mentioned earlier. I have the 200, that's where I started and it's where I start. When I'm teaching people, I use the 200 on. I also have the GL series as well as the NLS and the one I'm writing in this video is it's actually a custom on towing. I think Al's only made a few. I think he, he gave one to some of the big wave to tow surfers on the North shore of Oahu. Slick. I heard about that. I think Derek Hamas, Saki has one of those, maybe I think I've seen it. So it's not one that's I don't know if he's planning to bring that to market. Let's see 28 miles an hour was your top speed. It looked like that's pretty, pretty amazing. Yeah. Now here's another wing. This is from more recently and it's turn the sound down. This is one of the prototypes. From several months ago I'm lucky enough that can, let's meet, use some of the older the stuff that didn't make the cut and, he'll make a wing and he'll figure out, okay, this works really well. And this doesn't work so well. And there's been a number of people on Maui that have been recipients of the seconds on the really bad ones end up in the trash. The really good ones he keeps. And then some of the others like this one, and this is a three-three and it's blowing. Gosh, it was gusting up to 40 this day. And my first run, the wing was under inflated. My wife was using it. I don't think she pumped it up hard enough. So I came back and pumped it up and then did another run. Now the foil that I'm using is I don't think it's going to be available unless out puts it into production, but he is working on another wing that another foil that is foils are underwater wings are in the air working on another foil. That is considerably faster. He, let me take a run on it and I didn't have the speedometer when I used it. But it felt really fast. I'm hoping he'll get me one of those when they come into production. Yeah. And then, I guess faster foils are usually smaller surface area and thinner profile, that's and then. More high aspect type of shape. Is that what makes them fast? Would you say? Or what's how did it look? Smaller, thinner equals speed, but of course you're going to need more wind and more skill to get up the speed to get going and get up on the foil. Yeah. One thing that I've found now, when I first started teaching, I had them LICO two 80. I don't know if you have one of those. Yeah. That was like super bouncy when they went on the original mass, right? Yeah. I read that in the early days. The two 80 I thought would be really good for teaching people and it does foil it about a walking speed, but there's so much drag that you really have to push the thing hard. And for people who are, excuse me, for people who are just learning, how to use the wing, trying to power that wing, to push the board up on foil it. And actually the 200 people did better on the 200 because they, there was less drag and they could get it up to foil speed easier. And what I've found is that in my own learning, as I've graduated down in smaller and smaller wings, that. The tiny wing does take more speed to get going, but there's less drag to push it through the water. So it seems like you can get up to that takeoff speed. Easier. Does that make sense? Yeah, totally. Makes sense. Yeah, I've got that same experience. So when you say you still use the Maliko 200 for teaching people how to wing. Yeah. Yes. Now I did do one modification. I cut the mass down from 24 to 15 inches. Oh, wow. 15 inch mass. Okay. Yeah. And that's nothing new, there's been other foil manufacturers that have made different mass lengths for beginners. Is it safer to, right? You don't when you breach it on crashes from as high, sorry. Yes. In fact, when it does breach it's a rude drop, but usually. They'll maintain enough speed to kick it back right up again. And the importance, you know of not too high, not too low. That makes sense. Do you have so many good videos teaching how to, to wing foil and and then yeah, actually also you're you have that Patrion channel and to sign up for this yesterday and it's really cool. I don't know if you mind me sharing some of these posts, but I guess yeah, if you pay like $5 a month or so. You can choose what, how much you want to contribute, but then you get access to all these really detailed tech, technical videos on how to wing foil, which is really cool. Like this one here about attacking. I watched yesterday and it's I'm going to turn off the sound here, but it just has really good instructions. I have to say. It's ex what really well done, Alan, and And yeah. So if you're learning how to wink fun, I guess that's something too, like maybe talk a little bit about how the pandemic has affected your business and, like how you transitioned to doing more of this kind of virtual coaching and things like that. Sure. Thank you. I I've been running the winter school since 85. No. I came to Maui to wind surf, but like I said, I skipped college and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. And I fell into to what I love to do. And that's teach wind surfing, then develop the business and it's grown over the years. We've diversified into surfing and kiting and sup and although wind surfing and sup is our bread and butter. I'm sorry. Windsurfing. Kiting is our bread and butter. When foiling came along on it sorry. It's just, the video is distracting me when when foiling came along wing foiling on, I thought, Oh, this is something I could teach in the school. And you remember Ken, he had this stream of prototypes coming into the neighborhood here and. People were really intrigued by foiling that's my wife, they were really intrigued by foiling and they wanted to do it. And Robert business was really good. I was the only one that had the wings, none of the shops there were, there was nothing available by them yet. Yeah. So I was sharing the wings and giving lessons and turning people on anyone that asked, I'd let them try it. And we were poised on. I was getting boards and sales and training instructors, and we were poised to, teach wing surfing and then COVID hit and changed everything. Shut everything down, turned Maui into a car park, full of tourist cars on all of the restaurants were closed and we just hunkered down. We went to Costco's everybody else and load it up and So during this downtime, besides doing the house maintenance and the things that everyone did, I thought that I would put together some videos or do a video on this is how we teach wind foiling. And that was, I don't know if you have that one. That's a, it's on YouTube. It's my daughter's to star on, but that one put it up and. This one very hard to get up in Seattle. It's older. It's older. Huh. Oh, maybe on all the videos. He, Oh, part one part two. That's it right there. So I just took my daughter down to the beach nearby and took my dog down and took the video camera and just put together. This was the introduction. That's my prom foil board that I use for regular surfing on. And it works on the wing too. That's anyway, on. We just went down and had some fun and my daughter, at this point, she was able to foil and go up wind and we were just going to use the big board. Yeah. So I put her on the big board and we just went through, this is how we teach. And it was the idea was a infomercial on what we're doing at the school. And there was so much positive feedback that I thought I'd do part two. And that's the one where I'm getting up on foil in the Harbor. And people were so appreciative that I was doing that. And a friend said you should have a Patrion account now, which I didn't know what that was. And I went home and looked at it and realized, this is me right now. Because again, COVID had shut down the business. And I thought this is a way that I could take my skills online and teach people and not just one at a time at the beach, like I normally do, but be able to reach everybody. So that's what I've been working on through the COVID thing. It's I'm still in the red, but I'm getting close to, paying off my equipment, but the. Appreciation far outweighs any monetary support, that, people telling me that I've helped them do this and do that. And thank you as well. You do the same thing with so many of your videos. I How many videos have you done that helped people? It's awesome. Yeah. Thanks Alan. For me, it's different though, because for us, depending on it was actually like boom times because everybody. And nobody could travel. People had extra spending money that stimulus checks, and then they just, bye. Yeah. You could go out in the water. That was the safest thing you could do. So it's been actually very good for our business in terms of equipment sales, but yeah, in terms of tourists, there's nothing right now. Still, I think it hasn't really recovered at all. Let me let me do a couple of quick screen shares as well. Okay. Let me turn mine off again here. Hold on. Okay. So yeah, I'll let you do the screen share. Okay. This is my daughter and this was her first session with the wing on a winter Ford with the daggerboard on the wing she's using, this was the first. I guess you'd call it a echo prototype. This wing was really solid. This thing really changed everything. It has five buttons or something. Yeah. It had battens prior to the battens. Ken was using these wings just to go down wind and you didn't meet any battens because he was holding it like a Spinnaker sale. It wasn't until we started sailing at canal hall, going up wind that they were flapping. And that's really where a lot of the changes began. I met my wife, wind surfing. This is an old picture. I met her in 87 and we have two daughters together. My oldest one on my left. She's living in California, married my younger one. Is living at home here with her boyfriend and she's having a really good time. She works up at the crater. I don't want to say it's a as a park ranger, but she's working up at the summit with people up there and she also winged foils. But she prefers to rock climb, free climb on. Let's see, where do you go on Maui for free climbing? Is that there's a number of places. There's one over in key hay and over on the backside. And I don't have any pictures of that cued up. This is my wife when she realized that my old board, her board. Fits in the back of her car. Big smile. Yeah. He loves wing foiling because it's just so easy. You pump up the wing and you're ready to go. Yeah. Assuming you have a car that fits your foil and she's also COVID has. Changed our relationship for the better previously she would man, my office at high-tech here, our office. I don't know if you can see this. So I have this little kiosk in high-tech and pre COVID. She would spend her days in there meeting and greeting people and everything to do with the school. We have a. A school van that goes down to the beach for the wind surf year on. And when COVID hit, that was all shut down, but we could go to the beach and wing. She's been putting her time in, out on the water. There's my old sup board, which is perfect for her. It's about 85 liters. She's got the a that's one of the prototype wings. That's the one that I was doing the speed run on earlier. A lot. And she's, she's making about almost nine out of 10 of her jobs now, which is something that she didn't quite do in winter. If you, even though she's been a lifelong windsurfer, In a lot of ways, like I always struggled doing tax on a small wave board windsurfing, but on a wing. It's actually, I find it way easier to do attack because you don't have to jump in front of the wing and stuff like that. So in a lot of ways, when winging is actually easier than windsurfing, I find one of the things that makes it so addicting besides the feeling of floating on air of snowboarding and powder, if you've ever skied or snowboarded, the feeling of powder is exceptional. On there's no pounding. But the, besides all those great things, and it's quick to set up and an easy is that each time you go out, maybe even each run, do you learn something new? And it doesn't matter if you're a beginner, just holding the wing for the first time or floating around on a big board. Forget the foil, just sail the board around. I've had people. Do the lessons on the big board and say, this is so fun, and it is, but you haven't even got on the foil board yet and you're loving it. It gets better. It's truly addicting. Th this being up on the floor that sensation of flying over the water, it feels more like you're flying than going over water. So it's this, that is so cool. And you know that, I don't know if you've been watching any of the America's cup racing last year with the catamaran and this year with the monohulls. It's absolutely incredible how fast they go. Yeah. And us mere mortals will probably never, ever get the chance to ride on one, forget owning one on, but you can have your own personal hydrophobic yacht right there. For relatively inexpensive and in a way it's, I don't know, to me it's almost more interesting because you're basically controlling it with your body weight, not, it's not like a mechanical control. It's like you're controlling the foil, it's your body weight. I would say it's one of the more freer feelings that you can have and the. Again, it was in may of 18 that Ken first got that blow up wing. Now he's not the first handheld wings have been around for a long time. And there's another guy flash Austin. He deserves the credit for being the first one on Maui to put a wing together on a foil board. And he went out and foiled out and back and got some video. And then I think his wing broke apart and he never put it back together. It didn't stick with it, but prior to him, I saw the footage of him doing that. And I thought, no, that looks crazy. Yeah. Nobody really thought that it could be what it is today. And I believe it's Tony Lugosi that sometime around 15 or 16 made an inflatable wing, not necessarily with the intention of foiling, but I think he just, put together an inflatable weighing instead of ones with struts and spars and on. And he. Apparently put that on the foil board and made it work on a foil board more as a novelty on, I don't think he thought that it would take off, but he was ahead of his time there and nobody has a patent on it or anything like that. So it's just nice that's open for wide open for development and stuff like that, where people don't have to worry about licensing it and so on, right? Yes. So it's on. Really since I think Ken is probably responsible for this resurgence or, this round of it anyway, but he, it was only may of 18 that it started. Yeah. Yeah. And I always wondered why you, how you got the all the new wings and the new prototypes so early, but now I know it's cause you're Ken when there's your neighbor. So no wonder, but obviously also, you're a really good spokesperson for duotone. I think that's that? Your videos are one of the reasons why I got into Wingfoot foiling too, I'm not an official spokesperson for duo tome. I'd rather think of myself as an ambassador for the sport right on. I'd like to see everyone, try it and Excel. It's just that my position is that I've been using these duotone wings. Okay. Let's go talk a little bit more about equipment. You said, and I don't know if you have some video of yourself using your board and stuff like that, but you said you only use a front foot strap. You don't really jump because because you're worried about injury and you often use a harness and things like that. So can you talk a little bit about, for myself, I've never even tried a harness. I felt it's not really necessary. I feel like it doesn't, there's not as much pressure in the wing as when you're windsurfing. So what made you start using a harness and and yeah, maybe talk a little bit about the gear you use and why you set it up the way you did. Now? I did do a video on YouTube. Maybe I can screen share on how to use the harness, all about the harness. Okay. And this, I did this last year. Maybe even longer initially it was the boom is right there and you're sailing along and you think I could probably use a harness here, so yeah. So let's talk a little bit about using a harness and why yeah. Why you started using it and so on. First I thought, let's just try it and see if it works. And I went and made a custom harness line and I pulled my old windsurf harness out there. It is, and put it on and went out and gave it a few runs and decided, yeah, it was possible, but I didn't really need it. Didn't you know, it wasn't really happening. And. What I realized now is that the harness I made a custom harness line, a real long one, thinking that I needed a long one because the wing is way up here. But when it's over your head, there's no load on the wing, it's when you're going up wind that the Boone comes down the wing tips, low to the water. And when you're going up, when there's a lot of lateral pole and it's at that point that you need or you. Would find a harness line comfortable. So I gave it another try. I pulled out the regular harness line that decline just regular windsurfing harness line and got my old kite harness out. That's the one we're looking at now. And maybe later people watching can watch this video to know what we're talking about here. But the main thing is that you have a hook that allows you to quickly get out of the. The harness line. Yeah. You don't want it as small as a kite surfing hook yet, or the yes, but more open, not yet. And then, when you have the hook getting on your board, you can damage your board with the hook. So I go through a couple different methods to get on the board. And there's another video that I have on YouTube as well, where I'm riding my prone board. And I talk about how to get up when you're using a harness hook. Talk about the length of the harness line and the placement. So would you say when you hold the boom it's about where your elbow is? Is that about the length or the middle? Yeah. The, we used to grab the boom and then pull the loop down to your elbow. And that was, or to the crotch in your arm here. And that was a good general ballpark. Some people like them shorter. Some people like them longer. There's only a handful of people using harness lines over here at Ken winners, one of them on, and. There's a few other people that have tried them on and I'm getting people online talking about them. And there's certainly a lot of chatter online. Yeah. A lot of people talking about it online here on a wahoo. I haven't seen anybody using a harness, but but yeah, I find it interesting. Not intriguing on it's not necessary. You don't have to have it. There are some drawbacks, it often it'll hit you in the face when you're trying to pump up on the board. But if it's swings a lot on you're wearing the harness hook, you can't lie on the board unless you unclip it. Because you'll damage your board. You just can't lay flat on the board if you have to paddle or something, but it's easy enough to unclip it and let it hang to the side on. And like I said, it's a little harder to get on the board sometimes, but there's ways around that. When you're in the harness going up wind with the bigger wing on, as soon as you get comfortable with it, you'll love it. Yeah. I can see that cause you're basically just using your body weight to, to power up the not you don't use your arms any more, really just for control. Same as when you went, surfing it in higher wind with a smaller wing. It is a little scarier to hook in, we haven't had that many light wind days over here on, or I haven't had that many sessions out on my six meter. I do have a six meter wing and going out in 10 to 12 knots with the harness and going up wind is a dream it's so comfortable and steady. Your weight does the work. Your arms are just relaxed. It's a really wonderful feeling. On, you're not gonna use the harness going downwind, just the way that, excuse me, the way the wing folds out. You're just not going to hook in. It's really just for going up, wind on. And I there's a shot of my foot straps on, I only have the front foot straps. I switch like a windsurfer I'll switch tacks after each run. Sometimes I might do a short run where I ride switched or tow side. I don't have a back strap because I moved my back foot around a lot and I did have it for a while and I fell and tweaked my ankle. And I decided that I don't really need the back strap because I'm not jumping. And. It just was getting in the way and I don't want to injure myself on, and I made a pledge early on to myself that I wouldn't take this sport to the air because where does it stop? And I'm really glad I did because seeing balls Mueller doing those loops. He's inspiring, and in the beginning he was throwing himself up in the air and let's try this or let's try that. And just coming down in the heap. In fact I made a comment on one of his Instagram pages that you have nine lives and that one just costs you one. The one where he goes in the shore break, it just gets eaten up in the shore break. Yeah, with the foil County going over him and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I. I injured myself a number of years ago. It was pretty serious back injury and I've healed up a hundred percent, but you told me about this injury yesterday. Can you tell us a little bit more how exactly how that happened? So I was surfing at hokey-pokey on a relatively big day and I did a late takeoff and I free fell head first and I put my arms up. To protect from the board. And I landed on the water like this, instead of, like this let me stop the screen sharing so you can show us what you're. Yeah. Okay. So how did what happened? I was surfing Keepa and I just did a late tape off and went overhead first. And I put my arms up in the air to keep from getting hit by the board. And I impacted the water like this instead of, like this. And it was a compression fracture on my spine. What paratroopers get landing hard in their bone. And it was, I've healed fine. But it was pretty close to what they call a burst fracture, where pieces of the bone enter the spinal cord and paralysis occurs. So I had a near life-changing experience there. And I think that was when I was 55, 54. So since then I've kinda I've just decided not to take it to the air. I've stopped kite surfing. I don't kite surf anymore because I don't trust myself on to not jump. And on wing foiling is something that's less. I it's a lot safer than so many other things out there. And I see Some older folks down at the beach and the oldest relative, I'm 59. I know when I paddle out at who Keepa, I'm like the oldest one out there. Now that was kin winter catching a wing tip while he was in the harness. That's one thing that if you're going to try a harness, you want to be aware of, if that wing tip catches again, it doesn't end up well, And I talk about this in the video with sound yeah. Catching right here. And then you're in the heart instead of falling on the wing, you can't get out, you can't unhook. So if you're going to try the harness, that's something to consider. This is not something that, that you're going to go and use the first week of wing foiling. You want to have some skill. All right. So yeah. The other thing I wanted you to talk about was this cool move that I really was intrigued by. And I still haven't been able to pull it off, but that's the starfish. So how do you get into it in the first place? So you I kinda, I sorta did this by accident. Just hold it right there for a second. If you will. Yeah. Yeah. I was giving a lesson to a novice sailor and he was out, I believe he was on the, he was on the big board. I don't know if it was the wind surfer or the big foil board. And he went out and he did the turn and he had flipped the wing over any came out of it the other way. And I'm like, wow, how did he do that? He did it by accident. But the way he jived the wing and spun the board right around. I said, Oh, I'm going to, I'm going to go try that. So I went out and I was trying to do what I saw him do. And I'm not sure what I did, but I was flipping the wing over just like this. Okay. And the wind got behind me and something like that. And I said, okay, I'm going to. Try and do that and get the wing behind me. So I went out a few more times and I was able to flip the wing over. And as you turned down wind, you might back up there a little bit, as you turned down, wind, you're moving with the wind. So the amount of pressure on the wing is minimal. So if you want to do this, it's relatively easy. You start your job. You turn the wings so that the wing tip drags in the water or starts to invert. So you flip the wing over. Okay. And then here, turn the corner so that you're going with the wind. And at this point, as long as it's not blowing a Gale, so the wing is almost weightless because you're moving with the wind. At this point, you're coasting on the foil. You get your hand on the handle and you can bring it up behind you. Now at this point if there's enough wind. The wind will keep the wing against you, just friction. So I did this, I was goofing off with it and I was going down the coast thinking, okay, this is pretty cool. How am I going to get out of it? I don't know. I'll figure that out when I get there. And so I got down there and I reached up and grabbed the handle and flipped it over and sailed away. And I thought that was cool. And I had put in a full day and I packed up and I was driving home and Alex Garrett calls me and says, dude, I went to get my camera. I got to get your new move. This is Alex. Yeah. Filming this. So I'm like, nah, I'm like, no, I'm good Al. And he's Oh man, you gotta do it, man. Someone else is gonna do it and claim your move. And I'm like, eh, And I'm halfway home and I'm looking, the wind's blowing. It's a beautiful sunny day. And I thought, we should do this. Why the sun's out. So I turned around, I went back, called them up and said, I'm coming back. And I went out and did this. So it's a fun move. It's relatively easy to do and easy to get out of on. The trick is you turn down when, and you've slipped the wing upside down and then get the handle and pull it around behind you. And then to get out of it, you just reach it up and bend over it. It's flip or jive over your head. So cool. I've yet to do it, on a coast run. I think we're going to go today. It's blowing pretty good over here. I think we're going to do an illegal run windy day, for sure. Yeah. Oh, okay. So you ended up going back to the beach, setting up again and then pulling it off like that. That's a good sign. Yeah, that's awesome. All right. I think we already went over the time we allotted. So appreciate you talking about all this details and What do you do? Like to stay healthy? What are your secrets to staying fit and young at your, Oh, just trying to stay active, just trying to do something every day. I I haven't been doing much cross training lately on, since I started doing the videos, I've had a lot of time sitting in front of the computer. What I have been trying to get out probably like four times a week to wing foil on. So that's been my main exercise wing forelimb. How long do you go out in the, on the water? Like I find sometimes when I go out for too long, I just start hurting myself. Do you have a certain amount of time? That's good for you or you just stay out as long as you can. Usually I'd say around two hours is my average session. Remember I have a harness. And when I did that speed run with the little yellow wing, just a couple of days ago, my wife was using it and she doesn't use the harness line. So I'm like, okay, I just it's really windy. I want to go get the GoPro speedometer going. And I. I went out and I did my first speed run and I turned around and I'm going back up when, and I'm like, Oh no harness line Ang. And just those two runs without the harness line, my shoulder was starting to hurt, and I don't know how many miles I've paddled surfing and how many times I've wind surfed. It's my shoulders. I'm not going to get a knee replacement. It's going to be a shoulder replacement. Yeah, that's pretty common. If I have to, I hope I never have to do that, but my shoulders have more miles than my knees or hips on. But. I rely on the harness more than I realized, trying to go up in there. It's just that time of hooking in and resting your arms, resting your shoulders. Just that one leg up wind, then you're fresh to go downwind. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. For me too. Yeah. Sometimes I just put my arms straighten out my arms and hold the wing over my head and just relax a little bit. And even without a harness, you can, but the, I can see how, if you have bad shoulders, it's not an easy thing to do after a while. All right. So anything, do you have any sponsors that you want to plug or anything that you want to mention like that? I I'd like to thank Alex Guera for taking care of me with the foils. He makes a great product. Ken and duotone have been very generous with their products on, and I have to admit that I haven't used a lot of other stuff, but there's, a lot of everyone has a lot of good stuff out there and it really doesn't matter what you use. The main thing is that you're using it, that you get out there. And this sport you learn every time you go. And it's a good physical workout. And you think about it too. So it gets you thinking on you won't regret it on. I. If there's one thing one negative thing. And that is that it's very addicting and it's gonna it's gonna take some of your time from something else, which for better or worse and yeah. And your wallet will feel a little bit lighter too. There's that aspect. Yeah. Yeah. So what do you want to leave people with? And any last words? Just to get out on the water and give it a try, you won't regret it. And if yeah it's good to try new things. And living here in Hawaii, living here in Hawaii, most of our days are like other people's vacations. Take advantage of where you live and what you do. You certainly living your dream and that, and I hope That things get back to where you can actually make money with your business. Again, sorry to hear that you're struggling right now, but hopefully people can support your patron account and your great instructional videos online. Keep posting that kind of stuff. That's really cool. Very helpful. I think for people learning, I think we're starting to come out of it here. Then you can see light at the end of the tunnel. I think we're going to, we're going to be all right. Yeah. All right. For this for the boots on it, show who do you think I should interview next? Do you have any any ideas on who I should talk to? Let's see. I can think of a few different people while Ken would be interesting on, but you said he's you might not want to talk to me. Can you ask him. Yeah, I can ask him. In fact, I can I'll try and send you his email Mark rappel, Horst. He's a very interesting guy. He did SIC. He did the paddling he's into whinging for sure. Alex he's got a lot of history on yeah. Robbie Nash is of course an icon on some up and coming people over here on Maui. I think probably one of the best foils here on Maui. And he's an exceptional winger too, is came to wild. He's amazing. He has some really strong sweet moves. It was down at the Harbor not too long ago. And he goes, Hey, Alan, I figured something out. And I'm like, what is it? Can he says, when you bring the wing down to the rail, you can go so much faster up wind. And I said, Oh no, you figured that out. Okay. It's like closing the gap on a wind surfboard right now. Yes. And I talk about it in the video for how to go up wind. Yeah, but he is so fast and so maneuverable, he's just a real pleasure to watch. And he always uses this pretty small wing too, right? He's just like smaller wings and just once he gets going, then he doesn't need as big of a wing. You're talking smaller foil or smaller wing, a wind wing. He does use a smaller wing. And some of his foils are pretty small, but I've seen him like glide exceptionally far. He's making his own foils and really working at it. Yeah. I've listened to some of his interviews on the progression project and he's like very thoughtful. He thinks about everything and has a lot of interesting theories and tests out stuff and he makes his own tail wings and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, he'd be definitely, he's definitely someone I want to talk to soon. Yeah. And he's just a kid too, so he's got lot of future there. Yeah. Other up and coming, let's see. There's a whole bunch of kids that are getting into it over here. Yeah. I think one of the cool things about wing foiling too, is that it's such a diverse group of people. Like you have a lot of young kids getting into it, people with a surfing background, wind surfing, kite surfing background, a lot of different backgrounds. Plus I think just people are so intrigued by it. Even if they have no water sport experience, they're interested in it. So yes, it appeals to everybody. There's a lot of old time wind surfers that I haven't seen for years. That are down there, like the old days wind surfing, but they're down there trying to figure it out on. There's another guy on nice gentlemen. Ileka 250 pounds. Oh, I'm not suggesting him for an interview, but he is on he's down there all the time. But the point is he weighs 250 pounds. And he's almost as graceful as cane. He's really smooth. He can do a lot of tricks on, there's no such thing as a 250 pound windsurfer freestyle stylist. You just, you can't be 200, 250 pound sup paddler. The big guys, they're just, I'm sorry, but there's a disadvantage when you weigh 250 pounds, but it doesn't seem to affect him. Now. He uses a little bit bigger wing than everyone else and his foil, it's an access foil. That's got a really high aspect. It's got a huge wingspan on it on, but the, the, and that I've been teaching kids to Winser for decades and it's pretty easy to put them on the raft. With the little wing and they drift out and they turn around and they drift in and with a lot of effort, you can get them planning on a little board and a smaller sale, but generally they just don't have the weight to make it work. But with foiling, I'm seeing these little kids on little wings going out and foiling and. And doing it quickly, there they're up and foiling in a matter of days. And they're out there riding around where trying to get them to do that on a wind surfboard would take a year or two. I have always felt like on for me personally. I brought a lot of background, wind surfing and kiting and everything to this sport. And I was one of the guys that just stepped on and went, made it go. And I really got a head start on everyone else. But when I see these kids that are coming on there, where are they going to take this sport? Not just, in their maneuverability, but when they start doing these tricks in the surf. Really just starting to stress the surface of what's possible. I think I, there's going to be so much progression in the sport, it's just amazing. But actually I wanted to ask you if you have someone that has no experience in water sports, no foiling background, and they want to learn how to wing for like how, what is your progression and teaching them like, like how do you start them out? I start them off on the big winter Ford with a dagger board. And we didn't talk about this in the video. Maybe. I don't know if you can add that in later, but a lot of people show up with a sup board and the support has the volume to get them out there to float around. But without the daggerboard, they end up downwind very quickly. The daggerboard does two things. One is it prevents lateral slip and it's at a pivot point. To steer the board right on. I know that they, some of the shops, I don't know if high-tech does, but I think some of the shops have like glue on or strap on daggerboards that you can put on your set boards. That, excuse me, that might be something that you could offer even as a rental, take your board that I sold you last year, put this on it, take the wing. Go down to someplace. I don't know if has landfall on the downwind side, but someplace like Kyla Bay might where go out and learn how to sail it out, turn around and sail back with the goal of coming back to the same spot. And when my students are able to push that wind surfboard almost onto a plane. That tells me that they're loading the wing, that they've got enough sense to sheet in and sheet out. And when they can come back to the same spot, they know how to turn around and they know on how to steer the wing to get the board to go up wind. Once they can do that. Then the next step is to go on the foil board. And, I wanted to ask you about, and you never take them behind the boat or anything like you don't do the full practicing behind the boat. You don't really need that. I guess once he know how to handle the wing, that's your power source right now in a perfect world behind a boat would be great. Maybe an eco oil might be the next best thing. Have you done much equaling? Yeah, I have done it a bunch. Do you offer it lessons at all? Do you have them in the shop? No longer offered lessons or rentals, just because of the cost of liability insurance, but we refer that. We refer people. There's a company called experience here on Oahu that we refer people to not see it. . I ideally, in a perfect world behind a boat or jet ski, or even on an equal would be great. But the reality of I'm sure it's just as hard on Oahu as it is. Maybe it's worse here on Maui on to get permits, to do. Stuff behind a boat. You have to go through the state and get the permit to the state and Oh, just to, yeah. Not many places you can do it actually. That's true. And then even here on the North shore on the rules and regulations for jet-skis during the winter, during the whale season, you need to have permits and license, and it's a thrill craft. If you're going to go in the surf, you need the toe thing and it's just. Yeah, it's the reality, but I've had a lot of people who come with no foil experience, get the get the feeling for the wing on the big board and then apply it to the foil board. The big flow with the short mask, with the big floaty board on a lot of people have learned that way on. And then they're off to get their own equipment and practice on their own on. Awesome. Yeah, I and I think whinging is probably the easiest way to learn how to foil, other than behind a Boulder on the NFL, probably. It's definitely much easier, I think, to learn how to wing foil or it's a four line with a wing then in the waves, cause then there's a whole. Additional complication of calving to catch a wave and get up on your feet and all that kind of stuff. If you're surfing and even stand up, paddle surfing is not that easy to catch the wave and feeling. I had that discussion with a guy this morning. Who's actually our email is actually a winger that can foil and it's too windy over here. The last couple of days, it's just been smoke on the water. So he says he wants to try prone. On his set board and I'm like he's got an 80 liter board and I'm like, no, that's too big. You need to get a prone board if you want us if you want a prone and yes, it's easier. It's going to be easier to prone in the surf than it is to suck in the surf. He has no sup experience and trying to sup for the first time you need to have a real easy Waikiki style way, but of all the sports, whether it's kite surfing, Or wind surfing prone, surfing sub foiling. If you've never done any of that, that it's going to be easiest to learn. I believe with a wing. I agree, ideally behind a boat or a might be the next best thing next easiest way. But again, the logistics of. Getting a boat you need to drive or you need a place. I have a boat and I took my wife out. We did a snorkel trip to Molokini and I brought the foil along and my daughter and her friends, and we all took turns on the foil. And my wife got up and scissored Oh, Damaged your ribs. And she was out for six months. And then, so she's better. So we'd go back to the beach and we're going to Duane foil. And she goes out on the wing full board and neither one of us thought of a vest. And she fell and did the same thing another six months. So she's got a late start. Oh, she is determined though to happen and she's still going. That's awesome. Yeah. Wow. I've watched a lot of your videos and you do a really great job of, filming and editing and it's really easygoing and the information is really clear and concise and Yeah, that's a lot it is a lot of work too, to put out good content, but I try, just try to be consistent, tried to do one a week. That's my goal, and then, we definitely see a, I see a lot of rewards from that too. People appreciate it and people support our business because people know about our business because of the videos. So it's yeah, it's a win-win. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That again, that was the whole reason why I started the YouTube stuff. And then. Then the Patrion stuff just fell into place. And then I think once, once people started coming back to Maui, it'll definitely, you'll see a lot of returns from that. People are going to seek you out because of your videos. People will be like, Oh yeah, this guy knows what he's doing. So I'm sure your business is going to do well. Going forward. It's going to just get better and better planning on coming to a walkthrough to visit my dad. Oh, probably in the, he gets his second COVID shot on the 3rd of March and I thought I'd give him a week to, get solid. And then then I can come over without worrying about bringing anything. Okay. Yeah. Let's let's meet up when you here. And maybe we can do a video together to do a collaboration. Yeah, maybe I just would like to wing it. Okay. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Flat Island is super fun actually, when the winds are right direction and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And might be too early for a South swell, but Is it Kahala? Where is it? That's where we ended up going a lot, just cause it's easy. And there's like showers and stuff like that. But diamond head is also really fun. We like going out at diamond head it's kinda like the old days of windsurfing. When there's a South swabbed diamond that gets good. And there's a few other spots like Hickam air force base. I have a, my wife is in the military so I can go there. And that's I just went there for the first time, a couple of days ago. And it was amazing. It's like a super smooth wave there. That's protected from the wind, so right by the airport runway. It's awesome. Yeah, there's a few good spots. And then on the North shore guy to go out at reviews and stuff like that, and there's some good winging on the North shore for sure. Got a lot of good spots on the wall. I got a lot of that over here. I'd rather just, I'd rather just cruise around and Kyla the mellow stuff. Yeah. And that's what Kahala is pretty nice. Kayla is good, like a lot of times for beginners, I don't really recommend it that much, especially if you're regular foot, because first of all, you're going out on your diff opposite side. So it's hard to get going. If you're not used to Being switched, having your stent switched, and then you ended up going downwind and then you have to walk back up the beach and it's, it's can be quite exhausting and it's hard to get off the beach in the first place. If you don't know how to go Upland, so it's not an not actually I find it not a great
Dr. Hoby Wedler is an entrepreneurial visionary focused on creating companies that explore the sensory experiences. Hoby is unusually tuned into his surroundings, approaches the world with the heart of teacher, and makes a map in his mind for any adventure he pursues, whether that is smelling the aromas of wine, biting into and tasting…Continue reading ➞ Dr. Hoby Wedler, Sensory Innovator, Blindfolding Visual Distractions – Episode 124The post Dr. Hoby Wedler, Sensory Innovator, Blindfolding Visual Distractions – Episode 124 first appeared on Mike Malatesta.
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