Podcasts about Insert Name Here

Welcome to the next episode of Evie Unbounded

Dr. Dan Sutter, of the Manuel Johnson Center for Political Economy, hosts EconVersations, a program that explores the role of free markets in promoting prosperity through conversations with Manuel Johnson Center faculty and guests. In this episode, Dr. Sutter interviews “Insert Name Here”, as they discuss “Insert topic title here”.

Threaten to give your friend an advantage, because we are back for our fifth season of new/old Wie is de Mol episodes - and we're going back to 2011's offering in El Salvador & Nicaragua! Over these ten weeks, three guys who strive to charm anyone who doesn't like contests or reality TV - Logan, Michael & Bindles - are recapping and looking back at all that happened on the trip through two countries that we still can't quite believe they visited, continuing with the ninth episode and cliffhanger elimination. In this episode - we have a little mid-season break, Logan struggles with suspicions, Michael spots something in the titles again, there's finally some pot intrigue, we spot a wonderful running joke from the editors, Bindles reveals his red line, everyone has problems with Americans, Pieter Jan fails a challenge, we wonder if God would be okay with you lying on the Mole, Logan introduces us to an obscure Canadian cartoon, one of us can't pronounce a ghoulish word, we turn on Art, the episode gets bookended, Logan's penultimate suspicions are revealed before he has to guess who goes home next and we eulogise [INSERT NAME HERE]. Thank you for listening - we will see you next week for the final two episodes! Please note: This season is intended on being spoiler-free, so please watch the episodes along with us. As with our coverage of Seasons 14 & 17, there are no spoilers due to Logan not having seen the season before. However, any season we have already covered (WIDM 10, 14, 17-23 and Renaissance; Belgie 4-11) is fair game though. This is also the first episode where we freely discuss Mole US 6, as well as Qui est la Taupe. Additional note: Did anyone else do a double-take when Logan said what he did, or was it just me?   Social Media: Facebook Twitter Michael Logan Bindles Instagram YouTube Patreon

Dr. Dan Sutter, of the Manuel Johnson Center for Political Economy, hosts EconVersations, a program that explores the role of free markets in promoting prosperity through conversations with Manuel Johnson Center faculty and guests. In this episode, Dr. Sutter interviews “Insert Name Here”, Dr. Walter Block, the Harold Wirth Eminent Scholar at Loyola University, as they discuss Economics of Slavery Reparations.

Just when you thought we'd reached the peak of what artificial intelligence can do, 'Facts And Stories with Insert Name Here' proved us all right? Is it more entertaining? Jury's still out.

In today's society, it seems like everyone wants to start a business and be their own boss. And while that might sound great, there's a lot more to it than you might imagine. Here to spill the tea on how they started their business from the ground up, Mariah chats with founders of Insert Name Here, Sharon Pak and Jordynn Wynn. They discuss common mistakes most entrepreneurs make, what it's like being a female founder, misconceptions about starting a business, and so much more!Connect with Sharon and Jordynn:SharonJordynnShop INH: www.inhhair.comSHARE YOUR STORY:Want your story featured on an upcoming episode? Head over to our website and tell us everything: www.girlsirlpod.comFOLLOW US:@girlsirlpod@mariahclayton_Don't forget to rate the podcast and leave us a 5-star review!Make People Better PodcastScience fiction is becoming science fact. In 2018, the team behind this podcast...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

British author Richard Osman hasn't had the typical route to literary success. The author of the hugely popular comedy crime trilogy Thursday Murder Club, was previously producer and creator of television quiz panel shows. He then ended up with his own tremendous fame in the UK in front of the camera, presenting BBC quiz shows including Insert Name Here and Richard Osman's House of Games. The third and final book in the Thursday Murder Club series, The Bullet That Missed is out now. In it, a decade-old cold case leads the amateur sleuths at the Coopers Chase Retirement Village to a local news legend and a murder with "no body and no answers".

Episode #219. How *do* you build an online community from scratch? Or once you have a community, how do you keep them engaged? And what if engagement dies down - can you revive it? Our guest today, Jordynn Wynn, has built an incredible community in an unexpected niche, and she is here to take us behind the scenes of her 8-figure business to show us how it's done! What's the niche? Jordynn is the cofounder of Insert Name Here, an LA-based premium hair extension brand, offering high-quality pieces at an affordable price point. You don't think hair extensions and hyper-engaged community - but it's the driving force behind their viral multi-million dollar business! And the best part - Jordynn's implementable strategies for growing an engaged community would work for pretty much any industry or niche! This is the part where I feel like I should make a just-for-men joke… Listen, sometimes I daydream about having a closet app like in Clueless- and maybe eventually a Moire Rose wig wall! (Shoutout to my fellow Schitt's Creek fans!) I traded in my real bangs for clip-in bangs a month into the pandemic. (Cutting my own bangs was NOT an option! lol) And for the past few weeks I've been rockin' (and loving!) the Zooey bangs from INH in dark brown! Thinking about bangs, extensions, or a clip-in pony for yourself? Check out their website and get a 20% discount when you use code: JACLYN20.In This Episode You'll Learn:An alternative strategy to position yourself (hint: you don't have to be the ultimate expert!) How to get started growing a community onlineWhat the ‘stickiness factor' is and how to create itHow to revive a community when engagement dies offWhat strategies, tactics, and systems INH use to continue to grow and nurture their community. Favorite Quotes“Originally the brand was very heavy in experimentation transformation. But what we've realized with our product and our community is that hair can cause so much insecurity. Our products gave them so much confidence and this was life-changing.”“Humanizing the brand is a really important factor of stickiness. Loyalty to individual brands has lost out to experimentation and exploration. So any opportunity that you have to create a deeper connection, even just beyond product, sales, and revenue, is really important.”Mentioned on the Show:Plug-N-PitchMore about Jordynn:Jordynn Wynn, the Co-Founder of Insert Name Here, is a visionary entrepreneur whose expertise in brand-building and influencer marketing has turned a niche idea into a multi-million dollar business. Jordynn's career began at ColourPop Cosmetics, where she helped concept and launch the brand, led collaborations with big names such as Disney and Sailor Moon, and rose from intern to Marketing Director. In 2018, Jordynn and ColourPop colleague Sharon Pak joined forces to found Insert Name Here, an LA-based premium hair extension brand that offers high-quality pieces at an affordable price point. Their brand has revolutionized the way Millennials and Generation Z interact with hair extensions, accessories, and self-expression. Find Jordynn:WebsiteInstagramTwitter

Welcome back to the Happy House.   Hentai News: Mutsu City in Japan giving away scallop bikini for tax donations R Kelly guilty on all counts, Cosby defends R Kelly More public baths in Japan banning mixed bathing for 7+ Man attacks wife after video call of her having sex with another man Indiana man sentenced for sex with 13 year old he met online   Hello Kitty Time: Sanrio 60th Anniversary exhibition Insert Name Here x Hello Kitty collaboration Danganronpa x Hello Kitty collaboration   Hentai Reviews: The Professor and I Humiliated Wives   Thanks for tuning in, see you next week.

All three black candidates lost and the takes from everyone were endless. I guess some must continue that. Alejandra & Malikai, co-hosts of Insert Name Here, took the slot while Babbu keeps grinding in real life as a good dad. All three of us are younger people of color (under 40) who have a different perspective of being a voter, identity politics, the monolithic vote that can range from God fearing/going and cop loving to breaking the entire system down brick by brick, and why we love Michelle Wu. It's beyond Ricardo Arroyo, Tito Jackson, Wakanda II, the academics, and the professional activists. Coalitions matter, all folk actually are folk. Follow Alejandra https://twitter.com/atejeda97 Follow Malikai https://twitter.com/MalikaiUnique Always consider ObviousNonsense https://obviousnonsense.com

Kevin Gould is the founder and CEO of Kombo Ventures, and the co-founder of three incredible brands: Glamnetic, Insert Name Here and Wakeheart. Today we are going to be talking about Kevin's tremendous success in scaling with influencers, leveraging his entertainment background in Hollywood and understanding the ins and outs of the entertainment and influencer space and applying that to real brands. Kevin will be joining us in Mexico next month for our next DFN mastermind event. Bullet points (00:34) Intro (02:40) The start as an entrepreneur (07:05) What working at a talent agency teaches (09:58) What mistakes do you see brands make when approaching influencers? (12:40) The difference between a one-time influencer deal and a brand ambassador (14:27) &BAM (16:15) Kevin's current ventures (18:55) Customer acquisition (22:15) The importance of building a community and being data-driven (23:16) Live commerce (25:54) Mexico Mastermind 2021: Building a community of entrepreneurs and exchanging ideas (31:00) Rapid fire question round (31:24) If you ever had to start again, how would you make your money? (32:32) What is the most common or biggest mistake that leaders make? (34:01) Who is a great leader (alive or dead) and why? (34:46) How do you hire top talent? (35:48) How do you identify a good business partner? (37:17) How did you find your business partners? (38:39) What is one of your proudest moments? (40:05) What is one interesting fact about you that not many people would know? (40:55) What daily routines do you have (morning or evening) that have helped make you successful? (43:10) Being constantly curious (46:51) The compounding effect of building good relationships (49:01) What advice would you give your younger self? (50:13) What book (or books) changed your mindset or life? (51:23) What unusual or underrated food or drink should more people try out? (52:10) What makes you happiest?

Here, we end the run that started as Burt Ward's Dog, changed to Insert Name Here and finally became Consistently Inconsistent. We talk our likes and dislikes of the podcast, our favorite bits, some regrets and what we might do next. As far as any entertainment or pop culture mentions, we discuss Ricki Lake, YouTube, 24, and many things in between. Yes. Have some.

My Town is now on a podcast network! The network is called INSERT NAME HERE and its Chicago's newest and fastest growing podcast network. This means My Town will reach a bigger audience and have a chance to expand its connections in the podcast world. Hopefully Joe Rogan will finally see my work.Music as always is by Emmet HussmannFollow @justin_borak and also thesocialpodcastnetwork on instagram to get updates on the network and to see some other awesome shows.

This week, we sit down with Kevin Gould as we continue our Forbes 30 under 30 series. He is an entrepreneur, talent manager, brand builder, and active angel investor based in Los Angeles. Gould is the CEO of Kombo Ventures which operates as a holding company to its core operating divisions: talent management, a strategic creative agency, and brand Incubation. He is the co-founder of three direct to consumer brands, all of which have raised no outside capital: Insert Name Here, a hair extension and products brand launched in October of 2018 with co-founders Sharon Pak and Jordynn Wynn, previously the first two employees at Colourpop Cosmetics and ranked by Tribe Dynamics as one of the leading hair brands on social media. Wakeheart, a fragrance and scent brand aimed at Gen Z and young millennials, launched in July of 2019 and co-founded with the Dolan Twins, two of the largest digital influencers in the world with over 20 million followers on social media. Glamnetic, a magnetic eyeliner and lash brand launched in July 2019 and co-founded with Ann McFerran, a former artist and entrepreneur. Gould is an active angel investor and advisor in a number of innovative startups; Clutter, Gyft (acquired by First Data), Compology, DraftKings, The Hunt (acquired by Pinterest), Whistle (acquired by Mars), Step, Rinse, Jukin Media, Brandable, Stem, Pocketwatch, Cargomatic, Beautycon, and many others. Named to Variety magazine's 2019 Dealmakers Impact List, honoring top dealmakers in the entertainment industry, Gould regularly speaks on panels and at events on new media, influencer marketing, and the convergence of technology, entertainment, and consumer brand building. Follow Kevin on Instagram here ▶ https://www.instagram.com/keving/?hl=en Learn more about Insert Name Here ▶ https://www.instagram.com/insertnamehere/?hl=en Learn more about Wakeheart ▶ https://www.instagram.com/wakeheart/?hl=en Learn more about Glamnetic ▶ https://www.instagram.com/glamnetic/?hl=en Subscribe to this page here ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqUr​... Follow Redirected on Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/theredirect...

Sharon Pak and Jordynn Wynn are the co-founders of Insert Name Here. INH burst onto the beauty scene in 2018 with their premium, affordable line of hair pieces and wigs. Combining extensive product research with their experience in cosmetics and beauty, their ponytails become instant bestsellers. With a focus on quality and building a following through social media, INH is just getting started. Visit INHhair.com for more and follow @insertnamehere on Instagram. NOTE: Due to current circumstances, the sound quality of this episode is not up to normal standards. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Previously on "Insert Name Here," Kyle and Jim talked a great deal - and made some predictions - for the newest episode of WandaVision. They were wrong. So a rushed follow up discussion on the latest episode, where we discuss fan theories, where it might go from here, a little slice of Deadpool 3 and a few other things, was recorded. Enjoy. Recorded live from inside Paul Bettany's head on Saturday February 6th. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

You are listening to the “Kevin David Experience”. For the first time, we don't have just one but two special guests joining us. Our two very special guests for today are Kevin Gould  and Ann Mcferran. Kevin Gould is the Founder and CEO of Kombo Ventures and the Co- Founder of Glamnetic, Wake-heart and Insert Name Here. He always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur and  he & his team operate as a brand studio launching and scaling 3 beauty brands with influencer co- founders. Ann Mcferran is the founder and CEO of Glamnetic, a beauty brand that specializes in magnetic eyelashes and eyeliners. She attended UCLA where she graduated in Science. It's after her post graduation that she realized her true passion lies in expressing her creativity. She then went on to become a highly successful fine artist. Tune in to hear Kevin and Ann's truly inspiring story! Please Enjoy! If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider being 1% and leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/ iTunes? It takes less than 30 seconds, and it really makes a world of difference in reaching new interesting guests! To sign up for Kevin's Podcast email Newsletter and to view the show notes & past guests please visit-https://officialkevindavid.com/podcast Follow Kevin: https://mmini.me/@FollowKD

Kevin Gould is the founder and CEO of Kombo Ventures. Many people say they're the bridge between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, but Kevin's the real deal. We discuss why he outsourced his script coverage as a young talent agent, when he liquidated his IRA to start angel investing, how "sliding into DMs" helped him launch 3 beauty brands with $75 million in sales, and how I misjudged Kevin when we first met.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com--EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Chris Erwin:Hi. I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up. A podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Kevin Gould:I did two things. One was I played credit card arbitrage. The second was I think I had forgot what I had in my Roth IRA at the time and I cleared the Roth IRA account and cleared it out, and then took that money and invested in startups. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Kevin Gould, the founder of Kombo Ventures and three direct to consumer beauty brands. Many people say they're the bridge between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, but Kevin's the real deal. He's also acutely aware of the value of his time. As a young talent agent in LA, Kevin actually outsourced his script coverage to his friends so he could fly up to the valley and meet with tech investors and CEOs.Early success drove Kevin to launch his own digital agency, Kombo Ventures. A key player in the YouTube and influencer revolution. At the same time, Kevin also began angel investing through a $40,000 cash advance against his credit card, but in 2018, Kevin wanted to go even bigger in digital. He began sliding into the DMs of up-and-coming beauty execs and pitching new business ideas. With just six figures of startup capital, Kevin launched three beauty brands, and just 18 months later, those brands now generate 75 million in annual sales.At the end of our interview, we talk about why Head of Live will soon be the hottest role in town. Getting called out on a Facebook earnings call by Sheryl Sandberg, and how I misjudged Kevin when we first met. All right. Let's get into it. Chris Erwin:All right. Kevin, let's rewind a bit. Why don't you tell me about where you grew up? Kevin Gould:I was born in Champaign, Illinois. Both my parents went to University of Illinois. I didn't live there for very long. I don't remember any of it. I was probably a year and a half old, and then I ended up moving to Greensboro, North Carolina where I spent pretty much my whole childhood through high school there, and so really call North Carolina home. Chris Erwin:Are your parents still in North Carolina today? Kevin Gould:No. My background on my parents. My dad is a professor of sports psychology. He also had a pretty extensive private consulting practice where he worked with a lot of athletes, and then my mom's a grief counselor. My dad ran the Sports Psychology Department at UNC Greensboro, which was a public college down in North Carolina. Then, after I graduated high school, he ended up going up to Michigan to Michigan State where he leads that department there still to this day. They're up in the cold now. Chris Erwin:Okay. Got it. What was it like growing up with a sports psychologist in the household? Were you like a big sports family? Were you a big sports fan yourself? Kevin Gould:Growing up I was a huge sports family. I think North Carolina is really known for basketball, so outside of Greensboro, you had Chapel Hill, you had Raleigh, you had Wake Forest, you had in that sort of like 90 mile radius. You had Carolina, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest. I also grew up in the era of Michael Jordan and the Bulls. I was a huge Bulls fan. It was really… Looking back it was really interesting having my dad as a sports psychologist. Kevin Gould:It's one of those things when you're a kid you don't fully appreciate it, right? Chris Erwin:Yeah. Kevin Gould:It was a little bit less of like necessarily my dad directly teaching me these things, but it was me picking up just from being around him and being around all these elite athletes the importance of positive thinking and mental toughness, because the really interesting thing and why sports psychologists are in business is primarily for individual sport athletes. He worked with a lot of tennis players, downhill skiers, race car drivers. If you're a car driver and you get in a serious wreck, that's in your head man and it really is hard to get that out of your head. There's a lot of mental work and mental toughness that goes into play. Kevin Gould:I think what ended up happening was sort of learning by osmosis and just being around all that, it really, to this day, I try to have a really positive mindset. Life in business as a roller coaster, right? So, really just being able to fight through that wall and having mental toughness is one of the key takeaways for me out of that. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I played some individual sports growing up like tennis and I remember how often I would get in my own head, and then reading a book called Inner Tennis, which was the psychology of the sport and just how powerful that thinking was. It's interesting that you highlight that. Kevin Gould:100%, and so my dad wrote the textbook for pretty much it's national use for sports psychology. I don't even remember going to the university and sitting in on the college classes and have to stop, I didn't understand. I was 8, 9, 10, right? Chris Erwin:Yeah. Kevin Gould:But the other half I really I think just picked up, again, just by listening and being present and being there. It was a super interesting experience. Chris Erwin:Was your mother in a similar field? Kevin Gould:They're both in the field of helping people. My dad was in the field of education. My mom was a grief counselor and she runs a non-profit still to this day. Quick kind of back story how that came to be. I had an older sister who actually died from a really rare metabolic deficiency before I was born, so I never had a chance to meet her, but for my mom at the time she really became like a pioneer of finding out more information about these metabolic deficiencies and helping educate other parents who maybe either lost loved ones to these or had children with these deficiencies and what was interesting is… Kevin Gould:Never really talked about this before. So, I've had this deficiency my whole life. I have to take medicine every day. I'm completely fine. I honestly don't even really think about it that much, but it is something that if left untreated is super serious. My mom really dove into helping other parents, particularly parents who've lost loved ones through this certain set of metabolic disorders. I think both of them were really, really loved to help other people. Again, my dad through the education lens and my mom's through sort of the grief support and consulting lens. Chris Erwin:Look, we're going to talk a lot about the many different businesses that you founded, but I just have to ask knowing about this condition. You said that you don't think about it often, but if you do take medicine for it every day, does that also cause you to think about your mortality and each moment counts and it's why you've maybe built so fast so early in your career? Have you ever thought about that? Kevin Gould:That's an interesting perspective and take on it I think. Look, I take medicine like three to four times a day and it's so ingrained in me, because I haven't known anything different. So, if you've been doing something your entire life, I don't know anything different than that. We can get into my drive and I think what drives me. I think maybe there's subconsciously some element to that. I don't know how much it plays in, but I mean, look, I think as we get older too, you obviously think about like what's important in life, what are you doing? What's your purpose? Kevin Gould:I think that could for sure have some play in it, but it definitely I don't think was the driving force for what drives me, but I think that's a really interesting take and perspective. I think there's some element of that that probably subconsciously comes into play. Chris Erwin:Yeah. All right. Well, let's talk about some other seeds of entrepreneurship in your early life. Did you know from early on that you wanted to build companies for a living or any other examples of skill sets that you're working on to help make you the entrepreneur you are today? Kevin Gould:I knew I wanted to be entrepreneurial. I just didn't know, one, how to go about it, where to start, what to do. We grew up sort of right around when the internet was starting to come up, but there wasn't YouTube, there wasn't a lot of information and education out there and people to look up to. Again, my parents were educators so they weren't necessarily in business. Kevin Gould:Then, I just didn't really have a lot of mentors when I was younger that I could look up to in North Carolina from a business perspective, but I feel like I just naturally gravitated towards… I was that kid that was the hustler that was always trying to start a side business. I have this memory that comes to mind. I was a swimmer growing up and the South and North Carolina, the community swim club over the summer are big things, and every summer there was this organization, it's called Swim for Cancer. Kevin Gould:The whole premise of Swim for Cancer was you would go raise money in exchange for swimming laps for cancer. The contribution of the young swimmer was go around the neighborhood, raise money, and then you'd swim a certain number of laps in honor of this organization. What it did at the time was I really was thinking back, I developed a lot of my sales skills through this, because I had to, middle of the summer, it's like a 100 degrees, humid in North Carolina, and I'm going around the neighborhood and I really had to figure out what my pitch was, right? Even though it was a non-profit, I was like 8, 9, 10 years old, I'm like, "How am I going to convince these people to give me money for this non-profit?" Kevin Gould:I remember going up to the doors like, "Hey, Mrs. Johnson this is Kevin. I'm swimming for Swim for Cancer, would you like to sponsor me?" Just through that, through knocking on 200, 300 doors over the summer, I started to sort of refine my pitch based on what was working and not working. Again, I didn't think that much into it at the time when I was at 8, or 9, or 10, but it was a really great learning experience that just translated to people skills later on in life, because I had to constantly adapt to the moment and every person was different. Kevin Gould:Mrs. Johnson was different than Mr. Jones who was the hard-ass guy, I'll be like, "How am I going to convince this guy to give me money for the non-profit? He barely wants to open the door." Then, at the end of the summer, you raise all this money, you swim all the laps, they have these awards, and then this is where I kind of learned in life like, "Look, everything in life isn't fair." Because I was like, "Man, I busted my ass all summer. I raised…" I don't know, like 2000 bucks or something from everyone in the neighborhood. I was like, "Yeah. I'm going to be the number one raiser in the city." Kevin Gould:I remember they called up the awards and they're like, "Oh, in second place is Kevin Gould with 2000 bucks." I was like, "Wait. Who could beat me?" Then, this one girl got $5000 flat and it was the check from the rich grandfather. I remember thinking, I was like, "Damn." Look, good for her, but I was like life isn't fair. It was a good… That whole experience was a great learning lesson, and then just throughout life I ended up working at that community pool. Kevin Gould:First started when I was 14 at the snack bar. That was a sales role, and then I became a lifeguard. You had to have a lot of people skills as a lifeguard, so I was always sort of training and not even knowing I was training for what I was doing today through all those things when I was a kid. Chris Erwin:I loved the story about raising money for cancer through the swim marathon. I also did a similar thing where I grew up in the Jersey Shore. In addition, I was also a boy scout and we used to sell Christmas, restoring Christmas. I remember I would take my bike out and go down these different driveways, knock on a random person's door in my town and sell them on a wreath and try and get money from them. Chris Erwin:It was like in the moment you feel awkward, you don't feel any confidence, but you start to develop those reps over time and you get better at it. Then, as you get older like sales is everything. It's not about just getting money from a client, it's about raising investor capital, getting your team excited, recruiting incredible team members to help build the vision that you have, getting buy-in from your friends and family, all the above, so what cool training you had early on. Kevin Gould:Yeah. It was amazing. To your point, every situation in person is different, right? You sort of have to in life and in business, you have to be able to adapt very quickly to the person and to the situation and everyone responds differently. For me, looking back that was amazing. I think that gave me an amazing head start and I didn't even know it at what I was doing at the time. Chris Erwin:Yeah. All right. Now, let's start to fast forward a bit. You go to UNC Wilmington, while you were there, was that a meaningful point in your life? Did you learn a lot or was it just a rapid stepping stone? Kevin Gould:When I was in high school I'd say I was an average to above average student. There was a lot of things that I was disinterested in and I'd always sort of asked my parents, "What am I learning this…" I was like, "Why am I learning this? I can't apply this to my real life?" Kevin Gould:There was always a little bit of that like, "What's the point of school because I don't think this is going to help me in the future?" I think that perspective was half right half wrong. I think I was a 16, 17-year-old kid just like stuck in school and there were a lot of elements that were helpful, but also, for me, there weren't a lot of things that I felt like were helpful for what I wanted to do. Kevin Gould:Anyways, I got into a couple of schools in North Carolina. I don't think I got into Chapel. I can't even remember. I don't think I got into Chapel Hill. I didn't have… Our high school super competitive, didn't have good enough grades. Got into UNC Wilmington, which is a pretty good school. I mean for me, what was important was on the beach. I was like, "All right." Greensboro. I'm going to what I thought was the coolest place in North Carolina, which is Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, and got down there. Kevin Gould:I spent three and a half years there. I graduated a semester early, because I got AP credits. I studied business. I think it was marketing with I think a minor in entrepreneurship and leadership studies. But, again, college I think can lay the foundation, but teaching entrepreneurship is a really hard thing to do and learning entrepreneurship through a book or a class or case studies can maybe you can learn a few things, but really entrepreneurship you just have to jump in and go. Kevin Gould:I think looking back elements of it were helpful, elements of it probably weren't necessarily helpful, but at the time there wasn't an option like there is today for an 18-year-old where if I was 18 today, for me, personally, I probably wouldn't have went to college, but there wasn't any other option back then. It was still like you better go to college and you need a college degree to get a job, and so I had to go. It wasn't really like an option not to go. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I totally agree that that is changing. It used to be, as you said, if you can afford to go to college and you get in, you go to school and that's just what you do right after you get out of high school, but nowadays there's a lot more options. I think people are more open-minded and they don't want to incur the ridiculous student debt. So, questions are, do you take a gap year? Do you travel? Do you go work somewhere full-time, and then go enroll in school with more focus or do you not go to school and maybe do a trade school or learn how to program? Chris Erwin:I think that is very empowering to our new workforce. I agree that for certain people even if you have access to college, it's just… Yeah. It doesn't make sense. Kevin Gould:What's amazing now is there's the power of choice and the power of information that wasn't necessarily there back then for everyone. I think young people have incredible opportunities now and there's still things… If you want to be a doctor, you have to go to school. Specialized things, there's no way around it, but I think for someone who wants to be into business, luckily, there's a lot more flexibility now and you've got a lot more options. Chris Erwin:Speaking of business, after UNC Wilmington you head to LA. Your first job is at talent agency WME, but you were in LA for about a year and a half or so before you started your full-time role there. What were you up to? Kevin Gould:Yeah. Actually, after I graduated, so I graduated in the winter. It was a semester early, so I didn't get out to LA for a few months after that. I had to kind of get my bearings, get everything together, and then I drove out, and then there was a little, maybe a little under a year and a half period where I honestly, man, I was right out of college, I was 21, didn't know what I wanted to do. Kevin Gould:I was in college, so I worked at… I had a bunch of odd jobs. I worked at the Student Rec Center, then I became a certified personal trainer. I thought I wanted to start my own personal training business for a while. I was like, "Okay. This is something like I could be an entrepreneur, do something at the time, which I thought I loved." Then, I moved to LA and I kind of had odd jobs for a while. Kevin Gould:I was personal training. I ended up personal training a lot of people in the entertainment business. I got a lot of referrals, some really high level working actors. Chris Erwin:How does that happen? You show up in LA, you have an East Coast network, and all of a sudden you're training people in entertainment. How does that start? Kevin Gould:I knew a couple people out in LA at the time, and I was always good at sort of connecting. I think it Myspace at the time. I was trying to just connect with people. I knew a couple people out here, and then it kind of like was anything, it was just… I think I was pretty good with people. I was great at getting referrals and kind of built like… It was a very short period of time, but a small book of business for myself. Kevin Gould:I mean, dude, I got a real estate license. I was all over the place. I was like, "I'm going to be a real estate agent to the stars. I'm going to…" I just didn't know what direction I wanted to go in, and then I sort of started reading up on the talent agencies, and then someone at the time, on the client side connected me, and so got into WME probably 15 months after I got out here. It was such an experience, man. There is nothing like going into one of the big talent agencies, and really at the time it was… It still is. It's WME and CAA, right? Kevin Gould:Going in to the mail room where you do anything that they say. It was like a crazy experience, man. I remember you get in the mail room, there's a class of 10 other people that start the same week as you, and so you kind of form this bond with those 10 people that are in the class and everyone's kind of trying to size each other up. It's super competitive, but you have to do anything that the agents say. Kevin Gould:You're not even an assistant, you're not an assistant yet, you're getting called up by an agent, and they're like, "Hey, I need you to go get me a coffee, make sure it's like seven scoops of this. Don't do six. Make sure you stir it. If it's not hot, I'm going to make you go back and get it." At the time, that's the worst job for me, because I don't even drink coffee. I'm literally trying to google like how different coffees are made. I wasn't that sophisticated. I wasn't drinking coffee at 21. Kevin Gould:You literally run errands for all these agents and you're delivering scripts to actors. You have to go deliver scripts. It was like a crazy, crazy experience, man. Chris Erwin:Yeah. When you started, you are signing up to be a yes man. People call you do whatever they need, the talent, the agents, what have you. Just within the first couple weeks, were you energized by that? Being like, "All right. I'm a yes man, but what a cool environment to work in," or was there a little bit of an itch saying, "I really want to have my own path here and this feels limiting?" What was going through your head? Kevin Gould:Yeah. There was definitely an element of, wow. The energy inside an agency is insane. Everyone's moving and shaking and there's information flow inside an agency that you don't get anywhere else, right? You sort of like get plopped into the agency and it's this hub of just information of everything that's going on in the entertainment world and you're like, "Whoa." You're seeing huge actors walk down the halls and you definitely… When you're a 22, 23-year-old, you jump in there, you're like, "Wow. This is really cool." Kevin Gould:At the same time I was already thinking, "Okay. How am I going to quickly get out of the mail room, become this and like the path to become an agent?" I was like, "I got to get out of doing this." How am I going to kind of make the jump to do something else? Chris Erwin:I think that you have mentioned that you started early work in the Digital Department and doing some of the verse like digital and influencer deals out there. What were you up to? Kevin Gould:Yeah. Slightly different though. At the time, there really wasn't that much of a Digital Department at WME. There was one person. I started on a traditional talent agent's desk. I was working with that at the time, all of the young Hollywood type… The CW actors of 10, 12 years ago, right? Those would be digital influencers now. At the time it was like the it people of young Hollywood, which is the stars of the CW or Twilight or whatever, or Glee or whatever it may be. Kevin Gould:Then, I jumped around to a couple different desks over the years, because you become an assistant, you work for an agent for a while, and then you sort of move up to different desks. I worked across the Talent Department, and then I worked across the Non-Scripted TV Department, which at the time was starting to do a lot more digital work. Then, there was literally a one-person Digital Department. I think maybe it added one more person when I was there. Kevin Gould:I wasn't in the Digital Department. I sort of started creating my own universe of what I thought was digital at the time just on my own. I think I was the worst assistant, because I was trying to figure out how do I do the least amount of work I can as an assistant and get by and do a great job for the agent, and then sort of run my side business on the side where I just started naturally gravitating towards what was going on in Silicon Valley. Kevin Gould:Every free minute I had I was reading TechCrunch. I was reading all the Silicon Valley blogs at the time about what was happening there and I started to see- Chris Erwin:This was around 2010, 2012? Kevin Gould:It's like 2011, 2012. The first year I was really just in it just learning the talent agency side of the business and I also learned the things I didn't like to do. When you're an assistant in the Talent Department, you're responsible for every couple of weeks you have to cover a script. The agencies get tons of submissions. The agents aren't going to read it, the assistants have to read it. You get assigned a script to read. I started reading these and I had to write a summary and I'm like, "This sucks, man. I don't want to read scripts and summarize a script." I actually started paying people on the side 50 bucks to do it for me because- Chris Erwin:You're arbitraging time. Kevin Gould:I was arbitraging time. I was like, "I hate doing this. It's not…" That made me really realize, I don't really want to be a traditional talent agent working with actors, because I don't like reading scripts. It's fun to watch movies, wasn't fun to watch scripts. Then, after the first year that's really when I started to get really intrigued by the digital space, and which then sort of led me to after just reading about it for a while, seeing some of these really cool companies popping up. When I'm reading TechCrunch, they raised a little bit of money, and I'm like, "Man, I feel like if they had some entertainment connections, I could be helpful to them." Kevin Gould:I just started emailing these like cold emailing from the WME email address. "Hey, this is Kevin, I work at WME. I'd love to meet with you guys. I think I could be helpful on the entertainment side." Then, on Fridays, I'd kind of fly up once or twice a month to Silicon Valley and just take meetings with these people. Chris Erwin:You're meeting with investors and CEOs, founders of companies? Kevin Gould:This was what I found interesting. I found a gap where people being young, people thought I had something of value that they didn't. I couldn't do shit for anyone in the talent agency. Like, "What am I going to do for an agent that's been there 20 years?" I didn't have a skill set that they didn't have. I would have to try to be them, right? Chris Erwin:Yeah. Kevin Gould:But I saw this gap where all of these founders and even these VC funds, they had no clue how the entertainment business worked. I was like, "Wow. I can be that bridge that sort of sits between both worlds." I really spent a year just getting to know the space, flying up, meeting with people, building the Rolodex, plugging them into relationships and not even asking for anything just to sort of build some relationships. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Do you remember some of these companies? Who are some of your first Silicon Valley clients? Kevin Gould:Well, maybe I'll cut to kind of how it officially kind of came to be, because before it was… I remember at the time I was sort of signing clients on the side. She's a really good friend of mine, Jesse Draper. Do you know Jesse? She runs a VC fund down in LA. Chris Erwin:I think I met her when I first moved to LA in 2012. I don't remember she was like on the cap table for big frame, but she was like around that whole world. Kevin Gould:Yeah. We put her with Big Frame. I signed her on the side as a client and I was like, "Okay. We're going to build out a huge digital show for her." She was plugged into Silicon Valley. She was one of my first clients while I was at WME that I like took on and worked with from a, not a company necessarily, but a person and her and I are still really great, great friends to this day, but then there were just a lot- Chris Erwin:Kevin, to be clear. The business was not through WME, this was through you individually? Kevin Gould:No. Not yet. Jesse was through WME and I signed her, I was at WME, and the agent that I was working for at the time was really supportive, and all the other businesses I was helping at the time, because I was at WME, it was really informal. I wasn't taking money from them. I was just doing it to learn the space. What it allowed me to do was refine my understanding of what made a good company, what made a good founder. Kevin Gould:I mean in the beginning my instinct wasn't as good. I was going after companies that couldn't get to scale, maybe didn't have the right founder, maybe there was a ton of competition in the space, and then at the time, I was working for an agent and the way the agency is laid out is you've got all the agent offices, and then there's a huge row of just like… You've been in the agency. There's a huge row of assistant desks and assistants all sit next to each other. Kevin Gould:I was sitting next to this guy, smart guy, worked at Goldman, gave up everything to come to the agency, and then he was working for Charles King at the time, who now runs Macro. We would sit next to each other and just talk about the tech space and we sort of share the same passion. We ended up leaving together and we started, what was at the time, a company called Startup Agency, which the whole idea was Startup Agency was going to bridge Silicon Valley and the entertainment side of the business. Kevin Gould:One of my first clients that we signed was, again, someone who's become a really great friend to this day. It was a company called Gift at the time, which the whole premise of Gift was a digital gift card app that could buy, send, sell, receive digital gift cards and I met CJ, the founder… I went to TechCrunch Disrupt, the big conference. I saw him present on stage. I went up and said, "Hey, man, I've got this company called Startup Agency…" Chris Erwin:You just approached him cold? Kevin Gould:Just approached him cold. He kind of looked at me like, "Who's this guy?" Kind of blew me off. I said, "Give me your card." I gave him my card. He gave me his card, and then the next week I called him, he was still apprehensive. I got on the phone. I was like, "Look, I can really help you out. If you could get to anyone in the entertainment business, who would it be?" Kevin Gould:He said, at the time, Giuliana Rancic was a new mom on E. Perfect for what they were trying to do as an ambassador for their business. I said, "Okay. Give me a couple days." I came back a couple days later. I said, "Hey, I got a call set up with Giuliana's manager and her team and Giuliana. Let's put a partnership together." Two weeks later, she came on as like a big face and an ambassador to the brand, and then we did a ton of other things for Gift along the way. Kevin Gould:That was one of the first clients, and then so Tim and I is still a good friend. He ultimately wanted to go more in depth with us, a single company, and that's when sort of Startup Agency kind of pivoted. I rebranded and kind of became an element of what Kombo Ventures is today. Chris Erwin:You go full into Startup Agency I think in 2012, right? Kevin Gould:Yeah. I think 2012. Yeah. It's the end of 2012. Right around there. Chris Erwin:Okay. Kevin Gould:It's funny because I think some people have very linear paths. They were like here for three years and here for two and here for a year. Mine was very like it all sort of blended together. I was at WME and I was trying to sign these people on the side and have my own business, and then I sort of moved into Startup Agency, and then that sort of morphed into Kombo. Kevin Gould:There was this constant just evolution of what I was doing as opposed to a hard rigid like, "Here for this year, two years, three years." It just sort of morphed and evolved over time. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Kind of like the image that's coming to mind is a plant or a tree that's growing, and then there are these branch offshoots that might be like, "Oh, I'm incubating this idea. See where that goes. Maybe it grows maybe it doesn't." Then, there's this other offshoot, and then it becomes like a through line where the core of your career and all these different things build upon that and reinforce it, but then can take you serendipitously in different directions. I feel like that's what you did. Kevin Gould:Life is all about serendipity and that's a good analogy you made about the plants and different paths. Then, it still ends up all working up to the same place, but it kind of diverges here and there, but it all ultimately, even if you don't think it makes sense and at the moment it ends up making sense. That's life. Chris Erwin:Yeah. 100%. Startup Agency, and then I think that you take on a 10-pole client in Videogram and Cinemacraft for a couple years, but Kombo, what is now known as Kombo Ventures, which is a hybrid talent management, IP, incubation studio, digital agency, consumer brand launcher, that also really kind of takes off at the same time. Kevin Gould:So at the time there's this company called Cinemacraft. They had a product called Videogram, really interesting sort of early video product that they had an algorithm that allowed basically videos to be spliced and diced algorithmically to pull out the most key points of the video. It was mostly like a B2B sales play where you sell into studios and networks and content providers. It was part of Turner at the time had this thing called Turner Media Camp where Turner was funding startups, and so that as a client at the time, I got super involved. Kevin Gould:I was really part of like the founding member of the team there. I wasn't the founder by any means, but was on the founding team and that was a great experience to get a little bit more operational in one company where I still had other clients at the time, and sort of I ultimately realized I wanted to at that time be involved across multiple clients, and really build out Kombo and the whole model of Kombo sort of shifted into a real agency where I was looking for… Kevin Gould:The thesis was go find late seeds, series A, sometimes series B companies that didn't have someone internally that had my relationships Rolodex, know-how of the entertainment business. Go to them and have a sort of hybrid model where I would take a retainer, because I needed to get paid, take sweat equity. I didn't have a formal finance background, so what that allowed me to do was learn all about cap tables, all about financing, learning by just osmosis of just being around it. Kevin Gould:Then, ultimately, what I realized, it's like, "Wait a second. These companies that I'm taking equity in…" Because I'm super particular and I wouldn't just work with any company, they all have zero trouble raising money from top tier funds. I was seeing I had a firsthand view of how well the company was doing, because I was very integrated with the companies. I started negotiating to let me invest in the last round of funding, because at the time, I was cutting small angel checks of what was 10k or 15k or 20k to them, at the time I was taking that consulting money, and then dumping it back in. Kevin Gould:It became this really interesting model where I had a couple wins that really worked. I had some that obviously went to zero, but the ones that worked, worked well and most importantly what it allowed me to do was I basically got to make money and get a really good generalist view of how lots of different companies are run, how lots of different founders work, because they all work different. It was just amazing at that time of my life to be able to do that. Chris Erwin:Well, and I have to say, so a few points. One, that rubric you talked about, flying up to Silicon Valley, starting to get a sense of what companies were meaningful that you felt are worth betting on versus not. You started to create that filter that you likely applied now at Kombo. So increasing your likelihood of success, better return on your time. Second what I'm hearing is that early stage companies, seed series A, getting them to pay you a monthly retainer as an advisor is not easy. Chris Erwin:I run an advisory business myself. I specifically target later stage companies that have cash wherewithal. So impressive that you're able to get them to spend money on you, but then also they want results often, and so you must have been delivering to have maintained those relationships. Kevin Gould:So very, very good point. It's really hard to get startups to pay you money when they're obviously very cash conscious, particularly if they're that series A stage where paying a $5000 retainer a month or whatever it is that I was charging back then was hard to come by. What I did was I always delivered before I asked for anything. I think that's a good thing to do in just life, whether you're someone that's trying to come in a company, whatever it may be. Kevin Gould:Always deliver a little bit, show that you can drive results, and then it makes it much easier to ask for something after you've already done that. At the time, I was like young coming out of WME, it's not like Kombo was kind of I guess what it is today where it's a little bit more established and I had a little bit more of a reputation. I didn't really have much of a reputation. The only way to do that was to deliver before I asked for anything, and some people would say, "Oh, well, that's a waste your time. Well, what happens if they don't compensate you or whatever?" Kevin Gould:I look at it a completely opposite way. It always… At least, for me, it always ended up working out. Even if I didn't end up working with them, I still know those people to this day. I can call on a favor. I've gained a relationship, whatever it may be. Maybe it took me 5 to 10 hours of work to put in to try to gain the client, but that's the only way I could get them was to deliver, and then ask later. Chris Erwin:Yeah. You were looking at it from a long-term point of view, lifetime value the customer. So, by doing the work up front, even if you don't get paid for that say like 5 to 10 hours, that could be a customer for the next 10 to 20 years of your life. They can be paying you cash retainer fees. They give you access to their cap table. They refer you to other advisory clients, because they like you. You're able to make other angel investments. Chris Erwin:It's incredibly valuable to put the work in, which also filters if a company appreciates that, that's someone that you want to work with. You feel them out over time. It's a two-way interview. Kevin Gould:100%, and life is a series of compounding relationships. You put in on that work, you help people out, you do good by people, and all of that over time starts to compound to I think kind of what it is today where I feel like I know a pretty good amount of people. I've put in a lot of favors for people, if I ever need to call in a favor, I probably can. It's just this like network effect that continues to expand over time. Kevin Gould:I try to encourage all these young people that are trying to get in it for the quick money. It's just take a step back and just think a little bit about the long-term and there's other things other than like the quick hit that are going to be ultimately a lot more meaningful and beneficial to you long-term. Chris Erwin:Something else I just have to quickly touch on here. I think you mentioned this when we last spoke, but credit card arbitrage with your angel investments. So, you are making these small cash retainers as far from life-changing money, building a small business, so probably not a lot of extra cash going around, but you're putting money back into your clients, so you're like not diversified. If a client goes away, you lose your angel investment and you lose that retainer, but you're even tripling down in a way because you were going into credit card debt so you can put more cash into these companies, is that right? Kevin Gould:I'll even go one step beyond that. I remembered another thing I did, which was crazy. One was I thought, "Okay. I've got all these access to these incredible deals." For whatever reason in my head, I've never had that risk alarm bell. For me, anything I do I don't think is a risk, because I feel like I've assessed the risk and I feel like if I'm doing it, it's not a risk. I ultimately know there is a risk, but I don't know, my brain has always operated a little bit differently in terms of risk profile. Kevin Gould:I said, "Man, I've got $40,000 of a line of credit on one of my cards and I'm looking at the interest rate, I'm like, "Okay. What happens if I basically go max out this card and basically play interest rate arbitrage where if I can get into a couple of companies there's the…" The downside of it might go under, but there's the upside of, "Look, maybe it's a 15% interest rate a year, but if this thing can 3x, 4x, 5x, 10x, whatever it may be, that's a pretty good bet." Kevin Gould:I did two things. One was I played credit card arbitrage. The second was I think I had… I forgot what I had in my Roth IRA at the time and I cleared the Roth IRA account, and cleared it out, and then took that money and invested it in startups. Chris Erwin:Wow. Kevin Gould:For anyone listening, I would never recommend doing that. It's not a strategy I would recommend, but I don't know. It made sense to me. It's hard to explain, because it rationally doesn't make a lot of sense and I'm a pretty grounded rational person a lot of ways, but I'm also willing to take a lot of risk. I don't know, that made sense to me. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I think liquidating an IRA, I think there's like a 10% penalty on top of that too. Kevin Gould:Yeah. I had to pay the penalty to liquidate it too. I had to pull out the cash, you're not earning interest on the money you're gaining, you're also paying the pre-liquidation penalty, but I got enough capital between the credit card arbitrage, the IRA, and the incoming revenue that I had coming in on the agency side of the business, because I was just basically paying my rent. I'm pretty simple. I wear like basic hoodies, t-shirt. I didn't buy a lot of fancy stuff and that's how I did it. Chris Erwin:In these early days, was there ever a point though where there was like a cash crunch? Every founder, and like this is me like every week, "Oh, are we going to make payroll this month? Oh, here's all the things that could go wrong and put us out of business." But you need to think optimistically. Were you ever down on your business? Kevin Gould:Luckily, I kept it really lean at the time. It was more about like, "Am I going to eat or not going to eat?" I always had enough to… Again, I feel like one of my natural skill sets was sales, so there was always enough of a client base to cover. We'll talk about I guess in a little bit the brand side of things, because when you're running a brand, a larger brand there's a lot of moving pieces on cash flow. But because I kept it lean, I was generally okay, but I had to really not live beyond my means, and also always be on the hunt for new clients and new business development. Kevin Gould:I definitely wasn't swimming in cash, because, again, I was taking lower retainers in exchange for these equity stakes, and then when there were some cash crunches, serendipitously, a company exits and I get a payout or I close a bit deal. I don't know, man. It always ended up somehow writing itself and, yeah, it was crazy. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I think that's the success formula. It's hard work having some diversified bets, and then a bit of luck where things just work out, and resilience. In those tough times not hanging up the towel. Be like, "No. We can get through this." Because all startups they just need a little bit of time. With time, the worst that can happen is you go to zero. The best is like the sky is limitless. Kevin Gould:That's exactly the way I think about it. The worst that can happen is it goes to zero, and ultimately, you learn from it and you start over. I know that sounds very simplified, and so a lot of people I think going to zero is that's obviously terrible, but for me, I'm like, "All right. I'll just from scratch and rebuild." That's kind of how I always thought about is the worst that happens is I learned a lesson and I got to rebuild. Chris Erwin:I like how Jocko Willink describes it who's former special forces and he's now an incredible executive and leadership coach and has his own podcast and much more. He's done the scenario. He goes through his worst case scenario planning, which is like, "Okay. If I'm really making pennies, then I will have a blanket on a concrete floor and I will eat beans out of a can." He's like, "That's not that bad." He's like, "I've had worse in combat scenarios." Chris Erwin:It's like when it's uncertain of how bad it can get, you freak yourself out, but when you actually get there logically, you're like, "Oh, I can do that for a few months. I can do that for a year. Sure." Kevin Gould:100%, and obviously, you don't want to do it, but you'll ultimately be okay. Then, it's just a matter of being resilient and getting yourself out of it and coming up with the next thing. Ultimately, that's like all business. If businesses can't get creative and continually be ahead of what's next, they're ultimately going to find themselves in that position anyway, so you have to constantly be coming up with new things to reinvent yourself, get creative. I don't know. That's how I think about it. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Cool. All right, Kevin, let's talk about how Kombo Ventures has evolved over the past couple of years. You've had some very exciting developments in your company where in addition to all of your agency management, IP studio work, you've now launched three very fast growing direct to consumer brands. Let's start out, what was the catalyst to evolve Kombo Ventures, and then specifically get into beauty products? Kevin Gould:Yeah. A couple catalysts, and maybe I'll cut back slightly, and then loop back into how this all kind of came to be. After running the agency side of the business for a few years, I was seeing the rise of influencers and big digital influencers, content creators, YouTubers, and thought there was a gap in the market where a lot of these talent needed to think about their brand as a real scalable business. Kevin Gould:I ended up basically starting another part of the agency where more of a management company where we were just managing and signing digital YouTube creators, big talent, and so for a while it was a split of still working with companies and doing all of the advisory agency services we were talking about, which is one part of the business. Then, the other part was managing these talent. Kevin Gould:On the beauty side, one company probably five, six years ago I got really deep with as an investor. Sort of fell on hard times now with the events, business and COVID and everything was BeautyCon, and through BeautyCon, I really saw, one, the influence that influencers have on the beauty business. Two, the scale of beauty businesses and how much they can scale. I think they were always very forward thinking from an e-commerce perspective. Kevin Gould:Then, the other we're seeing through the influencers that we were managing was like just even at a very basic level when they had their own merch business, the amount of scale that one influencer could get from moving merch. Which then led me to, "Look, I really want to start building my own brands." I'd say in summer of 2018, I had known Sharon Pak and Jordynn Wynn for a while. They were basically like the first two employees over at ColourPop Cosmetics, big cosmetics company. Kevin Gould:I slid in their DMs on Instagram. I DM both of them together and I said, "Hey, what are you guys up to? I'd love to catch up." I schlep over to Calabasas because they were working out of Oxnard, we met in the middle. I sat down. I was like, "Look, if you guys could start a brand and what space would it be?" We sort of just started talking and they were like, "Look, we think the hair space is a really interesting space. We don't think it's been innovated." You're like, "Color cosmetics has. There's a lot of legacy players, but they're not great at social content creative like sort of influencers." Kevin Gould:I kind of went back that night and did a bunch of research. I came back a day later and I said, "Hey, here's all the research on the space. Let's do this." They're like, "Whoa. Are you serious?" I was like, "Yeah. Let's do it." Chris Erwin:You were like jazzed up immediately? Kevin Gould:I was jazzed up immediately. I was looking for co-founders that… It's important to have co-founders that can do things you can't and vice versa, right? Chris Erwin:Yeah. Kevin Gould:I think their core expertise was social, creative, community building online, and so we partnered up and the brand launched. It was a soft launch, but it launched in October of 2018. That was the first brand. Chris Erwin:This is called Insert Name Here. Kevin Gould:Insert Name Here, INH Hair for short. When we started, it was primarily actual hair. Like Ariana Grande style ponytails, like that ponytail she always wears, hair extensions, wigs, lots of hair products. It has since transitioned into overall hair business where we sell blow dryers, straighteners, hot tools. We have hair color now. It's expanded a lot. Then, cut to last year there were two other brands that I launched and co-founded. Kevin Gould:One was also in the beauty space called Glamnetic. It is in the women's eyelash space. I did that with my co-founder Anne McFerrin, who's incredible, and sort of similar in that she is incredible at social, creative content, community building. I think a real visionary from a product development perspective. We launched that. Then, the third brand was called Wakeheart, which I did… This was done a little bit differently. Kevin Gould:It was done with the Dolan twins who were two big YouTubers and digital influencers. It's a fragrance and scent brand, really aimed at like Gen Z and young Millennials. The through line is that with all these brands we're like, "Okay. Look, we need to get these things profitable within six months or less." That was like one goal we set. We're going to run these things lean. I wanted in the beginning a pretty large degree of autonomy. I didn't want to raise capital. So, self-funded the businesses- Chris Erwin:Jointly funded with your co-founders or were you just contributing capital? Kevin Gould:Different on each one. One of them I funded all of it. Two of them, I think we split some of it. Then, I was bringing… Mostly I was bringing the capital, and then I was bringing all the op side, everything on the operational side of the business. Then, I'd say I'm pretty strong on the marketing side as well, and so bringing a lot of that to the table and kind of cut to today. There's these three brands running, we still haven't taken on any capital for any of the brands. Man, there's like 90 something people across everything now. Kevin Gould:The brands grew really, really quickly. It obviously has been a very interesting year with COVID and how sort of everything accelerated from an e-commerce perspective. But it's been a lot of fun. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Going back to meeting the co-founders, how did you sell them on you? Because you show up… I think you kind of knew the ColourPop cosmetics team, but getting them to launch a business, change what they're doing, take on a bunch of risk, sign up for a lot of work. How did you get them excited about these ideas you had? Kevin Gould:You know what's funny is I feel like you'd have to ask Sharon and Jordynn, but they've kind of talked about it before. I think they like did… I don't know if they thought I was that serious at first, right? I was that serious. I literally sat down, and I said, "Hey, if you could launch anything, what should we launched?" Then, literally a week later we're meeting every weekend while they're still working like getting this thing strategized and planned and going. Kevin Gould:Yeah. I don't know. I think it was just an open honest conversation. I was like, "Look, we think there's a big opportunity here and let's take a shot at this and do it." I think to their credit too, I think they wanted to start… It was all serendipitous, right? They wanted to start their own business at the time and I think we all complimented each other in terms of the skill sets that we brought to the table, and so it just made sense. Chris Erwin:Then, you also said that you brought ops expertise to the table, but you don't have a background in launching CPG, e-commerce businesses, in fulfillment, developing relationships with manufacturers, designing packaging, so did you hire a team to help you figure that out or did you do it yourself? Kevin Gould:I've had my right hand guy, Lucas, who's been with me for a while. He's awesome. He also did not have a e-commerce op background. He had a banking background where he was at the Soros fund, and then kind of like do anything figure it out sort of mentality. I kind of just looked at the space and I was like, "We can figure this out." It's like anything, right? You put enough time into it and just dig in and be curious and ask a lot of questions. It's not rocket science. Kevin Gould:We're not building a biopharma company. It's not something completely out of my wheelhouse. I think by virtue of seeing a lot of companies being built over the years and sort of being close to the space, I knew enough as a generalist to be able to go in and figure it out, but you're right. Never cut a fulfillment center, put a fulfillment center deal together, never had to run the back end on the accounting side for an e-commerce business before, but you kind of just figure it out as you go. Chris Erwin:Just learn by doing. Kevin Gould:Learn by doing and the key is one thing with putting up your own money is you are very conscious of making sure you minimize mistakes, right? Chris Erwin:Yeah. Kevin Gould:For me, I'm like super high touch and heavily involved in each of the brands and still am to this day and just the key is, it's like, "How do you scale as quickly as possible to minimize the major mistakes you make?" It's okay to make mistakes and we want people to make mistakes because otherwise they're not moving quick enough and learning and growing things, but from a cash flow perspective going back to the cash flow piece, you need to make sure you don't make too many mission critical mistakes or you'll be out of business, particularly if you're self-funding your company. Chris Erwin:Speaking of the cash needed, how much capital did it take to actually just first launch these brands and get the first product out the door? Are we talking seven figures per brand, was it five to six figures of cash investment? Kevin Gould:I'd say minimum six figures on each brand, and then as they grow the biggest problem was trying to self-finance an e-commerce brand, if you're growing quickly is the inventory constraints. In the hair space, cost of inventory is really high. I had to put out for sure six figures initially to get the thing going. But, again, it seems crazy to do that, but to me at the time I felt like I calculated the risk. I felt like we're going to make this work and was willing to do it. It didn't seem like a… I don't know. I looked at it from all angles and I was like, "I feel like this makes sense and the worst that happens is I'm going to lose my money and I'm going to have to make it up again." Kevin Gould:But the real big challenge wasn't necessarily that I was fortunate to have had some successes with some of the previous exits where I made some money on some of the agency side of the business where I had that capital to deploy, but the most challenging piece comes, again, when you really scale it and you have to continue to deploy capital just to finance the inventory as you go, and you're too early to go to a bank. Kevin Gould:A bank's not going to finance a business that's been up and running for a year. You're almost even too early to go to a lot of the inventory financing solutions that are out in the market today. You kind of really need close to a year for them just to even get them interested, and so at points in time, I had to deploy a lot more than I wanted to. Chris Erwin:Personal capital. Kevin Gould:Personal capital. I had deployed overall a million dollars. I'm not going to break down exactly which one it went to, but across everything, a million dollars of capital, which was, one, way more than I expected. That's a lot of money. I'm not like loaded. That's a lot of money. Kevin Gould:I don't know. I believe in the brands. I believe in what we're doing. I believe in my co-founders. It wasn't like the businesses were losing money. That incremental dollar figure that has went up over time is getting plowed into inventory. It's not like we're a business like some of these other e-commerce businesses that got in trouble where they were just blowing money every month and they were losing money on the P&L. This was for financing growth. Chris Erwin:I like what you said about starting lean with the six-month timeline to prove it out and get profitable. I think what a lot of companies, particularly digital media companies did when I got into the whole game back in 2012 was here's a vision for a business model that we can enter, and then here's how we can make money, but a lot of it didn't come into fruition. Then, it required them to continually raise money from investors, and then a lot of money was lost. That wasn't the approach for you. Kevin Gould:Well, and I think there were, obviously, hindsight for all those guys or women. It's like 20/20 in terms of what went wrong. I think there was like guilty parties on both sides. I think you had entrepreneurs that were coming up with self-justified LTVs of customers, and then they're like, "Yeah. The LTV is a thousand dollars of our customer, therefore, we can spend 500 to acquire them." When there actually wasn't enough data to really understand, what was the LTV? Kevin Gould:Then, you've got investors pumping money into the space encouraging them and basically adding on to that narrative of, "Oh, yeah, yeah, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow." Then, when the growth wasn't there and the LTV didn't back out, the investors were like, "We're cutting our losses. We're not in." You had a bunch of these e-commerce businesses that just fundamentally should have been run a much different way. Kevin Gould:I think the space is now getting reset where there's a lot more e-commerce brands or Omni-channel brands that are being run a little bit more efficiently. I think just the investor base has gotten, has been pushing companies to do that a lot more, but I was like, "We should be able to run this lean." you know, then you got to put up the money for the inventory, you got to test, you got to be in the weeds. Kevin Gould:In the beginning, I always tell early founders of social driven e-com brands, we treated Instagram DM as a sales funnel, right? Anyone that followed us, we'd shoot them a personal DM like, "Hey, thanks for following us. Let us know if you have any questions. We're here for you." That was like warm… If you're in a B2B sales business, that was our version of prospecting new customers. We had warm leads of people that followed us and we were actually going in and DMing them, having conversations with our first few thousand people that followed us on social and actually drove real revenue from that. Kevin Gould:It was just a down and dirty kind of guerrilla marketing style way of getting new customers on not a lot of capital. Obviously, as you scale that doesn't work as you scale as much, right? But in the beginning when you're doing 10,000, 20,000 a month in sales, it was a really great outside the box marketing tool for us. Chris Erwin:Yeah. As they always say in the beginning do things that don't scale. You learn from those tests and experiments, and I also like hearing about the story that you didn't have a specific playbook to follow in the beginning. You kind of learned and made your own. It's crazy I think with the number of e-commerce companies that are out there and you have Shopify and WooCommerce that you would think, "Oh, here's the playbook, here's how you find the manufacturer, here's the margin that you need." Chris Erwin:There are best practices, but you still got to figure it out for yourself and each talent situation, each product situation, each team situation is uniquely different. You just got to start talking to people, trying things out, and taking your ego out of it. One thing I've learned from you because you've given me some advice for some of our clients is you can have clients with billion dollar top line licensing businesses, but you know what? Start out with a small experiment which is maybe just a thousand units and see what works, and then you could build upon that and that's the right way to do it. Kevin Gould:100%. It doesn't all have to come at once. Start small and prove it out, make sure it works, and build from there. I think your point too on ego and I think everyone as an entrepreneur always have to self…. They always have to self-check their ego. You, me, everyone to a degree has an ego and I think to be a founder or a CEO or someone that's leading a company, and I'm certainly guilty of this as well sometimes. Kevin Gould:It's like you have to check your ego, make sure you're an amazing listener, right? You have to listen to everything. You have to listen to your team members, your co-founders, your customers, right? Even though you might have a perspective that you think is right and it might ultimately be right, you still need to take in all the feedback and listen and make sure everyone has a voice. That's always something that you continually have to refine and work on as a founder. Chris Erwin:So fast forward, you launched these brands, three brands within the past couple of years and you had a big moment this year. I think on the recent Facebook earnings call, Sheryl Sandburg, I think the number two at Facebook. She calls out Glamnetic as a great example of a fast-growing small, medium-sized business that's using their advertising platform. This is like you hear Glamnetic and the founder's name on the earnings call. It's amazing. I think you guys posted a video of that. What did it feel like? Did you know in advance that was going to happen? Kevin Gould:We did. I wasn't sure it was a go until the night before. I heard it was going to happen, but I still thought, went listen in on their earnings call… On those earnings calls, things get cut out last minute. I was like, "Who knows if this is going to happen or not." It was a really cool moment, man. I mean I think like, "Look, you got to celebrate the wins." I think that was like… I had a drink that night with my co-founder, and the guys as well. That was really cool. Kevin Gould:The business was super young, it was really a little over a year old. We've been fortunate to scale very quickly and that was just a really cool moment. One of the biggest companies in the world and you're on their earnings call, but you know what? You take the night, you celebrate a little bit. You're like, "Wow. That was cool." Then, you get to work the next day and you just keep building. Kevin Gould:It was an amazing experience. It's something that I think always remember when you're like as an early moment of the end, but I don't know. It's also weird because the brands have scaled really quickly, but at the same time I still feel like they're in their infancy. I feel like we're just getting started and- Chris Erwin:Yeah. Let's put some numbers behind that. I think that you mentioned when these brands like I think last year, run rate across your three brand portfolio, call it around $1 to $2 million of top line revenue. Kevin Gould:A little bit more like four to five last year. This year collectively 75. Chris Erwin:75? Kevin Gould:Yeah. Chris Erwin:That's like 20x. Kevin Gould:Yeah. It's been insane, man. It's been… What's crazy is like, again, it's definitely growing a lot, but I still feel like we're that small startup that's just like hustling to make it happen and the key is we have, again, I've got amazing co-founders in each brand and amazing teams. We have a lot of really young people that love what they do. I think they're learning a lot in these brands. It's been an amazing experience for them. They also put in a lot of hard work though and everyone's really, really passionate about what they do. Kevin Gould:We've got awesome teams on each of the brands. I think we figured out the playbook and the playbook's always changing. It's constantly updating, but to run a really strong e-commerce brand today, you have to do a lot of things right. You have to obviously be with an amazing high quality product, that's number one. You don't get in the door and scale otherwise. Then, you have to be killer at… It's like the flywheel, social content, creative, influencer marketing, paid media, retention, email, SMS, a loyalty program. Kevin Gould:That whole flywheel has to be running in lockstep and in sync in order for the brands to scale, otherwise, what happens is if you only have two or three of those, the barrier to entry to start an e-com brand lower than ever, right? Chris Erwin:Yeah. Kevin Gould:Super easy to get a Shopify site up. Let's say you own a brand, then, it's fairly easy… I wouldn't say it's fairly easy, but it's easier to get a brand to seven figures in sales, right? It's become easier to do that, but still I don't want to discount that that's really still hard to do. Then, take a brand to eight figur

We at Full Coverage have been fans of Sharon Pak and Jordynn Wynn ever since their days running the Instagram game at Colourpop Cosmetics, so we were beyond excited to chat with them about their newest venture, Inset Name Here. INH is a super cool brand all about democratizing wigs, hair extensions, faux ponies and just about everything in the hair space. We hopped on Zoom to discuss their careers to date, what inspires them as entrepreneurs and beauty lovers, and what's next for them and their brand.There's also New News from Elemis, Charlotte Tilbury, Nars, Gucci and JLo Beauty and is that a Highlight of the Week from The Body Shop?! Listen in to find out more...Find out more about Insert Name Here here:https://inhhair.com/https://www.instagram.com/insertnamehere/And follow Sharon & Jordynn:https://www.instagram.com/immbunny/https://www.instagram.com/jordynn.wynn/——————————————————————————Full Coverage is a podcast for beauty lovers, by beauty lovers. Join professional makeup artist, Harriet Hadfield and unprofessional beauty lover, Lindsey Kelk as they discuss everything happening in the world of makeup, skincare, haircare and beyond.Lindsey Kelk is an internationally bestselling author, lipstick lover and pro-wrestling obsessive who can be found all over social media @lindseykelk and at lindseykelk.comhttp://www.instagram.com/lindseykelkHarriet Hadfield is a professional make-up artist and planner addict, and can be found on her blog and YouTube channel, HarryMakesItUp.com and on Instagram at @harrymakesitup and @hmiuacademyhttp://www.instagram.com/harrymakesitupFull Coverage is edited & produced by Lindsey KelkContact us: hello@fullcoveragepodcast.com—————————————————————————–You can support Full Coverage on Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/fullcoveragepodcastAnd join the Full Coverage conversationhttp://www.facebook.com/groups/140899483207977http://www.facebook.com/FullCoveragePodcasthttp://www.instagram.com/FullCoveragePod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Key Episode Takeaways: 1. Learn about the unique differences in creating digitally-native brands...and why larger companies are looking to these brands as innovators as they become more omnichannel. 2. Understand the power of influencers in marketing and building top-of-funnel DTC traffic. 3. Learn about why modern marketers must be generalists that think cross-channel and throughout the entire supply chain. 4. Hear useful tips from a serial entrepreneur disrupting the beauty space. *** About Kevin Gould: Kevin is a superstar serial entrepreneur, talent manager, brand builder, and investor. He is the Founder and CEO of Kombo Ventures and is also a co-founder of three direct to consumer brands; Insert Name Here, a hair extensions and product brand, Wakeheart, a fragrance and scent brand aimed at Gen Z and young millennials and co-founded with the Dolan Twins, two of the largest digital influencers in the world, and Glamnetic, a leading magnetic eyeliner and lash brand. In 2019, Gould was named to Variety magazine's Dealmakers Impact List, honoring top dealmakers in the entertainment industry, and is also an investor in numerous entertainment brands including Beautycon Media. You can learn more about Kevin below: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gould-b8820234/ Instagram: @keving Kombo Ventures brand holdings: Wakeheart by the Dolan Twins: https://wakeheart.com/ Glamnetic: https://glamnetic.com/ Insert Name Here: https://inhhair.com/ *** Join our Next Gen Community on social media: https://linktr.ee/nextgenmktgpod

It's been a while since the whole crew got together. Find out what they've been up to, huh?

New year, new Earned! In our first episode of 2021, Conor sits down with entrepreneur and brand builder Kevin Gould, founder of talent management firm and digital consulting agency Kombo Ventures, as well as the co-founder of three digitally native powerhouse brands that pulled in a combined $75 million in revenue last year: Insert Name Here, Glamnetic, and Wakeheart. First, we learn about Kevin's background at talent agency WME (William Morris Endeavor), before hearing why he decided to start Kombo Ventures in 2012. Kevin then reveals how and why he began building consumer brands of his own. We learn how Kevin, who currently heads four different companies, stays focused, and he shares key strategies for building and scaling digital-first brands profitably. Conor and Kevin also discuss the importance of community building, and we learn Kevin's philosophy on working with creators, and common mistakes he sees brands make in the influencer space. To close the show, Kevin describes the pivots his teams have made in response to COVID-19, and discusses how he is already planning for a future of live commerce.

It's been a little while as we've taken some much needed time off over the holidays, but we're back - with a clip show.

Today on The Power Play I sit down with Kevin Gould. Kevin is an entrepreneur, brand builder and investor. Kevin began his career at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment where this inspired him to start his own investing firm. His is the founder of Kombo Ventures and co-founder of Wakeheart, a fragrance and scent brand which he co-founded with the Dolan Twins, Insert Name Here, a hair extension and product brand and Glamnetic, a magnetic eyeliner and lash brand. Go check out Kevin Gould's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/keving/ Kombo Ventures - https://www.komboventures.com/ Wakeheart - https://wakeheart.com/ Insert Name Here - https://inhhair.com/ Glamnetic - https://glamnetic.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepowerplay/support

Today we've got an exclusive interview with Sharon and Jordan of Insert Name Here to talk about their fast growing company, wigs, and all things hair. Then we have Jeff Toll on the pod to talk about the COVID-19 vaccine-- who will get it first and is it safe? Then we're discussing Germany's hard lockdown, Doug Band's confessions about the Clintons, the NFL's dropping ratings, Disney's competition with Netflix for streaming, Bob Dylan's sale of his music catalogue to Universal, Affirm's postponement of its IPO, and more. For more information about Insert Name Here visit: https://inhhair.com/ and be sure to use the code Group Chat The biggest award show of the year! The 2020 Group Chat Awards LIVE on Twitch December 14th @ 8PM (PST) - Giveaways, special guests, entrainment and more! Mark your calendars www.twitch.tv/groupchatpod With one stick of Liquid I.V. in 16 ounces of water, you get 2-3 times the amount of hydration as plain water. You can get 25% off when you go to https://liquidiv.com/ and use the code GROUPCHAT Connect with Group Chat! Watch The Pod #1 Newsletter In The World For The Gram Tweet With Us Exclusive Facebook Content

This week Ron and Dans talk Christmas movies, and what makes them Christmas movies, they also answer questions from definitely NOT made up listeners.Want to follow or contact the show? Hit these linksFacebookInstagramThe Insert Name Here websiteOr, you could just shoot us an emal: insertnameherecast@gmail.comDon't forget to donate to Comicoffee's upcoming 24 hour gaming marathon.Also, if you're in the giving mood, help out the show by "buying us a coffee".

It's time to get loose with The Goose and The Burger. This week they talk about Christmas, the poor acting of Daniel-san and how to look after a zipped up sausage.Our handy links:FacebookInstagramTwitterOur websiteBuy us a coffee (Support)Other handy links:ComiCoffee / MacMillan fundraiser

My Town is now on a podcast network! The network is called INSERT NAME HERE and its Chicago's newest and fastest growing podcast network. This means My Town will reach a bigger audience and have a chance to expand its connections in the podcast world. Hopefully Joe Rogan will finally see my work.Music as always is by Emmet HussmannFollow @justin_borak and also thesocialpodcastnetwork on instagram to get updates on the network and to see some other awesome shows.

This week, The Goose (Ronny) and The Burger (Dans) answer listener questions, and do it fully in a serious manner and don't get side-tracked at all. Strap in and get ready to get Goosey!Want to help support the show? You can now "Buy Us A Coffee" by heading to buymeacoffee.com/insertnamehere - we're hoping it will help to keep us ad free.If you'd like to contact the show, hit up these links:facebook.com/insertnameherecastinstagram.com/insertnameherecasttwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor a handy place where all these links live, get your butt over to insertnameherecast.com

This week it's an absolute goose-duo. Ron and Dans go from tangent, to story, to flight of fancy. Maaaan, get ready to go KAAMPHFing!If you'd like to support the show, you can now buy the guys a coffee or 2, by heading over to buymeacoff.ee/insertnamehereWant to chat to us? Use these links here:facebook.com/insertnameherecastinstagram.com/insertnameherecasttwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else, head to insertnameherecast.com

This week, the boys go through their top 10 games of the previous generation (Ps4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch). Naturally, there's some tangents.If you'd like to contact the show, head to any of these links, and don't forget to follow:facebook.com/insertnameherecastinstagram.com/insertnameherecasttwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else, head to insertnameherecast.com

This week the boys finish their run-through of Mario's main-stay titles. Naturally it is not a straight road to get there. With tangents and distractions-a-plenty, this was a fun ride.If you'd like to contact the show for any reason, head to these link:facebook.com/insertnameherecastinstagram.com/insertnameherecasttwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comHead to insertnameherecast.com for everything else.

This week the boys get their Halloween on, and because this episode is much more entertaining to watch than it is to listen to, you should head over to our YouTube and get your peepers on some peppery punishments and captivating costumes. Here’s the link:https://youtu.be/WEpN9myCruUThe boys quiz all over the show, but once the loser is determined there’s a chit chat cool down.If you’d like to contact the show, hit up these links:Facebook.com/insertnameherecastInstagram.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/insertnameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else there’s insertnameherecast.com

Today on Rise of The Young we sit down with Kevin Gould. Kevin is an entrepreneur, talent manager, brand builder, and investor based in Los Angeles. He is the founder and CEO of Kombo Ventures and is also a co-founder of three direct to consumer brands; Insert Name Here, a hair extensions and product brand, Wakeheart, a fragrance and scent brand aimed at Gen Z and young millennials and co-founded with the Dolan Twins, two of the largest digital influencers in the world, and Glamnetic, a leading magnetic eyeliner and lash brand.In 2019, Gould was named to Variety magazine's Dealmakers Impact List, honoring top dealmakers in the entertainment industry and in 2020 was recognized by Business Insider on their list of top investors in the influencer economy. Gould regularly speaks on panels and at events on new media, experiential marketing, and the convergence of technology, entertainment and consumer branding. Follow Kevin here: instagram.com/keving Kombo Ventures: https://www.komboventures.com

In this weeks episode, 2 gross old men talk about video games and TV, because that's what the world needs, more senility.If you'd like to contact the show, hit up these links right here:facebook.com/insertnameherecastinstagram.com/insertnameherecasttwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else, hit up insertnameherecast.com

Now it wouldn’t be an episode of the Insert Name Here podcast without a technical hitch, but we smash through it.So this week, sit back and let the boys entertain and educate with PlayStation news, packages and weird goings-on.Head to these links to contact the show:Facebook.com/insertnameherecastInstagram.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastInsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else, head to insertnameherecast.com

Joining me on the show today are the two best friends behind the coolest wig company you’ve ever met, Jordynn and Sharon from Insert Name Here (or INH for short). These two women were early employees of the beauty startup Colourpop and after spending a few years learning the ropes at the wildly successful business they decided it was time to get out there and launch their own thing. After connecting with their co-founder Kevin in the DMS they realised they had a really good idea in mind and got to work developing and launching INH. INH is inspired by pop culture celebs and trends and they produce premium quality pony’s, wigs, buns and extensions that are full of sass and so much fun. We’re talking about the importance of building a sticky community, the time when mega celeb Ariana Grande wore their signature pony, how they’re approaching marketing and what initiatives are driving their projected $20M in sales for this year. LINKS WE MENTION:Insert Name HereINH’s InstagramJordynn on IG Sharon on IG Female Startup Club In partnership with Klaviyo, the best email marketing tool for ecommerce businesses.

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

[Insert] Name Here is a weekly show created by Obvious Nonsense Entertainment where two young black women from Boston get way too hyped talking about politics and other pop culture events. We make that race where you don't know the name of anyone running interesting!

This week, join the boys as they talk TV, super powers and world records.If you’d like to contact the show, hit up these links:Facebook.com/insertnameherecastInstagram.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastInsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else go to insertnameherecast.com

This week the boys talk about what they’ve been up to, but in the FUTURE. They also talk falling guys, cars at war, lessons on parasols, a map-less octopus and Dirt brings a quiz!To contact the show, hit these links:Facebook.com/insertnameherecastInstagram.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else: insertnameherecast.com

Kevin Gould is the Founder and CEO of Kombo Ventures and the Co-Founder of Glamnetic, Wakeheart and Insert Name Here. Kevin always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but when he graduated from college in 2007, he didn't know exactly where to look. With his sights set on the entertainment industry, he beelined for LA and found himself working at William Morris Endeavor, one of the biggest talent agencies in the world. He started in the mailroom and ultimately worked as an assistant to several agents, building an unparalleled rolodex of Hollywood connections. In addition to the entertainment space, he had a strong interest in technology and spent his weekends flying to Silicon Valley to take meetings with founders, VCs and angel investors. Overtime, he realized there was a glaring gap between the talent and personalities in the entertainment industry and the tech companies that wanted to partner with that talent to promote their startups. He ultimately left WME to capitalize on that market opportunity and provided business development and strategy for early to late stage startups on how to interface with the entertainment industry. That was an early version of the company he runs today, Kombo Ventures.Today at Kombo, Kevin and his team have broadened their focus beyond just entertainment strategy. First, they operate as a brand studio, launching and scaling 3 beauty brands with influencer co-founders. Those brands include Glamnetic, the world's leading magnetic liner and lash company, Wakeheart a fragrance, scent and personal care brand and Insert Name Here, a hair extension and wig company. In addition to the brand studio, they also run a talent management arm, representing some of the biggest YouTubers in the world. Kevin also runs a venture arm that has invested in 13 companies including Draft Kings, Clutter, Whistle, Step, Ten Thousand and more.Tune in to hear Kevin's story!As a special offer, Kevin is giving our listeners 15% off all products from any of his three beauty brands. Just use code Kallaway at checkout - Glamnetic, Wakeheart, Insert Name Here.EPISODE TOPICS: (3:05) Kombo snapshot today(4:27) Background(12:29) Working with influencers(15:58) Building brands(21:12) Team structure(22:22) How to focus(27:56) How saturated is the influencer space(29:30) Influencer brand deals(36:03) Marketing tactics(39:19) School vs experience(43:34) Manifesting the future(48:07) Hiring(52:01) Angel investing strategies(1:01:37) Frustrating/validating moment(1:07:11) Learning & resources(1:08:47) Kevin's startup manifesto (1:12:09) Kevin's founder nomination Kombo Ventures - www.komboventures.comFollow Kevin (@keving) on Instagram // LinkedInFollow Glamnetic (@glamnetic), Wakeheart (@wakeheart), Insert Name Here (@insertnamehere)Kevin's learning and resource recommendations The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com Follow The Founder (@founderpodcast) on Instagram // LinkedIn // Twitter // Newsletter

This week the boys talk about socks and sliders, the many hats that Ronny could pull off, and brush over State Of Play.If you’d like to contact the show or just follow along, hit up any of these linksFacebook.com/insertnameherecastInstagram.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.com.As always, it’s insertnameherecast.com for everything else.

This week, the boys dive deep - and we mean DEEP - on the Xbox game showcase.If you want to contact the show for whatever reason, hit up these links:facebook.com/insertnameherecastinstagram.com/insertnameherecasttwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.comFor everything else, head over to insertnameherecast.com

Join us for another special episode this week. Host Jeremy Barnett and co-host Marco Hansell speak with the one and only Kevin Gould! Kevin takes us on a journey from being an overworked assistant at WME to co-founding multiple eCommerce brands while running a boutique venture firm. Kevin also breaks down the science of influencer marketing as it relates to his 8 figure a year portfolio of brands. Kevin Gould is an entrepreneur, talent manager, brand builder, and investor based in Los Angeles. He is the founder & CEO of Kombo Ventures and is also a the co-founder of three direct to consumer brands; Insert Name Here (www.inhhair.com), a hair extensions and products brand, Wakeheart (www.wakeheart.com), a fragrance and scent brand aimed at Gen Z and young millennials and co-founded with the Dolan Twins, two of the largest digital influencers in the world, as well as Glamnetic (www.glamnetic.com) , a leading magnetic eyeliner and lash brand. In 2019, Gould was named to Variety magazine's Dealmakers Impact List, honoring top dealmakers in the entertainment industry. Take away key points about the importance of influencer marketing, finding the right content creator at the right level, and doubling down with paid media amplification! Kevin explains the different levels of influencers and what may or may not fit your brand’s needs. Don’t miss this! For more information about Kevin Gould  please visit: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gould-b8820234/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keving/ Be sure to tune in and catch all the great takeaways! If you’ve found value in this podcast we’d be grateful if you would subscribe, rate or review wherever you listen! For more Rad Intelligence for Entrepreneurs Head over to: Email: show@radintelligence.com Podcast: https://radintelligence.com/rad-chats LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barnettjeremiah Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radinfluencer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radintelligence Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RadIntelligence Influencer Marketplace: https://radinfluencer.com Corporate Site: https://radintelligence.com/ Blog: https://radintelligence.com/blog/ You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClkdIolVp9BvjMBmb9B3fzg?

On this week's episode, Graham & Jocelyn have a candid conversation about their daily lives after over six weeks without being able to record their podcast in studio. Jocelyn & Graham opted to record the episode over a Zoom meeting instead of their preferred remote recording method Skype, just so they could check up on each other and make the conversation more personal. The two co-hosts reflected on the complications of Covid-19 and its life-altering effects in the ways we communicate and interact. They also updated each other on what they're reading, watching, and doing to cope with shelter in place ordinance in their home city of Charlotte. Jocelyn tells Graham of the most recent book she read, entitled Florida; Graham tells Jocelyn of some British game shows he's been binge-watching and his discovery of the series Lucifer; which was recently acquired by Netflix. If you like this episode, please rate us on your podcast player, and subscribe for future episodes. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow us on social media on Faceboook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. You can also support the show by becoming a Patron on our Patreon page where you'll become eligible for our exclusive patrons-only contents. Finally, we'd like you to visit our merchandise store on Teespring where you can purchase our beautiful and stylish t-shirts, pullover, and mug. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/rss/kickinandstreaminpodcast?auth=QVLr3ZF4bBkffNZls4lBWTuUc2Tb0MD0)

In Episode 2 of Earned, Tribe Dynamics co-founder Conor Begley chats with Jordynn Wynn, co-founder of rising hair extensions brand Insert Name Here (yes, that's the name!) and marketing director at ColourPop. Raised in a small Montana town, Jordynn reveals how she wound up becoming the first official hire at ColourPop at age 21, and pulls back the curtain on the brand's humble beginnings. Jordynn also shares why she, alongside former Pepperdine classmate and ColourPop colleague Sharon Pak and entrepreneur Kevin Gould, decided to enter the hair space and found wig, ponytail, and extensions brand Insert Name Here. We unpack how Jordynn's learnings from ColourPop inform INH's marketing strategy, and discuss the active role social media influencers have played in the hair brand's initial success.

Zach chats with Michelle Kim, co-founder and CEO of Awaken, in this episode centered around effectively creating inclusive leadership cultures. Michelle shares her journey into social justice work with us, including what led to the creation of Awaken, and she explains why she and her organization prioritize the needs of the most marginalized people in the room.Connect with Michelle - she's on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn!Check out Awaken's website and social media pages! Twitter, IG, FB, LinkedInYou can read Awaken's Medium blog by clicking here.Want to learn more about Build Tech We Trust? Here's their website and Twitter!Click here to read the Salon piece mentioned in the show.Visit our website!TRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, everybody? It's Zach. Yes, again, it's me. Your boy, your host, your friend, your co-worker--maybe your co-worker, I don't know. If you work with me you know that I have this podcast, and, I mean, hopefully if you're checking it out, you know, hopefully you're having a good time. Shout-out to you. I'm not gonna say your name, but you know I'm talking to you. What's up? Look, you know what we do. We serve to amplify the voices of black and brown people at work, and we do that by talking to black and brown people in a variety of spaces, right? So these could be executives, public servants, activists, creatives, entrepreneurs, anybody, and we try to have these conversations in approachable and authentic ways, centering black and brown and otherwise underrepresented experiences and perspectives at work, and today we have with us a very special guest, Michelle Kim. Michelle is the founder and CEO of Awaken, a firm that empowers leaders and teams to lead inclusively and authentically through modern interactive and action-oriented workshops. Prior to Awaken, she had a successful consulting career working with C-suite and VP-level executives at high-performing companies around the world, helping them set ambitious business goals and align their teams to achieve them. While working in management consulting and technology start-ups, she experienced and validated first-hand the urgent need for modern, up-to-date education that empowers leaders to be more empathetic, agile, and culturally aware. Come on, now. Culturally aware. Pay attention. Michelle's experience in organizational change management, strategic goal setting and social justice activism set the groundwork for Awaken's multi-disciplinary and action-oriented learning programs. As an immigrant queer woman of color, Michelle has been a life-long social justice activist and community organizer. Michelle, what's going on? Welcome to the show.Michelle: Hey, thank you for having me. I'm so honored.[yay sfx]Zach: No doubt. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Michelle: Those are the sound effects that you told me about. [laughing]Zach: Yes, yes. So for those who are newer to the show, I have a soundboard. I have all types of sounds on here, you know what I'm saying? You know, we add a few things from time to time, and, you know, just enjoy yourself. If you're new to this space, sit back, grab something to drink--it doesn't have to be alcoholic, you know? I respect your choices, your boundaries. But enjoy the soundscapes that are gonna be coming to you in this episode and many more to come.Michelle: I love the production.Zach: You know what? We gotta add a little bit of razzmatazz, just from time to time. So let's do this. You know, I gave a little bit of an intro, but for those of us who don't know you, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?Michelle: Sure. Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Zach, for the intro. I think you covered a lot in my intro, but I think something that some people might be familiar with is actually my writing. I am an [?] writer. That's how I communicate my thoughts and perspectives to the world, in addition to facilitating workshops and doing speaking like this one or on stages all over the country. My passion is in really closing the gap between how we talk about social justice in our society today and how, you know, quote-unquote diversity and inclusion gets done, and quickly. So I think that there's a lot of work that we can do to help bridge the gap in understanding and awareness of how we communicate with each other. And also a fun fact about me is I'm a Virgo.Zach: Shout-out to Virgos. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You said you're a Virgo?Michelle: I'm a Virgo.Zach: Man, shout-out to the Virgos one time. I'm also a Virgo. [air horns sfx] You know what I'm saying? They don't know about us like that. But please, tell us about your Virgoness.Michelle: You know, a lot of my friends who know me closely know my tendencies to be highly critical, but I also think that's what--I think being critical gets a bad rep, but I actually think that being critical is what makes me decent at my job. I also think that I have perfectionist tendencies, which I don't think is healthy, so I'm working on that. I like being organized. I am a huge fan of to-do lists. And I love--my love language is acts of service, so I think that also aligns with me being a Virgo. So I tend to, you know, go overboard when it comes to supporting other people, sometimes to a fault, 'cause I need to prioritize self-care and boundaries and all of that, but I'm not. I'm not perfect at that stuff.Zach: I just feel so--I feel so seen in you talking about yourself.Michelle: [laughing] Good. I'm glad, I'm glad. Virgos unite.Zach: They do. And honestly, like, you know, here we are, two people who over-extend for others sitting down, having a conversation that really helps to amplify one another. Isn't that something? [look at us sfx] Not me, you know what I'm saying?Michelle: That's right.Zach: [laughs] You were about to say something.Michelle: I said "Do you know who else is a Virgo?"Zach: Beyonce.Michelle: Beyonce's a Virgo. So whenever I feel like I need to be [?] about being a Virgo, I look to Beyonce for inspiration.[ow sfx]Zach: I'm right there with you. I mean, if she can do it, certainly I can do it. And, you know, my dad's a Virgo, so shout-out to my dad. He was born on the 6th, I was born on the 4th, and, you know, we're a lot alike. Okay, so yeah. Let's talk a little bit about your inspiration for social justice, and I really want to--'cause social justice is such a broad term. It's often even, like, used as a pejorative these days. So, like, when you say social justice in, like, your history, what does that look like for you?Michelle: That's a great question. My journey into social justice work really began with the lens of being a queer person. You know, I think my journey really started with my coming out. So I came out as queer and bisexual when I was 16. So I was in high school, and I was really confused. I didn't know about, you know, any social justice issues beyond--I think what people were talking about then were women's rights, and, you know, now I understand that to be white women's rights, but we'll get into that more. But when I came out as queer I didn't have a lot of resources, so I was really actively searching for community and support to make sense of who I was [and what I could do about my identity.] I was really fortunate to have found a great support group within my high school that was kind of an underground support group, and through that I found out about this program happening out of UC Santa Barbara where they were doing youth activism summer camp kind of stuff for LGBTQ young people. So that was my entryway into social justice work, and that's where I learned how to organize, how to, you know, stage protests and knowing my rights as a student activist, and that's where I learned about social justice activism and writers who wrote about social justice, like Audre Lorde. So that was my entryway into understanding social justice, is through the frame of my being queer and learning from queer trans activists, also young people, and that's also where I learned about the intersections of being queer and also being a person of color and all of the nuances of the different identities and the intersections of different types of marginalization and oppression and how often times they all come from the same root and source of, you know, patriarchy or white supremacy. So, you know, I'm throwing a lot of [?] here, but really at the end of it, for me social justice is about, you know, understanding that we're all in this struggle together, and in order for us to achieve equity and equality and justice that we need to have solidarity in this frame of social justice.Zach: And so I'm really curious, right? Let me talk to you a little bit about my perspective, it being singular and limited, right? So I don't believe this is the way it is. This has been, like, my perception as I look--a cishet black man, Christian black man, looking across this, like, D&I space, right? Like, I'm seeing, like, different camps and groups, right? So I see this group that is largely white and who--like, they're invited to a lot of the fancy things, but they're not necessarily credentialed other than being in a certain social strata, but they're not really credentialed in any type of lived experience, nor are they credentialed in any specific level of education, but they're credentialed in, like, certain experiences from, like, again, just being in certain spaces, right, that are afforded to them because of their class and race. I then see another group of people that are very much so, like, activists. Like, they're on the street. If they're using social media, it's to mobilize something tangible. It's to affect a change in some type of grassroots community level. And then I see, like, another group that is kind of--like, they're in the corporate space and they're doing a few things, but they're not necessarily really, like, enacting anything beyond whatever the company needs them to do to kind of mitigate litigious risk, but I think--I'm kind of seeing, like, tensions against each of these groups. I'm curious about, like, your perspective, considering your social activist background and the work you do today. Do you see similar camps in the space, and, like, if not, what are you seeing? Do you think I'm oversimplifying kind of, like, the various camps and groups, or, like, what's your perspective on that?Michelle: I don't think you're oversimplifying per se, 'cause I do see what you're saying. I hear you in terms of there being different--because identities [are?] also a different approach to doing diversity and inclusion work inside the workplace. I think--a couple things that I want to clarify in terms of my beliefs is that I don't think anyone can truly call themselves a D&I expert. I certainly don't call myself a D&I expert, because I believe fundamentally diversity and inclusion is about lived experiences, so it's all about how we make sense of our lived experiences in relation to the systems that we inhabit, so I think everybody's an expert in their own lived experience, and I can't ever claim that I'm an expert in your life, right? So I think that's one belief that I have, that we all are experts in our owned lived experiences. And then another belief that I have is that, you know, social justice activism isn't just about being out in the street and marching and protesting. You know, there's a lot of activism happening inside of workplaces today as well through corporate activism, but also just daily acts of survival for a lot of folks, especially black and brown people, underrepresented people of color and trans and queer people inside workplaces. I think what they're doing, just by mere survival and speaking up when they can, is an act of activism. I think there is a greater sense of responsibility that I'd love for D&I professionals to have, whether they're inside or outside of the workplaces, in really making sense of how change happens and pushing the boundaries to serve the most marginalized people in the room. I think that's where my criticality comes in, when you start to talk about mostly white--I think I've seen a lot of white women take up the role of head of D&I. That's where I start to question whether, you know, are they understanding the positionality of being a white person, doing this work inside workplaces, holding a position of power? And, you know, I start to question sort of how change is being [assisted?] inside companies while prioritizing the needs of the most marginalized people. So I do think that people without the social justice frame, as in--you know, I think the root of my education and the foundation of my social justice education that I've gotten from, you know, activists who were organizers at the community level, what they've taught me is that in order for us to enact change, we need community, we need solidarity, and we need to approach everything through the lens of centering the most marginalized people and their needs, 'cause then everybody in-between and all of us will rise together. So that is sort of my approach when it comes to education or policies, whatever organizational design we're talking about. If we can center the most marginalized people, then everybody else will benefit. So that's the social justice framing that I use to approach all of my work, but I think I see some D&I people in the corporate space doing D&I work as if this is a new discipline that's not tied to social justice at all, right? That this is--in a vacuum, this is just about recruiting the most, you know, diverse set of candidates, that it's about retaining those people once they get there, but it's sort of in a vacuum without the understanding of systemic issues and history that has fueled D&I to exist in the first place. I think that's my biggest sort of criticism about how D&I gets done in the corporate space today.Zach: And I get that, right? It resonates with me, which is why I was so excited, because I really enjoyed--like, I've read some of your written work, and of course I follow you on social media. I love what Awaken is doing, right? And really, based on what you're sharing, I'm curious, how does that translate into the work that Awaken does? Because everything you're saying, I'm hearing it, right? But I guess I'm trying to understand--how does that effectively translate in majority-white spaces in the work that--and I'm making an assumption that the spaces that you engage are largely white. If they're not correct me, but from what I'm looking at it seems like the spaces are largely white, and it seems to be that when I talk to other D&I professionals, the subtext of a lot of the work, and even some of the, like, backhanded critique that I've received--because I'm often times received as "Well, you're passionate, but you're not really credentialed, right?" Like, "You're a person of color and you have a certain lived experience, but, you know, you don't have the same foundation that I may have as a quote-unquote D&I expert, so your point of view only goes so far," or it's only limited to the black experience. There seems to be, like, a subtext of "Let's not make people too uncomfortable," but the work that you're talking about in centering underrepresented or the most marginalized, that--I feel as if the argument could be made that you're automatically making other people uncomfortable. So again, just what does all of that look like as it translates into your work with Awaken?Michelle: Yeah, that's a great question. And I'm also so curious about these credentials, right? [both laughing] 'Cause I see these credential programs or certification programs. Like, what are you certifying people for? I'm so curious. I think there are absolutely some skills that we can learn, whether that's facilitation or curriculum development or policy design, that we can get better at, but in terms of understanding other people's lived experiences and the identities that folks hold and the complexities that come with that, I don't know if we can truly ever be credentialed enough to be, you know, discounting other people's experiences and opinions. So that's my perspective on it. And in terms of how our approach translates into our work, you know, I think we can talk about sort of the founding story, why we were created in the first place. So, you know, after having done organizing work when I was in high school and college, I decided to pursue a career in, you know, the for-profit space because I needed to make money, let's be real, and I was told actually by my activist mentors, who have gone onto pursuing social justice careers as career organizers and non-profit folks, that they were also experiencing very sort of similar harm, because even non-profits are predominantly led by white people, right? So I think the issues that we think are non-existent in progressive--quote-unquote "more progressive" spaces, they continue to exist, while folks are not making enough money to make ends meet. So--[straight up sfx]Michelle: [laughs] I love the sound effects. Knowing that and knowing my situation as a--you know, I grew up low-income, and I needed money to support my family. The advice I got from my mentors was "Hey, you can create change in certain spaces." They warned me about the toxic culture, but I went in sort of ignorant about what I was getting myself into. So I also really am grateful for my journey, having started my career in management consulting and in tech. I think I have experienced a lot of different things that I wasn't ready for but I'm grateful for nonetheless. But when I entered in those spaces, I was exposed to and I searched for D&I spaces, right? Because I thought that that was what I knew to be social justice work. So when I joined an employee resource group, I was, you know, disappointed at the level of conversations that were being had around what it means to be inclusive, what it means to be a diverse place, and I was surprised and disappointed and disillusioned by what companies were talking about as D&I was quite surface-level and marketing-oriented rather than real actionable behavioral change or cultural change that were being modeled by leaders of the company. So, you know, I was going through different workshops and trainings and just kept feeling like I was not seeing the level of conversations that actually needed to take place in these spaces, and it felt really safe. It felt safe. It felt white-washed. It felt diluted. As, you know, somebody who was just sitting in the room and constantly challenging the facilitator, I felt like I was doing all of the work. [Zach laughs] And after the [?] is over, you know, unfortunately the burden of re-educating other people who went through the workshop who now thinks that they are quote-unquote "woke" or who say that they checked the box, right? "Okay, we went through this unconscious bias training, so now we're good. Now I'm back to being a progressive person who cares about this issue." [Zach laughs] You know, [it was?] a challenge to really think differently, but the burden of their action, their unchanging behavior, their unawareness, and they're now feeling like they know what they're talking about, falls on the most marginalized people in the room, and I think that was a frustration that kept coming up for me as I was going through different types of trainings, whether that was done by external vendors or internal people, that people weren't pushing people enough, and I genuinely felt the need for a compassionate space for uncomfortable conversations, and that's our mission statement, to create a compassionate space for uncomfortable conversations to developing inclusive leaders and teams, and the way that we do that is by centering the needs of the most marginalized people, meaning we don't pat on ourselves on the back when a workshop goes well from the perspective of a bunch of white men saying that that workshop was great, you know? That may be true, but if, you know, the one black person in the room says that that workshop wasn't good while a bunch of white people say that the workshop was great, we don't pat ourselves on the back for that, right? But if we can support the most marginalized people in the room, you know, in tech and also in many other spaces as predominantly black and brown folks, trans, queer, people of color, if they give us the stamp of approval, if they feel like they were seen and heard and lifted and that they didn't have to do all the work, that's success for us, right? So by designing our curriculum to speak truth to them and to, you know, have that frame of "Can we lessen the burden on people who are the most marginalized in these spaces by saying the things that they can't say because there are too many risks and repercussions that they fear?" That's our job, and I don't think enough D&I practitioners out there are taking that approach, because, you know, if they're internal, their job is at risk. I get that. So I think as a third-party, we coming in--we have a different level of risk that we get to take because we don't have that kind of repercussion that we need to worry about, besides not being able to come back to that place again.Zach: Right. And, I mean, at that point that, you know, they don't let you back, I mean, you already got the bag anyway, so... [cha-ching sfx] You know? Michelle: [laughs] Well, and usually we can come back, because we don't often take on one-off workshops. I think that approach is pretty harmful, and, you know, companies come to us and say, "Hey, we just want to do a one-day, like, [?]." We tend to say no to those engagements because we really believe in delivering impact and working with people who are genuinely interested in real change. So, you know, I think the mistake people make is thinking that meeting people where they're at needs to be done by diluting the message. I don't think that's true. You can meet people where they're at with compassion and criticality. So you don't have to coddle people, but I think you can be compacted and make your content accessible for folks that they understand and they can move along the journey while feeling and embracing some tension and discomfort that comes with challenging their beliefs.Zach: So it's funny, because you see, like, even in, like, our current political tone and tambor today from, like, mainstream media, it's still around, like, the idea of respectability and quote-unquote kindness, kind of pushing against this idea of, like, call-out culture or just, like, keeping it real, like, just saying how things are, and it's interesting, and I hear what you're saying about, like, coddling versus accessibility. Do you have an example of what it looks like to effectively call something for what it is while at the same time making it accessible for folks to actually grasp and understand. Like, I don't think there's enough work that you could do to cater to or mitigate against fragility, but I would love to hear, like, kind of what Awaken does and, like, what that looks like for you.Michelle: Mm-hmm. Hm, let me think of an example. I think that's a great question, and I'd love to be able to contextualize it just a little though with an example. I think--I don't know why this example keeps coming up in my head. I think it's because we're designing a curriculum right now around inclusive interviewing practices, and one of the common questions that comes up is this idea of not lowering the bar and hiring in this sort of notion of meritocracy, and I think, you know, one way to approach that is really sort of making the person who said that feel like they don't know what they're talking about and, you know, calling them racist and all of that... I think is one way. [both laugh] I think another way could be really helping unpack why meritocracy doesn't currently exist, even though that is an ideal that we can strive for together, and how people who are currently in companies today may not have been hired purely based on merit. Zach: And how do you prove that though?Michelle: How do you prove that?Zach: Yeah.Michelle: I think there's a lot of data that actually backs up the claim around how meritocracy doesn't exist. I mean, what we often talk about is that, you know, meritocracy is a concept that was created as a vision that we can all work toward, but we falsely believe that right now there is sort of meritocracy in a sense, but there's lots of data that shows that actually there's a lot of biases in the hiring process, whether it's from the referral stage or, you know, the interview stage or the deliberation stage. I think there's a lot of data that actually shows discrepancies in the ways that we make decisions, and I think, you know, calling that out specifically I think is really helpful. I think the harmful alternative of sort of diluting that fact of, you know, not having meritocracy is that I have sometimes heard, you know, folks explain that to people in a way that actually equates hiring people of color or women as lowering the bar and that being sort of the, you know, unfortunate short-term solution. Like, yeah, but we need to hire more people of color and women, so, you know, we want to make sure that we are getting that quota filled. So I think there's, like, a lot of weird ways of people explaining difficult concepts to make people feel comfortable, because the discomfort in this conversation is the fact that you may not have been hired based on your merit, right? I think that's the tension, is that if we debunk meritocracy, people who have these jobs in higher-paying positions, they are feeling attacked because they feel like they warrant--they didn't get to where they are purely based on merit, and recognizing that they've had privileges that weren't afforded to another demographic groups, I think that in and of itself is the discomfort, and I think a lot of folks have a hard time calling that out, because we're then directly sort of highlighting the fact this may be an awful position that they're in. And I think talking about privilege in general is something that's really difficult for people. It's not an easy topic for any of us to really grapple with, but I think if we can't have those tougher conversations where we are directly highlighting and shining light on the fact that, you know, there are--"Yes, we worked hard, and there are struggles that we didn't have to go through to get to where they are." I think if that conversation doesn't happen, it would be a huge miss.Zach: You know, Michelle, when you and I first spoke, you know--we do our thing, we try to get to know each other first, and then we do the episode. A little bit of background behind the scenes for y'all, but anyway, when you and I first spoke we talked about people of color and that term, right? And we had conversations about Living Corporate and how, you know, we don't really use the term "people of color," we say black and brown. And then you and I had a conversation about how you don't really consider, or you don't count, Asian-American or, like, that space, East Asian, in the "people of color" category. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that?Michelle: Yeah. I think that's a great question. So I think, just to clarify, I do count Asians as a part of the people of color community, but I think there's context that we need to put into place whenever we're using the term. So I think the term people of color is a useful term when we're talking specifically about non-white people in the context of talking about white supremacy and how that impacts all people who are not white who experience racism and other forms of oppression because of their race. Where I don't feel comfortable using the term people of color is when we're discussing specific issues that impact black and brown communities. For example, when we're talking about police brutality or the murders of black trans women, I think it's really important for us to be specific about who we're talking about, because as an East Asian person, I don't have the same type of fear or risk when I'm around police. I think that is really important for us to specify, and I think that understanding around how there are very specific forms of racism, like anti-black racism. I think that clarity is so needed in having this conversation in a more effective way, and also for, you know, Asian-American folks to be able to show up in solidarity with folks who are experiencing very specific forms of marginalization. Zach: I just... you know, one sound we don't have on the soundboard is, like, finger snaps. [snapping fingers] But I'ma put these in there. Yeah, I love it. And it's interesting because, you know, we're moving at the speed of the Internet when it comes to a lot of this stuff, right? And certain things become trendy or become--I don't know. They kind of just catch fire, and I think the term people of color, it has a place, and I've seen it be used interchangably when people are just talking about black folk, right? It's like, "Why are we using that term right now when--" If we're really talking about something targeted for black Americans, if we're talking about something that's targeted for Latinx trans Americans--these groups, as niche or as just unique or small as they may seem to you, these represent actual human beings. So I think it's great that we're using them, but sometimes for me--it sometimes almost gets used as, like, a catch-all, and you end up erasing a lot of identities and experiences and points of view.Michelle: Totally, and I think if we can't be specific about the actual issue, then how can we solution around it, right? If we can't name what the actual issue is? It's not police brutality against all people of color, right? It's [?] against black and brown people specifically, you know? People who are seen as a quote-unquote "threat" to cops. I think it's really important for us to get specific around that so that we can solution around it, because it wouldn't make sense for us to do--you know, to solve for all people of color experiencing police brutality because that's not true. I think, you know, when we talk about black maternal [debts?], that's not happening to Asian-Americans that it's happening to black folks who are giving birth. So, you know, I think specificity is important for solutioning the right outcomes, and also, like you said, it doesn't erase people's experiences. I think tech is starting to incorporate more of the term around underrepresented POC, because, you know, Asian-Americans are overrepresented in many tech companies, but, you know, Asian-American also, similar to POC, is a very broad terminology, so I'd love to be able to see some dis-aggregated terms that we can use to also talk about underrepresented Asian-Americans. But yeah, I think specific language is always helpful in most cases, and I think there's also purpose to the term people of color when we can really mobilize and build a coalition across all people of color.Zach: I think it's just so interesting. I do think a function of white supremacy is, like, keeping things as surface as possible so that--because the more surface you can be, like, to your point, the less specific and targeted you can be in your solutioning, and if you're not targeting your solutioning, then you're not really gonna be able to affect true change. 'Cause, you know, and the last thing about this in terms of, like, just keeping things general and grouping people all together is, like--I know that in Europe there's a term that's called... it's black--it's like people of color to the max, right? So it's called "BAM," black, Asian, and Middle-Eastern. Like, what is that? Michelle, like, that's--that is nuts. You can't--huh? Like, when someone told me that--like, I just learned about this maybe, I don't know, like, a couple months ago. Like, a colleague told me, and I said, "How is that possible?" Like, those are thousands of identities and experiences and cultures and languages and histories. Like, how are you just going to just lump--so you're just gonna take all the non-white people and put 'em in one big cluster? Huh? Considering the history of, like, colonialism and, like--oh, my gosh. Like, that's nuts. You can't do that. And so, anyway... okay, okay, so from this conversation, what I'm hearing, I don't think that we always give, like, members of the majority enough credit in their ability to have an honest conversation when it's framed effectively, right? I think a lot of times it's kind of like, "Well, we don't want to bring that up because then that makes people uncomfortable," or "We don't want to bring that up because then they shut off," and it's like... eh. I mean, yes, people are fragile, but, like, come on. We've got to be able to have some type of--some level of authentic conversation around something. So that's--Michelle: Yeah. I wouldn't go as far as giving them credit. [both laughing] You know? I think there is a reason why--you know, why people are hesitant to have that conversation. I think it's because of the backlash. It's because of the fragility and it's because of [?] and also frankly the repercussions that people face. So I think while we sort of finesse the way that we deliver certain messages without losing the criticality but also having compassion and being accessible, what we also need to be doing is building the resiliency on the part of the dominant or the privileged group so that we can receive that information and check their fragility or check their defensiveness, and I think that education needs to be more prioritized than the other stuff.Zach: I agree, and thank you. Thank you for pushing back. [laughing] I do think there's a low level of fluency and stamina, right, when it comes to these conversations, and it's interesting because I just read an article, and it was published on Salon, and it was called "Diversity is for white people: the big lie behind a well-intended word." Have you read that yet?Michelle: I have not.Zach: Yo, I'ma send this to you. But it's just interesting because it's really this conversation in a really tactful rant form just around, like, how D&I is often phrased today, and it's, like, phrased with, like, white comfort in mind as opposed to the perspective and experiences of the marginalized in mind, and so I just find that very interesting. Okay, so look, you're the first East Asian-American person that we've had on the show, and so first of all, you know what I'm saying, shout-out to you. [air horns sfx] You know, shout-out to you for that and just being here, you know? [coin sfx] Michelle: Thank you for having me. I'm honored.Zach: Nah, I'm honored. I mean, I'm excited. I think there's this--like, despite civil rights history and all of the work especially done, like, within California, L.A., Oakland, in the '60s, and of course, like, during the era of the Black Panthers, there's this stereotype that Asian-Americans don't really care about social justice. Like, have you heard this before, and, like, why do you think that that is?Michelle: Yeah. Yes, I have heard that before, and I continue to hear it quite often. I think something that I hear when I meet people for the first time and I talk about what I do and we get to know each other a bit better, a weird sort of form of compliment or they think it's a compliment that they pay me is this fact that, you know, I'm one of the unique ones, right? Like, "Oh, wow. I've never met another Asian person who is like you," or "I'm so glad you're doing this work, because we need more Asian people doing this," and I have mixed emotions about that, because while I appreciate the acknowledgement of the work, I think that there's also this continuing erasure of the historical work that different Asian-American activists have done, whether that's the labor movement that was led by Filipino activists or folks marching [?] or even current activists working as prison abolistionists who are Asian-American racial justice organizer or disability justice organizers like [?], queer trans [?] activists. I think there's a lot of folks who are doing really radical work who continually get erased, so it leaves sort of a bitter taste in my mouth when I hear that because I think that with that simple sentiment we're erasing so much of history and current work that's being done. I also think that some of that comment is valid in that, you know, I do see a lot more work that can be done on the part of Asian-Americans specifically. You know, East Asians in tech is sort of the reputation that I hear about where people can be more active in doing D&I work or social justice work, and I think there's a real sort of lack of awareness or even the sense of solidarity amongst Asian-Americans in what their place is, like, what our place is in this conversation around social justice activism. So I think it's a complex topic. I do think that we can do more. I think all groups can do more, and I think there's a serious lack of education around Asian-American history and sort of--even the current facts around, you know, the struggles that Asian-Americans are going through, that if more Asians knew about that and if more Asian folks found commonality between our oppression and other marginalized communities' depression that we may be able to build a coalition to do more amazing work.Zach: One, thank you for--that's a really thoughtful answer. All of your answers have been very thoughtful. It's almost like you're very... awake. [haha sfx] What's really interesting, to your point around just, like, history, is as much as the Black Panthers--I really think that the way that we think about--and when I say we, I mean just, like, Americans, right? Like, the way that Americans categorize and think about the Black Panthers has to be, like, some of the most effective example of American government propaganda, right? Like, we think of Black Panthers as the equivalent of the KKK, like, the black equivalent, like they're these terrorists and that it's just full of these angry black people, and we don't think about the fact that Richard Aoki was--he was a founding member of the Black Panthers, right? Asian-American. And he's not, like, this ancient figure. Like, he passed away in 2009, but we don't really talk about that, and I'm really curious as to--'cause, like, the Black Panther Party, and, like--not the new Black Panther Party, but the initial, original Black Panther Party was not, like, hundreds of years ago, and so it's just so interesting how we are uneducated, right? We're uneducated just on civil rights history, and we're certainly--I don't remember in high school or in college hearing anything about Asian-American participation or engagement in the civil rights movement. That was not anything that I remember being taught, nor do I remember that being something that was, like, readily available for me to learn, you know?Michelle: Right. And I think that lack of education is within the Asian-American community itself, right? I think I feel like sometimes I know more about, you know, black history than my own sort of Asian-American history here in the U.S., and I'm an immigrant, so I think I grew up with a different set of history lessons. So there's a lot of catching up for me to do as well, and I think that the--I mean, even in the school system, I'm sure you've been talking to your guests around the lack of real education around what really happened in history too, right? Not just for Asian-Americans, but for, you know, black Americans and, you know, Latinx Americans. I think there's a lot of, you know, untrue history that's being taught to our youth, which is problem #1, and I also think there's a lot of internalized racism and oppression that exists in the Asian-American community, and there's a lot of complex topics that I don't know if we have time to get into, but things like the--Zach: Well, pick one. Let's go. I have time.Michelle: You know, the myth of Asians being closer to white people and the sort of model minority myth, and that's a very prevalent stereotype, and I think there's a lot of interrogating that we need to do when we talk about those things around, "Well, who were the initial group of Asian-Americans that were allowed to come to the country? What were the ramifications of that? What are some of the current statistics that we can talk about, even in the workplace, around Asian-Americans being the least likely group to advance to senior leadership positions even though they are overrepresented in industries like tech and, you know, [?] in an analyst position?" "How does that impact the continuing stereotypes and narratives around Asian-Americans?" Being good at math, and, you know, I think there's a lot of complex, intertwined stories that we tell about our people, Asian-Americans, and also we're combining an entire continent when talking about Asian-Americans as this monolith of a people when if we were to dis-aggregate that data, there's actually a ton of lessons to be learned around who's actually marginalized within the Asian-American community, right? I recently learned that 1 in 7--I think that's the stat--1 in 7 Asian-Americans are undocumented, and they're the fastest-growing population that's undocumented in the United States currently, but we don't hear about that, right? We don't hear about that narrative, and I think the way that white supremacy works is this sort of untrue and erasing of different stories that make the people of color the collective question and also not able to work alongside each other, and I think that's the--the most difficult thing that I see in the sort of solidarity that we need to be able to move the needle on this work is that there's so much of a lack of education on everyone's part, including myself, that we need to do a lot of work to be able to, you know, truly practice that solidarity with each other.Zach: Man. You know, and, like, Michelle, you've been just casually dropping just bombs, like, this whole conversation, right? So I just gotta give you at least one. [Flex bomb sfx] 'Cause it's been ridiculous. But one thing you said--and it brought something back to my memory. So I'm not gonna say the consulting firm. If y'all want to look on my LinkedIn, y'all can make a guess as to where this was. It's not the one that I'm at right now, but I'll never forget, Michelle, I was at a team dinner--this was some years ago--and we were talking about... so, you know, I'm at the table, and then there's senior leaders, and then there's, like, super senior leaders, and there's me, and I was, like, a junior-level person at this point in time, right? This was, like, five or six years ago. And so I'm a pretty junior person, and there's somebody in there talking about this one particular employee, and they said, "Oh, Insert Name Here is the perfect little Asian. He just does exactly what I tell him to do. He does his work and then he goes home." And I remember I was just eating my dinner--I literally stopped, I looked at the person who said it and was like, "Oh, my God. I can't believe you just said that." And she looked at me, and then you could tell that she, like, quickly averted her eyes and was kind of, like, "Oop--" You know, like, she got caught, but just that idea of this subservient just worker bee that just does whatever I tell them to do... that just stuck with me forever. I was like, "Oh, my gosh." Like, that's not--I'm still flabbergasted by that, as you can tell, and I told my coach. I said, "Hey, this is not okay," right? I said, "This is what happened." And they were like, "Oh, well, you shouldn't have heard that." I was like, "No, no, no. It's not about me shouldn't have hearing it. Like, they shouldn't have said that, but beyond them saying it, they shouldn't believe that." So yeah, I just wanted to share that. Like, I'll never forget me hearing that. And, like, they were talking about the person like they were a--you know, like a resource, and, you know, they call talent that in consulting, resources, but in a genuine, like, piece of property [way], right? And it makes you just question, like, "Well, damn, okay. You felt comfortable enough to say this at a team dinner." And it was a white woman, by the way. But, like, you felt comfortable enough saying this in, like, a mixed group at a team dinner. Like, God forbid, what are you saying about me, what are you saying about other people, what are you saying about this person in, like, more private settings, you know what I mean?Michelle: Right. Well, the scary thing though is that sometimes that kind of trope or narrative is almost seen as a compliment, as if we should be celebrating that. "Well, you know, why is it so bad for us to say Asians are good workers or Asians are good at following orders?" And what have you. I think sometimes that trope gets weaponized to divide the people of color community even further, which is--you know, I think we saw that divide also in the recent affirmative action case, right, where Asian-Americans--there were arguments on both sides around how Asians are being discriminated against for getting good grades and all of that kind of unfortunate, annoying [?], but that's a conversation for another time.Zach: No, you're absolutely right. And to be specific for our listeners who may not be abreast, recently that was the affirmative action case that went before Harvard, correct?Michelle: Correct.Zach: Yeah, and so it was interesting--so, like my perspective, as I was kind of, like, reading and understanding it was, like, some people were saying--so I'm on this app called Fishbowl... this is not an ad, but Fishbowl is, like, this anonymous posting app for consultants and other, like, different industry professionals, and people on there were talking about the case, and so basically the commentary was, "Yeah, you're excluding us and you're letting in these black and brown people who aren't smart enough to get in, but you're trying to fill in these racial quotas." And I was like, "Wow." I don't think that that's the point, and I think the data showed that the people who are the most advantaged by this current system of applications and acceptances were legacy students, right? It was people that--but again, like, to your point, then you'd see people arguing, then you'd see black and brown people arguing with Asian-Americans about, you know, "Well, we deserve to be here--" Again, I think that's--white supremacy is winning again when we start having those types of... when it starts devolving in that way, you know what I mean?Michelle: Right, exactly. And I think it also comes from the fact that a lot of people don't understand the point of affirmative action and why it got started in the first place. It's almost like people think that we're just trying to fill quotas or, you know, have diversity for the sake of diversity, but I think this is where the concept of D&I falls short 'cause we're not actually ever talking about justice and correcting past mistakes or historical oppression. So I think there's a lot of conversations that we need to have that we're not having right now around this concept of justice and sort of historical wrong-doings being corrected with some type of mechanism, and I think similar conversations, you know, are being had in tech and other industries where they're focused on quote-unquote "diversity recruiting" where folks are talking about that concept of, you know, lowering the bar for the sake of diversity and, like, all of that stuff I feel like are interconnected and they're just happening in different spheres, and I think for me it's always coming back to the lack of basic communication around history and social justice concepts and people not understanding how all of these struggles are connected. I think there's just a lot of room for improvement in how we're talking about these issues.Zach: You know, we gotta have you back to talk about the connection--like, to really talk about justice in diversity, equity and inclusion work, because, like, I have all these questions, but I want to respect your time. [both laugh] So let's do this. First of all, let's make sure we have you back. We definitely consider you a friend of the pod.Michelle: Thank you.Zach: Yeah, no, straight up. So thank you for being here with us today. Now, look, y'all--now, I don't know what else y'all want from me. I'm talking to the audience now. You know, look, we come at y'all, we bring y'all some amazing guests, you know, we're having these really dope conversations. I mean, [what more do you want from me? sfx] what more do you want? Like, I'm not even trying to martyr myself. I'm just saying, like, "What do you want?" And when I say me, I mean Living Corporate. Like, you see this guest. Michelle Kim is a beast. Like, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. Now, look, before we get out of here though, Michelle, I have just a couple more questions. First of all, where can people learn more about Awaken?Michelle: You can learn more about Awaken at our website, www.visionawaken.com. You can also follow on Twitter @AwakenCo and our blog. Please check out our blog on Medium, www.medium.com/Awaken-blog. I'm all on Twitter, I'm on LinkedIn. You can follow me. I also have an Instagram. So all of the social media platforms there's gonna be me or Awaken, so please follow us and subscribe to our newsletter.Zach: All right, y'all. Now, look, she said all the stuff. Mm-mm, hold on, 'cause you're probably driving or you're doing something, you know? You're in your car or maybe you're typing something up on your phone, but what I really need y'all to do is I need you to stop... [record scratch sfx] and check out the links in the show notes, okay? Make sure y'all hit up all those things. I want y'all clicking on them links like [blatblatblatblat sfx]. You know, check them out, okay? We'll make sure we have everything right there for you. Now, Michelle, any shout-outs or parting words before you get out of here?Michelle: Well, I think we're living in a really interesting time right now. There's a lot going on in so many different communities and our society, so my shout-out is to everyone who is doing their best to survive and to thrive to take care of themselves, to stay vigiliant, to educate themselves, and to be in community with people that care about you. I think that's so important in this climate. One last shout-out I want to give is to this new initiative that I'm a part of called Build Tech We Trust. It's a coalition of different CEOs and tech leaders who have come together to say enough is enough around white supremacy spreading online on social media platforms and other tech platforms. It was founded by Y-Vonne Hutchinson and Karla Monterroso of Code2040, and check out our work. We're doing some really important work to build coalition around this issue of radicalization happening on tech platforms. So Build Tech We Trust, and I can send you the URL so you can link it.Zach: Please do. Y'all, this has been--first of all, Michelle, again, thank you. Great conversation. We look forward to having you back, because we will be having you back. If you would like to come back--it's not a directive, you have agency. Michelle: [laughing] Of course. I'd love to. I'd be honored.Zach: Okay, super cool. Listen, y'all. This has been the Living Corporate podcast. You know, make sure you check us on Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, Instagram @LivingCorporate, and then--now, the websites. Now, look, y'all hear me rattle off all these websites every time - livingcorporate.co, livingcorporate.org, livingcorporate.tv, livingcorporate.net, right? Livingcorporate.us I think we even have. We have every livingcorporate, Michelle, except livingcorporate.com, but we do have living-corporate--please say the dash--dot com. Now, if you have any questions or any feedback for the show, just hit us up. We're at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. Hit us up on DM. All of our DMs are wide open for your convenience. That's right. We take on the emotional labor of keeping our DMs open so that you can reach out to us, okay? So you hit us up and you let us know if you need anything. If there's anything else, just Google us, right? Type in Living Corporate on your browser. We're gonna pop up. We're on all the different streaming mediums. Make sure to tell your momma about Living Corporate, your cousin, or your weird uncle, or your racist uncle at Thanksgiving. So you make sure you--come on, shoot the link over. We got all kinds of stuff on there, so we out here, okay? What else? I think that's it. Shout-out to Aaron [thank you], shout-out to all the listeners, and God bless y'all. Or, you know what I'm saying, bless y'all, 'cause I'm not trying to offend anybody, but bless y'all, okay? And what else? I think that's it. This has been Zach. You've been listening to Michelle Kim, founder, educator, activist, public speaker, and of course CEO of Awaken. Catch y'all next time. Peace.

From all of us at Insert Name Here, a very merry Christmas to you all.-Instagram.com/insertnameherecastFacebook.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastInsertnameherecast@gmail.com-Insertnameherecast.com

After you've consumed a cup of coffee with a copper, count on a couple of cool kids to keep you content with their conversations.-This week Luke and Ron get their twisted tongues around some tongue twisters, before wondering why an ex Toys 'R' Us employee hasn't been hired back.-This weeks news topics:Spider-Man welcomed back to the MCU,Humanity,Wattam,L.A. Noire VR Case Files,After Party,The Last Of Us Part 2,Season 3 of Big Mouth.-If you'd like to contact the show to send in your own question or topic, or for any other reason, you can use these handy links:Instagram.com/insertnameherecastFacebook.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.com-Head to insertnameherecast.com/merch to wear your love of Insert Name Here wherever you go.

This week on the Insert Name Here podcast, the boys celebrate National Cheeseburger Day, unfortunately not by eating them. But suddenly, QUESTIONS!-They are asked which of the five sense they would choose to lose, if they really had to. Then favourite TV series are discussed, proving Ron to be an absolute child, if it hasn't been already. Tobe brings the other two a doozy of a query, which an ill Ron struggles with, luckily Luke's got a bag full of answers.-News:Nintendo's Ring Fit Adventure,The Final Fantasy 7 remake,Yakuza 7,More Death Stranding,Resident Evil: Project Resistance,A whole bunch of Apple,Ms. Monopoly shocker.-If you'd like to send in your very own topic or question for the boys to mull over, get in touch using any of these links:Instagram.com/insertnameherecastFacebook.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.com-For everything else, including other handy links and the NEW merch, head to insertnameherecast.com.

Oftentimes in the hair space, consumers will have to choose between high-quality products and affordable price points when shopping for their extensions or wigs. Insert Name Here, co-founded by Jordynn Wynn and Sharon Pak, is aiming to change that. Starting out as original employees at ColourPop, the super successful beauty brand, they took their knowledge about social media and influencer marketing to build a business or their own.

Episode 23, or 24 depending on if you count the BONUS, is all about dark theories of cartoons. Featuring Night Swims' 2nd in line General Manager, (Insert Name Here), this episode takes a deep dive in some of the classic cartoons from the 90s and early 00s. Recorded at 11:00 pm on a Thursday, you know its going to be a great episode when we're late with posting. Give us a break college is hard. Ok bye love you

The boys are joined by a guest, known for his appearance on the episode "Shortobots". With the introductions out of the way, they discuss their least favourite words. This gets pretty crude right off the bat.-They talk about what comic books they're reading at the moment, so expect Ron to stay very silent while the others geek out. The Batman vs. Spider-Man debate rages on and the guest throws down the gauntlet to Luke about DC, luckily Luke has been around Tobe and Ron so long that it doesn't seem to bother him.-The boys choose which Disney Princess they would be, it gets pretty un-PC, but it's what you've come to expect.-They discuss super dark jokes and career-ruining mickey-taking. After which, they talk about what celebrity they would like to punch. Obviously Ron let's EVERYONE have it.-Before calm can wash over the studio, moments of game rage is brought up and the anger continues until Tobe dreams of a scenario where Luke dresses as Sonic the Hedgehog and falls deep into a giggle fit.-Are movies too long?-The guest that was mentioned before is in the studio because he helped the INH boys with their first live appearance at CGI Con's POP! Goes The Culture event, which is discussed, and they also talk about meeting a real life superhero, the Wight Knight.-Trailers and news next, with these beauties:Spider-Man: Far From Home.John Wick: Parabellum.The Division 2.Days Gone.Mortal Kombat 11.Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid.(The boys are clearly fans of PC gaming, as you'll hear).-The price of Shazam's suit, Ghostbusters kids and then to finish it all up, the guest brings some Anthem news.-Insert Name Here links:Insertnameherecast.comInstagram.com/insertnameherecastFacebook.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastinsertnameherecast@gmail.com-Other useful linksFacebook.com/Wight.Knight.77Instagram.com/thewightknightiowCGICon.co.ukFacebook.com/cosplaygamingisland

Part Two of James's interview with Will Ing, Dan Gaster and Paul Powell, the comedy writing team behind Insert Name Here, with great insights on how to make and write a panel show.

Merry Christmas from Insert Name Here!-Contact links:Instagram.com/insertnameherecastFacebook.com/insertnameherecastTwitter.com/nameherecastInsertnameherecast.comInsertnameherecast@gmail.com

Before they kick off the episode the boys welcome Luke back, and what a week it is to come back. This episode is BURSTING with content.-It’s a weekly tradition to warm things up with questions sent in by YOU, the Heroes, and this week is no exception. We find out what the guys would do if the world was ending in a month, and whether they’d go camping with a listener.-They flip flop between whether the Hulk can be killed or not because, you know, comics... Then discuss which fictional school would be the one for them. They diagnose a listener with a brain tumour...-Want to know what their weapon of choice would be in a Zombie Apocalypse? Spoilers, they choose the exact same weapon and find out you can’t weld an aluminium baseball bat.-We find out who they would be if they HAD to be a member of the opposite sex, have a guess at how weird this answers becomes...-Before giving you a deadline to send in your Halloween questions by, they are asked ‘Can dolls talk?’. The deadline for Halloween questions, by the way, will be 13.10.18.-The boys talk about their man-date to the movies to watch Venom, and as you could probably imagine there are some **SPOILERS** in this episode. Ron refuses to hold the Heroes hands...-Segways a-plenty as they jump from Venom to Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Post credit sequences and trailers are discussed, possibly more spoilers here.-Ron: Destroyer of Segways is in full effect, but Luke and Tobe push on regardless and talk about the third act of PS4’s Spider-Man.-Luke heads back in time to play Red Dead Redemption before heading further back in time to play Red Dead Redemption II. PlayStation Now is discussed and the boys go deeper into the news for a game they cannot wait for.-This episode is wrapped up neatly with news of DC’s Titans series, and the boys discuss the trailers for Harley Quinn and Daredevil season 3.-If you would like to contact Insert Name Here, this is where you’ll find them.Web: insertnameherecast.comInstagram: @insertnameherecastFacebook: facebook.com/insertnameherecastTwitter: @nameherecastEmail: insertnameherecast@gmail.com

This week, the boys kick things off with possibly the best opening ever, then to make things more complicated they change up the usual episode structure. - To start, they receive an update from mullet-less Ron about his August challenge, in doing so they learn that Tuna is the salad of the sea, then Luke gets REAL personal. - To attempt to clean up the conversation, they find out that Luke's been camping, and he always goes to the movies with the Teen Titans. - They talk BladeRunner 2049, miserable Harrison Ford. Cloak and Dagger, the Marvel TV show available on Amazon Prime. Ron decides to jump on board with Baby Driver. - Deep talk about the first Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay trailer, and it seems like all 3 of the boys are excited about putting their Chaps on and grabbing their Stetsons. - The excitement keeps on coming when the boys jump in to Insert Questions Here with their contest winning guest, questions about favourite Nic Cage films, the face waterfall, massages with John Travolta and world domination. - They try not to piss off the Mafia - Have they flip flopped on TV shows after a recommendation? Find out in this episode, Luke gets defensive about Gilmore Girls and Ron comes up short with an answer. Toby then shuffles the question, and they poop on TV shows, Luke makes another ringing endorsement. - Ron's attention span is questioned and they give their guest a turtles character and ask him what he'd prefer to be bitten by, then out of nowhere a Marvel DC turf war. Toby talks SpiderMan, Luke comes back with Batman... Nothing changes. - Shoutout from Luke, "Head over to culturedvultures.com/amp/no-mans-sky-next-is-almost-to-infinity-and-beyond to read my buddy, Tom Ladds, review of No Man's Sky!" - Check out our guest, the wonderful Rookrush's facebook page, set your peepers on some awesome landscape photos, go to facebook.com/photorookrush. - Last but not least, for everything Insert Name Here related go to insertnameherecast.com and check out the boys social media pages, and get in touch.

This week on Insert Name Here, let's start off with an apology. Ron sounds muffled this week, the boys don't know what happened, but unfortunately they found out too late to fix it. Hopefully it won't bug you too much. - They begin by repeating jokes, that may or may not have been funny the first time round, let's hope it's improved by the second go. - Moving directly into questions, they choose which they'd prefer to be bitten by, a Vampire, a Werewolf or a radioactive insect, and as they do, Toby and Luke confuse Ron. - They then discuss which conventions they've been to, and those they'd like to go to. Toby meets short celebrities, and falls on David Boreanaz. - They give each other a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character and compliments, back-handed or not, are given. - Ron holds himself accountable, hoping the Heroes will help, by talking about a challenge his good lady has set him to not eat meat on weekdays for the rest of August, updates are sure to follow. So, if you see him eating meat and it's not the weekend, go give him some guff. - He then moves on to talk about the new South Park: Fractured But Whole DLC, "Bring the Crunch!", Luke and Tobe are probably shocked by how much he talks about it, especially seeing as he only played for 30 minutes. - Luke brings up the "open letter" from the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy to James Gunn, and they are unanimous in that they don't believe he should've been fired. - They then move on to movies by talking about the new Venom trailer, followed by Luke's trip to see Incredibles 2. - Tobe brings it to television and talks about "Last Man On Earth", so Ron dives in with "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia". Luke then angers Toby by bringing up Mass Effect: Andromeda... Sorry, just Andromeda... - On the subject of games, Luke and Ron reminisce about the time they played Hatoful Boyfriend together, ending in a pretty "squawk-ward" mention of Toby not having any friends. - Toby brings it all together by talking about the Netflix recommended "Zoo", and Ron reads what it's all about on the show. - Don't forget to rate and review, subscribe on whatever podcast app you use, and head over to insertnameherecast.com and use their Amazon link for all your shopping needs.

This week, being no different from previous weeks, the boys kick the episode off with "Insert Questions Here", well... Just the one question, and it's all about cancelled TV shows. It spawns quite a bit of content and, as per usual, Ron struggles with it. - They're all over the place this week, mainly because Ron's brain is in shenanigan mode, waiting to hit the pub. - Ron goes on a rant about changing characters origins, and they move swiftly to the fashion of old men. - Luke adorns his sweet flesh with a blazer to hit up Timberluke's News, which includes the standalone Joker movies we'll see in the future. - The trio of geniuses come up with a PERFECT synopsis for a new Hitman movie... They verbally copyrighted it, so let that be known. - In typical Insert Name Here fashion, the boys forget what day the episode comes out, think they're live, and advertise Prime Day, but you can still go to insertnameherecast.com and click the BRAND NEW Amazon.co.uk button on the homepage, get yourself some extra goodies. - Ron corrects a previous mistake with the competition end date, which is officially 21.07.18 (this Saturday). - Toby catches up on Uncharted 4, and the one after and let's you know what's up with Fortnite season 5, Luke makes his first fart noise. - Toby is still suffering, so if you have a movie or a game you want to recommend to him, head over to our twitter @nameherecast (twitter.com/nameherecast) and give him something to do. - The boys leave a beautiful treat, as standard, at the end of the outro, Marvel style.

This week, after some pre-drinking at Mardi Gras, the boys settle in for an all out Insert Questions Here podapalooza. - They drop a sneaky shout out for their favourite artist - Idol.Mind (@Idol.Mind on Instagram) and talk about his topic of Saturday morning cartoons, guess who sings a few theme tunes? - Ron eats on mic like an animal, he thought he was being sneaky… He was not… But even with that the boys manage to think up super powers for each other. - Ron brings up the series "Unsolved: The Tupac and Biggie Murders" and reminds everyone that Preacher is back. They couldn't go too deep on it as Luke hasn't caught up. - The guys have a competition running at the moment, so if you want in on it all you have to do is go to iTunes and leave them a review, if your review is selected, you win a prize. It's that simple. While you're there, why not leave them 5 of those beautiful stars? - Stay tuned after the outro music for a little aural treat. - For everything "Insert Name Here" head over to insertnameherecast.com, you'll find links to all of their social media pages, a link to iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify, the Amazon.co.uk affiliate link, and of course, all the episodes.

This episode the boys talk about Spawn, to which Ron gets confused with Venom… Tobe runs Luke and Ron through Solo: A Star Wars Story ***SPOILERS*** and Luke brings a brand new game to the table. - After the fun has been had, Tobe disappears and the remaining boys are left to watch and discuss the trailers for Bumblebee, the second Wreck It Ralph, the second Lego Movie and Halloween. - If you enjoy the show, this episode, or any of the others, please SUBSCRIBE and leave the boys a beautiful 5STAR rating. It helps get the show into the ears of other listeners. - Please use the Amazon link if you're going shopping, it really helps them out: https://www.amazon.co.uk/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=insertnameher-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=fe08a1a07ee8ad4a99959c2d8f25debd&camp=1634&creative=6738 - If you have any questions for the boys, get at them in any of these ways: Facebook: Search Insert Name Here and look for their faces. Instagram: @InsertNameHereCast Twitter: @NameHereCast Email: insertnameherecast@gmail.com - Thanks for listening, Insert Name Here.

On this weeks episode the guys go deep with "Insert Questions Here", so thank you on behalf of Insert Name Here to those that sent in their questions. Luke comes up with a name for the listeners, let the boys know what you think either via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or at insertnameherecast@gmail.com. - They talk about upcoming games, like Fallout 76 and Pokemon. Luke dreams of what it would be like to be at E3, and Tobe creates a new drug. - Don't forget, if you're shopping on Amazon, tell 'em Insert Name Here sent ya by using this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=insertnameher-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=fe08a1a07ee8ad4a99959c2d8f25debd&camp=1634&creative=6738 - Find the boys on… Facebook: @InsertNameHereCast Instagram: @InsertNameHereCast Twitter: @NameHereCast - If you enjoy the show, and haven't already, please don't forget to subscribe on your Podcast app and throw up a 5 star review, it's much appreciated.

This week the boys talk about an Isle Of Wight centric news story involving Dan Aykroyd and Bloody Hell Hot Sauce, a small, Island-based hot sauce company, if you would like to help Bloody Hell Hot Sauce out with their current campaign go to: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bloody-hell-hot-sauce-be-a-part-of-our-future-design-vegan#/ - we, at Insert Name Here, aren't supported by or otherwise involved with Bloody Hell Hot Sauce, but we do want to help them in any way we can. - They also hit the question bag, and get some doozies, talk about Bill and Ted 3, the new Predator trailer and the Deadpool 2 hype train. - Don't forget to follow the guys on Facebook and Instagram : @InsertNameHereCast; and on Twitter: @NameHereCast. - If you need something from Amazon, or just feel like buying yourself a little treat, use this link and the boys will get a little kickback to further upgrade and improve the Podcast. https://www.amazon.co.uk/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=insertnameher-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=fe08a1a07ee8ad4a99959c2d8f25debd&camp=1634&creative=6738 - Thank you, Insert Name Here

In this episode we welcome stand-up comedian, writer, actor and generally lovely man Ed Gamble to the island. Ed’s list of credits is huge - Mock the Week, Man Down, The Russell Howard Hour, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, Drunk History, Insert Name Here, Dave’s One Night Stand the list goes on and on… Ed’s latest stage show Mammoth sold out the entire run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 and includes three nights at Leicester Square Theatre. Ed was co-writer and co-host of the iTunes-topping and Chortle Award-nominated Peacock and Gamble Podcast. But none of that matters anymore, because Ed has washed up on the shores of a strange island somewhere in the Caribbean Sea without his insulin. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the boys go trailer crazy. They talk about Venom, Ant Man and The Wasp and Red Dead Redemption II. They also answer listener questions with Insert Questions Here. Half way through this episode is a slight musical interlude due to the fact they used some of last weeks content, because the Infinity War conversation took priority, so carry on listening after the first bit of Outro music. Enjoy the episode, and don't forget to tell your friends. Also, use their Amazon link whenever you purchase something from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=insertnameher-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=fe08a1a07ee8ad4a99959c2d8f25debd&camp=1634&creative=6738

This week the boys break down Avengers: Infinity War so a **HUGE SPOILER WARNING**. If you haven't seen the movie, don't listen until you've rectified that situation. Between episode 1 and 2, they have been busy sorting out an Amazon link - if you shop through Amazon, use the link below and the boys get a little kick back to help with future endeavours: https://www.amazon.co.uk/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=insertnameher-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=fe08a1a07ee8ad4a99959c2d8f25debd&camp=1634&creative=6738 Don't forget to find them on Twitter: @NameHereCast, and Facebook and Instagram: @InsertNameHereCast.

In this, the very first episode of Insert Name Here, the boys discuss Justice League, Avengers 4 and the season finale of The Walking Dead. They also answer questions that were sent in. - Follow on: Twitter: @NameHereCast Facebook: @InsertNameHereCast Instagram: @InsertNameHereCast - Stay tuned after the outro music for a blooper reel of Ron constantly flubbing his lines.

It's 2018, and we're back after taking a week off to talk about our New Years resolutions. We share our resolutions for this year, why we think they're so hard to stick to and some of our favorite New Years Eve and Day traditions. Send us an email at phoningitinpodcast@gmail.com or tweet us @PhoningItInPod or talk to us on Facebook if you have any comments or anything you want us to talk about on the show. Today's show is sponsored by Audible! You can get a FREE audiobook download and 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/phone. Audible is the Internet's leading provider of audiobooks with more than 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or MP3 player. Download the episode and subscribe to our show on iTunes or in the Google Play store. Be sure to rate and comment on the show and spread the word if you enjoy it! Episode rundown Start-10:45 — Our thoughts on New Years resolutions 10:46-18:10 — What we'd like to do in 2018 18:11-26:15 — New Years traditions 27:20-End — What should INSERT NAME HERE's resolution be in 2018?

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ Donald Trump: Racist...? We go over Donald Trump's alarming lack of tact and history with racism before becoming an elected official and how it's effecting policies moving forward: the inference that his father, Fred, was involved with the KKK; settling with the DOJ over accusations of housing discrimination; and his presidential campaign which reinforced stereotypes and cultural bias against Mexicans, Muslims, and women. Trans Ban: 2004 Called and It Wants Its Phobias Back This is part of Trump’s “base play,” now that he’s been blocked and rebuked by “establishment” Republicans. But is there even majority support for this policy in the states that he --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ Pour One Out For The Homie: Anthony Scaramucci Mueller Time: Special Counsel Bob Mueller did 2 things this week that were newsworthy (i.e. not fake news): 1. Michael Flynn – first instance of seeking records from the White House 2. Empaneled a grand jury in DC – I’d be shocked if there weren’t some indictments that come of this. Who gets indicted, and for what? Wait and see on future episodes of The Trump Show. Trans Ban: 2004 called and it wants its phobias back Defense policy by presidential tweet? Military scrambling to figure out what to do or say, but mostly conclude on “nothing’s changing until there is a thoughtful review and recommendations ar --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ The Senate this week failed to approve any O’care repeal legislation. But the path to getting there was very interesting. What worked: Citizen activism and Democratic unity. Moron or Asshole Blake Farenthold – Fat guy challenges older woman to duel. Favorite Thing I Saw This Week: El Clasico from Miami. Visca Barca! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ DEEP DIVE Senate vote expected this week on repeal and replace of Obamacare and it doesn’t look like they have the votes to proceed. This comes with the realization that the GOP seems to lack a sense of coherence in how they're trying to reform healthcare aside from making everything "less." Jeff Sessions apparently discussed campaign and policy issues with the Russian Ambassador at a meeting that he first asserted did not happen. And then, faced with proof that the meeting did in fact happen, he asserted that in no way did they discuss anything campaign related. Now, Donald Trump is vetting a replacement for Sessions. MORON OR ASSHOLE: Steve King WHAT --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ DEEP DIVE The G20 Summit occurred this past week in Hamburg. At the Summit, this was the first face-to-face meeting with Putin and Trump. This comes on the heels of news of Russian hackers breaking into various energy systems in the U.S. and Trump's suggestion of perhaps working with Russia to create a cybersecurity unit. MORON OR ASSHOLE: Ivanka Trump Ivanka Trump sat in for her father during meetings at the G20 Summit. WHAT IN THE F**K The Republican healthcare reform bill squeaked through to the Senate - a bill so unpopular that it's been met with a roadblock. The GOP, now that they have control over healthcare reform, is showing signs of having no pl --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ DEEP DIVE President Trump announced the United States will be exiting the Paris Climate Accords. We investigate what this means for energy policy going forward and whether this is part of a larger trend that has less to do with the environment and more to do with conservatives reversing 8 years of policy. MORON OR ASSHOLE: Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher came under fire this past week for their blunt attitudes toward the Trump administration. We ask if they are out of their depth, what this means for art and free speech, and whether the outrage machine had any creedence. FAVORITE THINGS WE SAW THIS WEEK Ian and his wife welcome --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ WHAT IN THE F**K Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, was in direct communication with the Russian government during the Trump campaign bringing the accusations closer to Donald Trump. DEEP DIVE The CBO has come back with their score on the new and improved AHCA bill (Trumpcare) and Donald Trump's proposed budget. CBO estimates show 23 million will lose healthcare coverage and 14 million would lose coverage in its first year. The Trump budget also has a lot of cuts specifically targeting governmental agencies that aren't military or defense. What does this say about our vision of the quality of living in the future? MORON OR ASSHOLE: Conservative --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ WHAT IN THE F**K Following the firing of FBI Director Comey, we discuss the implications of such an action and the red flags this sends up for the current administration. HEALTH CARE, SCHMELTH CARE With the GOP's current "Repeal and Replace" mission for the ACA, they've managed to reinvigorate the bill by reintroducing pre-existing conditions into the fold. What can we do to fight this going forward? GET UP OFF YOUR ASS Taking a cue from Killer Mike's appearance on Bill Maher, this segment is about the specific things we can do to organize, strategize, and mobilize and become active with our government. FAVORITE THINGS WE SAW THIS WEEK Michelle Obama ca --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

"Insert Name Here" is a series focusing on the politics behind closed doors in our nation's capital and abroad co-hosted by Ian Taronji and Scott Remley. ___________________________ SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES: apple.co/2ltf7W5 Produced by The OLM Creative Factory www.onelovemassive.com Edited by Mike Phillipz ____________________________ WHAT IN THE F**K The Trump-Comey Scandal has heated up with Trump admitting on Lester Holt that Russia was, in fact, a reason he fired Comey. This comes on the heels of information that Comey wrote memos detailing every conversation he had with POTUS as an accountability measure. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has now appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel - a power play that is going to keep Trump on his toes. MORON OR ASSHOLE: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III Jeff Sessions issued new criminal charging guidance to his federal prosecutors which would include mandatory minimums involving long prison sentences for non-violent drug offenders - --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/one-love-massive-podcast/support

Presenter and producer Richard Osman; campaigner Peter Willcox; playwright and actor Rikki Beadle-Blair and conservationist Sacha Dench join Libby Purves. Sacha Dench is a conservationist. She's the first woman to cross the English Channel in a motorised paraglider during a 4,500-mile journey following migrating birds from the Russian tundra to Britain. She made her trip to highlight the problems facing the endangered Bewick's swan population. Illegal hunting, newly erected power lines and loss of wetlands all play a part in the swan's dramatic decline in numbers which have almost halved over the last 20 years. Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE is a playwright, actor, producer and choreographer. The artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica, he is directing Hashtag Lighty which opens at the Arcola Theatre. Other projects include writing and directing Legendary Children in the House of Fierce and Summer in London which features an entire cast of transgender actors. Born in Bermondsey, he wrote the screenplay for the award-winning film Stonewall and he wrote, directed and performed in the Channel 4 series Metrosexuality. Hashtag Lighty is at the Arcola Theatre, London; Legendary Children in the House of Fierce is at the Old Vic Workrooms, London and Summer in London is at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London. Peter Willcox has been a Captain with Greenpeace for over 30 years, making him the most experienced captain in the organization. An activist for most of his life, at 12 he marched from Selma to Montgomery behind Martin Luther King Jr. Captain Willcox estimates he's sailed over 300,000 miles in virtually every corner of the globe. In his new book he writes about his adventures confronting naval ships, being bombed by the French secret service and serving time in a Russian jail for protesting against Russian oil drilling in Antarctica. Greenpeace Captain: Bizarre Wanderings on the Rainbow Warrior by Peter Willcox is published by Sandstone Press. Richard Osman is a presenter and producer. Alongside Alexander Armstrong he co-hosts the quiz show Pointless which celebrates its 1000th episode this year. He is team captain on the series Insert Name Here - each episode is about people who share the same first name, and two teams compete to decide the greatest ever bearer of that week's chosen name. During his 20-year career in production Richard worked on shows from Total Wipeout and Deal Or No Deal to Whose Line is it Anyway? Insert Name Here is broadcast on BBC2. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Now available on itunes! https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/insert-name-here/id654283466?mt=2 This week on [Insert Name Here] we talk about Wargame Airland Battle, we review Now You See Me and Hangover 3 and I shamlessly plug another webcomic. Remember you can email us your questions and comments and you might even have them read on the air. Our mailing address is mail.insertnamehere@gmail.com Or tweet us at @INH_Podcast Music used in this episode: Linkin Park - Somewhere I Belong (Tyler Clark Dubstep Remix) [HD] uploaded by fabiandofficial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYZPwAFs7uA Megasteakman - Dumb Ways To Die (In Video Games) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-HTTFEk6UM&feature=share Jason Steele and FilmCow -- Charlie The Unicorn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY Join us next week for Episode 4: Wars while Trekking through Stars.

Welcome to episode one of [Insert Name Here]! This is my very first podcast although I plan to do a lot more of them. One every week in fact! This weeks episode talks about the Xbox One and shamelessly plugs my favorite webcomic. Music and fun times galore. Feel free to send us a mail about any topic and we may put it on our show! Ask us questions, leave us feedback and fan pics! mail.insertnamehere@gmail.com Enjoy! Music used in this episode: Linkin Park - Somewhere I Belong (Tyler Clark Dubstep Remix) [HD] uploaded by fabiandofficial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYZPwAFs7uA Mine Turtle by TomSka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI5_sQ8O-7Y Llamas With Hats by FilmCow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZUPCB9533Y I do not own any of these songs. All credit goes to the creators, artists and animators for the songs. Join me next week for [Insert Name Here] Episode 2: Into The Unknown!

BlizzCon has come and gone and it's time to pick through the pieces with your hosts Phantom Limb, Steven Something and "Uh, Insert Name Here."For starters, we chew on some the announcements from the event. Like, is Overwatch 2 really necessary? Why not just update Overwatch (1)?After the quick hits, we feast on the main course that is the Diablo 4 announcement. We cover what we know so far and how it differs from Diablo 2/3.It's suffering time!Timecodes:00:39 - BlizzCon - Overwatch 202:05 - Heroes of the Storm03:35 - World of Warcraft: Shadowlands04:25 - Diablo IVAll rights for images & video used belong to the respective rights holders.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/digital-suffering-podcast/donations