Podcasts about izolda trakhtenberg

The Secret to Better Communication? Play More Games Can a card game make you a better communicator? John Cooper thinks so. A retired NASA engineer turned game designer, John created The Gang, a cooperative twist on poker that reveals how we think, trust, and strategize under pressure. In this episode, we break down the psychology behind the game—how reading subtle cues can sharpen decision-making, why teamwork trumps individual genius, and what games teach us about real-life collaboration. If you want to think faster, connect better, and spot patterns others miss, this conversation is for you. Join me, Izolda Trakhtenberg, as we explore creativity, curiosity, and the power of play in shaping how we work and interact. Tune in and get inspired to approach life with a sharper mind and a more open perspective. Connect with John https://linktr.ee/Cooperjohn https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/411567/the-gang https://store.thamesandkosmos.com/products/the-gang http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10996/zarcana https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/123/john-cooper https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/14634/homeworlds https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/225/icehouse   Connect with Izolda Website: https://IzoldaT.com BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/izoldat.bsky.social. Book Your Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/izoldat/discovery-call New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/90481/izolda-trakhtenberg Submit a Play to the Your Creative Table Read Podcast Series One Minute Movies A Close Shave Career Suicide Diz Wit   Flip Your Inner Script to Stop Negative Thoughts From Ruining Your Day.   This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** Are you getting anything out of the show? I'd love it if you would buy me a coffee.   Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |      

The missing ingredient in your creative process. What's more important—saying it how you want or making sure your message is understood? In this episode of Your Creative Mind, Izolda Trakhtenberg challenges us to rethink communication and clarity. Through engaging storytelling, she explores the way we express ourselves, the importance of adapting to our audience, and how to find the balance between personal expression and being truly heard. Plus, she shares a fun insight from a brain-training app and a fascinating takeaway from a neuroscience of singing workshop! As Izolda prepares for a summer break from the podcast, she reminds listeners of the hundreds of past episodes filled with wisdom on creativity, mindfulness, and innovation. Tune in for practical, thought-provoking insights you can use right now to communicate with more impact. Is your message landing or getting lost? Learn the trick to being heard. Connect with Izolda Website: https://IzoldaT.com BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/izoldat.bsky.social. Book Your Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/izoldat/discovery-call New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/90481/izolda-trakhtenberg Submit a Play to the Your Creative Table Read Podcast Series One Minute Movies A Close Shave Career Suicide Diz Wit   Flip Your Inner Script to Stop Negative Thoughts From Ruining Your Day.   This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** Are you getting anything out of the show? I'd love it if you would buy me a coffee.   Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |

Why Fresh Hell Works: Dialogue that Sizzles and Makes You Laugh This week's Your Creative Table Read with Playwright Brian Cern and Actors Julie Brandon, Barry Wallace, and Izolda Trakhtenberg. Brian Cern, Playwright Brian Cern is a Twin Cities-based actor and playwright whose work has won numerous awards and contests throughout North America. A member of the Dramatists Guild, he received his training at Cardinal Stritch University, where his theatre and writing studies led him to a deep appreciation for the stories that unite us in the human condition. As parables, his work has been called “imaginative,” “beautifully soulful,” and “thought-provoking.” Of all the credits to his name, however, it is “Teaching Artist” for local children's theaters that he treasures the most. He lives with his wife and son in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.       Julie Brandon as Mom Julie Brandon is s playwright, poet, short story writer and lyricist. Her work has appeared in Bewildering Stories, Altered Reality, Detangled Brain, Corner Bar Magazine, Poetica Magazine, Fresh Words, Mini Plays Review and many others. Julie's poetry collection, My Tears Like Rain, was published June 2024. Her short plays have been produced nationally. Julie's plays are available on  Broken Art Entertainment 2024 series Summer Vibes and The Future and on several Theatrical Shenanigans podcast shows. A short play will be produced by RubySky productions in 2025. Julie lives near Chicago, IL. Julie's New Play Exchange  https://newplayexchange.org/users/12443/julie-brandon For Theatrical Shenanigans - "Pulled From a Hat" https://theatricalshenanigans.podbean.com/e/two-year-anniversary-special/ https://theatricalshenanigans.podbean.com/e/mini-shenanigans-episode-3-can-you-get-there-from-here-by-julie-brandon/ Broken Art Entertainment -   Summer Vibes Anthology - The Astronomy Lesson and The Future Anthology - Someone's Lucky Day Barry Wallace as Dad Barry Wallace has worked in Knoxville, TN community and professional theatre for over 30 years as a director, music director, actor and playwright. His original full-length play, THE SNALLYGASTER, is part of Tennessee Stage Company's 2025 New Play Festival, and his short play, BLACK BALLOONS, won Best Screenplay at the 2022 "The Ten Show" Film Festival.   Social Media, etc: Facebook: @Barry.Wallace1 Instagram: @barrywallace NPX: https://newplayexchange.org/users/69726/barry-wallace   Izolda Trakhtenberg, Stage Directions Izolda Trakhtenberg is a playwright, scriptwriter, author, and voice actor who brings stories to life across stage, screen, and sound. Her plays Expiration Date (Off Broad Street Play Festival semifinalist) and A Slice of Democracy (produced by Nomad Theatre) challenge and engage audiences. She narrates corporate projects, animations, and commercials, with audiobook credits including The Ghost Next Door and Ocean City Lowdown. As host of The Your Creative Mind Podcast, she explores creativity's power to transform lives. A published author of fiction and non-fiction, her works include Die By The Sword, book one in the Cassie Belmont Tarot Card Thrillers. Izolda blends storytelling and communication expertise to create work that resonates long after the final word.   Connect with Izolda Website: https://IzoldaT.com BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/izoldat.bsky.social. New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/90481/izolda-trakhtenberg     Ready to "wow" the people you speak with? Work with me. This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, my book on how to become a stellar communicator, Speak From Within, and this podcast's host, Podbean (Get a one-month free trial of Podbean with this affiliate link. https://www.podbean.com/CreativeSolutions).  Leave me a voice message.   == BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/izoldat.bsky.social. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** Are you getting anything out of the show? I'd love it if you would buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Your Creative Mind Table Read: What if Odysseus had to answer for his choices? A playwright dares to ask. What if the women of The Odyssey had the final say? In this episode of Your Creative Mind, we bring you Odysseus's Women by Luke Krueger—a powerful reimagining of the Greek epic where the legendary hero faces judgment from the women he left behind. You'll hear this gripping story come to life in our table read, followed by an insightful conversation with Luke and the actors about writing, performance, and the power of retelling myths through a modern lens. Whether you're a writer, performer, or someone who loves bold storytelling, this episode offers inspiration, fresh perspectives, and a front-row seat to a play that challenges everything we thought we knew about Odysseus. Luke Krueger, Playwright, as Odysseus Luke Krueger lives in Vermont with his two young daughters, who help him make maple syrup from their trees. Luke's plays have been performed around the US and Canada. In 2006, he was the first playwright to be named the Emerging Writer-in-Residence at Penn State-Altoona. His plays are published by Playscripts, Inc.; Next Stage Press; and Original Works Publishing. His short play, "The Sad Funeral" (which debuted at the Source theatre) will be published in the upcoming edition of the Long River Review (University of Connecticut). As an actor he performed in the Arizona Premiers of The Laramie Project and This Is Our Youth; he last played Rev. Hale in The Crucible. Luke holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University and a BA in English from Miami University (Ohio). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild    Luke has been on the English and/or Theatre faculty at Arizona State University, Lake Forest College, Loyola University, and Northern Illinois University. Currently he works for a local school supervisory union as an investigator for hazing, harassment, bullying, and title nine complaints; and he is a restorative programs coordinator. Outside of work, Luke is a member of his town's volunteer firefighting department.   Luke's Plays: https://www.playscripts.com/play/2450?srsltid=AfmBOorWd0XyG8ouhLtlH4WW3D0i3ghIvBDtaIjaQy-hcnAvarhCyYqz   Other plays and the U-Haul book: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Luke-Krueger/author/B001JRVAOS?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true   Canterbury Tales adaptation: https://next-stage-press.myshopify.com/products/canterbury-tales-the-digital-version     Izolda Trakhtenberg as Kalypso, Circe, Penelope, and the Women Izolda Trakhtenberg is a playwright, scriptwriter, author, and voice actor who brings stories to life across stage, screen, and sound. Her plays Expiration Date (Off Broad Street Play Festival semifinalist) and A Slice of Democracy (produced by Nomad Theatre) challenge and engage audiences. She narrates corporate and educational projects like NASA's Breathable: A Story About Air Quality, animations, and commercials, with audiobook credits including The Ghost Next Door and Ocean City Lowdown. As host of The Your Creative Mind Podcast, she explores creativity's power to transform lives. A published author of fiction and non-fiction, her works include Die By The Sword, book one in the Cassie Belmont Tarot Card Thrillers. Izolda blends storytelling and communication expertise to create work that resonates long after the final word. Connect with Izolda Website: https://IzoldaT.com BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/izoldat.bsky.social. Book Your Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/izoldat/discovery-call New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/90481/izolda-trakhtenberg Submit a Play to the Your Creative Table Read Podcast Series One Minute Movies A Close Shave Career Suicide Diz Wit   This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**   Flip Your Inner Script to Stop Negative Thoughts From Ruining Your Day. Are you getting anything out of the show? I'd love it if you would buy me a coffee.   Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Today we're digging into the classic US kids book – Harold and the Purple Crayon. My partner in foolishness is Izolda Trakhtenberg – she's an expert in communication + creativity and has a wealth of experience, from her background in education at NASA to her work as a speaker + podcaster + even, Victorian caroler.  We looked at the importance of ingenuity + lateral thinking in overcoming challenges, drawing parallels between imaginative problem-solving and the entrepreneurial journey. We look at Harold's simple, creative approach to problem-solving - it maps perfectly onto business challenges. Whether he's drawing himself a boat when he's drowning or creating a window around the moon to find his way home, there's something powerful here about lateral thinking and taking direct action - exactly what we need as entrepreneurs. Be sure to look for more shows in this Classics strand, where we continue to uncover the business wisdom unwittingly hidden in timeless tales. Book discussed in this episode: Harold and the Purple Crayon - Crockett Johnson Izolda's Book: Speak From Within Izolda's Main Website: izoldaspeaks.com Izolda's Voice Training site: voicemastery.studio Izolda's Choir Website: philosopherstones.com ==== If you'd like more information about my Mastering Mastermind program go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don't forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn't your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you've actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

Your Interior World: Why It Matters More Than You Think Why Ignoring Your Thoughts Could Be Holding You Back What's really happening inside your mind when you're constantly on the go—or glued to your phone? In this solo episode of Your Creative Mind, Izolda Trakhtenberg dives into the often-overlooked interior world we all carry with us. Learn how to break free from distractions, face your thoughts with curiosity rather than fear, and nurture your creative ideas. Through personal anecdotes and practical steps, Izolda shares how cultivating self-awareness can lead to more clarity, creativity, and peace. Whether you're looking to spark inspiration or reclaim focus in your day-to-day life, this episode offers tools to help you take the first steps toward a healthier relationship with your thoughts—and yourself.   This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, my book on how to become a stellar communicator, Speak From Within, and this podcast's host, Podbean (Get a one-month free trial of Podbean with this affiliate link. https://www.podbean.com/CreativeSolutions).  Leave Izolda a voice message. Project Play Table Read Podcast episodes Dramatists Guild script formatting guide. Play Submission Form  Connect with Izolda This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**   Are you getting anything out of the show? I'd love it if you would buy me a coffee.   Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Today's guest is Izolda Trakhtenberg - powerhouse speaker, educator + author of Speak From Within. We discuss the art of finding your voice, overcoming public speaking anxiety and the magic of resonance.  Izolda shares practical tips that can transform anyone from a nervous wreck to a confident speaker, making it clear that we all have a story worth telling. Look for more Author Interviews – there's lots of inspiring conversations that'll maybe introduce new authors + books to you.  It's also of the December Daily, where - you guessed it - the show is, gasp, daily for the whole month. Izolda's Book: Speak From Within  Izolda's Podcast: Creative Solutions Podcast Izolda's Website: Izoldaspeaks.com Izolda's LinkedIn: inkedin.com/in/izoldat Izolda's Instagram: instagram.com/izoldat Izolda's TikTok: IzoldaT ==== If you'd like my help with your Business go to www.lizscully.com/endlessClients ==== And don't forget to get your reading list of the 10 essential reads for every successful biz owner - these are the books Liz recommends almost on the daily to her strategy + Mastermind clients. This isn't your usual list of biz books, these answer the challenges you've actually got coming up right now. Helpful, quick to read and very timely. Click here lizscully.com/reading to get your book list

Discover how your creative passions can guide a career shift. Are you feeling frustrated or uncertain about your career? Maybe it's time for a change, but you're not sure what direction to go in. Take the quiz that might just point you towards your dream career. By understanding your unique creative strengths, you'll gain clarity and confidence in making a career shift that aligns with your passions and talents.  This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, my book on how to become a stellar communicator, Speak From Within, and this podcast's host, Podbean (Get a one-month free trial of Podbean with this affiliate link. https://www.podbean.com/CreativeSolutions).  Leave me a voice message. Feeling stuck in your career and not sure what to do next? In this episode of The Creative Solutions Podcast, Izolda Trakhtenberg shares a powerful way to uncover your next career move—by looking at the creative passions you already love. You'll hear about how your hobbies, like writing, music, or crafting, could hold the key to a fulfilling career that excites you every day. Plus, Izolda introduces a quick, insightful quiz designed to help you figure out the next steps toward doing work that makes you feel alive. Tune in for practical advice, fresh insights, and the first step toward loving what you do for a living! We also explore the effects of the premiere of Izolda's first play, "A Slice of Democracy." Connect with Izolda This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Learn How Just Five Minutes Can Spark Innovation! Take the survey. This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, my book on how to become a stellar communicator, Speak From Within, and this podcast's host, Podbean (Get a one-month free trial of Podbean with this affiliate link. https://www.podbean.com/CreativeSolutions).  Leave me a voice message. Feeling stuck or overwhelmed by your daily routine? In this episode of the Creative Solutions Podcast, host Izolda Trakhtenberg reveals how just five minutes of creativity can transform the way you work, solve problems, and even boost your mood. You don't have to be an artist to benefit—these quick, simple creative activities will help you break free from stress, ignite fresh ideas, and make you more productive. Tune in to learn how incorporating short bursts of creativity into your day can bring more joy, clarity, and innovation to your life, all in less time than it takes to check your email! Connect with Izolda This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |    

Ready to Stop Tweaking? Here's How Learn How To Call Your Work Done. This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm* and my book on how to become a stellar speaker, Speak From Within.  Discover the secrets to unlock your inner leader! Download the free confidence-building tip sheet now! Grab a complimentary 15-minute consultation with me. Leave me a voice message. Are you struggling to know when your creative work is truly finished? In this episode of Creative Solutions, Izolda Trakhtenberg tackles four common challenges that can hold you back: perfectionism, fear of judgment, self-doubt, and even fear of success. Tune in as we explore practical strategies to overcome these hurdles so you can confidently complete your projects and move on to the next big idea. Whether you're an artist, writer, or creator, you'll gain valuable insights to help you keep your creative momentum strong. Here's your chance to learn how to finish your work with confidence and clarity. Connect with Izolda This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Money Monday: Get More Business with Your Google Business Profile This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm* and my book on how to become a stellar speaker, Speak From Within.  Discover the secrets to unlock your inner leader! Download the free confidence-building tip sheet now! Grab a complimentary 15-minute consultation with me. Leave me a voice message. Are you ready to unlock the secrets to growing your creative business? In this Money Monday episode of the Creative Solutions Podcast, host Izolda Trakhtenberg sits down with professional magician Eric Henning to reveal the game-changing power of claiming your Google Business listing. Learn actionable tips on optimizing your profile, attracting new clients, and standing out from the competition. Whether you're a magician, artist, or any creative entrepreneur, this episode is brimming with insights to elevate your online presence and boost your business. Tune in for expert advice, real-life success stories, and practical strategies that can transform your venture. Don't miss out—subscribe now and take the first step towards growing your creative business! Connect with Eric Website: https://erichenningmagic.com/ If you sign up for a 30-minute coaching session at Eric's Money Arts Academy (https://moneyartsacademy.com/), use the code Izolda to transform your 30-minute session into a 60-minute one! Stay creative, stay inspired, and remember – you've got this! Follow Eric on Instagram: @moneyartsacademy Connect with Izolda https://IzoldaSpeaks.com https://voicemastery.studio Links https://fernalvarezjr.com https://answerthepublic.com    This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |    

A good combination of mindfulness, a clear mind, and circularity leads to the best life you could ever have. Corinna Bellizzi discusses how to achieve such a state with speaker and coach for entrepreneurs, Izolda Trakhtenberg. Together, they discuss the importance of practicing mindfulness and the power of meditation in running a successful business or cultivating your creative mind. Izolda also shares her own secrets to becoming present and fully aware of your thoughts and feelings, as well as the role of veganism in her mission to guide business leaders toward success. About Guest:Izolda Trakhtenberg believes innovation isn't about the latest fad, it's about creating and collaborating compassionately. This refreshing approach has made her a sought-after speaker, educator, and coach for entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to innovate. For years, Izolda traveled the world as a NASA Master Trainer transforming people's perspectives on our planet. Her book, Speak From Within: Engage, Inspire, and Motivate Any Audience inspires and helps those who are struggling with telling their stories. Nowadays, you'll find her speaking at conferences, looking for the next great ocean beach, or singing for hundreds of people – all while interviewing peak performers on creative leadership, innovation, and compassionate living on her hit show, Creative Solutions Podcast. Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/Guest Website: https://izoldaspeaks.com Guest Social:https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCilJA7YxYU5Dfy6ow62qGfAShow Notes:02:54 – Collaborating With NASA07:43 – Mindfulness16:24 – Business Leaders27:02 – Veganism32:23 – Creative Zone43:39 – Closing Words Please subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform – and join the Care More Be Better Community! When you visit our website and join our email list, you'll receive a FREE 5-Step Guide To Unleash Your Inner Activist!Website: https://www.caremorebebetter.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@caremorebebetterInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/CareMore.BeBetterFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetterLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-betterTwitter: https://twitter.com/caremorebebettr Support Care More. Be Better: A Social Impact + Sustainability PodcastCare More. Be Better. is not backed by any company. We answer only to our collective conscience. As a listener, reader, and subscriber you are part of this pod and this community and we are honored to have your support. If you can, please help finance the show (https://www.caremorebebetter.com/donate). Thank you, now and always, for your support as we get this thing started!

Mastering the Art of Client Delight with Eric Henning This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm* and my book on how to become a stellar speaker, Speak From Within. Are you ready to unlock your vocal potential? Grab the Speak with Confidence One-sheet for three easy techniques. Grab a complimentary 15-minute consultation with me. Leave me a voice message. Step into the spotlight on this month's Money Monday episode of The Creative Solutions Podcast as financial expert and professional magician Eric Henning unveils the strategies behind surprising and delighting clients. Join host Izolda Trakhtenberg as she delves into Eric's treasure trove of techniques, exploring how his magic expertise intertwines with his savvy client engagement strategies. From personalized touches to unexpected surprises, Eric shares invaluable insights on turning every interaction into a memorable experience. Discover the secrets to wowing your clients and customers, leaving them applauding for more. Tune in to this enchanting conversation and unlock the keys to creating moments of magic in your business endeavors. Don't miss out on this illuminating episode! If you sign up for a 30-minute coaching session at Eric's Money Arts Academy (https://moneyartsacademy.com/), use the code Izolda to transform your 30-minute session into a 60-minute one! Stay creative, stay inspired, and remember – you've got this! Follow Eric on Instagram: @moneyartsacademy   This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |    

In a compelling episode of the Innovative Mindset Podcast, host Izolda Trakhtenberg interviews Corinna Bellizzi, a natural products industry executive and omega-3 expert who is not just shaping the future of sustainable nutrition but also actively changing how businesses think about their impact on the environment. This post summarizes their enlightening conversation, which explores the intersection of health, business ethics, and environmental sustainability.The Power of Sustainable Business Practices:Corinna Bellizzi opens the discussion by emphasizing the need for businesses to adopt sustainable practices from the outset. Her journey from leading Nordic Naturals, where she spearheaded significant growth, to focusing on plant-based omega-3 solutions illustrates a shift towards more environmentally friendly practices. Bellizzi highlights how traditional fish oil industries contribute to ocean degradation and overfishing, advocating for a pivot to algae-based omega-3s which offer a carbon-negative solution.Innovative Approaches to Omega-3s:Discussing the specifics, Bellizzi explains how omega-3 fatty acids are crucial for human health, supporting everything from cellular functions to inflammation management. Her new venture, Orla Nutrition, showcases the world's first carbon-negative omega-3 oils, produced from algae rather than fish. This not only prevents overfishing but also uses carbon capture technology, turning a greenhouse gas into a high-quality, sustainable product.Leading with Ethics and Impact:A significant part of the podcast delves into Bellizzi's leadership philosophy, which blends ethical decision-making with strategic business practices. She describes how her teams operate under principles of collaboration and sustainability, ensuring that every business decision considers its environmental footprint. This approach not only helps the planet but also resonates with increasingly eco-conscious consumers.Education and Advocacy for a Better Tomorrow:Bellizzi also discusses her efforts to educate the public about sustainable nutrition through her podcast, "Nutrition Without Compromise." The show addresses the importance of dietary choices on personal health and the environment, featuring experts who advocate for reducing carbon footprints and enhancing sustainability.Conclusion:Corinna Bellizzi's work is a beacon for those looking to integrate business success with profound social and environmental impact. Her story is a call to action for both consumers and business leaders to rethink how their choices affect the world. By fostering sustainable practices and advocating for change, Bellizzi is not just contributing to a healthier planet but also inspiring others to join her in making a significant difference.Call to Action:For those inspired by Bellizzi's vision, engaging with her content on "Nutrition Without Compromise," and following Orla Nutrition's innovations, can be the first step towards embracing a more sustainable lifestyle. It's a testament to how individual actions and corporate responsibility can collectively pave the way for a regenerative future.This episode captures the essence of a transformative dialogue, encouraging us to reflect on how our health and ethical choices intersect with our responsibility towards the Earth.If you enjoyed this episode, please seek out The Creative Solutions Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, or visit Izolda's site: https://izoldat.com

Innovative Strategies for Business and SustainabilityIn an episode of "The Creative Solutions Podcast," host Izolda Trakhtenberg welcomed Corinna Bellizzi, to share her insights on creating businesses that not only aim to profit but also positively impact the planet and society. This episode was originally published on June 13, 2022 and is shared unabridged with the permission of Izolda Trakhtenberg. Here's what you learn in this episode: Sustainable Business Models:Bellizzi emphasized the importance of rethinking traditional business models to consider the environmental and social impacts of products from inception through to end-of-life. She highlighted her transition from fish-derived omega-3 products to algae-based solutions, which significantly reduce the ecological footprint and help preserve marine life.Challenges of Transitioning:Transitioning to more sustainable business practices isn't simple and involves complex changes in sourcing, production, and distribution. Bellizzi shared her challenges and successes, underscoring the need for businesses to innovate continuously and align their operations with their ethical values.Education on Omega-3s:During the podcast, Bellizzi explained the crucial role of omega-3 fatty acids in human health, emphasizing the need for these nutrients to be sourced sustainably. Her discussion detailed how omega-3s contribute to reducing inflammation and supporting overall health, reinforcing the importance of integrating these nutrients into daily diets responsibly.The Role of Podcasting and Communication:Trakhtenberg and Bellizzi discussed the power of media, like podcasts, in educating and influencing public and corporate behavior towards more sustainable practices. Bellizzi's new podcast, "Nutrition Without Compromise," is aimed at exploring topics around health and sustainability, pushing for a broader understanding and adoption of responsible nutrition.Future of Sustainable Practices:Looking forward, Bellizzi is optimistic about the role of innovative technologies and green practices in shaping a sustainable future. She advocates for a systemic change in how businesses operate, integrating ecological and social governance as core components of corporate strategy.In conclusion, the episode highlighted the interconnectedness of health, business, and environmental sustainability. Bellizzi's work exemplifies the impact that committed individuals and companies can have on leading industry-wide changes, fostering an environment where economic activities contribute positively to global well-being.Love this episode? Find "The Creative Solutions Podcast" wherever you listen to podcasts, or explore everything "Izolda T" on her website: https://izoldat.comLove the show? Subscribe, rate, review, & share! https://caremorebebetter.com Follow us on social and join the conversation! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CareMore.BeBetter/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better Support Care More. Be Better: A Social Impact + Sustainability PodcastCare More Be Better answers only to our collective conscience and aims to put more good into the world. As a listener, reader, and subscriber you are part of this pod and this community and we are honored to have your support.

Confronting Narratives: Addressing Sensitive Themes in 'Message in a Bottle This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm* and my book on how to become a stellar speaker, Speak From Within. Are you ready to unlock your vocal potential? Grab the Speak with Confidence One-sheet for three easy techniques. Grab a complimentary 15-minute consultation with me. Leave me a voice message. Join us in this electrifying episode of the Creative Solutions Podcast as our host, Izolda Trakhtenberg, takes us on a riveting journey through the mesmerizing world of "Message in a Bottle," a groundbreaking dance/music fusion spectacle at the iconic New York City Center. Directed and choreographed by the visionary Kate Prince, and featuring the soul-stirring music and lyrics of none other than Sting, this production is not just entertainment—it's a masterclass in communication, creativity, and innovation. In this episode, Izolda delves deep into the heart of the performance, unraveling its layers of meaning and dissecting its profound insights into teamwork, creativity, and the power of collaboration. She highlights the extraordinary synergy among the five principal dancers, each exuding dedication, passion, and genuine joy as they seamlessly weave together elements of ballet, jazz, modern, and hip hop—a blend that defies convention and leaves audiences spellbound. But it's not just about the dance—it's about the story it tells and the emotions it evokes. Izolda explores how the performers, without uttering a single word (except for Sting's evocative lyrics), communicate with raw intensity, vulnerability, and authenticity, transcending language barriers to touch the hearts and souls of every spectator. In a thoughtful exploration of sensitive subject matter, Izolda also addresses the portrayal of violence against women in the performance, urging us to confront and challenge societal norms while emphasizing the importance of changing the conversation to focus on minimizing men's violence against women. This crucial discussion adds depth and nuance to the episode, encouraging listeners to consider the broader implications of the art they consume. Throughout the episode, Izolda shares her insights on how "Message in a Bottle" serves as a catalyst for personal and professional growth, inspiring us to harness our creativity, embrace teamwork, and strive for excellence in everything we do. Whether you're a seasoned artist, a corporate leader, or simply someone with a passion for the arts, this episode promises to ignite your imagination, fuel your creativity, and leave you utterly inspired. So, tune in now and discover why "Message in a Bottle" isn't just a dance—it's a transformative experience that will leave an indelible mark on your heart and mind. Don't miss out—hit play and let the magic unfold! Listen to the episode now on your favorite podcast platform. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. (affiliate link) URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |

Embrace Your Creative Calling: Navigating Career Change with Expert Coaching This episode is brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm* and my book on how to become a stellar speaker, Speak From Within. Are you ready to unlock your vocal potential? Grab the Speak with Confidence One-sheet for three easy techniques. Grab a complimentary 15-minute consultation with me. Leave me a voice message. Ready to inject a dose of creativity into your career? Join host Izolda Trakhtenberg on this exhilarating episode of the Creative Solutions Podcast, where we're diving deep into the art of making a career change. But hold on tight, because before you leap into the unknown, we've got a game-changing strategy for you. Discover how to explore interim changes within your current role to create a financial cushion and reignite your creative spark. Plus, we'll walk you through a sample conversation with your boss, making it easy to kickstart the dialogue about infusing more creativity into your job. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation that could transform your career trajectory. Tune in now and unleash your full creative potential! Ready to take the next step in your career journey? Reach out to Izolda Trakhtenberg for personalized guidance and support. Your dream career awaits—let's make it happen together!  Listen to the full episode now on the Creative Solutions Podcast. Don't miss out on your chance to unlock a world of creative possibilities! This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Comedy Meets Cuisine: NYC's Newest Sensation! Special Thursday Episode! Comedian  Rory Lutz and the Organic Grill's Vlad Grinberg are bring the feast and the funny on April 17th. Are you ready for a taste of something truly unique and utterly hilarious? Well, mark your calendars because on April 17th, New York City is about to get a whole lot funnier with the grand debut of the Comedy Kitchen! In this electrifying episode, we dive deep into the culinary comedy extravaganza that's taking the Big Apple by storm. Join me, your host Izolda Trakhtenberg, as we uncover the magic behind this innovative event. Meet Vlad Grinberg, the visionary Manager of Organic Grill, who's spearheading this groundbreaking initiative. Discover how Vlad and his team are transforming Organic Grill into more than just a restaurant – it's becoming a vibrant community hub where laughter and learning collide. But wait, it gets even better! Enter Rory Lutz, the mastermind behind the mic and your hilarious host for the evening. With his infectious energy and interactive comedy style, Rory is guaranteed to keep you laughing till your sides hurt. And he's not alone! Rory has handpicked a stellar lineup of comedians to join him on stage for the inaugural Comedy Kitchen. So, whether you're a foodie craving some delectable delights or a comedy aficionado in search of your next laugh-out-loud fix, the Comedy Kitchen has something for everyone. Tune in to this episode to learn all about the mouthwatering menu, the side-splitting lineup, and how you can snag your tickets to the hottest event in town. Trust me, you won't want to miss this! Learn more!   https://www.theorganicgrill.com/ https://www.tiktok.com/@organicgrill   https://www.instagram.com/funnyvegandude/ https://www.tiktok.com/@funnyvegandude https://www.tiktok.com/@comedykitchenyc   This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Getting Paid: A Special Money Monday Episode with Izolda Trakhtenberg and Eric Henning This episode is brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and her book, Speak From Within. The incredible Eric Henning is here for Money Monday. Second Mondays are your ticket to unraveling the artistic mysteries of getting paid. When should be paid for your art piece or performance? Before the spotlight hits, after the final applause, or are you navigating the net 30 days?  What are the methods clients can pay us? Which ones are the easiest and safest?  How can you seamlessly accept credit cards via your creative sanctuary – your business bank or credit union account? From merchant accounts to PayPal, Square, Stripe, Zëlle, and ACH – we're breaking it down just for you. Learn more about Eric's Money Arts Academy.  Follow Money Arts Academy on Instagram. As a special bonus, Eric is giving a few complimentary 30-minute coaching sessions. If you mention Izolda in your message to him, he'll magically transform it into a 60-minute session. Trust us. You want to grab this deal with both hands. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!**    Support the show with Buy Me a Coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Confidence Redefined: Thriving Beyond Your Background This episode is brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm* and her book on how to become a stellar speaker, Speak From Within. Are you ready to unlock your vocal potential? Grab the Unlock Your Vocal Potential one-sheet for three easy techniques. In this episode of the Creative Solutions Podcast, we're unpacking the journey from struggle to strength, exploring how to cultivate confidence even after facing adversity. Grab a complimentary 15-minute consultation with Izolda. Join your host Izolda Trakhtenberg as she delves into powerful strategies for building self-belief, even when life throws you curveballs. From practicing self-compassion to setting achievable goals, we're breaking down the barriers that hold us back and paving the way for a more confident tomorrow. How do we overcome childhood wounds and past pain to emerge as resilient, confident beings? We explore this and give practical tips, actionable advice, and uplifting mantras to help you along your own confidence journey. So, if you're ready to rewrite your story, embrace your brilliance, and rediscover your inner strength, this episode is for you! Tune in now and let's redefine confidence together. And hey, if you're craving more personalized support on your confidence journey, don't hesitate to reach out! Book a complimentary 15-minute discovery call. Drop us a line and let's start building your confidence from the ground up. You've got this! This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** Manage your stress in just five minutes a day with the Meditation for Busy People class.  Support the show with Buy Me a Coffee. Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |  

Strategies for a Smooth Transition to Your Creative Dream This episode is brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host Podbean*. Ever dreamed of trading in your corporate suit for the vibrant canvas of your creative passions? Join host Izolda Trakhtenberg on this electrifying episode of Creative Solutions as she unveils the secrets to making that leap! From mindset shifts to concrete techniques, we've got you covered. Buckle up for a journey that promises to be both invigorating and enlightening. Izolda takes you through five essential insights, offering practical techniques every step of the way. Picture this as your roadmap to transforming dreams into reality. Are you ready to rewrite your story? Tune in now and let's embark on this exhilarating adventure together! And remember, if you're feeling that creative tug, consider working with a coach. They might just be the wind beneath your wings.  Don't miss out! Hit play and start crafting the life you've always envisioned. Your creative legacy awaits. Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? We'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.    Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.    

Why it was selected for "CBNation Architects": In this episode, the guest speaker is Izolda Trakhtenberg, who is a keynote speaker, author, and host of the Creative Mindset podcast. Key Points: About Izolda Trakhtenberg: Born in Moldova, Izolda learned multiple languages during a year-long immigration process. She is a well-rounded professional, having traveled the world as a NASA trainer. Trakhtenberg now gives keynotes and presents programs which help people unlock and master their leadership, creativity, and communication skills. She is also the author of five books, including "Speak From Within: Engage, Inspire, and Motivate Any Audience". Programs and Services: Izolda's programs are helmed to aid individuals in tapping into their innate leadership potential, sparking creativity, and honing communication skills. CEO Hack: She remains organized and grateful by using a daily journaling practice. CEO Nugget: Her advice to entrepreneurs is to keep the best and let go of the rest, signifying the importance of discernment and adaptability in business. CEO Defined: To Izolda, being a CEO means being of service, highlighting the necessity of empathy and attentiveness in leadership. Check out our CEO Hack Buzz Newsletter--our premium newsletter with hacks and nuggets to level up your organization. Sign up HERE.  I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: http://cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today!   Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/2019/05/31/iam291-keynote-speaker-provides-ideas-and-materials-to-help-spark-creativity-and-innovation/

"The thing you might want to do may not be the thing you need to do in order to start the ball rolling so you can reinvent," says Izolda Trakhtenberg. "What is the thing that you need to actually change?" A former NASA Master Trainer, Trakhtenberg has reinvented herself as an author, educator, and master podcaster. She believes in the power of the Fives Cs: Creativity, Curiosity, Compassion, Confidence, and Communication. Thoughtful and illuminating, this conversation between Trakhtenberg and CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour offers both tangible how-tos and stimulating inspiration on how to make your move into your next chapter. Listen in for her best advice on getting started with podcasting, building a community, and telling your story.   Connect with Izolda: Website Podcast Meditation for Busy People LinkedIn Instagram     Timestamps: 2:30 - How her childhood shapred her future reinvention 9:00 - How she overcame her public speaking fear and developed her vocal persona 14:00 - Reinvention tips for women in their 40s and 50s 19:00 - Podcasting tips, techniques, and success strategies 28:00 - How to be consistent with podcasting and strategies for engagement   Free gift! Grab our new ebook, 5 Days to More Time for You! We've packed it full of our favorite time management hacks to help you conquer your to-do list and create more time for the things that matter most.   Connect with Lesley Jane Seymour & CoveyClub: Website Instagram LinkedIn Join CoveyClub  

The Art of Embracing Vulnerability: Unleashing Your Creative Strength This episode is brought to you by Izolda's class, Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. The episode is also brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Also, grab the speaking warm-up video to prep for any speaking activity. https://izoldaspeaks.com/speakwithconfidence/ Ready to take your creativity to new heights?  Join host Izolda Trakhtenberg on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery and growth in this episode of Creative Solutions! Explore ten profound questions that unlock your artistic essence, learn powerful techniques from legendary creators like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Frida Kahlo, and embrace vulnerability as your strength.  Don't miss this transformative experience! Listen now and subscribe to the Creative Solutions podcast for more inspiration. Izolda's Version of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh Izolda describes this progression of the art piece in the episode. Scroll down to see how the piece develops and grows.   Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? We'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.    Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.      

From Cubicle to Canvas: Navigating the Art of Career Transformation This episode is brought to you by Izolda's class, Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. The episode is also brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Also, grab the speaking warm-up video to prep for any speaking activity. https://izoldaspeaks.com/speakwithconfidence/ In this special Labor Day episode of the Creative Solutions Podcast, join your host, Izolda Trakhtenberg, as we uncover the secrets to loving what you do for a living. We're bringing you six actionable tips that can transform your work life, whether you're looking to infuse creativity into your current job, embark on a new career path, or pursue your creative passions. From cultivating a growth mindset to exploring your organization's creative potential, we've got you covered with practical advice to reignite your professional spark. If you're dreaming of a more fulfilling career, we'll guide you through strategic planning and even taking the leap into your creative calling. And here's the exciting part – if you're craving personalized coaching to bring more creative challenge into your work and life, we're here to help. Reach out to us to start your journey towards a career that truly excites you. Don't miss this episode packed with inspiration and actionable steps. Tune in now, and let's start your creative journey together! Call to Action: Ready to transform your career? Reach out to us for personalized coaching on how to infuse creativity into your work and life. Contact us today to schedule your first coaching session and embark on a fulfilling career path you'll love. Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? We'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.    Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.

Reclaiming Unity: Transforming Fractured Teams into Creative Powerhouses This episode is brought to you by Izolda's class, Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. The episode is also brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Also, grab the speaking warm-up video to prep for any speaking activity. https://izoldaspeaks.com/speakwithconfidence/ Learn more about the Mindful Self-Care Handbook. Is your team hitting sour notes lately? Welcome to another enlightening episode of "Creative Solutions" with your host, Izolda Trakhtenberg. In this week's episode, we're diving headfirst into a challenge that every leader encounters: How to mend a fractured team and transform it into a vibrant, collaborative force. Picture this: A once-unified team, now plagued by tension and jealousy, struggling to find their rhythm. It's a scenario that resonates with all leaders at some point. But fear not, because Izolda has your back. With her expert insights in leadership, team management, psychology, and communication, she's here to equip you with actionable techniques to rebuild trust, reignite innovation, and bridge the gaps that threaten collaboration. Join us as Izolda unravels the reasons behind team fractures, from miscommunication to competition, and shares her treasure trove of solutions. Discover how to foster open communication, celebrate collaboration, set shared goals, nurture a learning culture, and so much more. Each strategy is a gem that can reignite your team's creative fire and bring back the harmony you've been missing. But that's not all – Izolda offers a personalized touch. If you're ready to take your team's cohesion to the next level, she invites you to explore her workshops tailored to your team's unique needs. By tapping into her expertise, you can guide your team from discord to symphony, transforming your workplace into a thriving creative powerhouse. Don't miss out on this episode filled with actionable insights that could reshape your team's future. Tune in to "Creative Solutions" and discover how to transform your fractured team into a united force that thrives on collaboration and innovation. Ready to take the first step? Reach out to me for a workshop that'll lead your team back to its triumphant symphony. Connect with me at IzoldaSpeaks.com. Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? We'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.    Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.

From Good to Unforgettable: Embrace Mindful Storytelling Mastery This episode is brought to you by Izolda's class, Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. The episode is also brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Also, grab the speaking warm-up video to prep for any speaking activity. https://izoldaspeaks.com/speakwithconfidence/ Learn more about the Mindful Self-Care Handbook. Welcome back to the second half of our thrilling two-part episode, where we continue our exploration of the dynamic relationship between mindfulness and public speaking. Your host, Izolda Trakhtenberg, a public speaking and mindfulness expert, is about to reveal the final pieces of the puzzle to take your speaking game to soaring heights. In this part of the episode, we delve into the art of "Storytelling with Impact." Are you ready to captivate your audience, whisking them away on an emotional journey they'll never forget? Discover how mindfulness techniques add depth and power to your stories, making your narrative come alive with vivid imagery and relatable emotions.  Join Izolda in exploring the emotional landscape of your tales. Learn how to map the core emotions within your story and connect with them authentically as you share. Your audience will be drawn into the heart of your narrative, feeling the highs and lows with every word you speak. As you apply mindfulness to your storytelling, you'll notice a transformation in your connection with your audience. You'll embody the characters, settings, and emotions, weaving a tale that resonates deeply with every listener. Remember, your voice is your superpower, and with mindfulness, you can unleash your full potential. So, dive into the world of powerful communication and subscribe to the Creative Solutions podcast to unlock more empowering episodes that nurture your creativity and personal growth. Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? I'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.  Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.  

Step onto the Stage Fearlessly: Transforming Stage Fright with Mindfulness This episode is brought to you by Izolda's class, Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. The episode is also brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Also, grab the speaking warm-up video to prep for any speaking activity. https://izoldaspeaks.com/speakwithconfidence/ Are you ready to discover the hidden gems that can transform you into a captivating speaker? In this episode, we dive deep into the world of public speaking and mindfulness, where you'll unlock the secrets to becoming a confident and effective communicator. Join your host, Izolda Trakhtenberg, a public speaking and mindfulness expert, as she takes you on a journey to elevate your speaking game to the next level. Whether you're a seasoned presenter or just starting, these powerful mindfulness strategies will revolutionize the way you connect with your audience. In the first half of this two-part episode, you'll explore how mindfulness techniques can help you overcome stage fright and embrace those butterflies in your stomach. Izolda introduces you to "The Breath Anchor" technique, a simple yet powerful breathing exercise that will calm your nerves and ground you before stepping onto the stage. But that's not all - your vocal presence is equally vital in captivating your audience. Learn how mindfulness can help you embrace the full potential of your voice with the engaging "Animal Sounds" exercise. Get ready to hum, roar, and connect with your authentic vocal range. Have you ever wondered how your body language impacts your message? Mindfulness allows you to be more aware of your non-verbal cues. Join Izolda in the "Mirror Work" activity to observe and refine your gestures and facial expressions, ensuring your body language reinforces your words powerfully. And as every great speaker knows, storytelling is the heart of effective communication. Discover how mindfulness adds depth and impact to your stories with the "Sensory Detail Visualization" technique. Experience the sights, sounds, and emotions of your narratives, making your storytelling truly captivating. Are you excited to elevate your public speaking skills and create a lasting impression on your audience? This episode is just the beginning! Tune in to the second half, "Part 2: Storytelling with Impact," to continue your transformation journey. Remember, your voice is your power, and with mindfulness, you can amplify that power to make a lasting impact on the world. So, join Izolda in "Unleashing Your Speaking Power" and subscribe to the Creative Solutions podcast for more inspiring episodes to nurture your creativity and personal growth. Listen now and let your speaking journey begin! Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? I'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.  Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.

From Nuisance to Neighbor: Pioneering Solutions for Urban Wildlife Harmony This episode is brought to you by Izolda's class, Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. The episode is also brought to you by Izolda's favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Do you ever wonder how we can coexist with the critters that share our urban landscapes? In today's episode of Creative Solutions, Izolda Trakhtenberg takes us on a journey through the world of critter management, focusing on humane techniques that prioritize the well-being of animals like rats and opossums. In a poignant personal story, Izolda recounts her encounter with a baby rat named Riley, trapped in a sticky glue trap. This encounter highlights the dark side of glue traps, shedding light on their impact on both animals and the environment.  This is Riley Rat with the background art Izolda created just for him.  Throughout the episode, Izolda shares five cruelty-free methods to deal with critters in urban settings. From proper waste management to habitat modification and humane exclusion, she provides practical tips that help us strike a balance between our needs and the needs of these creatures who were here first. And hey, there's more! Today is the last day to register for the Meditation for Busy People class, where you'll receive the free Mindful Self-Care Handbook to support your journey to mindfulness. Plus, a lucky winner from our mailing list will receive a free class registration! So make sure to join our mailing list for a chance to win. Don't miss this inspiring and informative episode of Creative Solutions. Tune in now to learn how to find harmony with urban wildlife and make a positive impact in the world. Let's create a future where compassion guides our actions! Listen now on your favorite podcast platform. Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? I'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.  Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.

Environmental Impact and Inner Harmony: The Veganism-Deforestation Nexus Explored Grab the Breath Break video and be eligible to win the Meditation For Busy People Class. This episode is brought to you by Izolda's upcoming class, Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. The episode is also brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Follow the podcast on Instagram or TikTok and check out our shop for merch, music, and musings. In this episode of Vegan Life Solutions, join host Izolda Trakhtenberg as she delves into the crucial topic of veganism and deforestation. But that's not all! Stick around until the end to discover three super effective stress relief bonuses that will help you find peace in a troubled world. The Weight of the World: As compassionate individuals, we often carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. The awareness of animal suffering and the alarming state of our planet can leave us feeling overwhelmed and unsettled. Join us as we explore how this struggle to find inner peace affects our ability to make a positive impact on the world. Quick and Efficient Stress Relief: Are you looking for simple and accessible ways to manage stress? You're in luck! In this episode, Izolda reveals three incredible techniques that you can practice almost anywhere. These stress relief bonuses will help you find peace amidst the chaos, allowing you to continue your mission of making the world a better place. Join us on this enlightening episode as we explore the crucial connection between veganism and deforestation. By taking care of ourselves and finding inner peace, we become better equipped to create positive change in the world. Let's make this world a kinder, more compassionate place together. Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? I'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset. URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more.  Support the show on Patreon.  Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic |   I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.

Mindfulness: A Pathway to Creative Brilliance This episode is brought to you by Izolda's upcoming class, "Meditation for Busy People. Discover clarity and joy in just five minutes a day." The episode is also brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Follow the podcast on Instagram or TikTok and check out our shop for merch, music, and musings. Ready to download the “Power of Awareness” worksheet? Get it at https://izoldaspeaks.com/getthepowerofawareness/ In this episode of "The Creative Solutions Podcast," host Izolda Trakhtenberg invites you on a journey to unlock the full potential of your creativity by harnessing the power of mindfulness. Here's what you'll learn in this captivating episode: The connection between mindfulness and creativity: Discover how mindfulness practices can enhance your creative thinking, problem-solving abilities, and overall innovation. Practical techniques for daily mindfulness integration: Learn actionable strategies that can be easily incorporated into your busy schedule, including breath awareness, mindful observation, walking meditation, creative journaling, and mindful breaks. Finding inspiration in the present moment: Explore how mindfulness can help you cultivate a keen sense of awareness, enabling you to find inspiration and fresh perspectives in your everyday experiences. Overcoming self-criticism and unlocking your creative flow: Understand how mindfulness can quiet the inner critic, allowing you to tap into your creative potential with confidence and authenticity. The transformative power of "Meditation for Busy People": Discover our sponsor, the upcoming class designed to help you begin a meditation practice and embrace clarity and joy in just five minutes a day. If you're ready to supercharge your creativity, unleash your innovative thinking, and cultivate a mindful approach to problem-solving, this episode is a game-changer. Tune in to "The Creative Solutions Podcast" now and embark on a transformative journey of combining mindfulness and creativity. And don't forget to explore our sponsor, the upcoming class "Meditation for Busy People," where you'll discover the profound benefits of integrating mindfulness into your daily life and work. Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? I'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode)   This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset .* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more. Support the show on Patreon. Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic | I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Creative Solutions Podcast. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.

Mastering the Art of DIY PR: Insights from Small Business PR Expert, Gloria Chou This episode is brought to you by Beach Read Bundle. Buy The Fiddler's Talisman and get the sequel, The Piano's Key for 50% off. The episode is also brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. And if you want to learn how to pitch yourself to podcast so that the hosts can't wait to have you on their show, download my "And My Next Guest Is" guide that shows you how to do it. Follow the podcast on Instagram and check out our shop for merch, music, and musings.   Gloria Chou is back on the show! Gloria is a former U.S. Diplomat turned award-winning small business PR expert. Having hacked her own PR without any agency experience or connections, Gloria created a proven 3-step pitching framework that's helped thousands of bootstrapping entrepreneurs go from unknown to being seen, heard, and valued. She is also the host of the Small Business PR podcast and is proud to support diverse founders with a community of over 90% women of color--owned businesses. Connect with Gloria https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriaychou/ LinkedIn https://learn.gloriachoupr.com/starter PR starter pack www.gloriachoupr.com Website  https://www.instagram.com/gloriachoupr/ Instagram   In this captivating episode of The Creative Solutions Podcast, host Izolda Trakhtenberg explores the transformative power of awareness. Join her as she takes you on a journey of self-discovery and taps into the secrets of unlocking your creative brilliance. Through engaging discussions and practical insights, you'll learn how building your awareness skills leads to remarkable "a-ha!" moments, sharpens your intuition, and opens up new realms of creativity. Discover how mindfulness practices and self-reflection act as catalysts for heightened awareness, empowering you to think outside the box and find innovative solutions to thorny problems. Get ready to embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery and unlock the extraordinary within you.   Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? I'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by my book, Speak From Within. Review what's inside and purchase at https://IzoldaT.com/speak-book. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset .* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more. Support the show on Patreon. Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic | I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Innovative Mindset. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.  

The Art of Noticing: How Awareness Fuels Innovation This episode is brought to you by Beach Read Bundle. Buy The Fiddler's Talisman and get the sequel, The Piano's Key for 50% off. The episode is also brought to you by my favorite productivity and well-being app, Brain.fm*, and this podcast's host, Podbean*. Follow the podcast on Instagram or TikTok and check out our shop for merch, music, and musings. Ready to download the “Power of Awareness” worksheet? Get it at https://izoldaspeaks.com/getthepowerofawareness/ In this captivating episode of The Creative Solutions Podcast, host Izolda Trakhtenberg explores the transformative power of awareness. Join her as she takes you on a journey of self-discovery and taps into the secrets of unlocking your creative brilliance. Through engaging discussions and practical insights, you'll learn how building your awareness skills leads to remarkable "a-ha!" moments, sharpens your intuition, and opens up new realms of creativity. Discover how mindfulness practices and self-reflection act as catalysts for heightened awareness, empowering you to think outside the box and find innovative solutions to thorny problems. Get ready to embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery and unlock the extraordinary within you. Now, building awareness starts with knowing your starting point. Who are you? What are you? How are you? Where are you? When are you? These questions form the foundation of self-reflection and self-discovery. To help you on this journey, I've created a downloadable worksheet that will guide you through these essential questions. You can find the link in the show notes. You can download the “Power of Awareness” worksheet at this link or head to https://izoldaspeaks.com/getthepowerofawareness/ Connect with Izolda Book a Discovery Call Answering a Question? I'd love to hear from you! Leave Me A Voicemail (and yours might get picked to be in an episode) This episode is brought to you by my book, Speak From Within. Review what's inside and purchase at https://IzoldaT.com/speak-book. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset .* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset It's also brought to you by my podcast host, Podbean! I love how simple Podbean is to use. If you've been thinking of starting your own podcast, Podbean is the way to go!** An Ingenious Idea! You can now show your support with Creative Solutions Podcast Merch! Grab the Creative Solutions logo on a bottle, hat, phone case, button, and more. Support the show on Patreon. Support the show. Buy me a coffee. Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: IzoldaT.com Author Website: https://izoldatauthor.com/ Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/IzoldaST Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat Listen on These Channels Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean | MyTuner | iHeart Radio | TuneIn | Deezer | Overcast | PodChaser | Listen Notes | Player FM | Podcast Addict | Podcast Republic | I'm thrilled that you're tuning in to the Innovative Mindset. Get in touch if you have questions or comments. *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission.  

Our guest today is Izolda Trakhtenberg, and expert in communicating in difficult situations and a sought-after speaker, educator, and coach for businesses and organizations looking to thrive. And as you'll learn, while we just met last week, we've run in the same circles for many years.You can learn more about Izolda on her website at www.izoldaspeaks.com. There you can read her blog, access her podcast, The Creative Solutions Podcast, and order one of her books, including the most recent, Speak from Within: How to Engage and Inspire Any Audience Whether You're Talking to One or One Thousand.As always, thank you to Jim Cirillo at jimiumgroup.com for our original music and to Rachel Greenberger for our original art. Please send questions to wtswtgt@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at #wtswtgt.

Izolda Trakhtenberg believes innovation isn't just about the latest fad, it's about creative thinking and mindful, ethical actions. This refreshing approach has made her a sought-after speaker, educator, and coach for creatives and business leaders. For years, Izolda traveled the world as a NASA Master Trainer transforming people's perspectives on planet Earth. She's released four books on communication, collaboration, and self-improvement. Nowadays you'll find her speaking at conferences, looking for the next great ocean beach, or singing for hundreds of people — all while interviewing peak performers on creative leadership, ethical innovation, and mindfulness on her hit podcast, The Innovative Mindset. Social links. IG: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: https://IzoldaT.com Thanks for tuning in! Curious about Hypnotherapy, NLP, CBT and other modalities to help you get unstuck and acieve your truest desires? email me: emma@rapidtransformation.ca or visit emmanuellechasse.com #tarotcards #tarotmeaning #spirituality #mystical #metaphysics #spiritual #awakening #coffeewithsourcepodcast #emmanuellechasse #hypnotherapy #hypnosis #rtt #weightloss #mindset #selfcare #selflove

Author, speaker, and educator Izolda Trakhtenberg discusses creativity and innovation. 

Episode 61 of Strong Enough Podcast brings Izolda Trakhtenberg, a speaker, author, and coach. As a child, Izolda immigrated to the US from the former Soviet Union and experienced life in a war zone and child abuse and trauma. In the US, Izolda poured herself into her career, working at both National Geographic Society and NASA.  During this episode, Izolda shares how her experiences growing up affected her as an adult. She discusses learning to find her own creative genius to beat burnout, and she provides some excellent advice on how all of us can begin to find our own creative genius. Izolda' practical tips will have you ready to live your life with a better work/life balance to avoid burnout and dig deep to discover the creative genius lurking inside of you! #author #immigrant #survivorStrongenoughpod.comStrongenoughpodepisodes.comSocials: @strongenoughpod Guest Information:Izolda TrakhtenbergIzoldaT.com

What does it take to create an authoritative podcast? Innovation and creativity are two of the most critical drivers of success anywhere. And when it comes to podcasting, marrying these two forces can be a recipe for greatness. Creativity is essential for developing original, engaging content that captures listeners' imaginations. On the other hand, innovation is necessary for coming up with new ways to produce and distribute that content and finding ways to stand out in a crowded marketplace. This kind of thinking is precisely what today's guest, Izolda Trakhtenberg, embodies. Izolda believes innovation isn't just about the latest fad. It's about creative thinking and mindfulness, and ethical actions. This refreshing approach has made her a sought-after speaker, educator, and coach for creatives and business leaders. Join Izolda as she discusses the creative and innovative approach to building and growing a podcast.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Binge Factor community today:FacebookInstagramLinkedInPinterestYoutubeTikTok

Izolda Trakhtenberg worked as a NASA Master Trainer for 20 + years and now speaks, coaches and educates at organizations and universities on mindful creativity and innovation.  In this episode, she shares the 3 C's framework (Creativity, Compassion, and Collaboration) to an innovative mindset to help transform your perspective and achieve greater success.Success requires ingenuity by tapping into your creativityCollaboration pushes us forward in our work and in our relationshipsHow curiosity about others makes you more compassionate and a better collaboratorTelling your story how other people need to hear it in their way improves your communication Digging deeper when practicing mindfulness How to fire up the creative part of your brainBooks and information discussed in this episode:Chris Voss :"Never Split the Difference"Tamsen Webster:  "Find Your Red Thread"Izolda Trakhtenberg:  "Speak From Within"  and podcast "The Innovative Mindset"Connect with Izolda:Website:  https://Izoldat.comConnect with Shanenn at Top Self:Website:  https://www.yourtopself.com/Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/yourtopselfFacebook:  https://www.facebook.com/yourtopself/Support the show

Izolda Trakhtenberg believes when art, music, and creativity are shared it enriches all our lives and helps us heal! Izolda comes from a singing culture,  Russian was her first language and now she can sing in twenty.  She got a really good base for languages when she was young!  She's a mythology fan, a podcaster, a performer, a black belt in martial arts, and operates from a beginner's mind!  Better Call Daddy: The Safe Space For Controversy. Izolda Trakhtenberg believes innovation isn't just about the latest fad, it's about creative problem-solving and mindful, ethical actions. This refreshing approach has made her a sought-after speaker, educator, and coach for creatives and business leaders. For years, Izolda traveled the world as a NASA Master Trainer transforming people's perspectives on planet Earth via creative teaching methods. She's released four books on communication and self-improvement. Nowadays you'll find her speaking at conferences, looking for the next great ocean beach, or singing for hundreds of people — all while interviewing peak performers on creative leadership, ethical innovation, and mindfulness on her hit podcast, The Innovative Mindset. (Recently featured in the fourth edition of Podcasting For Dummies). Connect with Izolda http://www.linkedin.com/in/IzoldaT/ http://twitter.com/IzoldaT https://podcast.izoldat.com/ https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ https://www.tiktok.com/@izoldat Connect with Reena bettercalldaddy.com http://linkedin.com/in/reenafriedmanwatts twitter.com/reenareena instagram.com/reenafriedmanwatts reena@bettercalldaddy.com Resources houseofruth.org

There are times when we all get lost for words but what do you do when you have a fear of speaking in public?  What do you do when you muster up the courage to try only to face ridicule, embarrassment, and more pain?  Today's guest has been there and overcome and wants to share tips that you might use to reduce, if not eliminate, that fear.   Guest: Izolda Trakhtenberg believes innovation isn't just about the latest fad.  It's about creative thinking, communication, and mindful actions. This refreshing approach has made her a sought-after speaker, educator, and coach for creatives and business leaders. For years, Izolda traveled the world as a NASA Master Trainer transforming people's perspectives on planet Earth. She's released four books on communication, collaboration, and self-improvement. Nowadays you'll find her speaking at conferences, looking for the next great ocean beach, or singing for hundreds of people — all while interviewing peak performers on creative leadership, ethical innovation, and mindfulness on her hit podcast, The Innovative Mindset.   Discussion Points/Time Stamps: Who is Izolda Trakhtenberg 2:27 The phobia 3:06 The overcoming 6:33 Speaking from within 11:09 Workshop Info 14:40 Helpful Technique 17:09 Another Tip 20:49 The 3 C's 22:49   Contact Information: Website/Phone: com |  917-397-6952 Podcast: The Innovative Mindset Podcast Amazon author page: com/author/izoldat Instagram: Instagram LinkedIn: LinkedIn Facebook: Izolda Trakhtenberg | Facebook   Questions: Email: www.newhorizencoaching.com/contact  OR shillcplc@gmail.com   Tags:  #self-coaching #public speaking #phobia #podcast #growyourvoice

Would your kiddo like to try their hand at being a scientist? On today's episode, we are joined by special guest, NASA Master Trainer Izolda Trakhtenberg, who has taught people aged 3-83 how to be community scientists. We talk to Izolda about all the amazing ways kids can learn about the world through science.  Main takeaways:  Science is one way to encourage kids to spend more time outside So much learning happens when kids are given tangible activities to study their environment Your kids are never too young to learn that they can have a positive impact on the world Learn more about Izolda at Izoldat.com  Community science activities and programs mentioned in this episode: GLOBE, iNaturalist, Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Cloud chart (elementary), Cloud chart (secondary)   Connect with us on Instagram for more tips @getoutsidewithkids

Want to start living in a way that's better for the environment? Lost on how to start your plant-based eating journey?  In this episode of the Live Your Personal Best podcast, I speak with Izolda Trakhtenberg, a proud vegan for 15 years and the host of The Vegan Life podcast.  Listen to this episode as we dive deep into why eating plant-based foods is more ethical than traditional foods. Episode Timeline [3:38] Izolda talks about her roots and why she started her vegan journey [5:40] Izolda revealed the massive effects of shifting to a vegan diet [8:51] Izolda shares her thoughts on why plant-based eating has become more popular, especially nowadays [10:56] Izolda chats about the element of convenience in restaurants and what you should do if there are no vegan options on the menu [14:56] Izolda shares if her attitudes and relationship towards food changed when she started her vegan journey. [18:51] Izolda debunks the most common myths revolving around veganism. [20:01] Izolda describes what she feels when surrounded by people who still consume meat and animal products. [25:15] Izolda shares her advice for those who'd like to start their vegan journey.  Key Takeaways Agriculture, especially animal farming and food production, takes a lot of the resources like energy and gas. The fewer spaces for farms intended for animal production, the more spaces we could have for trees and places where people could stay and live. You've been fed food authorities recommended that might not be best for you. You should take a step back and assess the food recommended by the authorities that you consume. When you start eating vegan, you become more conscious and thoughtful of your food choices. Many people have the stereotype that vegans are smug or arrogant. Vegans are perceived to be like this because they don't want animals to suffer in the animal slaughter system. When you want to start your vegan diet: Go slow and start small. Consult with your doctor if going vegan is right for you. Be aware of how much you're eating and the quality of your food. Consider having a food diary on what you ate and what you felt after you ate them. Quotes “We've been fed a steady diet of what we should eat that may or may not be the best for us.” - Izolda [9:37] “We can be very mindful and very purposeful with our choices if you really keep in mind why you're becoming vegan.” - Izolda [27:32]  Connect with Izolda : Website: https://theveganlife.show  Follow the podcast: https://www.instagram.com/liveyourpb/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 15 with Izolda Trakhtenberg, Host of The Innovative Mindset Podcast. Izolda discusses technology and how it will progress and affect our environment and her time at NASA. For years, Izolda traveled the world as a NASA Master Trainer transforming people's perspectives on our planet through a creative teaching process. She's released four books on communication, collaboration, and self-improvement. You can find her speaking at conferences, looking for the next ocean beach, or singing for hundreds of people – all while interviewing peak performers on creativity, social impact, and changing the world on her hit podcast, The Innovative Mindset. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/IzoldaT/ Instagram: @IzoldaT @InnovativeMindsetPodcast Facebook: facebook.com/IzoldaTSpeaker Twitter: twitter.com/IzoldaT Podcast: Podcast.IzoldaT.com Listen to Hays Division with Clyde Hays on all of your Podcast Networks: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/28ThPkuvpdab8tWsAdmVIw Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hays-division/id1547939099?uo=4 Google Play: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80NmZmMTdkNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpSBVBeIugH6YcNEFlBa_8w Find Clyde and Hays Division on Social: https://twitter.com/ClydeLHays https://twitter.com/HaysDivision https://www.instagram.com/haysdivision https://www.instagram.com/clydelhays https://www.facebook.com/haysclyde https://www.facebook.com/haysdivision1 “Support this podcast with a Monthly Donation. Funds go to Coffee, Alcohol, Cigars and Tech. Each Month Clyde pulls a name from the donors and sends a special box of Hays Clan Gifts.” https://anchor.fm/clydehays/support --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/clydehays/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/clydehays/support

Why are so many people deciding to leave the work force? It's being called The Great Resignation... What is pushing so many of us to rethink our career choices and lifestyles? Id the pandemic to blame or to thank for this conscious awakening? What are we fed up of? How will this shift in the way we work impact our world and generations to come? My special guest & I today will dive into this topic. Who is Izolda? Izolda Trakhtenberg believes innovation isn't just about the latest fad, it's about creative thinking and mindful, ethical actions. This refreshing approach has made her a sought-after speaker, educator, and coach for creatives and business leaders. For years, Izolda traveled the world as a NASA Master Trainer transforming people's perspectives on planet Earth. She's released four books on communication, collaboration, and self-improvement. Nowadays you'll find her speaking at conferences, looking for the next great ocean beach, or singing for hundreds of people — all while interviewing peak performers on creative leadership, ethical innovation, and mindfulness on her hit podcast, The Innovative Mindset. Social links. IG: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Izoldat LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ Website: https://IzoldaT.com Thanks for tuning in! If you would like to suggest a topic for a show, please email me: emma@rapidtransformation.ca #consciousness #spirituality #wellness #mentalhealth #coffeewithsourcepodcast #greatresignation #digitalnomad #purpose #clarity #selfcare #selflove #travel #mindfulness #meditation #spiritualawakening #heartcentered #clarity

Four Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Podcasters embark on a process of creative discovery. Join them. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial and 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset .* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset Every Tuesday, for the next 12 weeks join artists Alan Fessenden, Megan Vasiles, Sergio Giovanni, and yours truly, Izolda Trakhtenberg on a creative journey. Together, we are working our way through the tasks, exercises, and ideas in Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way**. If you want to join us and go through the book, buy your copy (or get it from the library), and embark on the voyage of discovery. Connections Alan on Instagram Sergio on Facebook Megan on Facebook   *Affiliate link. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. **Amazon affiliate link

Writer, storyteller and podcaster Izolda Trakhtenberg discusses how tarot cards can be used to build intuition, imagination, and storytelling skills. The Practical Tarot deck she created has been praised as a terrific tool to unlock intuition, help with focus, and improve personal growth. 

Wildlife photographer, conservationist, and Safari Girl Lisa Roberti on conservation, photography, and how to plan your best safari This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. I've used these techniques to get featured in magazines, newspapers, and podcasts. They work! https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4 Lisa Roberti, the Safari Girl, has been traveling to wildlife-rich areas around the world for over 27 years. While not a professional photographer, her goal is to use her photographs and experiences about her travels to encourage others to travel so that together, we can preserve the wild places for generations to come. Lisa has a wildlife-themed online store, is currently writing her first book, "Safari Tales" and has a self-study course on how to plan your safari to get the trip of a lifetime. Connect with Lisa Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisamroberti/ See some of Lisa's amazing photos below.         Episode transcript [00:00:00] Lisa Roberti: How often do we just stop and breathe and just be in the moment and play watching lion Cubs playing it. It's just fascinating. They're just, they're totally in the moment. Just like children. [00:00:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:38] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do some of my deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word, and now let's get to the show.[00:01:00] [00:01:02] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I am super happy that you're here and I'm also incredibly honored and thrilled and happy to share with you. This week's guest. She is fabulous. Lisa birdie, the safari girl has been traveling to wildlife rich areas around the world for over 27 years while not a professional photographer. [00:01:24] Her goal is to use her photographs and experiences about her travels to encourage others to travel so that together we can preserve the wild places for generations to come. Lisa has a wildlife themed online store and is currently writing her first book called safari tales. I can't wait to read it. She also has a self study course on how to plan your safari to get the trip of a lifetime. [00:01:44] Lisa, I'm so grateful that you're here. Thanks so much for being. [00:01:48] Lisa Roberti: Izolda thank you so much for having me. It's such an honor to be on your show. Thank you. [00:01:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm first of all, I, I love ever since somebody gave me, [00:02:00] uh, my parents gave me a codec extra one for my 12th birthday. I have been an avid photographer and I love taking all sorts of photos. [00:02:08] And I'm wondering for you what got you started in photography and, and having photography be your way of getting the message out your message out and the message for animals and the natural model places. [00:02:23] Lisa Roberti: So when I was really young, I was about fifth grade. I've always had a passion for animals. I've always loved animals. [00:02:30] And the camera was just a way to get closer, to like really watch and see and look at there, look at behavior and then also to share it with people. You know, you see, you could tell stories, but they say a picture's worth a thousand words and video also. Um, and it's just, it was just really my way to get closer and to experience. [00:02:54] And remember with detail, everything that I got to experience with [00:02:58] Izolda Trakhtenberg: animals. That's so [00:03:00] amazing. I love that you said that it was a way to experience the animals and, and yet there's this wonderful, uh, sort of quote or meme that says take only photographs, leave only footprints. So the experience doesn't sound like it is diminished at all. [00:03:16] If you don't have any other contact with the animals other than being the photographer. [00:03:22] Lisa Roberti: Oh, I'm so glad you said that, um, wildlife photographers can, can really get a bad name. There's so many out there that. Their main goal is the photograph. Whereas my main goal is the two record to witness and record natural behaviors of the animals. [00:03:46] Um, you see a lot of photographers out there not, and I'm glad to say it's not the majority, but there's a few that they will really harass the animal in order to get quote unquote, the picture. They want to get a [00:04:00] reaction. They want to get whatever. And to me, that's, um, that's just harassment and it's not good clean wildlife photography. [00:04:08] I am there to witness and report. I'm there to see natural behavior. Like what is their life without humans in the way. And to me, that is, what's so beautiful and there's so much to learn from animals, um, and, and watching their behavior and just in, in, in watching them interact with, with other species and within their own species. [00:04:30] It's, it's just, it's amazing [00:04:32] Izolda Trakhtenberg: to watch it. Well, I appreciate you saying that. And that brings me to a question. What have you learned? You say there's so much to learn. I agree with you. I'm I'm sort of, I feel a little bit like I'm going to be like, yes, yes, yes. This whole, this whole chat. And yet you've, you've got obviously a lot more experience than I do photographing wildlife in the wild. [00:04:56] What, what has been the biggest lesson that you've [00:05:00] learned from observing and from having those experiences with animals in the wild? [00:05:07] Lisa Roberti: So I, the biggest experience that's, that's a hard one. I would say that. For me, observing them, you see that they all have personalities. Like we, we tend to put them in a bubble, right? [00:05:22] This is lion behavior. This is elephant behavior. This is, you know, but each animal has its own unique personality and they all have stories. I've been privileged to go back to the same locations, time and time again, where I've been able to see the animals and watch them grow up, if you will, and, and know them by their human, you know, English names. [00:05:44] And, um, and it's just, it's just fascinating to see them have their own personalities living in the moment. Um, you see the tenderness, you see the fierceness, you see them, [00:06:00] um, just being raw and it's, it's such a reminder. We w in our lives as human beings, we're, you know, we have the cell phone being in and we have so much going on and. [00:06:11] How often do we just stop and breathe and just be in the moment and play, or, you know, watching lion Cubs playing it. It's just, it's just fascinating. They're just, they're totally in the moment, just like children, like they don't have the, the phones being, they don't, they don't have the responsibilities to worry about. [00:06:32] And I think as we grow up and as we adults, we lose that and watching animals, I'm just watching them in their natural environments and, and seeing their, their triumphs and their, their failures and, and it, yeah, it's just, it's hard to put into words. I hope I didn't okay. A job there. [00:06:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: No, you did great. It's it is interesting to me that there are times there was a, I don't know [00:07:00] if you remember the movie, a fish called. [00:07:03] Did you ever see that movie with John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Klein. Did you ever see that movie? I do not. I have. Nope, no worries. No worries. Eh, th th the movie itself is it is wonderful, fabulous. Kevin Klein won the Oscar, and there was a sort of a, kind of a sequel using the same actors. Uh, they did another movie and it was called fierce creatures, and it was about a zoo. [00:07:27] And this, uh, this woman came in to sort of make the zoo more efficient and. Uh, she had, there was a gorilla at the zoo and she had this incredible experience of just seeing the gorilla as another being on the planet and, and the, the people who are in the Zuora desperately trying to save the zoo, which was, uh, supposed to be a very sort of humanitarians or whatever, whatever, but they, they looked at each other and they went, ah, she's gotten it. [00:07:56] She understands now that that is something she didn't know before that she couldn't [00:08:00] have known before she had that experience of, of connection. And so that makes me think of what you were talking about. That it's hard to explain that connective moment between us seeing animals in the wild and understanding. [00:08:17] Their inherent value. And I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on how we could increase those experiences or, or make them more accessible to people so that more people understand the inherent value of, of the other beings. We share the planet with [00:08:37] Lisa Roberti: that. Yeah. And that's exactly what, um, my mission is I after COVID, so I've been, you know, traveling to Africa and taking photographs, um, for 20 something years, 27 years. [00:08:51] And I, and I really haven't done anything with them. And after COVID happened and tourism got shut down, um, W w [00:09:00] became aware of all of the problems in the wild places, um, how much poaching increased, how much the land grabbing was happening, um, and how we were losing more and more wild places because without tourism, the value of the land to the locals went down. [00:09:22] Tourism brings jobs to the local, um, people, um, they have jobs and lodges, they have shops, they have mechanics, they have Rangers, they have, and, and, and the, the tourism money also pays for Rangers. So there was a lot more poaching and there was a lot more, um, um, like I said, human wildlife conflict because the value had gone down to the local people. [00:09:46] Um, it wasn't bringing in money anymore. And so as. Uh, safari goers, a person who loves to go to wild places and loves to be with the animals. Um, I've decided [00:10:00] to, I'm using now my photographs and my stories to try and get people, to see how amazing it is to go, whether it's Africa or somewhere closer to home, to these wild places to support them. [00:10:14] Um, it, it has to be sustainable. I mean, we don't want to like destroy them with, with. Thousands and thousands of tourists, it has to be a sustainable practice, but people, tourism brings value to the land and it brings value to the people that are living around these beautiful wild places. And so I've actually, um, I'm actually working right now on a interactive guide to help people plan their safaris. [00:10:42] And, um, and, and, and the reason I'm doing that again is I'm really hoping that if people want to go on safari and they, they can plan a safari that meets their expectations and they go, and they love it in there. They're just so enthralled by it. And they're going to come home and they're going to tell other [00:11:00] people, and that way we can really preserve wild places and preserve the value for everybody. [00:11:09] Um, I can't even imagine a world where there's no wild elephants or wild lions, and we're getting there. We're really getting there. These animals are disappearing at unknown. I mean, just such fast, such as fast space. And I tell everybody, I talked to him like, if you really want to see wild animals in the wild, you have to go and you have to go now. [00:11:34] And the more people I believe, the more people who go and get to experience that amazing, like seeing what it really is like seeing life, how it is for these creatures, that they will gain value and people will understand the incredible value they have on them, the planet, the world, everything. And [00:12:00] I think, you know, there's a lot of really great, um, places out there that are doing a great job. [00:12:05] I mean, there's so many TV channels that you can find beautiful documentaries about these beautiful Sentium beings. And so you can, you can get it, you it's there and people are, are beginning to see it. And there's so much more, um, you know, there's so much more activity going on to save these animals now, which is, which is fabulous. [00:12:29] But me personally, I think actually being there in person is so different than watching it on your TV screen. It's just smelling the smells and hearing the sounds and seeing these creatures and watching their lives unfold before your eyes. It's just, you've been, you know, it's just an experience that stays with you and, and gets into your soul [00:12:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: for life. [00:12:59] I'm taking all [00:13:00] of that in for a second. Yes. Yes. See that's this is me going. Yes. Yes. Lisa, keep going. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. It, you know, it's fascinating. I remember when I w when I was in South Africa, And we went, we went on a photo safari and we were in this little mini van and we pulled into this little, it, it was almost like a natural driveway. [00:13:24] It was this little natural sort of bordered, uh, drive in if you will, where I guess they took people a lot. And there was a, there were a couple of prides of lions hanging out. And first of all, I found out male lines kind of lazy that's for sure. But, but what was really interesting and, and I'm going to, I have a question in here somewhere, but it was really interesting to see what the lionesses did. [00:13:49] They started walking around our little van, just circling around it and circling around it. And one of them went and laid down behind the [00:14:00] little minivan and there was no way for us to leave and we were all going. And they're thinking you have got to run out of gas sometime, you know, and it was really interesting because we, you know, and the, and our driver was like, it's going to be fine. [00:14:12] She'll move. Everything will be fine. And it, and of course it was, but what it did for me is it really made me go, I am in a different place now and agave me this wonderful moment of awareness of my role. You know what I mean? Because, because I am not the king of the jungle, you know, people are not the Kings of the Jew. [00:14:36] This was very, it was very, eye-opening like, oh yeah, there a, it's sort of like a plate, your place in the universe kind of situation. So I'm wondering when you are out on safari and you're having these incredible experiences, how do you feel? You've said that they're magnificent and amazing, but how do you feel when you are there in that moment, observing and photographing these [00:15:00] incredible beings? [00:15:02] Oh, gosh, [00:15:03] Lisa Roberti: I've had so many incredible experiences. I've seen births, I've seen animals take their first steps. I have seen animals fighting for their lives. I've seen so many things and, and it's every, every moment is just, um, a moment of, of wonder and awe. And, you know, you would think I've been, I I've spent over 40 weeks just in, just in Africa, in Safin, wildlife, rich areas in Africa, plus, you know, all over other places around the world and it I'm still in awe, I'm still in wonder. [00:15:40] Um, I could, you know, I don't get bored and you see different things all the time. You see. Yeah, [00:15:49] Izolda Trakhtenberg: you just, [00:15:51] Lisa Roberti: I feel like I feel so special to be able to witness the, these [00:16:00] lives, you know, to, to actually to be there, to, to see what's happening. I've cried, tears of joy and tears of sorrow. I I've, you know, I've and I'm not going to say I've seen, you've never seen it all right in nature, but I I've just, I've seen so many things and, and, and, you know, even watching, uh, like you said, a PRI a coalition of male lions laying under a tree in the shade, sleeping. [00:16:25] And even that even just, just watching them breathing. I know it sounds crazy, but it's just this, this huge thousand pound animal lane right there, like 10 feet away from you while you're safely in your vehicle. [00:16:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That's just [00:16:45] Lisa Roberti: life for them. And, and you wonder you, like what, what does he dream about? What does he think about, you know, and it's crazy, but [00:16:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: it's, it's [00:16:56] Lisa Roberti: just, it's just amazing. [00:16:57] And, and then when you see, [00:17:00] like, when you see, um, and I don't want to get into the sad stories, but I witnessed something that was incredibly sad. We had been following a very young lion Cub, um, and his pride for days and days and days. And then I witnessed him being killed by a herd of Buffalo. And you see the mother lioness and I mean, there was. [00:17:26] It was a herd of probably a thousand Buffalo. And this lioness was trying so hard to get to her Cub. And the Cub was just too, too small. It couldn't run away in time and to watch this lioness and trying to get in there and trying to, to protect her Cub and, and watching [00:17:46] Izolda Trakhtenberg: this, this defense's [00:17:47] Lisa Roberti: little creature being killed and it's, you know, and it's, it's nature and it's sad and I'm crying. [00:17:53] I'm bawling my eyes out. I couldn't even take pictures because it was like, this was one of my earlier trips and I'm [00:18:00] like, I, I just couldn't do it. And then, and then after finally, you know, the herd of Buffalo finally scattered and the fi the mom lioness, she kept searching and searching and searching for her Cub. [00:18:14] And she finally found the lifeless body. And it, and again, I don't need to get into a sad story, but it's, it's part of [00:18:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: seeing. That [00:18:24] Lisa Roberti: these animals, and this is probably going to raise a lot of people's hair on the back of their necks. They have emotions, they care. She th the looks on her face, her behavior when she found her dead Cub, it, it was heartbreaking. [00:18:41] It was, um, and, and just to witness that and to see the lives of these animals. And again, this was all nature. It wasn't human impacted at all. And to see that, that the vulnerabilities they have, and then to witness the other side though, too, like I've seen [00:19:00] animals being born. I've seen animals taking their first stops, and it's just, [00:19:06] Izolda Trakhtenberg: it, it it's so [00:19:07] Lisa Roberti: incredible. [00:19:08] I don't even remember what your question was on a tangent, but it, and I'm just so into the moment. And it's just, it's an experience that goes into your soul, that. That stays with you forever. And even if it's just, like I said, lion, sleeping under a treat shade tree or witnessing something so intense like that or witnessing, I know everybody wants to see a, uh, see a kill or a hunt or whatever. [00:19:38] And, um, it doesn't have to be that intense. It's just every part of their lives. You see how every moment it's a life and death moment for these beings. And, you know, as humans, we should say, as humans in America, most of us don't live that way. I know there are some times where, where there is, but, you know, [00:20:00] we, we live sheltered lives. [00:20:01] We don't, we, or I should say I, because I know there are people on the planet, humans on the planet, and especially right now that are fighting for their lives, but there's so many of us that, um, you know, we get up, we go to work, we go to the grocery store and we don't think about life and death. And, and when you're there and you're witnessing it and you're seeing these animals of prey and the predators fighting every moment of their lives for survival, but also having empathy, um, seeing elephants grieving over a lost one and just put morning skulls of long lost elephants that they probably didn't even know. [00:20:44] I mean, there's so many levels of, there's so much [00:20:47] Izolda Trakhtenberg: depth to it, to every [00:20:50] Lisa Roberti: being and you have to see it, I think to really appreciate [00:20:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: it. [00:20:59] [00:21:00] Thank you for sharing all of that. Wow. Wow. And yes, you shared a sad story, but it was such a profound one and it's, and it's true. I mean, even just looking at my domestic kitties at home, they have emotions. Obviously they have emotions, they are thinking and feeling beings and, and there's no doubt in my mind that every animal has that same level of, of sentients the thing that I, the thing that I personally struggle with is how, how do we raise that? [00:21:37] I know you said. Uh, and by that, by that, I mean, awareness, I know you said you have to experience it, but, but let's, let's face it. Most of us here in the USA, at least, uh, aren't going to go on safari. I, it would be cool if we could, but what else, what innovative ways could we experience this kind of connection that [00:22:00] you're talking about or close to it? [00:22:02] The park go, you know, [00:22:06] Lisa Roberti: watch your animals, watch your pets. Like you said, it all that like, even a lot of people have pets, but a lot of people don't really see their pets. They don't really see, like we are their life. We are their entire life. Like when you leave and you come back and look so excited to see. [00:22:30] You know, it's because we have every, you know, we have phone calls to people and we have all these other things and these and the animals, they just have us. And some people, sometimes we forget that and you can just look at your, your kid or your dog, or go to the park and, and, and just observe, um, birds even. [00:22:51] Um, or if you're lucky enough to live somewhere where there's Fox or, um, some other type of, of wildlife that you can safely [00:23:00] observe. Um, birds are probably the easiest and suburbia. Um, but you could just, I have a bird feeder, and again, that might raise a hair on some people's necks thinking that, you know, some people think that bird feeders are bad, but I have a bird feed of her right outside of my office. [00:23:17] And it's fascinating to watch the behavior at the feeder. And you just can learn so much about. Um, and I can't pick out individual birds. I mean, I know species and stuff, but like, I, I, you know, I wouldn't know, oh, this is the one that was here yesterday. I can't do that. But like watching, just, just watching them and taking a moment to stop all the noise and just breathe and take in nature just really puts you in a different space. [00:23:48] It, it, it brings you peace. It brings you like stopping for a moment, like stop and smell the roses, right. Just stop and be in nature. And you can do [00:24:00] that any almost anywhere in the world. And again, there's a lot of places you can, but you know, in, in the United States, especially, I mean, even, even big cities have parks, [00:24:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: you know, and you could go to the park, [00:24:14] Lisa Roberti: you know, if you ha if you have, if you're lucky enough to have a backyard, You know, just sit in your backyard and just take a few moments to breathe, to hear, to listen, to smell, you know, listening to the birds, listening to the, the cicadas right now. [00:24:33] But it is it just, it really, if you just breathe it in and take a moment [00:24:39] Izolda Trakhtenberg: to just be, [00:24:42] Lisa Roberti: and forget about all the noise around you, meaning human noise, like meaning like all your to-do list and everything you have to do, and just, [00:24:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: just enjoy the beautiful beauty of mother nature.[00:25:00] [00:25:02] Yes. See again. Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah. I, you know, it's funny. I talked to my clients about that when I, when I'm doing coaching, we talk a lot about going for walks. That's a big one, go for walks and don't just look down. Look up. See what else is there? Say hello to the trees, all of those sorts of things. [00:25:21] Yes. It's C were, were, were mutual admiration society lease. I like that. Um, so, so all of that is, is really good. As far as bringing awareness, how do we bring awareness? And it can start small. I agree with you. Go outside, breathe. Look up, look at, look at the critters. Look at the plans. Look at the trees. [00:25:43] Spend some time in nature when we don't anymore. So many of us, I think we pass the tipping point relatively recently, where more of us live in urban areas than live in non-urban areas all over the planet, which is amazing. Cause that's a lot of planet. And so the question that I have for you is [00:26:00] going out for a walk is great. [00:26:02] Build a, starting to build that awareness is terrific. If I am at that place, if I've gone for my walks and I've figured out that this is something I want more of. What happens I noticed with people is that they go, oh, this is cool. I want more. So what's the next step for someone who wants in, in your, in your opinion, since you spent so much time traveling to these wild places, what's the next step for someone who's like, okay, I've got this awareness and now I want to do something else. [00:26:30] They may not have a lot of money, but, but something, what would you suggest someone do if they want to increase that connection? Okay. [00:26:41] Lisa Roberti: So the, so there's, there's a two part answer here. Um, if they want to do it too, for, for their own, for their own enjoyment, um, They're in most places again, around the United States, um, S you know, you could take a Saturday [00:27:00] afternoon and do some, do some, just Google homework about beautiful, um, bigger parks that are around or hiking areas that are around with, within a, you know, take a day trip or half a day trip. [00:27:13] Um, I live, I live in the cornfields and I haven't even seen a squirrel. I've lived here for two years and I've never even seen a squirrel. Um, but within, you know, a couple hour drive, I can get, um, to some, some beautiful areas and, and, and hike, and that doesn't cost any money or, or very little money. If there might be an interest entrance fee for the, for the park, of course, in the United States, we have some beautiful, um, national parks that, uh, people can go to. [00:27:44] And that, you know, if it, if it requires traveling and hotel stays, of course, that's going to add, um, Uh, an expense, but there's a lot of things you can do that, that don't. And that's the one part that's part, one of how do you get enjoyment out of it? Part [00:28:00] two, um, to learn more in everything is to start getting involved, um, and, and be aware of laws that are coming into play, um, that protect animals, um, even, you know, on cold rainy, you know, when, when, when winter comes and it's dark at four o'clock in the afternoon, there's great. [00:28:24] Documentaries about animals and wild places and that you can watch and immerse yourself that way. Um, there's a website that I would love to share. It's called explore.org, where they have live cams from all over the world and you can't, and, and it's not only wildlife. They even have like, um, where they're breeding puppies, um, for service dogs. [00:28:50] And you can see the puppies being bred for service dogs. And it's an amazing, um, non-for-profit, that's trying to help people connect [00:29:00] that, that can't maybe go to Africa or Alaska or Costa Rica, or, you know, any of these beautiful places. Um, and it's, and you can get, you can get lost and you can see it. And, um, and it's, it's amazing, but I, I would say the more you can get outside, just even around your house, Um, the more connected you you'll feel and the more at peace [00:29:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: to absolutely. [00:29:29] And, you know, it's interesting during COVID times, that was one of the things that saved me was being able to step outside because you do go a little stir crazy when you're, when you're stuck in doors. So, and it doesn't have to be around a lot of people, if you can just go for a solo walk or something like that is amazing. [00:29:47] And, and yet there's, there's so much awareness we can build and so much appreciation we can build. And now, honestly, I want to go to the next step. [00:30:00] So let's say. You've gotten you've you've you've watched all the documentaries. You've read books. You've done. Let's say you want to go on a safari. What is a safari? [00:30:11] What? I know what I did. We went on a day trip, but I was there for work for NASA. So I wasn't on a safari. We just went on a day trip to see lions and hyenas and zebras. So it wasn't quite the same. But what, when someone says a safari, what are they saying? And how, how does one do that? What do you do to go on safari? [00:30:31] And what is it? [00:30:33] Lisa Roberti: So great question. Um, usually people talk about safaris in terms of Africa. Um, you can go to wildlife, rich places, anywhere in the world. Alaska happens to be one of my favorite places, but when people talk about safari, it's usually going to one of nine to 11 countries in Africa, and I've been to seven, um, safari rich, uh, places in Africa. [00:30:57] And I think people would be really surprised to [00:31:00] understand the amount of diversity of things that you can do when you go to Africa. Because a lot of people, and even my sister, I took her on safari and now she is absolutely hooked. She was like, you know, I think it might be boring just to drive around and look at animals. [00:31:16] And then she went and she can't get an off now she's this is. She's leaving in a couple of weeks for her third safari, but you can, um, you can do so. First of all, there's cultural. So you can do cultural visits and learn about the, the, the cultures. You can do conservation, where you learn about human wildlife conflict, and what's being done to help prevent that you can, um, do traditional safari would be where you're in a vehicle and you're driving around and you're stopping. [00:31:47] And you're looking at animals and watching behavior. You can do walking safaris, you can do balloon safaris. You can do horseback safaris. You can do, you can go on in some places. [00:32:00] You can go on ATVs. You can go fishing. You can like if you go to east Africa, you can. Part safari park beach, you can do. Um, whale-watching um, if you're in Southern Africa, you can tie a safari with wineries and, and wine businesses and Cape town. [00:32:18] Um, so I think there's, there's such a diversity of things that you can actually do on safari. And that's actually why I created this, this planner that I've created. I, and it's to help people realize all the opportunities and help them kind of narrow down what they actually really want on safari. The other thing too, is there's so many different places to go and so many different seasons. [00:32:43] And what do you really want to see, um, as far from, as far as animal life, because if you really want to see a rhino, there's certain places you can go where your opportunity is much greater to see a rhino. Then if you go to other places, um, and of course it's nature. So you're never guarantee. [00:33:00] Any citing, but, um, there's places where you can go where you really raise the, the opportunity or the possibility of seeing what, what you want to see. [00:33:10] And so I created this, this planner to kind of talk about all these different things. And, and also the other thing is a lot of people, you know, have a four seasons dream, but they have a best Western budget. And what do you do if, if you have that, if you're upside down and what you really want to do and what you can afford and, and how do you then not be disappointed. [00:33:33] And, um, so just things like that, you know, I, I discussed that. And then what if you have mobility issues or special eating requirements, um, how do you get around that? And then also just right now, traveling during COVID, I I've been on safari multiple times throughout COVID, I've been to Africa, um, Alaska and other places, and it's doable. [00:33:57] It's challenging and you need to know what to look for [00:34:00] to make sure you can navigate through and that you don't get stuck somewhere because you don't have the right tests or you don't have the right documentation. Um, so there's, there's actually a lot to go into it, but it's fun planning. The safari should be exciting and fun and something to look forward to. [00:34:20] Um, it's, it's part of the journey. Obviously the best part is actually being there, but it's part of the journey of, of, of getting to live your dream. I remember I had always dreamed of seeing animals in the wild, like, you know, went to the zoos and everything and I thought, oh my God, how amazing would it be? [00:34:41] And when I first started planning my first safari, it was. Oh, God, it was like the dream finally coming true. And it was so exciting to look at all the different opportunities and to see all the different ideas and the things that you could do. And, um, yeah, so that's, and then, and [00:35:00] then finding reputable companies, um, to work with, um, there, I've heard a lot of disaster stories of people, um, and it's, it's easy when you know what to look for. [00:35:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Cool. I want to go on his Fari again. That's cool. Yeah. You know, and it, it is so interesting to me. I love, I love Alaska also. I've been, and it's, it's in many ways. It's like, uh, it's just, uh it's so it's so different than anywhere else I've ever been. And so when I'm looking at this, when I'm thinking about, oh, I want to plan my safari and I want to go travel and I want to see wild places. [00:35:43] How do we do. Consciously, how do we, what, what, what do we need to do to, like I said, you know, take only photographs, leave, leave only footprints. I guess that's like an eco-tourism thing. What are your thoughts on that? What innovative ways could we, as people who [00:36:00] want to go on safari to, to, to commune with nature and to be, and observe these animals and nature, wherever we're, wherever we go, how do we do it? [00:36:11] Responsibly? [00:36:13] Lisa Roberti: Great, great question. And. That all ties into the company and the lodges. Um, there are a lot, there's a lot of choices out there when you go on safari. I, I just, um, picked up, uh, like a safari magazine and it's just pages and pages and pages of advertisements for different companies and different lodges and different everything. [00:36:40] And with the internet, now you can really do a lot of research and find the, the lodges that are eco-friendly, um, that are doing the right thing. Um, you can like there's, there's conservancies out there where they really limit the number of [00:37:00] people to make sure that there's, that there's not so many, um, people in a, in a small area so that the wild places are staying. [00:37:11] Christine. And, um, you can do that. There's, there's a lot of mass tourism, um, places. And then there's the, the eco-friendly places. And one thing that, um, most of these countries in Africa I've done actually better than first rule countries is most of them now have outlawed single use plastic and things like United States is not even talking about doing that. [00:37:36] Right. And, um, so just even supporting these countries and, and, and what they're doing is, is a big, is a big step, but yes, there are eco-friendly lodges that, um, where you, where you go in, or you can, like I said, you can do the research and they tell you about all the steps that they're doing to recycle, reuse, [00:38:00] um, the, the water systems. [00:38:02] They have the purification systems. They have to make, um, the least amount of impact on the land. As possible and those types of places, um, they're becoming more and more and more. It used to be few and far between, but now that people are becoming more aware of the environment, um, they, that's a big selling point for a lot of these places. [00:38:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I it's [00:38:30] Lisa Roberti: also, sorry, also, I'm sorry. It's also your, um, like if you do decide to go travel with a group or you decide to go on your own, who, the, the company that you book with, whether you book direct through lodges or you book through, um, uh, Africa specialist, those there's different levels there too, where some of them are more concerned about that. [00:38:54] And then others are more concerned about just pushing lots of people through. And again, you, you can tell. [00:39:00] If you're in, if you're familiar with eco-friendly, anything as you're, as you're reviewing and previewing, you can see, um, what they're doing, um, for eco eco-friendly they'll they'll offer carbon offset. [00:39:16] Um, I know even United airlines is doing carbon offset now. Um, they will, um, yeah. And they'll talk about it because that's a big point for a lot of people. So it's, it's out there. It's a little bit harder to find it's becoming easier and easier to find. Um, but even like I said, these countries even stopping single use plastic, you know, they're, they're, they're, they are trying really hard to preserve and make their countries more beautiful and pristine. [00:39:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, that makes me so happy to hear that. It really does. I mean, I, I, cause I worry about [00:40:00] that. Not, not, not, I, you know, I'm not, I'm not trying to insult any, any developing nations or anything like that, but I want to be sure as, as you know, as a vegan, as someone who's, who tries to be very eco-conscious, I want to again, leave the smallest footprint possible. [00:40:18] So, so that's something that we we can do is we can look for these eco-friendly and, uh, environmentally conscious places to stay or trips to take. And I think that that's amazing. So if I what's the number one piece of advice you have for someone going, what, what's the thing that they absolutely either need to know or need to do. [00:40:44] Lisa Roberti: I think they need. I think the biggest thing that I've, I've seen and heard is for them to really understand what they want. What do you really want out of the safari? [00:41:00] What is your dream? What are you when you close your eyes? And you're like, I want to go on safari. I can't wait to go on safari. What does that look like? [00:41:09] And then making sure that what you book matches that or exceeds. Um, and that's where booking with somebody with a lot of Africa experience is critical because you may have these beautiful visions in your mind. Like you, you want, uh, uh, responsible tourism, you, you want minimal impact. Can you imagine if that was what your goal and ideal was? [00:41:38] And then you get there and you're in a lodge, that's got 200 rooms and it's just waste everywhere. Like that would be devastating to you. So really understanding what it is that is important to you, what your dream is, and then making sure that your booking [00:42:00] matches that and exceeds that so that when you go it's everything you've dreamed about and so much more and so much. [00:42:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. And I have a tough question for you right now, because that part was great. The part that I'm, that I get concerned about is what we can do. Some, some of the practices that I have read about and, and, and heard about are abusive to the wildlife and, you know, and, and sort of tourists, you know, like elephants painting or, or, you know, or any, they can't, that, that, that can't be real. [00:42:42] That can't be something that is, that is the elephant. When you know what I'm going to grab a paintbrush and I'm going to paint a cat. I cannot imagine that that's something they elephant decided that she wanted to do. So. So how do we, is it, do we vote with our dollars? How do we, how do we [00:43:00] avoid practices that could be abusive to the, to the very animals we want to see and protect. [00:43:07] Lisa Roberti: Awesome. Question. Thank you so much for bringing this up because this is, this is something I talk about all the time. So almost any experience where, and I'm going to say almost because this is not a hundred percent true and I'll explain the caveat. So almost any experience where you can be hands-on with an animal is led with abuse. [00:43:35] Um, so, and I'm, I'm. In South Africa, and this is changing. Thank God that they're changing the laws over there in South Africa, they, they used to have this thing where they would get tourism, tourists to pay big money, to come and raise the orphaned lion Cubs so that they can return them into the wild where what they're actually doing is they're raising these Cubs. [00:43:57] They're getting money income from the tourist [00:44:00] pain to play with these Cubs. And then when the Cubs got big enough, then they would go into canned hunts and they'd be slaughtered. And of course they weren't telling the people that there's also opportunities where you can, um, walk with cheetahs. And again, that these animals are, um, abused and tortured in order to. [00:44:21] Betaine quote, unquote enough to do that paint, brushing with elephants or painting the elephants painting or playing basketball. Um, the pictures I have seen in the stories of the abuse that these animals endure, the whipping, the everything that they go through to learn and to hold a paintbrush and to do these things. [00:44:42] And, and of course there it's being touted as, um, a sanctuary. And it's just not anything that it, if you ever see an, an animal doing something that it is not in its normal repertoire, it's been [00:45:00] abused to do that. And, um, and I say almost always, there are several places that, uh, Where you do have opportunity, um, to, to be a little bit more close, where it truly is a sanctuary and these animals aren't abused. [00:45:17] One is Sheldrick, wildlife trust. Um, routinely also has one in San Bruin is again elephants where they take orphaned baby elephants. And the elephants are orphaned due to poaching, um, human wildlife conflict, or natural deaths. And they raise these babies and then they reintroduce them into the wild and they have this huge success. [00:45:37] And in order to raise money, they do allow people to come and view the babies. And, um, and so there's it in one hand, you're like, oh, is this, is this one of those bad things? Or is this one of those good things? And it's sometimes even for me, I have to do a lot of research. To, to make sure that I'm only supporting the ones that are actually [00:46:00] doing good work and, um, shelter glide, wildlife trust is one in Nairobi, Kenya. [00:46:05] And then, um, drafts center is another one where you can actually feed the giraffes. And again, my normal checklist, that would be an absolute no-no. But because I did the research and I did the homework to know that these are wild drafts, they're accustomed to people. It was it's, um, it's a draft subspecies. [00:46:27] It's very endangered Rothschild giraffe that they had, um, brought in to try and repopulate them. And they do reintroduce them back into the wild. Um, and it's like, what steps are they're taking? What measures are they taking to make sure they're not getting too used to humans? Um, and that we aren't impacting their normal lives. [00:46:45] Like it's not normal for a human to feed a giraffe. So like where is that line? And in some places, the line is a little blurry. Giraffe Centre because they're doing really good work. The animals are not abused [00:47:00] in other places is so it's so crystal clear that this is just bad and such a case as like you pointed out the elephants that are painting, like they are just absolutely abused. [00:47:11] They're performing things. They don't normally perform. Um, when you're feeding the draft giraffe center there they're eating. Like they would normally eat, they're reaching out with their tongue and they're grabbing it as if it were a leaf on a tree, you know? So it's not, they're not doing something that's abnormal taking it out of a human hand. [00:47:28] Yeah. That's abnormal versus an elephant, you know, holding a paintbrush and painting strokes. That's just not normal behavior. So it's it's. Yeah. And I've had to research there's, there's an elephant sanctuary. Um, In Indonesia that I'm interested in and visiting, but I'm still on the fence about whether this is a true sanctuary or not. [00:47:52] And I'm trying to do a lot more research and sometimes it's really hard to know. Um, and, and of course we [00:48:00] don't want to contribute to abuse of any kind. [00:48:05] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Completely and absolutely, totally. And for sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for sure. And it's interesting, uh, many years ago, uh, I was part, uh, I was a volunteer at the national zoo for the golden lion tamarin project and it was reintroducing them into the wild and they weren't in cages. [00:48:24] Right. So, so our job was to, uh, sort of make sure that they're the key where they were was, was okay for them to be, and we would sort of leave food where they might find it, but they weren't in cages. They were above people's heads. Right. And, and sort of running around in, in the trees and along the ropes and things like that to get. [00:48:47] To be used to being outside so that they could be reintroduced back into the wild and south America. What was interesting about that is how much, and I'm not a zoo fan. I will be very honest. I do not. I do [00:49:00] not like zoos animals don't belong in cages. I, that I have to say, but being part of that project for me was eye-opening because the people, the individual people I was working with cared so very much about making sure that these endangered beings would have a real chance at living in the wild. [00:49:21] And that's something that, that we have to remember that that wa as soon as they are, um, in connection with, with human. Beings that that changes. And so I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on rehabilitation or no reintroduction, I guess I would say of animals back into the wild. Can, can that happen in a way that is really safe and good for them? [00:49:51] And, and how do we weigh that if, if not doing the rehabilitation and helping them would just end up in their [00:50:00] deaths? [00:50:01] Lisa Roberti: Yeah. So I'm going to go back to David shelter, wildlife trust out of Nairobi. Um, they have successfully, and I don't know the numbers off the top of my head. I, um, they have successfully reintroduced, I think it's over a hundred elephants. [00:50:20] Um, and. The success stories are incredible because again, they take them when they're babies, they stay in Nairobi national park. When they get, um, Nairobi national park, doesn't have elephants, um, it's too small, but they have these baby elephants that are cared for by humans. And then when they get big, they bring them into, they have three different re-integration units and then it is, they slowly reintegrate themselves into the wild herds. [00:50:49] And again, there's people taking care of them, giving, making sure they're being fed, making sure they're being cared for. And then the wild herds come in and they slowly, um, in some of them can take 10, 15 [00:51:00] year before they, they actually become wild. And it's amazing because now they've had females that have been reintroduced in the wild who have gone off in the wild herds, actually having babies with wild elephants. [00:51:13] And because they supply water sources, a lot of times they will come back. Um, and it's really interesting. And again, this is a huge success story. Um, they've actually had, and again, it goes to the intelligence of wild animals. They've actually had a wild bull who, who was meeting with one of the ex orphan females was speared. [00:51:38] And two of his bull buddies, you know, to show us three male, um, bull elephants actually came into the re-introduction unit looking for help. Wow. [00:51:49] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And, [00:51:49] Lisa Roberti: and of course they were cared for and everything by the veterinarian staff there. Um, so in some cases that, that re-introduction, it's, it it's phenomenal [00:52:00] and they've shown it time and time again, like with elephants it's possible with the monkeys. [00:52:04] I hopefully that, that the tamarins, hopefully that was a success story and that they were able to do that. They've done it with Eagles. They've done it. Um, the, the ones that I've never heard a success story of is, um, predators, because how do you take. And teach it how to hunt. How do you take a Cub and teach it how to hide? [00:52:26] How do you take, you know, and, and I've never heard of a successful, um, re well, actually that's not true. Um, gosh, there's the famous story and I'm, I'm drawing a total blank right now. How can I about the, the man and wife who rescued the three lions? The Cubs? Oh yeah. [00:52:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Three. Yes, yes, yes, [00:52:45] Lisa Roberti: yes. And they, and they successfully reintroduced them into the wild and man, it took them a long, long, long time to do that. [00:52:54] Um, so I think it's, I think, gosh, the more wild animals that, that are [00:53:00] impacted by human wildlife conflict that we can save and bring back into the wild, I man, those people, they have hearts of gold and they work their tails off and they're so passionate and I would love, I would, gosh, I would love to be involved with something like. [00:53:19] Did I answer your question? Yes, [00:53:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: yes, no, you, you, you absolutely did. It's really, you know, that, that, that notion of how, how we, we can participate, but do so in a non invasive way to help these endangered beings that wouldn't be endangered. If not for us anyway, is something that I, I need to. Go further, you know, I need to, personally, I need to, I need to look at that more. [00:53:56] How can we do that in a noninvasive way so that [00:54:00] we're helping and not hurting the wild places and the wild beings that are on those places are in those places. You know? And, and I think it's, I think their names were the, was it the Adamson's Georgia? Yeah. For born free and, and, and there are other, there are other people who spend their lives dedicated to. [00:54:21] You know, preserving these wild places and, and helping animals. So, so it's not, it's not hopeless, but wow. We, we, you know, I think we all could do more to participate in helping, especially since there are people out there who are participating in hurting those places, so, and, and those animals. So we, you know, and, and do you have any recommendations about if somebody wants to get involved and help, uh, do you know of any places that, that someone could go, you know what I would like to get involved in a reputable place that's, that's working to preserve wild places [00:55:00] could be in the USA, could be in other places, doesn't matter. [00:55:02] Where would you send someone? [00:55:05] Lisa Roberti: So a lot of these, um, and this is, this is where it gets really kitschy again, because. A lot of the places, they can't just take regular volunteers, like people, untrained people. Um, there's a lot of reasons for that one day and I'm, and I'm going to use shelter again because they are such a success story. [00:55:31] So they don't want the elephants getting used to people. They get used to their candlers, their keepers, um, and they were specific jackets, specific coats. They all wear the same style and color of coat. They wear the same clothes they wear the same. So the elephants aren't necessarily making a generalization about humans. [00:55:54] So they don't allow. Um, volunteers and, and, and, you know, as a person who wants to, [00:56:00] it's like, oh, come on. But I'm a good person. Just let me come and help. But they, for the safety and the sake of the animals, they can't do that. And there again, there's, there's, there are places that will allow you to volunteer. [00:56:12] Um, and there's, there's a couple companies and I, and I'm sorry, I don't know the name off, off the top of my head. There are a couple of companies that actually set up volunteering, travel, where you actually go and you volunteer. And a lot of them are more for, um, like kids, like schools, like where you can go and volunteer at schools, which is also imperative because the, you know, these children, if they grow up to see the value of the wildlife and the wild places, they're going to help preserve it. [00:56:41] Right. So that's, that part is really also very important, but, um, there's not a lot of hands on true animal volunteering. W really wild places like Africa, Alaska, stuff like that, but that doesn't prevent people from getting involved [00:56:59] Izolda Trakhtenberg: at [00:57:00] home. [00:57:01] Lisa Roberti: Um, you know, there's some great opportunities, like even just like preserving in parks, keeping the parks, clean, volunteering at animal shelters, um, doing that kind of work. [00:57:13] It's hard work and it can be heartbreaking, but it's so rewarding as well. And just, you know, let's start with, and again, I'm a huge Africa. Uh, lover, but, but sometimes we gotta start at home too. Like what can you do at your, your park across the street or across town? Is there something that, that can be done to help preserve that too? [00:57:37] You know, let's do a trash cleanup day. Let's do a, and there's lots of volunteering opportunities at, at animal shelters. Um, but there are a few in, in Africa, um, that, that you can find. Um, but they're, they're not as wide as, as it would be nice if they weren't just because again, for the safety of the animals, they can't just [00:58:00] open it up to. [00:58:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Sure. Absolutely. And I think that the notion of I'm going to go volunteer with animals, you know, that that's something that would take a lot of study and you'd, you'd have to spend a long time getting prepared for that, but there are people, if they have a passion for it that do pursue something like that and, and can eventually, and I think you're absolutely right. [00:58:23] And I agree with you wholeheartedly, this notion that we can do something here, you can do something in your, in your backyard. You can do something in the park, you can do something in the animal shelter. There are lots of ways to participate in elevating awareness and in helping that don't necessarily mean you get on a plane and go to another place. [00:58:42] You could do it across town or even across the street. So I, your, your point is well made and well taken. Lisa, I really appreciate you saying that because yeah, I think we can, we can do it. It doesn't have to be a grand gesture to be a really important. Anyway. Well, it's, [00:58:58] Lisa Roberti: it's like they say, you know, [00:59:00] and I don't remember exactly how the proverb goes. [00:59:02] If that's the right word, you know, walking down the beach and you're throwing one starfish in when there's a thousand starfish and it's like, you can't save them all, but that one act is really important to the one that you did save. [00:59:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Exactly. And the last line of that story is it made a difference to that one. [00:59:17] Yeah. I love that story. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I could keep you here for the next, I don't know how long, because this is fantastic and I really appreciate you taking the time, Lisa and I do know that you have a life to get back to. So I was wondering if you know, you're doing this, this document for all of the, uh, for people who want to plan a safari, what does I think is great, but also if people want to see your photographs and learn more about the work you're doing, would you mind sharing your social channels? [00:59:47] Where could someone who wants to go find you find. [00:59:51] Lisa Roberti: So I'm on Instagram and Facebook. And it's Lisa M as in Mary, just the initial we set em, Roberto, R O B E R T. [01:00:00] I, um, I also have a YouTube channel that I'm just starting out, but I, because I don't have enough followers, I don't have my, my, my pen name yet. [01:00:08] Um, but you can just search for me there. And in there I do a lot of different travel stuff and lodge reviews and, um, things like that. And I'm just starting on, on that. I also have a Facebook group, um, called wildlife travel and con and conservation. Um, and that's a place where I talk about, um, animal conservation laws that are coming up wins. [01:00:29] Um, devastations and also talk all things travel, um, to wildlife, rich places around the world. It's not just Africa, but it's. [01:00:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing. And I'm going to put all of that along with some of Lisa's fabulous photographs on the show notes page. You're going to want to check that out for sure. [01:00:47] And, and learn more about the incredible work Lisa's doing and. Just see the photos. They're so beautiful. I love them. You sent them to me and I'm like, these are awesome. So, [01:01:00] and you know, and, and you have a really amazing, I, I really just, you, you, you are able to capture such life and such spirit in, in every photograph that I've seen you take is wonderful. [01:01:14] Thank you so much, my, oh no, thank you. I appreciate it. Cause I can't go necessarily to Africa, but boy, I'm going to watch you guys. So I, I know that's kind of silly cause I'm going to go to Africa again for sure. And I and Costa Rica. And I want to go back to Alaska. There's so many places, you know, so many places to go, but I want to, I'll always try to do it responsibly. [01:01:36] You know, with enough money to actually go, that's always a good thing. Uh, so I have just one question that I ask everybody who listens to the show. You know, the question, the try, you listen to the podcast. So everyone, everyone who comes on the podcast knows this question. Here's this question? So here it is. [01:01:53] If you had one thing that you wanted to say, because you had an airplane C I T, and [01:02:00] because I'm not thinking about it, I said it wrong. If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? You know, [01:02:08] Lisa Roberti: I, I knew this question was coming. I don't like, ah, and I, and I'm like, what's, what's the few words, cause it's behind an airplane. [01:02:15] So, you know, it's gotta be short, it's sustained. And I'm like, okay. So really the quick short spend time in nature. [01:02:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that it's, it's [01:02:28] Lisa Roberti: simple. It's so important. And it really, I think the more people spend time in nature, the more people will love it. And then people are going to want to preserve it. [01:02:38] Because they're in it and they love it so much. [01:02:41] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Ah, that's a great, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And you will, I mean, the second you spend time breathing chlorophyll, rich air because you're out in your trees, it's going to change you. So I love that. Wow. Thank you so much for that, Lisa. I am so grateful that you took the [01:03:00] time to be here and I'm super excited for people to learn more about you and more about your work. [01:03:05] Thank you so much. Thank [01:03:07] Lisa Roberti: you so much for having me. It was such a pleasure chatting with you and, um, I really appreciate your time. Thank [01:03:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: you. So it was all my pleasure. This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. You obviously need to go check out Lisa birdie and her amazing work and all of the wild places she talked about. [01:03:24] Eventually. I think you should do. You should do that too. If you're liking the show, do me a favor, tell a friend, tell a friend about the show and tell a friend about all of the cool, innovative stuff we're talking about until next time. This is his older Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast, reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and. [01:03:43] A whole lot. [01:03:49] thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. [01:04:00] And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [01:04:07] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset. * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. I'm also a PR Starter Pack Affiliate. I use Gloria's methods to get featured in the media often. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!

Wildlife photographer, conservationist, and Safari Girl Lisa Roberti on conservation, photography, and how to plan your best safari This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. I've used these techniques to get featured in magazines, newspapers, and podcasts. They work! https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4 Lisa Roberti, the Safari Girl, has been traveling to wildlife-rich areas around the world for over 27 years. While not a professional photographer, her goal is to use her photographs and experiences about her travels to encourage others to travel so that together, we can preserve the wild places for generations to come. Lisa has a wildlife-themed online store, is currently writing her first book, "Safari Tales" and has a self-study course on how to plan your safari to get the trip of a lifetime. Connect with Lisa Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisamroberti/ See some of Lisa's amazing photos below.         Episode transcript [00:00:00] Lisa Roberti: How often do we just stop and breathe and just be in the moment and play watching lion Cubs playing it. It's just fascinating. They're just, they're totally in the moment. Just like children. [00:00:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:38] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do some of my deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word, and now let's get to the show.[00:01:00] [00:01:02] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I am super happy that you're here and I'm also incredibly honored and thrilled and happy to share with you. This week's guest. She is fabulous. Lisa birdie, the safari girl has been traveling to wildlife rich areas around the world for over 27 years while not a professional photographer. [00:01:24] Her goal is to use her photographs and experiences about her travels to encourage others to travel so that together we can preserve the wild places for generations to come. Lisa has a wildlife themed online store and is currently writing her first book called safari tales. I can't wait to read it. She also has a self study course on how to plan your safari to get the trip of a lifetime. [00:01:44] Lisa, I'm so grateful that you're here. Thanks so much for being. [00:01:48] Lisa Roberti: Izolda thank you so much for having me. It's such an honor to be on your show. Thank you. [00:01:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm first of all, I, I love ever since somebody gave me, [00:02:00] uh, my parents gave me a codec extra one for my 12th birthday. I have been an avid photographer and I love taking all sorts of photos. [00:02:08] And I'm wondering for you what got you started in photography and, and having photography be your way of getting the message out your message out and the message for animals and the natural model places. [00:02:23] Lisa Roberti: So when I was really young, I was about fifth grade. I've always had a passion for animals. I've always loved animals. [00:02:30] And the camera was just a way to get closer, to like really watch and see and look at there, look at behavior and then also to share it with people. You know, you see, you could tell stories, but they say a picture's worth a thousand words and video also. Um, and it's just, it was just really my way to get closer and to experience. [00:02:54] And remember with detail, everything that I got to experience with [00:02:58] Izolda Trakhtenberg: animals. That's so [00:03:00] amazing. I love that you said that it was a way to experience the animals and, and yet there's this wonderful, uh, sort of quote or meme that says take only photographs, leave only footprints. So the experience doesn't sound like it is diminished at all. [00:03:16] If you don't have any other contact with the animals other than being the photographer. [00:03:22] Lisa Roberti: Oh, I'm so glad you said that, um, wildlife photographers can, can really get a bad name. There's so many out there that. Their main goal is the photograph. Whereas my main goal is the two record to witness and record natural behaviors of the animals. [00:03:46] Um, you see a lot of photographers out there not, and I'm glad to say it's not the majority, but there's a few that they will really harass the animal in order to get quote unquote, the picture. They want to get a [00:04:00] reaction. They want to get whatever. And to me, that's, um, that's just harassment and it's not good clean wildlife photography. [00:04:08] I am there to witness and report. I'm there to see natural behavior. Like what is their life without humans in the way. And to me, that is, what's so beautiful and there's so much to learn from animals, um, and, and watching their behavior and just in, in, in watching them interact with, with other species and within their own species. [00:04:30] It's, it's just, it's amazing [00:04:32] Izolda Trakhtenberg: to watch it. Well, I appreciate you saying that. And that brings me to a question. What have you learned? You say there's so much to learn. I agree with you. I'm I'm sort of, I feel a little bit like I'm going to be like, yes, yes, yes. This whole, this whole chat. And yet you've, you've got obviously a lot more experience than I do photographing wildlife in the wild. [00:04:56] What, what has been the biggest lesson that you've [00:05:00] learned from observing and from having those experiences with animals in the wild? [00:05:07] Lisa Roberti: So I, the biggest experience that's, that's a hard one. I would say that. For me, observing them, you see that they all have personalities. Like we, we tend to put them in a bubble, right? [00:05:22] This is lion behavior. This is elephant behavior. This is, you know, but each animal has its own unique personality and they all have stories. I've been privileged to go back to the same locations, time and time again, where I've been able to see the animals and watch them grow up, if you will, and, and know them by their human, you know, English names. [00:05:44] And, um, and it's just, it's just fascinating to see them have their own personalities living in the moment. Um, you see the tenderness, you see the fierceness, you see them, [00:06:00] um, just being raw and it's, it's such a reminder. We w in our lives as human beings, we're, you know, we have the cell phone being in and we have so much going on and. [00:06:11] How often do we just stop and breathe and just be in the moment and play, or, you know, watching lion Cubs playing it. It's just, it's just fascinating. They're just, they're totally in the moment, just like children, like they don't have the, the phones being, they don't, they don't have the responsibilities to worry about. [00:06:32] And I think as we grow up and as we adults, we lose that and watching animals, I'm just watching them in their natural environments and, and seeing their, their triumphs and their, their failures and, and it, yeah, it's just, it's hard to put into words. I hope I didn't okay. A job there. [00:06:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: No, you did great. It's it is interesting to me that there are times there was a, I don't know [00:07:00] if you remember the movie, a fish called. [00:07:03] Did you ever see that movie with John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Klein. Did you ever see that movie? I do not. I have. Nope, no worries. No worries. Eh, th th the movie itself is it is wonderful, fabulous. Kevin Klein won the Oscar, and there was a sort of a, kind of a sequel using the same actors. Uh, they did another movie and it was called fierce creatures, and it was about a zoo. [00:07:27] And this, uh, this woman came in to sort of make the zoo more efficient and. Uh, she had, there was a gorilla at the zoo and she had this incredible experience of just seeing the gorilla as another being on the planet and, and the, the people who are in the Zuora desperately trying to save the zoo, which was, uh, supposed to be a very sort of humanitarians or whatever, whatever, but they, they looked at each other and they went, ah, she's gotten it. [00:07:56] She understands now that that is something she didn't know before that she couldn't [00:08:00] have known before she had that experience of, of connection. And so that makes me think of what you were talking about. That it's hard to explain that connective moment between us seeing animals in the wild and understanding. [00:08:17] Their inherent value. And I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on how we could increase those experiences or, or make them more accessible to people so that more people understand the inherent value of, of the other beings. We share the planet with [00:08:37] Lisa Roberti: that. Yeah. And that's exactly what, um, my mission is I after COVID, so I've been, you know, traveling to Africa and taking photographs, um, for 20 something years, 27 years. [00:08:51] And I, and I really haven't done anything with them. And after COVID happened and tourism got shut down, um, W w [00:09:00] became aware of all of the problems in the wild places, um, how much poaching increased, how much the land grabbing was happening, um, and how we were losing more and more wild places because without tourism, the value of the land to the locals went down. [00:09:22] Tourism brings jobs to the local, um, people, um, they have jobs and lodges, they have shops, they have mechanics, they have Rangers, they have, and, and, and the, the tourism money also pays for Rangers. So there was a lot more poaching and there was a lot more, um, um, like I said, human wildlife conflict because the value had gone down to the local people. [00:09:46] Um, it wasn't bringing in money anymore. And so as. Uh, safari goers, a person who loves to go to wild places and loves to be with the animals. Um, I've decided [00:10:00] to, I'm using now my photographs and my stories to try and get people, to see how amazing it is to go, whether it's Africa or somewhere closer to home, to these wild places to support them. [00:10:14] Um, it, it has to be sustainable. I mean, we don't want to like destroy them with, with. Thousands and thousands of tourists, it has to be a sustainable practice, but people, tourism brings value to the land and it brings value to the people that are living around these beautiful wild places. And so I've actually, um, I'm actually working right now on a interactive guide to help people plan their safaris. [00:10:42] And, um, and, and, and the reason I'm doing that again is I'm really hoping that if people want to go on safari and they, they can plan a safari that meets their expectations and they go, and they love it in there. They're just so enthralled by it. And they're going to come home and they're going to tell other [00:11:00] people, and that way we can really preserve wild places and preserve the value for everybody. [00:11:09] Um, I can't even imagine a world where there's no wild elephants or wild lions, and we're getting there. We're really getting there. These animals are disappearing at unknown. I mean, just such fast, such as fast space. And I tell everybody, I talked to him like, if you really want to see wild animals in the wild, you have to go and you have to go now. [00:11:34] And the more people I believe, the more people who go and get to experience that amazing, like seeing what it really is like seeing life, how it is for these creatures, that they will gain value and people will understand the incredible value they have on them, the planet, the world, everything. And [00:12:00] I think, you know, there's a lot of really great, um, places out there that are doing a great job. [00:12:05] I mean, there's so many TV channels that you can find beautiful documentaries about these beautiful Sentium beings. And so you can, you can get it, you it's there and people are, are beginning to see it. And there's so much more, um, you know, there's so much more activity going on to save these animals now, which is, which is fabulous. [00:12:29] But me personally, I think actually being there in person is so different than watching it on your TV screen. It's just smelling the smells and hearing the sounds and seeing these creatures and watching their lives unfold before your eyes. It's just, you've been, you know, it's just an experience that stays with you and, and gets into your soul [00:12:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: for life. [00:12:59] I'm taking all [00:13:00] of that in for a second. Yes. Yes. See that's this is me going. Yes. Yes. Lisa, keep going. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. It, you know, it's fascinating. I remember when I w when I was in South Africa, And we went, we went on a photo safari and we were in this little mini van and we pulled into this little, it, it was almost like a natural driveway. [00:13:24] It was this little natural sort of bordered, uh, drive in if you will, where I guess they took people a lot. And there was a, there were a couple of prides of lions hanging out. And first of all, I found out male lines kind of lazy that's for sure. But, but what was really interesting and, and I'm going to, I have a question in here somewhere, but it was really interesting to see what the lionesses did. [00:13:49] They started walking around our little van, just circling around it and circling around it. And one of them went and laid down behind the [00:14:00] little minivan and there was no way for us to leave and we were all going. And they're thinking you have got to run out of gas sometime, you know, and it was really interesting because we, you know, and the, and our driver was like, it's going to be fine. [00:14:12] She'll move. Everything will be fine. And it, and of course it was, but what it did for me is it really made me go, I am in a different place now and agave me this wonderful moment of awareness of my role. You know what I mean? Because, because I am not the king of the jungle, you know, people are not the Kings of the Jew. [00:14:36] This was very, it was very, eye-opening like, oh yeah, there a, it's sort of like a plate, your place in the universe kind of situation. So I'm wondering when you are out on safari and you're having these incredible experiences, how do you feel? You've said that they're magnificent and amazing, but how do you feel when you are there in that moment, observing and photographing these [00:15:00] incredible beings? [00:15:02] Oh, gosh, [00:15:03] Lisa Roberti: I've had so many incredible experiences. I've seen births, I've seen animals take their first steps. I have seen animals fighting for their lives. I've seen so many things and, and it's every, every moment is just, um, a moment of, of wonder and awe. And, you know, you would think I've been, I I've spent over 40 weeks just in, just in Africa, in Safin, wildlife, rich areas in Africa, plus, you know, all over other places around the world and it I'm still in awe, I'm still in wonder. [00:15:40] Um, I could, you know, I don't get bored and you see different things all the time. You see. Yeah, [00:15:49] Izolda Trakhtenberg: you just, [00:15:51] Lisa Roberti: I feel like I feel so special to be able to witness the, these [00:16:00] lives, you know, to, to actually to be there, to, to see what's happening. I've cried, tears of joy and tears of sorrow. I I've, you know, I've and I'm not going to say I've seen, you've never seen it all right in nature, but I I've just, I've seen so many things and, and, and, you know, even watching, uh, like you said, a PRI a coalition of male lions laying under a tree in the shade, sleeping. [00:16:25] And even that even just, just watching them breathing. I know it sounds crazy, but it's just this, this huge thousand pound animal lane right there, like 10 feet away from you while you're safely in your vehicle. [00:16:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That's just [00:16:45] Lisa Roberti: life for them. And, and you wonder you, like what, what does he dream about? What does he think about, you know, and it's crazy, but [00:16:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: it's, it's [00:16:56] Lisa Roberti: just, it's just amazing. [00:16:57] And, and then when you see, [00:17:00] like, when you see, um, and I don't want to get into the sad stories, but I witnessed something that was incredibly sad. We had been following a very young lion Cub, um, and his pride for days and days and days. And then I witnessed him being killed by a herd of Buffalo. And you see the mother lioness and I mean, there was. [00:17:26] It was a herd of probably a thousand Buffalo. And this lioness was trying so hard to get to her Cub. And the Cub was just too, too small. It couldn't run away in time and to watch this lioness and trying to get in there and trying to, to protect her Cub and, and watching [00:17:46] Izolda Trakhtenberg: this, this defense's [00:17:47] Lisa Roberti: little creature being killed and it's, you know, and it's, it's nature and it's sad and I'm crying. [00:17:53] I'm bawling my eyes out. I couldn't even take pictures because it was like, this was one of my earlier trips and I'm [00:18:00] like, I, I just couldn't do it. And then, and then after finally, you know, the herd of Buffalo finally scattered and the fi the mom lioness, she kept searching and searching and searching for her Cub. [00:18:14] And she finally found the lifeless body. And it, and again, I don't need to get into a sad story, but it's, it's part of [00:18:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: seeing. That [00:18:24] Lisa Roberti: these animals, and this is probably going to raise a lot of people's hair on the back of their necks. They have emotions, they care. She th the looks on her face, her behavior when she found her dead Cub, it, it was heartbreaking. [00:18:41] It was, um, and, and just to witness that and to see the lives of these animals. And again, this was all nature. It wasn't human impacted at all. And to see that, that the vulnerabilities they have, and then to witness the other side though, too, like I've seen [00:19:00] animals being born. I've seen animals taking their first stops, and it's just, [00:19:06] Izolda Trakhtenberg: it, it it's so [00:19:07] Lisa Roberti: incredible. [00:19:08] I don't even remember what your question was on a tangent, but it, and I'm just so into the moment. And it's just, it's an experience that goes into your soul, that. That stays with you forever. And even if it's just, like I said, lion, sleeping under a treat shade tree or witnessing something so intense like that or witnessing, I know everybody wants to see a, uh, see a kill or a hunt or whatever. [00:19:38] And, um, it doesn't have to be that intense. It's just every part of their lives. You see how every moment it's a life and death moment for these beings. And, you know, as humans, we should say, as humans in America, most of us don't live that way. I know there are some times where, where there is, but, you know, [00:20:00] we, we live sheltered lives. [00:20:01] We don't, we, or I should say I, because I know there are people on the planet, humans on the planet, and especially right now that are fighting for their lives, but there's so many of us that, um, you know, we get up, we go to work, we go to the grocery store and we don't think about life and death. And, and when you're there and you're witnessing it and you're seeing these animals of prey and the predators fighting every moment of their lives for survival, but also having empathy, um, seeing elephants grieving over a lost one and just put morning skulls of long lost elephants that they probably didn't even know. [00:20:44] I mean, there's so many levels of, there's so much [00:20:47] Izolda Trakhtenberg: depth to it, to every [00:20:50] Lisa Roberti: being and you have to see it, I think to really appreciate [00:20:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: it. [00:20:59] [00:21:00] Thank you for sharing all of that. Wow. Wow. And yes, you shared a sad story, but it was such a profound one and it's, and it's true. I mean, even just looking at my domestic kitties at home, they have emotions. Obviously they have emotions, they are thinking and feeling beings and, and there's no doubt in my mind that every animal has that same level of, of sentients the thing that I, the thing that I personally struggle with is how, how do we raise that? [00:21:37] I know you said. Uh, and by that, by that, I mean, awareness, I know you said you have to experience it, but, but let's, let's face it. Most of us here in the USA, at least, uh, aren't going to go on safari. I, it would be cool if we could, but what else, what innovative ways could we experience this kind of connection that [00:22:00] you're talking about or close to it? [00:22:02] The park go, you know, [00:22:06] Lisa Roberti: watch your animals, watch your pets. Like you said, it all that like, even a lot of people have pets, but a lot of people don't really see their pets. They don't really see, like we are their life. We are their entire life. Like when you leave and you come back and look so excited to see. [00:22:30] You know, it's because we have every, you know, we have phone calls to people and we have all these other things and these and the animals, they just have us. And some people, sometimes we forget that and you can just look at your, your kid or your dog, or go to the park and, and, and just observe, um, birds even. [00:22:51] Um, or if you're lucky enough to live somewhere where there's Fox or, um, some other type of, of wildlife that you can safely [00:23:00] observe. Um, birds are probably the easiest and suburbia. Um, but you could just, I have a bird feeder, and again, that might raise a hair on some people's necks thinking that, you know, some people think that bird feeders are bad, but I have a bird feed of her right outside of my office. [00:23:17] And it's fascinating to watch the behavior at the feeder. And you just can learn so much about. Um, and I can't pick out individual birds. I mean, I know species and stuff, but like, I, I, you know, I wouldn't know, oh, this is the one that was here yesterday. I can't do that. But like watching, just, just watching them and taking a moment to stop all the noise and just breathe and take in nature just really puts you in a different space. [00:23:48] It, it, it brings you peace. It brings you like stopping for a moment, like stop and smell the roses, right. Just stop and be in nature. And you can do [00:24:00] that any almost anywhere in the world. And again, there's a lot of places you can, but you know, in, in the United States, especially, I mean, even, even big cities have parks, [00:24:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: you know, and you could go to the park, [00:24:14] Lisa Roberti: you know, if you ha if you have, if you're lucky enough to have a backyard, You know, just sit in your backyard and just take a few moments to breathe, to hear, to listen, to smell, you know, listening to the birds, listening to the, the cicadas right now. [00:24:33] But it is it just, it really, if you just breathe it in and take a moment [00:24:39] Izolda Trakhtenberg: to just be, [00:24:42] Lisa Roberti: and forget about all the noise around you, meaning human noise, like meaning like all your to-do list and everything you have to do, and just, [00:24:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: just enjoy the beautiful beauty of mother nature.[00:25:00] [00:25:02] Yes. See again. Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah. I, you know, it's funny. I talked to my clients about that when I, when I'm doing coaching, we talk a lot about going for walks. That's a big one, go for walks and don't just look down. Look up. See what else is there? Say hello to the trees, all of those sorts of things. [00:25:21] Yes. It's C were, were, were mutual admiration society lease. I like that. Um, so, so all of that is, is really good. As far as bringing awareness, how do we bring awareness? And it can start small. I agree with you. Go outside, breathe. Look up, look at, look at the critters. Look at the plans. Look at the trees. [00:25:43] Spend some time in nature when we don't anymore. So many of us, I think we pass the tipping point relatively recently, where more of us live in urban areas than live in non-urban areas all over the planet, which is amazing. Cause that's a lot of planet. And so the question that I have for you is [00:26:00] going out for a walk is great. [00:26:02] Build a, starting to build that awareness is terrific. If I am at that place, if I've gone for my walks and I've figured out that this is something I want more of. What happens I noticed with people is that they go, oh, this is cool. I want more. So what's the next step for someone who wants in, in your, in your opinion, since you spent so much time traveling to these wild places, what's the next step for someone who's like, okay, I've got this awareness and now I want to do something else. [00:26:30] They may not have a lot of money, but, but something, what would you suggest someone do if they want to increase that connection? Okay. [00:26:41] Lisa Roberti: So the, so there's, there's a two part answer here. Um, if they want to do it too, for, for their own, for their own enjoyment, um, They're in most places again, around the United States, um, S you know, you could take a Saturday [00:27:00] afternoon and do some, do some, just Google homework about beautiful, um, bigger parks that are around or hiking areas that are around with, within a, you know, take a day trip or half a day trip. [00:27:13] Um, I live, I live in the cornfields and I haven't even seen a squirrel. I've lived here for two years and I've never even seen a squirrel. Um, but within, you know, a couple hour drive, I can get, um, to some, some beautiful areas and, and, and hike, and that doesn't cost any money or, or very little money. If there might be an interest entrance fee for the, for the park, of course, in the United States, we have some beautiful, um, national parks that, uh, people can go to. [00:27:44] And that, you know, if it, if it requires traveling and hotel stays, of course, that's going to add, um, Uh, an expense, but there's a lot of things you can do that, that don't. And that's the one part that's part, one of how do you get enjoyment out of it? Part [00:28:00] two, um, to learn more in everything is to start getting involved, um, and, and be aware of laws that are coming into play, um, that protect animals, um, even, you know, on cold rainy, you know, when, when, when winter comes and it's dark at four o'clock in the afternoon, there's great. [00:28:24] Documentaries about animals and wild places and that you can watch and immerse yourself that way. Um, there's a website that I would love to share. It's called explore.org, where they have live cams from all over the world and you can't, and, and it's not only wildlife. They even have like, um, where they're breeding puppies, um, for service dogs. [00:28:50] And you can see the puppies being bred for service dogs. And it's an amazing, um, non-for-profit, that's trying to help people connect [00:29:00] that, that can't maybe go to Africa or Alaska or Costa Rica, or, you know, any of these beautiful places. Um, and it's, and you can get, you can get lost and you can see it. And, um, and it's, it's amazing, but I, I would say the more you can get outside, just even around your house, Um, the more connected you you'll feel and the more at peace [00:29:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: to absolutely. [00:29:29] And, you know, it's interesting during COVID times, that was one of the things that saved me was being able to step outside because you do go a little stir crazy when you're, when you're stuck in doors. So, and it doesn't have to be around a lot of people, if you can just go for a solo walk or something like that is amazing. [00:29:47] And, and yet there's, there's so much awareness we can build and so much appreciation we can build. And now, honestly, I want to go to the next step. [00:30:00] So let's say. You've gotten you've you've you've watched all the documentaries. You've read books. You've done. Let's say you want to go on a safari. What is a safari? [00:30:11] What? I know what I did. We went on a day trip, but I was there for work for NASA. So I wasn't on a safari. We just went on a day trip to see lions and hyenas and zebras. So it wasn't quite the same. But what, when someone says a safari, what are they saying? And how, how does one do that? What do you do to go on safari? [00:30:31] And what is it? [00:30:33] Lisa Roberti: So great question. Um, usually people talk about safaris in terms of Africa. Um, you can go to wildlife, rich places, anywhere in the world. Alaska happens to be one of my favorite places, but when people talk about safari, it's usually going to one of nine to 11 countries in Africa, and I've been to seven, um, safari rich, uh, places in Africa. [00:30:57] And I think people would be really surprised to [00:31:00] understand the amount of diversity of things that you can do when you go to Africa. Because a lot of people, and even my sister, I took her on safari and now she is absolutely hooked. She was like, you know, I think it might be boring just to drive around and look at animals. [00:31:16] And then she went and she can't get an off now she's this is. She's leaving in a couple of weeks for her third safari, but you can, um, you can do so. First of all, there's cultural. So you can do cultural visits and learn about the, the, the cultures. You can do conservation, where you learn about human wildlife conflict, and what's being done to help prevent that you can, um, do traditional safari would be where you're in a vehicle and you're driving around and you're stopping. [00:31:47] And you're looking at animals and watching behavior. You can do walking safaris, you can do balloon safaris. You can do horseback safaris. You can do, you can go on in some places. [00:32:00] You can go on ATVs. You can go fishing. You can like if you go to east Africa, you can. Part safari park beach, you can do. Um, whale-watching um, if you're in Southern Africa, you can tie a safari with wineries and, and wine businesses and Cape town. [00:32:18] Um, so I think there's, there's such a diversity of things that you can actually do on safari. And that's actually why I created this, this planner that I've created. I, and it's to help people realize all the opportunities and help them kind of narrow down what they actually really want on safari. The other thing too, is there's so many different places to go and so many different seasons. [00:32:43] And what do you really want to see, um, as far from, as far as animal life, because if you really want to see a rhino, there's certain places you can go where your opportunity is much greater to see a rhino. Then if you go to other places, um, and of course it's nature. So you're never guarantee. [00:33:00] Any citing, but, um, there's places where you can go where you really raise the, the opportunity or the possibility of seeing what, what you want to see. [00:33:10] And so I created this, this planner to kind of talk about all these different things. And, and also the other thing is a lot of people, you know, have a four seasons dream, but they have a best Western budget. And what do you do if, if you have that, if you're upside down and what you really want to do and what you can afford and, and how do you then not be disappointed. [00:33:33] And, um, so just things like that, you know, I, I discussed that. And then what if you have mobility issues or special eating requirements, um, how do you get around that? And then also just right now, traveling during COVID, I I've been on safari multiple times throughout COVID, I've been to Africa, um, Alaska and other places, and it's doable. [00:33:57] It's challenging and you need to know what to look for [00:34:00] to make sure you can navigate through and that you don't get stuck somewhere because you don't have the right tests or you don't have the right documentation. Um, so there's, there's actually a lot to go into it, but it's fun planning. The safari should be exciting and fun and something to look forward to. [00:34:20] Um, it's, it's part of the journey. Obviously the best part is actually being there, but it's part of the journey of, of, of getting to live your dream. I remember I had always dreamed of seeing animals in the wild, like, you know, went to the zoos and everything and I thought, oh my God, how amazing would it be? [00:34:41] And when I first started planning my first safari, it was. Oh, God, it was like the dream finally coming true. And it was so exciting to look at all the different opportunities and to see all the different ideas and the things that you could do. And, um, yeah, so that's, and then, and [00:35:00] then finding reputable companies, um, to work with, um, there, I've heard a lot of disaster stories of people, um, and it's, it's easy when you know what to look for. [00:35:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Cool. I want to go on his Fari again. That's cool. Yeah. You know, and it, it is so interesting to me. I love, I love Alaska also. I've been, and it's, it's in many ways. It's like, uh, it's just, uh it's so it's so different than anywhere else I've ever been. And so when I'm looking at this, when I'm thinking about, oh, I want to plan my safari and I want to go travel and I want to see wild places. [00:35:43] How do we do. Consciously, how do we, what, what, what do we need to do to, like I said, you know, take only photographs, leave, leave only footprints. I guess that's like an eco-tourism thing. What are your thoughts on that? What innovative ways could we, as people who [00:36:00] want to go on safari to, to, to commune with nature and to be, and observe these animals and nature, wherever we're, wherever we go, how do we do it? [00:36:11] Responsibly? [00:36:13] Lisa Roberti: Great, great question. And. That all ties into the company and the lodges. Um, there are a lot, there's a lot of choices out there when you go on safari. I, I just, um, picked up, uh, like a safari magazine and it's just pages and pages and pages of advertisements for different companies and different lodges and different everything. [00:36:40] And with the internet, now you can really do a lot of research and find the, the lodges that are eco-friendly, um, that are doing the right thing. Um, you can like there's, there's conservancies out there where they really limit the number of [00:37:00] people to make sure that there's, that there's not so many, um, people in a, in a small area so that the wild places are staying. [00:37:11] Christine. And, um, you can do that. There's, there's a lot of mass tourism, um, places. And then there's the, the eco-friendly places. And one thing that, um, most of these countries in Africa I've done actually better than first rule countries is most of them now have outlawed single use plastic and things like United States is not even talking about doing that. [00:37:36] Right. And, um, so just even supporting these countries and, and, and what they're doing is, is a big, is a big step, but yes, there are eco-friendly lodges that, um, where you, where you go in, or you can, like I said, you can do the research and they tell you about all the steps that they're doing to recycle, reuse, [00:38:00] um, the, the water systems. [00:38:02] They have the purification systems. They have to make, um, the least amount of impact on the land. As possible and those types of places, um, they're becoming more and more and more. It used to be few and far between, but now that people are becoming more aware of the environment, um, they, that's a big selling point for a lot of these places. [00:38:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I it's [00:38:30] Lisa Roberti: also, sorry, also, I'm sorry. It's also your, um, like if you do decide to go travel with a group or you decide to go on your own, who, the, the company that you book with, whether you book direct through lodges or you book through, um, uh, Africa specialist, those there's different levels there too, where some of them are more concerned about that. [00:38:54] And then others are more concerned about just pushing lots of people through. And again, you, you can tell. [00:39:00] If you're in, if you're familiar with eco-friendly, anything as you're, as you're reviewing and previewing, you can see, um, what they're doing, um, for eco eco-friendly they'll they'll offer carbon offset. [00:39:16] Um, I know even United airlines is doing carbon offset now. Um, they will, um, yeah. And they'll talk about it because that's a big point for a lot of people. So it's, it's out there. It's a little bit harder to find it's becoming easier and easier to find. Um, but even like I said, these countries even stopping single use plastic, you know, they're, they're, they're, they are trying really hard to preserve and make their countries more beautiful and pristine. [00:39:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, that makes me so happy to hear that. It really does. I mean, I, I, cause I worry about [00:40:00] that. Not, not, not, I, you know, I'm not, I'm not trying to insult any, any developing nations or anything like that, but I want to be sure as, as you know, as a vegan, as someone who's, who tries to be very eco-conscious, I want to again, leave the smallest footprint possible. [00:40:18] So, so that's something that we we can do is we can look for these eco-friendly and, uh, environmentally conscious places to stay or trips to take. And I think that that's amazing. So if I what's the number one piece of advice you have for someone going, what, what's the thing that they absolutely either need to know or need to do. [00:40:44] Lisa Roberti: I think they need. I think the biggest thing that I've, I've seen and heard is for them to really understand what they want. What do you really want out of the safari? [00:41:00] What is your dream? What are you when you close your eyes? And you're like, I want to go on safari. I can't wait to go on safari. What does that look like? [00:41:09] And then making sure that what you book matches that or exceeds. Um, and that's where booking with somebody with a lot of Africa experience is critical because you may have these beautiful visions in your mind. Like you, you want, uh, uh, responsible tourism, you, you want minimal impact. Can you imagine if that was what your goal and ideal was? [00:41:38] And then you get there and you're in a lodge, that's got 200 rooms and it's just waste everywhere. Like that would be devastating to you. So really understanding what it is that is important to you, what your dream is, and then making sure that your booking [00:42:00] matches that and exceeds that so that when you go it's everything you've dreamed about and so much more and so much. [00:42:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. And I have a tough question for you right now, because that part was great. The part that I'm, that I get concerned about is what we can do. Some, some of the practices that I have read about and, and, and heard about are abusive to the wildlife and, you know, and, and sort of tourists, you know, like elephants painting or, or, you know, or any, they can't, that, that, that can't be real. [00:42:42] That can't be something that is, that is the elephant. When you know what I'm going to grab a paintbrush and I'm going to paint a cat. I cannot imagine that that's something they elephant decided that she wanted to do. So. So how do we, is it, do we vote with our dollars? How do we, how do we [00:43:00] avoid practices that could be abusive to the, to the very animals we want to see and protect. [00:43:07] Lisa Roberti: Awesome. Question. Thank you so much for bringing this up because this is, this is something I talk about all the time. So almost any experience where, and I'm going to say almost because this is not a hundred percent true and I'll explain the caveat. So almost any experience where you can be hands-on with an animal is led with abuse. [00:43:35] Um, so, and I'm, I'm. In South Africa, and this is changing. Thank God that they're changing the laws over there in South Africa, they, they used to have this thing where they would get tourism, tourists to pay big money, to come and raise the orphaned lion Cubs so that they can return them into the wild where what they're actually doing is they're raising these Cubs. [00:43:57] They're getting money income from the tourist [00:44:00] pain to play with these Cubs. And then when the Cubs got big enough, then they would go into canned hunts and they'd be slaughtered. And of course they weren't telling the people that there's also opportunities where you can, um, walk with cheetahs. And again, that these animals are, um, abused and tortured in order to. [00:44:21] Betaine quote, unquote enough to do that paint, brushing with elephants or painting the elephants painting or playing basketball. Um, the pictures I have seen in the stories of the abuse that these animals endure, the whipping, the everything that they go through to learn and to hold a paintbrush and to do these things. [00:44:42] And, and of course there it's being touted as, um, a sanctuary. And it's just not anything that it, if you ever see an, an animal doing something that it is not in its normal repertoire, it's been [00:45:00] abused to do that. And, um, and I say almost always, there are several places that, uh, Where you do have opportunity, um, to, to be a little bit more close, where it truly is a sanctuary and these animals aren't abused. [00:45:17] One is Sheldrick, wildlife trust. Um, routinely also has one in San Bruin is again elephants where they take orphaned baby elephants. And the elephants are orphaned due to poaching, um, human wildlife conflict, or natural deaths. And they raise these babies and then they reintroduce them into the wild and they have this huge success. [00:45:37] And in order to raise money, they do allow people to come and view the babies. And, um, and so there's it in one hand, you're like, oh, is this, is this one of those bad things? Or is this one of those good things? And it's sometimes even for me, I have to do a lot of research. To, to make sure that I'm only supporting the ones that are actually [00:46:00] doing good work and, um, shelter glide, wildlife trust is one in Nairobi, Kenya. [00:46:05] And then, um, drafts center is another one where you can actually feed the giraffes. And again, my normal checklist, that would be an absolute no-no. But because I did the research and I did the homework to know that these are wild drafts, they're accustomed to people. It was it's, um, it's a draft subspecies. [00:46:27] It's very endangered Rothschild giraffe that they had, um, brought in to try and repopulate them. And they do reintroduce them back into the wild. Um, and it's like, what steps are they're taking? What measures are they taking to make sure they're not getting too used to humans? Um, and that we aren't impacting their normal lives. [00:46:45] Like it's not normal for a human to feed a giraffe. So like where is that line? And in some places, the line is a little blurry. Giraffe Centre because they're doing really good work. The animals are not abused [00:47:00] in other places is so it's so crystal clear that this is just bad and such a case as like you pointed out the elephants that are painting, like they are just absolutely abused. [00:47:11] They're performing things. They don't normally perform. Um, when you're feeding the draft giraffe center there they're eating. Like they would normally eat, they're reaching out with their tongue and they're grabbing it as if it were a leaf on a tree, you know? So it's not, they're not doing something that's abnormal taking it out of a human hand. [00:47:28] Yeah. That's abnormal versus an elephant, you know, holding a paintbrush and painting strokes. That's just not normal behavior. So it's it's. Yeah. And I've had to research there's, there's an elephant sanctuary. Um, In Indonesia that I'm interested in and visiting, but I'm still on the fence about whether this is a true sanctuary or not. [00:47:52] And I'm trying to do a lot more research and sometimes it's really hard to know. Um, and, and of course we [00:48:00] don't want to contribute to abuse of any kind. [00:48:05] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Completely and absolutely, totally. And for sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for sure. And it's interesting, uh, many years ago, uh, I was part, uh, I was a volunteer at the national zoo for the golden lion tamarin project and it was reintroducing them into the wild and they weren't in cages. [00:48:24] Right. So, so our job was to, uh, sort of make sure that they're the key where they were was, was okay for them to be, and we would sort of leave food where they might find it, but they weren't in cages. They were above people's heads. Right. And, and sort of running around in, in the trees and along the ropes and things like that to get. [00:48:47] To be used to being outside so that they could be reintroduced back into the wild and south America. What was interesting about that is how much, and I'm not a zoo fan. I will be very honest. I do not. I do [00:49:00] not like zoos animals don't belong in cages. I, that I have to say, but being part of that project for me was eye-opening because the people, the individual people I was working with cared so very much about making sure that these endangered beings would have a real chance at living in the wild. [00:49:21] And that's something that, that we have to remember that that wa as soon as they are, um, in connection with, with human. Beings that that changes. And so I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on rehabilitation or no reintroduction, I guess I would say of animals back into the wild. Can, can that happen in a way that is really safe and good for them? [00:49:51] And, and how do we weigh that if, if not doing the rehabilitation and helping them would just end up in their [00:50:00] deaths? [00:50:01] Lisa Roberti: Yeah. So I'm going to go back to David shelter, wildlife trust out of Nairobi. Um, they have successfully, and I don't know the numbers off the top of my head. I, um, they have successfully reintroduced, I think it's over a hundred elephants. [00:50:20] Um, and. The success stories are incredible because again, they take them when they're babies, they stay in Nairobi national park. When they get, um, Nairobi national park, doesn't have elephants, um, it's too small, but they have these baby elephants that are cared for by humans. And then when they get big, they bring them into, they have three different re-integration units and then it is, they slowly reintegrate themselves into the wild herds. [00:50:49] And again, there's people taking care of them, giving, making sure they're being fed, making sure they're being cared for. And then the wild herds come in and they slowly, um, in some of them can take 10, 15 [00:51:00] year before they, they actually become wild. And it's amazing because now they've had females that have been reintroduced in the wild who have gone off in the wild herds, actually having babies with wild elephants. [00:51:13] And because they supply water sources, a lot of times they will come back. Um, and it's really interesting. And again, this is a huge success story. Um, they've actually had, and again, it goes to the intelligence of wild animals. They've actually had a wild bull who, who was meeting with one of the ex orphan females was speared. [00:51:38] And two of his bull buddies, you know, to show us three male, um, bull elephants actually came into the re-introduction unit looking for help. Wow. [00:51:49] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And, [00:51:49] Lisa Roberti: and of course they were cared for and everything by the veterinarian staff there. Um, so in some cases that, that re-introduction, it's, it it's phenomenal [00:52:00] and they've shown it time and time again, like with elephants it's possible with the monkeys. [00:52:04] I hopefully that, that the tamarins, hopefully that was a success story and that they were able to do that. They've done it with Eagles. They've done it. Um, the, the ones that I've never heard a success story of is, um, predators, because how do you take. And teach it how to hunt. How do you take a Cub and teach it how to hide? [00:52:26] How do you take, you know, and, and I've never heard of a successful, um, re well, actually that's not true. Um, gosh, there's the famous story and I'm, I'm drawing a total blank right now. How can I about the, the man and wife who rescued the three lions? The Cubs? Oh yeah. [00:52:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Three. Yes, yes, yes, [00:52:45] Lisa Roberti: yes. And they, and they successfully reintroduced them into the wild and man, it took them a long, long, long time to do that. [00:52:54] Um, so I think it's, I think, gosh, the more wild animals that, that are [00:53:00] impacted by human wildlife conflict that we can save and bring back into the wild, I man, those people, they have hearts of gold and they work their tails off and they're so passionate and I would love, I would, gosh, I would love to be involved with something like. [00:53:19] Did I answer your question? Yes, [00:53:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: yes, no, you, you, you absolutely did. It's really, you know, that, that, that notion of how, how we, we can participate, but do so in a non invasive way to help these endangered beings that wouldn't be endangered. If not for us anyway, is something that I, I need to. Go further, you know, I need to, personally, I need to, I need to look at that more. [00:53:56] How can we do that in a noninvasive way so that [00:54:00] we're helping and not hurting the wild places and the wild beings that are on those places are in those places. You know? And, and I think it's, I think their names were the, was it the Adamson's Georgia? Yeah. For born free and, and, and there are other, there are other people who spend their lives dedicated to. [00:54:21] You know, preserving these wild places and, and helping animals. So, so it's not, it's not hopeless, but wow. We, we, you know, I think we all could do more to participate in helping, especially since there are people out there who are participating in hurting those places, so, and, and those animals. So we, you know, and, and do you have any recommendations about if somebody wants to get involved and help, uh, do you know of any places that, that someone could go, you know what I would like to get involved in a reputable place that's, that's working to preserve wild places [00:55:00] could be in the USA, could be in other places, doesn't matter. [00:55:02] Where would you send someone? [00:55:05] Lisa Roberti: So a lot of these, um, and this is, this is where it gets really kitschy again, because. A lot of the places, they can't just take regular volunteers, like people, untrained people. Um, there's a lot of reasons for that one day and I'm, and I'm going to use shelter again because they are such a success story. [00:55:31] So they don't want the elephants getting used to people. They get used to their candlers, their keepers, um, and they were specific jackets, specific coats. They all wear the same style and color of coat. They wear the same clothes they wear the same. So the elephants aren't necessarily making a generalization about humans. [00:55:54] So they don't allow. Um, volunteers and, and, and, you know, as a person who wants to, [00:56:00] it's like, oh, come on. But I'm a good person. Just let me come and help. But they, for the safety and the sake of the animals, they can't do that. And there again, there's, there's, there are places that will allow you to volunteer. [00:56:12] Um, and there's, there's a couple companies and I, and I'm sorry, I don't know the name off, off the top of my head. There are a couple of companies that actually set up volunteering, travel, where you actually go and you volunteer. And a lot of them are more for, um, like kids, like schools, like where you can go and volunteer at schools, which is also imperative because the, you know, these children, if they grow up to see the value of the wildlife and the wild places, they're going to help preserve it. [00:56:41] Right. So that's, that part is really also very important, but, um, there's not a lot of hands on true animal volunteering. W really wild places like Africa, Alaska, stuff like that, but that doesn't prevent people from getting involved [00:56:59] Izolda Trakhtenberg: at [00:57:00] home. [00:57:01] Lisa Roberti: Um, you know, there's some great opportunities, like even just like preserving in parks, keeping the parks, clean, volunteering at animal shelters, um, doing that kind of work. [00:57:13] It's hard work and it can be heartbreaking, but it's so rewarding as well. And just, you know, let's start with, and again, I'm a huge Africa. Uh, lover, but, but sometimes we gotta start at home too. Like what can you do at your, your park across the street or across town? Is there something that, that can be done to help preserve that too? [00:57:37] You know, let's do a trash cleanup day. Let's do a, and there's lots of volunteering opportunities at, at animal shelters. Um, but there are a few in, in Africa, um, that, that you can find. Um, but they're, they're not as wide as, as it would be nice if they weren't just because again, for the safety of the animals, they can't just [00:58:00] open it up to. [00:58:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Sure. Absolutely. And I think that the notion of I'm going to go volunteer with animals, you know, that that's something that would take a lot of study and you'd, you'd have to spend a long time getting prepared for that, but there are people, if they have a passion for it that do pursue something like that and, and can eventually, and I think you're absolutely right. [00:58:23] And I agree with you wholeheartedly, this notion that we can do something here, you can do something in your, in your backyard. You can do something in the park, you can do something in the animal shelter. There are lots of ways to participate in elevating awareness and in helping that don't necessarily mean you get on a plane and go to another place. [00:58:42] You could do it across town or even across the street. So I, your, your point is well made and well taken. Lisa, I really appreciate you saying that because yeah, I think we can, we can do it. It doesn't have to be a grand gesture to be a really important. Anyway. Well, it's, [00:58:58] Lisa Roberti: it's like they say, you know, [00:59:00] and I don't remember exactly how the proverb goes. [00:59:02] If that's the right word, you know, walking down the beach and you're throwing one starfish in when there's a thousand starfish and it's like, you can't save them all, but that one act is really important to the one that you did save. [00:59:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Exactly. And the last line of that story is it made a difference to that one. [00:59:17] Yeah. I love that story. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I could keep you here for the next, I don't know how long, because this is fantastic and I really appreciate you taking the time, Lisa and I do know that you have a life to get back to. So I was wondering if you know, you're doing this, this document for all of the, uh, for people who want to plan a safari, what does I think is great, but also if people want to see your photographs and learn more about the work you're doing, would you mind sharing your social channels? [00:59:47] Where could someone who wants to go find you find. [00:59:51] Lisa Roberti: So I'm on Instagram and Facebook. And it's Lisa M as in Mary, just the initial we set em, Roberto, R O B E R T. [01:00:00] I, um, I also have a YouTube channel that I'm just starting out, but I, because I don't have enough followers, I don't have my, my, my pen name yet. [01:00:08] Um, but you can just search for me there. And in there I do a lot of different travel stuff and lodge reviews and, um, things like that. And I'm just starting on, on that. I also have a Facebook group, um, called wildlife travel and con and conservation. Um, and that's a place where I talk about, um, animal conservation laws that are coming up wins. [01:00:29] Um, devastations and also talk all things travel, um, to wildlife, rich places around the world. It's not just Africa, but it's. [01:00:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing. And I'm going to put all of that along with some of Lisa's fabulous photographs on the show notes page. You're going to want to check that out for sure. [01:00:47] And, and learn more about the incredible work Lisa's doing and. Just see the photos. They're so beautiful. I love them. You sent them to me and I'm like, these are awesome. So, [01:01:00] and you know, and, and you have a really amazing, I, I really just, you, you, you are able to capture such life and such spirit in, in every photograph that I've seen you take is wonderful. [01:01:14] Thank you so much, my, oh no, thank you. I appreciate it. Cause I can't go necessarily to Africa, but boy, I'm going to watch you guys. So I, I know that's kind of silly cause I'm going to go to Africa again for sure. And I and Costa Rica. And I want to go back to Alaska. There's so many places, you know, so many places to go, but I want to, I'll always try to do it responsibly. [01:01:36] You know, with enough money to actually go, that's always a good thing. Uh, so I have just one question that I ask everybody who listens to the show. You know, the question, the try, you listen to the podcast. So everyone, everyone who comes on the podcast knows this question. Here's this question? So here it is. [01:01:53] If you had one thing that you wanted to say, because you had an airplane C I T, and [01:02:00] because I'm not thinking about it, I said it wrong. If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? You know, [01:02:08] Lisa Roberti: I, I knew this question was coming. I don't like, ah, and I, and I'm like, what's, what's the few words, cause it's behind an airplane. [01:02:15] So, you know, it's gotta be short, it's sustained. And I'm like, okay. So really the quick short spend time in nature. [01:02:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that it's, it's [01:02:28] Lisa Roberti: simple. It's so important. And it really, I think the more people spend time in nature, the more people will love it. And then people are going to want to preserve it. [01:02:38] Because they're in it and they love it so much. [01:02:41] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Ah, that's a great, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And you will, I mean, the second you spend time breathing chlorophyll, rich air because you're out in your trees, it's going to change you. So I love that. Wow. Thank you so much for that, Lisa. I am so grateful that you took the [01:03:00] time to be here and I'm super excited for people to learn more about you and more about your work. [01:03:05] Thank you so much. Thank [01:03:07] Lisa Roberti: you so much for having me. It was such a pleasure chatting with you and, um, I really appreciate your time. Thank [01:03:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: you. So it was all my pleasure. This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. You obviously need to go check out Lisa birdie and her amazing work and all of the wild places she talked about. [01:03:24] Eventually. I think you should do. You should do that too. If you're liking the show, do me a favor, tell a friend, tell a friend about the show and tell a friend about all of the cool, innovative stuff we're talking about until next time. This is his older Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast, reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and. [01:03:43] A whole lot. [01:03:49] thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. [01:04:00] And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [01:04:07] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. 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Aria McKenna on storytelling and world-changing for the climate and the environment This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. I've used these techniques to get featured in magazines, newspapers, and podcasts. They work! https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4 Aria McKenna is an actress, writer and producer turned climate advocate. She founded Global Cooling Productions and is in development with several mission-driven projects. She trained with Al Gore as part of his Climate Reality Leadership Corps and has studied, worked, and presented with organizations such as The American Sustainable Business Council, Citizens Climate Lobby, American Renewable Energy DAY, EarthX, and the Cooperative Impact Social Innovation Conference. She is currently working with the Healthy Climate Alliance and the Planetary Restoration Action Group to advocate for an emergency three-pronged approach to restore the climate to safe levels. Connect with Aria Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revolutionearth/ Website: https://www.ariamckenna.com/index.html Petition on Climate change  Global Cooling Productions' Patreon  Episode transcript [00:00:00] Aria McKenna: I feel like there is an incredible power in storytelling and that the media can be used to help pull people along and to engage them long enough to get them to have a deeper understanding of the situation. And to care deeply about changing it. [00:00:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:49] I love it and have been using it to write, create, and do some of my deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative [00:01:00] mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word, and now let's get to the show. [00:01:13] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg, I'm your host, and I'm thrilled that you're here. I'm also thrilled and honored and think this is so important. So you need to know that to welcome my guests this week. Aria McKenna is an actress writer and producer turned climate. [00:01:32] Catnip to me, as you know, she founded global cooling productions and is in development with several mission-driven projects. She trained with Al gore as part of his climate reality leadership core and a studied work and presented with organizations such as the American sustainable business council. [00:01:49] Citizens' climate lobby, American renewable energy day, earth X, and the cooperative impact social innovation conference. She's currently working with the healthy climate Alliance and the [00:02:00] planetary restoration action group to advocate for an emergency three pronged approach to restore the climate to safe levels, such important work aria. [00:02:09] I'm so glad that you're here. I'm so glad that you're doing the work that you're doing. Welcome. [00:02:14] Aria McKenna: Thank you so much. It is great to be here. I have really been enjoying doing my research on you and seeing what amazing work you're doing and the commonalities we have with the voiceover background as well. I really love your, oh, [00:02:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: thank you so much. [00:02:32] And we have another commonality. I worked for years for the globe program, which was a, it's a joint NASA NOAA NSF program. K through 12, designed to teach students all about, uh, the environment, the earth. And it was, the idea was started by Al gore in his book earth in the balance. So we sort of have Al gore in common as well. [00:02:53] Oh, [00:02:53] Aria McKenna: wow. I love that. Yeah. I know you've been doing some education. I also did some educational outreach [00:03:00] with the Cleo Institute. Ah, fabulous. [00:03:04] Izolda Trakhtenberg: It's such important work. It really is. And, and, you know, I want to just, I want to jump right in and I mean, obviously this is important work and we know that the G 20 summit is happening at the end of the week in Rome. [00:03:19] So I want to talk to you about what, what importance you think the these countries can play in bringing the climate back to safe level. [00:03:31] Aria McKenna: Yeah, no, thank you. Um, it is absolutely huge and so important that we get countries on the same page together to create a collective action plan that actually has the power to restore the current. [00:03:53] Um, as part of a healthy climate Alliance and the political, the planetary [00:04:00] restoration action group, we are working to help forward the mission of educating people about the difference between climate restoration and reducing climate change to less than two degrees, which right now is what the United nations has agreed to. [00:04:21] So we know that there has been some work in, in this direction. It's wonderful to get countries on board, agreeing to a goal, to deal with the climate. First of all, you know, let's just say that first. Um, but right now their goal is to reach net zero by 2050. And we know that carbon dioxide and methane do not just automatically disappear from the atmosphere on their own. [00:04:55] So we are continuing to put greenhouse gases [00:05:00] in the atmosphere. And so it's going to keep on warming and we know that warming is leading to extreme weather. Uh, what happened with hurricane Ida caused $95 billion. Just that one. So we need investments in turning this around. So what we're advocating for is a three-pronged approach to restoring the climate to safe levels. [00:05:31] Those are levels that are pre-industrial levels that humans have lived safely within for, for some time. So if we actually brought carbon dioxide down to 300 parts per million, then that is actually known to be safe. Uh, right now we've got, uh, three 50 has been a goal where we know that if you go [00:06:00] beyond three 50, it's not safe. [00:06:03] So we actually have the power, not only to reduce our carbon footprint and to reduce the amount of methane we put in the atmosphere, but we actually have the power to draw those greenhouse gases down. And as we draw them down, we help reduce warming. So those are two major steps that need to happen to move us toward climate restoration. [00:06:30] And then the planetary restoration action group has introduced the third step, which is the emergency mitigation that we need to do in response to how quickly the Arctic is melting. So right now we're looking at massive sea level rise, which is a serious environmental injustice situation, especially when it comes to small [00:07:00] nations of Florida is, is, you know, half of Florida is going to be gone. [00:07:05] So we need to deal with sea level rise as well. So if we just have goals to reduce warming, we are not doing anything to reverse sea level rise or to. Or to deal with the, uh, massive injustice that is thrust upon small countries around the world. So we are advocating for a three pronged approach that deals with the emergency situation of an escalating crisis that has completely disrupted our weather systems and led to flooding, uh, droughts, fires, uh, all around the world. [00:07:51] So, um, you know, we really need to change that goal, create a positive vision for the future and to really pull, [00:08:00] pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and create a plan to turn the situation around so that we can have a safe planet for our children. [00:08:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Wow. Um, I'm taking all this in. Cause it's it. And here's the thing I've worked in earth science when I worked at NASA for years. [00:08:24] And so I understand all of this and I, and I get it and yet it's still, it's still overwhelming. And so the thing that I come up against, whenever I'm talking to anybody about climate change and the climate crisis is how do we get people to think long-term about this? Because we can look at today's weather and go, oh, it rained today, but it didn't rain yesterday and it's not going to rain tomorrow. [00:08:50] Those changes are easy. But when we're looking at the climate, we're looking at long-term trends and patterns and how do, how do we come up with, and, [00:09:00] and what are your thoughts on this? How do we come up with innovative ways? To get people to understand the causality there that the climate changing is what's causing some of these extreme weather events and, and wildfires and all of these other catastrophes that you mentioned just a minute ago, how do we get that causality to connect in people's minds? [00:09:27] Aria McKenna: I think that's an excellent question. And I have so many different things that pop into my mind in response to that. Uh, one of them is the importance of keeping these things in people's mind, because exactly what you say. We have these disasters and when it's on the news, people go, oh my God. Wow. Oh, I can't believe that. [00:09:53] And of course, if you're personally affected by it, that that's, that's, uh, affecting you on a whole nother level. Right. [00:10:00] But once it goes away, You go on to other things, you start thinking about other things you think about, you know, what am I going to eat? How am I going to take care of my kids? What am I going to do about these immediate things that are right in front of me? [00:10:16] So we need that kind of long-term engagement that helps to educate people and emotionally charged them to take the kinds of actions that will actually make a difference in the world. Right? So for me, personally, my personal approach to this is that I feel like there is an incredible power in storytelling and that the media can be used to help pull people along and to engage them. [00:10:58] Long enough to [00:11:00] get them to have a deeper understanding of the situation and to care deeply about changing it. So, you know, I've got some projects that I'm working on. I'm not going to go into full detail, but I do want to say that I think that when we tell stories, people, people care about people and they care about their children. [00:11:29] And, and so many people care about the planet that we live on. Right. And that's across political divides. Unfortunately, the issue of climate has absolutely been politicized. There has been a lot of misinformation propagated by the fossil fuel industry and, and other industries that, that gain to profit. [00:11:55] Right? So we're fighting a lot when it comes [00:12:00] to focusing on climate, some people are gonna hop a board, they're gonna get the connections and they're going to take action in response to those connections. But there are other people who might not get the connection ever, honestly, It might take them a lot longer. [00:12:23] And the good news is that I think there are multiple ways in because the same things that are affecting the climate are also affecting our drinking water. They're affecting the air that we breathe. They're creating childhood cancer. They are, uh, affecting people's breathing asthma emphysema. There are so many direct causalities and environmental injustices tied to [00:13:00] the fossil fuel industry. [00:13:02] That I do think that when we educate people about these issues as well, we end up getting double benefits. So I think that the, one of the things that's difficult with us when it comes to the news cycle is you talk about how many people are affected when it's a statistic. And when it's an overwhelming statistic, we shy away from it. [00:13:26] It feels overwhelming. There's nothing we can do about it. But if you tell a story about one person and how they're affected, and people care about that person and they can make connections to their own lives and how they're being affected that I think has more power when it comes to. Energizing people and inspiring people to make personal changes. [00:13:55] Does that make sense? [00:13:57] Izolda Trakhtenberg: It does. It does. Absolutely. It's [00:14:00] just the thing that, the thing that I'm concerned about as I think about what you're saying, and as I take it in is, again, that notion of, if somebody is going through surviving through a hurricane, are they going, oh, well this is due to climate change or are they going, oh, let me get to higher ground or lower ground or whatever it is I need to do to protect myself and my family. [00:14:24] Right. And then later that connection that you're talking about has to be restated or reinforced because they might not know. And so what do we do? Oh, hold on one sec. [00:14:44] I had to cough there for a second. Didn't want to cough. What do we do? To, I don't want to say befriend, but to align with these industries that traditionally either don't [00:15:00] care or don't see that, that the work that they're doing is causing. These grave and big changes on a planetary scale, right? The fossil fuel industry, isn't going anywhere for the foreseeable future. [00:15:15] Is there a way in your mind to get them to change their practices? I mean, I know farmers who are stopping doing dairy production, cow, you know, keeping cows and cows are some of the biggest methane producers. And there've been new farmers in the news recently that have said, you know what, I'm going completely vegan. [00:15:37] I'm just going to go to plant farming, things like that are happening. Do you think it is possible for the fossil fuel industry to pivot? And if so, what would it take for them to start looking at new ways, more sustainable ways of treating our home planet? Kind of. [00:15:56] Aria McKenna: Well, I think that's where the [00:16:00] international community comes in for one thing right now. [00:16:04] So many governments are subsidizing the fossil fuel industry to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. Right? [00:16:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: So, [00:16:14] Aria McKenna: and they're not giving the same kinds of funds to clean energy in general, you know, at least in this country, it's not par or it hasn't been in the past. So those are things that we need to change. [00:16:29] And fortunately, the cost for electric, uh, you know, uh, solar energy, wind, energy, electrification, all of these things, the costs have gone down so much that right now, there is so much financial incentive to actually change their ways. So it's actually, I'm trying to remember where I had read this. Oh shoot. [00:16:58] There was, um, [00:17:00] a recent, there was, there was a meeting and it had to do with the fossil fuel industry and they actually ended up coming to the conclusion. There were some, oh, I don't know if I tell the story properly. I'm sorry. Um, but, but the bottom line, I'll just say that they had come to the conclusion. [00:17:21] They realized that it was no longer in their financial benefit to continue business as usual. And there were some stakeholders who actually drew a line and said, no, we have to change. [00:17:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that I, that gives me some hope. It really does, you know, and you know, it's interesting what you were saying about, I have so many questions. [00:17:43] Uh, well, you were saying about storytelling is so true that if that, if we talk about, uh, climate change on a, on a global scale, or even on a city scale, when I work with kids and we'll talk about, uh, Cape town and then breaching getting very close to date day zero, where they [00:18:00] have no more water supplies and they, they keep pushing it back because the rain comes just enough. [00:18:07] The kids themselves, I was working. Remember I was working with a bunch of sixth graders. They got it. And then they went, can we ship water to. And it was a really interesting question, because then we talked about what it would take, the, the resources it would take to ship water from at this point, this was Washington DC to Cape town, South Africa. [00:18:28] And could we ship enough and all of that. And, and so talking about these stories, got the kids really interested in what they could do. They're tomorrow's decision makers. And I know that you, as you said, love stories and you started as an actor and you've transformed your mission. It sounds like to tell stories about the planet about climate. [00:18:52] And I'm just wondering, how did that happen? What made you go from I'm a performer [00:19:00] on stage or screen to I'm an advocate and an activist on behalf of the planet and the. [00:19:07] Aria McKenna: Yeah. No, thank you. Um, I'm I'm glad you asked that. Um, I'll just say to, to start off, I'll say that I grew up in Florida and Florida is absolutely beautiful. [00:19:24] I'm I'm I'm partial. Okay. We've got these incredible beautiful crystal clear Springs. We've got these incredible lakes. It's, it's a water place. Obviously we're a peninsula. I grew up in the water, swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Uh, so these things are really important to me. I've always loved nature. Uh, it it's been a solace to me, so I actually was, you know, play, uh, down in key west. [00:19:54] I was playing Betty in summers in, in, uh, Betty summer vacation [00:20:00] and I was Snoopy diving. Um, and a, a diving, Snoopy diving. It's amazing. You don't have to get a scuba diving certificate. All you, you can be in your bathing suit and you put a snorkel on and the snorkel goes all the way up and it connects to a boat that's filled with oxygen. [00:20:25] So you just breathe the air and the boat just, it's like a little raft and it floats above you. So you can go way down. And I was exploring, uh, the world's third largest coral reef there. It was so beautiful. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life to be down there and to feel like a fish. [00:20:47] It was, it was incredible. And I was down for about a half an hour. And when I came up, I just was like, oh my God, I'm so affected by this. This was so beautiful. [00:21:00] So incredible. And the guy. Told me that the water, her warming, he's the first person who told me about global warming. And he said that those coral reefs were dying because of the warming oceans. [00:21:20] And it just devastated me. I couldn't believe that something like this was going to be wiped out and I'd always wanted to have a daughter. It was just one of those things that was in me. And I remember that was one of my first thoughts was someday when I do have a daughter, is she going to be able to experience this? [00:21:46] This is something I would love to share with my kids, but this, this could be gone by that. So that just affected me a lot. And, but I, I went on, I did the [00:22:00] play, I moved to New York city. I started my career and moved there right before September 11th, which was a pretty intense time. Um, but the entire time I was up in New York and I remember there was the Gulf oil spill that happened, and that was absolutely devastating. [00:22:22] And meanwhile, being up in Brooklyn, I found I was having a lot of difficulty breathing, uh, because of all the traffic and, uh, you know, just the, the air pollution. And there was an oil spill up in the Queens area and I was living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and every time I went over to the water, I struggled to breathe just because of that. [00:22:47] So I had health repercussions and. I also simultaneously was seeing the Gulf of Mexico be absolutely devastated and destroyed. And that was my childhood [00:23:00] playground, you know, so just seeing so much, you know, my health being robbed by the fossil fuel industry, uh, the devastation and the goal, knowing, you know, seeing sea turtles that I knew were, were being devastated by, uh, the, the horrible oil spill. [00:23:20] So just the passion kept building in me. And, you know, after I moved to New York, I also had my daughter, my daughter Phoenix was, was born, um, after I moved to New York. So of course, as a mom, your sense of responsibility for the world that they're living in. Just becomes so much greater. So it, you know, it was a struggle back and forth for some time. [00:23:51] And I just, it just, I was getting work in TV and [00:24:00] I just started feeling like, what is the impact of the work that I'm doing? This is not having the impact that I want to have. I felt like I was being cast in things that just perpetuated fear in people and that didn't really have lasting redeeming value. [00:24:20] And then what was most important to me was to have a safe planet for my daughter into the future. And I felt like I just needed to stop standing on the sideline and I needed to get involved and I needed to figure out what it was that I could do. And so in that process, that's when I had this epiphany and I was like, you know, what, what if I created a TV series that. [00:24:48] Uh, dug into these issues that focus on the issues that matter to me and give me that opportunity to create work that I could [00:25:00] really be proud of. And so, but I didn't know nearly as much as I know now then. And so that started a process of, okay, I've got a research, I've got to learn a lot in order to be able to create the series. [00:25:16] And the series that I was working on is, is very much focused on what could that beautiful future world look like if we could turn this around. And so I had to do research into what would it take in order to. Transform this horrible trajectory that we're on right now and turn it into a much more positive trajectory. [00:25:47] So that's when I started, uh, trained with Al gore, I did the climate reality leadership Corps and that just led to all kinds of other things. And I think one of the things that has been, [00:26:00] uh, really inspiring and taught me a lot is working with the American renewable energy day. It's like a week long summit. [00:26:09] Uh, I went there, I had been invited to be on a panel, um, and. There are so many people they're doing incredible work. People who really need to be supported as well. And that's really where I learned what it would actually take technologically scientifically all the fat. Um, and then of course, we've got the cultural and the society, uh, aspects as well in order to support the types of leadership decisions that we need. [00:26:43] Um, and the industrial decisions that we need. Um, you know, sorry. So I've learned a lot in the process, so that's, that's basically where that started. [00:26:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Wow. I, you know, those kinds of things, [00:27:00] those kinds of epiphany's obviously it changed, it changed the trajectory of your life and it's changed how, how you're working in the world, which I, which I think is incredible and amazing. [00:27:13] And I love and. I keep coming back to this. How do we do it? You know, you're a storyteller. What, what role do you see? Art storytelling, music playing in change, opening minds, changing minds. I'm not sure exactly what the right way of asking the question is, but I mean, music makes me cry on a regular basis. [00:27:39] It can also inspire me. How can, how can music do it? How can storytelling do it? How can art do it? How can we use them to inspire people, to look at the earth and the climate in a different way than they otherwise might? [00:27:59] Aria McKenna: I think the [00:28:00] important part of it is that they help us to reconnect with our humanity and that ultimately caring about the planet, caring about the next generations, caring about other people on the planet. [00:28:16] You know, we need to be connected to our humanity, to our hearts in order to care enough, to do some lifting, you know, to understand that, you know, honestly, our, our personal choices are connected to this, but also what's really important is who we vote for. Um, You know, we, we need leadership. That's going to take us in the right direction and we need an educated populace in, in that. [00:28:53] So, you know, my, my part of it, when it comes to storytelling, um, I'll just talk about, without going into too [00:29:00] many details, I'll say that I have a character in, um, one of the main stories that I'm really looking for, that I, that I started working on back then, that I'm in development process with, uh, that character, first of all, is a conservative. [00:29:19] So that is, you know, a party that, uh, unfortunately there are some people within the conservative party who have been spreading a lot of climate denial. And so she starts the story off this as being really uncertain. She doesn't know what to believe and, and what to think, but she's an intelligent, compassionate, human being. [00:29:44] And so as that character gets educated, that also educates the public. Um, and I'm, I'm hoping that we've created a character that a lot of people are going to be able to identify with as [00:30:00] well and care about. Um, I think when people can see themselves in somebody else, then that helps open their heart up to another way of thinking and having some compassion, uh, getting over their prejudgments. [00:30:22] And so. I feel like that's really important to me in the storytelling as well is to create characters that both sides can identify with and not to paint people of the conservative party, for instance, in a bad light to, to understand that we're all human beings and that we all have our strengths. We all have our weaknesses and we all have room to grow. [00:30:59] You know, [00:31:00] we have opportunities for redemption. And so, so, so that's, that's one way in that I really personally identify with, and that I'm really looking forward to getting out there and being able to move to fruition where I can have some, some deeper, more public conversations about the details of the story that I've, that I've been building. [00:31:26] But I do think that also on a personal level, the more individuals start having those conversations about their own experiences, the way they're effected by the climate prices, the way they are affected by pollution, et cetera, and the things that they are personally doing in order to turn this around, hopefully that also will help give people that impetus and help bring people together at a time where people are unfortunately incredibly divided. [00:31:58] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, absolutely. [00:32:00] They, they, they, there is this incredible division. Among, uh, people who believe one way, people who believe in other way, but, but the sort of looking at it, it's funny coming back to Al gore and inconvenient truth, looking at the objective truth, we can look at the numbers and save things have been happening. [00:32:18] They've been happening, especially in the last 50 years. Looking at the global mean temperature change since 1870 to today is that it's the numbers tell a very stark story. And yet if you say to me that, uh, the UN or the G 20, whoever it is said, oh, we're going to be okay with a two degree, uh, rise in temperatures where we're looking at it for that. [00:32:48] Then how, because I, if I'm, if I'm somebody who doesn't know two degrees doesn't seem a lot, but it is right. It changed so much changes even with that two degrees. [00:33:00] So how do we get that? Notion across that, that any change going up is going to make a lot of difference, not only to us, but to the plants and, and the animals and all of the ecosystems on the planet. [00:33:21] Aria McKenna: That is an excellent question. I really appreciate that. I think that, well, for one thing, you know, let's be clear, it's not two degrees Fahrenheit. It's two degrees Celsius, which is a bigger number, but also unfortunately there have been. So many natural disasters that we've been seeing lately. And fortunately, they are finally starting to talk about it on the news. [00:33:55] It has taken so long to get them to this point where they're [00:34:00] actually speaking about it in solid terms for so long, we've had, you know, 98% consensus on manmade, global warming, and yet they've been presenting it as if it's a 50 50 concept. And we're really not sure let's talk someone who thinks this and someone who thinks that and give them equal weight in the discussion. [00:34:22] And, and of course they don't have equal weight. So we know that. Um, so fortunately some of the mainstream news narrative is finally starting to change. I really wish they had done this a long time ago. Sure. But I am hoping that that does make an impact. I think that the awareness and the concern about these issues definitely is on the rise. [00:34:49] And as more people are affected by it, and mainstream news media is starting to have more conversations about this. Hopefully that's definitely going to help people [00:35:00] understand, okay, we're starting to experience this right now. You know, I have a crop. This crop is dying because it's not getting enough water. [00:35:08] Or I have a crop it's completely devastated because we experienced this flooding. I mean, the flooding up in New York city that happened recently, I could not believe how quickly that came back came, came down. Hmm. I mean, it was insane to watch a video of someone who started filming outside their window, just as it kind of started. [00:35:38] And within a matter of minutes, they had cars just starting to float away on the street right next to them and bang into houses next to them. So I think that unfortunately it is taking a real life, wake up call in order to get people to pay attention. [00:36:00] So they're going to need to start connecting the dots with who they vote for the policies that they support and start taking some more responsibility in how people show up to the voting polls in order to make a difference for their children's future for one thing. [00:36:16] But, you know, let's be clear. It's not just our children's future. Our future, it's our present. It's our, now it's everything. It's our food systems. It's our health. It's, [00:36:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: uh, [00:36:31] Aria McKenna: you know, when you have people, you have, you know, I read some time ago about a bacteria that because of the warming started affecting these cows and they just keeled over. [00:36:48] I mean, just, I will check it, remember the exact number. It was like hundreds or thousands of cows that just died because of the heat. So these types of things are happening. [00:37:00] And we just need to shine more of a light on it. My friend, Betsy Rosenberg, uh, actually has something that she's working on called green TV. [00:37:12] Uh, just wanna throw that out there too, because she's been trying for years and years to get the mainstream news media to pay more attention and start covering climate on more of a regular basis. And now she's having the opportunity to have those conversations to start shining a light on the things that are happening and on the. [00:37:32] Solutions that we have at our fingertips and the people and the companies who are working to forward those solutions. So you may just need to put a lot more support behind those solutions, stop funding and fueling and supporting all of the things that are contributing to the problem. Start voting for politicians who are actually gonna make a difference. [00:37:53] And then people who are into agriculture. This is one of the things that I love so much [00:38:00] is that regenerative farming and getting rid of industrial agriculture has. Enormous potential for being able to draw down carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. And then it has the by-product of making the soil healthier, making them more resilient to droughts and floods, uh, helping to regulate our weather systems. [00:38:32] I mean, it's, it's like a miracle, but the other thing that it does is when you're not using the industrial fertilizers, then you don't have this, this runoff with. So what happens is with industrialized agriculture, they're using. These chemicals that actually contribute to global warming just through the creation of produce even is [00:39:00] contributing to global warming because of industrial agriculture. [00:39:03] But if you have regenerative farming techniques, then when we are growing our produce, not only are we reducing our carbon footprint, but when it rains, we don't have as much runoff. And the runoff that occurs is not putting fertilizers into our waterways. Those, the fertilizers that go into our waterways, then go down into the oceans. [00:39:25] The Gulf of Mexico right now has fish kills thousands of miles long. Because of industrial fertilizers that have made its way from agricultural systems into the waterways and created massive algae blooms that have absorbed all the oxygen and killed our wildlife, killed our fish. So that affects fishing industry. [00:39:50] Which affects the economy, which affects people's food supplies. So it's a big circle. And the more we understand that circle [00:40:00] and we understand what the solutions are, the more people will get on board and say, yes, of course, I'm going to switch my farm to being a regenerative farm system. That's more compassionate, more humane creating food that has more vitamins, more nutrients in it. [00:40:19] And that basically makes me happier because it's, it's a system that's more respectful of nature and its systems, and that can take care of itself better. It's it's wonderful. Really, the more we learn. [00:40:39] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah. Before we started, before we started recording this episode, I said that to you didn't I was like, yeah, I'm going to be saying yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely. To pretty much everything you say. It's interesting though, the soil is a carbon sink and we get that. I understand the soil as a carbon sink and certainly global climate [00:41:00] change with the permafrost melting. [00:41:02] There's a lot more methane and CO2 being released back up into the atmosphere. So there, there, there, I, your point is well taken that it's a cycle we can look at. Uh, animals versus plants breathing, right? Plants breathe in CO2, breathe out oxygen. We breathe in oxygen and breathe out CO2. So there's a lot of, there are a lot of these systems, these cycles that go on and I make no secret of the fact that I'm vegan. [00:41:25] So thinking about the notion of the fish in the ocean, I want to leave the fish in the ocean there. And I understand that there are that there are industries that, that, um, that slaughter animals and, and have animals as part of the food and eating process. And yet when we're talking about some of these processes, like regenerative, agriculture, and planting for the soil that you have, rather than the soil that you want so that you don't need fertilizer, we're talking about [00:42:00] a real shift. [00:42:01] Right. We, in order, in order to shift our awareness and our focus to looking at the biome, looking at the bias, fear, the whole planet and seeing what needs to happen, what we need to do to make these changes. It takes, it takes a, it takes a massive shift in the minds of everybody, people who farm and people who eat. [00:42:24] And if we're not farmers, we're all eaters. So how do we do that? Right? What can, what can an average person do? And you said vote and that's great. But today, right now, if I am Jane Q public, and I want to start doing something, what's your thought, what, what can I do right now today to make a difference? [00:42:47] Aria McKenna: That's an excellent question. Um, I mean, for me personally, I think the biggest difference you can make is that if you can, uh, switch to solar panels, if you can. [00:43:00] Get off your gas, guzzler and switch to an electric vehicle. Uh, those are the types of things that of course make a really big impact. Uh, you get to dramatically cut your carbon footprint, and I've certainly heard people out there say, oh, but you know, there's problems with, with battery storage. [00:43:23] And there is, there are, it's not perfect. There, there are costs to mining. There are issues, but on the whole, you are still making a dramatic impact, not only on your carbon footprint, but you're also reducing dependence on something that is constantly polluting. So to create that initial device, there can be some costs to that, but then once you've got it made, it's just constantly generating electricity without continuing.[00:44:00] [00:44:00] To add to the problem while that electricity is being generated. So it's a, it's a huge shift in the right direction. Um, I do, I'm going to be perfectly transparent here. I was vegan for seven years and I created, I developed, created, I developed some. Issues. And so I had to stop being vegan. So for me personally, I think they're just, people have different bodies and need different things. [00:44:28] And I hated it so much when I was told I had to start eating meat again, and I, and I fought against it, but I did start feeling better after I made that switch. So that's for me. And so, because of that, I'm so supportive of regenerative agriculture as well, because not only is it much more compassionate to the animals, but it also drastically reduces the carbon [00:45:00] footprint of those animals. [00:45:02] When you do eat. If, if you are a mediator, so you can reduce your consumption and you can also be really conscious of where that food comes from, whether it's produce or whether it is animal and, uh, how that food is treated. It's not, uh, easy necessarily to find all those sources, but grass fed for instance, is definitely better than something that isn't grass fed. [00:45:32] Uh, you know, so that those are the personal choices that I, that I've had to make. Um, so yeah, uh, and also of course, recycling makes a difference. It's not being utilized at the scale that it really should be utilized at. But you definitely just want to have that consciousness, you know, the whole reduce, reuse, recycle, uh, that does make a [00:46:00] difference. [00:46:00] And I'm not sure what else to say there right now. [00:46:05] Izolda Trakhtenberg: It is interesting. Isn't it? When, when, when someone says, Hey, what do you think puts you on the spot? It can be a little bit challenging, but at the same time, if we were to make some of these things habits, it would change today, but it would also change in the longterm. [00:46:21] And one of the things that I advocate for is very simple. When you wash your hands, get your hands wet. Turn off the faucet. Don't keep the water running, you know, simple things like that. Every, I think it's every minute the water runs down the sink. It's eight, it's eight gallons of water. That's crazy to me. [00:46:39] I know it's crazy. We can, we can do the same when we're brushing our teeth. We can water our plants, uh, in the evening or in the early morning before the water will evaporate because of the sunshine. There's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff that you can do today right now. Yeah. That won't make that won't make a, [00:47:00] a huge dent in your time, but will make a huge dent in saving water, for example. [00:47:07] Aria McKenna: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It's it's that thing or the more, you know, the more you're able to do, and there are so many different areas that are affected by this. So in general, like one of the areas I think is really important is just being a conscious consumer, learning about the companies that. Bye from. [00:47:27] There are some companies that are, you know, have zero waste facilities that are powered a hundred percent by clean electricity when they are operating. Uh, you know, so things like that make a, make a huge difference. Just reading, reading, reading, uh, and buying glass containers instead of plastic, whenever possible, those types of [00:48:00] choices make it make a big difference. [00:48:02] Not wasting papers. You know, things [00:48:06] Izolda Trakhtenberg: like that. Absolutely. There, I mean, there are things, you know, maybe what I'll do is put together a list of certain things and put them in the, in the show notes. So that if you're interested in knowing more about the things you can do right now today to start making a difference, you'll have them in the show notes. [00:48:22] If you're listening to this, I do want to ask you something aria that I, that you mentioned something that I was like, oh, this is so cool because I don't tend to have a very I'm, I'm an optimist, but I don't tend to have a very positive vision for the future, unless things change drastically. And you said that a positive visit vision of the future is something that you want to promote that it's possible. [00:48:43] And so I was wondering how. Can that happen? How can a positive vision, because I don't know if you know who Wendy Hapgood is. She is the co-founder and director of the wild tomorrow fund. And she was on the podcast a few weeks ago, and she was talking about the same thing that, that we want to be [00:49:00] looking at a positive vision for the future, as a way of, of bringing more people into awareness about, about where we are with wildlife and the planet and, and the environment and climate. [00:49:13] What do you think that a positive vision for the future can do to mobilize people and, and to, to sort of bring all of us out of a certain sense of apathy and hopelessness? Excellent [00:49:27] Aria McKenna: question. [00:49:28] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Um, [00:49:31] Aria McKenna: um, well, I mean, I, you, you said it for, at first, I mean, whenever you're feeling hopelessness, that obviously does create a sense of apathy, which disempowered. [00:49:44] Right. And unfortunately the environmental movement for some time in order to make people aware of what a serious situation we're in, the environmental movement has painted some pretty dire pictures of the [00:50:00] direction we're heading, because unfortunately that has been the direction that we're heading. So they've been perfectly honest and they've been trying to mobilize people through fear. [00:50:09] And I think that's very understandable, but unfortunately it hasn't been yet. And I think it's done more to turn people away from the movement because people don't want to be bombed out. We're we're living in a very overwhelming world right now. There are a lot of things to be concerned about and to be afraid of. [00:50:32] I hate to say that, but, but it's true. So when you add one more thing to it, and it's something that seems a little far down the road, it's, it's not going to be as important to you, or you're going to turn away from it because you're trying to protect your health. You know, you're trying to protect your mental health. [00:50:50] So I it's, it's a shame, but I think that has been the direction we have gone. And that's been the reason why we haven't been as successful as we [00:51:00] absolutely need to be. So. It does take some concerted effort to change that dynamic. And so there were two things I'm involved with that I think are helping to move things in the right direction. [00:51:14] And one is the work with the healthy climate Alliance and with the planetary restoration action group, because they are focused on changing the goal of the United nations from let's reduce the devastating warming that we're experienced to something that might be survivable. If we're lucky to let's actually restore the planet, let's restore the climate. [00:51:38] Let's create something that we can be proud of to hand down to our next generation. We have to focus on what we want when we're creating those goals. And fortunately they have enough scientists. They have enough technology to have enough understanding to create a strategy. To actually deal with that. [00:51:59] [00:52:00] And to be honest with what kind of strategy it is that we need in order to turn this thing around. So, you know, so that's, that's one thing, um, I just wanted to say really quickly, uh, Peter for Koski has been such an inspiration to me. He's the one who brought me into the healthy climate Alliance. And he founded the foundation for climate restoration and he's one of the most optimistic, hopeful guys that I know who happens to be in the environmental movement. [00:52:31] And so that's been incredibly helpful to me because I think that being an environmentalist can be incredibly difficult. Sometimes there have definitely been times I've felt that kind of apathy and futility and frustration and fear about the direction we're heading. Yeah. So, um, so, so that's one thing I just wanted to say that I think that the work that they're [00:53:00] doing is incredibly important to it adequately understands the danger of the situation that we're in while also creating a vision for the future by changing our goals. [00:53:12] To let's reduce it from less, let's reduce damage to let's prevent let's restore let's regenerate. Let's get our ecosystems back. Let's focus on the natural systems, the technological systems, everything it is that we can do to help turn this situation around and respect the earth and protect our environment. [00:53:36] So I think that's incredibly important. And then the other thing is that through storytelling, that's what I'm focused on with, with revolution earth, with my TV series is to, uh, have an equal recognition of the dangerous situation we are currently in while also creating a beautiful, hopeful vision [00:54:00] for the future that we can all work [00:54:01] Izolda Trakhtenberg: toward. [00:54:06] I feel like going and seen. Wow. Yes, yes, absolutely. I that's just lovely and I can't wait. I can't wait to, uh, to, to watch revolution earth when it comes out. That's going to be amazing. Uh, thank you, aria. I'm so, so grateful that you took the time to. Beyond the show and to talk about what, obviously to me is a very crucial and critically important subject climate change and, and saving the planet. [00:54:37] Let's face it let's, you know, and, and actually, you know, it's interesting to me is that it's not saving the planet. The planet will be fine for another four and a half to 5 billion years. It's not the planet we're saving. The planet has gone through lots of changes. It's the plants and the animals that live on the planet, including us, that we are working to save. [00:54:55] And that's something that we need to keep in mind. Whenever we say, save the earth. Now the [00:55:00] earth will be fine. I'm selfish. I want the planet for, for me, for my cats, for the elephants, for the tigers, for the dolphins, for the birds, for the plants, for all of us. And, and I want it to be healthy for that. [00:55:14] Cause the planet, the earth will be fine for billions more years. So it's interesting to me that we think about it in those terms and it's important and I'm so glad that you're doing. To tell these stories, aria it's. So it's crucial. And, and I think it's going to be critical to our survival. So I'm, I'm grateful to you. [00:55:34] And I, I, I wanted to, if you wouldn't mind, uh, people learn differently and I know all of the information about where people can find you is going to be in the show notes, but I'd love it. If you would just list where people can find Arya, McKenna, and the incredible work that she's done. [00:55:49] Aria McKenna: Uh, thank you so much is older. [00:55:52] Uh, first of all, really great to be on the show. I'm so happy to meet you so impressed with the work that you are doing. [00:56:00] And, um, so yeah, I would say, please go to global cooling productions.com. You can learn more about the production company that I am launching in order to, uh, produce these projects that I'm working on. [00:56:18] And I would really appreciate it. If you went and supported my. Patrion page as well, which is going to be in the show notes and, uh, yeah. And, and reach out to me on Facebook, uh, you know, just all those links that will be below. Please do I appreciate the follows, uh, any contributions that that can be made would be greatly appreciated to help continue the work and, uh, yeah, just thank you so much for having me on the show and we will be putting together and open. [00:56:59] [00:57:00] As well, we don't have the site up point yet. Uh, but by the time this episode airs, there probably should be an open letter online, uh, to support, uh, that would go to members of the and also, uh, various world leaders at cop 26. So we really would love to get some, some public support for changing the international goals from less reduced, dangerous warming. [00:57:32] To less actually restore the climate and utilize the technology and the organizations that are already out there that are already existing, that are doing amazing work to restore the soil, restore the oceans, uh, through ocean permaculture, to reduce ocean acidification and help draw down downward carbon dioxide there. [00:57:53] Um, you know, there's so much that can be done that is being done by amazing people and [00:58:00] going there and supporting means so much to, to all of us and to our children. [00:58:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And that is that. Yes, absolutely. And there's, this is something that you and I talked about before. I feel a little bit like I'm about to shill for you, but I'm going to do it anyway. [00:58:18] You and I talked about this before we started recording the episode and that is that people who do the work that you're doing on behalf of the climate, or about, uh, on behalf of wildlife or on behalf of the plants or whatever it is trying to restore, trying to save, trying to nourish and nurture. A lot of people think, oh yeah, I'm doing it for the love of the game. [00:58:41] And other people will say, yes, you're doing it for the love of the game. Good for you. But honestly, let's, let's be very real. You still have to pay your rent, even if you're doing it for the love of the game, you still got to buy Catlett or at least I do. So, uh, I feel a little bit like this is a telethon, but it isn't so seriously if [00:59:00] it, you know, when you, if you're listening to this and you're kind of going, oh, should I have that latte? [00:59:06] That that latte could go to, uh, to some, to some activists, somewhere who was doing the work that will help all of us. That's something to think about. And, uh, I'm gonna, I'm going to shut my mouth on that now, but it's something that I really I've been thinking a lot more about recently that notion of, for the love of the game does not mean you are independently wealthy. [00:59:27] So anyway, [00:59:29] Aria McKenna: thank you. I absolutely. Yes, this is [00:59:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: true. Absolutely. I mean, it, it just is we're, you know, those of us, uh, who shine the light, like me and, and other people I know who are in the podcasting space, for example, you know, we ha I have an opportunity to talk to people like you who are doing this incredible work, but I always feel like. [00:59:47] Yay. And you know, you aria and I, and in so many of us, uh, so many other activists in one way or another, still have to buy cat food. Uh, so anyway, uh, but I, I have just [01:00:00] one more question cause, cause you and I could keep talking and talking and talking to you and you'll have to come back after the launch of the whole global cooling productions or maybe when, when revolution earth comes out. [01:00:10] I'd love to have you back to talk about it some more. I have. Oh good. Yay. I have one more question that I ask everybody who comes on the show and it's a silly question, but I find that it yields some profound answers. And the question is this. If you had an airplane, a, an, uh, an environmentally friendly airplane, uh, that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say. [01:00:36] Oh, [01:00:37] Aria McKenna: bye. That is a fantastic question. How to answer that? Oh my goodness. Um, geez and environmentally friendly airplane. First of all, that would be fantastic. I'm looking forward to that. Um, you know, it's, [01:01:00] it's interesting. This is going to sound, I feel like this is going to really sound [01:01:05] Izolda Trakhtenberg: hokey. I love hope. [01:01:08] Aria McKenna: I just, I feel like what connects all of this, the work that we're doing is, is just fueled by, by love, you know, love for self love for others. [01:01:24] Love for the planet, the, you know, the animals, the ecosystems. If there was a way to just kind of spread that and, and connect people more deeply to, uh, uh, a constant sense of love and appreciation. I don't know if there are three words, you know, words that I could put up there that would just make that magically happen. [01:01:51] Um, but you know, love yourself and, and, and love others, you know, and the more [01:02:00] we can connect with that, I think the more compassionate we are and the more we can hear each other, uh, the more, hopefully we'll be able to come together and start working together again to make the world a better place. I don't know if there are words that magically make that happen, but I do feel like that's what connects all of this. [01:02:23] And hopefully something that everyone can agree on. [01:02:27] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Totally. I, I agree with you and the words that came to me when you were talking were two words and it was just, they were just spread love, spread love, man. Oh yeah. I love that though. That's what I, when, when you were talking, I'm like, oh, I think she's talking about spreading love. [01:02:43] I think that's great. Thank you. Yeah, my pleasure. My pleasure. Normally I don't, I don't come up with these answers, but there are times when they pop me on the head when Edna, the librarian who lives in my head, pops me on the head goes, this is what you were thinking. Okay, great. Thanks Edna. [01:02:59] Aria McKenna: So anyway, [01:03:00] thank you. [01:03:00] All right. So [01:03:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: REO, once again, thank you so much. I appreciate you being on the show. [01:03:08] Aria McKenna: Oh, thanks. Thank you so much for having such a pleasure to speak with you and also to explore all your wonderful resources that you have. Yeah. Thank you. I [01:03:21] Izolda Trakhtenberg: appreciate that. I, yes, I have many resources go to the website is all the t.com. [01:03:26] You will find them all. This is the innovative mindset podcast. If you've enjoyed the episode and I am sure you have, first of all, remember to turn off your water while you're washing your hands. That's very important. Get involved and. Much more involved and really pay attention to the work that aria is doing. [01:03:46] She's doing some incredible work. She, and those like her are doing some incredible work. So please get involved with that. If you're enjoying the show, tell a friend, subscribe to it, have them subscribe. Let's all. Talk about how we can be innovative [01:04:00] to move into this new and uncertain future stronger and better together until next time. [01:04:06] This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast, reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [01:04:19] thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [01:04:37] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg in his copyright 2021 as always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.[01:05:00]

In this week's show, I explore how slowing down can help you get more productive and creative. It's counterintuitive, I know. We tend to think that to achieve more, we have to do more. But oh my stars, that isn't always true. Do you have to do something? Sure. Do you have to do everything? Nope. Here's how you can get more attention so you can give more attention. First, try the one-minute breathwork assessment. Try it for a week. Note how you feel before you do this 53-second exercise and then note how you feel afterward. You can find the video on the Back To Basics Meditation page. You'll also find a link to an easy little assessment you can do for yourself. You'll see the proof with your own eyes. It's super easy. Click the link to the document. Make a copy of it for your own use (Go to File and select Make a Copy) Enter how you feel (the date and time will appear automatically right next to your feeling). Do the super short activity video. Enter how you feel (the date and time you do it will appear again) After a week or two, evaluate the difference. I'm betting you'll see one. Here's what the document looks like. Get in touch and let me know what differences you notice in how you feel before and after. I'd love to hear from you. Connect with me https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ https://www.instagram.com/innovativemindsetpodcast/ https://twitter.com/IzoldaT https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ https://IzoldaT.com https://podcast.izoldat.com Episode Transcript [00:00:00] That's one of the best reasons to slow down. You begin to notice things again, instead of letting them streak by you. You actually have enough attention to pay attention. [00:00:16] Hello, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM, brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:36] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do. Deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word. And now let's get to the show.[00:01:00] [00:01:01] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg, I'm super thrilled that you're here and I'm excited to talk to you about this week's topic. It's about a surprising thing that you can do to increase your overall productivity, creativity, and sense of wellbeing. And here's the surprising thing it's slowing down. [00:01:25] I believe that we're so busy with what we should be doing, that we don't really think about what we want to be doing. And I'm recording this episode the day after the big Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram crash, or whatever it is that happened. And it was amazing to me how often mindlessly, I was going to Facebook and to Instagram to check in, even though I knew. [00:01:50] But there was nothing going on there that there was nobody that the sites were down, but it didn't seem to matter. There was a mindless sort of, oh, let me see what's going on. [00:02:00] And so when I slowed down a little bit and started thinking about it, it changed a lot. For me, it changed how I was looking at. [00:02:10] Downtime, slowing down time. And, and the question to ask is what if you took that time, how would it be? What might you do if you were slowing down? Would it be okay? Does it work. Are you feeling pressured and pushed into directions? You don't want to go and therefore don't really take the time. Right. So, so let me ask you, what did you do with the time that you couldn't be on those platforms yesterday? [00:02:38] I mean, I spent more time on Twitter, but I also spent more time looking at the cool art on the walls of the study room at the New York public library, which is where I spent the day where. And I see, I find a need, a change of venue to create as well as my trusted brain FM app. I have to admit that, but yeah, I take the time to [00:03:00] go take the subway and go to the library and I go outside of my home. [00:03:06] So I use the subway ride to chill out and I used to try to listen to podcasts or send emails or read emails, but I've stopped doing that because I can't hear much because of how loud it is. And it's hard to write. So nowadays, when I ride on the subway, I daydream, I imagine I come up with new ideas or even. [00:03:24] I meditate. And how hilarious is it to spend 20 minutes in deep meditation and forget where you are to open your eyes and see a guy speaking with deep love to his cup of coffee, surrounded by people in various stages of napping or yapping, but it lets me be here now. And that's a cool place to be. The other day, I noticed the core graffiti, some enterprising artist has painted in the dark tunnels in the space between stops. [00:03:49] There are miles of darkness and there are sometimes small lights that punctuate the darkness to sort of illuminate the space maybe for workers or something like that. And someone or [00:04:00] a number of someone's painted cool art right below the lights on one of the lines. You see a sort of movie unfold as you look at the lid spots. [00:04:07] Two people meet, try to be romantic decide they can't be, and instead become friends. And I'm not sure if it's there still, because since periodically someone from the subway comes along and paints over the art to base it black, but it's super cool when you notice it. And if I didn't take the time to slow down, I would have never noticed it. [00:04:26] And that's one of the best reasons to slow down. You begin to notice things again, instead of letting them streak by you, you actually have enough attention to pay attention. And I wouldn't see any of that if I didn't slow down and I love art where you find it, right, art, illuminates life for us, it highlights the bizarre, the fun, the tragic, the on inspiring the human condition. [00:04:52] And so when you take the time to slow down even a little bit, you get to take in. All of this other amazing and cool [00:05:00] stuff. And it also gives you time to imagine, to get new ideas, new thoughts, new insights. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about different ways to slow down. My favorite of course is meditation, but you don't have to do that unless you want to. [00:05:15] And I'm going to talk to you a little bit more about that in a sec. You can doodle, you can daydream, you can take time off social, right. And taking time off social does something very interesting. It helps you stop consuming content. So your brain is more free to create it. And I don't mean create content for necessarily posting on social media or whatever, but creating new ideas, new creative ways of doing something. [00:05:41] Thinking about something of what you're going to cook for dinner. It doesn't matter what, what the creation is. It lets you be creative. Instead of watching other people be creative or listening to other people be creative. And it also helps you stop the comparison game, right? It gives your eyes and your ears arrest. [00:05:57] It helps you stop comparing your life to. [00:06:00] Because you're the only person living your life. You're the only person telling your story. So giving yourself permission to do that is an incredible thing. And one of the ways to do that is to take a little time to slow down and not consume content as much as so many of us do myself included. [00:06:16] Right. It also resets your mind, right? So going for a slow walk, it gives you time to sort of breathe and be and chill out and you can also do. One minute slow down to breathe, right? It's a way of filling the, well, it gives you the opportunity to do that. Very thing to just sort of go, okay, that's it. [00:06:36] I'm going to slow down and. I'm going to give you a mission, right? If you meditate, keep doing that. If you don't consider starting, and I'm going to talk to you about that right now. So how do you start? If you, if you don't meditate, how do you start doing it? How do you get into that space? Well, I've created a start where you are a meditation and that's great. [00:06:58] If you're already set, if you [00:07:00] already know where you are, that's terrific. But if you don't, if you're a little bit lost, then it becomes tougher to figure out exactly what to do and how to do it. And this is where I come in. So meditation, why, why do people meditate? We've sort of talked a little bit just about that earlier. [00:07:17] Right? Slowing down is beautiful, but it also, there are lots of reasons, right? If you're a monkey, you might do it because it's a way of getting closer to God or closer to whatever you hold sacred. If you're a lay person, you might want to do it because you want a greater sense of peace in your life. A greater sense of patience, a little bit more stability, that kind of thing. [00:07:33] And that's the whole point, since we're talking about how you can be more productive and creative. Yeah. Slow down. Meditation helps with that because it gives you space in your mind and your body and your heart and your soul to have that well, be filled with something that's positive and creative and maybe even productive, but at the very least positive and creative. [00:07:54] So there are lots of different reasons. There are people, like I said, who use meditation for [00:08:00] opening up their creative channels. Some people use it for developing better relationships, you know, with yourself as well as with other people in your life. For me, meditation has been about being creative without meditation. [00:08:11] I wouldn't have read it written seven books, but it's also about learning about yourself, you know? What the lessons are that you need to learn to know yourself better and to also be connected to something greater than yourself. If you, if you take that time, in my case, if you knowing myself better, that's about the earth and all the critters on the earth. [00:08:33] Right. But it could be whatever it is that makes you feel like you're connected. It's also way first and foremost, for me to get back into myself, finding that space within me, that helps me reset. And especially if I'm. I use a lot of breathing techniques to help with that, to help with being stressed, to help with releasing some of that Trent stress or anxiety. [00:08:56] I feel with my history, I have a lot of reasons [00:09:00] to be anxious. And I work through that often because as a, as a survivor of child abuse, as an immigrant, as someone who lived in a war zone, as someone who overcame a huge public speaking phobia, there are lots of reasons for me to be. And sometimes that anxiety rears its ugly head. [00:09:19] And I need to have tools in my toolbox to figure out how to deal with it and how to release the anxiety and as much as possible, the stress, right? That's the whole point of that. But again, it depends on who you are and what you want out of it, but a lot of it is going to end up, use it for what works for you. [00:09:39] If meditation is something that works for you, it's going to work for you. If it doesn't. Then my suggestion is. Keep trying until it does, but you're going to have to make your own way. Whatever meditation means to be. There are some tried and true techniques that work, there are some tried and true techniques that you start with. [00:09:55] And in the show notes, I'll, I'll give you a link to a meditation. That's [00:10:00] all about. The really simple breathing exercise and your mission to begin a very easy practice. It does not have to be a huge, I'm going to sit for half an hour, a day kind of thing. It just doesn't to begin with. You can do something very simple and very easy, and there are lots of different ways to meditate. [00:10:20] And we're going to talk about that in the weeks to come, but at its root, most of the time meditation is going to have some sort of breath work. When we do that, right? It's going to be with just simple breath work and, and meditation exercise. And as you develop your practice, you're going to have to see what works for you, because what I'm doing might not work. [00:10:44] There are apps you can use. There's calm and Headspace and balance. And my current favorite brain FM, there's listening to music. Vegging out as long as you've edge out without falling asleep, that's kind of meditative. And in fact, I dare say that there are gurus out there, [00:11:00] meditation teachers out there who would say that if you do anything mindfully that washing dishes can become a meditation, Allah tech, not Hahn, certainly something like Tai Chi is a moving meditation. [00:11:10] Things like that. There are lots and lots of different ways to meditate and that I'm developing and I'm going to be releasing meditation packs of different sorts of meditation in the coming weeks. But for today, we're just going to do a very back to basics kind of thing. Right. We're going to just breathe and that's your mission, right? [00:11:30] So here's, here's what I'm going to ask you to do in the show notes. There's a link to a little YouTube meditation that I developed. That's all about breathing. Very purposefully if you will, for even less than a minute. And here's the mission, the mission is that I'm going to ask you to go to the Google doc that I have. [00:11:55] There are two things to do here. I know more than one is, can be confusing, but the reason I'm [00:12:00] doing this, because there are two different things for you to do here, right? Developing an assessment or evaluating for yourself, how you feel before you meditate and how you feel after you meditate. And since breathwork is the root of meditation, we are going to do a very simple breathing meditation that takes less than a minute, but here's the thing. [00:12:24] If you go to the Google doc and you can see the image of what the Google doc looks like in the show notes, if you go to the Google doc, there's a little thing that says, how do I. And you're going to make a copy of that Google doc. So you can do this for yourself and you're going to write out how you feel. [00:12:42] Do you feel stressed? Do you feel anxious? Do you feel good? Do you feel hungry? How do you feel? And then. Once you do that a little date and timestamps is going to show up. And once that date and timestamp shows up, that's the before, right. And then do the breathing exercise in that little YouTube video. [00:12:59] So click [00:13:00] on that link and you're going to see that that actually gives you another sort of minute of that breath work that we were just talking about. And after you've done with that, go back to that Google doc and then. Type in how you feel now. So you're going to have a, before I do the breath work and after I do the breath work kind of thing happening, and the link to the YouTube video that does this little 53 seconds of meditation is right there in the Google docs. [00:13:31] So all you need to do is go to the Google doc, go to. Got to make a copy, make a copy. Cause you can't add anything into the, into that file so that lots of people can use it, but then you'll get a way of assessing for yourself. Does it make a difference? Right. I'm very practical when it comes to this stuff. [00:13:47] I love having the notion of does it make a difference and can I measure it? So that is what we're going to do. Right. [00:14:00] And w the way to look at meditation to begin with is that right? You, you have to give yourself permission to stop the rush every once in a while, take a minute and breathe. And so that's what this, this sort of test for yourself is going to be right. [00:14:17] You're going to write down how you feel beforehand, and then you're going to write down how you feel afterward, just so that you can have this notion of. Breathing and meditating and see if it makes any kind of difference for you. Try it for a week and note any differences for yourself. And I'm going to bet that you can just see some and you'll notice how much even a minute of sewing down will help you feel better and think better. [00:14:43] And if you decide that you want to go even further, then I'm going to invite you to go to yet a third thing to do. I can't believe I'm putting so many things in the show notes here. But there's a, there's a back-to-basics meditation that you can grab for yourself. And it's just just an MP3 file of me [00:15:00] talking you through this back to basics meditation. [00:15:03] What does it take to get to very, very beginning of breath work and you can feel free to grab it. It's yours for the keeping it's right there on that page. You can just grab it. And in fact, what I think I'm going to do now that I think about it is I'm going to put the link to that Google doc and the link to that YouTube meditation right there, so that you can have all three in one place. [00:15:26] And you'll notice that one of the things that happens when you do this before and after. Breathing assessment. You're going to notice changes in how you view everything. And once you notice those changes, you're also going to notice that you have more awareness to some of that, that stuff that let's use slow down, and some of the stuff that's going on around you, that you've been too busy and too stressed to notice. [00:15:48] That's really cool and really beautiful. So I'm going to invite you to do that and see. What it does for your productivity, because if you approach this stuff from that place of, I feel [00:16:00] peaceful and I don't feel stressed and rushed, you won't forget things as much. You'll have an easier time completing things. [00:16:06] You'll have an easier time of conceptualizing things, which means you're going to be able to see the whole picture, which is a beautiful thing when you're trying. Productivity to be part of your life. And you'll also see inspiration. And that's where that creativity thing, that creativity piece for me happens most when I slowed down enough to see it, to pay attention to it when it happens. [00:16:28] So if I, if I believe, and I do that, that innovation happens when. Someone who's creative sees a problem that they can solve and comes up with this really cool creative way of doing it. That's innovation. Well, if you want to innovate, if you want to create something, no one's ever created before first, you have to have the mental and sort of heart emotional space. [00:16:52] To be open to the inspiration, which is what a really easy, simple meditation practice will allow you to do. I hope that [00:17:00] you've enjoyed today's episode. I know that it's a lot of stuff to think about. Please head over to the back to basics meditation page it's is old, a t.com/back to basics. Made it back to basics meditation. [00:17:12] Oops. I said the wrong URL is older t.com/back to basics meditation. There, you will be able to find a Google doc that lets you do that. Evaluation the link to the YouTube video. That is the less than a minute of breathing. That's the thing to do when you're doing the before and after, and also the back-to-basics meditation, the exact, how the heck do you start a meditation that will help you? [00:17:38] Into that space of breath, breath, work, and breathing. I hope you've enjoyed the episode. I'd love for you to let me know what you think. If you're doing this for a week or even a few days, and you notice a difference, please let me know. Drop me a line is older@hisoldat.com. And if you're enjoying the episodes themselves, please rate and review the show, tell a friend [00:18:00] about the work that we're doing here and the cool stuff that we're exploring until next time I remind you to listen, learn, laugh, and. [00:18:07] A whole lot. [00:18:13] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:18:31] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters. Today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always. Please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.[00:19:00]  

Build Your Awareness Muscle With This Easy Tip This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. I've used these techniques to get featured in magazines, newspapers, and podcasts. They work! https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4 Episode Transcript   Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg welcome to mindful Friday. If that's, when you're listening to the show, if not, then it might be mindful Monday or mindful Tuesday. I wanted to talk about awareness in last week's mindful Friday, we talked, uh, I talked a little bit. I explored what it means to start building that. And this past week, we've been talking about ideas. And how does having an idea give you the potential to change the world? Right. If you listen to the idea of when it comes up, if you, if you note it down, if you follow it, if you find collaborators. If you have compassion, it can definitely help. There are lots of layers to this, but it's really important to keep thinking about it in these terms, because that's how it's done. Right? You find your creative genius inside yourself. You listen to the ideas that pop up out of your subconscious and then you. Find the team, you build the team collaborators, but before any of that happens, you have to have the awareness to be present and ready for whatever idea will. And I talk about meditation a lot and it's hard because we're not all able to find the time to sit down and meditate for half an hour a day. I try to find that time, but it's sometimes really difficult. I have to admit I'm up to 15 minutes, twice a day. And, uh, there are times that I'm like, hurry up, hurry up. And I have to be okay with that. Right. And waiting for the little alarm to ring, to tell me that my meditation time is over. I don't know if you watch the TV show, billions, but all of the main characters meditate. That's one of the things that they do because they realized that it gives them an edge, right. That, that ability to be agile. Happens when you meditate, you're more agile, you're more aware you're more present and you're able to respond better and faster if you're in that mindful state. So when Bobby Axelrod from the show, billions needs to be mindful. He meditates beforehand. So yes, I am going to advocate for meditation almost every mindful Friday, for sure. But what if you just don't have time? So here's a really great. Easy way to build some mindfulness into your commute. Right? And I'm not a, if you're driving, I'm not saying you need to close your eyes or anything, please don't drive safe. All of that. Absolutely. You must drive safe. You must stay aware of what's happening on the road around you. But I am going to ask you to start thinking about when you're at red lights. For example, if you're, if you're driving to work and you're at a red light, uh, let the red light guide. So while the red light is red, breathe in for a count of four and breathe out for a count of four and breathe in for a count of four and read out for a count of four. And then when the light turns green go, and hopefully you're not stuck in traffic. I know, uh, And if you're walking or if you're commuting, commuting is beautiful. If you happen to take the subway, you can look at the lights that pass through the windows and just notice each light. You don't have to do much of anything else with it, but it's a way of getting into that mindful meditative state without having to sit on a cushion and breathe rarefied air. If you're walking count, you remember that, uh, uh, It's a horrible little thing, but it's like walk a step on a line, break your father's spine thing, and step on a crack break your mother's back. I mean, they're horrible. They ha they are horrible, uh, little sayings, but kids play like that. Right. So, but you can use that. You can use that as part of. Mindfulness training. Just notice each line and notice whether or not you stepped on the line or off the line and just pay attention. Right? That's all I'm asking you to do is pay attention to each the lines and the sidewalk, or if you're taking a bus, uh, notice the colors of the trees and as you pass by them, and if there aren't any trees, then notice, find something else to notice because the more we build that awareness muscle. So you can improve your skills, your awareness skills, the easier it will be when you need to innovate. When you need to create, when you need to access that ingenuity, it will be easier on you. To do it if you've already built that awareness muscle. So this is a very short episode today, but I want to encourage you on your morning commute or evening commute. And if you're working from home, by the way, as many of us still are that's perfectly. Okay. You can do the same exact thing by looking at what's outside your window and look at it for 10 seconds. And then close your eyes and see if you can remember what you saw. That's another way of building that awareness muscle. It's a great exercise. And in fact, I'm going to put something in the show notes about that. All right. I hope that you enjoy today's episode. This is his older Trachtenberg reminding you that if you're liking the show, if you're liking this new five day a week format, I'd love to hear from you comment, rate and review. Tell a friend, uh, we'll see how long this goes. I'll be honest with you. Uh, I love talking to you about this stuff because it is my passion. I think this creativity and ingenuity and innovation is how we're going to change the world and save the world. I really believe that with all of my being, so I hope that I will be able to. Growing this podcast and this conversation really, uh, on how we might change the world for the better for all of us. If we are all creative, curious, compassionate, collaborative, and mindful until next time, this is Izolda. Trakhtenberg reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. I'm also a PR Starter Pack Affiliate. I use Gloria's methods to get featured in the media often. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!  

Improve Your Collaborative Skills By Knowing Who You Are This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. I've used these techniques to get featured in magazines, newspapers, and podcasts. They work! https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4   Your gift! The Idea Document. Head over to it, make a copy of it, and keep track of your ideas! Episode Transcript Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg and I'm thrilled to welcome you to collaboration Thursday. So let's talk about collaboration. What does it mean in the simplest terms? Of course it means working together as a unified team to achieve a goal. Right? So you work with other people in order to achieve the thing you're trying to achieve. When you have a lots of personalities, that can be a challenge. So you need good communication skills, uh, for sure, to be able to collaborate well and effectively, but you also need to know who the people are, what their skill sets are, and also who they are, how they operate innately. And. There are these personality traits that I've been thinking about a lot. And there are other people who talk about them too. There are lots of tests that you can take, you know, you can, you can do the Myers-Briggs or, or discuss or whatever. All of those things are absolutely valid. Uh, I think, and yet to me, they break down into some very basic form. Uh, I mentioned this yesterday in the compassion Wednesday episode, but I want to go a little bit deeper into it. A specialist. What is the specialist? A specialist to someone who is great at the one thing, right? Albert Einstein, Mozart, they were specialists. They were amazing at the one thing they were great at and maybe not so great at other things like, uh, paying the bills or. I don't know, picking up after themselves, I guess. I'm not sure what, I'm not sure that, uh, I don't know exactly what kind of housekeeper boats art was, but I imagine he was so full of the one thing he was great at, which was music that he let everything else sort of float away. So that's what a specialist is the opposite of that, or along the continuum of that is the generalist. And the generalist is someone who may not be grand at any one thing, but they're really very good at a whole bunch of things. And that person is able to see assess, evaluate. Different, uh, ideas, notions factors, components of things, and then see a way to make them work together. So you can have the specialist. Who's great at the one thing, but maybe not great at other things. And the, the generalist who isn't great at the one thing, but is really good at lots of other things or lots of things I should say. Then you have the visionary versus the implementer. This is sort of the grid that I've developed and the visionary is. The person who can see the whole lay of the land, right? They can, they have the idea, they can see all of the different parts, but they may not be the person who can implement it to make it actually go right. So they can envision the engine, but they may not be the person who builds the engine. That job falls to the implementer, the implementers, the person who's got the skills to actually make it happen. Right. And if they don't have the skills to make it happen, then they know how to form a team. Of people who will have the skills to make it happen. Right. I know it sounds kind of confusing, but we need all of these kinds of people on projects in order to make them go. You need the visionary, you need your Elon Musk, right? He's the visionary, he's the one who's going to be out there with, with the huge ideas. The Steve jobs is another one. But you also need the implementer. You need the person, the Tim cook, let's go with apple. The Tim cook is the one who's gonna be the implementer. He, he may not have the vision, uh, of huge revolutionary change for apple, but he certainly knows how to implement the things that that need to be done in order to keep apple being one of the biggest companies on the planet. And he also knows how to build a team of people that will, uh, that will help him do all of that. As I said, specialists or people like, uh, Mozart and Weinstein. One of the things that I think a generalist does is they're able to do a lot of different things. And when I think of a generalist, I think of. Oprah is one of those people who she's got a lot going on. Right. She can write the story. She can act, she can produce, she can direct. She can do just about anything. She's a journalist she's she has many, many, many different skills. And I'm not saying she's not great at them, but she's not known for the one thing that she knows how to do. She's got. That she can draw on. And that is really important because when she needs any one of those strengths, they're there and she knows herself well enough to know that if she's not the person with the, the unique, uh, special. Skills she'll find that person and she will have them do the work. That's one of the gifts of the generalist is that, you know, when you're not great at something and it may be frustrating, but if you collaborate with those who are specialists, if you find them. Communicate to them, what you need from them. Then the specialists will be able to do the thing they're great at so that the generalist doesn't have to be the person who actually does it and all together, those four can work in, in that collaborative. To create the project that needs to be created in order for things to work. I'm going to delve much more into this in the coming weeks and months, because I think it's really important for us to think about who we are and I'm in the middle of developing a, an assessment so that you can figure out. Am I a specialist or am I a generalist? Am I a visionary? Or am I an implementer? And once you know that it'll be a lot easier to know what role you will best play in any kind of collaborative or project situation, but you need to know what that is. And I'm going to have that available, hopefully within the next few weeks, maybe by the beginning of November, so that you'll be able to take a, an assessment and figure it out for. It won't be long, but it will be illuminating. I am sure because it will give you in some ways, permission. To play to your strengths because there are times when we don't do that, we go, oh, but I want to be great at the one thing. And maybe we're not. And we have to be okay with that because if you're a generalist trying to live the life or the, do the work of the specialist, you're going to be knocking your head against the wall a lot. And in many ways, vice versa. So at some point it becomes better, more optimal, and we'll give you a better outcome if you. No, who you are, know your skills, know your strengths, and then find the people who will compliment what, you know, how to. In a way that will be substantive and will help you get the job done without you needing to get a bruise on your forehead. From, as I said, knocking your head against the wall. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. This is his older Trakhtenberg. I'm reminding you. If you are enjoying this podcast, this new, shorter formed, uh, Tuesday through Friday. Please, please please rate and review it. Tell a friend, these are short and sweet episodes are pretty much never going to be longer than about 10 or 12 minutes. I just want the Tuesday through Friday to be something that is actionable in the four CS that creativity and compassion and curiosity and collaborations. And of course Fridays are mindful Fridays, so we're doing everything. And then the long form, of course, the long form Monday morning shows that are the interview shows are going to be a continuing they're not going anywhere. Having said interview shows. I do have one more long-form me episode this coming Monday. So I hope that you will stay tuned for that. It's all about how slowing down can make you faster until next time till tomorrow. This is Izolda. Trakhtenberg reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. I'm also a PR Starter Pack Affiliate. I use Gloria's methods to get featured in the media often. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!

Compassion Wednesday This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. I've used these techniques to get featured in magazines, newspapers, and podcasts. They work! https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4 Episode Transcript Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I am your host, and I'm really happy that you're here. I want to talk to you about thinking differently about compassion today. This is compassion Wednesday. I'm super, I'm super excited about this because I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to bringing back a, a topic that. Addressed a few weeks ago with the co-founder and the director of the wild tomorrow fund Wendy Hapgood. The wild tomorrow fund is, uh, an organism, a nonprofit organization that does wildlife conservation and habitat reclamation in South Africa. And what their goal is, is to provide habitat for the species, especially endangered species, but the, the indigenous species of animals that live in Southwest. And they're not just going, okay, we're going to, we're going to fund or support anti-poaching efforts because yes, that is important. And in fact, Wendy told me that the very first thing that they ever did was that they were at first raising funds to buy. Replacement boots for the Rangers that are trying to keep the animals safe, which I think is an incredible thing. You don't think that they're going to need boots, but yeah, of course they do. They need boots, they need clothes. They need whatever Rangers need in order to do that very important job. But then when he talked about how they thought, when they were developing, while tomorrow fund even further, they thought, okay, saving the animals is great, but we need to say. Uh, and reclaim land for these animals to live. Right. So that's one of the reasons. Wildlife conservation. Isn't just about wildlife conservation or as, as in saving the animals, Wendy and John, her co-founder decided that what they were going to do was figure out a way to reclaim habitat, to reclaim land, to make sure that there was dedicated land for these animals to live. They have, they have a habitat, they have a range, these animals that they need to have a freedom to move. In order to thrive. And one of the things that Wendy told me recently was that they've just had baby giraffes, born, and animals do not reproduce if they feel stressed. So, uh, if they don't feel stressed or threatened, they're more likely to reproduce. So that should tell you that having enough habitat for these drafts means that these drafts are reproducing on their own and they're getting to live the way they were meant to. And so in order to look at, at this, we have to look at things differently. We have to sort of turn things on their head, right? You can't just go, I'm going to just save animals. That's my entire goal, because just saving an animal, it means nothing. If that animal doesn't have. Water, fresh water, clean water, a food supply of some sort, whether it's a, a predator or an herbivore, doesn't matter, they're going to need food and, or access to food, I should say. And they're going to need that range that I was just talking about that, that place to live. Right. So without those. The animals will not survive. And so Wendy and John and their team at wild tomorrow fund went, okay, we need to think of this differently. And when you have compassion, your tendency, your instinct, I think, is to just go fix the thing, right. Let's save the animal. And that is a very important part of it. But if you're going to look more long-term, you're going to have to look at how. That compassion needs to ripple out into different ways of assessing and acting on the. So when you feel the need to look, uh, to look into something like we talked about yesterday, with curiosity, when you feel the need to look at something and you have an idea, the idea, can't just be the one thing. It, you have to end up looking at what kind of infrastructure you're going to need to establish and foment in order to. Let this compassionate idea that you have grow, right? You don't, it won't grow in a vacuum and it can't be single-minded. You're going to have to look at different ways of doing what you're trying to achieve in order for it to work. And so. Compassion is a great motivator. Absolutely. That feeling the feelings that, that you want to help in some way, especially those who are less fortunate, uh, endangered species, children, uh, abuse survivors, so many different, uh, beings, the habitat itself, the environment. There's a lot of, oh my goodness. Just thinking about it as a little overwhelming. You know how I like to say small steps are still steps. So even taking a small step is a, is a good thing. Uh, and sometimes especially a small step is a good thing because you don't want to overreach, but yet you want to be sure that you're paying attention to the, the rivulets to go out, not just in the straight line of I'm going to go save that animal, but all the way around. To habitat to food supply, to access, to clean, fresh water, uh, to being free from being hunted. If, if it's a critter, there are lots of different things that we need to look at as part of our compassion up as part of our purpose driven mission. And you have to think of it in those terms, it cannot be the straight line you're going to need to have, you know, the straight river goes on one direction, but there are lots of tributaries and you need to pay attention to that. And that brings me to the notion of visionary versus implementer and specialist versus generalist. If you've, if you're a longtime listener of the show, you've heard me talk about this before. It's really important. And I want to address that a visionary will have the one vision, the implementers, the person who's going to have to go figure out all the different rivulets, right. Specialist will have, uh, uh, the one talent and the generalist will have the capability of doing multiple things at once, or at least have, uh, at least. Expertise of a number of different, um, factors in what you're trying to achieve and the way those, those interplay with one another is what's going to make projects succeed. And I'm going to talk a lot more about that tomorrow when we do communication Thursday, but I wanted to at least put that bug in your ear. So you come back tomorrow. And we can go delve deeper into the difference between a specialist and a generalist and a visionary and an implementer, and how those working in concert, we'll get you in from the spark of an idea, to being curious about how it could work to developing a plan and then implementing that plan. And having a go to fruition and tomorrow we're going to talk about mindfulness mindful. Friday's going to be about how you build the awareness, not just the curiosity, but the awareness that the idea is there to begin with. Now. All righty, I am super excited that you were here. If you enjoy this episode, drop me a line and let. And, uh, and, or leave a review of the show. I would love it. Tell a friend, all of those things. I am giving you a 42 things that I'm asking you to, but it wouldn't have seriously. It would, it would mean the world to me. If you were to leave a review for the show, I would really appreciate it until tomorrow. This is Izolda. Trakhtenberg reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. I'm also a PR Starter Pack Affiliate. I use Gloria's methods to get featured in the media often. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!

Creativity Tuesday. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4   [00:00:00] Izolda: Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg, I'm super happy that you're here and I'm also happy to talk to you about creativity today. Creativity, Tuesdays are going to be a thing from now on, and I'm really excited to do this in part, because I want to really get down into the nitty-gritty of the four CS that's creativity, compassion. [00:00:28] Collaboration and curiosity and curiosity and creativity, they go together. And I actually looked up the exact definition of curiosity in the dictionary, and it's really very simple. It is the desire to learn or know about something being inquisitive. And so the question then becomes. What is curiosity's role in creativity? [00:00:56] Curiosity is the thing that gives you the need to follow the thread of [00:01:00] an idea. Right? So if we think of creativity as following the spark of the idea, the, the, the notion that you decide you want to do something, curiosity is the need to know about it, or to learn about it, to see where it's going to go. [00:01:15] So that need to follow the thread of an idea because. Really important. But before that you don't want to discount the idea or the thought when it pops up, instead of. You can get curious as to why it bubbled up in the first place, what it is and if applicable, what problem it solves. If your idea's creative in nature, it can go one of three ways. [00:01:39] It can simply exist and be part of the world's stories. It might be a painting or a piece of music or an interpretive dance or performance art that adds to the human experience and the human condition. Right? If you, if you decide to write a book or a short story or a poem, it is part of that human experience. [00:01:58] And it becomes [00:02:00] an excellent opportunity to get creative and curious about what that notion is trying to tell you if you're an artist of some sort and, you know, I believe that we're all artists in one way or another, you'll need to figure out for yourself whether or not this idea, this seed of creativity is something you want to pursue. [00:02:17] If you're curious, of course you want to pursue it. You might have to rearrange your schedule or figure out a way to pursue it, but pursue it. Yet you have to figure out for yourself whether or not it meets one of the other two criteria. The next criterion is you might be interested in making an impact. [00:02:38] You might be interested with this idea in sort of affecting people or situations or the world at large. You might want to get them thinking or doing things differently. The last has. Driven creators and innovators and adventurers for ever. I'll have a lot to say about this, but, but this [00:03:00] one is super important. [00:03:02] Let's look at why. And here's what I mean by that. If you are a creative and you have a mission, if you're trying to solve a particular problem, all of a sudden you slide into. Being an innovator, right? To me, an innovator is a creative person with a mission. And so you might want to solve the problem to make things easier or to help, right? [00:03:34] You want them, you might want to make money and making money is great. No question. But there can be something infinitely, more satisfying because you're compassionate about something or you're solving a problem to help yourself. But also others. The inventor of the, uh, electric washing machine remains unknown. [00:03:53] The actual person, various people hold patents for various parts of it and various advances. But let's [00:04:00] look at the notion of going from beating clothes against rocks, to putting them in a drum and rolling them around to putting in paddles inside the drum so that the clothes get agitated even more and get cleaner to all of the various types and iterations until we come to the modern washing machine, then pretty much do everything. [00:04:22] And here's, here's an example of why this kind of innovation and creativity can be a really beautiful thing as far as helping others and, or solving a problem. I was standing in line the other day at, uh, the kitchen bus at union square and in Manhattan, uh, they were, they're giving out free slices of vegan cheese pizza, and I was waiting to get my slice of vegan cheese. [00:04:48] Cause they've released a new vegan mozzarella and it's fabulous. And I started talking to the woman in line behind me. Then she was upset because there's too much technology. She said, it's too much. It's going too [00:05:00] fast. And then she said something I found very interesting. She said, Technology's going to take all our jobs. [00:05:06] And that actually gave me a wonderful opening. And I said, but what about the jobs nobody wants to do? Let's take, for example, uh, uh, look at all of the garbage on these New York city streets. What if there were robots who went around and picked up all the trash, then people wouldn't necessarily need to be the ones doing it. [00:05:26] And robots would probably be doing a better job and they also wouldn't necessarily mind. I, this is my own judgment here. I do not like the notion of being a, uh, a garbage picker-upper. They made, there may be people who love it, it's it, it is not for me. And I imagine some jobs are not jobs. Any human is going to want to do so getting a robot or some other tech to do, it might be a beautiful thing. [00:05:53] And her eyes lit up. Like it was Christmas morning. She said, you mean we'd have garbage pickup that worked. We wouldn't [00:06:00] have bags and torn stuff all over the streets because robots are do it. I told her sure it was possible. I mean, maybe not today, but someday. And she loved the idea. She'd been thinking about all the jobs that would be lost, but she hadn't been thinking about the fact that some of those jobs are jobs that we humans don't want to do and robots wouldn't mind doing it all. [00:06:20] So that notion of. Solving problems and creativity becomes really. And she said you've changed my mind. And I was actually surprised about that, but she, she did, she, she asked a question that I thought was a Stute. She said, but how are those people going to make money? And I said, well, wouldn't it be cool if they didn't have to pick up garbage and were therefore freed up to follow a different path, maybe they want to be a writer. [00:06:46] Maybe they want to drive a bus. Maybe they want to have their own business delivering roller skates or electric bikes to houses. So the people who want them don't have to go hunting for them, but can just have. Delivered. I'm not sure what they could do, but it seems pretty limitless. [00:07:00] And I'm not saying everybody has to become an entrepreneur, but some of these jobs that we don't really want to do, I'm assuming here, I admit they could be moved away through new inventions and new innovations. [00:07:10] And then those people who'd been doing those jobs can do something else. And what that is, I'm not. And of course we'd have to look at the infrastructure of things like that. And of course, we would have to take care of the people whose jobs would no longer be to pick up garbage for example. But what if we made that change? [00:07:27] What if we looked at this all a little differently? How cool would that be? If somebody is innovation, somebody's creativity. Being driven by wanting to solve a problem, allowed people the freedom to pursue different kinds of work or pastimes, right. Anything that helps us save time. Because remember time is, is finite, right? [00:07:53] We all only have so much time. And so if something comes along that allows you to save time, like [00:08:00] the dishwasher, for example, right? You doing dishes by hand is one thing, loading the dishwasher, having to do all the work and then just taking the dishes out and putting them away. That's that's an hour or so that's saved, right? [00:08:12] That's that's yours. And we don't tend to think of it. If we have a dishwasher, we don't tend to think of it as, as a big deal, but it's a huge deal. Remember if you ever lived in a time where you didn't have a dishwasher or a place where you didn't have a dishwasher, it is a big deal. So, and there are still parts of the world, certainly where there are no dishwashers. [00:08:31] So when we look at this sort of thing, when we look at the innovations that come in and help people save time, so that those people are then freed up to do other things. That's a really big deal. And in fact, I was just talking to a couple of podcast guests who are going to be on the show soon about the little sun. [00:08:51] Uh, it's a, it's a solar powered light. It's called a little sun shaped like a flower. It's really cute. And the reason this little [00:09:00] sun is a beautiful thing is because the person who and I can never remember his name, he's an architect who lives in Iceland, but I just can't remember his name. I'll have to put it in the show notes, uh, Elias somebody, anyway, he invented this little solar powered light, and every time you buy one, they send. [00:09:18] To somewhere in Africa that does not have a light infrastructure. They don't have in indoor lighting. And so people who want to read at night or who want to do, do things at night after working, if they want to hang out and play a game or read or learn or study or work or work, even they can now do it because that little second. [00:09:39] Is solar powered. So you charge it during the day. And then in the evening you have light and in an area of the world where there isn't that kind of artificial light happening. Uh, that's a huge, huge deal. It saves people a lot of time and it actually doesn't save them time. It gives them time. It [00:10:00] gives them time to be able to go ahead and. [00:10:05] Do things that would otherwise be impossible. And so this notion of being creative, this guy's an architect, the guy who started it, he's an innovator because he's doing it. You know, he's being creative with a mission. He got curious about what, what kind of thing he could do to help people who don't have a way of seeing at night? [00:10:27] How cool is that? That, that he got curious about it and he didn't stop. Right. When the idea came to him, what if I did that? What if I created something that would help people in parts of the world that don't have artificial light for nighttime? What if I did something to help them see and he didn't go, yeah, that'll never work. [00:10:45] Instead he went home. Okay, let me pay attention to this. Let me get curious about what I could do. And that brings me back to that notion of curiosity. What do we need to do? To [00:11:00] follow the curiosity to follow the idea. I mean, what do we need to do? How, how do we keep space? Well, being mindful about, or being aware that the idea has come and honoring that instant is really important. [00:11:16] So here's my mission for you. As I, as I said earlier, you know, I believe that we are all creative people. We are all innately possessive of our own unique creative genius. And so you have ideas, ideas come to you, and I'm going to ask you to either go to the idea document, and I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes that I developed. [00:11:40] Uh, it's it, it's yours for the keeping, right? You can go to the idea document and add your ideas in, and it's not my idea document. You would actually make a copy of it, grab it and use it to your heart's content. It's it will be yours. Cause you'll make a copy. That's going to be your personal copy, but it gives you the opportunity to jot down [00:12:00] your ideas and or you could keep a notebook, whatever it is you must for the next week. [00:12:07] Jot down those ideas in the idea document or a little notebook or a piece of paper or on your phone and your notes app. However you do it. If an idea comes to you instead of going, no, no, no, I don't have time for that right now instead go, okay. This idea came, whatever it is, it could be. I know what I want for dinner. [00:12:25] It could be, I figured out how to do, uh, flying cars. It doesn't, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you, instead of going out, I don't have time. Stop what you're doing and note it down, jot it down, uh, recorded into your, into your voice memo app on your phone, whatever it is, note down, whatever ideas you have and at the end of the week, go through and listen to, or read your ideas and see if any of them have merit. [00:12:58] If any of them [00:13:00] spike your curiosity. Having the idea and getting curious about it is the first, there are the first two steps of unleashing your inner. Ingenious innovator. And that is what we're talking about here. Creativity doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens when the idea strikes from inspiration from without, or from your subconscious or from a dream doesn't matter. [00:13:25] But then you have the curiosity about it to see where it will take you and that desire to know or learn about something is what will propel you forward to make curiosity and creativity a bigger part of your. All righty. So you have your mission. I'm going to put the idea documents, uh, in the show notes, the I, the link for the idea document in the show notes, and I hope that you've enjoyed today's short episode. [00:13:51] I am Izolda Trakhtenberg and I will be back tomorrow to talk about compassion. I have a feeling we're going to be talking about the wild tomorrow fund and the. [00:14:00] Amazing people who run it. Uh, Wendy Hapgood was just on the show a few weeks ago. And I'm going to talk a little bit about what they're trying to do and the difference between, uh, or actually the relationship between wildlife conservation and habitat reclamation, because compassion Wednesdays are just as important as creativity, Tuesdays and collaboration, Thursdays and mindfulness Fridays. [00:14:24] So we're going to have a whole bunch of different ways of looking at innovation and. I will talk to you tomorrow, but if you're liking this episode, I would love it. If you would review the show, tell me what you're thinking, and if you really love it, tell a friend until next time, this is his older reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. I'm also a PR Starter Pack Affiliate. I use Gloria's methods to get featured in the media often. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!

There's a creative genius in you; in all of us! This is a remark shared by Izolda Trakhtenberg on this episode of Power Up Your Performance. Izolda T. is a speaker, author, podcast host, and innovator who leverages her years of experience as a NASA Master Trainer to help businesses tap and supercharge innovation in their workforce. Her message is all about empowering individuals and promoting collaboration as a way to solve problems at the personal, organizational, and global levels. *** Episode Sponsor: Iris Digital Media Group  Iris Digital Media Group helps world changers, small businesses, podcasters, and speakers with social media strategy and content creation to turn their vision into impact and income. Contact us to learn more about how we help small businesses connect with prospects through pop-up podcasts and social media, leading to new business. ****** Connect with Izolda T:   Website: https://IzoldaT.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat Books: https://izoldat.com/books-non-fiction/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/    *** Connect with Podcast Host, Kim Peek: Kim's website: www.crushingmygoals.com Kim's Instagram Power of Run Facebook Contact Kim at CoachKim@ThePowerofRun.com  

Bob Lesser, Author, Coach, Psychotherapist on His Peak Performance Formula and How it Can Help You Become a Peak Performer This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. https://izoldat.krtra.com/t/so6Aw0yCuva4 Bob Lesser is a founder, psychotherapist, and executive coach. From 2010-2017 Bob founded and led Mott Hall Charter School, an innovative public school serving low-income students in the South Bronx section of New York City. The school combined rigorous academics with cutting-edge social and emotional health supports enabling its students to defy the odds and attend top, college-bound high schools in New York and beyond. During that time Bob managed a rapidly growing organization that tripled in size over three years. Bob is also a trained psychotherapist and executive coach working primarily with start-up founders in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Boston, Canada, and elsewhere. He studied management, negotiation, and leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government where he holds a Master's Degree and obtained his BA in sociology from Vassar College. Bob lived in Vietnam where he studied meditation and Buddhism. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife and three children. Connect with Bob to Learn More About Peak Performance Twitter - @lesser_bob Instagram - @bob_lesser www.boblesser.com https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-951412-20-3   Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Bob Lesser: The purpose helps us clarify what really matters. And it points us to what we should be using our skills and talents for. It gives us courage to act in conditions of uncertainty and difficulty, and it functions as both. This kind of it's sort of a grounding for us, but it also helps us move forward. So it's kind of like our north star. [00:00:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg. On the show, I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you. [00:00:43] Focus meditate and even sleep. I love it and have been using it to write, create and do some of my deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% [00:01:00] off with the coupon code, innovative mindset. [00:01:03] And now let's get to the show. [00:01:09] Hey there. And welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm your host. I'm super happy that you're here and I'm really excited to speak to this week's guest. You have got to hear this. This is so cool. Bob lesser is a founder psychotherapist and executive coach. From 2010 to 2017, [00:01:28] bob founded and led. Mott hall, charter school an innovative public school, serving low income students in the south Bronx section of New York city. And you know how much that is close to my heart since I'm a new Yorker. Now the school combined rigorous academics with cutting edge, social and emotional health supports, enabling its students to defy the odds and attend top college bound high schools in New York and beyond. [00:01:50] Yes, I'm all about education. So this is thrilling for me. During that time, Bob managed a rapidly growing organization that tripled in size over three years. [00:02:00] He's also a trained psychotherapist and executive coach working primarily with startup founders in the San Francisco bay area, New York city, Boston, Canada, and all sorts of other places. [00:02:10] He said he management negotiation and leadership at Harvard's Kennedy school of government, where he holds a master's degree and obtained his BA in sociology. From foster college, Bob lived in Vietnam. Wow. Where he studied meditation and Buddhism also. Wow. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife and three children. [00:02:27] Bob, thank you so much for being on the show. Welcome [00:02:29] Bob Lesser: pleasure. Or that, that guy that you just introduced. Sounds really interesting. I'd love to hang out, hang out with them. [00:02:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Let's go have a cup of coffee, [00:02:36] Bob Lesser: hard to, hard, to hard to believe, but that's me. My hair at all. [00:02:41] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah. I, you know, all at once it can sometimes be a little like really. [00:02:45] Okay. I guess that yes, I did that step into that power. Right. So I I'm, I am excited beyond. Imagining talking to you about everything that you've done. I'm a huge proponent of education. I was a NASA master [00:03:00] trainer working in schools all over the world for many years. And I, I want, I'm dying to find out from you how you combined. [00:03:09] The flow of I'm going to start an innovative public school working with low-income students to being an executive coach for fortune 500 companies. Where, how did that start and what led you down that path? [00:03:24] Bob Lesser: Yeah, it's a, it's a great question. And I think it's, it's kind of the crux of it is, has to do with purpose and has to do with. [00:03:33] Identifying sort of the essence of who I am and the impact that I want to have. And so, you know, like most of us, you know, young getting out of college, you know, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, or at least, you know, the next few years of my life. Following following my passions, I'm a native new Yorker. [00:03:52] I came back to New York city and, and participated in a very cool fellowship in New York city government called the New York city urban fellows [00:04:00] program and worked in city government for the first, the first part of my career first at the New York city correction department. And then for the New York city police department and ultimately from the New York city department of education. [00:04:12] Where I worked with aspiring school leaders who were founding schools, founding new schools, founding charter schools. And we're creating these innovative new school models. And I got into my, into my head that I could do it just as well or better than the folks that I was I was working with and supporting. [00:04:31] And so I pulled together a team and we wrote up a charter application and. We got approved and we opened a school and that school was my hall charter school, which, which coincidentally is, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year. And yeah, and so so I did that and I did it and it was really hard. [00:04:51] It was, it was, it was harder than I ever thought it would be. And it really kicked me out. And while I think I did a great job, I also know that [00:05:00] I was quite exhausted by, you know, the, the fourth year, the fifth year. And I was kind of running out of gas and I knew I needed to hand it over to somebody who had, you know, sort of like hand the Baton to somebody who had more energy and, and, and, and, and, and, and endurance and more passionate about. [00:05:17] Than I had. And, you know, I found a great successor and transferred, you know, transition the leadership of the school over to her, and she's still there and doing an amazing job. And when I was really soul searching about, well, what, what, you know, what's next for me? And what about this experience is you know, was essential. [00:05:36] What I determined was that it was, it was that process of start. Creating something from nothing. That was what my passion was and, and what kind of, what my sort of deeper purpose was, was that sort of create that, that, that component of creativity, you know, taking an idea and making the reality and doing the heavy lifting of getting it up and running. [00:05:57] And so that's how I transitioned over then to working [00:06:00] with with founders as an executive coach. And working primarily now with founders of startups mostly in the, in the tech startup space, because that's, you know, that's obviously, that's sort of where the, the sort of the, the, the startup ecosystem is still working with some education leaders and organizations. [00:06:17] But primarily we're working with some of the kind of best and brightest minds in Silicon valley helping to, you know, get these amazing ideas that they have for changing the world off the ground. [00:06:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yea, all of that. I I'm going gonna, I want to take a second and, and sort of so-called have that in because every word that you just said was music to my ears. [00:06:40] And first of all, kudos to you for realizing when your work with the school was done and passing the Baton. I think that's, that's very self-aware and, and I'm grateful that you. That you did that because it allowed you to go to this next place. And you said, you're going to, you're you're moving into, or you've moved [00:07:00] into working with tech startups who want to change the world, which again, music to my ears. [00:07:04] And yet I can't help thinking that there, that that word that you used early on purpose is really a part of. The sort of the foundation of what you do. And it seems like it was that way with students and it seems like it could be. And is that way with the founders that you're working with in Silicon valley? [00:07:24] Can you talk a little bit more about what you mean by purpose? Is that an internal purpose or is it the purpose of the startup or what you want for other people to experience? How does all of that flow and what do you bring to it? And. [00:07:40] Bob Lesser: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It start, it starts off as a very individual thing is, is what is my purpose? [00:07:45] What's my why. And the way I, I define it is it's really the expression of what's most deeply meaningful. You can know who you are at your essence. We've we all have this sort of deeper level of purpose of, of kind of [00:08:00] who we are at our essence. What's most deeply meaningful to us. And you know, it, it purpose helps us clarify what really matters and it points us to what we, what we should be using our skills and talents for. [00:08:14] Right. It gives us, it gives us courage to act in conditions of uncertainty and difficulty, and it functions as both this kind of it's sort of a grounding for us, but it also helps us move forward. So it's kind of like our north star. And so knowing, knowing our essence, knowing who we are at our essence and how we want to express that in the world is in my mind, that's required for anyone that wants to do anything. [00:08:41] And, you know, starting, starting a company, you know, that it has never been started before in you know building and creating a product that's never been created before creating anything that's never been, been done before, or, or even that you've never done before is going to be hard. And so having this strong sense of grounded. [00:08:59] [00:09:00] Of this is part of this is deeply personal and meaningful to me and, and it's, it's on purpose for me. So it starts with that and it starts, and that's often where I start with the founders that I work with is helping them to clarify their purpose and articulate their purpose. Purpose also extends to organizations, organizations need to know why they exist. [00:09:22] They need to know, you know, kind of who they are at essence and so far. So great organizations have well articulated purpose statements and, and purpose has kind of for many organizations supplanted, the old mission statement, you know, the sort of, you know, we exist to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. [00:09:41] Versus. Our purpose is, this is, this is why we exist. This is our why, this is why we do this work. As one request an organization, this is the impact that we seek to have. And so it's, it's very powerful for organizations as well, to know who know who they are, know what impact they're trying to have [00:10:00] and be able to clearly articulate that for both their employees and their clients or customers or people they serve. [00:10:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And I would imagine. Extending that to the community, the organization is in that, that, that, that knowledge of purpose serves a bigger ecosystem than just the organization or the company. Can you talk a little bit about. If, if there is, because one of the things that I do when I work with people and companies and organizations, we talk a lot about compassion. [00:10:32] That's that's in intwined with purpose and compassion to me means that you're not just thinking about yourself or your organization. You're thinking about how you. Everyone in that ecosystem for you, when you work with a founder who has this vision to make these changes, how much of the extended family, if you will, are you focusing on or is it first an internal process and then maybe someday they'll get to that other place.[00:11:00] [00:11:00] Bob Lesser: Yeah, that's a great question. I, I, I would say that. The vast majority of ones, you know, sort of, if you take sort of everyone, who's sort of thought about their purpose and has a kind of well articulated sense of, or even a, you know, half halfway, half baked, you know, articulated sense of that purpose. [00:11:20] It, their purpose has to do with with the community with others. Very rarely is one's purpose solely focused on. Themselves. Okay. And you know, you'll see this, you know, sometimes you'll see this with elite athletes who are sort of, you know, training for themselves training training for, for their own sort of to achieve their own highest potential. [00:11:39] But very often you'll hear them talk about how they want to be an inspiration or a role model for others. They want to show they want to show that, you know, someone from this city or this town or, or, or this, you know, th this background. Can make it and so, so very, very often I'd say more often than not, there is a component that [00:12:00] involves being of service to inspiring helping others in, in one's purpose. [00:12:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm taking all of that in for a second because I, it, the Olympics just happened and we just had all of these people when all of these metals and so many of them. When they were talking about having one we're talking about, you know, winning it for the team or for their country, it's always something that is, that is greater than themselves. [00:12:29] And when you do the work you do and. Everything I've read about you. Doesn't say that you were specifically with athletes, you're working with founders, but it's still, they're still trying to be the very best. And so I know we're going to talk a little bit about the book that you've written, which I'm excited to delve into, but the big thing, I there's something about the words. [00:12:51] Cause I talk about this also peak. That just inspires me. It's also, like you said, it's [00:13:00] grounding, but also it lets you fly a little bit because it means that you've, that you've got this vision that you want to achieve someday. Can you talk a little bit about what it means to be a peak performer, physically, mentally, professionally? [00:13:12] What does peak performer mean to you? That you are spending so much of your life and your work studying it and working. [00:13:20] Bob Lesser: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My definition of peak performer is, is maybe a little different than, you know, some of the others are some, some, you know, what, what sort of, how it's talked about in the field. [00:13:30] I defined peak performer as, as being your best, not being the best necessarily, but being your best, really living up to your potential. And it's, and it sort of has two parts to it. One is it is about achieving results or, or, you know, sort of meeting your goals, but it's also about 50. And being, being, and feeling fulfilled. [00:13:54] And I, I, you know, I kind of believe that one without the other ultimately is kind of [00:14:00] flimsy and on some level is empty. So just achieving you know, without a sense of fulfillment, still feeling like you're not enough or still feeling like you haven't really done what you've been put on earth to do is, is not going to be that satisfying being just fulfilled and sort of feeling great and, you know, You know, feel happy and I'm hanging out on the beach here and, you know without achieving your goals, the things that, you know, you know, you are capable of or you believe you're capable of, or you're, you wonder if you're capable of is also going to ultimately feel this, you know, maybe hedonistic and, you know, at the end of the day, Kind of get boring. [00:14:35] So it's, it's both of those things. It's achieving your goals that you set for yourself feeling feeling you know, kind of optimal fulfillment and being, being the best that you can be being your best. And that's how I think about peak performance. And I think most, if not everyone wants that. [00:14:56] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Sorry, I'm taking all that in that last sentence made me go. Hmm. [00:15:00] I wonder if they do I do, because, because there are lots of people, you know, I've heard, I've heard therapists say this before that in any moment whoever's doing the, they might be doing the most awful thing, but they are doing the very best they can in that moment. [00:15:14] And so, so that, so that I get, but at the same time, I wonder sometimes. How, how do you know if you're being a peak performer is somebody who's spending their life on the couch, watching jeopardy and eating Cheetos. Being a peak performer, if that's what they want to do, like if their goal is I'm just going to chill through my life all as well. [00:15:39] Is that them being a, be a peak performer or is that them being a little lackadaisical about the goals they might have? [00:15:47] Bob Lesser: Yeah, it's a, it's a kind of a slippery question because if it is truly that person's goal. And if, if I sort of, before I get into [00:16:00] goals, I talk about vision and vision for me is one of the, is one of the peak performance pillars. [00:16:06] There are three peak performance pillars. There's purpose, there's values, and there's vision. Vision is about where we want to. And in our life, it's, it's the, it's the destination. And the more clear we can be about that, the more, more able we are to design our lives and our actions and behaviors to get there. [00:16:28] So if that is really, truly Aligned with an in support of one's vision, if, you know, hanging out, you know, sort of on a couch and, you know, eating, what are they eating? Doritos [00:16:40] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Cheetos. [00:16:43] Bob Lesser: Yeah. Well, if you know, if they're snacking and that, and they're doing that, you know, you know, for, you know, large parts of the day, and that is, is somehow aligned with their ultimate vision, then yes, I would say, and they're feeling fulfilled and they're achieving then. [00:16:56] Yes, I would say they are, they are being a peak performer under [00:17:00] my definition. However I would say we, there, there, and this, this is, this is what I, I, I termed the performance paradox. There are a number of ways in which we work against ourselves from really getting what we want, achieving what we want and feeling fulfilled. [00:17:20] And we can, in some ways, fool ourselves or talk ourselves out. Doing the things that will actually get us what we want or even, or even really being honest about what we want. And so there, there are ways that we're, it's, it's, it's, we're, we're kind of built in and I have sort of five major ways that I think about this. [00:17:43] We're kind of built to kind of work against ourselves and work against our achievement of what it is we really want. [00:17:51] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I that's there. Believe it or not. This reminds me of a Terminator movie. I am a huge that my, a friend of mine coined the [00:18:00] term cinephile nose tele parable. That's what it is. I am a cinephile, but he quoted, he, he coined the term tele parable because I use movie quotes. [00:18:08] To give lessons a lot. And there's a moment in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator says, you know, you humans, it is in your nature to destroy yourselves. And what you said kind of sparked that for me, because I I'm sitting here and I'm going, is that part of it? Is it, is, is it that, or is it fear? [00:18:27] Like what keeps us from acting in our own best interests in, in that. [00:18:34] Bob Lesser: Yeah. Yeah, I love it. I don't think it's, it's this sort of death wish that, you know, sort of Suman Freud talked about early on in his, in his, in his theory. I think it's actually more maladaptive mal adaptive survival mechanisms that have not evolved with us in our, in our modern world and our sort of vestiges of, you know, sort of the old. [00:18:58] When we were, you know, [00:19:00] evading the, the saber tooth tiger. And when we had predators and when we were, when we were really you know, it was all about survival and, and, and our lives were literally in danger. You know and, you know, for most of us, that's not the case anymore, but our minds and our nervous systems have really not evolved to kind of to meet, meet the demands of the modern world. [00:19:22] And I think, I think it's mostly, I think it's, it's more of that. And if, if you want, I can, I can also, you know, kind of quickly go over these sort of five things that I think sort of stand in our way of really really, you know, sort of being a peak performer, achieving what. The stage [00:19:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: is yours. [00:19:38] Absolutely. I'd love to hear them. Are you [00:19:40] Bob Lesser: kidding? All right. Wonderful. So the first, the first one is the unconscious mind. This is our unconscious mind. This is where, you know, 95% of the action is happening in our mind is unconsciously out of, out of conscious awareness. We, we don't know it at times. It, it sort of peaks up and become semi-conscious and we have [00:20:00] some, some idea of it, but mostly it's happening out of our conscious awareness. [00:20:03] These are our organizing patterns. This is where our, our self-limiting beliefs live. You know, it's, it's, I'm not good enough. You know, I'm unworthy, I'm unlovable. You know, the world is unfair. That's where all that stuff lives. It's where our internal saboteurs live. You know, and this sort of, you know, sneaky, you know, and insidious thing called imposter syndrome that many of us face. [00:20:25] So that's where all of that stuff kind of lurks and it lurks again without our awareness and without our consent and, and it's, but it's there and it's sort of running us you know, personality experts believe that our, our personalities are mostly. Defined by the time we're about five years old in terms of our sort of basic organizing patterns and beliefs about the world. [00:20:46] So essentially, you know, that means we have a, five-year-old running the show and that's kind of scary to think about, you know, I know at five, at five years old, I was, you know, I was eating dirt. So, you know, So that's the first one, [00:21:00] our unconscious mind. The second one is our self-conscious mind. This is to the X, the extent to which we value and probably overvalue other people's opinions. [00:21:10] And we are so concerned and worried about what other people will think. How we will look about belonging to the in-group that we it, it, it keeps us from doing things that we want, that we think where we may look dumb, or we may look, you know, we may be rejected. And it also, when we become overly, so self-conscious when we are trying to do, to do, to do something, to perform it impedes performance. [00:21:35] We we've all been there where, you know, once you start sort of, you know, wondering what other people are thinking about, you, you know, you start, you know, it really messes up. Right. So that's the second one. Self-conscious mind. The third one is, is squarely the sort of biology physiology that I was talking about. [00:21:50] You know, we're designed to conserve energy as, as animals, as, you know, as a, as a species like other animals are, we want to conserve energy. [00:22:00] We don't want to expend energy when we don't have to. So that is, that is. We may want to sit on the couch and eat Doritos instead of, you know, go out for that run or, you know, do the thing we know that's going to be really hard. [00:22:10] And so we need to be able to push through that that energy con conservation, because most things that we want to do in life that are going to be really fulfilling and rewarding are also going to be demanding and challenging, and we're going to require us to expend some energy. The other part of that is, you know, this is sort of the. [00:22:30] No human capacity to worry. Have anxiety stress out that animals, you know, don't have other animals don't have that we have. And it really makes, keeps our nervous systems kind of on high alert. You know? So there's this, this, you know, the stress response system is, is sort of is, is, is, is primed to activate you know, when we get cut off in traffic it's as if the saber tooth tiger is like, is coming to. [00:22:57] And, and when, you know, when, in fact it's not. [00:23:00] And so so the, the way that our stress response system is sort of is, is, is, is overactive for, for many people, unless somebody, unless you've really trained yourself through meditation and yoga and breathing and, and practices of that, of that nature you are often getting hijacked by your by your amygdala and the stress response. [00:23:21] System is again, running, running your responses rather than your rational mind. So that's the third one. The F the fourth one is I call the hedonic treadmill. And this is a psychologist Barry Schwartz talks about, about this in his book that the paradox of choice and this to me, the, so the hedonic treadmill is this notion of how we, our brains are wired to be attracted, to shiny the shiny new object, right? [00:23:47] Novelty novelty is one of the. That our motivation system works. It's how we become excited about things is when they're new and novel. That's great for getting out in the world and sort of finding food and, you know, you [00:24:00] know, you know, kind of inventing tools that are help us survive. But we also quickly get disinterested in things. [00:24:07] And we get excited about the next. And we get disinterested in that and we get excited about the next thing, and we get disinterested in that. And that's this treadmill, hedonic, treadmill metaphor. And what that does is it makes it hard for us to sustain our focus on things that matter. When things start getting feeling a little mundane or boring, we've got to put in repetition to do things and to become really good at, we got to, we know we have to put in, you know, we've got the 10,000 hour rule. [00:24:35] It's it's, it becomes hard to stay focused and interested in things. Are meaningful to us, but because of the way our brains work become boring. And our minds you know, men in Buddhism, there's this notion of the monkey mind, the way our minds work, our distracted mind. It's very hard to focus very hard to kind of keep our minds on one thing. [00:24:58] And [00:25:00] and to not give into this, this hedonic treadmill of, you know, the next shiny new object that we're ultimately gonna get. The last one is this the way our minds are wired for negativity. This is something that, you know, neuroscientists have dubbed the negativity bias. We are much more attuned to and amplify negative things. [00:25:21] Things that are pretend may be potentially harmful to us. Maybe threatening to us than we are to, you know, the good things. So this is, you know, we're walking through the forest and we're much more attuned to, you know, that twig that looks like a snake, you know and stepping out of the way of that and looking for, you know, looking for anything that might be dangerous than we are noticing the beautiful flowers that you know, can sort of leave us in. [00:25:48] And so this, this negativity bias really over it has this, over-index some things that may be dangerous or harmful. It leads to anxiety, risk, aversion and pessimism that [00:26:00] you know, is not so helpful to us in our pursuits. When what we really need is optimism, especially when things are getting checked. [00:26:08] So those are, those are the five, you know, performance paradoxes that I kind of outlined the ways in which, you know, we are in many ways designed to work against ourselves and what it is we really want. [00:26:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Wow. Wow. Okay. So much, so much. I, I, I appreciate you outlining them and I, a lot of this. First of all, it's so succinct and I'm really grateful that you have it so well down. I'm excited to talk about the book and and see more about how you detail these things. I have a couple of questions though, about, about these five and about something that you said. [00:26:52] About the five-year-old the, the, the emperor, the five-year-old emperor of your, of your brain. [00:27:00] When you talk about that. Cause I do want to talk about these five pillars, but there's this is, this is something that I wonder about children who go through. For example, if, if we're in that space of child abuse or some other kind of, of trauma of children in war zones, what kind of challenges, extra challenges do those children then have to get past? [00:27:24] Not just the inner five-year-old, but the trauma that they survived in order to become peak. [00:27:31] Bob Lesser: Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, they, they, they certainly are going to have organizing patterns, limiting beliefs about themselves in the world that are going to impact how they behave. The actions they take, the actions, they don't take the, the, the relationships with others. [00:27:51] And You know, not to say that it's going to be, you know, impossible for them. Cause you know, certainly people who have suffered trauma have gone on to [00:28:00] be, you know, perform at the highest selfless to become, you know, to be elite performers. But it's, it's, you know, they're gonna, they're gonna struggle. [00:28:08] They're gonna suffer in the ways that we all do, but maybe more. And you know, so it does, it does go back to this sort of ultimately the question becomes what are their core beliefs about themselves and what are their core beliefs about the world? And You know, how will that enable them or get in the way of their doing the work to get what it is they want in life and to feel fulfilled doing it. [00:28:34] So that would be the, sort of the big question that I would have, or I would look at with anyone who has suffered a trauma early. Early in life is, you know, are they are they able to do still do the things that are necessary to achieve their goals and, and feel fulfillment? And a lot of that does come down to, you know, their, their perceptions in themselves or perceptions of others, or ability to have re have healthy relationships[00:29:00] their ability to stay the course when things get difficult and be consistent, you know, the consistency required. [00:29:06] To do anything worthwhile and challenging. So, you know, certainly not not impossible, but you know, it's, it's it's, it's hard, you know, it's hard anyway. And especially if you've had trauma, hopefully they've been able to get support and get help and, you know, be able to, to, to come to terms, you know, with with what happened and maybe use it as. [00:29:26] You know, I think, I think you see that in a lot of elite performers who have had early hardship is they've been able to use it as fuel to help motivate them and to keep them going and to sort of, you know you know, and it's, it's, in some ways, you know, built their resilience and their, and their, and their they're on their toes. [00:29:43] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, it's so interesting that you, that you said that, that, that that's this notion of using it as fuel because these pillars that you're talking about, I can see the self-conscious part of that and the sort of the expectation of being cared for as a baby, all of a sudden that's [00:30:00] not there. Right? So how people think of you and how you think they think of you is, is an unstable foundation. [00:30:07] So that's why I was wondering about how someone who has survived trauma. Deal with these five pillars and, and still perform at a peak level. I wonder the other one that I, that sort of was like, Hmm. What about people who have attention deficit issues? How do they deal with those issues to then sort of climb up and become peak performers? [00:30:34] Bob Lesser: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I mean, hopefully, you know, they have been able to find ways to manage their ADHD. They've maybe they've found, you know, a meditation practice. Maybe they found medication that has worked for them. Hopefully they've chosen endeavors that are well sort of, well-suited to you know, to sort of you know, maybe more distractable. [00:30:57] And, you know, have maybe gravitate it to something that, you know, [00:31:00] maybe, you know, that's like sort of like startup entrepreneurs tend to be people who are like interested in a lot of things and you have to be focused on a lot of different things when you're starting and leading a company. And, and so, you know, hopefully they found pursuits that are. [00:31:14] You know, sort of you know, not impeded, not overly impeded by, you know, their, their challenges in focusing. And you know, and yeah, it's, you know, you know, again, you know, I think. These, these couple of questions that you have you know, we're all, we are all flawed. We are all, you know, challenged, we all suffer. [00:31:37] So, so it is, it is the human condition and it is about figuring out. How to work within the constraints that we have to meet our highest potential. And we all have constraints, you know, I am never going to be an NBA basketball player because I'm five, seven. Right. So, you know, and I'm never going to be an astronaut because I'm too old [00:32:00] right now. [00:32:00] So these are real constraints. So when we talk about one's potential, we're not talking about, you know The sort of, you know sort of potential without constraints. And I think that's important is for us all to understand who we are, what the constraints are that are, are kind of, you know, sort of you know, that we're, we're working with. [00:32:19] And so the question becomes, how do we maximize ourselves, given the constraints that we face, given who we are. And, and, and not, you know, deny those things or not be ashamed of those things, but to really know, like, this is a constraint I have, so I got, I have to work with, you know, I have to work with it. [00:32:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And that goes back right to the very first thing you said, which was, it's not about being the best, it's about being your best. Right. And, and I, I love that. And it ties beautifully into this idea of, of what you said about vision values and purpose that having that amalgam and then being able to work through. [00:32:58] And with it allows you to get to [00:33:00] that place, which dovetails beautifully into talking about the peak performance formula, your book. I would love it. If you would talk a little bit about, let me, let me just give the whole title because I love it. I think it's so wonderful. The peak performance formula, achieving breakthrough results in life and work. [00:33:17] Yes. You're again, you're singing my song, Bob. So I would love to hear from you a little bit about. First of all, what prompted you to write it? And second of all, what is it that you want the book to do for the people who read it? [00:33:34] Bob Lesser: Yes. Well, what prompted me to write it was really, you know, I, you know, work with my clients is an executive coach. [00:33:42] And prior to that, as a psychotherapist and, you know, do this really. Intentional work that you know, yields great results helps people to be their best and developing tools and techniques throughout the years that have been really effective in helping people deal [00:34:00] with the. Unique, but not but unique, but also somewhat universal challenges that that, you know, these, these founders and executives and leaders you know, we're facing and. [00:34:13] I wrote the book because I wanted to make it accessible to a larger audience, not just, you know you know, the, the, the you know, the, the tech, startup CEO, or though, you know, leader of the big organization you know, that I'm working with to my executive coaching practice, but I want to make it accessible to really anyone, anyone who's trying to get better at anything, whether that's, you know, a student who's trying to get their grades up in school, you know, The new college grad, that's trying to figure out how to, you know, kind of, you know what to do with, with, you know, the sort of next phase of their lives. [00:34:43] A manager in a company who is trying to move up somebody who's thinking about starting their own company you know, really anyone who's like, you know, I need some tools and tactics to to, to. Achieve the things that I, that I want to achieve. And I, and I want to do it in a way that [00:35:00] is about me, what matters to me and will bring me fulfillment, not what society says or thinks I should do. [00:35:06] So, so that that's, that's why. To sort of make it, make it try and make that more accessible. And the set was the second part of the [00:35:15] Izolda Trakhtenberg: question. What is it that you want readers of the book to get out of it? Like what, what is, what is your desire for someone picks up the book reads it? What do you want them to have that they didn't have before they picked up the book? [00:35:31] Bob Lesser: Yeah, I, I think it's, it's a sort of tools and tactics to, to allow each individual reader to become a peak performer in their, in their own lives. And, and, and, you know, make the kind of you know, breakthrough achievements that maybe have. Holding the things that have been holding them back or or things that they've been, you know, really wanting to do, but just, you know, you haven't had the tools to do that to really provide those, [00:36:00] those sort of tangible tools and tactics to allow people give people some tools to really know themselves, better understand themselves better. [00:36:07] There's a lot of that in the book of, you know, helping them, giving them guided exercises to. Define what their purpose is to articulate their core guiding values, to to articulate their vision from, for themselves and where they want to go in their lives. So, so, so that sort of self knowledge, then those tools and tactics to, you know, to be one's best to, you know, transform, you know, the imposter syndrome, if that's something that they face to. [00:36:39] Con be able to come to see failure as, you know, not somebody to be scared of, but actually something to embrace to, you know, really make sure that they are doing the sort of baseline things that we know will help anyone trying to do to do anything important in their lives around physical health and energy [00:37:00] management training one's mind. [00:37:02] To again, overcome some of these performance paradoxes that we talked about in the beginning and to sort of master the techniques that they need to master in whatever endeavor it is that they're that they're pursuing and to, to, to, you know, use tried and true tools and tactics to do that. [00:37:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: You keep stopping me. I kind of go, ah, I need to take all this in because there's so much there's so, so much rich stuff in, in, in what you're saying, something that I'm really curious about with, within that. I love that it's tactical. I love books that, that don't just go, let me just strategize for you. [00:37:39] And then you go and try and do it all by yourself. So I'm so glad that that's, that that's in the book. Something that I. That I'm wondering about is when, like you've said this a couple of times already, not in these words, but that we have a tendency toward entropy that we kind of don't [00:38:00] work at our best within the book. [00:38:04] What are the steps? Someone who has that tendency to sit on the couch and eat Cheetos and then dream about doing more. What's the first step? What do they do for. [00:38:16] Bob Lesser: That's a good question. I mean, I, I start, the book starts with. Because I think, I think purpose is this really, this sort of motivator, the purpose gives us motivation, the stronger our purposes. [00:38:28] The more motivated we will be, the more motivated we are, the more energy we will direct to do something. It'll get us off the couch, the stronger our purposes. And, you know, you hear these stories about, you know, parents were able to lift heavy cars up, you know, you know, to save their children, you know, this sort of the strength. [00:38:46] It, that comes from purpose, the motivation, the energy that comes from purpose. So I like to start there because that is a sort of an Energizer. And then, you know, I, I do think [00:39:00] You know, vision coming, you know, really helping people sort of co if they, if they don't have that strong vision from themselves. [00:39:06] Cause that's that you know, Lewis, Carroll, the author said, you know, if you don't know where you're going, any road, any road will do. And, and so, you know, we need to know where we're going, where we want to go. And once we know that once we have a, a as clear a picture of where we want to go, what we want in life as we can, then we can start to set some goals around it that are based on you know, this, this, this real, you know sit this real sense of like, wow, if I could, you know, if I could just make it. [00:39:37] You know, how great would that be? And so, so then, you know, so you've got the, you've got purpose, you've got vision and then values are the beliefs that drive our behaviors. And so once we begin to, you know, we, we know who we are, what's deeply meaningful to us or energized around that. Our purpose, we have our vision, which is telling us, you know, Hey, this is kind of, this is where I want to [00:40:00] go. [00:40:00] I've got some now some concrete goals that are gonna are gonna make sure that. I'm getting there, then our values become about what are the behaviors that are going to, if I do those things day in, day out, I practice those behaviors day in, day out. They're gonna, they are gonna you know, kind of like the oars of you know, of a, of a canoe. [00:40:20] They're going to row me in that, in that right direction. They're going to be the thing, that sort of guy that keeps me moving in that right direction through these, through. Practice of these core values. So that's how the kind of the peak performance formula works in practice. So purpose, vision values. [00:40:39] Come together to give us this really strong foundation. And then, and that's the first part of the book. And then the second part of the book is about these sort of tools and tactics. And these are these things, you know, you know, I break down into sort of three categories, you know, physical, the physical. [00:40:54] The second is that is, is, is the ticket. And the third is, is, is the mind [00:41:00] training the mind? So the physical is, is stuff that we, most of us know about. But we need to be reminded about, about the optimal amount of sleep to get that kind of diets. We should be eating the ways we should be moving our body and the amount of exercise we should be getting the ways we should really be managing our energy to optimize that energy for the things that are important. [00:41:20] That the technique piece is giving people some, some tools through a method called deliberate practice. Your PR you probably need to get better at you're at some technique. So if you know, part of my goal or vision is maybe to, you know, play competitive tennis I'm going to need to work on aspects of my game. [00:41:38] I'm going to need to, you know, practice my, you know, my serve or my overhead, or, you know, whatever shot needs improving or shots need improving. So I, I need to I need to design some deliberate practice in order to actually get better. At the, at my craft. And so, so that section of the book really addresses some best [00:42:00] practices and how to improve your technique and whatever it is you're trying to improve. [00:42:04] The third, third piece of this is, is training the mind. And this, this, again goes back to a lot of the performance products stuff that gets in our way. And this is through, you know, through things like meditation. Practice, you know, I'm a big proponent of, of meditation because of the, you know, the, the incredible benefits that it has and the scientific data that is now available, that backs up the benefits of meditation in terms of, of, you know, what it can do for our nervous system, our immune system how it can help us focus and constant. [00:42:35] Better. And so it's really this mental training. That's important in order to kind of, and, you know, and, and to overcome the negativity bias, to be able to practice optimism and learn to I learned optimism. So things of that nature tools of that nature that are gonna help us to have some control over our minds to, you know, kind of make sure that we're able to stay on the [00:43:00] path of, of, of our, of our vision. [00:43:06] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Again, I'm thinking I want to take all of that in. Ah, wow. So it's, I mean, yay. This is so exciting and it's, it takes me back to something. That I'm that a lot of times when I work with my own clients, we talk about the, the foundation, which is you have to remind yourself that you deserve to be here. You know, that, that that's so much of it. [00:43:32] And as a meditator, I that's, that's part of my daily meditation. Right. So when I'm, and I'm gonna use myself as, as the The research tool, I guess when I'm meditating, when I'm in that space. And if I'm trying to do my vision and purpose and values, and I'm trying to get to a place where I feel like I can act on the things that you're talking about, the tactics, the actual step-by-step stuff [00:44:00] that you detail in the book, how do I remain consistent? [00:44:06] What does someone need to do? If, if for example, they're not having results yet, or, or it's taking a long time or things are moving slower than they might want or need. How do you maintain a consistent level of the practices that, that you outline in the book? If you are someone who's, who doesn't have Bob lesser as a coach to sort of talk through it. [00:44:30] So you're the you're, you know, Jane Schmoe and you are. Trying to work through and develop these, this, the values, the vision and the purpose. [00:44:41] Bob Lesser: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's it. It's a good question. There's a couple things. So one of the things I talk about in the book is an as again of practice practices of high-performers one of them is to build. [00:44:52] Around you that will support you. And, you know, the team is going to look a little different depending on, you know, what it is you are trying to achieve and get [00:45:00] better at and and, and optimize. So, but we all need, we all need a team. We all need a support. We all need support. Nobody does it alone. That team part of that, part of what that team does is hold you account. [00:45:10] As well as support you. And, and so having a team in place that will help you to stay on track, stay on the path that when things aren't working, we'll brainstorm with you, what's not working, what do we need to do differently? And and, and so, so thinking about yourself, just like athletes, do athletes have their, you know, tennis players have their teams of, you know, Their coach, their physiotherapists, their acupuncturist, their dietician they're right there. [00:45:36] You know, their fitness coach. They've got all these people that are specialized to help them be the best tennis players they can be. Right. What I'm suggesting is that we all need that in our lives. We need our own sort of personal teams that will help us be. You know, w person that we can be the best, you know, whatever it is, you know, fill in the blank that we want to be. [00:45:58] So part of it is, is, is [00:46:00] really formulating that team and, and, and using that team. And then the other piece is at the very end of the book, I include a 30 day peak performance challenge which walks the reader through how to implement the concepts in the book over a 30 day period on anything that they want. [00:46:17] They want to get better at anything they want to make sort of breakthrough performance in and what that does. And the reason I included that is because it's both showing people how tangibly and practically to implement these concepts and day-to-day life. And it also helps to make it. Doing this over 30 days is gonna, is gonna start to build these practices as habits. [00:46:42] And, you know, it is checking in on purpose, going back to purpose. It is checking in on your values and make sure you're doing those behaviors. It is checking in with your vision. And, and it is also making sure. The goals that you have said are are the right goals and that you are monitoring and measuring them. [00:46:59] And so I [00:47:00] include a process that's taken, actually taken from Google and w what Google uses to manage its its own performance. Called objectives and key results. And I've adapted that to personal use so that you are basically setting goals for yourself. And then you're breaking those goals down into, into monthly objectives and key and key results that are kind of the measurable indicators that tell you the, what progress you're making towards achieving those objectives. [00:47:32] And you score yourself. On them and, and it's as great tool for staying. Seeing where you're where you're not on track, where you're maybe behind and where you need to pick up the pace on things. So that's a, that's a very concrete tool that I offer and I use myself that I've been doing for years that really has helped me stay consistent. [00:47:53] Because every week I'm looking at my goals, my objectives for the month that are based on my goals for the year that are based on. [00:48:00] Long-term vision for myself. And I score them and I say, yeah, you're doing, you know, you're on track this week or, Hey, you're, you're behind schedule and you have to pick up the pace. [00:48:09] And I used that process to, you know, to kind of, you know, stay, stay on, you know, on track, you know, month by month till I hit six months. And I revisit my annual. To make sure that it's still relevant and see if anything has changed or if I want to make any modifications. And then I keep going and hopefully by the end of the year, I'm a step closer to achieving my vision. [00:48:33] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. I love that. That's again, to me, consistency is so important because you can have the absolute best intentions, but, but if you're not consistent with it, then. Then you're going to have a lot of extra challenges, I think. Yeah. [00:48:49] Bob Lesser: I, and I, and I actually just won one saying that I really love is that elite performers are not consistently great. [00:48:57] They're great at being consistent. And [00:49:00] so. Consistency showing up day in, day out is, is the name of the game. And so I'm glad you brought that up because that, that is, you know, it's not about these heroic performances or, you know you know, going, you know, all 110% all the time. It's about showing. You know, doing our best day in day out and being consistent and by being consistent is going to be how we become better and ultimately great at something [00:49:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: 10,000 hours. [00:49:32] Yes, absolutely. And that's, that's the epitome of consistency. You have to do it for 10,000 hours on Malcolm Gladwell. We love him and we hate him at the same time. Bob, I'm so grateful that you. Took the time to chat with me about your work and the book. I'm super, super excited about it. I would love it if you wouldn't mind. [00:49:53] Cause I'm sure, you know, someone's listening to this going, I need this book. I need to know more about [00:50:00] Bob Lester and the work he's doing. How does someone connect with you? What, where are the places that someone could find you and also where can the book be found? [00:50:09] Bob Lesser: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm on social media. [00:50:12] You can find me on Instagram at, at Bob underscore lesser. I'm also on Twitter at lesser underscore bomb. So you can find me both of those places. And you can also go to my website to learn a little bit more about me and my work and. Read some, some articles that I, you know, kinda my new, my new stuff. [00:50:31] And that's www.boblesser.com. The book can be ordered it's out and can be ordered on Amazon Barnes and noble bookshop and indie bound. So, you know, any anywhere, you know, where you prefer to, to, to buy books, those are all the online sources. And the name of the book is the peak performance formula achieving breakthrough results in life. [00:50:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Fabulous. And I'll put the links to everything in the show notes so that we don't have to be typing furiously down [00:51:00] everything. So writing it all, noting it all down. Whenever somebody says to me, you know, oh, can you spell that for my name? For example, I'm always like, oh, you don't want to do that. Let me just send it to you either that, or I say write small because my name is very long. [00:51:14] Once again, Bob, I'm so grateful that you took the time to be here. I have just one last question that I. Everybody who comes on the show. And it's a silly question, but I find that it yields some profound results. And the question is this. If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? [00:51:41] NEF said. All right. Well, that's, that's about the most succinct I've had there. That's yeah. Three, three words. That's good. Cause you can't, you can't. Too many words. So there you go, Bob. Thank you once again for being here. I really appreciate it. [00:51:59] Bob Lesser: Although my pleasure. [00:52:00] Thanks for having me. [00:52:01] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Wow. So you have gotten it from Bob lesser. [00:52:04] You're going to need to go out and get the peak performance formula. Be consistent in your practices. Figure out your vision, your purpose, your values, and live your best life and do your best work. It's really the way it's all about. I am. Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. And I'm hoping that you enjoyed the show. [00:52:24] I'm hoping that you are enjoying your day, and I'm hoping that if you do like what you're hearing. Drop a review, tell a friend about this episode so that more people can learn about Bob and the incredible work he's doing to help people be peak performers until next time, remember to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [00:52:49] thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people. [00:53:00] And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:53:06] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2020. As always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.  

Peter Shankman Discusses How He Innovates With ADHD As His Superpower  This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset It's also brought to you by Gloria Chou's PR Starter Pack. If you want to get featured in the media, this is your best first step. What a great episode! Peter innovates and moves faster than normal. We dig into how he does it and we can do it too. The New York Times has called Peter Shankman "a rockstar who knows everything about social media and then some." He is a 5x best-selling author, entrepreneur, and corporate keynote speaker, focusing on customer service and the new and emerging customer and neuroatypical economy. With three startup launches and exits under his belt, (most notably Help a Reporter Out) Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about the customer experience, social media, PR, marketing, advertising, and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and the new Neurodiverse and Remote economies. In addition to his passion for helping people and companies find success, some of Peter's highlights also include: Founder of HARO - Help A Reporter Out, which became the standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources prior to being acquired three years after launch Futurist-in-Residence at Epic Marketing Consultants, focusing on the customer experience of tomorrow Faster than Normal - The Internet's #1 podcast on ADHD, focusing on the superpowers and gifts of having a "faster than normal brain,” which has helped thousands of people all around the world realize that having a neurodiverse brain is actually a gift, not a curse. The ShankMinds Breakthrough Network, an elite, online mastermind of thought leaders, business experts, and change-makers Peter is a worldwide influencer and/or spokesperson for several global brands including Sylvania, National Car Rental, Manscaped.com, Sealface, Thule, and many others. Finally, Peter is a father, a 2x Ironman triathlete, a class B licensed skydiver, and has a pretty serious Peloton addiction. When he's not traveling around the world speaking to companies big and small, he's based in NYC with his seven-year-old daughter and 20-year-old cat, both of whom consistently refuse him access to the couch.  Connect with Peter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petershankman/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeterShankman Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petershankman/ Website: https://www.shankman.com/ Episode Transcript Peter Shankman [00:00:00] Peter Shankman: You know, at the end of the day, if you don't like where you are, you can move. Cause you're not a tree, but sometimes that takes time and that's fine. But the only thing I have a problem with is, is if you're spending the few hours of free time, you're not making arrangements to change down the road, but rather bitching about your situation. [00:00:18] Then I kinda have a problem with it because you have the opportunity to at least start the process. [00:00:27] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. Izolda Trakhtenberg. On the show, I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM, brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:48] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do. Deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you [00:01:00] decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word. And now let's get to the show. [00:01:12] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm your host and I'm super happy. You're here. I'm also really happy and honored to have this week's guest. The New York Times has called Peter Shankman a rockstar who knows everything about social media and then some he's a five-time bestselling author, entrepreneur, and corporate keynote speaker. [00:01:34] Focusing on customer service and the new and emerging customer and neuro-atypical economy with three startup launches and exits under his belt. Most notably help report her out. Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about the customer experience, social media, PR marketing, advertising, and ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [00:01:57] And the new neurodiverse and [00:02:00] remote economies, in addition to his passion for helping people and companies find success, some of Peter's highlights also include founder of HARO helper reporter out, which became the standard for thousands of journalists, looking for sources prior to being acquired three years after launch futurist in residence. [00:02:17] Epic marketing consultants, focusing on the customer experience of tomorrow, faster than normal. The Internet's number one podcast on ADHD, focusing on the superpowers and gifts of having a faster than normal brain, which has helped thousands of people all around the world realize that having a neurodiverse brain is actually a gift, not a curse. [00:02:39] The Shank Minds, breakthrough network, an elite online mastermind of thought leaders, business experts, and change-makers. Peter's a worldwide influencer and a spokesperson for several global brands, including Sylvania national car rental, and many others. [00:03:00] Finally, Peter is a father, a two-time iron man triathlete, a class B licensed skydiver, and has a pretty serious Peloton addiction. When he's not traveling around [00:03:10] speaking to companies big and small, he's based in New York City with a seven-year-old daughter and 20-year-old cat and dog. All of whom consistently refused him access to the couch theater. I'm super thrilled that you're here. Welcome. Peter Shankman: Hey, great to be here. Thanks. Izolda Trakhtenberg: I am. I'm a big, huge fan. I have read faster than normal before, and I just got a copy for my husband because the audiobook is out and cause he's not a big reader. [00:03:37] He has ADHD and he's plowing through it and loving it. And he now of course from the movie up, keeps going squirrel. So, at all sorts of times, I want to jump right on it. If that's okay with you. You, it's been said, have an incredible imagination and incredible intuition. And [00:04:00] I'm wondering, how does, how do those, those parts of you relate to ADHD if they do and how do you use them to make it your superpower? [00:04:11] Peter Shankman: Oh yeah. That's interesting. I think that, you know, people would say anything. I think that, that for me, a lot of it. When you have a faster brain, you have a couple of options. You can try to slow down to match everyone else. Or you can accept that that's really, really hard to do, and you can sort of learn to, to speak slower than you think. [00:04:32] So what do I mean by that? I will sit there and come up with 15 ideas in five minutes because it's fun. 13 that might be beneficial to, there might be terrible, whatever, but I will spend time to sort of understand. What's going on and then present the top couple of ideas of the world. The difference is, is that I've accepted that no matter how calmly I do that, that'd be really think that he is crazy. [00:04:55] And so the goal is to learn, not to care about [00:05:00] what people think and never let that prevent you from doing something fun or doing something that you want to do or creating something, something, something new. [00:05:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Okay. So within that people might think it's crazy, but you come up with the idea and I'm wondering, are you in that moment trying to solve a problem that you've seen or is it just the ideas of rapid-fire and how do you reconcile the two? [00:05:21] If for example, you come up with an idea that someone else might think is crazy, but it's [00:05:26] Peter Shankman: not okay. You know, it it's, it's sort of stealing yourself in the fact that when you present the idea, there's going to be at least one person that knows what the hell is wrong, you know, but, but then understanding that, that, that, that the situations and the ideas that you presented in the past that actually benefit, you know, I have a little bit of a positive track record in that. [00:05:45] And I've had several ideas of the past that have actually turned into, you know, great companies or, you know, a million multimillion dollar exits, things like that. So that gives you a little bit of credibility. The key though, is to keep moving forward. The thing about ADHD is that is the [00:06:00] forward motion. [00:06:00] Whether you're in, whether you are, you see you and your entrepreneur forward, motion is thrilling. And if you're not going forward, even if you're just standing still, it kind of feels like you're going backwards. And that's a problem. So for me, it's always about forward motion. If I have an idea and it doesn't work, I try and do it right. [00:06:14] That is where I try another one. And they're going to be ideas of work. It happens all the time. So the key is to keep moving forward. [00:06:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Okay. And yet there are times when ADHD is something that allows you to think laterally, to look at things from a different angle. How does that align with the forward motion that you're talking [00:06:32] Peter Shankman: about? [00:06:33] There's several ways. I mean, I mean, the, the, the premise of you know, just this morning, I was on a call with a client and, and, and the client was coming back and forth on an idea that they just, they didn't see it working and see it working. And rather than try to sort of convince them that what I said, what if we take it? [00:06:45] What if we go 45 degrees to the left and look at it? And all of a sudden, oh, okay, well maybe that, you know, it's all this stuff that I got in trouble for in school. Right? Speaking, out of turn you know, cracking jokes. [00:07:00] Disrupting the class. Cause I talking about something that completely come up with something completely different type thing. [00:07:04] All of that has sort of given, allowed me to, to, to use that to my benefit as a, as a, you know, as an adult. The key is to be in an industry to be in a place, to be in a world where, where creativity is, lauded is not pushed down and, and, and, and, and thrown away. You know, I know that some ideas I'm gonna, I'm gonna put the effort. [00:07:22] We're not going to do that and that's not going to happen. And sort of once you realize there's gonna be people like that, and you just move on, you find your people, you find the people who, who, who appreciate what you can bring to the table. I heard a great quote once cause there've been times that I've had to let people leave my table because we just didn't, you know, they couldn't understand my speed. [00:07:43] I couldn't understand their non speed. And I heard a great quote. Just because we're no longer friends doesn't mean I wish you ill. I don't want you to starve. I just don't want you to eat at my table. Right. And if [00:08:00] you are creative and your, and your brain does work differently, occasionally you have to realize that not everyone's gonna think like you, and if you spend your entire life focused on the fact that that things you do are not. [00:08:12] Always going to be understood or are not always going to be accepted or, you know, you're not, you're going to be asked. Why aren't you normal things of the day. If you spend your entire life being upset about the fact that's happening, you're never gonna be able to grow. I think Winston Churchill said, you'll, you'll never reach your destination if you stop to yell at every dog barks. [00:08:29] Right. So sometimes you just have to make it on your own and, and, and, and move forward and understand that. Yeah, here we go. And it's, it's, I've found. That's a great success in that. It took a long time and a lot of a lot of therapy. But in the end I realized that, you know, the idea that I've had, some of them have been very beneficial, so it'd be great. [00:08:48] Some of them failed, but I will never stop continuing to do that. [00:08:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, nor should you, I mean, there, there are certain ideas, certainly heroin is one of the ones that I love help a reporter [00:09:00] out. I've used it myself and continue to use it. And th th that, that begs the question that you've had these successful companies, some of them have been multi-million dollar ends, it's you? [00:09:10] And then you're moving forward when you're doing that. There are times, and I've, I've, I've been lurking on your blog. You talk about feeling like an imposter. Okay. So what was that? God? Yes. Okay. So, so how, how does that work? Is that, is that the ADHD brain, is that your personality? And if so, w which, which would, whichever one it is, how are you making those work for you? [00:09:34] Peter Shankman: It's a little bit of everything. I think there's a part of it that. No matter how I could give a speech to 30,000 people and get a 30,000 person standing ovation. If one person doesn't stand up, that's the person I'm gonna focus on. Oh my God, everyone hated it. It was terrible. Let alone the fact that, that my eyes are literally telling me the 29,999 people like. [00:09:54] Right. There's always been a little bit. And again, that's something you have to work on constantly because a lot of times, you know, [00:10:00] growing up with ADHD, growing up with, sit down, you're disrupting the class disease and growing up with you're wrong and you're weird. And why are you so stupid? And why are you so strange? [00:10:06] You know, no matter how much success you have that tends to stick in your brain. And that tends to pop up the most inconvenient times. It's taken years to get over that, but every little bit of success, I have everything that I do that tends to benefit, you know, from that I tend to to learn a little bit more and chip away a little bit more at what I call junior high school, Peter the guy who, who, who took all that shit seriously. [00:10:28] You know, the, the PERT example, we're talking about the triathlon. I ran this Sunday, my friend my coach and my friend was at the finish line. He grabbed this photo of me coming across and my. Oh, my God, I am disgusting. I'm sweaty. I'm gross. I still have 25 pounds to lose. I don't look like a triathlon or triathlete. [00:10:45] It looks some fat guy who just got, and then I had this moment where I saw the finish line sign behind me and realized, no, maybe just a guy who just did this race and that's a shit ton more than most people did today. And once you own that, right. And it was this wonderful feeling of release and feeling of, of, of, of freedom that, [00:11:00] yeah, I did just do this and I can, I can appreciate myself for what I do. [00:11:06] And it it's, it's hard to get there because you know, you sit there a lot of times with your, with your, with your, your, your ADHD and, you know, your concept that, that today's the day when I wake up today is absolutely the day of the New York times gonna have written a huge article about about what a fraud I am and everything I've done is just been locked. [00:11:21] And then when they don't, it's obviously, because I'm not important enough to be written up by the New York times, you know? So there's this constant battle with yourself, but. You know, you do what you can do and, and, and you, every day, you chip a little bit more away at it. Yeah. [00:11:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: It's so fascinating that you say that because again, my husband has add, and he, and I talk about this a lot about the notion that no matter, no matter what he does, he doesn't think it's good enough, no matter how he's an artist in a clown. [00:11:50] And he always comes back with stories of not thinking that no matter how well he did. It just wasn't good enough. And on some level it might lead him to strive, but there are times [00:12:00] when he just gets down on himself and it's very hard for him to motivate himself and it's impossible for me to motivate him. [00:12:06] So do you get to those places where you actually just stop and go, you know what, I just can't today or are you always going, no, this is it right? Yeah. There [00:12:14] Peter Shankman: all the time. And you know, I have ways to make sure that I am like don't let them. Perfect. You know, let it affect me as, as little as possible, but that way I I, I, exercise is massive, right? [00:12:26] I have to exercise. I have to work out. I have to get that brain chemistry growing in my brain every single day. I was up at 4:00 AM this morning. I was on the bike for an hour. It just, it gives me the, the chemistry I need to, to quiet those demons. Right. For lack of a better word. It's certainly not easy to do, but you know, if I don't exercise my day, And so the key is to find a way to build that into everything I needed. [00:12:58] My dad you know, it's not, [00:13:00] it sounds easy, but you know, when, when you've had it, when you worked late or you had a late dinner or whatever, you know, you get to bed at midnight and it's 4:00 AM and you have to wake up and work out. It's it's difficult, but I know what will happen if I don't. And I certainly don't want that. [00:13:17] So, you know, I it's, I've heard it's called playing the tape forward. Alcoholics talk about it a lot. The premise of that you know, okay, I'm going to have this one drink, well, if have this one drink where I'm going to be in 12 hours and it never ends well when you think of it that way. So the key is to not think about it that way, the key is to not have that first drink. [00:13:35] For me, it's sort of the same thing. If I don't. It'll be 6:00 PM or 4:00 PM and 12 hours we'll have passed either way, but what kind of a damn right, will it be a better day or a worse day? And so that easily enough to get me up. And again, this is enough to get me, but not all the time. I'm not perfect. [00:13:51] You know, I will sleep in every once in a while ago. And honestly, Ben and I will, I will, I will scale workout. The key is not to not to get into such a rut where you [00:14:00] are, where you are without one MIS becomes a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 weeks cycle. That's you, you know, you don't want to so was one of the reasons I rarely drink anymore is because I would, I would, I would, you know, I wasn't going to have to get drunk, but I, oh, I'm going to client event free. [00:14:14] Great. I'll have four drinks. I'll have five drinks. I wasn't getting drunk, but I. You know, I come home a little, hung up, not hung over, but you know, I'd be a little dehydrated. I wouldn't wake up the next morning and workout. Well, I'm not okay. I might as well. You know, I blew it. I blew the workout this morning. [00:14:27] I might as well get a bacon, egg, and cheese at Suffolk degrees or two of them. Well, I do want my breakfast sized back and let's just get dinner. I'll have a pizza. I'll start tomorrow. All of a sudden it's two weeks later, right. Have gained eight pounds and I'm sitting there what the hell just happened. [00:14:38] So, you know, was a great line from the movie war games where the computer realizes that line wards is the only winning. And for me very often, the only one who move is not to play, I have I heard another great quote, read something like the demons in my subconscious are too hard to be there for us simply [00:15:00] must not. [00:15:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, both of those quotes are fantastic. Yeah. I love it. I loved it. First time I saw war games and heard Whopper say that, you know, interesting game, the only way you move is not to play. What's interesting. What was that? Yes, I, yes, exactly. Favorite and. Here's the thing. There are times when we're in situations where, you know, there are people with ADHD who are in jobs that they hate, or, or, you know, are doing the nine to five when, when they're not suited for it. [00:15:27] They're neuro-typical how, what is your, what is your guidance for someone who is, who perhaps hasn't gotten to the point where they want to be an entrepreneur or whether they want to start their own business or where they can be on their own? What do you tell someone who's in that nine to five, who might hate it is not well suited for it because of some of the neuro-typical situations in their lives. [00:15:47] What are your thoughts on that? [00:15:48] Peter Shankman: I think the first thing to understand is that I'm there. I would never judge anyone on what's a job they're doing or how they're living their life. Is, are they happy if they're not going to have the, to change that? You know, there are people, I, you have these, you have these [00:16:00] sort of entrepreneur gurus. [00:16:03] I can't stand it. You know, if you're not happy, you hate your job. You should quit go out on your own, you know? And if you have to work 22 hours a day, so you just told someone to, you know, give them some of the recipe to kill themselves. That's not recommended. Right. Right. So I'm not going to say, oh, you're a miserable job. [00:16:16] Quit. We don't have that opportunity. Right. And, and it's, it's really privileged to mustard. Everyone can do that. So I don't think that way, but I do have everything is that if you understand that you are not happy where you are, you have to start making the correct arrangements so that at some point down the road, You can quit so that you can change your life so that you do, you know, at the end of the day, if you don't like where you are, you can move. [00:16:44] Cause you're not a tree, but sometimes that takes time and that's fine. But the only thing I have a problem with is, is if you're spending a few hours of free time every day, not making arrangements to change down the road, but rather bitching [00:17:00] about your situation, then I kind of. Because you have the opportunity to at least start the process, right? [00:17:08] So if you're miserable and where you are look to things and don't just look for a new job, because it's better than your old job, look for something that will truly make you happy and then work backwards and figure out how to get there. Again, it's not easy. I don't expect you to do it tomorrow, but it is doable. [00:17:21] I didn't become an entrepreneur until I realized I could. I didn't think that's what you did. Both of my parents were teachers. I didn't know anyone was entrepreneur. I figured you worked for someone else. You've worked 40 years. Got a gold watch and retire. I got laid off from America online and my first job out of college and sit in the parking lot, went what the hell just happened? [00:17:38] And I realized I'm going to try it. I'm going to go out on my own. I know how to do PR. I learned from me, well, I'm gonna try it without what's. The worst can happen when it, I literally said when it fails, I'll get a job. Not if it fails when it fails, I'll get a job. It's been 98 to almost oh eight, 18 and almost 24 years later. [00:17:53] And I haven't had good job. So I've been incredibly lucky. That being said there been incredible highs, incredible lows. [00:18:00] But yeah, if you're miserable where you are, figure out what you can do and how you can improve your current situation to get to where you want to be. [00:18:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That makes a lot of sense. I I'm going to, I'm doing rapid fire because I know we don't have that much time. [00:18:17] I would love to know from you, you talk about in faster than normal, your fabulous book. You talk about how your body, and I don't know if it's actually all ADHD people, but you say that your body does not produce enough dopamine, serotonin and adrenaline. And I'm wondering how those. Okay. So how does that, how does that relate? [00:18:36] What, what is, what is, what does that do for you and how do you address that issue? [00:18:41] Peter Shankman: So a combination of domains, serotonin adrenaline allows you to focus. It allows you to sit down and do the things that you don't necessarily love to do. So I'll give you an example. In school. I was the class clown, and I would get in trouble for me in the class. [00:18:54] Clown. Why was the class well in the subjects that I loved English. [00:19:00] In social studies. I was never the class clown. I paid attention like the greatest dude in the world, in math, in science and things I wasn't good at. I was the class clown. What I realized 30 years later is why I was making jokes and cracking up and cracking jokes and cracking wise because when I made a joke and other students laughed, they laughed at something I did, which actually gave me a dopamine hit. [00:19:23] And all of a sudden I could focus. Of course I was getting in trouble. But I was actually, if you look at it, the big picture I was getting in trouble because I wanted to learn now I've since learned better ways to get my domain, get my adrenaline and get missing and turn it into meetings with bad jokes. [00:19:41] But the logic is sound right. It is the same thing. You know, we all know every single one of us, there's not a person in the world who understand, who doesn't understand that texting while driving is dangerous and will kill you. Here's how so many people still do it. Why? Because every time we hear a text, [00:20:00] every time we see a message, every time we get a tweet or reply, whatever our brain actually releases domain it's addiction. [00:20:09] So no different, if don't mean, it gives us that focus chemical and that ability to be happy then. Yeah. Obviously you're going to want it and you're going to look for it. So the key for kids today in school, we now understand how to find a better way to get it. I've spoken to schools where they've installed something called bouncy bands. [00:20:27] They're these little bands that sit on the, on the legs of the chair and the kids can bounce their legs without making any noise. And just that gives them some adrenaline kids are allowed to get up, go to the back of the room, right, hang out and and just, you know, work, standing up whatever little things more recess, less carbs at, at, at lunch things. [00:20:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: You know, what's interesting about what you just said. It bringing up education in my mind, the whole, the whole education system. If I were queen, I would redo it because sitting kids who have such incredible amounts of energy down for so many hours a day, I think is a mistake. [00:21:00] I worked at NASA as an educator for many years and I watched it happen. [00:21:02] I watched kids be bored and they weren't, it wasn't necessarily that they were ADHD. Necessarily, I don't know what their diagnoses, and I know you don't like that word what their, what their state was, but at the same time, I think so many children have trouble with that. And so if, if we, if you were king and I were queen, what would we do? [00:21:21] How would we address kids today? And the education system to help them learn better in ways that work for them, whether they're neuro-typical. [00:21:31] Peter Shankman: Well, you have to, I mean, it's tough because you know, one teacher, 30 kids, you can't make three different ways of learning, but what you can do is you can level the playing field in your, in your favor, right? [00:21:40] So you can create you can create Situations where kids don't come in as entirely high energy. Right? So the premise of the kid wakes up instead of the kid waking up eating two bowls of chocolate, frosted sugar bombs, and sitting in front of television for 45 minutes at school, wake up, have a couple of hard boiled eggs, have some protein.[00:22:00] [00:22:00] Walk to school run around for 45 minutes, go to the school. You've got, you know, have a zero period class that's recess, let the kids work out exercise first, then bring them into school. They did a study in Texas with a school district in Texas, where they did exactly that they, they gave them 90 minutes of recess a day as opposed to 20. [00:22:16] And they upped they, they changed the carb. They dropped carbs in breakfast and lunch by 70% and upped protein by 50% like that. And they saw a 29% decrease. ADHD outbursts in boys and 20, not a 24% increase in girls getting involved in the class discussion. Those are huge numbers. They really are. [00:22:36] Right. So it's those little tiny things that you can do that really do make a huge change. [00:22:41] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Fascinating. I did not know about that study. I'm going to have to go look it up and I'm gonna swing it right back to you and ask you about something you said in, in your book. Again, you said that skydiving, which you are a master skydiver, which I think is great. [00:22:54] It gives you a productivity high. I would love to hear from you. What about a dive? I've been skydiving [00:23:00] once I loved it and I want to do it again, but what about it is your rush? What, what is the productivity high? That's kind of. Well [00:23:07] Peter Shankman: don't mean you're basically jumping on a plane, you're doing something. [00:23:10] Every single molecule or brain says dumb ass. You don't need to do this. The plane can land. And you're literally fighting against that. The second you enter the atmosphere. Second, you jump out of the plane. You're in, you're in air. You're in freefall, your body. You have two choices. I can open my parachute live, or I cannot have my parachute and die. [00:23:23] That's it. There are no other options. It is the most free you'll ever get. And when that parachute opens and you've quote unquote to fight death, I hate that term. But when you, when, when the parachute opens and you've slowed down and the world comes back into focus and you know, your hearing comes back and it's no longer just the wind and, you know, you. [00:23:41] You have this feeling of euphoria and that is all the domain serotonin and adrenaline firing at once. And so I, and that just doesn't go away. That needs to dissipate over time. So I will drop my parish. I will, I will land, I'll put a parachute full, you know gathered up, throw it in the corner of the, of the, of the, of the hanger, pull out my laptop lean on the parachute and then, you know, write 10, 20,000 words in [00:24:00] an hour, right? [00:24:00] Because I'm so high with, I double triple, quadruple the amount of those chemicals in my brain, that focus is. The easiest thing in the world and I'll do it and I'll get it done. And it's interesting because I was dating a woman once years ago, 20 years ago, it was a PhD candidate or double PhD, something way too smart for me, we should not have been dating. [00:24:21] And one of the things she was doing was like, she got paid the government, she got government grants to FICO, came to rats to learn about addiction and pathways and things like that. And, and I'm like, so you get free cocaine. She's like, yeah, let's just table that discussion right now. But the point was. [00:24:34] She took my blood once and she said, I want to, I want to take your blood and see how you are after a jump. And she goes, yeah, yeah. It just comes back a week later. She's like, yeah, you're basically half a molecule off from being a full, a full on cocaine addict. I'm like, I don't do cocaine. She's like, no, it's the same exact chemistry. [00:24:47] I'm like, huh? I'm like, so instead of if I need to focus, I just to go to cocaine, she goes, Peter, you're really not listening. But the premise was that I was getting that same high, but the difference was I was getting it naturally. When you do [00:25:00] cocaine, as I actually taught me The brain fires all those those receptors at once. [00:25:05] Because it doesn't understand what's going on. When you're skydiving, even though you need all those receptors to just keep you alive, the brain is still smart enough to keep some in reserve. It's why after I finished skydiving and finished writing 20,000 words, I could still drive home. I don't know crap. [00:25:22] I don't need to immediately do it again. Right. My body is able to process that keeps on the don't mean for later we turned some of the serotonin things like that, as opposed to illegal drugs, which are, you know, drugs period, which, which don't do that. They just, oh, send it all. Okay. Now you're empty. Right? [00:25:35] It's the equivalent of, of, of being in a helicopter and having 10, 10 minutes of reserve fuel in case in times of war. So, you know, your body is very smart that way, and if you can figure out how to adapt it for me, it's skydiving or running or exercising or public speaking, you know, my. Knows me so well that when I do a corporate keynote, she will attempt to get me back in my seat, on the airplane home within two hours of my coming off the stage, [00:26:00] because that's around the time that I, that I started to come down from the high. [00:26:03] Right. And if she times it well, and there are no delays, I will sit down that plane and I will fall asleep until we get home. And it's the greatest feeling in the world. It's the deepest sleep I'll ever get. [00:26:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I it's great to have someone that knows you so well. And that actually brings me to my next question. [00:26:17] Are you one of those people who you're able to start the project and then see it through, or do you get into what my husband and I call shiny, pretty producing things syndrome and go, oh, the next thing squirrel. And then you move on and if so, what kind of support do you have or need to stay on track? [00:26:33] Yeah, [00:26:33] Peter Shankman: it's a dos attention deficit. Ooh, shiny. I have, what I have is a very, very, very powerful calendar. There is not 20 minutes out of my day that is not scheduled. It was brutal during the beginning of COVID. All my keynotes, which went virtual. I had a keynote in Stockholm. Okay. Well, I know I'm taking most of my day to fly there. [00:26:51] I'm going to sleep. I'm waking up the next morning. I'm speaking, I'm spending the day there next morning. I'm flying back home. That's three full days, right? That's 14 hours on a plane and round trip. That is [00:27:00] a. You know, a lot of scheduled time where I can right now that same keynote that would the 45 minute keynote that we want to take three days. [00:27:06] Now it takes about 45 minutes. So I'll do it at 4:00 PM or 7:00 AM or whatever on a, on a Tuesday at my apartment. And I've done it 7 45. I've just done all my work for the week. And I'm like, okay, well, got a lot of free time. Huh? I can start another company or maybe try meth, you know, it's like, yeah. So one of the things I realized, right, beginning of COVID is I have to schedule shit. [00:27:30] Doesn't matter if I have nothing to do, I'm going to schedule something to do. So I spent a lot of time. I bought kettlebells, I've gained 16 pounds of muscle in the past two 14 months, because what the hell else I'm gonna do? Right. But I made sure that my schedule was full and. You know, it's again, it's putting these rules in the plate. [00:27:46] I don't allow myself to ever say, oh, watch it on Netflix. No, the only time I allow myself to watch Netflix or Hulu is when I'm on the bike. Because if I allow myself to do it once I will watch Netflix and Hulu every day and that's it, I will never get anything done. So I only allow myself to do it when I'm working out, because I know I can't do that [00:28:00] forever. [00:28:00] So it has to be about putting these rules into place. Same reason I don't same reason they don't you know, that I have, I have two sides in my closet and they're labeled, right. I wake up in the morning. Okay. Am I on the road today? Am I speaking somewhere? Am I on TV? No. Okay. T-shirt and jeans. Oh, am I traveling? [00:28:16] Am I, am I, or am I, am I speaking somebody? Okay, great button down. Shirt, jacket, jeans. That's it. My sweaters, my best, my scarves, all that stuff. It's in my daughter's closet. So I have to see it because God's been ahead of look at the stuff. Oh my God. What should I wear? I know, I remember that sweater. [00:28:27] I'm like Largan. That's what I wonder how she's doing. I should look her up, you know, it's it's three hours later. I'm naked the living room on Facebook. I haven't left the house. [00:28:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, it's like your it's like I'm living with you instead of that's when that's exactly. It's exactly how he does things. And, and it's interesting because that notion of decision-making. [00:28:47] What you, it sounds like you have developed specific processes to, to address the fact that you have sometimes issues, either making decisions or getting onto the next thing. Do [00:29:00] you detail them somewhere? Are there places where if someone goes, okay, I want to know how Peter Shankman does it, where can someone go if they are interested in finding out more about your process and how you've managed to make ADHD [00:29:12] Peter Shankman: or superpower? [00:29:13] So I occasionally. Now for halibut coaching. I have a site for that called shank minds.com/adhd coaching. Love coaching. I'm not, I don't call myself a coach, but I occasionally help people. I talk about this stuff all the time on at shankman.com. I talk about it on any of my social channels all the time, which is at Peter Shankman and all the channels. [00:29:32] I encourage people to email me. You are welcome to, to reach out if you want to go for a run or, you know, the only thing I will not do is sit down with you for a meeting, but you want to go for a walk and talk. You wanna do an Aaron Sorkin style Westwind meeting. We walk 25 blocks and you know, never stopped. [00:29:44] I'm happy to do that. I I'm always, you know, what I used to do when I'd go to the airport is if you really want me bad enough, you will take a ride to the airport with me. Right. We'll take New Jersey transit from the city to, to the airport. And you'll have me for about 40 minutes. Talk about what you want. [00:29:57] Right. And, and you'd be amazed how many people would do that. So yeah, for me, [00:30:00] it was really about about Knowing what works for me, understanding that it might not work for everyone else, but happy being happy to share what I do. [00:30:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. And I'm so grateful that you said that because I'm at some point going to take you up on that. [00:30:15] I won't, I won't run, but I'll walk. So I have just a couple more questions if that's okay. I wanted to ask you about new ideas. They come to you fast and furious. Where from what does your brain do differently in that way? And how do you file them? Or do you just remember the. [00:30:32] Peter Shankman: I write them down. I write everything down. [00:30:33] When I run, when I exercise, I use my apple watch. They make, they make notes. They make memos. This morning on, on, on the Peloton at 4:00 AM, I came up with two video ideas. I put them both on this to remind me in three hours to try this or that, you know, as long as it's written down somewhere, I can then translate it three hours later. [00:30:47] When it reminds me I could transfer it to a Google spreadsheet or whatever. And I'm able to, to keep this on when I need to do okay. I gotta write, gotta create something this weekend went, oh, look, all this stuff I have. Right. So, so. Everything because you know, some of the greatest lies in [00:31:00] the world you know oh, I'm only five minutes away is right. [00:31:03] You know, those great, great lies the checks in the mail. And I'll remember it when I wake up. [00:31:08] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, absolutely. I never do. And I keep, I do keep a journal right by my bedside so that I can write first thing in the morning. That is so important to me as someone I don't have ADHD or add, but I do forget, and I get lots of ideas. [00:31:20] So I think I'm so glad that you said that about writing everything down. I think it's such a fantastic way of, of making sure that the things that you think are important, actually get down and kept. And kept as important. I I'm so grateful. I know this has been fast and furious. I am so grateful that you took the time to join me on the show. [00:31:39] And I'm going to put everything in the show notes as far as where people can find you. And I have just one last question that I ask everybody who comes on the show. And it's a strange little question, but I find it comes with some profound answers. And the question is this, and you as a skydiver will have a particular opinion on this, I think. [00:31:55] And that is this. If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see. [00:32:00] What would you say, [00:32:08] Peter Shankman: love yourself? [00:32:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That's beautiful. Thank you, Peter. I really appreciate it. I appreciate you being on the show. Thank you so much. My pleasure. This is all the Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. I'm super grateful that you joined us. This has been a fabulous, I'll be a quick conversation with Peter Shankman. [00:32:26] Maybe we'll be able to get him back on the show again, to talk even further about the ADHD brain and how you can use it to innovate and create and be creative until next time I remind you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [00:32:43] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on [00:33:00] patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:33:01] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters. Today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always. Please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.       * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. I'm also a PR Starter Pack Affiliate. I use Gloria's methods to get featured in the media often. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!

Norm Snyder Discusses Innovating in the Ultra-Competitive Soda Industry This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset Norm Snyder joined Reed's Inc. in September 2019 as the Chief Operating Officer. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in March 2020. Prior to joining Reed's, Norm served as President and Chief Executive Office for Avitae USA, LLC, an emerging premium new age beverage company that markets and sells a line of ready-to-drink caffeinated waters. Prior to Avitae, he served as the President and Chief Operating Officer for Adina For Life, Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer of High Falls Brewing Company, and Chief Financial Officer, and later Chief Operating Officer of South Beach Beverage Company, known as SoBe. In prior experience, Norm served as Controller for National Football League Properties, Inc., and in various roles at PriceWaterhouse during an eight-year tenure. Norm earned a B.S. in Accounting from the State University of New York at Albany. Connect with Norm https://drinkreeds.com/ Drinkvirgils.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinkreeds/ Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Norm Snyder: I have one prerequisite for people that come to work for us. You want to be there and it's just not a job, right? You want to be there to make a difference. [00:00:13] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:35] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup of@buymeacoffee.com slash Izolda tea. And now let's get on with the show. [00:00:57] Hey there and welcome to the innovative [00:01:00] mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm super happy that you're here and I'm so honored and happy to have this week's guest on the show. Check this out. Norm Snyder joined Reed's incorporated in September of 2019 as the chief operating officer. He was appointed chief executive officer in March, 2020 prior to joining Reed's norm norm. [00:01:21] I love that norm served as president and chief executive officer of Avita USA, LLC, and emerging premium new age beverage company that markets and sells a line of ready to drink caffeinated waters prior to a VTA. He served as the president and chief operating officer for Edina for life. He was president and chief executive officer of high falls brewing company and chief financial officer. [00:01:44] And later chief operating officer of south beach beverage company known as Sobe in prior experience. Mr. Snyder, norm served as the controller for the national football league properties that tells us something about norm and in various roles at Pricewaterhouse during an [00:02:00] eight year tenure norm earned a BS in accounting from the state university of New York at Albany. [00:02:05] Wow. You have quite the resume norm. Thank you so much for being on the show. Welcome. [00:02:11] Norm Snyder: Thank you. Good to be [00:02:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: here. I am. First of all, you have such a wide range of experience and you began. As an accountant, which I think is so it's so fascinating because accounting is in many ways, everything, knowing where you are, knowing where you want to go and knowing the sort of the, the numbers behind it is, is incredibly fascinating to me. [00:02:37] And I'm wondering, how did you get from? I started in accounting to, I am the CEO of one of my favorite beverage companies reeds. Cause I love the ginger beer and ginger ale. How did that [00:02:48] Norm Snyder: happen? Well, you know, it kind of goes back to the, before I went to school and, and figuring out what I wanted to do and I, I always had a pension for business [00:03:00] and, but I also thought I wanted to be a lawyer. [00:03:03] And somehow I threw that into a cup and shook it up and threw it out and accounting came out. And I thought, you know, the, the real basic premise behind it was, is it exactly you touched on if I understand the, you know, the numbers guide, every business, I understand where all the numbers are coming from. [00:03:21] It would be a great way to learn. It would be a star. So, you know, I spent the formidable part of my career, really working with big fortune 500 corporations and really got to see a lot how they operated and really use the numbers, how to, how to dig in and understand that. And then when I got on the business side, I loved it even more. [00:03:41] So I knew that, you know, businesses where I really wanted to be and, you know, in an operating role. And as I progressed, I just, I loved it more and more. And then I found at the end of the day, it really gave me a competitive advantage, being a CEO that understood [00:04:00] numbers and how things work. So I always felt like when it came down to financial negotiations, nobody could, nobody could top me. [00:04:06] So it was kind of a stepping, stepping stone or a ladder is how to start and where I wanted to go. Then once I got into that side of the business, I fell in love with it. And I just, you know, I knew that was that's where I wanted to be. And, and that's where I am now. [00:04:24] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, that's fascinating to me, this notion of having a springboard and then you innovated from there and you develop this incredible career from something that is as basic as numbers, but they can be really complicated and. [00:04:40] It's interesting to me because reads is I am going to be very I've. I've been drinking reads since the nineties, when I first heard about it and, and started, it was only available like in the natural health food stores type places, it wasn't widely available and yet you've been innovating and making it so much more [00:05:00] prevalent everywhere. [00:05:00] I would love it for, for those of you listening, who have not heard about reeds, you need to go out and get it's so good if you, especially, if you like ginger, but norm I would love it. If you would talk a little bit about reads where it was when you started and where it is today. And if you could tell just a little bit about what the company is, I would love that. [00:05:19] Norm Snyder: Well, let me just, let me, let me say a couple of things before I answer that. Number one. I started drinking it in the nineties too. So, you know, I've been in, I was a consumer long before I became involved with a company. The other thing too is, you know, throughout your career and I'll, I'll say this to any young people that are looking for advice, I've also had great mentors. [00:05:41] And one of the reasons why I'm here ironically, is a guy that I started working for over 30 years ago in NFL properties, named John bellow. And, and you know, if you look at spots on my resume, there's a lot of spots that he was involved with. And, and he has been very instrumental in my career in terms of [00:06:00] learning and pattering pattern things of him. [00:06:04] So that's important too. Now reads reads is a, a great company. And one of the things that I love about it and this, this is what makes me feel good when I wake up every morning. And I talk about. You know, we just came out with this campaign called Reno reads is real or reads. I got to make sure I get this right. [00:06:25] You know, real real is always better. That's it? And we, if you take a look at our ingredients panel and if you know how we make our products, they are so far superior than any of our competitors by far. And that makes me feel really good because we're offering consumers, you know, the best ginger beer, the best ginger ale, you know, the best craft sodas that we have. [00:06:52] And, you know, Reed's was, it's a 30 year old company started by a gentleman in Southern California named Chris Reed who had this [00:07:00] idea and he loved ginger. And that the world really knew nothing about ginger, except for maybe, you know, in a Chinese food menu. Right. And all the great properties that ginger has. [00:07:13] And created this all natural, better for you drink. And which started because if you go back in 30 years ago, the only, the only, the only channel that would carry such a thing was that were natural stores. Right? And then it morphed into grocery stores because groceries as natural stores became bigger and started stealing business from grocery stores, grocery stores said, wow, we've got to start offering more natural products, right. [00:07:39] And you know, most mainstream grocery stores today have a fairly large section of natural products or have natural products that are interspersed within the regular categories. So we kind of morphed off into that. And you know, we've been growing ever since because obviously [00:08:00] as people become more educated and understand the great properties that a lot of these products have and become more knowledgeable. [00:08:09] And want better for you products. You know, it's the classic supply meets demand scenario, and we've been able to fill that gap. [00:08:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm taking all of that in for a second because it's in many ways looking at it from, from an economics standpoint, that whole idea of supply and demand is it's as old as time. [00:08:32] And yet there are some innovations here that are, that are fascinating to me because the innovation, when Mr. Reed started the company was all natural ingredients as specially focusing on actual ginger instead of this sort of, oh, ginger, if you will. And, and that was different. That was really different. I remember thinking that when I first started drinking it and that, that it tasted like ginger, not [00:09:00] fo ginger, if you will. [00:09:01] And so. How does that work when you're starting something like this. And I know you haven't been with the company all that long, but, but you're still innovating. You're coming out with new campaigns. How does, how does somebody decide, you know what, I'm going to do things in a way that people aren't thinking about like all natural ingredients, actual, fresh ginger in the sodas, instead of fake ginger or whatever, what do you think the mindset has to be of someone who takes that kind of chance? [00:09:32] Norm Snyder: I think they truly believe in and stayed true to their convictions of this is what they want, and this is good. And I'm spin up persevere and educate as many people as possible. And hopefully they'll feel the way I do. I mean, obviously anybody that takes that type of risk, right. And anybody that creates something that sticks for 30 years has done something pretty tremendous my view. [00:09:56] And so one of the things we, we, we, we [00:10:00] haven't deviated. From its founding guiding principle that Chris started. And that's why, you know, it came back to this whole thing. That real is always better than, you know, 30 years we're still doing it the way he did it and his garage or his kitchen. Right. We were still using organic, real ginger that we import from Peru. [00:10:28] And we still make it the same way and we still make it the, what he refers to as the Jamaican inspired recipe, which is fruit juices. So we use pineapple, lemon, lime and honey. Right. And you know, what I've tried to do is just improve the efficiencies of how we put all that together. Right. And not deviate, but as you mentioned, innovate, so. [00:10:53] That's a great next step in you know, what, how we innovate is because if you look at the ginger beer category [00:11:00] relative to other beverage categories, it's, it's, it's kinda small. And, and a lot of competitors saw the successor reads as an up comment and obviously that takes market share. And if you look at, if you look at ginger beer consumers you know, it's kind of a mix and it's, it's, it's used as a mixer, obviously with the popularity of Moscow mules and dark and Stormys, and that's quite frankly how I met reads with overall Moscow over a few Moscow mules [00:11:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: in [00:11:31] Norm Snyder: those special copper cups, but those copper mugs, right. [00:11:34] And then. But you have some folks that like, drink it, like I use the Jamaican inspired recipe. We had to make a woman that worked for us and how everybody makes their own home version. But, you know, they, they drink it like a soda. So it's a mix that, you know, people that drink it like a soda they use it as a mixer, actually, there's people that drink it because of that helps their digestion. [00:11:58] It helps them, they have [00:12:00] nausea. You know, we have a lot of like cancer patients, believe it or not that reach out to us because it helps them. So you know, kind of, that's sort of very limited type of audience. So, you know, one of the things that we thought of, which was kind of a natural is the ginger ale category, which people drink, drink ginger ale the same way. [00:12:21] I mean, my grandmother gave it to me one in an upstairs upset stomach and my mother gave it to. If you go to the hospital, they give it to you. Right. But it's a much broader category. It's not as you know, you don't have quite the ginger burn that you do in ginger beer. But we sent cheese. Why aren't we in the ginger ale cannon? [00:12:39] I mean, and as we peel back the onion a little bit, we found once again, that nobody's really using fresh ginger or real ginger, they're using ginger flavoring, ginger extracts. So we took that formula and applied it to our ginger ale. And again, it's one of our it's, it's probably our fastest growing product right now. [00:12:59] [00:13:00] And you mentioned that you would be drinking your zero calorie, ginger beer. I've been drinking like zero calorie, ginger ELLs, like they're going out of style. Right? I just love the flavor. You know, it's, you know, it's, again, it's a great product. We took the foundation of our ginger beer and created this. [00:13:19] You know, a great way we have innovated. Then we took it a step further and we came up with mocktails. Cause we found out that a lot of folks said, Hey, I want to go out, but I don't want to feel like I have to have an alcoholic drink in my hand. So, you know, and, and if I think in your, in your neck of the woods in Brooklyn, there's been non-alcoholic bars that have popped up, right? [00:13:39] People would go off that want to have fun and socialize, but don't want to feel like they have to drink. So we came up with these ginger rail based mocktails, surely temp on our versions called Shirley tempting and then transfusion, which is you know, which has been a very popular drink. So obviously if you want to mix it with alcohol, you can. [00:13:58] But if you don't, you have a [00:14:00] really great, healthy zero calorie beverage that you can enjoy and, and not feel like you have to have to have consume it with alcohol. So I think that's a great sort of three step, how we've really pivoted and innovative to give folks. A great quality product. It's all natural, but that they can drink at the, at the occasion that they'd feel the most appropriate. [00:14:23] And the reactions then really, really possible. [00:14:27] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And I'm so glad that you said that because I am not a huge drinker and I'm usually the designated driver, you know? So, so it's really nice to be able to go. I would like something that, that is going to taste great. It's going to, this is going to sound a little weird, but it's gonna look good if you see what I mean. [00:14:47] I [00:14:47] Norm Snyder: don't want to feel out of place. Right? You want to feel like you're you're, you're, you're, you're you're you fit in with everybody. And then that's the beauty of these things. And you know, one of the things that I do and I love part of my job is so [00:15:00] I, we have six production facilities across the country. [00:15:03] Every production run that they do, they should product. So my office looks like a collection of bottles, right. And I have a mini refrigerator and I drink, I try and both warm, ambient temperature and cold, but I drink multiple products every day from different locations where they're produced to locate for quality, be for consistency. [00:15:25] But I mean, I want to drink this stuff cause I want to know if a consumer says something, but I can say, look, I had that this is what I believe. Or, you know, do I detect there's an issue because if there's an issue we need to fix it. So I do that every day. I mean, I drink multiple products every day, seven, you know, all the time in the office, but I, but I have a collection of all of our production stuff, so I know what's going on and I know what our consumers are picking up. [00:15:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. I, you know, it's funny going, going into a bar or [00:16:00] pub and ordering something, nonalcoholic feels sometimes I've had people say, oh, you must be in AA. And I'm like, no, just didn't want to drink. And so, so this it's, it's a weird way. It's a weird way of passing actually, because fewer people will talk to you about that sort of thing. [00:16:20] Not that it's any of their business, but yet something that, that is interesting to me about what you just said about making sure that the consumer experience is a positive one. That's, that's one of the, that's one of the results, right? Is that people feel more comfortable drinking it and something else that I would love to ask you about, you said, That you check in as far as whether or not things are going well from all the production facilities. [00:16:49] And I like to say that an innovator is a creative thinker on a mission. And it sounds to me like you're embodying that this notion of checking in, of being very [00:17:00] practical. Can you talk a little bit about what those steps are? How does that, how do you keep innovating while staying very practical in the evaluation and assessment process? [00:17:13] Norm Snyder: Well, because the innovation is the fun part, right? It really, it really is. I mean, you can, you can come up with a wackiest ideas and it's like a release, right? It's like, you can get all this stuff off your chest, off your mind. I mean, I'm like, it's kinda funny. It's ruined me forever being in the beverage business. [00:17:35] Cause I can't go into a store and just buy stuff. I've got to go to the beverage section. I got to go to the coolers. I got to check out what's going on. You know, I look at there's all this scan data. So it's syndicated data that either Nielsen or IRI puts out that shows by category what's selling. [00:17:53] What's not selling by package. I mean I love data too. So it's kind of like, see you assimilate all this stuff that [00:18:00] you're seeing, that you hear people talking about. I have I have three 20 year old children. Well actually I have five but three that are in their twenties and I'll watch what they drink and what their friends drank and what they talk about. [00:18:12] Like I said, when I go into stores, I, no matter what I'm doing, if I'm going on mission a, I always end up in the beverage outlet, check out what's going on. So it's the fun part is the innovation thinking, this is what I think people want. We do a lot of research this based on what the research tells us people want. [00:18:30] So we'll put together a product concept. This is what it becomes a little bit more formal, but a product concept, and then work with our R and D department to create something. And then the fun part is that, that first time that you taste it and does that product really reflect what you're trying to do. [00:18:50] Right. And sometimes you get there very quickly and sometimes it takes a dozen iterations. And sometimes you just say, can't get there. Can't get there. No, [00:19:00] one's gonna, no, one's going to drink this. So that's kind of the fun part. Because it's part science part our, you know, part into it in intuitive and, you know, and I do it with, you know, a lot of people within our organization. [00:19:14] Right. So it's just not me. It's everybody. And it's kind of like free flow. I've got to make sure I said that slowly free flow thinking where people can just kind of like, say what's on there. Right. And you know, you watch trends and you have data and you do other stuff and you try to put it all together and come up with a decision that makes sense. [00:19:35] But you know, we do that on the premise of who we are and what are our, what are our key values, right? It has to be within those because what if we deviate from what our values are then who are we really? Right. So we try to, we try to stay within that sort of bandwidth of who we are and what we want to be. [00:19:56] And, you know, some, like I said, sometimes it just feels really good. It's [00:20:00] like, boy, we nailed this. And sometimes it's like, well, it could be a stretch, but does it work? And sometimes we come back and just say, that's not us. So it's the fun part of the job. And it's the part that's unstructured and very loose and very flowing and it's fun. [00:20:15] And you know, I'm really, I'm really proud that as an organization, we have no shortage of really good ideas. And, and, and like, you know, we, we've got the next two to three years covered, right? Not saying that if we, if something new comes up that we could react quickly, but we have that, we have that many ideas that are, that are good. [00:20:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That's fantastic. And I'm, I'm struck by the notion of including everybody that it's not just you making the decisions, it's you working with your team with, with the people who make up the company. And I'm wondering that that's in many ways, an innovative thing. Also, I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about [00:21:00] how you structure that if there is a, you said it's free flowing, but there has to be some sort of a, almost a process when you're doing something iteratively like that. [00:21:10] How do you do that? [00:21:11] Norm Snyder: Yeah, what we we've, we've developed, not that we want to be burdened with structure. But at the same time, it just can't be shooting from the hip. So we develop. Can can you to develop processes once we get to that formal stage of, yeah, let's do this. But so my job is which is hire as many good people as possible. [00:21:33] Right. And let them do the work and let me take the credit. Right. My, my job is to really kind of, I'm almost like the, the conductor in the orchestra and there's different sections and there's people with different strengths and different weaknesses. And after you work with folks, you get to, you get to know what their strengths are. [00:21:53] So, you know, when something comes up like this person or that person, or this group of people are the ones that [00:22:00] I'm going to listen to a little bit more, that's shut other people out because you know, there's been good ideas that come from from people, you know, you don't expect, but, and it's sort of it's, and I'll tell you, it's kind of spontaneous because. [00:22:14] I'll start on one project and it all either be bogged down or something else will come up and then I need a break and I'll just say, all right, let's cut. Let's taste. Right. Let's taste. We've got a bunch of stuff that we've been working on. Let's taste it and we'll sit there and you gotta be careful because you can't, once you taste too much, your taste buds become severely ineffective, as well as your ability to smell. [00:22:40] So you really got to kind of measure yourself, but it could be spontaneous. Like let's do it, or let's talk about this. Or then we, or we schedule, you know, we have we, we have weekly meetings and deal with all these things and a lot of it starts, but then we may say, let's just have a meeting dedicated to this one topic on X date.[00:23:00] [00:23:00] Right? So we, there is a little bit of spontaneity largely because of my schedule, but I think it works well. And sometimes people say, Hey, I've got this. What do you think? And I'm like, let's do it right now. So that, that makes it kind of fun too. But once we get serious, we do have a very documented process and we have people that are responsible for aspects of that development. [00:23:24] And we fine tuned it over the line. We have fine tuned the process over the last year and it's gotten really good, really good. Like we're working on a couple projects right now. And because of that, I think we're ahead of the game ahead of where we, where we should be, because we've done a real good job of tracking ourselves and communicating. [00:23:48] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm sorry. I'm pausing because I'm, I I'm taking all of it. Tracking yourselves and communicating those two are so collaboration to me is, [00:24:00] so it's people say it's a buzzword, but I think it's so important where everybody feels like they can contribute. And also that they're valued and valuable. So, so communicating their ideas, communicating through the process is fantastic. [00:24:13] But tracking that, that to me as, as, as more of a creative thinker, the notion of tracking things like that makes my head explode. Just because it's, it sounds like there potentially so many details. Can you talk a little bit about what the, what the ideas are behind traffic tracking and what it is that you're actually tracking? [00:24:35] Norm Snyder: I think you just answered the question. There's so many details, right? I mean, at the end of the day we build it forward, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to reverse engineer because I think this is easier to explain. Say you, you have this great concept and you know, right now everything's on cycle, right? [00:24:59] So [00:25:00] the, sell it into a channel or, or a retail chain, you know, they have their meetings on X day and then they make changes on Y date. Right. And they're pretty, I mean, think about this. Cause you're dealing with hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of products and you just can't like do it every day and every week. [00:25:21] So they have these fixed periods. So you know what those are and see your work backwards. And you say, okay, we're going to launch X, Y, Z product at this retailer because this is where we really feel like we have to start. So, you know, the date that you can present, you know, the dates that, that they'll do resets at store. [00:25:41] Then you kind of work backwards and say, okay, what do we have to do to get to that point? Right. What are all the steps? And it's, you know, it's, it's starts at concept. The first thing is the liquid, you know, what's the liquid look and taste like, right. And what do you want that liquid [00:26:00] back to that whole, you know, that whole product brief, what does it represent? [00:26:05] And then you kind of go forward into, okay, when do we, you know, final product approval. And then from there artwork and labeling package configuration, and then you've got to produce it. So you have to have all your, you know, source all your raw materials and just about every piece of raw material, except for the liquid itself is branded. [00:26:28] And then, you know, legal, is it, you know, are we infringing in anybody's intellectual property? If not, is it available? Can we can. And then what sort of campaign are we going to have behind it? And then when are we w you know, when do we go, when do we actually scale up to a full production mode? And when can we have that product in our warehouses and when can we ship it? [00:26:51] So it's, you know, all these various aspects, which involves every department, right? Sales, marketing, [00:27:00] operations, finance. So it's a multi, multi departmental collaboration and meeting where we're tracking and making, checking the box. Do we have that covered? Do we have that covered? Do we have that covered then? [00:27:14] What's the timing? I mean, because depending on the package, if it's a specialized package, we may have to, we may have to put something in at the plant that produces it because they can't produce that package. So, so all these questions, you know, and, and where are you sourcing the ingredients and what's the lead times, right? [00:27:33] So. Yeah, and you want to kind of time it, right? Where you have product packaging, you know, artwork that you can share to sell it in and they can taste it. And then to be able to put a final product on their shelves the day, the day that they want it. And that's the process. And if you don't document it, you're going to miss something. [00:27:57] So, and it, you know, we have someone that [00:28:00] leads to that process that brings everybody together, then holds them accountable as to where do we stand with this? You're supposed to get back to us on that. Where do we stand on this aspect? Where's that aspect. And you know, again, it, it, it, it brings, you know, it brings the organization closer together. [00:28:17] I mean, we're not a big organization and, and you know what, not just, not just brands, make organizations successful it's people and how they, how they play off and interact with, with one another. So, you know, you can understand like what, you know today. I remember when I was a little kid and the Beatles were popular right. [00:28:37] Today, you put on a Beatles record and it sounds contemporary, right? Like they haven't lost anything. And, you know, granted they wrote great music, but together as a unit, what, what just, you know, one plus one plus one plus one was like 24 and I believe it, I believe organizations are the same way where if people click [00:29:00] together intellectually, if they, if they collect together spiritually, if they click together on so many different levels, you're more powerful. [00:29:09] Right. And, and this process really brings out the best in an organization. [00:29:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that you use the Beatles analogy. I mean, I agree the Beatles solo band on the run is a great album, but nothing can compare that they did solo two rubber soul and revolver. So I slightly completely take your point. And, and it's interesting to me how everybody, every person in your organization sounds again like, like they're encouraged to contribute and then also need to contribute. [00:29:43] And that you, someone who is an implementer, someone who is, or maybe an integrator who goes, yes, this is my job to make sure that that everybody is on track. And again, that's one of my challenges I sometimes take on too many projects. Have you ever found that happens [00:30:00] with the course? [00:30:01] Norm Snyder: How do you handle that? [00:30:04] It's difficult. That's that's something that you have to watch very, very carefully, but it's something that C C w. I have one prerequisite for people that come to work for us, you want to be there and it's just not a job, right? You want to be there to make a difference and you could be the guy that mops the floors, but you're going to make a difference. [00:30:26] Right? And I want everyone to feel empowered that they do make a difference in quite frankly, they do, because if one employee doesn't do their job, the whole company suffers. Right? So there's nowhere to hide. And I don't mean that to add pressure to people, but it kind of, it sets the, it sets the bar high, where I want you to be, want to be here. [00:30:49] I want you to want to make a difference and I want you don't want to contribute. And when you have people thinking at that level you get great results and then, but you're right. But then the negative side is [00:31:00] you gotta be careful that people don't take on too much because when they do that's when errors occur and errors, aren't good. [00:31:09] Because obviously it adversely impacts the company, but it adversely impacts that individual. Right. And I, you know, I also believe that look, I've, I'm a hard worker. I've worked hard my entire life. My family accuses me of being a workaholic. And there's been many Fridays when we're supposed to do something to grow some place and dad's still at work or on a phone and everybody's angry with him. [00:31:35] But I also believe that you need time off to refresh your batteries and to have fun and enjoy your family or whatever you want to do during your time off. So I really encourage that as well. But when you're here, I want 150%. Now I want you to want to be here, but you're right. That, that the tough part is I've had several employees. [00:31:56] I've had to, it's kind of funny. I've had to admonish and [00:32:00] say, I don't want you doing that. I want you to doing this. This is where you're the most effective. And I don't want you burnout. Or I had one employee. I told him if I saw an email from him after 11 o'clock at night, I was going to fire him because he was burning the candle at both ends. [00:32:18] And I'm like, I don't want you doing that. So that, that, that's something you have to watch. And then, you know, I never thought about it to you brought that up, but that's something that you definitely have to watch is that people get so caught up in it and they take on too much. And it's, and it's not that a desperation because they want to, and they can. [00:32:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Sure, but it doesn't matter does it because they can still burn out. Even if you care about something you can still burn out. So, so balance in all things I think is, is the way to go and something that I, speaking of balance, this is a weird transition, but here it goes. One of the things that I noticed as far as the packaging of reads, and this is because I'm a [00:33:00] artistic type person and I love colors from very early on. [00:33:03] I remember thinking, wow, the ginger ale is more yellow. The ginger beer is more green and then there's always an orange accent. This is yes. I noticed these things in here. It is. So, so I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the design, how, if, you know, because you weren't at the company yet, but how did that all happen? [00:33:24] What w what were the colors chosen? I know that they're white, yellow, orange, but, but how does that all translate into how you're innovating now with the, with the way the product is presented? [00:33:38] Norm Snyder: I think we've, I mean, obviously we, we like that to sign cause we, we, we, we stay with it. I just think it sort of reflects that whole motif, you know, the Jamaican inspired ginger beer. [00:33:49] I think that's what if I had to put my finger on it, it kind of comes down to that and it sends off that whole sort of tropical image, [00:34:00] which is reflects that, you know, the style of the, of the Jew, our ginger beer, and then something that like, if you look at now, we really use the Palm trees and our ginger ale and our mocktails. [00:34:11] So we've kind of stayed true to that. And it just feels, you know, colors in the, in the whole creative element. Yes, I guess there is a bit of a science to it, but I look at a more of what's appealing to the eye and where, and where does your eye go and what, what does it catch and what does it reflect? [00:34:31] And, you know, obviously there's, you talked to a designer and they're going to tell you, you should paint your kitchen, this color, because it, it creates appetite and, and vibrancy. And this room, you want this color because it creates that and bedrooms, you want this color because you want them to be serene and comfortable. [00:34:48] And I think labels are kind of the same way. Right? And it just stayed on that whole sort of Jamaican slash tropical theme of who we were. And [00:35:00] the roots of it's really in the ginger beer. Right. And again, we haven't, you know, we've made it more contemporary, but we haven't deviated from that basic story. [00:35:13] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, cause it works right. And it's instantly recognizable and that's something, that's something that was great for me again, when I started drinking reeds in the, in the nineties was that you could, oh, I could always find them. And, and I, I don't know how quite it was quite how to say it, but I'm just going to say it, it feels to me like the, the beverage industry is really crowded. [00:35:36] You've got the, the big giant. [00:35:38] Norm Snyder: Oh yes, it is. Yes. You know, you know, let me come back that for a second. The two things that are really haven't talked about is we've sort of dominated the conversation with our reads portfolio, but we also have another perhaps of portfolio called Virgil's. Right. Which is, you know, we bought it in 94, so that's [00:36:00] 27 years. [00:36:00] So it's, you know, it's in the same age group is reads and again, it's, it's. But the same basic premise, all natural non-GMO. And we haven't talked about, you know, this aspect where a lot of consumers now, and the trends are, are no sugar, right? Zero calorie, no sugar. They're keto friendly, certified keto friendly. [00:36:25] You'd mentioned you, you know, you consume the zero sugar, ginger beer. And I talked about the zero sugar ginger ale, but, you know, I drink a lot of I drink all of our stuff, but we've. Well actually reads had it. We brought it back, our doctor better, which is a pepper flavored item, but we have a great, you know, root beer among other flavors. [00:36:47] And you know, we have this proprietary sweetening system, that's all natural that tastes gray and has no aftertaste. So one of the things about [00:37:00] zero sugar items, people tend to plug their nose and they can taste it because it's zero sugar, but it has a bit of an aftertaste. And our son doesn't and we haven't really spent a lot of, and so in terms of innovation now, we're, we're looking for something that has mouth feel and flavor that emulates a full sugar drink, but has no calories and is all natural. [00:37:26] And, you know, again, that's a big part of our innovation. We're seeing a lot of growth at our zero sugar line, both reads and Virgil's, but you know, we think we have the best tasting zero sugar product, you know, on the market. And that's another thing where we've, I think done a really good job job of innovating. [00:37:48] And again, staying true to who we are all natural, but trying to give the best experience to our consumers as possible. And like I said, I drank these every day and sometimes [00:38:00] I drink and I'm like, I have to look at the, I have to look at the label and say, damn, did we do we put sugar in this all of a sudden, because it tastes that good in the muffins that good. [00:38:09] So those are two things, you know, virtuals and the zero sugar line, which we have across our entire portfolio. And we use, which I think gives a far superior taste and a taste. That really is the closest thing in the marketplace in Miami. That you can get to a full sugar equivalent. [00:38:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: It's so interesting. [00:38:32] You're talking about mouthfeel. And one of the things I, I, my husband accuses me of being a supertaster because I can taste certain things from a mile away and what I don't like, I definitely don't like if you know what I'm doing, and what's interesting to me about drinking breeds, first of all, I'm vegan. [00:38:50] And so the zeros, I know the other ones aren't vegan, but the zero sugar are vegan. There's no honey in them. And, and that makes me so very happy because now I can [00:39:00] drink reeds and again, and so what, what's fascinating to me about what you're saying this notion of, as I said, mouthfeel, is, is that it is about the experience, not just of drinking the drink, but how you feel after you've drunk it. [00:39:16] And that's a, and maybe because I'm not as familiar with the beverage industry as, as I could be. I didn't think that that was something that a company would be thinking about. I would think that it would be, and this correct me if I'm wrong, that it would be more like, oh, you know, our products, you like our products, you buy our products. [00:39:35] Yay. But mouthfeel is a post experience thing. Can you talk a little bit about what it is that you're trying to, what it is, what mouthfeel is just for clarification and also what it is that you're trying to achieve with the drinking experience for the person who's opened up a bottle of reeds? [00:39:55] Norm Snyder: Well, let me, let me just make a comment about supertasters. [00:39:58] They scare me, but I love [00:40:00] them at the same time, because it's a unique group of people. And I can tell when people comment I'm like, that must be a supertaster because they have the ability to taste things in both positive and imperfections. The vast majority of people don't taste. So that's always good. [00:40:18] And w we actually, we have a couple of supertasters in our office, which I love to bring them in to taste stop, because they can pick up imperfections that most people can't. So that's a great skillset. So mouthfeel the best way to describe it, describe it as like, so take a glass of water and take a chocolate milkshake. [00:40:37] Right. And those are like two extremes and how they're going to feel in your mouth. And it, and a lot of mafia is about what you perceive it to be. Right. So when you think about children and all my kids were really finicky eaters, it wasn't so much about taste. It's how that, that food felt in their mouth. [00:40:58] Right. [00:41:00] So, so if mom feels such an important aspect of it, and again, a lot of it's perception, but so. In a typical beverage and let's go back to before zero sugar diet sodas were, were there the best way to describe it, let me see if I can get this right. So the flavor is the music, right? But the sugar is the amplifier, right? [00:41:30] It takes it up a notch, it makes it loud. It makes it bold and it really gives it that mouthfeel. So you know, if you say you're vegan, I've been on a couple of these podcasts and other things with some other great entrepreneurial people in the food and beverage space. And when they talk about zero sugar for baking fill and mouthfeel are important because that's what you can't use, like Stevia at a banquet. [00:41:57] Right. It just, it's just awful. [00:42:00] So. When you think about sugar, not only gives it that flavor, that amplification of those flavors and makes it pop it gives it that mouthfeel that you expect that again, that you feel like you're like, you could almost chew it, but you don't bite into with it. It tastes that good. [00:42:17] And it's that satisfying? It's not just like, Kool-Aid, it's just not like flavored water. That's the big distinction between, you know, our craft sodas and our ginger beers is that mouthfeel. And when you take sugar out, right, and we use cane sugar. So cane sugar direct to me has better mouth feel than just regular sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, which the mass majority of mainstream beverages use. [00:42:43] You take away that. And with the zero sugar, you can get the flavor, but then it tastes like flavored water. So you need that mouthfeel, that sort of bite to it. Makes it feel like you're drinking a full sugar because it's not just the flavor, it's the feel. [00:43:00] Right. And we've, that's we really taste, you know, mouthfeel when zero sugar, not just flavor, but sweetness and mouthfeel. [00:43:10] It, does it feel light? Does it feel too heavy? Does it feel right? And we spent a lot of time on that and developing our zero sugar because we want it to emulate a full sugar taste. Most consumers have basically said, okay, I'll deal with a compromise on flavor. I'll compromise on mouthfeel. Cause I don't want sugar, make it to overstay. [00:43:35] Say I'm going to pick and choose where I get my calories. I'm going to pick and choose if I want sugar where I'm going to get it from many, say I don't, I want to eliminate sugar entirely from my diet. So we want to give them. That product that they feel like they're having that indulgence. Right, right. [00:43:54] Without the negative things that they're trying to avoid. And why should you have to, why should you have [00:44:00] to plug your notes are chunked down and just say, okay, the zero sugar, I'm going to accept it. Right. And we want to say to our consumers, or to all consumers, you don't have to compromise. You can have your cake and eat it too. [00:44:14] So to speak, right. Zero [00:44:16] Izolda Trakhtenberg: sugar cake. Yeah. [00:44:18] Norm Snyder: Look at, I drink and that's what I drink. Zero sugar. So I'm, you know, personally motivated because I want drink the best thing and I can drink and have the best flavor. So we really take that very serious. And that's what, again, stay true. Who do we are the best tasting, all natural, bold flavors, real as possible. [00:44:40] And when we develop products, that's the goal. And ML feels important because like I said, I've, I've opened a can of something I've drank it, like our black cherry. And I'm like, my God, this tastes so good. And I know what the answer is, but I still look at the back of the can to make sure it doesn't say sugar. [00:44:59] Right. [00:45:00] And that's, I want, you know, and I want to feel that way about all of our products and that's our, that's our goal for, you know, for, for zero sugar products, make them feel like they're full sugar, then there's no compromise in the base. Fabulous. [00:45:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That's awesome. And it's interesting to hear you talk about it with, with such passion about, about these products, because otherwise, why do it right if you're not going to, if you're, if you're not going to be really, really in love with, with the work and. And this is something that I, I love the way you described it. [00:45:45] It feels almost like drinking. The drink is a tactile experience in addition to being a taste experience with. Yeah, it is. It really is. It's fascinating. [00:45:55] Norm Snyder: I mean, even like look at our products are carbonated having the right carbonation [00:46:00] because that matters because people that like, I, I drink, I love carbonated products. [00:46:07] I drink sparkling water. Right. I drink our sodas. I love carbonation. And I'm very particular about carbonation. Carbonation is almost like sugar. It's like the tone, right? It's the base of the trouble, the music, if it's right, it makes everything perfect. If it's off it, throws it off and you know, that's another, another element of mouthfeel. [00:46:32] And then the attribute of the product that. We spend a lot of time in like sometimes when we do our samples, our samples lab can't get the carbonation level that we want. So we try to do our best with that, but it just shows you how important that aspect is too. And that we really watch and that's, and that's, you know, the thing I do when I open our product. [00:46:57] Oh, easy. Does that twist open? Does it [00:47:00] make that pop? When I poured in, does it, you know, do we get that? Do I see the level of carbonation and fall? Cause that's another really important attribute of our products. When we develop to make sure that they're in the range of carbonation that we think makes the most sense to really accentuate the flavor. [00:47:18] So it's really, I mean, it is, we are very passionate about it. You're right about it. And it's just not me. It's everybody in the organization. When we taste and we drink our stuff, but those are the things that. At that level and want to make sure that we have an absolutely perfect. So when consumers open that they feel the same way and there's, there's nothing more pleasurable when you get, when you get an email receiving an email from a consumer about your product and how they love it. [00:47:46] But at the same time, there's nothing like a kick to the gut when somebody has a bad experience. And I'll tell you what, when they have a bad experience, they reach us. We reached back out to them to try to make it better, to try to get, you know, get their input, maybe [00:48:00] clarify something, maybe, you know, sometimes somebody misinterprets what a product really is. [00:48:05] And you have to kind of help them get there. But, you know, that's that these are important aspects that we're very customer centric and want and are committed to put in the best quality products. And we take every aspect of those products very soon. [00:48:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And that makes sense, right? That, you know, no company has anything without its clients and customers, you vacuum. [00:48:29] So, and that's something that, that brings me to my next question. Cause norm, I'm going to keep you here for the next eight hours. I'm fascinated by the fact that people have their favorites, right? They, they might have their favorite as far as reads. They might have their favorite as far as Pepsi or Coke or whatever. [00:48:44] And REITs has this reputation for being a cut above. But how does that affect the average person who wants to drink are the people who you're serving as a, as an organization, as a company. Are they people who are more discerning in a certain way, or are they people who are [00:49:00] healthier or who want to be healthier? [00:49:02] How does all of that break down when it comes to what we were just mentioned a little while ago, there's pretty crowded beverage industry. [00:49:11] Norm Snyder: Well, I think they're definitely discerning and you know, some are kind of sewers that love our product. You know, we're still, we still have growth with all of our full sugar line in today's day and age, which to me, I find amazing. [00:49:29] I think most people are driven by healthier on natural. And I think that's really probably the mindset of our consumer. They want natural ingredients. They want healthier products. They don't want preservatives. They don't want artificial colors, artificial flavors. They don't want high fructose corn syrup if they're drinking sugar. [00:49:52] So I think those are the things that they clearly read labels are. I think our consumers are label readers, which [00:50:00] I think is great for us because they know what they want and they're not going to compromise. And I think that the trends are going that way. I think those are the you know, Where people want and they, you know, and when they indulge, they want to indulge in something that's good for, you know, that's good. [00:50:16] Not just something that's crap, that's artificial. So I think people are more, more educated obviously, and they know what they want in their diet, but they still, everybody still wants things that tastes good. Right. I mean, that's one thing that hasn't changed. So if you can deliver something that tastes fabulous but it's healthier and it's all natural. [00:50:38] That's, that's our consumer. But in terms of flavors, everyone's taste buds are different. You know, you could taste something and I could taste it and we taste two totally different things. So that's what you have to be careful. That's why I called you. We can't be the empire that listens to the crowd. [00:50:55] No, because the empire in a good day, when he makes 50% of the people happy. Right. [00:51:00] So we can't, you know, you're not going to make everybody happy with every flavor. Sure. People taste things differently and that's how they pick their flavors. But you hope that the flavors that they like that you satisfied it just, you know, the flavor spectrum and how people taste. [00:51:16] It is wild. And even when we do our tasting, how people react to what they pick up on, but I mean, you can't criticize people because that's what they perceive and that's what they taste. Right. And you can't tell them what they taste. So that's always the big challenge. So it's kind of like stick to what you're trying to, what you're trying to produce, whether it's an orange or vanilla cream or a root beer, that's our best. [00:51:40] And you hope that people like it, but you can't be. And then you can't get frustrated because people may have, I mean, cause what if somebody says, Hey, I bought this, this and this, I love this, but didn't like that. Well, you know, maybe you don't, that's not the flavor. Doesn't jive well with your, your, your taste buds.[00:52:00] [00:52:00] So you can't let that discourage you too much because you're never going to have people like everything across the board, as much as we strive to, it's just not going to happen. So you know, we try to whatever flavor it is, this is what, we're one of them. This is what we want to achieve and we're going to make it the best tasting. [00:52:20] So the people that like that will love our stuff, but you know, coming kind of back, I think that's where the trends are going. You know, obviously we talked about the non alcoholic beverage options, which is growing. We talked about all natural. We talked about zero sugar. And I think people just want healthier, better for you products. [00:52:38] And then. And in the case where our ginger beer is where we're using ginger, you know, there's some efficacy with ginger, right? And that's, I think what sets us apart with our ginger rail and our ginger beer is we're getting, you're getting real ginger and those products and real ginger has a lot of great properties that we hear from our [00:53:00] consumers all the time, all the time, why they drink our product and how grateful they are, that it exists. [00:53:06] And that, you know, we used real ginger in those products. [00:53:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah. I mean, I love it. When I go on the few occasions, I've had to go sailing in my life. I bring reads, frankly. I know I sound like a commercial for you all, but, but I bring it because to, to stave off being seasick, it's wonderful for that. So, so yeah, absolutely. [00:53:28] I, I understand. And I love what you just said about perception and how. Your perception of what you're tasting is so unique to each individual person. I think that's, I think that's so important and, and you know, to me, something that's good for you and tastes bad is medicine and something is for you and tastes good. [00:53:48] Doesn't necessarily have to be that way. It can be something that you're just enjoying and, and yet, you know, we've just, we're, we're sort of coming out of this pandemic where a lot of people [00:54:00] have had all sorts of obviously obviously big issues and Reed's play has played a role. I'm sure in many people going, okay, I need my comfort and this is, this could be my ginger ale and my ginger beer. [00:54:13] What has gone on if you, if you can talk about it a little bit, what are some of the challenges that Reed's faced during the pandemic and, and the, how have you dealt with them and, and, and where are you going next with respect to this new future that we're going to be living. [00:54:30] Norm Snyder: That's a great question. I was thinking about this. [00:54:31] So I went out and I was at a one of our production locations yesterday. So traveling back, you know, you got a lot of time to think. So I'm thinking about that. And I'm like, man talking about the economy of two worlds. So during the pandemic, we actually benefited because people I think went back to brands, they could trust brands that reflect quality and brands that were healthier. [00:54:59] [00:55:00] And we had a really good year right now. What I didn't really see coming post pandemic. And I don't think anybody did for that matter was what's going on with the supply chain and transportation in this country. There's so much pent up demand. Right. And then with people losing jobs like I was in I was in And Philadelphia last night at the, at the airport and the place was jam packed. [00:55:29] Right. And I'm watching it. And I just, I love, I love seeing stuff happened and I've got a chance to talk to the manager. And you said, our business is up 30% over last year. Our staff has done 40%. I'm thinking, wow, that's, that's gotta be really taxing. So the point is the big challenge this year, which we had some issues that we, we, we, but we worked it [00:56:00] out. [00:56:00] Supply chain is, is just been very difficult to manage. I mean, for example, you can get cans in the United States. Every Ken manufacturer is at capacity. So people are importing cans from all over the world. Well guess what happens with that? There's all the ports of this country are congested. So. [00:56:21] What would normally be a four month lead time could be a seven, eight month lead time because we ordered something from Europe and it sat sad. The Pacific sat in the ocean for two months before it could even get a dock time. And then once you get a dock time to get through customs and get unloaded. So the supply chain it's been probably the most difficult I've seen in my entire career by far transportation. [00:56:47] I talked about the port congestion. I think I read something for every truck. There's 12 loads to go on that truck. Wow. So, you know, it goes back to what I talked about supply versus [00:57:00] demand. Our transportation costs have gone up of double of double. Wow. And it's like, wow, where did this come from? [00:57:09] Now? They're starting to come down and. Things are starting to look like they, by the end of the year, it could become more normal or at least in the first part of next year. But so requires you to plan things out more or you know, which we use for a raps in cardboard for containers have longer lead times. [00:57:31] There's been a shortage of steel for caps to put on your bottles. There's been a shortage of carbonation because the primary supplier carbonation or ethanol plants, and when nobody's driving, no one's using ethanol, right? So the by-product of that. So carbonation is even gone up. What's gone up with pallets that you stack your product now. [00:57:50] So virtually every aspect of our supply chain has been impacted. And we didn't see this during COVID, you know, we saw some tightening [00:58:00] labor is the other aspect to production facilities are having a hard time hiring people. So it's, it's really touched every facet of our business. So postcode, the post COVID year has been believe it, or not much more challenging than during the pandemic, which I thought once we got through the pandemic, the biggest challenge is going to be changing consumer preferences and tastes and how they shop. [00:58:28] And that would be enough to challenge us. That's really been, the supply chain has been turned sideways, right? And so when people ask me what keeps you up at night? That's what keeps me up at night, pasta transportation. And snafoos in our supply chain because as good as our people are, we have to think out longer periods of time to avoid issues. [00:58:56] And we've had a few, we've had a few of them [00:59:00] and it's really unfortunate because it's like, man never had to deal with this before. Not even close, like, as you get older and remember my parents talk about certain parts of life and yeah, I remember that, but we got through it, remember that and we got through it. [00:59:16] But now this is the most unique I've ever seen, but you know what, we'll power through it. I mean, it's not like we're defeated and, or are hanging our heads down and say, we can't do it. We just work twice as hard. And we know that it's going to return to some aspect of normalcy, but it's been a bigger challenge than most people think. [00:59:38] And if you pick up any financial press, it's in the paper every day, right. And look, every head impacts every aspect. I mean the buy cars, you can't buy a car, try renting a car. You can't even rent a car today. Right. Cause there's not available. Right. I tried to buy a steroid receiver. I couldn't find the, the brand and model. [00:59:57] My wife wanted a new washer and dryer, [01:00:00] but we got the last one in the store. The model that she, it, otherwise we had to wait like two months, right? If you want to buy faucets faucets, you must have were out of stock. I mean, so it's impacted virtually every consumer category. There is imaginable this whole supply chain. [01:00:17] So it's, it's been, it's been a struggle. Like I said, we'll power through it and we're not complaining, but it's, it's definitely changed how we, how we do business. [01:00:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, sure. I imagine, I mean, whatever supply surplus there was pre pandemic got used up during the pandemic. And now all of a sudden, if you didn't have a supply surplus to carry you for two years, yeah. [01:00:44] You're going to be short. And, and who did, you know, no one ever thought during, during the pre pandemic or even during the beginning months, no one thought it was going to be this long. And so having to stay agile and having to stay sort of light on your feet[01:01:00] is, has become so important for so many companies. [01:01:03] And moving, as I said, moving into the future, it's going to be fascinating to see how we all do. If, and when something like this ever happens again, how will we plan for it? And, and that sort of leads me to my next question. And I w I promise I will, I have like a bunch more questions, but I will, I will, I will absolutely stop soon. [01:01:24] I, I was just wondering, what's your vision for reeds moving into the future? What is your vision for this company? [01:01:32] Norm Snyder: Well, you know, I, I think we, we've probably talked about this before we w we went on air that the thing that I've seen that I'm really proud of, but it feels good too, is that we're pivoting that we're, we're kind of, you know, the, where we're, we're migrating from, you know, the, what I'll call them all natural ginger beer company that kind of played in one [01:02:00] category to something that's much more. [01:02:04] Resonates with a much larger group of consumers that really satisfies their demand, but stays true to who we are. And it's been a subtle pivot, but you can see it in the products that are ordered. You can see it on what, you know, what's selling and what's not selling can see it in consumer feedback. [01:02:23] So I think, you know, the, the vision is continue to produce great tasting all natural beverages and, you know, that are both ginger base, but also our craft, our craft sodas that are healthier that we have, you know, continued to develop great zero calorie, zero sugar products. But, you know, to really look into maybe additional categories, either in the beverage or the food space, but to be sort of that company. [01:02:57] That really puts out [01:03:00] premium high quality, better for you all natural products. And you know, just like we were able to leverage and successfully grow our business, you know, on the whole premise of ginger, you know, there's other ingredients out there that, Hey, why can't reach, do that too? Right. So, you know, the future is, you know, being that company that really represents that product that consumers can trust that they enjoy drinking and they, they know comes from the finest ingredients source throughout the world. [01:03:37] And, but also that, you know, we, you know, and we've talked about this too, and it's the first time I touch on this that, you know, really looking at as most companies are that have a, a conscience. You know, aspect of our day-to-day living. And part of that's going to be sustainability, you know, that we're looking into in digging deeper, but, you know, just being a company that, [01:04:00] that reflects the times that we live in, that, you know, doesn't just die and go away because they stayed true to what they used to be. [01:04:10] I mean, there's so many great examples of that. So many products and companies when I was growing up that were like the big, big players that are just barely hanging on today. Right. And I don't want to be that company that doesn't recognize what consumers want and what are the current trends, but to be on the forefront of that. [01:04:30] And I think we've really done a good job of pivoting to do that. Right. And that's where I get that sense of what's going on in our company. And I really liked that feeling that we're, we're putting out products that people want and that are happy to have in their hands. But also enjoy tremendously, right. [01:04:49] And that are relevant to today's consumers. And that's what I want to be. I want to continue to be that way and, and, you know, start from this great idea that really was [01:05:00] innovative, ri

Gene Baur on the Animal Rights Movement, Big Agriculture, and Critical Thinking This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset Gene Baur has been hailed as “the conscience of the food movement” by Time magazine. Since the mid-1980s, he has traveled extensively, campaigning to raise awareness about the abuses of industrialized factory farming and our system of cheap food production. A pioneer in the field of undercover investigations and farm animal rescue, Gene has visited hundreds of farms, stockyards, and slaughterhouses, documenting the deplorable conditions, and his rescue work inspired an international farm sanctuary movement. He played a key role in the first-ever cruelty conviction at a U.S. stockyard and enacting the first U.S. laws to prohibit cruel farming systems. Gene has published two bestsellers, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food (Simon and Schuster, 2008) and Living the Farm Sanctuary Life (Rodale, 2015), which he co-authored with Forks Over Knives author Gene Stone. Through his ongoing writing, activism, and speaking engagements, Gene continues working to expose the abuses of factory farming and to advocate for a just and sustainable plant-based food system. Connect with Gene https://www.farmsanctuary.org/ https://www.instagram.com/genebaur/ https://www.instagram.com/farmsanctuary/ Other links https://www.localharvest.org/csa/   Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Gene Baur: A lot of the information we receive is more marketing than accurate descriptions of reality. And so I think just the first thing is to be discerning and to recognize that just because we read something doesn't necessarily mean we should believe it. [00:00:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM, brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:40] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do some. Deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset to check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word. And now let's get to the show.[00:01:00] [00:01:00] Yes. [00:01:04] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm your host and I'm thrilled. You're here and I'm so honored to have this week's guest. I've got to tell you about this gentlemen. I'm so I'm a little nervous. I'll be. Yeah. But here we go. So gene Bauer has been hailed as the conscience of the food movement by time magazine, since the mid 1980s, he's traveled extensively campaigning to raise awareness about the abuses of industrialized factory farming and our system of cheap food production. [00:01:33] And you know, how close to my heart that is a pioneer in the field of undercover investigations and farmers. Eugene has visited hundreds of farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses documenting the deplorable conditions and his rescue work inspired an international farm sanctuary movement. He played a key role in the first ever cruelty conviction at a us stock yard and enacting the first us laws to prohibit cruel farming systems. [00:01:57] Yes, Gina's published two [00:02:00] bestseller. Farm sanctuary, changing hearts and minds about animals and food. It's by Simon and Schuster and living the farm sanctuary life in 2015, which he co-authored with forks over knives, author, Jean Stone, through his ongoing writing activism and speaking engagements. Jean continues working to expose the abuses of factory farming and to advocate for adjust and sustainable plant-based food system. [00:02:23] Again. Yes, Jean I'm so grateful and honored that you're here. Thank you so much for being. [00:02:28] Gene Baur: Oh, thank you. It's old. It's great to be with you. And I, and I love talking about these issues, so I'm very, very much looking forward to this. [00:02:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I, I have so many questions, but I really want to start at the beginning. [00:02:40] What, what did it for you? You know, there's, there's a moment at which you decide the kind of person you're going to be and who you're going to stand up for. What was it for you that made you think to yourself? You know what? I'm going to do this. This is going to become my life. [00:02:55] Gene Baur: You know, it, it, there was really never any one moment. [00:02:58] It was a [00:03:00] series of moments. And I think the initial thinking was, I just don't want to cause unnecessary harm in the world. And it started actually even before farm sanctuary, you know, I was born in 1962, so I grew up with Vietnam on television. I grew up during the cold war about all these worries and stories about, you know, The violence, the violence in the world just bothered me and I didn't want to be part of it. [00:03:23] So as I learned about the food system, I came to recognize the enormous violence there and you know, in high school for a short time, I stopped eating animals. When, when I had come home once and my mother had made a chicken dinner and I saw the light, the bird, you know, full legs and wings attached on his or her back on the plate. [00:03:45] And that turned me off from eating meat for a while. But that, that vision kind of faded over time. Then I got back to the old habit of eating animals. And then in 1985, I traveled around the country. I started spending time with activists, learning more about [00:04:00] factory farming and recognizing it was possible to live with. [00:04:03] Killing and eating other animals and that, and I went vegan. And then in 1986, you know, I felt that people just are unaware of what is happening in the food system. And people are unwittingly supporting violence and abuse every day. And you know, our original thinking was that if we could. Document and expose what was happening and show people they would decide not to eat out. [00:04:26] So that was kind of the simple thing. And this is in 1980. And so we started going to farms and stock yards in slaughterhouses to document conditions. And we would find living animals thrown in trash cans or on piles of dead animals. So we started rescuing them and that's how the sanctuaries began. But at the time we didn't really have. [00:04:45] Like a five-year vision or a 10 year vision. It was just a series of events. You know, like finding Hilda, for example, a sheep could have been left on a pile of dead animals that then led us to recognize how Hilda and other [00:05:00] farm animals could become ambassadors, because people wanted to hear her story. [00:05:03] We wanted to hear about where she came from. And then we could tell that story and educate people about the abuses of animal agriculture. And so it's been a whole process. You know, and, and that process continues. When we started, there were no other farm sanctuaries. So we were the first and there are now hundreds around the world, which is great, but we also, I think, need to critically evaluate how can these sanctuaries have the biggest impact possible. [00:05:29] And ultimately, you know, we said this in the early days, and I'll say it again today is ideally we would love to put ourselves out of business. You know, it would be. If there was no need for sanctuaries, right. But, but there is at this time because billions of farm animals are exploited and treated horribly and we need to speak out against that. [00:05:50] We need to model different kinds of relationships with that. Yeah. As friends, not food, which, which I think is one of the key messages of farm sanctuary is [00:06:00] that these animals deserve respect. They deserve to be treated with kindness and doing so as good for the animals. And it's also good for us. So, so, you know, it's an ongoing evolution. [00:06:11] And in addition to trying to inspire individual choices we are recently. Re-engaging in efforts to change the food system, which I think can have significant. [00:06:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm taking a second to take it all in. Wow. Okay. So I, first of all, yes. And thank you. That's actually that recognition of what I was eating of, what I was putting in my mouth is what made me go vegan many years ago and something that I'm hearing you say, and I love that you're hearing that you're saying it this way is. [00:06:48] You're not talking about eating meat, you're talking about eating animals, even that I don't know if it's a conscious choice on your part, but even that is an awareness raiser. So I'm wondering [00:07:00] when you do that, when you speak to people, when you're doing not, let's talk about the direct action later, because I'll get so angry, I'll have to run out of the room and scream for a minute. [00:07:09] But when you're speaking to people and you are trying to open hearts and. How conscious are you of your mindset of what you are trying to educate them on? [00:07:25] Gene Baur: You know, it, it really depends on the particular venue and, you know, here, we're just sort of talking like friends, you know? And so when I say animals, Honestly, I wasn't even conscious of that. [00:07:36] I was just expressing, you know, the humans are eating other animals and it's something that we need to critically evaluate. Right. But you know, when I've done media, I will sometimes also talk about eating animals. And I think that puts it in very stark terms because people don't think about the animals. [00:07:54] And so I think it's a habit I've somewhat gotten into. Being particularly [00:08:00] conscious of it, at least at this point over the years, it has been something that, you know, I've thought a lot about and how do we best reach people? How do we best connect with people? How do we build bridges of understanding instead of putting up walls that cause people to say, don't tell me I don't want it. [00:08:17] Right. And I think this is one of the things actually that sanctuaries do. And it would tie into the idea of talking about eating animals or not eating animals is that at the sanctuary is, are clearly animals, individuals, cows, pigs, chickens. They're not that different than cats or dogs or even humans. [00:08:37] And so the sanctuary world. Yeah. Affords us the opportunity to talk about animals as individuals in a fairly robust and impactful way, and that then can be applied to the food system and the lives that animals and humans experience at sanctuaries are very different [00:09:00] than those that are experienced in the food system. [00:09:03] And at the sanctuary. The animals are our friends. We interact with them in positive ways. There has been research done to show that when we interact with our dogs or other animals in positive ways, like petting our dog, for example, it helps to lower our stress levels, lower our breath, blood pressure. [00:09:21] It's good for us. And it's good for the animals. And I would say the same thing about sanctuaries is that these are a, win-win when good for us. Good for other animals. Whereas you compare that to the factory farming system. And I sometimes ask people to consider what it would be like to work in a slaughterhouse. [00:09:40] You know, this is something that is obviously horrible for other animals, but I would also. Suggested it is bad for people and it causes us to lose our humanity and our empathy. So, so the factory farming system is bad for everybody involved, I believe. And I think in the vegan animal rights [00:10:00] movement, there has been a recent sort of evolution towards looking at the system more holistically. [00:10:06] Looking at, in some cases, people who are participating in these violent acts as cogs in a wheel and have in many cases, sort of disempowered individuals without agency who are in some ways, even acting outside of their own interests outside of their own values and, and humanity and, you know, figuring out systemic. [00:10:28] Yeah. How do we replace our current violent extractive system with one that is based more on mutuality. One that is good for us. Good for other animals. Good for the earth. Because if you step back and think about it, you know, the way we grow food and consume in this country today, we're eating food that is making us sick. [00:10:50] It's been estimated. We could save 70% on health care. By shifting to a whole foods, plant-based diet 70%. We could prevent [00:11:00] millions of premature deaths every year. We could also save enormous amounts of land and biodiversity and ecosystems by shifting away from animal agriculture to plant based in the S. [00:11:13] 10 times more land is used for animal agriculture versus plant-based. And then of course, animals who are not being exploited and killed also do better when we're not eating them. So this is a win-win across the board. And I think right now we're at a position, especially with concerns about the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity on the planet that we have very compelling reasons to argue for a plant-based foods. [00:11:40] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, absolutely. And for sure, it's interesting to me what you said about the people. It's almost like in order to be able to do that horrible job, they have to make themselves inner to the violence they're doing every single second. That must absolutely. Change [00:12:00] them on some fundamental levels. And yet the notion of going macro with it, like you were talking about just a second ago of changing the food system itself. [00:12:10] Yes. It's good for the environment. Yes, it's, it's obviously better for, for the animals. If we're not. Exploiting them and killing them and eating them. But the question becomes for me, how, how do we, is it, is it lobbying efforts in, in government? What, what do we need to do? What do you, what are you thinking of doing and what do you think the average person can do? [00:12:33] To make inroads to making those changes. [00:12:37] Gene Baur: Yeah. Yeah, no, it is a big question and it is a multi valence to response. I think that we need to make individual changes in terms of how we eat so that we are not subsidizing this system by buying factory farm to animal products. Because when we buy those products, we're in a sense voting with our [00:13:00] dollars to support those systems. [00:13:02] But we also have a government that is supporting the factory farming industry to the tune of billions of dollars every year. So one of the first things I think we need to focus on. Is taking the government support away from growing feed crops. For example, you know, corn and soy that are grown in the U S are used largely to feed farm animals. [00:13:26] And those crops are heavily subsidized in a variety of ways. So I think we need to stop supporting and enabling this harmful and inherently inefficient. So that's one of the first things is to stop subsidizing irresponsible practices. Also, our government has done a lot to promote the consumption of animal products, including through the school lunch program, where for decades, a school kids have been given a glass of cow's milk as part of supposed nutrition. [00:13:58] But really, yeah. A [00:14:00] large part marketing and promotions. So I think our government needs to stop promoting animal foods the way it has been doing. And so there's going to be, I think, systemic. Policy matters. There's going to be personal matters. And I think there's going to be a business element to this where, you know, today we are seeing enormous investments in plant-based meats and in companies that are developing alternatives to, to meat from. [00:14:27] Living feeling animals. And I think those are very positive steps. So business is gonna play a role. Individual choice is going to play a role. And the government also, I think, is going to play a very important role. And part of it is stopping, you know, enabling our current system and instead enabling an alternative and the alternative could look a variety. [00:14:50] And I sort of see kind of bi-modal food production in the future. We sorta see it today to where you. Large scale mass [00:15:00] production and that's the dominant system. So I think in order to shift that it's really good that you have companies like beyond meat, impossible, and others who are looking to slot in a plant-based burger instead of a meat burger. [00:15:16] But in addition to that, I think there's going to be a more grassroots. It's a ground up push to even grow one's own food. Yeah. A robust urban farming movement. Now there's a food, not lawns movement now. And we can grow a lot more food than we sometimes believe by local urban agriculture. So I think there's a lot of growth in that space as well. [00:15:39] So there are good signs and these sorts of shifts should also be supported by government policies. [00:15:49] Izolda Trakhtenberg: You're singing my song. I love it. So there, there are so many things here that as a, as a former NASA staffer, I, I think about in terms of [00:16:00] how much of our land is being used for agriculture and is that land being used for the best form of agriculture. So what you said about plants like corn and soy that are mostly being grown to feed them. [00:16:15] Animal agriculture practices, I guess, is the best way to put it. How, how would they transfer if, if the government went okay, let's do this. Let's transfer over from corn and soy to more, plant-based that, that, that is designed to feed people, not animals. I'll put it that way because that's the best language I have in the moment. [00:16:37] How would we make that shift? How would we get farmer buy-in to be able to do that? [00:16:43] Gene Baur: Yeah, well, a lot of this crop land is now owned by banks and financial institutions. So the reason that they have invested here is because it's profitable. So if we had government programs, for example, that did not incentivize. [00:16:59] Crop [00:17:00] land for feed, but instead incentivized crop land for food that would do a lot to shift acres that are growing corn and soy to feed animals into peas or corn or soy or other crops people. But, but one of the other sort of fundamentals. Issues we have with animal agriculture is that it requires enormous amounts of land, enormous amounts of resources which for a small number of people can be very profitable because if you're selling corn and soy and you have crop insurance and you're basically guaranteed a profit you keep doing it. [00:17:40] And that's kind of, what's gotten us to where we are today and it's been driven by this belief and this bias. That animal foods are somehow preferable to plant based foods. So that's a bias that has driven agriculture, and it's been supported by the increasing profits that, you know, crop producers and [00:18:00] feed producers and the machinery of agriculture has benefited from. [00:18:04] And this also includes the pesticide companies, the petrochemical industries and, and, and so it's a massive industry. It's a massive company. But removing the, the federal and other subsidies that make crop production for animal feed profitable. And instead just doing that actually would have a big impact. [00:18:27] And, and, and another part of this has to do with exports because, you know, Grow all these crops and what cannot be sold in the U S is an export. And so you also have international dimensions to this. So it's, it's a big, big machine and it has to be addressed over time in various ways, but. [00:18:46] Stopping the funding and then enabling of our current system is, is huge. And and if that happened, I think you would see a natural shift towards growing crops to feed people instead of [00:19:00] growing feed for farm animals. But it's going to require a shift because, you know, instead of, you know, A million acres, you could now use maybe a hundred thousand acres to feed as many people, which means you have all that extra land that could potentially be rewilding or used for other more healthy purposes. [00:19:20] But what it means is that whoever's now pro. From all that extra land would, would, would have to have a different business model. And so there's a lot tied up in this, but the feed side is enormous and that's an important place, I think, for us to try to work on policies, to discourage this, this ongoing irresponsible and frankly, inefficient practice. [00:19:44] It's only profitable because of government programs. [00:19:47] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah. And that's the thing that I'm wondering about with, with government subsidies. For agriculture in that way, I keep coming back to lobbying Congress. I keep coming back to changing the minds of [00:20:00] people who represent South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, some of the. [00:20:07] Big farming states that are designed to th their, their practices are designed to keep this machine going. And so I keep coming back to which way do you address the problem? Do you address, do you address it as, as lobbying Congress? Do you address it grassroots with the, with the farmers or the banks? How, how do we innovate away from the current practice? [00:20:30] If there's so much it's like a locomotive there's so much force going in that particular direct. [00:20:37] Gene Baur: Yes. Yes. I think you do all of that. And I think from the standpoint of a lobbying, you know, at this point, you know, the vegan perspective, the Amorites perspective is very much a minority point of view. [00:20:50] And we're up against very entrenched, very embedded, very powerful agricultural interests who not [00:21:00] only have. Lots of money and lobbyists, but members of the agriculture committee and key members of Congress representing agricultural states have disproportionate power to maintain the status quo because it is profitable. [00:21:16] After spending time in Congress, then they go work at an agribusiness company and they come back and forth. You know, the USDA secretary today, Tom bill sack. And he was the secretary under Obama and he was better than Sonny Perdue who was under Trump. But when Villsac left the USDA in 2016, He went to work with the us dairy export council and was working to promote dairy exports around the world. [00:21:44] And then when Biden was elected, he came back and he's now the USDA secretary again. So that gives you an idea of the kind of entrenched industry interests throughout government. And there are cultural biases. Towards this idea that drinking cow's milk is [00:22:00] somehow beneficial and healthy. So that's a belief system, but I think we need to challenge you at the government level, but also culturally throughout the country and the world. [00:22:10] And, and then we need to be working on the machinery of the system. So it's a cultural thing and it's a structural thing. And I think it is important to lobby but we need to be realistic about what we're up to. And one of the issues that really concerns me right now. And it's one that I'm not terribly optimistic, we'll be able to, to, to remedy from a policy standpoint, although we're going to keep fighting away and raising awareness and trying to battle these kinds of subsidies, but you know, the concern about the climate crisis what agribusiness is very good at doing is greenwashing and parlay. [00:22:49] Concerned about the environment to benefit their own interests. And they're doing that right now with methane digesters and with, you know, this idea that if you take [00:23:00] these manure, lagoons and factory farms, which again, these places can find. Thousands of animals. They produce enormous amounts of waste, too much waste for the land to absorb. [00:23:09] So putting these cesspools and in a sense of greenhouse gases. So the solution industry has, and this is now tied to the oil industry as well is to take that waste and turn it into methane, which is entered this methane and you digest it and you turn it into energy and on the surface, that sounds good. [00:23:29] But when you step back, What these methane digesters ultimately do is they further entrench industrial animal agriculture by tying it now to the industry grid or to the energy grid. And if you look at the amount of greenhouse gases coming from animal agriculture, most of it like about half of it comes from the feed industry, not from the manure, which is about 10% of it. [00:23:55] So if you really wanted to deal with the greenhouse. Gases and the climate [00:24:00] crisis, you would not be constructing maneuver lagoon or rock methane digesters at these factory farms. But that is what the government is currently supporting. And, and it's it's, so it's a financial misstep and it's also a greenwash cause now these industries can talk about how they're ecologically aware when in fact what they're doing is very harmful still. [00:24:21] So. Again, that's an example of how our entrenched system is working, where certain interests are able to actually parlay a genuine concern. To a policy that actually enables irresponsible practices to continue. And so that's what we're up against. So we just need to be calling this stuff out and encouraging consumers to make changes supporting businesses that are making changes. [00:24:50] I think we do need to lobby but we also need to do a lot more, right. [00:24:58] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Taking all of that in. Wow. [00:25:00] Yeah. It's interesting. You know what you said about the land being able to take in these manure lagoons? I worked when I was at NASA, I worked in, in soil science and looking at the soil itself. The soil can do a lot as far as carbon sequestration and looking at this notion of filtration, but it certainly can't do as much. [00:25:24] Manure, you know, as much manure as is produced. So if we don't try to do it that way, if we, or if that's one arm. The grassroots way of doing things. If I'm a, if I'm a person living in the USA and I want to build awareness is there. And I have no idea if there is, and maybe we should create one. Is there any kind of a database or a website where I can go to start learning about some of this to start seeing companies that are practicing this greenwashing as you put [00:26:00] it, is there anywhere where we can get better educated on this? [00:26:04] Gene Baur: Yeah, that's a really good question because a lot of the information we receive is more marketing than accurate descriptions of reality. And so I think just the first thing is to be discerning and to recognize that just because we read something doesn't necessarily mean we should believe it. I think a lot of the important progress is going to happen at the local level. [00:26:28] And the reason I say that is because when you're. In a local area, you see what is happening and it's harder to be misled. You know, the further removed you are from the source of your food. The easier it is for those that are marketing that food to tell you stories that may not be accurate. So I think, you know, I've been very encouraged by what I've seen in recent years. [00:26:50] And I, you know, before the Corona virus pandemic, I did a fair bit of traveling and I would visit urban. And see what is happening in [00:27:00] communities. And I have been very inspired and impressed by, by the work of groups like Harlem grown in New York or green Bronx machine in New York, you know, both that are enabling the youth to learn how to grow their own food. [00:27:14] Ron Finley in Los Angeles is doing the same thing. You have a grow where you are an urban farm in Atlanta, eco suburbia, a veganic urban farm in Mesa, Arizona. So you have all these like local farming operations that are producing healthy food in sustainable plant-based ways. And also building soil w and, and, and creating a relationship of mutuality with them. [00:27:39] Instead of one of extraction, you know, because when we look at the factory farming system, you know, you have a lot of corn, for instance, that's grown in the Midwest. So there's all these petrochemical fertilizers that are added to get that crop to grow. And then that corn is transported. Sometimes it's used in Iowa, but sometimes, you know, in North Carolina, for [00:28:00] example, to feed pigs. [00:28:01] So you have all these nutrients, all this corn, all this material. It's now being dumped in North Carolina, fed through pigs and you have all this maneuver. So there's this massive imbalance. Whereas if you have, you know, local food produced in a responsible way for a local market you know, it's just more connected. [00:28:20] The food is fresher. The food is healthier and people know what they're getting. So I would encourage people to join a local CSA co what's a community supported agriculture program. And the nice thing about these structures is that consumers. Invest in the program with the farmer. So at the beginning of the growing season, the farmer has the capital. [00:28:41] They need to get seeds and whatever else to begin to plant and to grow. And over the course of the growing season, the farmer and the consumer share in whether it's been a bumper crop or not a very successful crop. And the consumer understands buying in [00:29:00] that, you know, You know, a certain amount of food, it might be more, it might be a little less depending on how the season goes. [00:29:05] So that's a way to spread out risk for farmers and to share that with consumers and also for consumers to get closer to the production system and understand farming more. So growing food locally is huge. There's also, I think, an opportunity to transition lawns. So for people who live in the suburbs or who have homes with gardens or with, with lawns, You know, how about a whole different industry, right? [00:29:31] Growing produce instead of just instead of a gardener coming and mowing the lawn and, you know, putting down fertilizer in some cases what if the gardener actually became a gardener and now this could be the homeowner, or it could be a service where instead of just mowing the lawn. They're growing produce. [00:29:49] So every week there's a box of, you know, fruits or vegetables or whatever that could then potentially be sold locally or bartered or traded with other neighbors. [00:30:00] So, so that's another, I think food, not lawns movement that could be very positive locally. And then I think at the local level, you can work on maybe city zoning policies to make it easier to grow, produce in your neighborhoods and, and maybe policies around why. [00:30:18] Maybe tax incentives or tax breaks for people who are growing food instead of having a lot. So those are some concrete policy, examples of ways to enable more of this type of activity in various communities. So, so those are just some thoughts, but I think local is going to be huge. I think we do need to work on federal policies. [00:30:40] But doing that. I think it's going to take some time for us to develop the kind of support base to be able to take on animal agriculture and, and another, you know, speaking to innovation. One of the things that I think is happening, you know, in recent years. And it's very positive is that the vegan movement, the animal rights movement [00:31:00] is coming to recognize more common ground with worker movements, with small farmers, with environmentalist's, with health advocates, and you put all these together and you find common ground. [00:31:13] And, you know, as a vegan, I'd love it to be all vegan and it might not be all vegan. Less meat. You know, so, so finding common ground with diverse interests and then promoting certain policies at the federal level, we might have some success. [00:31:34] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I really hope so. [00:31:37] Gene Baur: No. And then methane digesters is a good example of that, right? Where you have small farmers, you know, you know, whether they're vegan or whether they're raising a small number of animals, they would also begins to manure lagoons. So that's one of those examples where we might not agree on everything, but we can agree that these methane digesters should not be allowed. [00:31:57] We could potentially agree on certain crop [00:32:00] insurance. Federal subsidies, we could potentially agree on consolidation, you know, cause one of the things that's happened also is. Fewer and fewer larger farms producing food. So I think we need a more diversified food system. So those are the kinds of policy areas where I think we might have some opportunities at the federal level working with a broader coalition of aligned interest. [00:32:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That would be such an incredible feat and obviously an important one. That notion though of changing changing mindsets of, of people aligning themselves with, with other, with organizations, aligning themselves with other organizations who are working. At on parallel tracks, maybe if not the same track, there is no centralized body that says, Hey, let's do this together. [00:32:53] There is no movement, one movement that, that does that. And so it makes me, it makes me wonder [00:33:00] how do we broaden the minds of people who again, want to be involved who want to align themselves with these various movements, but don't know how to reconcile. The differences, like you said, for example, now it might not all be vegan. [00:33:15] And I know, I know lots of vegans are like, if you're not vegan, you're not worthwhile. And that, that is concerning to me because it you're cutting off your nose to spite your face at some point. So how, how would you encourage people to, to come together in those kinds of situations where they have what they might consider to be insurmountable? [00:33:39] Gene Baur: Yeah, no, I think it's important to try to find common ground and the build and then build from there. So in the case of a small, a farmer who is raising animals for slaughter, for example, now we would disagree. On the idea of killing animals for food. So that's obvious. And so we need to [00:34:00] accept that, but instead of focusing on that and, and creating more division around that particular problem, we can focus on the idea of local food. [00:34:11] We can focus in on the idea of. You know, no more subsidies for big ag. We can folk, we should find common ground and focus on that and build from there. And then my belief is that when you engage with people who may actually have a different perspective there's an opportunity for learning and and this can go both ways. [00:34:32] There are certain, yeah. Experiences different people have, and we can learn a lot from each other when we pay attention and we don't have to agree on everything, but if you can find common ground and build from there, I think that's the most important thing. Instead of looking at the disagreement. [00:34:47] Yeah. And continuing to pound on that. And in the vegan world, sometimes we tend to do that. And I don't think that it's necessarily helped. I understand the idea of holding onto a certain [00:35:00] ideal and I hold onto the ideal, but, you know, I can't control it. I can only control myself and I can try to encourage others and nudge others, but people, you know, have to make their own choices at the end of the day. [00:35:13] And if we can work with folks with aligned interests and, and we have an awful lot of opportunity. When we look at the factory farming industry and the harm, it causes to small farmers, to consumers, to rural communities, to urban communities to our health to animals, to the earth. When we look at all the harm, this industry causes indigenous populations, you know, around the world. [00:35:37] So there's so many ways that we can find common ground. When we look at the food system and specifically the factory farming. And so I think focusing there and then preventing. Again, government policies and subsidies that enable that abusive industry. So that to me is a very good starting point. And, and then once we [00:36:00] hopefully are able to stop subsidizing, irresponsible, unjust, inhumane animal, agricultural practices, we can then start looking at ways to reinvest that government money. [00:36:13] And, you know, some organizations like ours would only want to support, find funding plant-based alternatives. So that's where we would go a little further than some of these other allies, you know, who might be against the factory farming industry, but would still be for, you know, eating animal products, maybe fewer animal products. [00:36:33] So I think that's where the common ground is with those groups and individuals that we might not agree completely on. Less animal products is I think a very good comment. [00:36:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, this friend is, she works with farmers and she, and I have to keep focusing on that common ground instead of on, on where we diverge. Ironically, she's the one who told me what happens to dairy cows in wa and that's when I went vegan. So [00:37:00] so this notion of being able to. In some ways agree to disagree is your point is well taken. [00:37:07] I wonder if, if I could talk to you about this, this other notion, you said something about the protein and the nutrients. From from directly from plants versus from animals. There's, I've always in my head had this notion that there's, that there is a nutrients once removed situation happening. When you, when you try to get nutrients from, from eating an animal, I don't know what your, what your education level is on this, but could you talk a little bit about that notion that, that, that. [00:37:39] Primary nutrients from plants versus what nutrients we might be getting from animals, especially animals. Who've, who've been factory farmed. [00:37:49] Gene Baur: Yeah. You know, I don't have a whole lot of kind of academic knowledge in that space. You know, what I do know is I've been a vegan since 1985. I'm almost 60 years old now and [00:38:00] I, I get everything I need nutritionally from eating plants and no animals. [00:38:04] And I do know that. Eating animal products. The way we are in this country is causing enormous health problems. I know one of the primary nutrients we do not get in in this country is fiber and animal products have no fiber, whereas plant foods, whole plant foods. Full of fiber. So there there's some basic things I know in terms of the nutrients directly from plants. [00:38:29] I think it makes sense just from an efficiency standpoint, you know, to eat the plant directly from the earth instead of taking the plant and feeding it to an animal and then eating the animal. And I have also heard that, you know, the animals get their nutrients from the plant. So might as well go right to the plants. [00:38:46] So, so that all makes sense to me, although I'm not again, deeply knowledgeable about that nutritional question. But what I do know is I've been a vegan a long time and it works, and I know some of the best athletes in [00:39:00] the world have performed at their best eating a plant-based diet and people like Carl Lewis, for example, You know, did his best times as a vegan. [00:39:10] So, you know, we can perform at a very high level eating plants instead of here. [00:39:15] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, I love that documentary. I think it's called agents of change about ventures. Game-changers yes. Game-changers. I always get the two confused game-changers about, about the peak performing athletes who are all vegan plant-based I thought that, you know, if that's not going to inspire you to think about health as a vegan, I'm not sure will. [00:39:36] What will so I have just I know you, you have to go and I so appreciate you taking the time. I have just a couple of other questions. Can you, can you be a futurist for a second? And talk to me about your vision for 2040. What, what do you see? How do you see us doing, as you can talk about the climate crisis about. [00:39:57] You know, animal agriculture, [00:40:00] plant-based movement, veganism, anything. Where do you see us as a society and as a planet 20 years? [00:40:07] Gene Baur: Oh gosh. It's really hard to know exactly. But what I'd say is that it, it appears to me and it feels to me like there's a convergence of it. Yeah. You know, whether it's the ethical treatment of other animals, whether it's the destruction of the, by the, the ecosystems and the earth and, you know, the climate crisis whether it's our own personal health, whether it's our own emotional health and community health, you know, all of these things can be pinned to the factory farming industry, which is a contributor to them. [00:40:36] And the solutions are in eating healthier. A plant-based diet that is produced in a more sustainable eco-friendly way. So I think, you know, where things currently stand, there's an awful lot of investment in large efforts to replace animal foods in our fast food industry, in our mainstream food system. [00:40:59] And I think those are [00:41:00] positive. But I also am a very strong proponent of a more grassroots, localized food system where you have. You know, food, not lawns efforts, you have urban agriculture. You have people growing their own food. You have community gardens, you have community supported agriculture. [00:41:17] So I, I think that a robust grass roots food movement to me is something that really feels good. You could even have like rooftop gardens. You could have vertical farms and in some urban settings, so local food fresh. Plant food produce locally to me is, is great. And so that's the bi-modal system. [00:41:40] Again, you have this kind of localized versus a more industrialized plant-based options that will replace meat and current in the current machinery. So those are the two kind of. Parallel pushes happening and, and I support them both. Although, you know, as an idealist, I I'm a [00:42:00] bigger fan of the locals. [00:42:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, absolutely. The thing, the thing that that's always interested me about what you're saying is that you have to want to, right. The, the person who's got a, who lives in Brooklyn, New York has to want to, there's no lawn. I have no lawn. Right. So I have to want to go. To the closest a community garden. And I have to want to work in the soil and I have to want to tend the crops that I'm growing it. [00:42:28] Even if it's like a 10 foot by 10 foot plot, what would we do? How, how do we encourage people to even begin to think about it? Because I, I grew up in Detroit, even though I wasn't born in the USA, but I grew up in Detroit and the urban farming initiatives there. Blow my mind and, and people are, are really because, and it's because so much has been abandoned there that there are these plots of land doing nothing. [00:42:53] So people have started doing it. They've started these urban gardening and urban farming initiatives there, [00:43:00] but in a, in a, in a place like Brooklyn, there's not too much. That's abandoned. How do we talk to people in those areas and say, Hey, this is a possibility for you. Where do we need to start [00:43:11] Gene Baur: with. [00:43:12] Yeah, no. In places like Brooklyn, where, where land really as it, or is it a premium? It gets a lot tougher, you know, but there is, I think, a growing hunger for green space for open space and opportunities for gardening, even in very small plots even container gardening, like, you know, on the back porch, for example, you can sometimes have a container to grow some herbs if nothing else. [00:43:35] But you know, In addition to like the physical limitations, which I hear and understand are significant in places like Brooklyn, there are also just, how do you get people to want to do this? Part of it is just by seeing others do it. You know, we are social animals and if we see somebody else doing something. [00:43:52] You know, there's a good chance we might start doing it. So the more that this happens, you know, like in Detroit, as you were describing, I think the more [00:44:00] it will pick up momentum because I believe that being with the earth, having our hands in the soil is actually healing and it feels really good. So once people start doing that and they recognize how beneficial it is, I think more and more people are going to want to do it. [00:44:16] And in places like Brooklyn, you know, again, land is very limited. So maybe rooftop. Or one of the possible options public spaces, you know, some parks, you know, might be made available to have some, some gardening space. But I think expanding green spaces and adding food production in some of those could be a solution. [00:44:37] There are food forests. So, you know, Trees that are producing fruit. For example, in some of these green spaces could be another part of the solution. So it's going to be multi valence. It's not going to be one thing or another. It can be a variety [00:44:49] Izolda Trakhtenberg: of things. I, again, I hope so. I keep saying to your responses, I keep going. [00:44:55] Yes, I hope so. Yeah. And it's interesting to me, rooftop gardens do a [00:45:00] lot to cool the buildings, so it saves energy. In that way, too. And, and I hope that that keeps going and growing because there is an initiative to have that, to address the urban heat island effect in, in these urban areas. I would love, I, first of all, gene, I know you have to go, but I would love to find out from you and I'm going to put it in the show notes also. [00:45:20] Where, if someone, if someone wants to follow your work, where would they go to find you? And I'll put the links in the show notes, but I like people learn differently. So if you could say where someone would be able to locate your work and what you're doing, I would love to have that information. [00:45:36] Gene Baur: Yes, absolutely. [00:45:37] Well, you know, we have at farm sanctuary, we have a website, farm sanctuary.org. We also have an Instagram account, a Twitter account and a Facebook for farm sanctuary. And then also I have my own Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for Jean Bauer. So people can go to either or both of those to keep in touch with us and to track our work. [00:45:59] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:46:00] Fabulous. Thank you so much for saying that. And I will put all of that and game-changers. Do engagements have changed? I don't know why game changers and, and csa.org is the community supported agriculture link. I'll put all of that in the show notes so that if you're interested in finding out more about gene Bauer and his work farm sanctuary how to get involved in a CSA, you'll be able to do it from the show notes of the page. [00:46:23] Jean I'm. So. So grateful that you took the time to be here. I really appreciate it. I have just one last question and it's a silly question, but I find that it yields some profound answers. And the question is this. If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? [00:46:44] Gene Baur: Wow. I mean, probably kindness. I think kindness is one of those really important kind of unifying values. I don't think anybody says it's bad to be kind. I mean, they might, they might say, oh, you're being idealistic or you're [00:47:00] not being realistic for instance, but nobody, I think disagrees with the aspiration of kindness. [00:47:06] So kindness matters. Be kind. I think that is one of the most important things for us to aspire. [00:47:13] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Fabulous. I love it. I love it, Jean, once again. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you taking the. [00:47:20] Gene Baur: Absolutely. Thank you so much as all the great talking with you. [00:47:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. [00:47:26] If you've enjoyed this episode, and I know you have share it out, tell your friends this is important work, gene Bauer and the farm sanctuary movement. They're doing incredible work on behalf of the whole place. All the animals, including us. I hope that you've enjoyed the episode and this is me reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love. [00:47:50] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and [00:48:00] rate it and let other people. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:48:08] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2020. As always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!

Wendy Hapgood Discusses the Ways the Wild Tomorrow Fund is Innovating how Animals are Saved This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset Wendy Hapgood is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Wild Tomorrow Fund, a wildlife conservation charity dedicated to saving threatened and endangered wildlife and their habitats. Wendy believes that biodiversity loss and climate change are the two most critical issues facing our planet today. In 2015 she left Wall Street behind to dedicate her life to the protection of the environment and biodiversity. She completed her Master's Degree in Sustainability Management at Columbia University's Earth Institute where she studied climate change science and policy, researched the intersection of poverty and rhino poaching, uncovered illegal ivory in New York City, and studied new methods for financing the green economy. Connect with Wendy www.wildtomorrowfund.org Instagram: www.instagram.com/wildtomorrowfund/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildtomorrowfund Twitter: https://twitter.com/wildtomorrow Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Wendy Hapgood: But I feel like when you are really emotionally connected to this project and it was truly an emergency, I think it really pushes you to do what you think is impossible. [00:00:15] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I am. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM, brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:36] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do some. Deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word, and now let's get. [00:00:59] Hey there [00:01:00] and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg, I'm your host, and I'm really happy that you're here. And I'm also thrilled and honored to have this week's guest. And you'll understand why as soon as I tell you a little bit about her, Wendy Hapgood is the co-founder and chief operating officer of wild tomorrow fund wildlife conservation, charity, dedicated to saving, threatened, and endangered wildlife. [00:01:22] And their habitats. And that last part is a really important part of what Wendy and her group, what they're doing when he believes a biodiversity loss and climate change are the two most critical issues facing our planet. Today in 2015, she left wall street behind to dedicate her life to the protection of the environment and biodiversity. [00:01:41] She's singing my song. She completed her master's degree in sustainability management at Columbia university's earth Institute, where she studied climate change science and policy research, the intersection of poverty and rhino poaching uncovered illegal ivory in New York city and studied new methods of financing. [00:01:59] The green [00:02:00] economy. Ah, Wendy, I'm so honored that you're here. Thank you so much for being here. Well, Thank you [00:02:06] Wendy Hapgood: so much as older for having me. I'm really excited to be on your show. Wow. [00:02:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I you're, you're you're living my dream life in many ways. It's exactly the kind of thing that I have always wanted to do. [00:02:18] So I'm so glad that you took it and ran with it and are doing it right. I love you. You left wall street and you, you went, that's it. I'm changing my whole life around and I'm doing this now. I'm going to dedicate my life to saving wildlife and saving protected lands. What sparked that for you? What, what made you go? [00:02:36] Okay. You know what? I'm making that change. I'm going to totally transform the way I live and I'm going to innovate things on my own terms. Yeah. [00:02:43] Wendy Hapgood: I mean, it was a really big jump. And I have to say that this feeling grew within me, that sort of, it happened over years where I had the sneaking feeling of, you know, unhappiness or just dissatisfaction with, with life and what I was doing with my life. [00:02:58] And I was successful [00:03:00] in finance. And I loved, I did like my job and the people I worked with and customers, but there was something really missing for me, which was sense of purpose. You know, I absolutely love animals and I feel like probably a lot of your listeners have pets that you just adore and it really starts there and, you know, hiking and. [00:03:19] Starting to feel that I needed to do something about what I was seeing around me in terms of environmental destruction and climate change. And you know, people talk about ecological grief, starting to feel really sad about what was happening to the planet and knowing I wasn't helping. I really big moment was I was actually working in Tokyo, Japan, and I was there for the big earthquake, which resulted in a nuclear crisis. [00:03:46] So being on the ground in Tokyo and living there and worrying about if my boss water was contaminated, which by the way it was and you know, it just, it was such a hosted apocalyptic scenario that I was living and [00:04:00] what really shocked me. How a lot of people weren't that concerned. They, after it went well and people from outside of Japan and friends, weren't, well, no one died, you know, after this nuclear crisis. [00:04:13] But whereas I couldn't stop thinking about how we poisoned the earth forever and that wasn't being spoken about. And it really was a sort of symbolic moment. And I felt complicit in it as someone living in the city using, you know, that's all the power being generated for that's what the nuclear power was needed for. [00:04:33] So I felt really complicit in this poisoning of the earth. And I felt very guilty about when I left later that year to, to, to come to New York about not being here. Both people that were, you know, refugees, internal refugees from that crisis and thinking about how we poison the land and, you know, I saw it with my own eyes up Mishima. [00:04:53] So that really was a huge moment in my life. I was thinking, what can I do? And how can I help. [00:05:00] Being a part of the destruction. Then in New York, I met my now husband, John Stewart, who is the other co-founder of wild tomorrow fund. He was in a similar place in life. He was an advertising executive here in New York. [00:05:13] It creative director also loved animals and was in a place like me. What next to do in life and actually make a difference and help animals in nature. So that was nice. I don't think I'm not sure I could have done it all on my own. Definitely helps to have a partner and to embark on this big journey together. [00:05:32] So that's what we did in 2015. And then personally, I felt like I needed a little more background and I love studying. So that's, I went and did my masters at Columbia, which was Columbia university, the earth Institute. Gave me, I felt like a little more confidence and background in, in sustainability and environmental problems and climate change science and all kinds of really fascinating things. [00:05:55] So that helps me on my journey as well, to feel ready, to really [00:06:00] switch careers and focus a hundred percent on saving the planet. [00:06:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm taking that all in. I sometimes take these little pauses cause I'm like, I'm overwhelmed. That's amazing. So, so here you are. You've, you've made the decision and you came out of with your masters. And w I'm I'm so fascinated. What did you do next? How did you, how did you decide, you know, what we're going to buy land in South Africa and what were the steps that you took to make that start happening? [00:06:35] I imagine the bureaucracy is monumental. [00:06:38] Wendy Hapgood: Well, again, I think we took it step by step and when John and I started Walton were fun. But we also felt like buying land and saving habitat as much as we knew that that was the really big overarching issue in the same way that climate change kind of hangs over everything. [00:06:55] Habitat loss also kind of drives so much of the [00:07:00] environmental loss and destruction we see today. But that, that, that would be a huge thing to start with. So when we started well, tomorrow flung, we started in 2015. Really just with small things, we were asking friends, family for $50 to buy boots for Rangers, because what we saw on the ground in kazoo, in a town, South Africa, which is where we're focused. [00:07:23] Was that government reserves in particular were super under-resourced they're in charge of protecting incredible biodiversity, some of the last big tusks elephants in the world. Really under-resourced trying to fight the rhino poaching crisis and, you know, here's these amazing. People who very dedicated boots on the ground, but they don't have good boots. [00:07:45] So from New York, we're like, well, what, well, we can, we can help with that. You know, or like really bad, basic things. Like they couldn't go out on patrol if the tires had punctures and of their, you know, for their patrol [00:08:00] vehicles and their budget was didn't allow them to purchase more that month, you know? [00:08:05] So it was like a week. Fundraise for that. And we can involve people in New York who would love to, you know, it's very direct impact to say, if you give, if you can give us $50 donation, we will personally have our team on the ground, buy those boots and deliver them. So that's how we started. Nice and small step-by-step. [00:08:27] And it was 2017 when the land kind of happened, which I say was a land emergency where. One of our partners on the ground told us about this piece of land that was up for sale and it had two offers on it from pineapple farmers. And when you know, these farmers want it to extend their existing fields of kind of fools. [00:08:52] And if you could see a picture of it, it's just. You know that typical monoculture farming that just extends out forever in these [00:09:00] endless rows of, you know, sameness and it's terrible for biodiversity. And you know, this land that was up for sale had, had been farmed, you know, cattle and a little bit of pineapples, but it kind of being left to go wild and it had zebra on it. [00:09:15] It had, you know, hippos that would come from the river and at nighttime feed on this land and. We went to see it and that was it. You know, our hearts were kind of stuck. We were like, we have to do something. We cannot allow this to happen. What they would do is, is if the pineapple farm was it totally clear? [00:09:34] It, we mean to tract as a chain, pull out every single tree, run off the wildlife. I mean, turn it into that. Very does it like monoculture of, of pineapple, commercial, industrial agriculture. So we were pretty determined to do that, but you know, imagine it was over a million us dollars, the price tag, and we'd been asking for 50, a hundred dollars donations, but I think those [00:10:00] emergencies make you really step up. [00:10:01] And we felt that we needed to try and also we know or knew that. There's a lot of wealth in New York city. And there's a lot of people who care deeply and, you know, we just needed, we knew we just needed to meet the right people and tell the story and, and kind of bring them along in this journey. And we also met with the landowner. [00:10:24] She was an older lady living in the city, near Johannesburg. She didn't live at the farm or anything like that. This land that was her old fence. And we kind of pleaded with her. We said, you know, we're a charity. We don't have a million dollars sitting ready to make this deal happen. Can you give us time? [00:10:43] You know, this will be your legacy too. So. Thankfully, she agreed. And she gave us five years to save, to raise all the money, to save the land. Actually that deadline's coming up next may. So we, we still have a little way to go. But in the meantime we bought another piece that was at risk, just [00:11:00] down, just nearby. [00:11:01] So. You know, created this card or vision. You know, in the meantime we established we felt it was extremely important that the land was owned in South Africa, not by a us charity. So we set up a wall tomorrow, fund South Africa. No affiliate. So it's a registered charity in South Africa. So the land is owned locally. [00:11:21] Yeah, so there were a lot of legal steps and meetings and learn a lot of learning along the way. But I feel like when you're really emotionally connected to this. This project and it was truly an emergency. I think it really pushes you to, to do what you think is impossible. So we're really proud that we were able to save it and then you know, start working on restoring it and rewilding it. [00:11:48] Really exciting and super hopeful. And I think it transformed us as an organization too. And that's really now our focus. We still help other ranges in the region and we do buy boots for Rangers, [00:12:00] but the major focus now is really saving that land, protecting it, restoring it and rewilding it. [00:12:08] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yay. Okay. Wow. [00:12:10] I wish I had pom-poms or something. So I could be doing a little cheer for, for everything that you just said. I'm you are, you are absolutely seeing my song. I've worked for NASA for over 20 years, doing earth science and environmental education outreach all over the world. So, so hearing from you that, that you, that that is your active. [00:12:31] Sort of profession that, that, that, that, that, that it's possible that you can have these, make these inroads and have such an impact on a place that probably a lot of people never think about, which, you know, raising that elevating the visibility of, of the need to say. Habitat in places like South Africa is incredible. [00:12:55] And I, I know people in South Africa who are working to educate [00:13:00] people in South Africa about that importance too. And so I'm wondering a little bit about, like you said, you made, you have this relationship with the owner of that land, which is incredible. What, what other kinds of. Innovative ways. Have you made relationships with people and government people in South Africa to make this, to make these inroads? [00:13:22] Wendy Hapgood: It's a great question because you know, nothing is ever done alone. It really is teamwork and something that was really important. And just to give a little more background into this, this land is in a biodiversity hotspot. It's one of 32 places around the world. That's recognized for really high level. [00:13:39] By diversity. So just this massive array of amazing life from insects to furry things, you know so it was really important to save this land is also right next door to a world, heritage wetland, UNESCO, world heritage park. So again, another great reason why this piece of land in particular, in this area, it was really important [00:14:00] to protect it. [00:14:00] So that was. Re that we really needed kind of local support with was this legal declaration. So turning what was kind of designated as farmland into what is now officially a nature reserve. So we reached out to a local south African NGO or conservation outcomes who are experts in navigating this process. [00:14:27] It's a Amazing initiative under the south African government, where they recognize that the state national parks can't do it alone. They need private land owners. You know, it could, could be farmers who want to protect a small piece of their land that has an endangered frog. You know, they, they want to empower Private landowners to also contribute to conservation, sort of have this framework called the biodiversity stewardship program. [00:14:52] And we worked with conservation outcomes to kind of navigate that whole process and an amazing environmental attorney [00:15:00] who is in Durban who helped us with that. And what's really, I think, amazing about our project and what makes it stand out is it's truly collaborative. So. I mean, we had donors from a lot from New York some on the west coast in other countries give $20 towards this dream or, you know, a thousand dollars or $50,000. [00:15:23] So it's been, you know, literally thousands of people who've made it possible to save this habitat. And then on the ground, we partnered as well with landowners who were. Like kind of next door to us. So literally sort of inside the borders would have had a little small 20 hectic piece. So, you know, to really expand habitat, it means to term, you know, dropping fences, you imagine a South Africa land, I guess like suburbia in America, it's all fenced. [00:15:50] So just biggest squares. And so for wildlife to have a better chance at fighting back against extinction, you know, you need to really open up that habitat [00:16:00] and Save the wild space and extend the wild spaces. So we worked with our neighbors and kind of brought them along in this journey of creating a nature reserve. [00:16:09] So this it's a collective reserve, the land that waltz Marfan's today. Two separate pieces and it's about 83% of the total. And then we have three other private landowners who, you know, they have the conservation vision too. They were excited about being a part of it and dropping their fences and opening up their land to also be habitat for wildlife. [00:16:30] So, you know, that was a really a collective. Project and we worked through this legal process and that was declared last month, which is super exciting. So the land is officially a nature reserve now in South Africa. That's [00:16:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: incredible. And I, first of all, wow, again, and second of all, you said some things that I am super curious about, you said. [00:16:57] We were you, you were talking about breaking, you [00:17:00] know, breaking defenses and, and removing them so that, so that wildlife can, and I know I've heard the same thing with like unbroken canopy cover for certain birds that they need, that they need, you know, that tree canopy cover in order to feel like this is their habitat. [00:17:16] What. What are the species that are either most impacted or, or the ones that are in that now nature preserve, which I think is incredible, that are going to benefit the most from those kinds of fence lists areas. [00:17:34] Wendy Hapgood: Well I would say, oh, you know, oh, wildlife benefits from. Having more space. We're a huge fan of EO Wilson, who is a very famous American biologist and his book is called half earth. [00:17:48] And he did all of a sudden he did all the math for us, but basically if we save 80% of life on earth, you know, 80% of species on earth today, we have to. [00:18:00] Kind of protect 50% of land and Marine spaces for wildlife. If we don't do that, if we can't get to 50%, we can't say. Species, you know, we can't save 80% of species on earth, basically wildlife and animals need, especially the longer ranging ones. [00:18:19] So the ones that really need space or the big megafauna. So elephants lions, leopards. Hyena, you know, the ones that re African wild dogs, they need a lot of protected space to range. They have bigger ranges, but wild space connected wild space. So, you know, when you talking about birds, it's the canopy. [00:18:39] They need like a card or a green card, or to reverse these spaces that we've, we humans have basically kind of cut up old. Space on our planet and dissected it with farms and fences and housing developments. And so wildlife can't cross from a to B and they need to do that so they can [00:19:00] exchange genetic information and without that populations become essentially inbred and cannot survive long longterm. [00:19:07] So that's why card or is, is so important and why connecting wild space. Super important. Yeah. And, and the vision for our land. So now it's a nature reserve. It's 3,200 acres which is about 1200 hectares. And I like to give people a frame of reference. That's like four times central park. So, you know, in a way it's big. [00:19:30] In the grand scheme of things is kind of relatively small, but why it's so important is that it acts as a card or so this land that we've protected and stopped from being destroyed and joined together with neighbors and opened up wild space. It lies between two very big existing wildlife reserves. [00:19:51] One side is the money wanna, it's a home to a very well-known. Wildlife reserve called [00:20:00] pin the private game reserve. They're amazing. When it comes to conservation, they're home to one of the most important cheetah breeding sites in South Africa. They're doing really good job. They are. WWF black rhino range expansion sites. [00:20:13] So that means they're so good at keeping the rhinos safe that they actually they're black rhinos, which are critically endangered. They've increased in number so much so that they could give those rhinos to other reserves where they were lost and start to repopulate. Wow. Black rhinos in other reserves in Africa, they recently actually sent Jordan. [00:20:32] With the two, I think Malawi to help repopulate giraffe. The, so they're doing an incredible job, keeping wildlife safe and being able to help, you know, other places. And then on the other side of the land that connects, you know, a, to B as a card, or is the UNESCO world heritage, you see ma mango Lisa wetland park. [00:20:51] I mean it's name and Zulu means a place of wonder. It is a natural wonder, you know, of global significance that. [00:21:00] Incredible. It's got the biggest hippo pod in the breeding Cod in South Africa, over 500 bird species you know, and this card, or it will open up. So our long-term vision is dropping fences on both sides. [00:21:13] So that wildlife from. The Pinta, the reserve inland the elephants, the rhinos can actually traverse through our card or to iSimangaliso and it goes all the way to the ocean. So yeah. Eons ago, you know, that little wildlife in South Africa also used to migrate the wildebeest would migrate through there. [00:21:34] You know, this will create a path for wildlife to, to move again. And that's incredibly important in coming decades with climate change where wildlife will be. The conditions where they are, will change. They need water, they'll move to two. They need to be able to move, to find water and resources. [00:21:53] So, you know, we're excited. That's our big, big vision. And that's why this land is so important.[00:22:00] [00:22:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: A [00:22:02] Wendy Hapgood: shock to you again is older. [00:22:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yes, no, yes and no, I'm, I'm actually just full of sitting here going, I'm so grateful you're doing the work you're doing because yeah. I mean, without, without a way to move. Where they need to move in order to survive. And dare I say thrive. They will die. It's that simple. [00:22:22] Eventually they will die. So I'm, I'm in, I'm grateful that that was the, that was the word that was coming to mind is as I was listening to you talk, and this corridor is going to is, and is going to be something that, that allows for that movement. But then you mentioned something earlier that I, that I wanted. [00:22:44] Touch on. You said the word rewilding and what that, the stuff that you, the things that you've been talking about up to now have, have been about the animals that are already out in the wild w is rewilding something different than that. And if so, what [00:23:00] is it and how does it impact that that notion of habitat that protection? [00:23:05] Wendy Hapgood: That's a great question. So Rewilding I have to say is probably what I love most about what we do. It's so hurtful. So it, and it can mean a lot of different things. It could mean bringing back to some people rewilding, maybe Maine bringing back long extinct animals. I mean, what we're doing is, so we save the land, we protect it, we start restoring it. [00:23:25] And a lot of animals will make their way back naturally, but there's some bigger, usually the larger spaces. You know, they're not just going to arrive, they're still fences. So you have to literally reintroduce them. So all rewilding is really the re-introduction of native wildlife that would have existed there before, but has, you know, been gone for some time. [00:23:49] So it's super exciting. I know when we, when we save the land, the first piece, one of our ducks. Loves giraffe. And that was her first question. When can we get dropped [00:24:00] off? And all of this is guided by ecologists and science. And yeah, we, we introduced re-introduced giraffe for the first time in 2017. [00:24:11] It was super exciting. You see them arrive, jump out of a truck and like literally run for it. You know, I can imagine it's quite stressful to be in a truck that wild off, you know, and and then running free on their new home. And it's so powerful. It's such an inspiring image or thing to it. And also for our donors to see what we did. [00:24:33] I like to say rewilding kind of sells itself. You know, we, we needed to do it. We needed to get this wildlife. And it's very strange for most of us that in South Africa, you need to buy. Usually those animals, you would have to buy them, which is, seems so strange to us. Like, what do you mean you can buy a giraffe and how much has the giraffe and what do you mean? [00:24:54] You can buy a zebra and, you know, I think zebra absolutely incredible. And the idea that there is sort of a [00:25:00] market price, $350 per zebra just seems so cheap. So you know, when our donors and supporters heard that I like we'll all buy a zebra. And so that was a really cool connection for them and for us as well, too. [00:25:15] Help fund our rewilding work. It really funded itself. And every person who donated to help us literally purchase as an individual zebra, an individual giraffe, they had the chance to name them and you can tell the difference, giraffe and zebra there, their patents are unique, like a fingerprint. So we have ID Oliver, giraffe. [00:25:37] We have a draft ID kit. Playing spot the difference, you know, looking at the patterns and figuring out who is who. So, yeah, we have 14, actually 15 resident draft now. And over 30 zebra every year. Now we have babies born, which again is proof of this concept. You know, if you can save land and, and join it with neighboring areas and [00:26:00] re-introduce wildlife You know, nature will then start taking care of itself. [00:26:03] And we're seeing zebra, foals being born and huge moment for us was our first baby giraffe being born on this land that would have otherwise been pineapples. So rewilding, you know, it's really is a mix of restoration, ecological restoration, and then re-introduction of wildlife. What we mean when we say rewilding. [00:26:24] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Okay. First of all, I want to help by a zebra, right? Yes. Or a giraffe or a cheetah or whatever, whatever it is that whatever it is, because, because yes, I, I will actually, that will be my, my birthday fundraiser this year. I'm going to tell people that I want to raise money so that I can buy like two giraffe and have them be rewilding in the wild tomorrow. [00:26:46] But no seriously, because this is one of those things where. That's not something I've. Ever thought about or known was even possible. And so again, lots of gratitude from my end, because, because it's a [00:27:00] way for people like me, who probably are never going to start their own wild tomorrow fund to, to. [00:27:07] Participate in a way that, that you would find helpful. And that brings me to my next question. What sort of help does the wild tomorrow fund need from people, private citizens, someone who's listening to this podcast who gets fired up like I am now who wants to help? What kind of help do you. [00:27:24] Wendy Hapgood: Well, we would love help. [00:27:25] We still, as I mentioned, that first piece of land we still have a deadline to meet a fundraising goal to actually fund finish the purchase. That's in the next may. So we love to equate things down to kind of bite sized chunks. A one acre is about 990 us dollars. So if anyone wants to sponsor an acre, it's a, it's an amazing gift or a legacy kind of a gift to someone. [00:27:50] Then we have also volunteer trips and I think it's super powerful for those who can and would love to join us in the field in [00:28:00] South Africa perhaps next year. We have volunteer trips, so we bring 10 people at a time over to South Africa for two weeks. And then you can. Individually apart of everything we're doing and see the region and see the wildlife and, and participate. [00:28:15] Hands-on, it's really kind of, for those who, where conservation isn't going to be, their full-time job, you can, you know, be a part of conservation truly for, for those weeks. And, and it's really powerful. I mean, it changes people's lives. That's how In a way, how we started well, tomorrow fund was John had been volunteering in Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa. [00:28:36] So it really changes people's lives. And we find volunteers come back to New York and they don't want to just. That's it. Thanks. I had a great holiday. They really continue on with us as supporters and keep helping. So yeah, we, we would love more support and funding and help. And I love that for a lot of our supporters. [00:28:57] It's very personal, you know, they really feel a [00:29:00] part of what we're doing and what I find truly beautiful for those who sponsored wildlife reintroductions. It's really interesting to see what they named their animal often. It's a pit. So there's a lot of dogs that are, you know, running around in central park who have a namesake in, in Africa, but sometimes it's departed even people, which I think is very moving. [00:29:21] You know, that idea that. Created a gift in their name. That's now a zebra running free. So yeah, we would love more help. [00:29:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, that's fantastic. I sign me up. I'm absolutely going to do that. And it's interesting because the, the words that, that are coming up in my head, as I'm hearing you talk are hope and connection yes. [00:29:44] That you feel connected to. This place in South Africa, if you're in New York, if you're in LA, if you're in London, if you're in wherever and you can actually make that connection, what do you think makes those two words and, and maybe I'm totally off, [00:30:00] but what, what makes hope and connection so important in wildlife conservation and habitat restoration and the work that you're doing? [00:30:08] I think it's sort [00:30:08] Wendy Hapgood: of everything. I, you know, we started out as well. It being overwhelmed by. The destruction. It's very, it's easy to get depressed and feel down, you know, thinking about the planet and you know, this mass loss of. By diversity. You know, as it's called the mass extinction, the six mass extinction of life on earth, and this time it's driven by us, not by an asteroid climate change and all that grief like that. [00:30:38] I think that sadness does help motivate people to do something, but it can also be really overwhelming. And I think what's important about hope is people need hope. I think we've seen it all the messaging about climate change, you know, I don't know. The negative messaging. You know, the warnings is really important, but I don't think it's moved people enough. [00:30:59] I think [00:31:00] we all need to see that we can do something, you know, that your input, that you're, you know, everyone feels very small. We're like a drop in the ocean of these global challenges, but actually you can really make a difference. And if it's one zebra or coming on a volunteer trip, you know, each volunteer. [00:31:20] Raises $2,000. That's two acres, you know, you can, you, it, it makes a real difference. And I think people feel inspired by that hope. And, you know, in some ways our projects far away from most people they're in New York, but that connection and feeling connected to the project, to the land, to those zebras. [00:31:40] It's really important and that dream that maybe one day they'll be able to come and see for themselves. You know, I think it's really powerful. I'm more positive. I think we're, we've all had a rough year and yeah, I just think that it's a more positive and powerful message to move people, to take action.[00:32:00] [00:32:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Again, I'm thinking. Wow. Yeah, I, it is true. We, the world has had a rough year and yet what's interesting to me about that is that during that time, when we were all. As many of us as could be sort of staying at home, things came back, you know, the, the, the weather changed wildlife started. There were pictures of wildlife on, you know, sort of different critters resting and relaxing in, in what were normally parks and places where you would just not expect to see wildlife. [00:32:39] So there's, there is this there's this. The notion that I always come back to honestly was they were here first. And so for me, it's not just us making room for them. It's us. I had captain Paul Watson on my show, just on the show just a little while ago. And he was saying, you know, one of the [00:33:00] things that, that bothers him is the word stewardship. [00:33:02] He, he doesn't think that stuartship is the way it should go. He's like we belong here. We're part of it. We're not overseers. We don't have dominion. We're part of this whole entire cycle and process. And so, so with, with the work that you're doing, it seems to me like that kind of connection goes beyond. [00:33:19] People feeling connected. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a connection to the biome. It's a connection then to the earth. And if you can, do you have any stories of that kind of realization or that kind of, of moment of truth, if you will, for either from yourself or from your husband or from people that you've worked with, [00:33:42] Wendy Hapgood: I'm just faint. [00:33:42] Well, I think about that, it does, I think, bring us back to. The concept of rewilding and another way of thinking about rewilding. Rewilding ourselves, meaning reconnecting humans to nature. And exactly [00:34:00] like you're saying, and captain Paul Watson kind of a paradigm shift from seeing ourselves as having dominion and like. [00:34:08] Power over nature to being a part of nature, more of a eco centric approach and, and restoring kind of the whole ecosystem. And that includes us too. So, and repairing that connection between ourselves to care more about nature or and to give, I see it as giving space back to nature to bird, you know, they belong. [00:34:34] Equally as we do, we've taken so much away that they need, we need to give space back or we'll lose them all. You know, I think about where this heatwave and just the little things, the birds that died from it was too hot, you know, and, and I feel. That's all, you know, we've, we've closed that with, with our agriculture and our emissions and how climate change [00:35:00] links back to the biodiversity loss. [00:35:02] It's all accelerating. So we really need to act now, or we will lose, you know, I, I think how devastating to not have elephants on the planet, how will you explain that to your children? And how do people explain that the animals that like grew up within their storybooks don't exist anymore? We didn't care enough. [00:35:21] So I think rewilding, the human spirit is a big part of it. You know, for me, I think it came in steps, like rather than kind of a sudden aha moment, more of a buildup and a realization. And yeah, I th and I think going from helplessness to empowerment, you know, and knowing it's possible to restore. Some of the damage we've done and, and actually, you know, having this vision for the planet, that's 50% from nature. [00:35:52] That's a big goal, but I think the more you are in nature, the more you appreciate it. [00:36:00] And so I would say, and I think COVID, you know, a lot of people spent time in parks and nature. Cause there was, it was such a relief in a way. A welcome response for us. And I hope that one of the positive benefits of that is more of a, of a love of nature and then desire to protect it. [00:36:18] So I'm hoping [00:36:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: hope seems to be the word of the day here. And it's interesting because I know for myself, when we were during lockdown, One of the things that I needed to do was feel the sun on my face. Like I couldn't just sit in the house, so I had to be out and, and it, even if it were just to walk outside, there's a tree, there was a tree right here. [00:36:47] Our apartment and I would walk outside and I would say hello to the tree because it, it gave me that sense of connection. And that's one of the things that it takes us back to ancient stories when people [00:37:00] were really part like knew that they were part of nature, part of the earth, part of a process of this whole biosphere. [00:37:07] And it sounds to me like your mission. In part, at least is, is that in addition to stemming biodiversity loss is, it's kind of, have you found that that's, that that's an outcome that, that the people who are involved really get connected on that deep level? [00:37:26] Wendy Hapgood: Yeah. Like two, something like that. Maybe weren't really into nature or conservation before. [00:37:34] Huh? You know, come on this journey with us and then become essentially conservationists, you know, at heart. I think that's really powerful. I mean, our, one of our major donors and on the board, you know, initially he was thinking he would spend his philanthropic time on helping with poverty, which is of course a really important topic, but it was [00:38:00] his dog, you know, like he had a room. [00:38:02] Strong connection with his pet that made him think more about wildlife. And he went on safari and his wife sort of used, like, you know, maybe you should think about, you know, working with Watson more fun. And he's been super helpful or transformative for us and the connections that he's brought. And I think about that, that he wasn't someone who thought that wildlife and habitat conservation was sort of his thing we need. [00:38:27] Find more of those people where it's you know, they it's education and exposure or, you know, being a part of this project is very inspiring and then people get sort of caught up in it, which is great. I think we need more people to connect to nature. And is it through, I think it can be through your pet through that. [00:38:48] So. Very personal connection between a human and an animal and seeing them as, maybe as an individual and important, and then maybe through the park and appreciating the trees [00:39:00] and what they bring for us. And then that kind of connection expands from local to, to more global issues. So yeah, we need to figure out something, it's a question I've thought about a lot. [00:39:12] How, why do I care so deeply? You know, it has been a progression over time to the point that I would give up, you know, sort of dedicate my life to this and saving nature. And then other people, you know, they're maybe distracted or they don't care as much. How do you convince, I want to say convert, how do you inspire other people to connect more deeply to nature? [00:39:38] So that's a big question. And I, I, I think. Being out in nature is the key and go, you know, going for those hikes or coming on a trip to South Africa, of course, super powerful and helping out with conservation, you know, really being involved. And I think it really grows from there.[00:40:00] [00:40:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, I know [00:40:04] Wendy Hapgood: poor Wendy. You're going, is she still [00:40:06] Izolda Trakhtenberg: there? I'm not sure what's going on. I'm sorry. I'm just, I, as, as you were, as you were speaking, I was there again. I had my little metaphoric pompoms out and I was cheering you on and it's when I use, as I said, I used to work for NASA and I used to do the. [00:40:22] Participate in these environmental education workshops where we traveled all over the world. And one of the places we traveled with South Africa and did, did a workshop and the people who came were all teachers and other educators and, and who were going to be learning about these environmental protocols so that their students could study. [00:40:40] Local ecosystems. And so when you were asking that question, I'm like, yeah, I so need to, I do this thing called the earth lady where I go into schools and I teach about the soil and, and, and the atmosphere and the water bodies and by, and the biosphere, as far as like the actual the plants that grow up near their school so that they can get into it. [00:40:59] And now [00:41:00] I'm like, okay, I need to obviously add an animal component. What are the animals in your local area? And. What kind of wildlife is there, what might you find? And so, and it translates up into what's out in South Africa, what's out in, in Namibia, what's, what's in central Asia. There are lots of places where we can be looking at this. [00:41:20] And so the question that I have for you about that is your, if you could have anything you wanted for wild tomorrow fund to do what would be the, the vision, what is the big, this is what would look like. Doing what we had dreamed of. [00:41:39] Wendy Hapgood: Was a big question. I don't ask [00:41:41] Izolda Trakhtenberg: small questions. [00:41:44] Wendy Hapgood: I, I can see if I think 10 years ahead or maybe, you know, we'll be, you know, we've done a lot more than we thought we could in a short amount of time. [00:41:51] So maybe five years ahead, you know, this Cardo project in South Africa is really the first. So the dream is for that to be. [00:42:00] Completed the car or open and working as a, as a card off for wildlife connecting these two huge reserves together, 80,000 acres to 800,000 acres in connecting that green space and the elephants can migrate again and, and we'll debase, you know, that will be like a really huge achievement and a dream come true. [00:42:20] And then, you know, of course it will. It's, it's ongoing. It's like, then the results. The vision is for it to be self-sustaining. And then the question is what's next? So, you know, I see this future where we have, you know, our it's called the Wila nature reserve in South Africa, then All the places on the planet that threatened then an immediate risk of destruction and conversion for agricultural development, where there's really threatened species and saving that land. [00:42:51] And it kind of repeating a process to save it, protect it, restore it. Rewild it. I mean, it could be mad, I guess. Yeah, it could be. I read about [00:43:00] place in Philadelphia, super important habitat for fireflies and without this habitat. Incredible spectacle. One exists in the United States would be incredible. [00:43:11] You know, just having, being able to. [00:43:17] Show you what's possible with restaurants. That would be my dream and [00:43:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: bingo. I love it to show what's possible with restoration. I think that's that's. I think that's great. So first of all, Wendy, you're not getting rid of me that easily. So totally going to start getting people to, to sponsor zebras and giraffes. [00:43:36] That's going to be wonderful. Absolutely. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna see what I can do. And I also believe in starting them while they're young. So we're going to get kids on board. [00:43:45] Wendy Hapgood: We had some kindergartners, did some, made some slime and sold slime and rice. Like I think it was $400. So amazing. People have little big, you know, it's really amazing what people can do and they really want to, [00:44:00] so, yeah. [00:44:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And, and, and also, I mean, one of the things that, that we, that I've sort of really learned in this last hour of chatting with you is that. [00:44:08] There are things I didn't know were possible. And so now that I know that they're possible, and now that if you're listening to this episode, now that you know, they're possible, the call has been made, take, take up the banner and get Ranger's shoes or something like that, or, or sponsor zebra. I think that those are the kinds of things that we can be doing that we didn't, I didn't realize that it could be done. [00:44:27] So I'm really grateful to you, Wendy, for sharing all that. And if someone wants to get involved, how do they find you? Where, where can they find out about the wild tomorrow fund to get involved, to sponsor a zebra, to name the Seabrook? I would name a zebra Kimba after my beloved cat. I know that I would, but how would they do [00:44:47] Wendy Hapgood: that? [00:44:48] Okay. Well, for them. Get in touch or find out more about what we do that can head to our website, which is well tomorrow fund.org. You'll see there there's stories and [00:45:00] also volunteer menu. So you can look at, they can look at, you know, what trips we have coming up. Our animals sponsorships are more sort of direct because we have to be actually sort of reintroducing more or. [00:45:14] W each year we have zebra born, for example. So you can actually sponsor babies either instead of actually not needing to purchase some right now, because they're kind of rewilding themselves. There will come a time where we need to buy, purchase more wildlife. So yeah, just, there was a contact us on the website at the bottom and. [00:45:34] Email will come to me and to John and we'd love to be in touch. And yeah, we, we love at are a lot of us supporters say they, when they talk about the work of Baltimore fund, they say we did this. So it's really, truly is a community it's very personal. I like to say as well as one degree of separation between, you know, you, the donor and the future. [00:45:56] Because there is a sort of between sphere and then yeah, we're, you [00:46:00] know, in a way we're, we're small team doing big things and we're really proud of what we've been able to do. And so it is quite personal and yeah, we welcome. We love meeting new people. We need to meet new people. So please reach out. [00:46:12] We'd love to hear from you. And everybody can help from a kindergartner to a high school kid to, you know, a retiree. So please. Well to help the planet. So hope you'll join us. [00:46:24] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Absolutely. Well, I'm going to put all of that information in the show notes and Wendy, I know that you have to run, but I do have one question that I ask everybody who comes on the show and it's a silly question, but I find that it yields some very interesting results in the question. [00:46:37] Is this, if you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? [00:46:46] Wendy Hapgood: Ooh, that's a love. That's an awesome question. I would say. [00:46:51] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hmm. [00:46:54] Wendy Hapgood: Love nature. I don't know. I it's about moving people to really care. So rewild your hot, [00:47:00] something like that. And then people have to think, what does that mean? [00:47:02] And then go actually read what does rewilding mean? And then come on board with us. So pretty wild it's rewild and leave it. And then people have to be like, what on earth? [00:47:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And so you do. At wild tomorrow.fun.org. Right? So that's right. Absolutely. Well, Wendy, thank you so much. What a phenomenal conversation. [00:47:26] I'm so grateful that you were on the show. I really appreciate you taking [00:47:29] Wendy Hapgood: the time. Thank you so much to Zelda for having me in and giving us this opportunity to tell the story while it's more fun and rewilding to all your listeners. It was such a pleasure. And thank you so much. My [00:47:40] Izolda Trakhtenberg: pleasure. If you've listened to this episode, go get involved with wild tomorrow fund. [00:47:45] Find a way to volunteer. Find a way to sponsor a baby zebra. How could you not want to sponsor a baby zebra? Come on. This is his older Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast, reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot.[00:48:00] [00:48:03] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:48:21] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2020. As always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative minds.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!  

Meridith Grundei, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Coach, Actor, Director, and Improviser. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset     As an award-winning theatre director, producer, and former Second City improv teacher, Meridith Grundei recognized the similarities between performing on stage every night and presenting to clients/colleagues every day, but the latter didn't have the right tools to bring their stories to life. So she decided to do something about it. Eleven years and some change later, Grundei Coaching has helped thousands of individuals and corporations around the world achieve career growth and success. Meridith specializes in presentation and public speaking consultation, individual training and development, and creative team solutions using applied improvisational theatre techniques to build trust, empathy, and out-of-the-box thinking. Connect with Meridith www.grundeicoaching.com and www.meridithgrundei.com Insta: https://www.instagram.com/thisimprovisedlife/ and https://www.instagram.com/meridithgrundeicoaching/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meridith/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrundeiCoaching Meridith Grundei Episode Transcript   [00:00:00] Meridith Grundei: First off. I was just want to say the collective whole is super important. I think in order for transformation to happen and to see the actual results. [00:00:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM, brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:35] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do some. Deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word. And now let's get to the show. [00:00:58] Oh, my goodness. We've [00:01:00] just been laughing so hard. Hi, this is the Trakhtenberg with the innovative mindset podcast and I bid you welcome. I'm super excited about this week's guest. You can tell Meredith is already laughing. We're both cracking up, but you need to, you need to hear about Meredith grin, die, check it out. [00:01:18] And I did I say it right? Or as a guy I dug around di see, Brandise we've just had. Fabulous conversation about name changing when you are, when you have the opportunity to do so. And Gren di is, is the, is the name that is the right name and I'm going to say it correctly. So here we go. Meredith Grundei dog gone. [00:01:38] It I'm going to get it right. As eventually as an award winning theater director, producer, and former second city improv teacher Meredith recognize the similarities between performing on stage every night and presenting to clients and colleagues. But the latter didn't have the right tools to bring their stories to life. [00:01:56] So she decided to do something about it. You know, this is catnip [00:02:00] to me. If you're, if you're a longtime listener of this show, you know how much I love what this is and what Meredith does so 11 years and some change later. Growing dye coaching has helped thousands of individuals and corporations around the world achieve career growth and success. [00:02:15] Meredith specializes in presentation and public speaking consultation, individual training and development and creative team solutions using applied improv, improvisational theater techniques to build trust, empathy, and out of the box thing. Wow, this is, this is so exciting for me because we're going to get really deep into some of this. [00:02:34] I'm so thrilled to have you here. Meredith. Welcome. [00:02:37] Meridith Grundei: Thank you. I am so happy to be here. This is I make, so I'm just giddy on the inside about the conversation that is about to emerge. Certainly [00:02:46] Izolda Trakhtenberg: hope so, unless, unless my cat comes in like the, like he did the other day and jumps on the microphone and everything goes all over the place. [00:02:54] We'll improvise. There you go. You'll improvise. I took very few improv classes in theater. I'll I'll I'll [00:03:00] try and yes, yes, yes. And you as much as possible. I love it. So, so talk to me a little bit about that. What, how did you get from. Theater director, producer, improv, teacher, professor, all of these things too. [00:03:15] Now you help people and companies get their message out. How did that come about? [00:03:21] Meridith Grundei: That's a really great question. It's organically come about over time. I have always seen myself and as a multi-passionate human and I remember the very first time someone said to me, I believe it was in high school, you're a Jack of all trades, but she said it in kind of a negative way. [00:03:41] And you know, I'm, you know, that Jack of all trades master of none kind of way. And, and at first I thought, this is my handicap. I have all these passions because I was dancing. I was acting, but I loved organizing. I worked in the career center. I just have always [00:04:00] loved these things. My dad was an entrepreneur, so he, he was always, I was always inspired by him and always curious about exactly what he did. [00:04:07] He also had a job that I could never understand it, but he did these other things that. We're just exciting. I was like, wow, you're opening a dry cleaners. And now you're opening a virtual reality games place. And now you're so I was always just really an all of that. And then when I moved to San Francisco, when I graduated from college and I started performing with an improv group called ed nauseum, and I'd taken at that time, maybe one improv class in high school. [00:04:36] And I met these, this group of people through bats and I had taken a couple courses there and I just started to love, I just fell in love with it immediately, and then ended up in a sketch comedy group called old man McGinty. And we'd do this crazy, like very absurdist kind of sketch comedy. It was this really dynamic group. [00:04:59] [00:05:00] Performers that had these wonderful like dance ability writers and a lot of experimental theater, performers, clowns, so forth. And so we put this group together and one of our members was like, I'm moving to Chicago, I'm going to study in Providence. Like, Ooh, I want to go to Chicago. I want to study improv. [00:05:19] So I'm like, let's do it. And at that time I had just gotten married and we. Jet set it to Chicago. And I started interning my way through IO, improv, Olympic and the next thing I know, I am then teaching at the second city and I'm helping start their youth program there. And cause one of the core faculty members was co-teaching a class with me that was teaching kids how to create their own. [00:05:49] And so I started that. I started working at the second city and it was a wonderful experience for me. And I was always inspired by the people that I was working with. [00:06:00] And for, and I did a couple at that time, it was called Bisco gigs teaching to more corporate folk, if you will, and helping them. Find ways to work better and more efficiently as teams using improvisation as a tool to do that. [00:06:18] And then from there, this executive coach, Dennis Schroder pulled me in and was like, I want you to work with me and all the time. So I was like, okay. And I do the Birkman assessment, which is a psychological assessment, similar to disc and Myers-Briggs and he said, This is how I work as an executive coach with these teams. [00:06:36] And then I want you to come in and let's use applied improv as a way to show these personal things different personality types and how they can work together as an asset. And better communicate with each other as a team and trust and all of that. And so for several years, and I actually am still in touch with Dennis and do the occasional work with him. [00:06:57] I, I, I just ended up [00:07:00] doing that work and loving it because I saw the opportunities to help people not only engage with each other, but also find a safe and brave space to share story. I, it was astounding to me. How many organizations did not provide the space, whether that was conscious or unconscious for people to actually share what is like what's going on in their lives. [00:07:29] What's what, they're, what they don't feel that they can bring into the workspace, right? Because you leave, you leave your personal life at home. And I'll, I'll never forget this one experience where I was working with a team of manufacturing team up in upstate New York in Rochester, and I have this Augusta ball exercise and Augusta ball is a Brazilian practitioner who brought he's no longer with us, but he, he used improv and theater [00:08:00] as a tool to bring community together and people of different backgrounds and ethnicities and so forth. [00:08:06] And. This one exercise is called and it made me think. And so what you do is each person is given one minute to tell a story about something that's happened in their life and in relatively recent, right? A relatively recent timeframe. So in last week or last month, and you punctuate it, you tell your story and then you punctuate it with, and it made me think, and then you allow space to sit. [00:08:32] And so you allow that story to land on the listeners. And this one, gentlemen, we come to this one man in the circle and he shares his story about his son. Who's been going through chemotherapy. No one on that team knew no one. And that to me blew my mind like this poor man has been holding this. Painful thing and [00:09:00] expected to work and expected to show up and to do his job. [00:09:05] And that was. A moment for me where I went, I, this is important. This is what I am doing. This work, not, I, more people need to be doing this work. More people need to be going into organizations and using these tools of the theater and of improv to help open up the hearts and the minds of the individuals that are doing this work. [00:09:29] I just got the bug and I just kept doing it from there on, and I started doing it on my own with Meredith granddad coaching. And within that, I was also. Invited by Dennis I'll give him credit. He was like, I've got this CEO, please help him with his presentation. He has to give at this big conference, I've got this guy over here who needs to level up his executive presence. [00:09:49] I've got this person over here and I would yes. And things. And I think it's a Tina Fey quote, but she was like say yes and figure out the rest later, which is kind of what [00:10:00] I felt like I was doing. And it's led me to. This wonderfully PA this wonderful path that I'm on. And I haven't looked back and I don't think I will. [00:10:10] I mean, I, I, what was it? What am I trying to say here? That was a rough drafted thought. Anyway. That's, that's how I got here. [00:10:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. That's fantastic. And so much of what you said. To me, what I heard it it's I heard courage. It was, that was one of the things that, that I, it seems like you help people bring out, you know, have sort of pull themselves into themselves, but then have the courage to express to actually say what's on their mind or do what they want to do and be more of themselves, especially in corporate situations. [00:10:56] And the first thing that we started talking about that you mentioned was [00:11:00] improv. And I would love it because I have a whole list of questions based on what you just said. There's a ton. And what, what is improv? What, what is improvisational theater? What is improv? Because people's bandy the term around, but I'm not sure how many people, I actually know what it means, what it is and what it can do for you. [00:11:21] Meridith Grundei: That's a great question. So improv, I will start off with the one thing that people most commonly can relate to when I describe it in front of a group, which is, I always referenced, like, have you seen whose line is it anyway? And then people, I see a bunch of people nodding up and down and I'm nodding up and down as I'm sharing this story with you right now. [00:11:43] So that would be the first context to do it. Yeah. Whose line is it? Anyway, they have a structure, a game, if you will. And within that game. So the structure are the quote unquote and I'm doing air quotes are the rules, right? [00:12:00] And you make things up on the spot within that structure though. So the structure gives you some guidelines. [00:12:06] So that's what I do is I teach people. Games, these exercises, these activities. However you want to frame that that best fits for you. I give them these games that they work within so that they can see. The magic that happens afterwards. Right. And I give them other tools, like the foundation of improvisation is this idea of yes. [00:12:31] And so when we, yes, and somebody's idea, we can further the storyline. We can add to the idea we can. Find that moment of agreement. Right? And so with that tool and within these structures, these games that I give them, we're able to make discoveries about ourselves within the context of the game. So for example, to me, the applied improv piece is the [00:13:00] magic is in the debrief. [00:13:01] Right. So what did you notice come up for you when you were put in this situation? What feelings. We're in your body when this happened. What did you notice in your communication when this happened? What is it that you would do differently next time? If we were to do this exercise again, where you making eye contact were you breathing? [00:13:25] Oftentimes when we feel stressed out or anxiety, we hold our breath, right? Do these exercises up on our feet. So it's a full body experience off, we spend so much time sitting down that I think that physical engagement that sematic kinesthetic engagement is incredibly important as well. So that I hope answers the question, what is improv, and it's also an amazing opportunity to get people to just laugh together. [00:13:57] You're laughing together. You're getting amazing [00:14:00] insights on your own communication skills. You're building trust. And there are no real world consequences within the containers. So we're not going to like some multi-billion dollar organization is not going to implode because we're doing improv game. [00:14:16] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I certainly hope not. [00:14:18] That would be one heck of an improv game if you do that. [00:14:21] Meridith Grundei: Wow. Wow. [00:14:24] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And you rubbed your hands together right there. You did. I did [00:14:27] Meridith Grundei: put finger thing. [00:14:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: So that's, that's a, that's a fabulous, that's a fabulous encapsulation of what improv is and something that, that sparked from you when you said that was the questions that you asked the debrief, as you put it. [00:14:42] If you're calling on people and correct me if I'm wrong here, it seems like you're calling on people to have a, a deeper awareness of self of who they are, of where they are of what's happening inside them. And often we don't, we don't, we tend to think outwardly, you know, we tend to [00:15:00] go, oh, this is, this is on my to-do list today. [00:15:03] This is, these are the things that I have to get done. This is the work that I have to do, but we don't tend to spend a lot of time. Internally and going, what about the work I'm doing on myself? So it sounds like there's an invitation inherent in what you're doing for people to work on themselves. And I'm wondering, how does, how does that work for you? [00:15:22] How do you, how do you employ that? And if you do specifically and what are the results that you get at the end of the process? [00:15:32] Meridith Grundei: Oh, that's a, that's a great question. Yeah. I think it's the way that I guide people through things that I give them the invitation to drop in and think in those ways. And I do always call it an invitation. [00:15:46] I don't try to force things upon people. I think it's important for people to make their own discoveries. And so I, I repeat myself a lot in the debrief. So touch in, you know, [00:16:00] I have an Allen Ginsburg quote that I like to use often, which is notice what you notice. And then I feel like the more that I can repeat back, the things that I'm inviting people to do, whether they make those discoveries in the room or on the zoom room, if you will, these days, but in the room with me. [00:16:19] Great. But they may not make those discoveries until a month later when they're sitting at their desk. And something happens that triggers a response or a strong emotion, and then they can reflect back to that exercise. So I think that there's time and space for integration with these things and the repetition can help with that. [00:16:41] I hope that answered the first part of your question. Can you repeat the second part of your question? Sure. [00:16:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: The, the second part was actually really about. Like you said they might notice months later. I, I recently noticed something that I did in a theater class in college many, many years ago, and sort [00:17:00] of got an aha moment from that. [00:17:01] And I'm wondering when you go through the process in the moment, if you have any stories about those results so that you can see them. So that they're like the, the gentlemen whose whose son had, who was going through chemo. The people there were changed, right? The results were pretty immediate by hearing his story. [00:17:21] And I'm wondering, I guess I'm, I'm being a little bit, you know, I'm being a little shameless cause I'm like, tell me, tell me the results, Meredith good stuff, you know, but [00:17:30] Meridith Grundei: fair enough. You know, but, [00:17:32] Izolda Trakhtenberg: but it's, it's because I think we don't spend a lot of time in that space. Wow, this, this has changed me. And let me spend a little time figuring out how it has changed me. [00:17:44] So in those, in those spaces, when you're cause you're holding space for people to be themselves, which I love what, what are the profound results, small and large in those processes? [00:17:57] Meridith Grundei: Yeah, that's a really great question. I think there are [00:18:00] multiple ones. One is how you work collectively as a team. And that's why I think the work is important to do. [00:18:07] And I think that's why leadership needs to show up too, you know, because oftentimes I've noticed that leadership will set something up for their team management will and then management won't be there. So all of these people have learned their team has learned this like great news. Tools and then management isn't there. [00:18:25] So that first off I was just wanting to say the collective whole is super important. I think in order for a transformation to happen and to see the actual results For me, it's about, for example, seeing the results, how do you organize a meeting? Right. So because of some of the tools in the, in the debrief, we find out where some of the pain points are and how they can be solved through those exercises. [00:18:51] So if you're in an it, for example, in an ideation phase, or you're a part of an agile or scrum group or your, whatever the industry [00:19:00] might be, and you're in that first infant stages of creating. When everyone in the group has this idea of what yes. And is and how it can be applicable, it shifts things. [00:19:11] Let's get all the ideas up on the whiteboard or on the post-it notes. And let's see what emerges without saying no. There will be room for no later there will be room for, I see this. And can we do this later? Just get all the ideas out there because what that also does is it creates a room of inclusivity. [00:19:31] So all voices get to be heard. Nobody is being cut off. Nobody is being told. No all ideas are good ideas at that moment in time, because what happens is in ideation in brainstorming and creativity. We want to it's so often that we want to look at, what's not working first and I'm a big fan of looking at like, well, let's look at what is working and let's get it all out there because whatever, if, if this, if you have an [00:20:00] instant to a, no, that no actually might inspire the idea that does work. [00:20:05] Does that make sense? Absolutely. [00:20:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: No, it absolutely. It does. And it's interesting because. As I'm listening to you, I'm going the people who are actually doing the work, nobody knows their job better than they do. You know, nobody knows what you do better than you do. So if you're going to ask for ideas and make the caveat that there are no bad ones, just throw them out. [00:20:30] Some of those people have never been heard from before. And it sounds like you're giving them the, the, the stage, if you will, the opportunity. And then they can. Present their own. I do something similar with some of the workshops I do giving space so that people who aren't often heard from can, can have their say. [00:20:50] And I love what you said about leadership being invited and almost mandatory show up folks, because that presents an opportunity for [00:21:00] them to, to see some of those ideas that they otherwise might not see. Right. [00:21:06] Meridith Grundei: Yeah, exactly. And they also get to see the dynamics of the. They get to see how people work together in these different situations that they may not be able to see in the day-to-day grind of the work. [00:21:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, absolutely. And that's so interesting. So talk to me about team dynamics. What is that? What is team dynamics? You mentioned it a couple of times and I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on exactly what it is and how we can use it specifically, because this is the innovative mindset podcast. How can we use it to innovate? [00:21:37] How can we use it to think. [00:21:40] Meridith Grundei: Yeah. Well, the first place that I go to is using each other's different sets of skills as an asset. Right. And so that we look at, so I'll just bring it back to like what Dennis works with with the different personality types. We all have different ways of seeing and approaching an idea or a problem [00:22:00] solving and finding a solution to something. [00:22:03] Right. My husband and I could not be more different in how we problem solve something, but it's how we choose to work together and communicate in order to solve that problem. And so what I really appreciate about using these, like I said before, they have no real world what's the word I'm looking for? [00:22:23] No consequences. Thank you. Ding, ding, ding. They have no real world consequences, right? But what it does is it really helps bring to the surface, these different personality types, and rather getting frustrated with that person who might be more on the execution thing and, or getting more, really uptight around that person. [00:22:42] The out of the box, creative thinker, it's like, how do you take those two different personality types and put them together so that they can actually work efficiently and effectively together and see each other's different types of personality types as an asset to the, to solving a problem. So when I talk about team [00:23:00] dynamics, I mean that, to me, it's about, yes, and-ing each other, seeing each other and ourselves. [00:23:05] Brilliance and how they can all fit together so that we can be effective and efficient with our day to day work and tasks and show each other mutual respect and honor each other's differences. [00:23:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. You just said that last part because that's one of the things that I find happens is that. That can sometimes be missing that, that, that respecting that other people think differently and that not only is it okay, but it's to be celebrated because they can come at it from a perspective. [00:23:35] Yeah. You may not have seen. So let me ask you a strange question and maybe it's not a strange question. I imagine there are times when you're doing one of these workshops that you meet resistance from the people and all [00:23:51] Meridith Grundei: that die. Yeah. I, I, I [00:23:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm like, yeah, this is kind of a [00:23:55] Meridith Grundei: silly question. Not a strange question at all. [00:23:58] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And so, you know, [00:24:00] because some people given the room to play, maybe of playing, if you see what I mean. So I'm wondering what, when you meet resistance, how. What are the innovative ways that you encourage invite, inspire people to, to let go of the fear a little, or maybe to push through the fear? I'm not sure what, what, what your way is in order to actually get the best out of the expense. [00:24:29] Meridith Grundei: Yeah, I think it's a wonderful question. And I will say the most resistant resistance that I am met with is usually at the very beginning, I walk into the room and I oftentimes get the, who is this person what's happening? Why are we forced to do this? Like, you can just feel the energy in the room is palpable. [00:24:47] And and it's not all the time. I mean, sometimes you've got the one person in the room that's like, I love improv. Like, thank God for you being in the room. Right. And And so what happens is pretty [00:25:00] quickly, I have everyone gathered in a circle. I have them push their chairs back and, you know, if I can get into the room to arrange it the way that I would like it to, to be the best learning experience possible for everyone, I do that sometimes I can't do that. [00:25:13] So it's a little bit of a rearranging, right. And in that moment, I'm warming myself up. I'm introducing myself to people. I'm giving them eye contact. I'm making sure they know that I'm not as scary. I don't look scary to, to begin with. I'm like, Three and I weigh a hundred pounds, so they're scared of me. [00:25:28] That's a bigger issue. But so then I gather people do a circle and we S we do, you know, some gradual warmups and and I get to know who they are. They get to know me. And what happens is quite. It's beautiful. I will say it's just beautiful. Is that somehow within that timeframe within the first 30 minutes of being there, I have given them permission to play and it's as if no one else has given them that permission in a really long [00:26:00] time. [00:26:01] And I can't tell you it's the most wonderful, beautiful shift that I have ever experienced. Is with people who are non-performers, who have no idea what they're about to get into. And then all of a sudden they understand it and they're like, oh my God, I get to just play for three hours. Awesome. And so that is usually I will say That's most of my experiences, every so often you'll get the one person it's usually one person and I hate to say it, but it's usually a guy who has a lot of resistance. [00:26:37] And so I, there it's a fine balance, right? Because you don't want that person to take up air time for everybody else. You don't want to, so it's a delicate balance of agreement and saying, let's take a risk here and let's look at your own stuff. And oftentimes it, [00:27:00] it works out. Okay. Right. And I'm a big fan of doing, I touch back into and I, and I noticed these things and I feel. [00:27:07] I might send an email and do a check-in with that person later. Or I might check in with their management later because I do care and I want to know where the resistance is living in the body and, or in the mind and or with past experiences. Because even though the work is playful, even though we are having a good time with each other, it can still bring up stuff for people. [00:27:28] It just. Sure. We're humans. So with, with lots of layers and somehow within that layers of that onion, there was one that I really, I got out with some people, so putting care and love into it. [00:27:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love again, I love that you said that I'm going to just say that after everything you say, and it's interesting what you were talking about. [00:27:52] Like every once in a while, the person with real resistance, I find that digging deeper means that they are. That they're a [00:28:00] frustrated performer or that they were told that they shouldn't speak or should, or, or don't have talent or skills in the very thing that they want to do, which is be out there with, with the bad cells. [00:28:11] And so there's this, there's this confidence piece and there's a, there's a vulnerability piece to that, to what I'm hearing you talk about that I would love to explore for a minute. What I know you've already mentioned that. Lots of vulnerability, even though we're playing. And even though we're having a good time, there's, there's a real vulnerability to, to stepping into the limelight. [00:28:34] Well, and when, when someone does, I'm sure that you've had lots of stories about that, but when they do that, how does, how do you handle it and how does the rest of the group. Transform because it's not just the individual person that transforms. I imagine the rest of the group transforms also when someone is really vulnerable. [00:28:58] Yeah. [00:29:00] [00:29:01] Meridith Grundei: That's a really good question. I'm trying to think. Well, I keep going back to that one story. There's a couple of stories that have popped into my head. I think. In those moments for me, I think each situation is different. So I do adapt according to each of the situations. And I might have, for example, a game that follows the exercise that we just did. And for me as the coach, as the facilitator, it's important to know what to let go of for the betterment of the whole. [00:29:32] And so there have been a couple times where I've had to let go of my agenda. So that I could best meet the group with where they're at. And and I'm not overly transparent about that. I just go with the flow and then we, we spend our attention in that place. And then there's an opportunity for further dialogue. [00:29:55] And I, I always do feel that it is the way that the rules of engagement that are set up before. Right. [00:30:00] Are helpful in facilitating this as well, because I come from a place of, I want to hear, I want to hear from you what feels true. I want to hear what's working. And then I want to hear where you have curiosities around this feeling or within this exercise that we just had that came up for you. [00:30:20] The feelings that you have are completely valid and they're yours. There nobody else's so let's all figure this out together and let's find a way to communicate this that feels safe. And so I, I hope that answered your question. Did it? [00:30:39] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yes, it did. Good. Funny about the show is that the, a lot of the feedback that I get from the shows that wow, these conversations go so deep and we do so. [00:30:52] Yes, you answered. [00:30:54] Meridith Grundei: Well, you know, I had another story that popped in my head as it was a disaster story where we, it was a [00:31:00] huge organization and the person who organized it was going through a lot of stuff. And so it was not organized very, very well at all. And I ha I was met with serious resistance and then the, or the, I heard the client was not happy. [00:31:17] And so in that moment, I literally. Everything rallied the troops and was like, we, because there was six of us on this gig and I was responsible for having brought in like five of the six of us, all of us. I was responsible for bringing in these people. And I was like, we need to shift gears. And we had to do a whole, like, we changed the whole curriculum, the whole thing, everything because of what, what happened. [00:31:43] And I think that's. You know, I think that's something improv has taught me is to be adaptable, be in the moment, be a problem solver. If you dig in your heels, it's not because you had one thing planned and it's not working out the way that you think it's going to work out. Then [00:32:00] you're going to be in a lot of trees. [00:32:01] A lot. And so I have learned so often you just got to sometimes say, yep, you're right. This isn't working. And now we're going to figure out a new solution to this. And I am so grateful for that tool. [00:32:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And it's a great tool because if you are not adaptable, you're pushing up a really heavy Boulder [00:32:22] Meridith Grundei: up there. [00:32:23] Oh my God. It's some people think they're adaptable. And I got to say, you're not, I'm so sorry, but you're not being there with them all. Yeah. [00:32:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And that, that can be a tough, a tough nut to swallow. Right. So, so I, you know, it's interesting, we've been talking a lot about courage and talking about confidence and in its relationship to, to the teams that you work with within, within a presentation. [00:32:48] And I'm wondering if there's something you, you mentioned way earlier that you got drawn to helping people be themselves. In certain kinds of [00:33:00] situations in whether it's corporate or not, but you're, you, you said you were drawn to helping people and I'm wondering what, what draws you to helping people become better at not just the, oh, we're working well as a team, but at public speaking and presenting and being up in front of others and telling their own story, like what, what draws you about that and how do you do that? [00:33:25] Meridith Grundei: Hmm. Thank you. I have always just maybe it's I w I went to church camp a lot as a kid, and then I ended up becoming a camp counselor and all of these things. And I feel like I just, from a very young age, loved teaching and loved helping other people find their voices. And I feel like, you know, partly it's because, you know, In my childhood. [00:33:52] And when I was more, in my teenage years, I have a father who had PTSD and I found it tremendously difficult to have a [00:34:00] voice in my family to be heard. And so I think that I am very sensitive to other people who also struggle with being heard in the way they want to. And so I would say that would probably be the core of the root of it. [00:34:14] And I am a huge advocate of mentorship. I, I love. I just feel like it's so important, especially in this day and age too, to help lift the voices of others, to tell them that yes, they can achieve whatever they want to achieve, that they can, that they can they can overcome adversity. And that just feels, it just lights me up. [00:34:38] It just, it really does. I guess that's the best answer I have for you is I can't imagine myself doing anything else, but working with people I'm I am quite the empath, like some too, sometimes to a fault right. Where I'm like, I overthink things, [00:35:00] but I really, I do care about people. I really do care about their experiences and making sure that they have a voice in the room and in this world, [00:35:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And again, I love that. [00:35:11] See this, I've just kept saying that. And I, and I am not at all surprised that you're an empath and being able to do that, being so able to be sensitive to the place where other people are, what they're feeling, what they're, what they're perhaps thinking all of that. It changes how you relate to them. And if someone. [00:35:36] A real fear. Like I used to have a phobia, not, not that, not that you can tell now, since I'm all over the place, as far as speaking, but I used to have a real phobia of public speaking from learning English as a fourth language and being terrified. And I, I worked through it. I overcame it and now I'm out there presenting all the time and I'm actually grateful to that time. [00:35:59] It [00:36:00] helped me understand what other people are going through when they're afraid. And so when you're, when you're coaching someone to improve their skills at presenting, or if they have a presentation that they have to do, and they're terrified, what do you do to help them? [00:36:19] Meridith Grundei: Yes. Well, I, I first, I always start with where they're at and where they wanna go. And how they want to be seen. And. I am. My philosophy is to give as many tools as I possibly can, because I don't think it's a one size fits all for everybody. I think that with as many tools as I can possibly give them, they can find what works best for them. [00:36:45] Right? So the tools that I will provide science, our breathing exercises, physical exercises, because the mind body connection is incredibly important. The heart centered mind. The connection [00:37:00] is important. I give them different tools on how to prepare, right? How to practice. Cause there's more than one way to practice. [00:37:10] There is no set acronym. That's going to teach you how to become an amazing person pro you know rehearsal. Is that even a word? I'm sure it's true today. It is. And so. I just feel that what I have found over time is that people would tell me, this is how you do it. This is how it's done. And then I would go back like, as an actor, I would get all of these, this input on how I was supposed to practice or how I was supposed to memorize my lines or how I was supposed to, how I was supposed to do this, do this, do this. [00:37:41] And I'd noticed that no one ever gave me permission to sit back and try to figure out what worked for me. Right because everyone has an opinion, everyone's opinion is going to be different from the last person's opinion. That's just the way it is. So you really giving that permission for [00:38:00] people to find what works for them and giving them enough tools to be able to do that. [00:38:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm taking it in for a second. Sorry. I like. Take a second and really synthesize what I've just heard. [00:38:22] the thing, the key for me of what you just said is that it's a two-pronged approach. The, what is that you need to do. And then here are the tools to help you do it. Like what world, what will work for you may not work for anybody else. Right? What works for me may not work for anybody else, but giving permission. [00:38:44] And not just you giving them permission, but them giving themselves permission to explore, I think is so crucial. And how do you, how do you innovate that? How do you encourage people who might have a phobia? Like, like I used to, [00:39:00] to give themselves permission, not just to play, but to go deep and explore into who they are and. [00:39:08] What is it that they want to say what their messages? [00:39:12] Meridith Grundei: Yeah. I'll give you an exact example of one thing. So I have this group called confidently confidently speaking, which is a group coaching on mighty networks thing that I put together and it's only a month old and I do a Q and a, so it's it's four weeks or. [00:39:30] Every it's for me. Yes. Every month, each week I have a jeez Louise each week, I have a different focus. And on the fourth week of the month, I do a Q and a, and that feels important to me so that people can ask their questions and they can also provide me feedback so that I can better grow the community. [00:39:48] And what I heard from the last Q and a. Is, there was some struggle with feeling confidence around being in front of the camera and being in front of the camera in communicating your message and your brand is huge. And we're [00:40:00] getting more and more on video. I mean, I think things are going to turn more in that direction than ever before. [00:40:07] And so I heard all of that and I said, okay, Well, then we're going to do a 30 day video challenge. And if three of you sign up, I'm going to do it with you because it's important that you see that I'm going to go and do this alongside of you. And we're all going to learn together. And then we're going to come together at the end of this 30 day challenge. [00:40:28] And we're going to share what we learned when we started and where we're at, and we're going to share where we're at now. And I think. That gives people permission to go, wow, my coach is doing this alongside of me because I always have something to learn too. I'm not, I'm not like a master at all of these things. [00:40:49] You know, I mean, there are masters, but masters in something. Educating themselves and learning. And it also helps people feel like they're not alone in, in [00:41:00] this growth period in their life. And that's why I like the group coaching and that peer to peer support piece of it is because you can really quickly see I'm not the only one that feels this way, that there's still a lot of work to be done. [00:41:14] And and it's okay that I'm at where I'm at. Right. [00:41:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, absolutely. And it's interesting. There's a, there's a wonderful book by Pema Chodron. I love him the children. Oh, yay. I love her work and I love the book title almost more than I love the book. It's start where you are. I just think that's so it's so simple and so profound at the same time that giving yourself permission to start where you are and not judging yourself for. [00:41:46] Not being further along than you are, you know? So, so have you done the full 30 days yet? How, how have the stories been about the people who have taken the challenge on. We [00:41:59] Meridith Grundei: [00:42:00] are on day two, we just started, we just started. It's pretty awesome. And there's a, there's a couple people that I was not expecting that totally jumped in and I am so excited. [00:42:14] I'm so excited that it just gets, I just, I am just thrilled to pieces when people take the risk and I've given them the platform to do so. Like we did A story exercise a couple of weeks ago. And a couple people chose to put their stories on video. I said, you know what? However you need to tell that story, tell it if it's typing it and sending it to us in a document. [00:42:38] If it's putting it on video, just tell your story. So I think again, it's giving them the permission to use it. There's no right. There's no one way to do something. [00:42:50] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah. Absolutely. You know, it's one of my, one of my favorite things on a circle you can get to the center [00:43:00] point from an infinite number of places. [00:43:02] And that is that to me is says so much and there is no. No, that's not true. I will say that there are wrong ways, like forgetting to turn your camera off yeah. On or off or whatever, you know? Sure. [00:43:15] Meridith Grundei: But at [00:43:15] Izolda Trakhtenberg: the same time, so yeah. Cause I've done that I've done, I've recorded entire podcast episodes without having turned on the recording equipment. [00:43:24] So, so that has happened and, and yet it's, it's a Mo it's a teaching and a learning opportunity for you. [00:43:32] Meridith Grundei: Yes, I was just going to ask, but what did you learn from that? Exactly. What did you do different next time? So yeah, now I have a [00:43:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: checklist hanging over my desk. It says, these are the things you have to do. [00:43:41] And again, that that's, that to me is a really important piece of what you're doing is that you don't have to be perfect. You have to be where you are, you know, wherever you are and if you can stretch yourself. That's great. So, so within that, is there a place that someone can go to, to go? [00:44:00] I want to learn from. [00:44:02] Where should they go to do that? To find. [00:44:06] Meridith Grundei: Yeah, thank you for asking that question. I can be found in a few places. One is Grund di coaching.com and that's G R U N as in Nancy, D as in dog, E i.com. Meredith. Yeah, granddad coaching.com. And then. Confidently speaking.club, it's hosted on mighty networks. [00:44:28] So you could also look through mighty networks. And then I have my performance. I still am a performer on Meredith grand di.com. And my name is spelled with two eyes. It's M E R I D I T H grandad.com. And then of course, LinkedIn and all the socials. I'm not on Facebook though. I got off base. What's driving me batty. [00:44:48] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I hear you. That that is one of those things and there's, I could keep you here for the next six hours. I know. I love [00:44:57] Meridith Grundei: talking to you. It's so much fun. You ask me your [00:45:00] questions. I'm like, I love your question. And I'm like, did I answer it? I hope I answered it. You're [00:45:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: fabulous. Yes, you absolutely have. [00:45:09] There's there's a couple more questions. If you have time. First of all, I was honored to be on your podcast recently. So much fun. So I'm really glad that you were able to come and join me here on, on, in an innovative mindset. So I'm, the podcast is called. Are you waiting for permission that you cohost with a wonderful gentleman named Joseph Bennett? [00:45:31] And I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about what the podcast is and what permission people might be waiting for? [00:45:41] Meridith Grundei: Yeah, the, so the podcast is. Inspired by Joseph on a Sunday. I think about four months ago, it's only four months old and the crazy wow. He said he woke up and he's like, I want to do a podcast with Meredith. [00:45:56] And so he called me and I said, sure, let's do a podcast. [00:46:00] And we came up with this title. Are you waiting for permission? Joseph, I think was reading a book and it was a line in a book and I said, perfect. This is that. Yes. And it is intended for creatives and artists who. Stopped waiting for permission. [00:46:17] And so they started giving themselves permission to live the life that they want and to create the work that they want and to follow their dreams. And we, our intention with the podcast is we really want our listeners. To see that there are multiple ways that they can to give themselves permission to follow their dreams. [00:46:41] And we even have one listener who quit her job. She said, I listened to your podcast. And that was it. I had this email sitting in the inbox for two years and I finally sent it and I quit my job that I was miserable at. Wow. And. That, that was really, and we, of course, we had to interview her on [00:47:00] our podcast and we did, and that will be released in the next few weeks. [00:47:03] But that is our, that is our hope with the podcast is to keep encouraging people, to take leaps of faith, to take risk and to give themselves permission. And through that, we give resources, we answer questions now for people on the podcast as well. And we invite. You know, guests like yourself who are dynamic humans that have also carved a path. [00:47:27] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And it's a fabulous podcast. If you're not listening, you should go super subscribe, just like right now. And that's that? No, it is. I enjoy it. I enjoy it because. It's like you called yourself a multi-passionate person, but also the guests tend to be multi-passionate and tend to want to explore different avenues. [00:47:50] And I am about, I am. Multi-passionate, doesn't begin to cover all of that, that I try to do. And I've [00:48:00] decided for myself that it's not do what you love for me. Love what you're doing while you're doing it. And that's, that's, that's, that's my solution to that whole conundrum. And so I'm, I'm really glad that you, that you both started this show because I find that I'm learning and I'm having a good time. [00:48:22] And often you, you get podcasts where you have one or the other maybe, but not both. And yours. Yours does both, which I think is great. And I think that's what you're doing with the work that you're doing is that people. Yes, you're, you're calling on them to be vulnerable and have, and have courage, and you're giving them a space to play and explore who they are. [00:48:45] And I think that's amazing. So thank you so much for doing the work that you're doing. I really it's necessary in this world, so I'm really glad you're out there doing. Yeah, no, [00:48:53] Meridith Grundei: thank you. [00:48:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: So Meredith I have one last question and by the way, all of the, all of the. [00:49:00] Social media and all of the ways to contact you will be in the show notes as well, but people learn differently. [00:49:05] So I like to give both both ways of seeing or multiple ways of seeing the information or hearing the information. And I have one last question that I ask everybody who comes on the show and FIA, it's a silly question, but I find that it can yield some, some profound answers. So the question is this. [00:49:24] If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see. What would you say? [00:49:31] Meridith Grundei: Just [00:49:32] Izolda Trakhtenberg: breathe. [00:49:37] I love that. I love that. So that's a great what a great answer. Yes. So important. So important. I, I like to say that you can live. Three weeks without food, you can last three days without water, but you can only last three minutes without air. So is crucial, [00:49:54] Meridith Grundei: crucial. It is so crucial and we don't do it enough. [00:49:59] We hold our [00:50:00] breath so [00:50:01] Izolda Trakhtenberg: much. Yeah. And, and one of the things that's most interesting to me about the theater that I was an English drama major in college. And one of the things that was most interesting to me was when I first started really learning. How to use breath to perform, to, to play. I play violin. [00:50:22] So breathing is not, it's not a woodwind or brass instrument or whatever, but at the same time breathing as part of singing, breathing is part of doing anything, gives yourself space as well as being nourishing for your, for your body and your mind and your spirit. So I'm so grateful that you said that. [00:50:42] What a wonder. Way of looking at it. Meredith I'm super grateful that you took the time to be on the show. I thank you so much for being. [00:50:51] Meridith Grundei: Oh, thank you so much for having me as old. I have, I, this has been a wonderful conversation, so thank you. And I hope you'll come back. Oh, I will [00:51:00] hope you come back to our podcast too. [00:51:01] I'd be delighted. [00:51:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: So we started the episode giggling and we're finishing again. [00:51:07] Meridith Grundei: Yes. I love it. Big fan. I love it. I love it. [00:51:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: You have coming to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. This has been a fabulous conversation with Meredith grandad, and I hope that you will check out both confidently speaking. [00:51:24] And are you waiting for permission and all the other incredible work that Meredith is doing? If you're enjoying these episodes, please do me a favor rate and review the show. I'd love to hear from you about what you're thinking about the show where it's going. Very soon on July. No, actually this, this air is way after we've already celebrated our 400th episode. [00:51:43] Can you believe a hundred episodes? Amazing. I'm super good. Yeah, it's exciting. So I hope that you're enjoying the show and I will remind you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot.[00:52:00] [00:52:02] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. If you'd like to be a sponsor of the show. I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:52:20] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters. Today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always. Please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative minds.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!  

Vanishing Postcards host and storyteller Evan Stern on the importance of telling the stories from the places that are off the interstate. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset   Born during the driving rainstorm that inspired Stevie Ray Vaughan to record the classic “Texas Flood,” Evan Stern is one of a proud few who can claim Austin as his legitimate hometown. Having caught the performing bug early on, he first gained attention at age 11 with a second-place finish in Austin's famed O. Henry Pun Off, and has since graced the stages of New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the British American Drama Academy, whether acting Shakespeare, or charming audiences with the turn of a Cole Porter phrase, Evan is first and foremost a storyteller, with a sincere love and appreciation for history, travel and the art of raconteurship. He is now honored to return to Texas for the first season of Vanishing Postcards, an ambitious project that represents a synthesis of these passions through the form of audio essay. Vanishing Postcards is a documentary travelogue in which listeners are invited on a road trip exploring the hidden dives, traditions, and frequently threatened histories that can be discovered by exiting the interstates. Named one of the Best Podcasts of 2021 by Digital Trends. Connect with Evan IG - @vanishing_postcards IG - @evansternnyc Podcast- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vanishing-postcards/id1544610020 Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Evan Stern: It's hard for me to really latch on one specific lesson that I have gained, but I do believe that. Everybody wants, ultimately wants to be heard. [00:00:18] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:39] I love it and have been using it to write, create and do. Deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset to check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word. And now let's get to the show. [00:00:58] Yeah.[00:01:00] [00:01:02] Hey there. And welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm your host, and I'm super thrilled that you're here. I'm also really excited and thrilled to talk about and meet this week's guest. Listen to this. Evan stern was born during the driving rainstorm that inspired Stevie Ray Vaughn to record the class. [00:01:22] Texas flood. I love that Evan stern is one of a proud few who can claim Austin. S's legitimate hometown that's the town is growing. So, wow. That's amazing how few people probably are from there. Having caught the performing bug early on. He first gained attention at age 11 with a second place finish in Austin's famed. [00:01:43] Oh, Henry punt off. And it says grace, the stages of new York's Carnegie hall and Lincoln center, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence college. American drama academy. Wow. Whether acting Shakespeare or charming audiences with the turn of a Cole Porter phrase, Evan is first and foremost, a storyteller, and [00:02:00] you know how close that is to my heart. [00:02:02] He's got a sincere love and appreciation for history travel and the art of a wreck on tour ship. He's now honored to return to Texas for the first season of vanishing postcards and ambitious project that represents a synthesis of these passions through the form of audio essay. Vanishing postcards is a documentary travel log in which listeners are invited on a road trip, exploring the hidden dives, traditions, and frequently threatened histories that can be discovered by exiting the interstates named one of the best podcasts of 2021 by digital trends, evidence here to talk about banishing postcards and everything else. [00:02:37] So amazing that he's doing Evan. Thank you so much for being there. Show welcome. [00:02:41] Evan Stern: Thank you so much for having me. It's a great honor. Oh, [00:02:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: you're very sweet. So I I'm, this is such an exciting thing. Delving into the history of Texas. First of all, into the, into the storytellers of Texas into the dives and the honky-tonks of Texas as a travel log.[00:03:00] [00:03:00] But as a podcast, what, what inspired you to do this? What inspired you to go? You know what? I'm going to create this travel log. And I'm going to make it about my home state. What happened that you went, yes, I want to do this. [00:03:13] Evan Stern: Well, it was, it, it wasn't as if there was a lightning bolt of inspiration. It was a very kind of slow gradual process. [00:03:21] Um, and, and you told me, you know, a few years ago that right now I'd be working on a podcast. Um, you know, I might've said really. Um, but like, like so many though, I am one of those people who over the last 10 years just absolutely fell in love. Podcasting, um, and the, um, audio medium of storytelling, I think kind of the gateway drug for me, um, was years ago, I started listening to the moth, you know, just people getting up and telling personal stories without notes. [00:03:52] I, I just absolutely loved it. Um, then you start discovering, um, other programs, you know, like the, the kitchen [00:04:00] sisters and, and, and, and there's, you know, different, different stuff. I mean, there, there's a wonderful podcast about classic Hollywood called you must remember this. There's one about country music called cocaine and rhinestones, um, and around, and, you know, not too long ago as well. [00:04:18] Um, you know, the YouTube algorithm, uh, kept suggesting for whatever reason that I watched these, uh, travel blog, travel blog videos, and in watching them, I would never really see the way that I enjoy traveling represented. Um, I mean, certainly it's not always the case, but I think more often than not, when you, when you see videos of that nature, it's much less about the places themselves. [00:04:45] It's much more about the people saying, oh, look at me and how cute I am in this place. Um, and I just kind of gradually started thinking, you know, I wonder if there is something that, uh, that, that I can do. [00:05:00] Um, and initially I had this grand idea. That I wanted to do a show that was going to be a musical travel log of Mexico. [00:05:09] Um, you know, I'm, I'm immersed in the gig economy in New York, and I always try my best to get away January February just to, to escape the, the bitter cold of the winter. And, um, you know, Mexico is my happy place. It's, it's cheap, it's warm. Um, and so I initially had this idea that I was going to go, uh, kind of explore, use music as a portal to exploring the cultural, regional history of Mexico. [00:05:36] I was going to go to Vera Cruz that was going to where the tradition of, you know, and one a Watteau and, um, you know, in Monterey and the north. And I went so far as to, uh, produce a pilot episode, um, in Marietta Yucatan, um, about the tradition of the trophies that they have there. And it's one thing to, you know, when you're running an event, [00:06:00] Um, you know, you're thinking to yourself, oh my goodness, this is just going to be the best thing ever. [00:06:05] This is going to be amazing. And then you sit down and you listen to what you have spent months working on and you go, oh my goodness, I have missed the mark. So terribly. Um, it was a perfect lesson in show. Don't tell, I mean, w what happened was, is I talked all about the city of Marietta. It's about its history, this, that, and the other, but you didn't actually, um, when, when you were listening to it, I also learned pretty quickly that the, the human voice has such terrific color, shade, and nuance to it. [00:06:37] That if you have an actor come in, um, to a dub over, uh, you know, what was said in English, you just, you just lose so much. Um, and I realized pretty quickly that I needed to learn much more about audio production before tackling a project of that ambitious nature. And so I started thinking to myself, well, you know what. [00:06:59] Might [00:07:00] not be as exotic as Mexico, but if there's one thing I know it's that Texas people love to talk and they tell great stories. So in January of 2020, um, grab some equipments. Um, and I went back down to Texas to see what I could do. Um, really, it was just, uh, going to be kind of an experiment. Um, but it very quickly evolved into vanishing postcards. [00:07:26] Um, what happened was, is I took a look at what I was doing, um, and I realized that each episode was a snapshot of a different place. And if there was a thing that the place has had in common it's that you didn't know how much longer a lot of them were going to be around or that they were representative of broader cultural histories or traditions that. [00:07:52] You know, you, you just, they're kind of rare, um, in, in this kind of fast paced rapidly homogenizing [00:08:00] world. Um, and, um, since then it, it became, it it's, it's been an incredibly rewarding journey. Um, you know, as I maybe referenced earlier in, in many ways, it is kind of a 180 from a lot of the work I've previously done at the, at the same time. [00:08:17] Um, I feel that all of that work really kind of beautifully prepared me for it. Um, and having embarked on this journey, um, I ended up covering like about 1500 miles of, of Texas and, um, having embarked on this journey as a solo traveler, um, I'm now really grateful that the series is out in the world. Um, and I can invite, uh, you know, people like you and listeners really around the world, uh, to, to join me now and experience, uh, everything that I got to do. [00:08:49] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Wow. That's amazing. And it's incredible to me, what you just said about how you took everything that you had learned up until that [00:09:00] point and reframed it and repurposed it almost into this, this way of looking at your home state. And yet it is both technical and it takes a lot of artistry. And I'm wondering what, in, as part of, as part of doing this project, what did you learn? [00:09:21] What was the thing that stood out for you that you learned maybe about yourself or about the people in your state or about the places? What was the biggest thing you learned and how did it change you? [00:09:31] Evan Stern: Well, there's a lot, I mean, it's hard to, for me to really latch on one specific lesson that I have gained. [00:09:38] Um, but I do believe that. Everybody wants, ultimately wants to be heard. They, they really do. Um, and I mean, people often ask me, you know, w w w w when I first started doing this, it was, it was in January, 2020. It was before the pandemic hit. Obviously the pandemic changed, um, a [00:10:00] lot of what I could do. Um, but I was really the first episodes that you'll hear in the series. [00:10:05] I was really just kind of showing up at these places completely unannounced. Um, they really had no idea, um, that I was going to be there. Um, and it, it, people ask me, you know, did you meet resistance? We'll we'll really know. Um, everyone was, was intrigued. And for the most part, people were so honored that, you know, someone like me was taking an interest in their work, their place, uh, what they were doing. [00:10:35] Um, and I don't think too, I mean, Someone recently asked me too, that, that when they, you know, listen to the, to the series, you know, that, you know, they, they feel as if I'm able to, you know, extract these, these stories. And they said, well, how, how do you, how do you make this magic happen? And, well, the truth is is that you, you can't, um, there is nothing that you can do to you. [00:10:59] You never [00:11:00] really know what is is going to happen. Um, but the stories, if you just, if you start talking to people, um, you approach them with respect, empathy, and a willingness to listen. Um, and you ask them specific questions. Um, you just, you, you never know what you're going to. Um, and something that I tell anyone who's maybe interested in doing something like this. [00:11:29] Um, I will say that if you do want to, you know, get stories, you do want to ask people specific questions. Um, I would never go up to someone and just say, tell me about yourself. Um, I might say, um, before we get started, could you maybe describe for me your childhood home, you know, something like that. And, um, that really kind of opens up the door and we just kind of take things from there. [00:11:51] Yeah. [00:11:56] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Sorry. I'm taking all of that in. I like to take a pause to make sure [00:12:00] that I've, that I've understood everything. One of the things that I heard you say that really struck a chord with me was that it's about listening. And the other thing of course was asking those specific questions and. Were there any, and if so, what are they techniques that you use specifically as a, as a performer to help you with that part of it? [00:12:26] Evan Stern: Well, you know, I honestly, I think that, um, as I said so much of my experience, um, leading PR prepared me in, in leading up to this, um, and a big job that I've had for a number of years here in the city is it's a very, it's a very strange job. Um, I work as a, what is called a standardized patient, um, that is the medical schools, programs, hire actors to facilitate simulations [00:13:00] for, uh, medical interns and students. [00:13:03] Um, I have played all sorts of different cases. You'd never believe. I mean, they've had to diagnose me. I've been the graphic designer they've had to diagnose with cancer. Um, I have, uh, you know, I, I I've been the 19 year old crack addict who suffered a panic attack. You name it. I've I've had it. Um, but I have learned so much in, in working with these students in terms of how they build rapport and what works and what doesn't. [00:13:34] Um, I think it's amazing. How many people, uh, it can be applied to interview situations, whatever, um, you know, you give someone a microphone. Sometimes they just kind of become a completely different person. You know, they think that every question, you know, has to be probing and every question, you know, has to have weight, but you really just have to remember how you talk to people in your [00:14:00] everyday life. [00:14:02] You know, how do you introduce yourself to a stranger? Um, you know, you're just going to start talking to people, um, and you know, you, you read their body language and you, you really just it's about establishing trust. Um, and it, and I feel that people understand that. I don't think of myself as a journalist. [00:14:30] Um, I'll be the first to say that I think of myself as more of an essayist. I really think that a journalist job is to investigate a journalist job is to probe. I'm not really there to do that. I'm really there just to, you know, kind of have a conversation and, and enjoy the ride and see where that ride takes. [00:14:49] You know, I'm not, if someone tells me a tall tale, um, I'm not going to fact check that story. Um, but I think that people recognize [00:15:00] that. Um, and you know, I just think that, um, just, just really, like I said, just, just remembering how we relate to one another, uh, every day is, is just crucial. [00:15:15] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, you're talking. I mean, as you're talking, I'm going, he's, he's talking about integrity and authenticity, and those words are abandoned about aura a lot nowadays, but it really, it seems to me that that's, that that's what you, that, that that's what, what you were using, you know, using who you, who you were authentically to meet these people. [00:15:37] And I know you said that people asked you if you, if you met resistance, I'm wondering what was the most wild story you heard? [00:15:46] Evan Stern: Goodness. Oh, man, there, there were, there was, uh, so, so there's this teeny town called Castile, Texas that sits on the Western edge of the, uh, [00:16:00] the hill country. It's absolutely beautiful, very isolated. [00:16:04] The town has a population of six and, um, I don't even know if he's really there, mayor, I don't know if they actually have a mayor, but you know, the, the big local personality is Randy Love. Festi, uh, he's the owner of the Castille store. Um, I'll be releasing his episode in a, in a few weeks. Um, but, uh, when I was there, he told me that, uh, he had, uh, he, he, he, he took a trip to Cabo San Lucas with his girlfriend. [00:16:36] Uh, they saw this, uh, chicken in a bar and he said, you know what, I need a chicken for the store. So, um, you know, he bought this, uh, roof. For the store. And, um, he had this, uh, Billy Bass that was like, you know, one of those electronic things, you know, you clap your hands in the best wiggles. Well, um, one day as he tells [00:17:00] me, he looks over and, um, this rooster is having sexual relations with that bass. [00:17:05] So this thing he tells me became this huge sensation where people from all over the place started coming to town to see his rooster perform, you know, 12 times a day. And he was able to, uh, make hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate deals that he was able to sell to the people who came through the store because of that rooster. [00:17:27] And then he proudly led me into the store where he showed me this. He, you know, he, he called the rooster cockroach. Yeah, and the rooster died. And after the rooster died, he had that. He took him to the taxidermists and, um, had him, uh, mounted and placed on top of his good friend, Billy the bass. And I've seen a lot of taxidermy in my day. [00:17:51] I don't think I have ever seen a stuffed rooster and I have certainly never seen a row stuffed rooster on top of a Billy Bass. I'll [00:18:00] tell you that right now. [00:18:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Wow. That is. Tall tale for sure. [00:18:10] Oh my goodness. I uh, wow. Yeah, yeah. I don't even, I'm like, whatever. How do I follow that up? I think, I don't [00:18:21] know. I did. I did, because you know, the thing, the thing about this is that anytime we tell stories or listen to stories, I think we're changed by them even if, even if it's, oh, that's just the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Your experience of life is, is, is changed in some way or another. So I guess I'm wondering, how have you been changed by doing this project? [00:18:45] Evan Stern: Well, It's in many ways, it's been a dive into the unknown, as I said, it's, it's very, it was all very new for me in the beginning. Um, I had to do a lot of learning and [00:19:00] I re I really had to put myself out there. Um, it definitely, um, tested the boundaries of my comfort, um, in a lot of ways. Um, you know, you really just have to, as I said earlier, you have to go up out there and just start talking to people. [00:19:16] Um, and I usually found that I was way more nervous than the people I was talking to. And, um, I was talking to someone else about this, um, experience. Someone said, and, you know, she asked me, she was like, well, how do you, where does that confidence come from? Where do you get that confidence? And I said, well, you know what? [00:19:36] I, I, I think I've discovered that confidence is kind of overrated. Um, because you can't just read a book or, you know, attend a three-day workshop, whatever, and magically have confidence. It just doesn't happen that way. Confidence happens as a result of experience. Um, it happens as a result of mistakes. Um, and, [00:20:00] um, I think. [00:20:02] I heard somewhere that, you know, what heroic act doesn't involve, just huge levels of vulnerability. Um, and so I, I think I have definitely grown in confidence as a result of all of this, but that really, uh, just is a by-product of, of the work itself and everything that, you know, has been asked of me to, to rise to this challenge [00:20:36] Izolda Trakhtenberg: and that in itself, the, the skills you've built, the ideas that you've gotten and, and brought to fruition is a big part of the change I would imagine. And I love, I'd love to discuss a little bit as you talk about this, what is the process? What was the creative process that goes in to making an episode to crafting vanishing posts? [00:20:59] Evan Stern: Absolutely. [00:21:00] So each, you know, obviously I do have each episode does have a subject that I am interested in delving into. Um, there are people that I want to meet, just so you know, so basically, um, a bit more about the show itself for, for those listening out there. So essentially listeners are invited to join me on a road trip. [00:21:23] And so each episode is produced in documentary style. So, you know, you're going to hear a lot of, it's not, you know, interview, it's not talk show, you're going to hear a lot of different voices. Um, you're going to hear some of my narration, um, and I really work hard to make it an immersive listening experience for those who, who are hearing the episodes. [00:21:49] Um, but basically the, the way that I constructed is, um, there are. And, uh, as I said, you know, each episode, there are certain issues that, that I'm looking at. [00:22:00] Um, and so I just go, I, I talk to people, um, and I assemble a number of interviews at the, at the places that I go to. Um, you know, I try to talk to the, uh, the owners. [00:22:14] I try to talk to the workers. I try to talk to the people who go to these places. Um, you're going to ask all of those people different questions. Um, but you're also, I think there, you know, you also want to, there are also some specific questions that I will ask all of them. Um, and then what I do is I, I come back home and I listened to all of the, um, I listened to all of the interviews and I extract, you know, the, the gold from each person I speak with, you know, I could very well talk to someone for like an hour out of that hour conversation. [00:22:51] I might just take, you know, Three minutes worth of, of nuggets or whatnot. Um, and then I, you know, I, I look at [00:23:00] everything that I have and I stepped back and I, I just kind of look for it, you know, that, what, what, what, what, what are the commonalities, what, what do people keep coming back to, you know, are there opposing views? [00:23:15] Um, and from there, I, I just kind of take these nuggets and I weave together a story out of all of that. Um, I really let my subjects kind of guide the way that the, the story moves and goes. Um, the, the most challenging job for me is in the writing process of pasting it all together. Um, everything has to have I learned, you know, for years, I, you know, I've, I've. [00:23:45] Did a lot of performing in the cabaret world. Um, and you know, even if you're just putting together a show, that's, that's really kind of, you know, a series of songs, what is said in between those songs is every bit as [00:24:00] important as the songs themselves and everything has to have architecture and a beginning, middle and an end. [00:24:06] Um, so the, the greatest challenge for me is about how I can link everything together, um, in the narration as part of a cohesive whole, um, you know, I think, but each episode, uh, you know, I, I never, totally, there are always things that I want to focus on, but you just never totally know where it's going to go. [00:24:27] And before each one, um, I always ask my God, is this going to work? Um, but some so far it's worked out okay, [00:24:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That moment of, oh, what if this is going to be a complete disaster? I know it well. Um, and it's, I'm so fascinated by what you're saying with respect to the storytelling, the beginning, middle and end, and the sort of the patter between songs in, in, in a cabaret show, all of, all of those things, those elements [00:25:00] of storytelling, what do you think is the result? [00:25:06] What is the most crucial thing to put into it? And what is the result? How do you, when do you feel like yes, it has worked as opposed to, oh, it's going to be a disaster. [00:25:16] Evan Stern: Well, as I said earlier, again, the most important thing is, is show don't tell, um, and what, what, what is always best for me is I try not to. [00:25:34] I try not to express too much in the way of, of opinion. Um, what, what is really magical though, is just when you have, when you're talking to someone and, you know, whether they realize it or not, they, they share and tell a story that just kind of beautifully encapsulates everything, you know, that, that just really explains the issue [00:26:00] without it, you know, at that point, the work for you is, is really done. [00:26:05] Um, but you know, kind of an example of, of something that, you know, I, I did that, that was a challenge, um, was, you know, I have an episode that's coming out in a bit where. I took a trip first to, to Brownsville, Texas, where I spoke with this man who is the last, uh, cook in the United States who was allowed to serve a barbacoa cooked barbacoa, as it was meant to be prepared, which means it's, it's cooked in a pit under the ground. [00:26:37] Um, and that's what he does. He, he, he's serving barbacoa out of what had been his childhood home. Um, there's a pit out back that's in the ground and, you know, that's where he cooks it. The reason that he's allowed to do it is because his father started it in 1956 and it's been going on for this long. And so I focused on him and I did a segment on him. [00:26:57] And then I went to San [00:27:00] Antonio and I, um, you know, met a cook there who, you know, talked about cooking up puffy tacos. And, um, it ended up, you know, she, her story went in a completely different direction. Um, I mean, her mother. Started this business out of, uh, out of a garage because it was her last hope. Um, she was an incredible woman, a revered figure in San Antonio, um, who, you know, was shockingly murdered. [00:27:28] Um, and she talked all about that and, and, and everything. And, and then, and how she like found forgiveness and was being able to move beyond and, you know, everything that her, how her mother prepared her and how her mother expressed love through, through cooking. And, um, I realized that, you know, on, on the surface, you know, these two stories, yes, they were about cooking, but they were very, very different. [00:27:55] But what, what is it that they had in common? I realized that, you know, [00:28:00] through their cooking, they were both expressing love. And for me, and that's how I brought the two together. [00:28:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm still thinking, sorry, it's a beautiful, uh, yeah. That notion of, um, cooking and, and healing through cooking and expressing love through cooking, but also expressing love for, I guess, the, the heritage and the inspiration for what they did is so important. And I'm wondering if you have someone or figures or people in, in your world. [00:28:45] Hoo hoo hoo. Does that for you? Who inspired you to do this? And if so, is it that same love, it sounds weird to say love connection, but is that connection one of love and respect? What [00:29:00] is it about the people or the images or, or the ideas that inspired you that comes from that place? [00:29:11] Oh, no you're [00:29:11] Evan Stern: thinking. Oh, no, of course, absolutely. I mean, [00:29:20] There. I mean, who can you say, can you just rephrase the question in a simple, in a simple one sentence in a simple one sentence for me? Can you say, say what you're getting at [00:29:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: again here? Sure. I'm just wondering who inspired you throughout the journey? Are there any public figures or is there anybody in Texas? [00:29:37] Are there any people who made you go, ah, this is what I want. Well, [00:29:41] Evan Stern: what I can say is that if, if there is a bar that I am always working towards, you know, never, never met him personally. Um, but I am old enough to remember growing up on CVS. There was a man by the name of Charles Kuralt who would travel the [00:30:00] country and he would really just kind of share good news is, is what he was, is what he was doing. [00:30:07] And he. He, he never expressed anything in, in terms of, in, in, in showing these stories, he was able to present, you know, the best of people without really expressing anything in the way of judgment. And there are many situations throughout this process where I have asked myself, what would Charles Kuralt do? [00:30:32] Hmm. Um, and you know, I, I don't mean to, I'm not trying to compare myself to Charles Caroll. Um, in the least, you know, I have much more work to do, you know, before I feel like I can get people called him the Walt Whitman of American television. Um, but I can tell you that that is the bar that I am always working towards. [00:30:56] Um, and the greatest compliments that I have received, [00:31:00] um, you know, or when people have heard this series and said, oh, you know what, this reminds me of Charles Perrault. [00:31:08] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That's lovely. And I remember Charles Caroll also on like, uh, CBS Sunday morning or something like that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. His stories were all, you know, when, uh, you were mentioning the idea of love and heart. [00:31:20] That's what I remember thinking about his stories was that they were always full of such quiet soul and heart. They didn't have to be huge stories, but they were, they always left me feeling better and always gave me something to think about. Well, yeah, [00:31:38] Evan Stern: go on. Go on. No, no, no, go ahead. Go ahead. Well, and I do believe that there is a great void of that when you look at our media landscape right now, and th there, there really is. [00:31:48] Um, we live in a horribly polarized, horribly divided age. Um, I, I do not believe that anything that we have lived through over the [00:32:00] last five, six years should be normalized. I will be the first to say that, um, But I do believe that, you know, the, the issues that we are wrestling with right now as a nation, uh, in the divisions that we're dealing with in terms of politics and race are completely unsustainable. [00:32:20] But at the same time, I do think that there is more that we have in common than what we've realized. And I do think that culture right now is one of those rare areas of agreement. And what this show is about celebrating is that culture, um, you know, culture provides opportunity for shared experiences and you know, that that's really kind of what I'm getting at with, with all of this. [00:32:53] Um, and, and additionally too, I mean, how can we expect for people in [00:33:00] our rural communities to appreciate what is good and beautiful about places like New York city or San Francisco, or even Austin for that matter, if we cannot appreciate what is good and beautiful about them, [00:33:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: from what you just said, it feels like there's a sort of a, through the looking glass aspect to your show that you're inviting people to go on a journey with you to, to see these places or to listen to these, to these stories and to hear about them. When you do that, when you're in that space of inviting people on a journey, how do you decide which stories are the ones that are important to tell. [00:33:52] Evan Stern: Well, something that's important to me. Is that so often when we think about art and [00:34:00] culture, I mean, we think about palaces of civilization, like the mat, the British museum, the, the loop, but the truth is that art and culture is everywhere. And oftentimes some of the best of it comes from places that you're just not going to read about in glossy magazines. [00:34:20] You're not going to see about these places on Instagram. And it's really about exploring that, you know, Detroit gave us Motown, Clarksdale, Mississippi gave us the blues. Um, and, and for me, it's really kind of about seeking these, these places out. You know, if you read a, you know, if you read like a tourist guide book about Texas, they're going to tell you to go to the Alamo. [00:34:49] They're going to tell you to go to the river walk, do this, do that. Um, There's so much more to that. I mean, I had the [00:35:00] great honor of visiting a town called San Benito, um, which is about, you know, 15, 18 miles north of the border. Um, and you know, th this is, you know, if you look at this country, um, you know, the real Grandy valley, um, is just statistically, one of the, the poor regions, you know, there's been a lot. [00:35:21] Um, you know, uh, D population, you know, flight, whatnot, but this town of San Benito, um, was responsible for giving birth to the movement of music. Um, which is an incredible genre. Basically what happened is the, uh, the Mexican laborers down in south Texas, um, heard the music that was brought to the area by the checks, the Germans, they heard the Pocus, they heard the accordions, um, and they, they took that accordion music. [00:35:51] They took those polkas and they added their own lyrics and Spanish to them. They threw in guitar and they created this whole entire genre [00:36:00] of music. And, um, w w the story there is, is, is I knew that I wanted to. To do a piece, you know, on the border, you hear about the border a lot, um, in the news right now, but what is always lost in the noise surrounding all of that is the culture and the people who actually exist there. [00:36:19] Um, and I thought that kahuna really kind of provided a terrific, uh, opportunity just to explore kind of the beautiful th the, the beauty that exists there. And I heard that there was this museum in this town called the Texas kahuna music hall of fame. So I sent a message on Facebook. Um, I I'd heard that, uh, it was founded and owned by a man by the name of Ray Abila. [00:36:42] And a little while later, I got a call from his son, turned out, uh, that Mr. Abila, his father had died about seven months prior, but that if I wanted to go, um, visit the museum, that they would be honored to have me and I showed up. This museum, the small town in [00:37:00] Texas and the entire family was there because they wanted for me to know about their father. [00:37:07] Um, they wanted me to know about Cancun . Um, they found a, the president of a record label who specializes in this music so that he could be there with us too. And they had such pride and joy in, in sharing. And an honor that someone took the time to visit a place like, like San Benito. Um, it is an experience I will always treasure and never forget. [00:37:34] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That is so lovely. And I'm so glad that you got to tell that to, to tell that story, to show, to show, to sort of open the window, if you will, into San Benito and into this music. And I'm wondering something, this is a little off topic, but do you know who Alan Lomax was? I [00:37:54] Evan Stern: have heard the name. Um, please refresh my memory. [00:37:57] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Sure, sure. So he was an [00:38:00] ethnomusicologist and what he did with his whole career for 50 years, he traveled the world and he recorded music. And when video came along, video of mew, indigenous music, wherever he was, he tried to find the music from that place. And, uh, and there, when I worked at the national geographic site in many moons ago, he came over and he was like, Hey, I would love to put together a library that didn't happen with the geographic, but his daughter, after his death put up a website and there is a website that you can go and, uh, sort of see the music from anywhere. [00:38:35] You can hear the music from anywhere, you just type it in. And if it's there, if they got a recording of it, you'll be able to hear it. And so I'm wondering for posterity, what is your. W w w this library, if you will, that you're creating this travel log that you're creating in my mind, Alan Lomax, his version of it is providing us access to music from all [00:39:00] over the world that is, that could be lost. [00:39:03] And I'm wondering, what do you, what is your feeling about that with the stories that you're telling you mentioned earlier that these that's, their survival is not certain the different traditions and the, and even the, the, you know, the honky-tonks the places themselves, what are you going for here? What is your long-term vision for vanishing postcard? [00:39:24] Evan Stern: Well, so yes, so I'm collecting oral history and I, I think it is really important that we do have a record of it. Um, I think in some ways, uh, this is something perhaps of a bit of a call to arms. Um, you know, I, I want to say it's about shining a light on, you know, what is, what is still, what is still there. [00:39:47] Um, but we can still go to, but as I said, you know, some of this stuff might not be around for too much longer, so it's, it's really kind of about drawing attention to it so that we can preserve it. Um, you know, I look at my [00:40:00] hometown of Austin. Texas as a whole. Um, it is, it is changing at rapid pace. I don't think that change is something to be feared. [00:40:09] Um, in, in many ways I think it is something that, um, should be embraced, but we have to change and grow responsibly. Um, we have to ask, you know, why, w w what is it that people like about Austin? What is it about Texas that draws people there? Why do people keep coming? Um, and I do think that it is it's culture, and I believe that we, as a society need to do a lot more to protect the culture that surrounds us. [00:40:36] I mean, th th most of the places that I spotlight are small businesses and. You know, whenever a small business closes that, you know, has a great history behind it or fondness to it, you'll have all of these people come out of the woodwork saying, oh my goodness, this is horrible. This is the worst thing ever. [00:40:54] But my question always is, well, when was the last time you, you actually went there? Um, [00:41:00] I mean, it's really exhausting. It's a lot of hard work, um, to, to keep these places going. And if people get tired or they aren't making ends meet you, you can't blame them. Um, and this is an issue that you see happening in New York. [00:41:14] It's an issue you see happening in Texas, California, London, name it it's happening. Um, and so I do think that. You know, th th hopefully this series kind of makes people think, uh, a bit more about that. Um, and long-term, it is my hope, uh, that I can expand the map beyond Texas because, um, the, the issues that I feel are explored in this series are truly universal. [00:41:44] In fact, if you look at the analytics, um, most people tuning in and listening right now are actually listening from outside of Texas. Um, and so I think it's important to, uh, you know, I want to expand the map [00:42:00] and, um, you know, if I can do a part to draw attention to, you know, the, the, the beauty of a meal, American culture that surrounds us, um, you know, that's kind of what my goal is. [00:42:16] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And it's a great goal. And I'm so glad that you said that you eventually, cause that was going to be, my next question was, do you want to take it outside of Texas? And I mean, Texas covering Texas can be a lifetime's work cause it's such a big place with such a varied set of, of uh, peoples and cultures. [00:42:32] And yet I love the notion of, of that, what you said, finding those small businesses, finding those people, who aren't, the ones trumpeting themselves and giving them a chance to, to shine. I think that's amazing and wonderful that you're doing that. And I love the notion. And if you could. What would you go next? [00:42:53] Evan Stern: Uh, well, I, I have a dream. I would love to drive route 66 from Oklahoma to [00:43:00] California, and I would love to collect stories and oral histories along the way. Um, I think that route 66, so much of why, um, it kind of occupies this mythic status, um, is because of the timing. Um, you know, there were other highways that were built before or after there were larger ones. [00:43:19] Um, but I think, you know, if you journey route 60, I've never done it, but I, I have to think that if you drive route 66, I mean, you were following in the steps of the, the Okies who migrated to California because of the dust bowl and the great depression. Um, it was an incredible artery during world war II. [00:43:38] So there's that history as well. Um, then it kind of. You know, in encapsulates that golden age of American travel and in the late forties and fifties, then it was decommissioned. And, you know, there was a lot of abandonment that happened and kind of, what does that say? Um, you know, about the American dream, you [00:44:00] know, it was it, uh, and, and so there's a lot that I would like to explore and taking that journey, um, beyond that, I would also love to take a trip to Mississippi sometime, uh, something that fascinates me about Mississippi. [00:44:11] I think, um, the, the writer really Maura said that Mississippi is America's Ireland. Um, if you look at it, it has produced the most incredible Canon of just literary lions, um, William Fox. Um, Richard Wright, Eudora, Welty. Um, they were all Mississippians and Mississippi continues to produce an incredible writers there. [00:44:36] There's a wonderful storytelling tradition attached to Mississippi. Um, and I would love to see, uh, what, what I could get there. [00:44:47] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love it. I think that's amazing. First of all, I'd driven along 66 and you will, you will love it. Love it, love it. And, uh, you know, Mississippi and the south in general [00:45:00] has a rich storytelling culture. I have every time I spend time in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, that, that part of the country there, if you, if you set a spell, you will, you will get amazing stories. [00:45:16] And often you don't, it doesn't take a lot of prompting. So I'm I'm you said earlier that, that it's just about sort of talking to people the way you would talk to them. The, I guess the question is, have you had people who just say Nope, Nope. Not doing it. And if so, what have you done if that particular story is important to you or do you just move on to the next person? [00:45:38] Oh, [00:45:38] Evan Stern: absolutely. Well, there, there is. Um, you know, so the. The third episode that you'll hear in the series. Um, I did at a honky-tonk called arche blue, silver dollar, um, in this town called Bandera, Texas. Um, it's a fantastic place. Um, again, it was pre pandemic. Um, so, you know, I showed up there unannounced and I really wanted to [00:46:00] talk to, uh, archi blue. [00:46:01] He's he's the owner, he's in his eighties. He performs there every Saturday night. Um, I thought, you know, th this guy is a legend. I've got to talk to him, got to talk to him. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. Wouldn't give me an inch refuse to let me record him. Um, and you know, he was cordial when I talked to him, we're talking, you know, you're one word answers, you try everything. [00:46:24] Um, but what happened is, is, uh, every, I, I talked to everyone. That I could find around him and everybody had a story about archi that they wanted to share and, um, what resulted in. And so his refusal became part of the story itself. Um, but in talking to everyone who knew and loved him and had stories to share about him, you really got a terrific, uh, portrait that wouldn't have existed. [00:46:56] Otherwise that that I think is entirely charming. [00:47:00] Um, and when that happened, I had to remind myself that one of my very, very favorite, um, essays of all time, uh, was written by, uh, gates Elise. Um, in 1965, he was given an assignment to interview Frank Sinatra for Esquire magazine and Frank Sinatra completely refused to talk to him. [00:47:23] Um, but what he ended up doing was he interviewed all the hangers on everyone in his, his entourage. And, uh, to this day, people say that it is the most realistic. Portrait of Frank Sinatra that has ever been captured. Um, and so I would recommend to anyone who finds themselves in that position to think of that story and, you know, maybe read that story, uh, because that's something that I draw tremendous inspiration from.[00:48:00] [00:48:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: It's so interesting. I have a friend who, uh, who's a PR expert and she talks about the difference between marketing and PR Gloria, Charles, her name. And she says marketing is when you come to people and you say, Hey, I'm great. But PR is when someone else goes, you know what? That person they're great. And as long as it's someone you trust, it weighs more than if the person is trumping again themselves, you know? [00:48:31] And so there's something to what you said that kind of reminded me of that, that notion of the other people around Frank Sinatra or, or, or archi, uh, being the ones who tell their tale. And I, I guess I'm wondering within that, I've asked you about the wildest, what is the story that has touched you the most? [00:48:55] The one that made you go, ah, wow. I had no [00:49:00] idea. [00:49:02] Evan Stern: Well, for me, the, the episode that, that, that has the most personal heart for me, um, is, is the second one. What happened is I went to this dance hall. Um, I, I, I knew that I wanted to do a piece on dance halls. Um, in, in Texas, you know, everyone always talks, always writes about Greenhall or Lukin Bach. [00:49:27] You know, those are the big dance halls, but there are many, many, many more others out there. And there was one I discovered that I'd never been to called SEF Shaq hall. It's in this teeny community, um, called Seton, Texas. It's about eight miles outside of a town called temple. It's a community of about 40 people. [00:49:48] And, um, and there's this old dance hall there called SEF shuck hall. That is pretty much trapped in time. Um, by most accounts, it is now the oldest, [00:50:00] um, family run dance hall in Texas. You know, it's a family that, that owns it. This family has, has always owned and run it. And, um, I went there and I wanted to talk to its owner, Alice, who is 89 years old. [00:50:19] Um, and, uh, you know, I had actually called an advanced to ask if I could come and talk to her. She said, sure, well, I got there. And I said, well, I'm here to talk to Alice. And it turned out, you know, that morning she took a fall and they had to take her to the emergency room. Um, and you know, and it kind of, you know, you could feel the way. [00:50:41] In that situation, you know, what, what happens to this place? Um, you know, without, without Alice here. And I ended up talking to her daughter-in-law and son, um, and you know, they're, they're committed to keeping it going. Um, but you could feel like the, you [00:51:00] know, the, you know, I, I feel like that situation kind of infused the episode with, with weight. [00:51:06] Um, but beyond that, um, you know, I listened to, to what I had initially, and there was something missing. Um, I said to myself, I said, you know, I'm doing a lot of talking here. I'd like to find someone else who could do some, some talking for. Um, and there there's an association called the Texas dance hall preservation. [00:51:29] And I found the woman who was working at the time as their executive director, because I wanted to talk to her just to kind of get some more historic perspective on dance halls. You know, I was talking about the history. I think it's better if someone else can talk about the history, other than me, that actually knows more. [00:51:45] And, you know, I talked earlier about how, you know, you have those moments where someone just kind of, you know, tells a story or share something that just beautifully illuminates everything. And, um, [00:52:00] I was talking to her and I asked, I said, you know, there are so many causes out there in this world that are, that are worth devoting attention to. [00:52:09] I said, you know, why are dance halls important to you? And she said it was, it became an incredibly emotional interview that I was not expecting at all. But she said that, you know, those places have a lot of heart and that her fear was that we're getting away from that as a society. And, you know, she, you know, ends up crying. [00:52:34] She's saying, you know, these places, you know, people go there, you know, it's not just about the fun. It's, it's not just about the dancing. Um, it's about, you know, it's about cleaning the roof. It's about cleaning the toilet. And she says, I see so many people working so hard to keep these places going and, you know, and of course it is perfectly illustrated what the shoe lock family, you know, we're, we're [00:53:00] doing, you know, the, the, the daughter-in-law the son, you know, they, they work, you know, five days, they do not take days off. [00:53:07] You know, they have regular jobs that they keep Monday through Friday, and then they're there on the weekends. And, um, I think that it beautifully exemplified their story. In addition to just about every other person that I talked to in the series as a whole, [00:53:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: that is beautiful. And I'm so grateful that you shared that, that moment of, of talking to her and also the story of. Dance halls in general or, or anything that we do because we love it. Um, you know, we, we do it because whatever it is, whatever that thing is that you do, because you love it. And particularly these places where one of the things that I think Evan, that, that you've highlighted, that I think is so [00:54:00] incredible is that you've taken, you've highlighted places that aren't going out for fame. [00:54:08] You know, these are people and places that are just living, doing their thing and living their lives day in and day out, year in and year out. And they're not going to be a celebrity. They're not trying to be world famous for example. And yet you've shown the light on them. And I think that's so it's powerful because of that, because they're living their lives and doing something hopefully that they love, like with the dance hall story. [00:54:35] And they're not looking for accolades and yet you've given them a platform. And I'm so grateful that you've [00:54:43] Evan Stern: done that. Well, I will say it's not even that. I think a lot of them as well, feel a responsibility to the people who go to these places, you know, like a dive bar, isn't just a place to grab a beer. [00:54:58] You know, a dive [00:55:00] bar represents an entire community. Um, you know, a dive bar, a dance hall. These are all places where people go to, to belong. That's that's, that's what, all of the, that's another through line that I think these places have in common, you know, whether it's a barbecue joint, a dive bar, a dance hall, people go to these places for community and for places to belong. [00:55:25] And I think that it's, it's, it's important to highlight that aspect as well. [00:55:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Absolutely. I agree. Yeah. Interestingly because people come and go, like you said, there are a lot of people who, who come to Texas, uh, especially Austin has, has ballooned. Uh, I guess the question that's come that's upper. Most of my mind right now is culturally the culture of places changes. [00:55:54] Right? And so, as the culture evolves, I [00:56:00] know that you're a lot of what vanishing postcards is about is, is capturing that before it goes away before it's no longer in its current form. Are there things that you've done that have been, uh, sort of in the process of changing or something is over and something new's coming to take its place? [00:56:21] And if so, what have those things been? [00:56:25] Evan Stern: Um, you mean my work or places I've been. [00:56:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I guess I'm not asking the question very well. I'm just wondering about culturally, your vanishing postcards project is focused on sort of the smaller, uh, heart, very heartfelt places in people in Texas now and perhaps, and perhaps hopefully someday elsewhere. [00:56:51] And as, as the culture changes in those places or for those dance halls, have you captured in any of the [00:57:00] episodes that you've done? That change taking place? Absolutely. [00:57:04] Evan Stern: Um, the, the very first place that I went to, um, was a bar called, uh, the, the dry Creek cafe. Um, it's been there for about 70 years. Um, it, when it first opened in the early 1950s, it really basically sat on the edge of the country. [00:57:22] Now, not only is it no longer country, um, it's now pretty much surrounded by mansion's. Um, it's now basically it's this ramshackle dilapidated dive that is surrounded by some of the priciest real estate in all of Texas. Um, but this bar has survived. Um, and I think it's one of the few places that you can go where you're reminded that, you know, before the tech, uh, millionaires invaded the Hills, the Hills were actually home to Cedar choppers, which was this, um, Appalachian subculture. [00:57:55] Um, and, uh, the, the very first person that I interviewed. [00:58:00] In, um, in Texas for the series was angel their bartender. Um, this was a tough day game, you know, raspy voice, you know, just changed smoker, you know, just, just fabulous, you know, just tough as nails, woman. Um, she was incredibly, um, reticent to, uh, to speak with me again, getting her to talk on the record and letting along to record her. [00:58:28] Um, just took every ounce of charm that I could possibly muster. But when she found out that I was okay with cussing, um, she opened right up. She let the F bombs fly. Um, we had a terrific time, um, and, uh, very sadly I think about, um, four months or so. Um, after I, I interviewed her, she died. Um, what was remarkable about angel is, um, as I said, the place opened in, um, I think it was 1950. [00:58:59] [00:59:00] Three. Um, she was only the third bartender to ever work there. Wow. Um, and so I'm incredibly grateful that I, you know, captured her, her voice and I have that record of her. Um, but you know, you have to ask, you know, when, when someone like that goes, you know, um, you know, what does that, how does that change a place? [00:59:22] You know, what does that do? I was actually just back in Austin last week. Um, and I went there to visit the place to, you know, just see if there was some additional footage I could get that would help bring the season two to a close, um, just to kind of see how that change had affected things. Um, and you know, so there, there are analogies, there, there are now like a few bartenders there who are like trading duties and whatnot. [00:59:48] Um, but I think what's kind of beautiful is that those who have filled in, you know, were all regulars, who, who knew and loved and cared about the bar. Um, [01:00:00] and, uh, you know, they dedicated a section of the bar to angel where they have, you know, her pictures and some things that she loved. Um, and, um, it was, it was just kind of interesting and reassuring to see, um, how, you know, yes, you know, when a beloved, you know, figured, uh, leaves, it's hard and it's challenging. [01:00:21] Um, but if the community is there. It will come. It will find a way to continue. At least for now. I'm grateful to see that, to know that the dry Creek is still there and that those who love it, um, are doing their part to, uh, to keep it going. [01:00:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I'm so glad to hear that story. That is wonderful. Evan. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me about this. [01:00:46] It's, it's such an important topic because it isn't one that, that we tend to focus on. So I'm really grateful that you took the time to tell me about vanishing postcards and to tell me about the culture and the people that you are, [01:01:00] uh, Capturing, if you will, for, for all of us, for all of us to enjoy. And I, and if you're listening to this, you need to go check out vanishing postcards. [01:01:08] I've listened to a few episodes and it's fabulous and amazing. Evan. If you wouldn't mind, I would love it. If you would give whatever social media. Uh, that you have so that if people want to find you, that they can. [01:01:22] Evan Stern: Absolutely. So the, um, you know, if you search, uh, vanishing postcards on Instagram, uh, you'll find it there. [01:01:29] Um, it also has a, a, a, a Facebook page, just search vanishing postcards. It should turn up. Um, you can also find me on Instagram as well. I'm at Evan stern NYC. Um, and, um, you know, I thank you so much and oh, and, but most important, most crucially, um, you know, please go find, listen to subscribe to vanishing postcards. [01:01:54] Um, since this is a podcast, uh, you know, whatever, you're listening to this on, I'm quite [01:02:00] confident that you'll find us there. We're on apple, we're on Spotify, we're on all the, uh, you know, whatever platform is out there. We're more than likely on, and I'd be most honored if you'd consider giving us a little. [01:02:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Awesome. And I will actually put all of that in the show notes so that if you're listening to this and you've seen the show notes, you'll be seeing the links to all of it. I just, people learn differently. So I like giving both the audio and the sort of, you can read it visual for it. Uh, Evan, again, I'm really grateful that you took the time to chat with me. [01:02:32] Me and I, I have one last question, if that's okay. Of course. It's a question I ask everybody who comes on the show and it's a silly question, but I find that it yields some profound results. Yeah. And the question is this, if you could sky write anything for the whole world to see what would you. [01:02:53] Evan Stern: What would I say for the whole world to see? [01:02:58] Oh my [01:03:00] goodness. Yeah. So I feel like I need to say something profound, like Buddha or something like that now, or Yoda. My goodness. [01:03:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I've had people say, eat your veggies. So it does not have to be, [01:03:16] Evan Stern: I mean, it is a cliche. Um, I've, I've heard it many times. Um, but I, I do believe that there is something to be said for the fact that if I were to write this in the sky, I would say luck is the result of preparation meeting opportunity. [01:03:34] I absolutely believe that to be true. Um, I always do my best to be, uh, you know, prepared and, uh, educate myself and, you know, and, and be ready so that, um, you know, when opportunity comes, you know, luck can, can happen. [01:03:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. I think that's a great way to end this episode, Evan stern, you are fabulous, and I'm [01:04:00] so glad that you were here. [01:04:01] Thank you. This is the innovative mindset podcast. You have been listening to my wonderful conversation with Evan stern, who is the host of the vanishing postcards podcast, which of course, you know, you need to check out if you're liking what you're hearing, do me a favor, leave a review, let me know comment. [01:04:20] However you'd like to get in touch. I would appreciate it until next time. This is again, Izolda Trakhtenberg reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [01:04:36] thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [01:04:53] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by [01:05:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.   * I am a Brain.fm affiliate. If you purchase it through the above links and take the 20% off, I'll get a small commission. And please remember, I'll never recommend a product or service I don't absolutely love!  

Brain.fm CEO Dan Clark In a fun coincidence, this episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset   Before he became CEO of Brain.fm, Dan Clark worked as a website and app developer. He switched careers from building an advertising agency and came across Brain.fm.  In his first session, he bought an account and was so excited after a week of use, he needed to be part of the company. He called 12 times.  He finally got a job and worked the first month for free. Fast forward, he's now the CEO, and 2019's Forbes 30 under 30.  Dan is always excited about how technology can change the world. Connect with Dan and Brain.fm. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brainfmapp/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brain.fm/ Episode Transcript Dan Clark [00:00:00] Dan Clark: [00:00:00] The real mission is to empower everyone around the world to be their best self on demand, full stop. [00:00:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:10] Hello, welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you relax, focus, meditate, and even sleep. [00:00:31] I love it and have been using it to write, create, and do some of my deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word, and now let's get to. [00:00:54] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm super [00:01:00] thrilled. You're here and I am incredibly excited about this week's guest. Check this out before he became CEO of brain FM, Dan Clark worked as a website and app developer. He switched careers from building an advertising agency and came across brain FM in his first session. [00:01:17] He bought an account and was so super excited. After a week of use, he needed to be part of the company. He called them 12 times and he finally got a job with them and worked the first month for free that's how much he believed in it. Fast forward. He's now the CEO and 20 nineteens Forbes, 30 under 30. [00:01:36] Dan has always excited about how technology can change the world. So that makes them the ideal guests for the innovative mindset podcast. Dan I'm so glad that you're here. [00:01:43] Dan Clark: [00:01:43] Welcome my pleasure. Thanks for having me. [00:01:46] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:01:46] Oh, it's absolutely my pleasure. So first of all, it's not often you hear, I will work for you for free. [00:01:54] What, what made you do that? What made you go, you know, I love this so much that I'm going to, I'm [00:02:00] going to just do whatever it takes to, to be part of this company. [00:02:03] Dan Clark: [00:02:03] Yeah. So I think it was, um, it was both the product and then also my personal story. So, um, I'm a secretary black belt and I taught martial arts to kids, uh, for a really long time. [00:02:13] And then as I did that, I started making martial arts websites, apps, and kind of, um, really start optimizing for, uh, financial success. And I hit this point when I was, um, the director of this advertising agency, where. I felt empty. Um, and I felt like I wasn't doing what I really loved, which is helping people. [00:02:35] And I wanted to get back into that. And at the same time, I was super sensitive to my own focus and energy. Um, and I used to actually work from 10:00 PM to 4:00 AM in the morning to find what we call now, like our flow state. And I ended up leaving the advertising agency, looking for things that I could get excited about and [00:03:00] came across brain FM when it just launched. [00:03:02] And I remember using it for the first time and being blown away because I was able to get into that magic state of effortless, where it feels like you can fly, um, again, flow state. And we can dive into that later, but I was so enthralled from the first activity and I was like, this can change the world. [00:03:19] I need to be part of this country. And it was that level of commitment where I was like, I just want to be, this is going to change the world. I want to be part of this rocket ship. Um, call them up a bunch. Um, they didn't really, it was just starting company. And I said, Hey, you know, I'm not in here for the money. [00:03:34] I'm here for, you know, the ride let's do this. And, um, I guess four, four years later, three years later I became CEO. So it's been a, it's been a wild ride and it's that drive of what can this do for the world and for people around the world, um, that has really driven me to, uh, you know, focus on building the company into what it. [00:03:57] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:03:57] Oh, I love that. I love the [00:04:00] notion of wanting to change the world for the better, especially through innovation and technology. And I do want to dive into that, but I need to ask a side little question. What martial art are you a second Dornin? Um, [00:04:13] Dan Clark: [00:04:13] mixed martial arts with a concentration of Krav Maga, muy Thai Kempo, uh, jujitsu, um, few different things in that nature. [00:04:22] Wow. [00:04:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:04:23] Oh, that's it sounds exciting. I'm a, I'm a showdown in Ikea, so I'm like, oh cool. I'm like, oh yeah, I love it. I love it. I love it. I've been studying martial arts in one form or other since I was a teenager. And I actually find that the martial arts in some ways can help you get into that flow state as well. [00:04:39] That that sort of change where almost anything is possible. And I would love if you would talk a little bit, you've mentioned flow state. I would love it. If you'd talk a little bit about what brain FM, how does, how does brain FM. Help you do that. If you, if what you want to do is get into that state where everything feels [00:05:00] effortless, where you're calm and you're focused. [00:05:02] That's wonderful. And I know lots of people, trumpet meditation and all of that brain FM, and I've been using it myself recently. So I'm very excited about it, but how does it do, what does it do to you to help you get into that state? [00:05:17] Dan Clark: [00:05:17] Yeah, of course. So at brain FM, we make functional music designed to help you focus, relax, and sleep better. [00:05:23] Um, and the way we do that is, um, your brain has these different neural patterns, right? And they're actually very understood in science. So if you put an EEG on someone's head while they're in focus or relaxing or sleeping, there's a pattern that the brain has. Um, and if you did an MRI, which is measuring the blood flow to different areas of your brain, your blood flow has similar patterns. [00:05:49] And what we do is we've been able to discover how to add, uh, different rhythmic pulses or different patterns to music. So when you're listening to that [00:06:00] music, your brain starts mirroring those patterns and can quicker switch into better focus, better relax, or better sleep. And then what's really cool about the technology is because you're continually losing this. [00:06:15] Um, it's not something you have to train and practice that it's something that's, uh, a physiological effect. So we're actually redistributing blood flow in your brain, helping you get to that pattern that we know is science does help, um, and then stay there. And, um, the cool part about it is it's disguised in music. [00:06:34] Um, it's a patented thing that we've come up with it's it hasn't been done before in this application. Um, and we have tons and tons of science to show the effectiveness of it. [00:06:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:06:45] Wow. Okay. So let's dig into this a little bit. The science says that like, yay. So the science says that your brain is that the blood flow to the brain, the different neural pathways [00:07:00] are, the things are firing. [00:07:02] The synapses are firing differently. It sounds like. And what does that mean with respect to the music itself? Is the music, is it, is it sub oral or is it something that's the actual rhythm of the pieces themselves? That does that [00:07:17] Dan Clark: [00:07:17] great question. So, um, first off is when we make music, what we have done is actually build the music from ground up. [00:07:26] So we don't. We don't like change music. That's already created. We say, Hey, let's first figure out from the beginning, how can we make music that affects people's mental states, right. And a lot of music today, that's responsible. Like you can search on YouTube or Spotify. You can find a bunch of people that claim that they can do this, but they usually take music that's already been created and either change it or relabel it as such. [00:07:54] And there's been other attempts with science, like binaural beats or isochronic tones that have, uh, had [00:08:00] really limited success, um, to show that this works. Um, and what we've been able to discover is when we start from the ground up, we can do all of the things that you hear in music that, you know, feel, you know, focusing. [00:08:15] And we can talk about some of those things like sailings reduction and new lyrics. Um, but then we also add these patterns. Um, that act on our brain on a, um, uh, uh, physical level, um, which allow us to align the functional networks of your brain to communicate more effectively. Um, so let me, there's a lot there, so let me break it down. [00:08:38] So one of the things, yeah, one of the things that we know, and it probably makes sense is that when you listen to music with lyrics in it, it can be distracting. And the reason why is because you either know the lyrics, so you start thinking about what the next lyrics are. It's distracting from the work you're doing, or you're trying to [00:09:00] understand the lyrics. [00:09:01] And there's no such thing in the brain as multitasking. You're basically switching back and forth between tasks. So even if you're kind of, um, not paying attention to the lyrics or trying to, you know, actively ignore something, it's actually taking energy to do that. So one of the first rules we have is we don't have lyrics in our music. [00:09:24] There's other rules that we follow, um, which is like salients reduction. Um, and that's the difference between, um, sounds so not having like loud, you know, clashes and other kinds of things, music that stealer attention. And these are based on things that we've been able to observe in the brain that really actually track all the way back to like evolution. [00:09:45] Um, because we're the descendants of the people that when we are walking in the woods and we heard a twig break, we knew, oh, there's probably a tiger here. That's coming to get me, I'm going to run away. Right. And so what happens is we're making music to [00:10:00] really control the environment and just from an acoustic property alone. [00:10:04] And one of the reasons why we all love music is because it's really cool that you can put music on and change the. The state that you're in, in a way of, um, you know, associations as a way of like what genres you're listening to. Um, and it acts on the brain, you know, as music does. And then what we've done is, is we do all of those roles and then we apply science on top of it, um, or with it. [00:10:33] And what we're doing is, is inside of those genres or the different kinds of music that we're playing that are following all those rules were, um, adding these, um, modulations, which are these rapid, uh, frequencies of turning on and off different bands of music and what that's actually doing when you listen to it, um, is it's, it's, um, lining up different functional networks of your brain through a process called entrainment [00:11:00] and what you can kind of think of it as your brain being like a Christmas tree where it's blinking all different times and all different regions. [00:11:08] Are starting to listen to these patterns that are, um, basically harnessing all these regions and organizing them, um, the process of entrainment mirrors, um, your environment and your, those Christmas tree lights actually all start blinking at the same time, which enables us to hope speed up the transition between, you know, being in a resting state, for example, and then being in a deep focus state. [00:11:38] Um, so what we're doing here is we're using human composers where you, which are really great at creativity and finding really great things that people, um, want to listen to. And then we're combining it with AI and with scientific research to create a product that basically is a switch, uh, that gets you into a mental [00:12:00] state and the effect, uh, it takes about five minutes to work and then it's sustained as long as you're listening to. [00:12:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:12:09] I keep saying the word wow. After you're done talking because there's so it's, there's so much. Wow. Okay. So there are, so there's something you just said that made me go. Hmm. Is there such a thing as listening too long too? Cause I noticed in, in the app it's like 15 minutes, half an hour or two hours or something like that. [00:12:32] If you want to do a focusing session, is that a, so that your brain does not get fatigued or was there another reason for making it so that there are these limits? [00:12:42] Dan Clark: [00:12:42] That's a really great question. So actually in our new apps that we're developing right now, we're moving all of those. Um, that was really designed to give people an option of how to get started, but it really comes down to you. [00:12:55] So it depends on. Really knowing [00:13:00] yourself and knowing the activity, excuse me, working on. Um, and then, uh, figuring out like, you know, what's, what's best suited for you. So for example, I use, uh, like I'll do a deep work focus, and I usually do about 90 minutes on that. And that's specifically designed for work that, you know, I just have to like crush through like my emails or whatever. [00:13:21] Um, but when I'm doing, um, you know, like business planning or trying to be creative, like creative, I use our creativity section, which is in the, some of the new apps we're developing and are probably out by the time everyone's listening to this. Um, and that's specifically designed for again that like, you know, being more creative and being more loose and I find best for me in that state is 30 minutes. [00:13:46] Um, but I know with other people, they have other experiences because everyone's brain is different and we're helping your brain. You know, get to the state that, uh, we, you know, we see works. [00:14:00] Um, and there's some other kinds of personalization that we can dive into as well. But then it's up to you to really learn more about yourself. [00:14:10] Um, almost like training wheels, riding a bike, and then saying, okay, this is how long I really enjoy riding a bike before it's not fun anymore. Um, and, and that's kind of the, the best thing about the technology. You can use it, you know, some people use it for eight hours a day, um, but it really comes down to what's best for you what feels right? [00:14:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:14:29] Yeah. I think it's empowering to sort of be the driver of your own bus there. And that's what I've noticed in using the focusing thing is that two hours is just a little too long for me, and then I drop it down, but I am amazed at how quickly, and this is something, I guess, that's that flow state that you were talking about? [00:14:47] What has happened in the last couple of weeks since I've been using the app? Is that. I get to this place where I don't realize that I've been productive. I look back and go, oh, look at all these [00:15:00] things I've finished. But I was so deep into them that the passage of time sort of went away. And so I was wondering when someone is using the app, that flow state seems to be an ideal. [00:15:15] What happens if they can't get there? Do you have feedback from users that are like, no, this, I don't know how to make this work for me. And what do you do when someone says that when someone goes, you know, is there, is there, for example, uh, perhaps a neurological issue that someone might have that might preclude them from being able to use the app because of the way the app interacts with [00:15:37] Dan Clark: [00:15:37] the brain. [00:15:38] Very good question. Um, let's unpack that. So there's, there's definitely neurological diverse people. Um, everyone has different neurological diversity, um, and that could be spectrum of, you know, ADHD, for example, um, it's a myth, it's a common misconception that you have ADHD or you don't, um, it's in reality is [00:16:00] everyone has different levels of ADHD and all the other kinds of neurological stuff. [00:16:05] Um, so there could be things that have proclivities across, um, that, that, you know, um, maybe people have challenges with. However, uh, we actually find that more neurological diverse people have better effects with brain FM, um, believe it or not. So we were working with, um, autism, ADHD, um, different kinds of anxiety. [00:16:29] And we do a lot of research on the side there. Um, some of the things that we do for personalization and, and some of maybe. The faster, more direct answer to your question is that, um, our science, um, is really our power level of the music. We call it their neural effect level. And some people are very sensitive to it and some people are less sensitive. [00:16:54] And what, um, if people are having challenges, finding, you know, their flow state, I would [00:17:00] actually say, we have to find, you know, turn that knob up. So it's more intense or turn it down. And that's, um, some of the reasons that you hear me mentioning this new app that we're creating, because what we wanted, we found that this works for all individuals, because it's a process of entrainment that we naturally do. [00:17:19] So actually you and I talking you're in training to my voice and my, you know, I'm doing the same to you. And that's an effect of being able to infer what I'm going to say next, um, and different kinds of environmental factors and, uh, Basically the, the, the answer to your question is, uh, you know, we found that this does work for many, many people because it works with our brain. [00:17:44] It's not like hacking it. It's, it's something that your brain naturally already does. And what we have to just find is fine tuning for Bob versus Samantha, you know, what the specific power level that they need. And then what kind of, um, acoustic qualities of the music [00:18:00] is best suited for them like the brightness or the complexity, um, and then really packaged it together. [00:18:05] Um, and that's something that we are constantly working on to make sure that every time you go in it's the best experience. Um, and then if people don't, if people have challenges, they can reach out to customer support and we can definitely help them find more specific crafted music for them. [00:18:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:18:22] I love that. [00:18:22] And I love that notion of the personalization of it that lets you again, stay in the driver's seat of what works for you. What doesn't work for you. The, the music that I've listened to for the focusing has been fantastic for me because I like it. And I liked that. You said that it's not jarring. I noticed that, that there weren't any big, you know, drum crescendos or anything like that. [00:18:43] It was, it was much more of a, of a gentle rolling Hills instead of climbing mountains, which I think is great. But you said something that I think is really interesting about the ADF. My husband has add, I talk about it on this podcast all the time, because he's very artistic and creative and innovative, but [00:19:00] has trouble focusing. [00:19:01] And part of the thing that I'm, I'm, I'm totally gonna get this for him so that he can use it to. And part of the thing that I'm thinking about is when someone has a, neurodivergence a component to the way they think that is different. What, and you said customer service, it would be great, you know, so they can reach out, but what can they do on the fly? [00:19:26] What can they, is there a choice they can make within the music? Or is that, or is that coming in the next version of the app to go? No, I'm not, I'm not focusing the way I want to be, or I want to be doing something differently than I am. Can I choose within the app to make the experience better for myself in the moment, or is that something that's going to be coming down the pike? [00:19:46] Dan Clark: [00:19:46] So you can actually right now, so, um, in our, in our iOS and Android version of the app, right now, you can actually go into the power level settings and select one, two or three. And the new version of the app, we give you even more hand control of, [00:20:00] of showing you the personalization engine we're using, where you're, you're falling in that category. [00:20:05] Um, and then able to like play with it a little bit. Um, but yeah, I mean, that's, that's really the power of, of our music and w and our functional music on how we're approaching this, um, and how we differentiate between Spotify. So we really want to make sure that, you know, um, as a user where you fall in that category and give you the ability to see and feel the difference. [00:20:26] Um, and it's really interesting because you may need some power level. You know, for focus and you need a complete, like, let's say you need, um, so people with, um, higher ADHD usually perform better with higher power levels. So let's say it's a level three, right? And in sleep, it's not level three, it's a level one, you know? [00:20:49] Um, and they don't necessarily correlate. Um, but again, that's what we're trying to do here is, is create music that you want to listen to. Um, you said a good point of it's not jarring. It's [00:21:00] actually, we try really hard to make music that you enjoy listening to, but you don't love, um, because we don't want you to like be distracted by, wow, I've really loved this song. [00:21:10] And we have, you know, we have great music. We have award-winning composers that do this. Um, but then, you know, again, giving you also the power to control the power, um, and then learn more about yourself and, you know, optimize, um, as you choose to. [00:21:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:21:29] That's so interesting because I really liked the songs, the city too, so that's good. Uh, I tend to like instrumental music a lot. So it was very, you know, you said, well, we want you to like it, but not love it. And I think that's really, that's really fascinating because then it's easier to keep it sort of in the background while you focus on the other things that you're trying to actually do. [00:21:51] And if we can, if we can change, focus just a little bit, see what I did there. Uh, if we can, I didn't actually, I've English, isn't [00:22:00] my first language. And so I cannot pun, but when I do, it's always, I always want to do a little, a little happy dance because I actually punched in and did it. Let's talk about stress. [00:22:10] Sure. So one of the things that you can do with the app is do a relaxation. So there's a relaxation arm of this and that is it. Is it sort of hijacking the amygdala or, or are you going by the time it gets to the hypothalamus? Like where, where does the app interact with the brain when it comes to that stress fight flight or freeze response? [00:22:34] How does [00:22:35] Dan Clark: [00:22:35] that yeah, great question. And I think there may be some answers here that my neuroscientist is better suited than I am, but I'll try my best. Um, so we're actually using the same exact technology that we're using for flow states and focus and even relax or sorry, sleep and what we're doing with relaxes, we have a different neural pattern and that pattern is, um, again, redistributing blood flow in your brain [00:23:00] that then because of that has different functions. [00:23:03] So. We're not necessarily going to the medulla or the, you know, all the different parts of the brain and specifically, um, uh, focusing now I'm doing puns, but, um, we're not specifically like hijacking, you're changing something of that. What we're doing is we're actually changing the whole brain. Um, and that effect is, is one. [00:23:25] I think it makes more sense because your brain is so, um, um, you know, we know more about Pluto that we know about our brain in some aspects, like memory creation, things like that. There's, there's still a lot of things that we're just discovering how the brain works. Um, and for, for relax specifically, um, we, we are just creating a different normal pattern. [00:23:47] We do different genres of music that people associate with like relaxing environments. Um, so the difference between like almost like spa music, um, and then, you know, different chill and instrumental music that's slower. [00:24:00] So we're doing an on both sides. And actually it's really funny because one of the things that we are doing in our medical portion of the company is we're actually investigating relaxation, um, for different kinds of medical treatments. [00:24:16] And, um, we did this one study where there's a song called wait-lists by mark CARNA union. And it's whole it's it's, it's, there's been BBC articles and stuff. And this was created a few years ago. It's the most relaxing sound in the world. And it was built with neuroscientists and, um, you know, different composers. [00:24:36] And it was so successful that they actually compared it to a. Um, my, it was some kind of, um, a drug, right. I, I can't remember the exact name. Um, I wouldn't be able to pronounce it probably. Um, but, um, they were, it was, it was that, and it was, it was hailed as the most sound relaxing sound of the world because it's just as effective as this one sedative. [00:25:00] [00:25:00] And what we did is we said, okay, well, let's see if we can beat it. And in this specific example, we're actually currently doing pilot tests in surgery centers to help people relax before surgery and then wake up after surgery. Well rested, especially because it's, it's very hard not to be stressed before surgery, you know? [00:25:21] Um, and what's really interesting is we took all the things that waitlist did. We applied all of the technology that we have. And we beat it by like 30%, um, using different kinds of questionnaires of, um, uh, the poems questionnaire. That's, that's the standard in psychology. Um, and from that, now we're going in testing this with pilot data. [00:25:44] And what's really interesting is it's the same exact technology that we have in our consumer application. Um, and it allows someone to really, you know, press a button. Switch their state. And what's really cool about [00:26:00] this. You know, I, I like, I love meditation. I, I'm a very big proponent of it. Um, but what's really interesting about this is that meditation, you really have to practice. [00:26:10] Um, and even if you practice and you think you got it, then you practice another 10 times and you're like, no, now I got it. And it just keeps going where this is again, that, that physiological effect. So it will happen in your first five minutes, even if you're mentally not ready to, you know, um, and that's really cool, especially with our busy lives that we have, where if you just say, Hey, I just need five minutes to relax. [00:26:34] You can actually shift your whole demeanor by switching into this. And that five minutes is actually doing something rather than, you know, hoping it's doing something for example. Um, and I think there's, there's a huge difference in that. Um, because it's, it's almost inactive. Does that make [00:26:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:26:54] sense? It does. [00:26:56] It absolutely does make sense as I'm a long time meditator, but [00:27:00] I'm a long time frustrated meditator because of that, because there are times when I try to drop down into meditation and the entire time I'm going, I'd really like to be meditating right now. I can't believe I can't shut my brain off, you know? [00:27:12] And so, so I'm constantly picturing calm oceans for a long time trying to get to that state. So I liked the notion very much of, of being able to get into that state. And I really liked the notion of people in hospitals having access to something that will help them de-stress beforehand. And I did, I did some research and you have a national science foundation grant to study this technology. [00:27:39] What, how, first of all, how did you get it? And second of all, what exactly is the NSF funding for you to start. [00:27:47] Dan Clark: [00:27:47] Yeah. Great question. So this was, um, in a, uh, dual, um, effort with Northeastern university with one of our, um, uh, what's the best word. [00:28:00] Um, I guess, you know, we, we have a lot of different partnerships with different academic institutions and, um, this is with one, um, specifically to study ADHD in the brain and as a alternative treatments to medication, um, to, uh, help people with ADHD. [00:28:17] And what we did specifically for this was, um, and this is where like a lot of our evidence comes from at least for our focus product, um, where we took regular music. Um, we took brain FM. We took brain FM with, and without our technology applied to it. Um, and then we put like a like pink noise. And we basically studied different individuals that were trying to do different video games. [00:28:45] Um, and these are start tasks which are, um, very standard in, um, measuring someone's performance. And as they did that, we watched them on EEG. We watched them, um, on Fri and we were able to determine that. [00:29:00] When someone is listening to, um, you know, brain FM and someone that has ADHD, um, that different, um, neural pattern or that power level that we can adjust. [00:29:13] Um, if we turn that up higher, that person has better effects from, uh, the music, then maybe more normalized individuals. Um, and from that, we're actually developing, um, a better product where we learn more about people in that personalized manner. And we can start selecting music based on where someone is on that bell curve of, um, neurodivergence. [00:29:40] Um, and, and yeah, I mean, it's, it's very exciting because it's something that supports that we actually can help all individuals. And, um, now we can better serve rather than guessing. Um, we have a very great starting point on, um, helping someone get right into that point. [00:30:01] [00:30:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:30:01] That's fascinating. And I, you know, as I said, my husband rich has add, so, so that notion of, uh, being able to focus when you want to is something that I think is incredible. And there's a book that a lot of people with add, read that's called you mean I'm not lazy, crazy or stupid. I don't know if you've ever heard of this book, but it was written a while ago. [00:30:25] And it was written to people essentially to people who have add and ADHD to sort of let them know you're not lazy. Crazy. You're stupid. You, you have neurodivergence essentially. So I'm wondering in, in the work that you're doing, how. What kind of feedback. I mean, I could go look at the reviews of the app, but what kind of feedback are you getting from people who have these, these divergences and is it, is it helping the consumer as opposed to like, I understand the NSF study and I think that's amazing, but how, what kind of [00:31:00] feedback are you getting from people who have some of these challenges who then are able to perhaps focus some people for the first [00:31:07] Dan Clark: [00:31:07] time? [00:31:08] Yeah. So I'm happy to answer that, but before I do, I want to take a note and say that, um, I think everyone has super powers. Um, and people that for a long time in neurodiversity have said that they don't when, when they relook at it and they can really start harnessing it. They, you know, like you, you were mentioning your husband is very skilled as in creativity. [00:31:32] Um, and that's such a super power. So I first just want to take a second and say that. You know, there's so many great gifts that people have. And, um, with ADHD, it's really hard to find people's, but it's really, and that's one of the mission statements that we have is really to help everyone be plus one, w we think we're a plus one product, so we can help everyone go to the next level, be their best self on demand. [00:31:59] Um, [00:32:00] so you just, you just struck a chord with me. I want to make sure I brought that up. [00:32:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:32:03] Um, and that's great because that was going to be my very next question. [00:32:07] Dan Clark: [00:32:07] So yeah, I mean, I, you know, for me specifically, like I'm, I'm, I've always, you know, I was always working for them. Um, I'm not an early riser, right? I am now I wake up at seven o'clock, but for a long time I could not function. [00:32:23] And I, you know, I dropped out of high school because of it. Um, and if you ever talked to my teachers, they would say this kid's not going to go anywhere. Um, and it wasn't until I started realizing, you know, tools through martial arts and tools through brain FM on, you know, how I can use these tools to be better. [00:32:42] And, you know, after I saw the, to answer your question, but, um, you know, I think. That's what brain FM is. Ultimately, it's a tool, you know, we can't build a house for you, but we're the hammer that lets you build a house more effectively than, you know, without a tool. You know? So I think that's, that's [00:33:00] important. [00:33:00] Um, as far as feedback we get from customers, um, we have, you know, over 2 million downloads and many users from around the world. Um, we actually have an internal channel called love letters and raving fans. And, um, we have, you know, from people saying this is the best thing ever. Um, too, some people have lowered their medication, you know, with ADHD, you have some people that, um, are, you know, like literally crying while they write emails and, um, really hard, you know, testimonials of how we've had a major impact in their life. [00:33:32] Um, and you know, without getting into too many details and sharing things that I can't, um, you know, this is the reason why. Ultimately we build brain FM is, is to really harness that, um, you know, we have, we, we don't like right now, we've been really focusing on the science and really focusing on the company, uh, for, you know, the next 10 years and really laying the foundation where right now we don't do [00:34:00] a lot of marketing. [00:34:01] Um, and even with that being said, we still have tens of thousands of people that come to us, um, every week to try us out because it's all referrals right now. Um, and that really, I guess, goes, goes to beyond, you know, me just coming on here and saying how great it is. Um, it's really like our customers that are shouting about, Hey, there's this secret tool that I've found that lets me become a superhuman. [00:34:27] Um, and again, that's why we do it. [00:34:32] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:34:32] I love it. I love it. I keep pausing after you're done speaking because I'm taking it all in. And the thing is that I'm, you know, speaking of that, that notion of super power being a superhero. I, I agree with you. I think we all have our own unique. My focus is almost always creativity and innovation, but I think we all have our own unique genius. [00:34:54] Your, you know, unique, creative genius, innovative genius, whatever it is, we all have something [00:35:00] that sets us apart. And I'm wondering, what are the uses do you think of looking forward instead of, and, and I forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, but this notion of using brain FM for. Accessing the parts of your creative genius, for example, that you want to access being very purposeful with those kinds of actions while using the app. [00:35:25] What are your thoughts about doing that? About someone who goes, I want to hack my creative center and I want to really open it up. Can the app do that? Will the app be able to do that? Do you want the app to be able to do that? What are your thoughts on that? [00:35:39] Dan Clark: [00:35:39] Ooh, lots of really great questions. Um, so I think, you know, the first, so there's some things that I can say, and there's some things that I can't say because we're still, you know, evaluating and looking at things. [00:35:51] Um, I think the first thing that's important is, and you know, we've talked about this with our science, but we're science first. Um, and that means that [00:36:00] everything that we do we want to make sure is actually true. Um, and we have evidence to show that. And I think that there's a lot of other companies that say they can do X, Y, and Z. [00:36:11] Um, but when we look at the science and we look at evidence, um, it's not true or it's, it's, you know, oh yeah. We asked, you know, all of our users and we asked how, how good they feel. And they said 10 out of 10. So that means, um, and we, we really like, before I answer this, the reason why see that is because at the end of the day, we want to make a product that actually does better everyone, because it's way easier to focus on just building an amazing product. [00:36:42] And I think that, um, with that being said, um, there are scientific limitations. Um, so the whole company, you know, we're designed around basically we have neuroscientists on the, on the team. We have a, um, uh, MIT and, um, Harvard graduate that works [00:37:00] for us. Auditory neuroscientists. He's a genius. And the way we create this company is that we fund science directly instead of, um, in other companies where breakthrough happens in science, and then five years later, a product comes out. [00:37:14] We say, Hey, how can we make it so that we're investing in science? And then that makes the product better because the product's so good. So many people start using us. We have more money to invest in science and the cycle continues. And when I look at the future of where we're at, I think that it's really first is the ability to deliver optimal results for everyone. [00:37:40] So looking at, um, someone coming in, learning about them and saying, Hey, this is my button. So I can get my creativity when I need to. And I can find that flow state, and I'm really excited. And this is something that I add to my habits. That's really important. Um, if you just use this, like once a month, It, [00:38:00] it will work, but it's way better when you use this consecutively and you train your brain to be creative. [00:38:06] Um, and we can talk about some of the habits that I would suggest with this, um, program. Um, but then the next thing is, is then for someone to learn more about themselves to your part, right? So now someone looks at wearables and they look at, oh, well for me to get in a really great flow state, you know, I can use brain FM, but I also understand that if I'm drinking coffee, it takes me out of that. [00:38:30] And I rather drink tea or whatever, you know, and as we start building, I think more connected world with more data, um, I see brain FM being a role or a pillar in that data to be able to help someone understand more about what makes them. Act the way they do, you know, and then be able to help, you know, learn and, and, and do it better, you know? [00:38:57] So there's, there's definitely a lot of stuff there. [00:39:00] Um, and then I think it goes beyond, which is some of the medical things that we're currently investigating, um, you know, pre and post off I mentioned, but we're also searching Alzheimer's autism, ADHD, um, and a lot of other kinds of methods to help people and excuse me, um, when we combine all of those together, um, you know, it's, it's really exciting. [00:39:23] Um, you know, one of the reasons why I just love and, and put so much effort into building this company is because it doesn't matter. Anything as long as you're human. So it doesn't matter what language you speak. Doesn't matter how much money you make. Doesn't matter, you know, your sex or your gender, or, you know, all these things. [00:39:42] It matters that we're all human and our brains are incredibly similar and incredibly unique at the same time. And I think, um, you know, really that's, that's what, um, we're going to see as we move forward is what can science to, what can our human brains do? And then [00:40:00] how can we, you know, always. Live up to the potential. [00:40:03] We want to be, um, so lots of stuff there, obviously speaking directly from the heart. So I apologize for the, the long tear, but, um, but yeah, I mean, there's, it's definitely a mission driven company for sure. [00:40:15] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:40:15] Absolutely. And, and do not apologize ever for speaking from the heart. That, that to me is one of the pillars of, of what makes us a human is, is being able to express ourselves directly from that, that place of where we really believe it. [00:40:30] And you do. And I think that's amazing. Uh, there, you said a couple of things that, uh, well, you said many things that now I want to spend the next six hours talking to you about, but there, there are some things here that you said that I think are really interesting and you said you want to help everybody. [00:40:46] And this is one of those ridiculous questions that I'm sure you get, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Um, it is it's about accessibility. So this, you sort of have to be a hearing person. To be able to use [00:41:00] the app. Right. I imagine is there, is there something that can, that can work for someone who is deaf and is there something that can work for someone who is tone deaf, which is different than being than being deaf or hearing impaired? [00:41:15] Dan Clark: [00:41:15] Yeah, great questions. So first off is, uh, tone deaf actually doesn't, um, block someone from using brain FM because we're not doing tones, we're doing a modulation, so it's the on and offs of things. Um, so actually a lot of people with hearing impairments can still use brain FM. Um, and if you're listening to this and you may have questions about that, reach out to our support team and we'll be able to give you a specific answer. [00:41:41] Um, but what's really interesting is let's pretend someone can't hear anything at all. Um, we can still help people. And one of the other ways to do this is using light. Um, so what we're, what we're using right now is, is, is sound because it's a neuromodulator right. And that's really those patterns that we're doing. [00:42:00] [00:42:00] So we can do those patterns, right. And sound in touch. Um, I don't think we could do them in smell. That would be weird, but you know, we have those three mediums that we can play with. Right. And when we, um, do touch through skin, it's called Viber acoustics. Um, your skin can take in, um, modulations. It's just less sensitive way, dramatically, less sensitive than our eyes in our ears. [00:42:26] Ears are better because we can kind of like hide things, um, in, in hearing. That's why we've chosen audio, but you can also do things in light. And some of the things that we, you know, play with is, you know, doing both of those at the same time, but there's definitely, there's definitely things. For sure that that lot of, uh, that we were on the cusp of investigating and figuring out, um, and, uh, really the, the secret is, again, those modulations that allow us to control and create those patterns for [00:43:00] people. [00:43:00] Um, you know, the one reason why we don't do light is because I think it's like one out of 18,000 people have, um, epilepsy, epilepsy. Yeah. And, and this is something that can't, that people don't have with sound. So, uh, bringing in femme is actually the safest medium for a neuromodulator at the current time. [00:43:19] And, um, that's why, like everything is purpose built and designed, um, for safety as well as, you know, making sure that we have, you know, the right effects. Um, so, you know, there may be ways around it around, you know, epilepsy and things of that nature, but that's really the future to, to find out. Um, and yeah, I'm curious. [00:43:39] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:43:39] Wow. Fantastic. I love it. I love it. I love it. Okay. Uh, again, I, as I said, I can keep you for the next six hours. And so I have just a few more questions if it's okay with you. [00:43:52] Dan Clark: [00:43:52] Yeah, of course. This is fun. I mean, I'm very, very, I can talk about this all day. [00:43:57] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:43:57] Oh, yay. Good. So [00:44:00] a lot of the things that you said, you know, especially looking at visual and everything, I come back to the amygdala. [00:44:06] I come back to that notion of the spot in the brain, the process, you know, takes in what you see and takes and what you hear and decides if there's danger. And this is a strange question, but if you're a long time brain FM user, is it really just like a T turn it on, turn it off, or is it going to develop. [00:44:29] Um, like I know that once you're in, once the groove has been developed at the neural pathway, it's, it's more likely that that, that particular neural pathway will go again. So is there ever a time that you envision that people will not need brain FM because they've developed those groups for themselves? [00:44:46] Or is it always going to be a there's the sympathetic nervous system? There's the parasympathetic nervous system and depending on which one needs to be fired up right now, that's what the amygdala and the hypothalamus are going to do. Do you have thoughts about that? And if so, what [00:44:58] Dan Clark: [00:44:58] are they? Yeah, [00:45:00] so we have some first notions of it. [00:45:02] Um, but we haven't done science on long-term effects of brain FM, um, for, you know, years and years and years. Um, but we have done, uh, some, I guess, leading, um, research and that basically shows that, uh, it's kind of like running, right? So if you become really good at running that there's a certain level of speed that you can achieve. [00:45:29] Um, that your gains are, I guess, less, um, however, if you get really, really good at running, you still have to run. Right. Um, and you can kind of think of this as almost like a wind on your back, right? So you're running and what we're doing is we're, we're helping you run faster and feel what running faster is like, um, and, and helping, you know, push you along into that. [00:45:55] And, you know, on one side you could say, well, you know, I was [00:46:00] running six miles an hour and now we can run eight miles an hour. Um, and I know what that feels like. So I'm not going to use this, this wind or this, this effect that's helping me, you know, go two miles faster. I'm just gonna, I'm gonna get to that myself. [00:46:15] And I think the argument would be, if you can always run faster, you know, with that way, Always run with the wind on your back. You know what I mean? Um, that might be very abstract. Um, what we're finding is that yes, um, as someone uses the product, those neural pathways develop and someone can get into higher creativity or flow state faster. [00:46:40] Um, and I think that that is really the trigger that allows someone to get there. But I don't, I don't necessarily see this ever being someone. Now doesn't need that, where they can just close their eyes and get into it. Um, but you know, we'll, we'll have to see. Um, and, and ultimately I think that the [00:47:00] goal of what we're really looking for is not necessarily being the training wheels, but being the, uh, vehicle to help someone. [00:47:09] Um, and, uh, that's, that's really the goal that we have. I think we would, our whole approach would be different if we were a training wheels, you know, program, um, where we want to be, okay, Hey, you don't have to run anymore. You just get in this car and we'll get you there in five minutes. And that's really the goal of, of brain FM, um, at least right now. [00:47:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:47:31] And that was actually going to be my next, literally, what is the goal? What is your goal for the company? So, um, I do, I, you, you mentioned. That, uh, earlier about habits. I'd love to get your thoughts on the, on, on what you think in sort of an, I know you said you drive the, the person who's using the app drives the bus and they're the ones who choose. [00:47:51] But if you have habits, if you have thoughts on what is sort of an optimal way of getting into it as a new user, I would love to know that too. But, but if somebody [00:48:00] goes, okay, I'm gonna download the app, I'm gonna see what it's like, what is the best thing? And I, and I, I just gave up caffeine. So I'm very excited to, to hear you say, well, maybe caffeine, isn't great for it. [00:48:10] So, so tell me, what are some of the habits that someone should have, uh, in order, or might have in order to make best use of the app and habits serve their needs [00:48:19] Dan Clark: [00:48:19] best? Yeah, of course. So I'm going to say, you know, I'll say some of my habits, but I really encourage people to develop healthy habits that they test themselves. [00:48:27] Um, that's really important because again, everyone. So, um, the first thing is just, you know, habits. And if you haven't read, um, atomic habits is just a fantastic book that shares how habits really shape our lives. And it's just so important to have those. And again, brain FM is, is not going, it's not a magician, but it is a tool, right? [00:48:47] So you have to make sure that you are using the tool effectively. And I think with creativity, uh, for your audience, it's very challenging to be creative on demand. Um, and the best way [00:49:00] to develop that is actually to force yourself to try, right? So building in habits of work blocks, and if you look at my calendar, what I actually have is these work sprints where I say, Hey, for the 60 minutes, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I'm going to be creative. [00:49:22] And you know, what's challenging is when we don't feel like being creative, right. It's by training our brain that, Hey, this is a time where I do creative work and it it's creating these neural pathways. Um, and you know, you are developing how to be creative, um, on a schedule that you want to be rather than when your brain happens to be, you know, so I think that's just extremely important. [00:49:47] And for me, what I do is I actually have deep works, uh, sessions in the morning. Um, I do, uh, I changed this all the time. So if you hear me on other podcasts, it's because I'm always experimenting myself. [00:50:00] But normally what I do is, uh, I'll put, excuse me, deep work on, in the morning for about 30 minutes or so. [00:50:06] And in there I take out a journal and I write down the top things that I have to do today. How do I feel? And I do a complete brain dump so I can get all of the feelings and emotions and all that stuff aside. And then I say, what do I have. From there. I basically finished a session with the top things that I have to do. [00:50:28] I take a break, um, I'll sometimes put on relax music or go for a walk or sometimes at the same time do both. And then I come back and do another working session. And what's really important is, um, you know, developing not only the habits to, you know, sit down and work or could you create a moment, um, you know, creative habits, but also having consistency. [00:50:52] So for me, I, I drink iced coffee every day. Um, but you can drink ice tea or whatever you need to. Um, but it's really important, you know, have [00:51:00] a clean desk to have the same, because what happens is it builds all of the distractions that could happen that in a new environment, it's all erased. And then all of your energy, you know, using brain FM is then focused into, okay, this is the task that I have in front. [00:51:19] And what's cool about, you know, again, the tool is not only do we have all of this science and all of these different kinds of things, we also have different tricks that allow you to get engaged. So we actually use 3d spatial technology. Um, so a lot of our music sounds like it's actually coming slightly in front of you, which is almost like drawing your attention to the work that you're doing. [00:51:40] Um, I forgot to mention that before, but you know, through a combination of habits and then, you know, getting like going to the gym, right. That's, that's really what you're doing. Um, it allows you to constantly perform and then once you're constantly performing, it really helps you break through to the next. [00:52:01] [00:52:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:52:01] Sure. At some point you hit a plateau, I guess. And then, then from there, that's the springboard up to the next and the next and the next. And I, I love that. Uh, let me, let me ask you, this is you've, you've mentioned, you've mentioned bits and pieces, but I'd love to know what your, what your Dan, what your mission is for, for your company. [00:52:23] What is the mission that you have long-term to change the [00:52:28] Dan Clark: [00:52:28] world? Yeah, so the, the real mission is to empower everyone around the world to be their best self on demand, full stop, you know, um, I think a lot of people in life, um, you know, through different kinds of mechanisms, they never, they, they get obstructed from their goals and they, they get obstructed by the goals by having maybe, you know, previous failures or having writer's block or, you know, um, motivation block, or maybe it's just being. [00:52:59] Too into their [00:53:00] goals and being too stressed out where they need a perspective change or they can't sleep. You know? And, and what I, what I believe truly is that if we enable people to be their best self and whatever that means for that individual, whether it means curing, um, or not necessarily caring, but helping them treat, you know, um, their sleep challenges or helping them achieve flow state when they want to, or helping them chill out because they work really, really hard and they just need to take 10 minute breaks. [00:53:30] Um, if we can do that, then collectively as a human race, we enable everyone to help each other more effectively. And if I can be the, um, I don't know, the, the conduit to allow people to really unlock their true potential. Um, that's my mission in life and also mission at brain-a-thon. [00:53:57] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:53:57] I'm taking all of this in. That was, that was lovely. [00:54:00] Uh, and I love, I love the notion of collective change based on everybody feeling better, being better and doing better. My, my, my word for this, for this year. And hopefully for the next 40, 60, 80 years is compassion. And it sounds to me like compassion for yourself. [00:54:24] If you start with yourself, then it, then things, you know, things sort of flow from there. And with brain FM, How, what is the thought for you there? As far as you know, you're doing relaxation, you're doing sleep and you're doing focus. What about in gendering feelings of joy or, or feelings of compassion or anything like that? [00:54:49] Like can, can the app, is that something that you would ever be interested in in helping people with someone who might have challenges of depression or anxiety to, [00:55:00] to address some of those challenges with this [00:55:04] Dan Clark: [00:55:04] app? Yeah, it's, it's a great, great question. Um, and we, we are definitely working on it. I can tell you that. [00:55:11] Um, it's, it's a little bit, it's, it's complicated. Um, I, I guess it's the simplest way. Um, and that reason is because joy is derived from things. Um, and if we gave someone artificial joy, That doesn't necessarily fix where joy comes from, you know, and I think that as we look at it and we peel this back, um, joy also means different things for different people and how they experience joy. [00:55:41] So it's a very convoluted challenge. And one of the reasons why we, we specifically don't say, we can make you happy, but we can help you focus, which will make you happy. Um, the, our angle on that is, is again, if we can help people be better or more efficient in [00:56:00] the activities they're doing, then they can move one step closer to treating, um, certain core problems, I guess, or core challenges. [00:56:13] Um, and we, we definitely have people that have, have, you know, touted us as the cure, as their personal care for, you know, depression or, um, really, really challenging times in their life. Um, we have many, many people that write to us about that. Um, but I, I don't, because again, we're science first. I don't feel comfortable ever saying that we are the cure for that, but we can help people achieve it and we'll help them look for it together kind of thing. [00:56:40] Um, unless something changes in our research. [00:56:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:56:45] Interesting. And that just made me come back to the question of awareness. Like self-awareness when, when I'm using the app, one of the things that happens is that there is that there is again, that flow state where Ty and I love that [00:57:00] state when time passed and you don't realize time has passed, you know, because you've been working so into what you're doing, but then there's a self-awareness aspect of it. [00:57:08] And that's the slowing down. And the difference there for me is sort of the sympathetic versus the parasympathetic nervous system. So in the relaxation part, what happens if, if you, if you have any data on this, what happens to people's sense of self when they're in that relaxed state? Not so much the focus state, but the relaxed one? [00:57:29] Dan Clark: [00:57:29] Uh, yeah. Great question. Um, it's something that w you know, we, we do have to do more research in, um, the, the challenging stuff with gathering data for. Some of those states is that it's very personal and introspective and there's not a lot of site like, like purely scientific, like, uh, analysis to like, you know, figure that out. [00:57:55] Um, it's more, it's more of a personal thing, but you [00:58:00] know, with, with flow state, with relaxation, with meditation, I think, you know, self-awareness is really what happens from it because it's a perspective change. And I I'm I'm want to be certain and say that this is me talking about myself personally, but I think when I breached these higher states or these more developed states that I'm currently, you know, operating in, it allows me to really be, uh, you know, turned into more of an observer as, you know, you're working or as you're relaxing and. [00:58:31] Break the cycle of doing, and now the cycle of, you know, understanding a little bit, um, which enables us to, you know, work on ourselves. Um, I, this actually reminds me of the habits thing, and I think what's interesting is that, you know, humans are really the only animals that can look at themselves and change anything about themselves that they want to, including their habits and the way they think and all of that. [00:58:58] And when we go [00:59:00] to the deepest level, um, it's us first wanting to change us saying, I am going to change, and this is a plan that I'm going to do. I'm not going to say that to myself anymore. I'm going to do this instead. And then, you know, work and correct it and build, and you know, that's, what's inspiring and why I want, you know, personally, and then why the company is set up to help people be their best self. [00:59:24] Because if we can do that, we can allow people to work. All the other things that, um, you know, people can really, you know, dive into and, and, um, you know, brain FM is just definitely not the one-stop solution. It's one of many tools, but, um, you know, it definitely enables people to, um, unlock different levels that they didn't maybe know they had and then start questioning and, and, you know, bettering and, and, um, exploring. [00:59:57] And I think that's, um, you [01:00:00] know, an exploration and mindfulness or whatever it may be. Um, and it's a personal journey journey. [01:00:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:00:07] It does sound like it's an individual journey. And it's one that I think I come back to the notion of small steps are still steps. Right? So if you, if you do it 100%, you build the habit of it. [01:00:20] That, yeah. It just makes, it makes all the difference in the world because you always, like you said, you come, you eventually get to that plateau where you're like, okay, now I'm ready for the next level, the next step. And, and it sounds like brain FM. And it certainly, I mean, for me, you know, I'm a convert. I love, I love the, the state of being able to focus pretty deeply on the things that I choose to focus on instead of being distracted away from things. [01:00:49] So I think that, because we're hyper-stimulated and I wonder about that. I know again, I told you only a few more questions, but there is something here to me that [01:01:00] we are living in a really hyper-stimulated. World where there's stuff coming at us all the time, whether it's texts or social media or the, you know, the streetlights or whatever, when, when you're in that state of hyperstimulation and you put in the headphones or the earbuds or whatever, and you put on brain FM, is there ever a war between the hyperstimulation of all the stuff going on around you versus what brain FM helps you do? [01:01:30] And if so, how does that work? [01:01:33] Dan Clark: [01:01:33] Yeah, so, you know, really, I wouldn't necessarily say it a war, but we are. The mirror of the environment that we're in. Right? So, you know, when we're in, we're surrounded by technology, we're surrounded by distractions. And because of that, our brain is hyperactive. It's, it's always bouncing around different things. [01:01:54] What do you put in brain FM what's happening is you're changing your environment first for sound. [01:02:00] So you're kind of insulating yourself and escaping a little bit of some of the things. And especially with sound canceling headphones, it's like the perfect fit. Um, and then because of that, then you start mirroring a different environment. [01:02:13] And this new environment is the music and the different kinds of science in the music, which enables us to truly have a different response to a different ed environment. Um, And then that has the effect. Um, you know, as we talked about that's triggers these other actions. [01:02:32] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:02:32] Yeah. Yeah. I liked the entrainment that you mentioned earlier, [01:02:35] Dan Clark: [01:02:35] 100%. [01:02:36] You got it. [01:02:36] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:02:36] Right, right, right, right. Got it. Okay. Yeah, that was, that was, I was like, Hmm. There was one other little thing that I wanted to make sure about. And I'm so glad that you addressed it. Well, Dan. Thrilled to pieces that you took the time to be here. And I would love it. If you wouldn't mind give speaking of hyperstimulation, if you could give where someone who's [01:03:00] going, I need brain FM, where they can find you, if you have social media channels or anything like that, that, that someone who wants to know more could go to, I would love it. [01:03:08] If you'd say what those are, there'll be in the show notes, but people learn differently as we both know. So I'd love it. If you could say it so people can hear it too. Yeah. [01:03:15] Dan Clark: [01:03:15] Yeah, of course. So you can go onto the app stores and download bringing data FM, or you can go to brain.fm. Um, so it's, it's just, you know, brain.fm and that'll bring you to our website, which, um, we actually have free trials for everyone to do no credit card required, um, which allows people to fully feel the music with no pressure or stress or anything like that. [01:03:38] Um, and really see, is this something that, um, they can integrate it into their life? Um, so, you know, if you're interested, feel free to give it a shot. Um, it is something that, um, you know, I personally, uh, love and still use every single day and so to a many other million people. So I'm very excited to be here and, uh,

How To Never Lose Another Idea Again Keep track of your ideas all in one easy-to-access place. This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset   If you're like me and you have too many ideas bubbling up to keep track of all of them in your head, you need the Idea Doc. I designed it for myself to keep my ideas, things I want to ponder, and quick to-dos on track and in one easy-to-access place. Why might you want to have this one easy place to keep track of all your ideas? Here are just a few reasons. It can clarify your stance on things They can give you more fodder for what you're already working on They can give you perspective and clarity They can help you innovate, make changes, gain focus, or even not do a thing if that's what you decide. But that's the thing. Because you have your ideas in one place, you do get to decide what you're going to do with them. Grab the Idea Doc here. It's free, and I hope it helps you create and innovate your way into your juiciest and most wonderful work and life. Connect with me https://Instagram.com/IzoldaT https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ https://twitter.com/IzoldaT   8-16-21 Idea Doc [00:00:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I don't want to forget ideas and I get stressed that I might forget them. So to alleviate the stress, I need a place to jot them down. [00:00:12] Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. You get my conversations with peak-performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:35] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you can support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup of@buymeacoffee.com slash Izolda tea. And now let's get on with the show. [00:00:56] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. [00:01:00] I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg and I'm super happy that you're here, that you've taken the time to spend a little part of your day with me. I have just celebrated. 400 episodes. This is a few more than 400 right now, and I'm still incredibly excited to be talking about innovation and creativity and how we can use both to change the world. [00:01:21] One of the things that's been happening is, and one of the things that I find most gratifying, I'll be honest is when someone takes the time to leave a review. And I decided that I want to thank publicly the people who leave a show review. And this week it's from Joseph E. Bennett. Here's what Joseph had to say. [00:01:44] This is so damned inspiring. I just love this podcast. There's so much wisdom in what you is older and your guests bring forth and share so openly with us. Thank you much Lee, for all of it. And what an incredible accomplishment that you've just released. The 400th. [00:02:00] You're such a gift to all your listeners. [00:02:02] Joseph, thank you so much for that wonderful review. I really appreciate it. And I am so grateful to you that you listen. To the guests who come on the show and talk and give their wisdom. So generously, I'm very happy, very thrilled, and very excited that I get to keep doing this. And I'm going to keep doing it. [00:02:20] As long as podcasts are around. Speaking of keeping the podcast around this episode is brought to you by brain FM. Or rather than brain.fm. If you go to the website, this is an app that I have been talking about a lot. Actually. I love it. I use it every day. This app combines music and neuroscience, two of my little bits of catnip there to help me focus, meditate. [00:02:47] And even sleep. And what's really cool is that they just recently got a, an NSF national science foundation grant to study how brain FM can be used to help patients in hospitals and other [00:03:00] places where this neuroscience that really works with your brain's own super power. To 10 X, your ability to, as I said, meditate or focus, do creative things, sleep, whatever it is you're trying to do, brain FM will likely be able to help you. [00:03:16] I think anyway, if you listen to the show and you do, because you're here, you can get a free trial by going to. Brain.fm/innovative mindset, all one word. And if you love it as much as I do, and you decide you want to get it for yourself, you can get a 20% off with this exclusive coupon code. And that is innovative mindset. [00:03:39] Again, all one word. And if you want to know more about brain FM straight from the source. The company's CEO, Dan Clark is next week's guest on the show. In fact, that's how I found out about brain FM is they asked if, uh, if Dan could come on the show and talk about it. And I was so fascinated by what he was saying and, and, and what [00:04:00] the app does that I have become an evangelist for it. [00:04:02] I love, love, love it. And if you want to learn more about it next week, Dan Clark will be on the show. Alrighty. So now let's talk about this. Week's thoughts about ideas. If you're anything like I am, your mind is always going and your brain is always firing and tons of thoughts are coming at you every second of every day, I think. [00:04:26] And you've heard me say this on the show before we're hyper-stimulated we've got so much stuff coming at us. Right. All the time, everything from advertisements to your child who needs you to, uh, feed or change them, right. Everything a to Z it's coming at you all the time. And that can be a cool, because. [00:04:50] There are lots of opportunities for inspiration, for example, right? If there are lots of stimuli, then, then you can get inspired by some of them, but it can also be frustrating because the second something [00:05:00] inspires you, something else comes in to take its place. And last for me, anyway, it can be daunting because the second you've got a new thought or idea, it can fly right out as fast as it came in. [00:05:11] Because again, something else came in it's just gone and that sort of begs the question. Why keep all these ideas, right? What's in it for you to keep track of all those ideas from the hyperstimulation, from your own thoughts, from journaling, whatever it is that you're doing, you get these ideas. What's in it for you to keep them. [00:05:34] So here are my thoughts about that. And I have a list. One, it can clarify your stance on things like what your perspective is, what your point of view is too. It can give you more fodder for what you're already working on. Right? You can get new perspectives, new ways of doing things, new solution. Things like that three, it can give you clarity. [00:05:56] You can get perspective on things that are, that have been in a sort of a gray [00:06:00] area. And what you need is clarity. You need to clear, clear things up in your own mind, those new ideas that you might get, those things that you might ponder. They're they're helpful for that for they can help you innovate, make changes, gain, focus, and even not do a thing. [00:06:16] If that's what you decide, right. By getting more information by letting your mind wander and by letting those ideas bubble up. But that's the thing, because you have your ideas in one place, you do get to decide. What you're going to do with them. And that brings me to not forgetting ideas, right? I don't want to forget ideas and I get stressed that I might forget them. [00:06:39] So to alleviate the stress, I need a place to jot them down and I don't want it to be on paper, frankly, because I Lu I'm a notorious paper loser. I will lose a small piece of paper faster than you can blink. I don't want to do that, but I also don't need an app specifically for this, because there are plenty of those. [00:06:58] Right. But they, but they all [00:07:00] seem to have these huge processes. Right. For, for, you know, in order to do that, that you have to tap here and you have to click there and you have to do the hokey pokey. So I wanted something for fast ideas and I don't need a big lengthy step-by-step I just need a place to jot them. [00:07:17] So it might be for me. And this is something to think about, you know, what, what new ideas do you have? Uh, for me it might be a new idea for a new product or a project or a book or a song or whatever my brain cooks up. Right. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I'm like, ah, I have to remember this. [00:07:35] And there are there again. One of the things that's really good as you can keep a journal by your bed or an open by your bed. And that's really great. But then you can't search it. And that's something I want to talk about in a minute. So. This idea that you might have might be grand, it might be world changing, or it might be a new thought that you want to put up on Instagram stories or a new guests. [00:07:58] That for me, that I might want to have on the [00:08:00] show, right. It might be something I want to ponder that came to me during my journaling or meditation, or while I'm riding the subway. Be reading a book and I want a quick place to shot, jot down a realization or an aha moment. Those happened to me all the time. [00:08:13] And again, writing the notes in the margins of the book is really cool, except for you're messing with the book, but also how do you search. Right. If you write a note in the margin of the book, you're going to have to go back and dog ear the page. Oh, I dog-eared page 2 29 and now I want to find it again. [00:08:31] That becomes a little problematic. If all you need to do is go back real quickly and in a snap, you know, get what you need to get. So I might need. A space to do those ideas, or I might even need a spot to note down that tonight is recycling night or that I have to remember to give my cat his meds. Cause Zephyr kitten looks like he might be on meds for the rest of his life. [00:08:55] Cause he doesn't make tears. It's very, the vet is a little confused about how that's [00:09:00] happening, but anyway, It, even if it's not a crucial project deadline, though, it could be, if it's a quick thing to note and remember, I want to have somewhere where I can keep things and search them and figure all that stuff out. [00:09:12] So whatever it is, I need a place and a way to categorize them quickly because otherwise it's a time suck or a time waste. And I don't got time for that. Right. So again, there are apps like to do whist or clear or Asana or click up or Trello, and they're all good. But many with the possible exception of clear there, they're really complicated. [00:09:37] And all I want to do is jot something down and keep track of a new idea. That becomes again, more of a time suck than I want. When all I want to do is just get in there, write it down, get out. So I rolled up my sleeves and I made one for myself. And I'm going to share it with you. Let me tell you about the world changers idea document. [00:09:59] [00:10:00] That's what I decided to call it because Doug on it, I believe we can each change the world in our own little way. All it is. Is, and I shouldn't say all it is because it was kind of, it was cool to come up with what I thought I needed. It's super simple, super easy, super easy to access. As long as you have a Google account and let's face it, many of us do. [00:10:21] So it's a Google sheet where you can place all the ideas. The ponderings the little to do things that bubble up for you during the day, you can access this. Document from the show notesPage@httpscolonslashslashisoldat.com slash idea document. And basically this document is around for you. So you won't lose your ideas ever. [00:10:50] You'll always have a clean, easy to use searchable space where all your best ideas go to be picked up and run with when you're ready. Right. It's not a [00:11:00] document. Keep for me personally, as older it's, it's something that I'm given out to you for free, just so that you can keep track of all your ideas so that, that therefore you, when you're ready for them. [00:11:15] And basically I never want to lose another idea again. So here's how to use it first, go grab the idea doc, and you'll notice that it's read only, and that way you get your very own copy and no one else who downloads the idea document can enter data on your copy and vice versa. That's why it's personal. [00:11:34] It's private, it's all yours. And it's just my gift to you. And here's how to get yours. Once you're at the read only document. File and then select, make a copy and then Google sheets we'll make one for you and then rename it to whatever you want it to be. I like world changers idea document just because I'm out to change the world, but you want to be sure that the folder says my drive. [00:11:58] Cause it's your drive then that you're [00:12:00] saving to not mine, not as old as, and rename it to whatever you want. You should just be able to use it. And the columns in it are simple. And actually, if you go to the show notes page, there's a, there's an image that shows you all that they are, they're not hard, but they're really useful, right? [00:12:17] So the columns are simple. The first one on the left is date. That's the date. You got the idea or the thing that you want her to do, or the thing that you wanted to think about all you have to do on one line of the idea document is click the cell in that date column, and a date selector will pop up and you can just note that. [00:12:35] Choose that date. And then you move on. Or the next column is what did you think up? That's literally what it's called. Here's where you enter the idea, the, to do item or the philosophical pondering about the nature of the universe that you want to think about, whatever it is that you want to write in that, that slot do that. [00:12:53] The next column will help you categorize the three types that I wanted to keep track of. And [00:13:00] again, this is designed to be super simple and easy. It's not something that's got a lot of different ways of doing it. It's really simple. The idea type column has these three possible choices. There's a Delta for idea type. [00:13:14] Um, there's an infinity symbol for ponder this and an asterisk for do this. And you just choose one. So if, if you got an idea for a new project or an, uh, a new product, or if you're a writer for a new book, you would put her, you would select Delta for idea, because it's being in motion, the infinity symbol, if you're like, oh, I've always wondered. [00:13:36] How much lefties can use the right hand, but don't or how much righties can use their left hand, but don't because society tells us we shouldn't use our left hand still to this day. Unfortunately, I'm a lefty and there are still, uh, not as many accessible lefty oriented products out there that should change anything. [00:13:57] So then the last [00:14:00] one is a to do, right. It's really simple. It's like, oh, I have to remember to do this. So do it. And one of the things that you'll notice is that each category is color-coded so you can easily see whether or not you're, uh, these are ideas mostly or separate them out. The ideas are the to-do items or the ponderings, whatever it is personally. [00:14:22] I love, I love stats. I love figuring out that kind of thing, but also you can sort them and see all the ideas in one place or all the to-do items and, you know, in, in a row, if you will. And I like seeing all my ideas together because they often flow one into the. And I like seeing all my to-do items together, because then I know how to approach them and which ones I need to approach first, but you don't necessarily think of them that way. [00:14:47] So this is a nice way to keep them all in one place. That's easy to access and then sort them out so that you can see everything the way you want to. And. Here's my invitation to you. Anytime you get an idea, [00:15:00] you head to your idea document and you note it down. So you'll never forget something important again, because how often they, they say, you know, oh, Dog on it. [00:15:10] I'm just gonna remember this. I will, I will. And then it's gone. Right? And you don't want that. You want it to be something that is readily available to you the next time you want it. So I wanted to make something a little bit easier. I want her to make it easy to access. So I've added a shortcut to the doc on my iPhone. [00:15:31] That way I can access it super quickly when ever I need it. So the way to do that is you go to your idea document in Google drive. Once you've, once you've copied it over, you tap the three dots or more and scroll down to copy link. You tap that, then go to the shortcuts app. That's on every idea. Tap the plus at the top, right. [00:15:53] Then tap the three dots on the top. Right. And you'll see a screen that asks you for the short cuts name, but [00:16:00] first tap, add action, and then tap apps. That should be in the top left corner. I hate it when they don't, till they say tap this, but they don't tell you where it is. So you spend time looking, scroll down until you see safari, then tap safari, scroll down until you see open URL. [00:16:16] Tap that then paste the link that you'd copied before from the Google, from the Google sheets, then tap next. You should now see a shortcut with a cursor to the left of a great out short cut name, name it idea, dog or ideas, and then tap, add to home screen and then tap. And a check mark should appear briefly on your screen that shows you that it happened, tap done, and then you can also select it to show in the share sheet or on your apple watch if you have one. [00:16:45] So when you go back to your home screen, you should see your ideas doc there, and it'll be like purple or blue. And there are two sort of vertical diamond type things on, on the icon. And now you can access it easily. Anytime you [00:17:00] need to. I know that there's a, probably the same kind of thing for Android, but I'll be honest. [00:17:05] I don't know how to do it. So if you happen to know how to add a shortcut to your home screen on an Android, do me a favor and let me know, and I'll add it to the show notes later. Here's the thing, once you've done all this, I recommend that you go through your idea doc, once a week to make sure there isn't anything that's fallen off your radar. [00:17:23] And also to make sure that it doesn't get too cluttered with things you don't want or need to do anything with or about this is to help you keep track of the things going on inside. Keep the best lose the rest. Granted these tiny ideas might not end up being world changers, but I'll bet many innovators and entrepreneurs and creators have gotten ideas they've lost. [00:17:44] Right? I'm sure you have to you. Oh, this is a great idea. I want to hold on and. And I know that some people say that you'll remember the really good ones. So the ones you forget probably weren't that great to begin with, but I don't agree. I think the ideas deserve to have their own moment in the sun. [00:18:00] You might put them down after you look at them a little bit more carefully, but you've got to give your imagination and creative impulse, the benefit of that, of the doubt, you know, give your subconscious. [00:18:10] A chance to float those ideas by you. So you can take a look at them and if you give yourself and those ideas of benefit of the doubt, that is when you never know some brilliant thing that you were on a or wanted to do, or wanted to think up and create will be there. For you to make it blossom. And the idea document is really the perfect way to do it. [00:18:34] It's simple. It's easy to use and it's all yours. If you have questions about how to do it or how to use it, drop me a line. You can find me DME at Izolda T on Instagram or Twitter. I'm at his old a T there. Those are probably the two best places. Also. I'm at Izolda T on LinkedIn. Feel free. This document is, is, is my gift to you. [00:18:56] I want you to go ahead and enjoy using it. And [00:19:00] if you find the wait, you know what, this could be improved upon. You can improve upon it. But if you want to tell me, I would love to improve upon it too. It's what, it's the bare basics of what I thought. Would be useful, but if you have something else that's useful, I would love to hear about it. [00:19:16] All right, cool. So that is my thoughts about noting down the creative impulses and the ideas that we have so that we don't lose them and never lose another idea again. I hope that you've enjoyed this wee little episode next week, as I said, is Dan Clark. Who's the CEO of brain FM. And, uh, really, I, I don't, I would never, uh, endorse something that I didn't use and love, and I both use and love. [00:19:49] This app, I just it's, I've found that it has just put my productivity and my creativity into the stratosphere and [00:20:00] considering my hypothyroidism and that I get tired pretty easily. It's really nice to feel like. Yeah. I've got this. I can do all the things that I've been dreaming of doing, because my brain works so much more efficiently and so much more creatively. [00:20:13] I just love that. And you know, it ties really nicely into this idea document because then all those creative things can go right into the idea document for me to get to when I need to. All right. If you're, if you enjoyed this episode, if you download the idea, doc, I would love to hear from you. And if you really love the show, Or even if you don't really love the show, just if you like the show, please go ahead and leave a review wherever you listen. [00:20:42] I don't know how many actually, how many different platforms allow you to leave a review? I know that apple podcasts does. So if you want to leave a review, I would love to hear from you. Yeah. And, uh, and also what you think of the idea document, and if you start using brain FM and you want to [00:21:00] let me know about that too, I would love to hear about that too. [00:21:03] So until next time, I just want to tell you that I'm grateful that you're listening and I hope that you've enjoyed the show and will continue to enjoy it for many years to come until next time. This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast, reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, love. [00:21:23] Innovate a whole lot. [00:21:30] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:21:47] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg in his copyright 2021 as. Please remember this is for educational [00:22:00] and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results. Although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.  

Book Publishing Expert, Angela Engel On How She's Innovating That Industry To Help Authors Get Their Books Out Into The World This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset   Angela Engel is an entrepreneur and book publishing expert with over twenty years of experience in the publishing industry. After working for 20 years in the publishing industry and with major publishing companies including Chronicle Books, Ten Speed Press, Cameron + Company, Dwell Studio, and Moleskine, Angela is on a mission to disrupt the publishing industry by giving budding authors more agency and authority in the publishing process. As founder of The Collective Book Studio, she provides authors the support they need to get a book out into the world. Founder and CEO of The Collective Book Studio, a partnership publisher working to pair authors' vision with quality book production in the areas of lifestyle, gift, and children's books. Here's a recent Publisher's Weekly article about the studio and how it's disrupting the publishing industry. Connect with Angela Website: https://thecollectivebook.studio/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectivebookstudio/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-engel-48b3a81b/ Episode Transcript Angela Engel [00:00:00] Angela Engel: [00:00:00] They have to, if they want trade distribution, the willing for this feedback, be willing for the work, be willing to say, Hey, you know what? All of sales, all of marketing, all of editorial is looking at this and the title and the cover really have to have this element. In order for it to work in the market. [00:00:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:25] Hello and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you. [00:00:43] Focus meditate and even sleep. I love it. And I've been using it to write, create and do some of my deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the [00:01:00] coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word. [00:01:02] And now let's get to the show. [00:01:09] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I am super happy that you're here. I'm thrilled and honored. And so, so, so happy to welcome this week's guest. She, and I've just been chatting before we started recording. And I know this is going to be a super fun conversation. [00:01:27] And you know what, Angela, I didn't ask you exactly how to say your last name. So I'm just going to try it. Angela Engel is an entrepreneur and book publisher expert with over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. After working for 20 years in the publishing industry and with major publishing companies, including chronics. [00:01:44] 10 speed, press Cameron and company dwell studio. And Moleskine, Angela's on a mission to disrupt the publishing industry by giving budding authors more agency and authority in the publishing process. And you know how close that is to my heart was six books to my name and three more in the pipeline as [00:02:00] founder of the. [00:02:01] The book studio, she provides authors the support. They need to get a book out into the world. She's the founder and CEO of the collective book studio. And it's a partnership publisher working to pair author's vision with quality book production in the areas of lifestyle gift and children's books. [00:02:16] Angela, I am so glad that you are here. Welcome. [00:02:20] Angela Engel: [00:02:20] Thank you. I know you pronounce my name perfectly.  [00:02:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:02:22] Yay. I was, I was a little concerned and I was like, I normally ask and completely, completely forgot because we were, so I was so excited to be talking to him. We were having such a great conversation that everything went out of my head. [00:02:34] So first of all, Wow that you're doing this. We were just talking about the fact that there are authors so many authors like me, the DIY people who are self publishing, who've been crying for what you are offering your you're building a name for yourself and the studio in the collective book studio in publishing. [00:02:57] And you're doing it in a way that's really in many [00:03:00] ways disrupting the industry yet. Again, I would love if you would talk a little bit about what you are trying to do, what is the mission of the collective book studio? [00:03:11] Angela Engel: [00:03:11] That's a, that's a big question. I know, but, um, you know, I have, as you said, I've had a career of over 20 years in the space. [00:03:20] I'm, you know what? I was a young, young thing, right out of college, a comparative lit and creative writing. I loved books. I mean, who does it? Right? Especially in the, in the journalism field and the creative writing field and the English major, all of our stuff. And we, you know, our dream is to work in publishing and I got my dream. [00:03:40] I got really lucky. I was, you know, 20 what, one or two when I graduated and I drove down to San Francisco and I applied for this job at publishers group west, which is now bought by Ingram. We all know who Ingram is. It's a huge. Mega, um, whole wholesaler and obviously self publishing knows a lot about Ingram. [00:04:00] [00:04:00] And, and, um, I got my first job there and in that was like this champion of independent presses and small presses. And I actually had a great job. Great boss. Her name was trig McCloud and she came from Broadway books in New York. She had been Cindy Crawford's publicist, and I think she saw in me, honestly, that's he young? [00:04:21] That I could do what I wanted to do, but she sort of was like, I'm going to sort of mentor you and let you ride the wave. And I got to ride two campaigns with her. One was the four agreements, which was, as we all know, a New York times bestseller and continues to be an incredible book. Um, and then the other one was when nine 11 hit was Noam Chomsky's book by seven stories and watching, watching her champion, these small independent presses become New York times bestseller. [00:04:51] Um, was just magical, right? Cause, cause you brought in your editorial, your publisher, the writer, like all of, and then distribution and all the [00:05:00] ways to make this successful and honestly compete with the big five publishing houses. And then, um, at that same time, there's something called Amazon. Oh yes. And, uh, they were really just a book retailer, right? [00:05:15] Like it was like Amazon and Walden pond in the mall. Right? Like, like where did you go buy books? Right. Barnes and noble was like the big, big thing borders. And there was like some Walden bonds. And there was Amazon that was like starting to be a book retailer. Right. And at that same time, it was also like, Hmm, maybe urban Outfitters or anthropology or pirates should start selling books. [00:05:40] And I started just this sort of, uh, career path with, even in the publishing space, carving out for myself, becoming a specialist. And how do we sell books outside of the book trade. Right. And partly how you do that is packaging is the, is, is the way the book looks. Cause you don't, [00:06:00] you have to remember. [00:06:01] You're writing for someone else, right? In many ways you have to understand your audience and your audience and your end, the buyer. Sometimes the person who buys the book is completely different than your audience. And so understanding that package is really key. Um, so my mission was let's jump ahead. [00:06:22] Three years ago when I had been back, you know, I have, you know, my career was interesting partly because, you know, I'm a mom of three girls and you know, how are we going to, I'm pregnant with my third baby and I'm at a big trade show. And I'm like, God, I can't keep like, pumping like this. And I got two kids at home. [00:06:40] So, you know, I S I, I quit and I stopped consulting. And in this time of consulting, There was this boom of self publishing. And, um, and I understood, I understood why people were going that route, but I saw also an issue when it came to understanding the full, [00:07:00] um, reason for traditional publishing is so sacred. [00:07:04] One being, um, the craft as the book, the topography, the editorial, you know, everything, the illustrations and, and then also the distribution. So I wanted to find a company that could offer something completely different than Amazon can ever offer, which is people ask me this all the time. Do I have to sign an NDA? [00:07:26] I'm like, there's no NDA to sign it's people. Like, how do you can, I mean, you could, you can't really recreate Angela or Dean Burrell or Elizabeth Saki, like any of my staff. So you get to work with people who have been experts in this field for decades. Yeah. So that's sort of the mission is how did, how did like people, you know, I would welcome agent at work and we use agents for illustrators it's not necessary right these days. [00:07:57] And so how can we make [00:08:00] sure that people are being, having access to publishing and not having to wait three to four years to get on a list or develop a huge, huge pro. Profile and, you know, Instagram following and all the other hurdles that are, that are, that are existing. Now, my model is different, right? [00:08:19] And people do have to invest in their work. Our royalties are also much higher, so it's just a give and take why I call it partnership publishing. [00:08:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:08:31] I'm taking all of that in for a second. That was a lot, uh, I asked a big question. You gave a big answer. So here, here's the thing I love. I love the notion of partnership publishing and w w I, I hear what the collective book studio brings to the table. How much pushback do you get from the more traditional ways of publishing? [00:08:58] Like the big five. [00:09:00] What, what, what kind of reception or are you getting from the more traditional spaces? [00:09:07] Angela Engel: [00:09:07] Oh, They had just like cheered on my colleagues are awesome. I mean, they, like, we just signed Fran Hauser, incredible, incredible, uh, woman. Um, and she had a New York times bestseller myth of the nice girl. [00:09:25] It was just an, I just, my big win this week was there was an article in publishers, weekly in our trade magazine, in the print and digital. That, uh, the clinic of Brooke studio is trying a new approach and we were the keynote breakfast speaker, Pamela and Rocco, uh, for Columbia, which isn't an institution, right? [00:09:44] It's the California Alliance of booksellers. We were the keynote at their breakfast, her and Topeka up. And why is because I'm saying to the world, Hey, I'm not I'm, I'm just saying let's [00:10:00] figure out. How Amazon could not control. The distribution piece, because when you're self publishing, you're really kind of also, although you own your IP and you have all this control, you're actually giving many of it over to Amazon. [00:10:17] Right? If you think about it, because you know, there's definitely ways bookstores can sell you when you go through Ingram and income spark that said you don't have a massive team behind you selling your book into what I mean, you're in Brooklyn. So. Books are magic. Amazing. Right? The and amazing green apples. [00:10:38] So I'm such a huge champion. I think that goes back to by activism. Right. We kind of talked to them. I am such an activist that I'm like, I am not going to leave my small booksellers behind. Right. Like I personally only buy my books on bookshop.org. That's what I that's my purse. Now. I can't say we can't say [00:11:00] that to everybody, but for me, I believe that the small acts we choose to do change. [00:11:06] The trajectory of our lives because we're, we're teaching our community, we're teaching our kids. So for me, I just decided, oh, what is my small act? I sometimes can't run into every small little bookstore and busy with my three kids, but I can click a button and buy a, buy a book on bookshop.org. [00:11:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:11:26] I love that so much. [00:11:27] That makes me, so I know seriously, it's like, yay. Good, good for you. And, and I think that, that, that, that notion of small acts adding up to big changes is so it's key in, in, in many ways, in, in the ways so many authors have to do things. And it seems like it's key to the way the collective book studio is doing it. [00:11:48] And you're disrupting you're you're, you're a disruptor. Because you're providing more pathways for authors to get published. And, and yet like, as a, as a self-published author [00:12:00] myself, one of the things that has happened when I've tried to do it is stores and, and, you know, first of all, getting into libraries is very challenging. [00:12:09] The ALA is like, yeah, I don't think so. Uh, but, but at the same time, they often don't want to talk to you unless you have some sort of a company behind you. How does, how does the collective book studio. Maneuver in, in that space, like, because you have distribution, the smaller stores out there, more independent booksellers are willing to talk to you, or is there some other pathway that you can follow that just a single person might not be able. [00:12:39] Angela Engel: [00:12:39] Um, no we have full distribution is you've got you have to. So we're we partnered with, um, independent publishers group out of Chicago. They also own Chicago review press and triumph books to great companies. I personally am a huge fan of Chicago review, press. And I honestly, we started as a packager. I'm going to [00:13:00] backup like the collective book studio. [00:13:01] What is a packager is we will create books and then we will sell them to other publishing houses, less that have distribution. It's very common in the industry or we'll do proprietary work. Like we're doing these beautiful big custom board books for Costco. So we're, we're we're, this is very common, actually like a lot of publishers, 20 to plus percent of their list is, uh, is buy-ins or PA or pack from packagers. [00:13:31] Um, we also, we also create creative content. We have a whole series called the secrets thoughts of, and it's just us writing it. And it's like in cats and dogs, it's really cool. P w what I said in this article at PW is that we act actually very similar to a traditional house. When I, when I connected with Joe Matthews, I'm already saying, Hey, we are traditional publishing. [00:13:55] We are, we have content to fuel our trade list. Um, that you're going to [00:14:00] get revenue on. And in addition, I'm going to bring incredible clients with me that we vet that we have, uh, that they have a lot of say, but ultimately they're coming to us. So like, it's not like, okay, I want this cover. And it's this crazy cover with a bunch of purple volcanoes, you know, you know what I'm saying? [00:14:22] And like, we're like, okay, that will never work. Um, so they come to us with knowing it's in my contract that like, ultimately they have to, if they want trade distribution, be willing for this feedback, be willing for the work, be willing to say, Hey, you know what? All of sales, all of marketing, all of that, a trial is looking at this and the title and the cover really have to have this element in order for it to work the market. [00:14:50] And, um, all my clients are. Grateful for that. They're not, they understand that from the start. That's why I also say our [00:15:00] clients choose us as much as we choose that. Because again, in a partnership, I think we talked about this before the podcast. You're kind of all about collaborative, creative collaboration, which I really love, love that you said that because that is sort of my mission. [00:15:15] Is that in a partnership publishing. We have to agree and, and, and, and go together towards that end product. And I think that there are some people, um, who have been frustrated in the traditional space because they felt like, oh my God, I didn't even have any say. And then there's people, um, in the self-publishing base, like you say, you can't get into libraries where if you come through us, like I'm doing a TLA, a Texas library association, like big, huge getaway box, because I can't. [00:15:47] Because I have Matt major distribution  and they have booth space at those shows. Don't forget. They have actually, and I pay into that. So my, my company is listed in [00:16:00] trade shows too. The librarians know that they could easily buy us. And that we're, we're, we're a publishing house [00:16:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:16:07] accompany. And it's interesting because the what, what I kept, what I kept thinking to myself as, as I was listening to you talk was you're vetted. [00:16:16] Like they know that you will give them quality. Books too, to put in their libraries or to, you know, when you distribute them or all of that. That's some, that's something that, that a lot of sort of self-published authors don't have. They don't have that, that space of someone already knows me unless you're, you know, I don't know Scott sealer or something before he signed with whoever it is he signed with when he was putting his stuff out, people and people knew that he, that his. [00:16:43] We're good. And that they wanted them. Whereas for most authors, it doesn't seem like it's like that. So, so as I keep coming back to this word, disruptor, and you are, you are changing the industry because of this partnership model. I was wondering if you could talk a little [00:17:00] bit about what that actually means to you, what does being a disruptor mean? [00:17:05] And what is, what are you disrupting? Exactly. [00:17:10] Angela Engel: [00:17:10] Yeah. I mean, I'm going to go back to our friend house. Cause she said the best way better to publisher's weekly this week. Right? Then they quoted her, which is that sometimes it makes sense to go with traditional publishers who takes the financial risk and sometimes partnership publishing makes sense. [00:17:30] Especially when it's time sensitive, I'm open to both models. Why, what does that mean to me when she said that? And I read that and what that means to me is that I think we need to be open to both models because there's something called owning your IP, right. That we're all that people are. Uh, uh, sort of upset about in this [00:18:00] traditional space where, Hey, if I go with a traditional publisher and I own all this IP and I got to sign over my rights, but I want to create characters for Netflix or whatever else your dream is to do with the, with it. [00:18:12] Um, my model is disrupting the space because basically I'm licensing in some way for only, um, a certain amount of years, their IP. So you, so this is how we work. You create, we created. Fi and sometimes people don't want trade. Right. And it's just packaging. So we have definitely projects that are on our list that we just make books for for companies. [00:18:36] And they got a beautiful book and we're done. Then there are about 60% of our clients who really would like to be seen in the strand and at the library association. And so they signed a distribution deal with the collective book studio as part of our imprint, but I don't own their IP. I don't own that for life. [00:18:55] That is a huge, that's the disrupting piece, right? Is that I'm [00:19:00] actually saying to publishing houses, why are we so scared? Of saying of owning. For a lifetime. What is because Amazon has disrupted our industry. Let's be real. They have, people are going there way they want faster at eight. They don't want to have their IP owned. [00:19:20] So let's listen to what they're asking for. This is like, it's almost like we talked about movements. Look, I think enough people have spoken to say, I want to have a book. I really want to have a book and no one's listening to that. So I'm going to just do it online. And Amazon was saw that need. And now they have not only been able to do it successfully. [00:19:44] There are several, if not hundreds of cases, That are, that are hybrid services that offers certain kinds of editorial and great ways to make a really good book, which is important. You can get an editor and you can make a graphic designer through them, but they still don't [00:20:00] have the distribution piece. [00:20:01] Right. And so they're able to Le they're able to sort of utilize Amazon's ability for, for, uh, for sale. And, uh, still create some quality production in some way, but they still don't have the ability those services, because ultimately they hand it over to you and your left, right. As an author to do it all, to still do all the marketing, to do still all the PR and ultimately to print on demand or to do some offset. [00:20:34] Um, you're still left with that piece. And I sort of felt like, well, If I created an imprint at a trade imprint that people could, that was truly vetted. I could get the distribution because then librarians, booksellers. They trust what's on our list. Right. They know it's, it's been vetted through what I started this podcast with [00:21:00] really seasoned professionals for decades come from. [00:21:04] Don't forget places like random house Harper. Uh, Harper Collins, Chronicle books. I mean, that's where the staff, my staff come. [00:21:18] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:21:18] I keep having to take a second and take all of that in. We were chatting about earlier how this is just like having a cup of coffee together. So, so imagine that I'm taking a sip of my soy latte right now. Uh, so I love, I love, love, love that you're talking about the aspect of it, that, that, that you're giving this opportunity to people. [00:21:42] To not be holding the entire bag because there's this notion of playing to your strengths. You know, my strengths perhaps are the writing. They may not be the marketing and the PR and all this other stuff. And I feel like there are there for, for so many professions. [00:22:00] To wear a kajillion hats. You know, I have to be my accountant. [00:22:04] I have to be my marketing person, my PR person, my, this, my, that, my, the other. And sometimes I don't want to, sometimes I can't. And I'm talking about the general eye here. So, so you're offering. And you started it with the hope that you could write that, that I, that I think I can, that I'm going to partially because you have these seasoned professionals, but something in you seems like you're just, you're just like the eternal optimist, you know, like I'm going to be able to make this happen and go. [00:22:32] So can you talk a little bit about that? Like how. Your as the, as the CEO of this company, how does your state of mind affect the process, affect your collaborations with the people on your staff and also your collaborations with the authors that you take on? [00:22:48] Angela Engel: [00:22:48] Oh, I love this question. I mean, mindset is everything. [00:22:52] It's everything. Um, what a great question. I mean, look, entrepreneurship is hard [00:23:00] when you asked me how do my colleagues feel in my traditional. I want to go back when I first started the company, because now of course they're applauding, of course I'm getting this. Like, you know, and even in the very beginning I had really, I, I, in confidence, like I called a friend of mine who was high up at random house and I called a friend at Simon and Schuster and I called a friend at Chronicle and all of them were really, really supportive, but they were also like, Angela, we cannot offer you distribution. [00:23:28] Like you gotta go get like a million dollars in backlist sales. So. I had to say, okay, I, you know, it's not like I snapped my fingers. And I was like, cause when I first thought, okay, I'm going to snap my fingers and it's going to be pretty easy to get distribution with Ingram. No, and I'm an insider, right? [00:23:48] It was not easy. There were a lot of notes. There are a lot of like, honestly, I'm going to say. But it's really true. And I, I'm going to say it cause I'm a woman in my forties. Who's [00:24:00] climbed really high into my career. I taught before I was even 30 and there are a lot it's specially in the sales old boys clubs, they are just are in, in the, in the industry. [00:24:13] And it felt like I constantly was like, oh, that's, uh, that's, that's nice, but you're kind of young or you're kind of naive.  and then I'm in my forties. Right? And I'm like, wait a second. I have spent 20 years of my career and you're still treating me this way. I'm like, oh God. Now, so you know what I did? I just said, I'm just gonna, I'm just not going to listen anymore. [00:24:38] I'm going to internally. I actually have said this so many times to myself, to my friends on a popular podcast. I am going to just have this mantra change starts with you. And if I have this mantra for myself every morning or what I'm feeling stuck, and I think change starts with [00:25:00] you, I can do anything. [00:25:02] And so when you ask how I lead my team, It's I lead my team with that idea that like, okay, you're feeling frustrated or okay. A client is not doing right or, okay, this is not going on schedule. Oh, what can we change? What is it about you? What is it that we need to do? What is it that I need to do to move this forward on this project? [00:25:26] And I think my team and my clients. The one thing is even when I'm stuck, I use that as an optimism piece because I know that in my own 20 plus years, there has been people who had, do have not believed in me. And I just have to let that go, you know, like it just, and, and when you do you surround yourself? [00:25:52] Like, look, I'm here today on your podcast because I surround myself with people who do believe [00:26:00] in this power of lifting others up. [00:26:04] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:26:04] I yeah, absolutely. Again. Oh, I'm going to take it in for a second. No, because, because there, we were talking a little bit earlier about my, my mantra, which is creativity, compassion, and collaboration, and that, it seems like I can almost go well, Angela, that seems like it's kind of your mantra to that. [00:26:23] This notion that you're working in this very creative field. And you also have that analytical side too, that has to keep sort of the, the, all of the bowling pins in a row, if you will. But compassion is another word that I'm hearing from you, compassion for the authors, compassion for the process, compassion for the people on your staff. [00:26:44] That it's, that it's very sort of purpose driven, but also heart centered. If you see what I mean, and I'm, I'm just wondering a little bit about what, what that. Means to you. What now, w what leading from that space means to you both, [00:27:00] if you don't, if you don't mind sharing both in the business world and also in your personal life, because in many ways as the CEO, you sort of have to figure all of that out. [00:27:09] How are you going to divide the three girls that you have, you know, that you're a mom to your relationships, all of that. And how do you align that with the, the business that you're responsible for? [00:27:22] Angela Engel: [00:27:22] You asked some really good questions, you know, while you were talking, I'm thinking of this, this woman, um, her name is Susan Reich and she was president of like Avalon, which was this really cool publishing house. [00:27:36] They have like tons of imprints, one being seal, press one sources, great imprint. She ended up becoming president of, I believe publishers group west, which is part of Ingram. And. When I first, this is my biggest tip to any person find the really people who've all done it before you who've been able to, especially I [00:28:00] think women find a wa like I needed to find a woman in my life who had, who had already climbed such a ladder and had been in board rooms and was an exact, was such a boys' club. [00:28:14] That I could like sit down with. So when I first started this business and they have to be in your industry, so she was in my industry, she like understood my industry and I asked her to coffee. I didn't talk to her for years. And she took my coffee. Right. It's so excited. Like I'm 20 I'm 40 plus. And I felt like I was 22 and gap. [00:28:35] Right. She met me for coffee three years ago and she saw, she said to me, I love your idea. I think this is going to work. And it was like that moment for me. And I don't, I actually re emailed Susan, like about once I got like a lot of this once I got Fran Hauser and I told her, and we're going to re you know, it's been, we haven't seen each other with the [00:29:00] vaccines all now, rolling out. [00:29:01] Like we're going to, once everyone's fully vaccinated, we'll make a time to go get coffee again. But why I said this is you're asking me. Wait, remind me what my question is. I got on a little tangent, but I know I'm stringing it together. Um, do you [00:29:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:29:17] want me to remind you? Yes. Yes. So basically it's how do you align the compassionate heart-centered purpose-driven part of who you are with business and also your personal world and how you, how you figure all of [00:29:32] Angela Engel: [00:29:32] that out. [00:29:33] Okay. So this is my, my connection here. So Susan going out for that coffee, right? It's in some way, taking her time, I'm not paying her whatever she's showing compassion. She's like, I remember this young 22 year old sitting at the Xerox machine working hard for me. Right. Making sure my company succeeded, like really caring about my. [00:30:00] [00:29:59] And she now took that moment and had compassion when I said, I really need some advice. Right. And so I think that those things I lead with those things, cause I recognize. That those things about the human spirit, the human life, like what, when we show compassion to another human, right. When Susan's shows compassion to me, I, that it's almost like I'm a candle and it gets lit my combined fuel. [00:30:30] And then I have time to just give it to somebody else. The issue is when we it's, we need to keep passing that on to people. How, how I do it is I fi I have my little group of people. And when I'm feeling a little, like, Ooh, my flames out, it got as high as I needed to be. I go to the people that I know I need to refuel me so that I can refuel both my staff, my clients, my business. [00:30:57] And then in return [00:31:00] that that does create into my home life. Right? Like I, um, am not so good at RNR, to be honest. And either as my husband, he's a small business owner himself. He actually is a controller accountant for restaurants. So it is it's intense. I bet for my girls to have two small business owners in the time of COVID, but, um, my girls are alone. [00:31:27] There, there are the biggest champions of me, like my girls, for example, when my oldest who now is about to turn 13, she knows her mom from 14 weeks old. I mean, she doesn't remember, but she remembers if you won, you know, as, as she got older that I was always traveling, I was on the road every other month. [00:31:50] I mean, I mean every other, no twice a month, every other week, And, um, I was pumping, I mean, of course I was, I was selling to Costco. I was selling to target. I [00:32:00] was selling to buy, buy baby. I was selling to babies, RS at toys R us when that account existed. And so mom wasn't there in that same physical way. [00:32:08] So what I was Quinn was my kind of corporate lifestyle. She was already like eight or nine years old. Right. And I'm having a baby. My, my, my, my youngest and my oldest are eight years apart. There was a mom and I had a meltdown. I mean, this isn't about compassion and I just lost it. We were in the car and I was crying being out of the nine-year-old and I have a toddler and they want stuff. [00:32:37] They want to stop at the gap or something annoying. And I said, I turned around and the biggest cry I'd probably have to nurse. And my boobs are probably huge. And I just, I didn't have, for the first time in my life, I didn't have this like big. Job to like our nanny to pick them up or something. And I said, I turned around and I'm like, your dad makes all the money. [00:32:59] Why don't [00:33:00] you go ask him to take you? And, um, my oldest looks at me and she's like nine years old and she's like, mom, you can make money too. Oh yeah. And that compassion, that moment, that compassion, that realization. Oh, my God. I beat myself up. I've had mom guilt that I haven't, you know, wasn't able to go to her kindergarten, this or that. [00:33:27] My daughter actually sees me so differently that that's what motivated me to find the collective book studio. That's what motivates me every day. That kind of fueled that she was like, mom, you're a bad-ass. [00:33:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:33:44] Oh, that's amazing. I love that. And it's so it's so telling that sometimes we just can't see ourselves as well as the people who love us can see us. [00:33:55] There's there's a real powerful lesson right there. Wow. Incredible, [00:34:00] incredible. Thank you for sharing that, that, that's amazing that, that, and that you were aware enough. To take the lesson from that, you know, there are people out there probably would have gone. Yeah. Whatever, but you actually stopped and you actually took it in and that's, that's amazing. [00:34:13] Good for you. Wow. Oh, thank [00:34:16] Angela Engel: [00:34:16] you. You're the first to actually please set up that way. I, I appreciate that. I really do feel because I did ed take it in and I guess that's a tip. If people are listening, like take them smile. Moments in because you know what I realized my anger or what I said to my children. [00:34:37] That's not okay like that. Wasn't about my husband, like, you know, a partnership just like in my business, but in my marriage and in my relationship, which we've been together 15 years. Oh 16. It is a give and take, right? Like there are moments. Work work, got a share in the work. And so, and that's really what my daughter, who [00:35:00] I am. [00:35:01] She, I got to tell you these 13 year olds who could be an eighth grade next year, they're about when they taught. I don't know. I just want to say like, the way that they're intelligent about gender is just incredible. And I think in that moment, my daughter was really able to say, whoa, bomb, check yourself. [00:35:21] And she was only like nine years old. [00:35:24] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:35:24] And she said it an old in the way a nine-year-old would write she, and she'd write to the point. I love that. I love I'm so glad that you're raising such aware kids. Good for you. No, because, because honestly, I spent 20 years working. I worked at NASA for over 20 years and I was teaching, I was traveling and teaching kids how to save the planet. [00:35:44] That was my job. It was awesome. And, and, and you see, seven-year-olds teach. College professors because the college professors think they know everything, but the seven year old is the one who actually does it's really quite it's quite something. They were able to do it. They were able [00:36:00] to, to, to teach them these valuable, valuable lessons. [00:36:03] And that brings me to a question that I would love. Yeah. Chat with you about, um, this notion of teaching others of, of showing compassion and also just being giving back, I guess, you know, what, what is your thought on that? Because I know that your business and you personally, you're a philanthropist, right? [00:36:27] So. Role does giving back, does philanthropy play in, in your business model and also for you as the CEO of that business? [00:36:38] Angela Engel: [00:36:38] Okay. Yeah. Um, well, I, again, I mean, I think that if we wait around always to say, okay, um, who else was going to do this? Or I don't like it this way, or we have that kind of mindset. It nothing will change. [00:36:54] Right. It's like, so I, um, In the ho in the [00:37:00] start of the pandemic about, you know, now a little over a year ago, um, one of my closest friends was an ER ICU doc here in Oakland. And we all know there wasn't enough PP, um, E there was not enough medical face shields, uh, for, for our frontline workers. And instead of being sort of thinking about, well, gosh, you know, What am I going to do? [00:37:27] What can I do on a publisher house? I thought, you know what? I couldn't link up with one of my friends. Who's a small business owner, herself. Who's out of work a fabricator, and we're going to, because we're a business, we're going to be able to wire money over to DuPont and make medical face shields. And people would be like, what is a publishing house? [00:37:49] Why is she doing this? Right. So why my, why is that? My best friend was working nonstop in the, in the ER [00:38:00] ICU, ER, my home. Is very, very close to Highland hospital, which is, um, account, uh, you know, it's from the county hospital as a public hospital, which is a lot, so there's a lot of low income and, um, round and brown and black people and people of color and color and low income. [00:38:20] And it's literally down the street from me. There's. And I'm, uh, I'm an Oakland business. And so I felt it was my duty, my right, even though I might manufacture books as a community. Paying taxes and being part of Oakland and this hospital and my, my friend wasn't at that hospital was at a different one, but then I, I really, um, sort of networked myself to San Francisco labor and, and said, Hey, what do we need? [00:38:49] And the clinics around here from Santa Clara county low-income clinics to the Navajo nation, because it grew right. We're not just our new Keeler, small bids. [00:39:00] And our little area, you start small in your community. I guess that's my biggest advice. If you don't know where to start, start in your community and it will grow. [00:39:07] Like all of a sudden I was getting pinged by friends who had connections to the Navajo Navajo nation. And if you allow yourself to say, okay, I'm going to give myself this little time to be an activist in this particular school. And you open yourself up and you fought, like we're saying, we collaborate with other people who you can network with. [00:39:27] I ended up giving money over to a nonprofit to really maintain all of it because I have to go back to my real business. Right. But my work is not over in that moment. That's one side. So what's my next project. Like I'm working now on a book that, where we did a big, I fund women campaign and our goal is to. [00:39:48] And, and, and sell thousands and thousands and thousands of copies of this little tiny book, which is called eat cake for breakfast, which who doesn't want to eat cake for breakfast. And it's the, and it's [00:40:00] written by this incredible full, uh, entrepreneur and philanthropist, um, violas, um, soon Tonto. And she wants to be able to give back to UCS AF Oakland children's hospital. [00:40:12] And we connected, um, during the pandemic. We, we went on a walk and she, her daughter had a rare, um, a rare bone, um, bone condition, and she needed to get treatment at UCF and she wanted to be able to give back to this hospital. And so I said, well, I'm already manufacturing books. I already have staff. I already have people. [00:40:39] Um, and, and the mass distribution, if you want to run an I fund women campaign so that we have money to manufacture this book, I'm happy to provide, you know, my marketing team or PR team and, uh, and an operational team to get this book into the room. And [00:41:00] that's what I also would say. If you are a small business and you want to give back, sometimes you are able to just because you have a certain capability in manufacturing, if you think about all the places where they made masks to donate or other things. [00:41:14] It's finding those things. I also know that giving back it can be so easy. What did I say? I just buy my books now from bookshop.org. They've raised over $12 million to independent bookstores across the patient. Like that's also activism. If you just think about what your business or who you are, can do and give back. [00:41:37] I mean, for me, When, when black lives matter really was at the forefront of everybody, it was a fight. It was my duty for my kids to go out there into the streets to make signs, to see it. But it was also not enough. Like we ended up sending face shields to Minneapolis, to service, for example, children's Minnesota [00:42:00] hospital to help people during the riots. [00:42:02] Like, I just think, you know, what is, what is my take back? Like I think that if my company. Uh, you know, there's only so you can, you can there's money, but you can never, ever buy time and you can never buy humans. And like, I guess that's just my that's part of my philosophy in life. Like I, you could have all the money in the world, but that does not give you back your people and your time. [00:42:29] And that's what, that's what I want to see when I'm old and gray and maybe sitting on a beach. What I've been able to reflect who my, who I've touched. I mean, that means I have, that means the world to me. That's my personal thing. So my company, I mean, I, I do books. I do stories like I'm grateful every day, what I do, because I do think words changed Matt and words changed lives. [00:42:58] They create. [00:43:00] [00:43:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:43:00] For sure for sure they do. And I'm, you know, on behalf of authors everywhere, I'm so grateful that you are doing what you're doing. It's amazing. So I have, I have a. I got a [00:43:12] Angela Engel: [00:43:12] little, um, I got really passionate there. [00:43:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:43:14] I know. I love it. [00:43:16] Angela Engel: [00:43:16] I love it. What did I just talk about? [00:43:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:43:19] This is great. I think it's so important. [00:43:21] No, because, because we are not just what we do for a living. Right. And if you can, and if you can, to be the most successful person is the person who does what they love. And, and then, and then there's a wonderful quote by, um, In the book, givens decline and fall by Sheri Tepper. And it, I it's my favorite quote. [00:43:42] Like it's what I live by. And, and it it's a little bit of dialogue, but I have to tell it to you in case you've never read the book. Uh, it's about a woman who has since died, but she started a movement and somebody is talking about what she used to say, and this is the quote, find your sun warmed stone. [00:43:58] She used to say to [00:44:00] us, go there, build your house there and then lift others up. I love that quote so much because that, that notion of, yeah, you can do it, you can start your business, you can write your book, you can, and once you've gotten to that point, help someone else, you know, and it sounds to be like that. [00:44:18] Oh yeah. [00:44:20] Angela Engel: [00:44:20] Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, God. I'm doing a party dance over here in my chair. Like I love that quote. I know, that's [00:44:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:44:30] it. Once you've done it, pull others up. That's that's what we can do. We can help, we can help those coming after us. And so, so having said that. Brass tacks here, Angela, if somebody says, oh, I've got a book in me or I've written a book or whatever, and they want to find you, they want to, what are the steps to getting involved with collected collective book studios? [00:44:52] What would you say someone should do when they want to do that? When they want to reach out when they want to follow you? When they want to say, Hey, could [00:45:00] we work together? [00:45:01] Angela Engel: [00:45:01] Yeah, well, this would be my advice at any publishing house, whether it be mine or you were interested, you were a poet, you, I, and it was edgy. [00:45:09] And I would maybe recommend go looking at soft skull press, like, look at what we already do. That is really key. So read, like, what is lifestyle? What is children's? What are gifts? Titles? We have a titles page who are we publishing? Um, follow our authors and follow us. I think that will give you a good sense. [00:45:29] Do you think you're going to be a right fit for our last, um, I'm very education. I'm very into parenting and the career development. Um, I have a beautiful book coming out on labor and delivery, labor and delivery. Of course I am a mom of three, like, but how we even package this labor book is very gifty. [00:45:48] Like my goal is, bye. Bye baby. Here, like looking into, um, really, so kind of look at our books and think about. Are we the right fit as if you're writing a novel, like that's not [00:46:00] what we do, right. So it's not, it's necessarily not, I'm not going to be able to really help you there, but it's a memoir. We also don't do. [00:46:08] Now. I'm always willing to. Slide into my DMS, right. Which is at the collective book studio. And I'm happy to like give ideas on, uh, plates for a memoir or for a novel if I can, because I I'm very have been in the world for so long. So I have like 20 years and I might know a small, independent press that you're not thinking about. [00:46:29] And I think that, so, so for us, I love food and wine. I love Diane. I love, uh, anything travel full visual. Children's like, think about how that book is going to be structured. And if it's not full visual, then it should really be in like the self-help career motivating, uh, parenting space. But we would, but not, but the business it's not hardcore business. [00:46:56] Does that make sense? Some of that's not really my genre either. [00:47:00] It really is. We're really a trade house. We really trade publishing. We're not going to have. A big academic reach. And some people may prefer to go on it to an academic press, for example, like UC Berkeley or something like that. So I think it just, no, I think it's really about knowing what your why is and what your purpose is and what you're trying to achieve with your own book and then, and then approach us. [00:47:24] And I'm always, you know, willing to take a look there's, there's no cost for an author for us to look at it. It's a submission [00:47:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:47:31] process. Right. Absolutely. And, and I thank you for, for that. A lot of people don't know that very specific and very good advice that you just gave, look at the imprint, see what they're already doing and see if you would be a fit there before you even pitch them, which I think is so important. [00:47:51] And. I, I have just a couple more questions because honestly, Angela, I could keep you here for the next six hours and we could just [00:48:00] keep chatting and order more coffee. [00:48:02] Angela Engel: [00:48:02] Well, I do want to know more about your NASA days. I'm like, wow, that's a story. Can we come on? Aren't you going to write a children's book with me and we do need more women in stem for sure. [00:48:12] Okay. Well, [00:48:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:48:12] and that's exactly actually, that's what I did. I, it was environment earth, so. And, uh, my, my job was to go in and make dirt fun. That was, [00:48:22] Angela Engel: [00:48:22] oh my God. Well, we could talk for really, I mean, obviously we need more women in stem, so I applied there and, um, and I know I'm going on. I'm not told tangent need to pick it up, but I'm very curious about it. [00:48:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:48:38] Well, we'll have to have a virtual cup of coffee sometime. No, I mean, the thing about the thing about NASA and one of the. That what, what you do and what I do, where it intersects in some ways is because I was, I would go into places, either teaching kids or teaching scientists, how to speak to kids. A lot of it is they, they, they speak very eloquently, but [00:49:00] they speak at very high levels and eight year olds. [00:49:03] You said what you know, or they check out. And so my job was to help scientists learn how to speak to eight year olds in a way that the eight year olds would find fun. And so then I took that and I wrote a book all about a called speak from within. So seed. Now I've put it all back into the publishing realm about how we can communicate in a way that will be really, really. [00:49:24] Dave, particularly if we don't know how or if we're nervous about it. So, so when we're talking about that stuff, when we're talking about NASA or when we're talking about, you know, writing for kids, what, to me, what I'm talking about ultimately is communication. And so for you, with what you're trying to do with what you're already doing successfully, it seems like what are your goals? [00:49:51] 2030 years from now. What do you want to see in the publishing industry? From collective book studio and also perhaps the industry [00:50:00] itself? [00:50:01] Angela Engel: [00:50:01] Hmm, 20, 30 a year. Okay. So I'll be, what does that say? Over 70 and 30? Yeah. When you're, [00:50:08] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:50:08] when you're like, when you're on the beach and you're going, I have done all of this really cool stuff. [00:50:14] Angela Engel: [00:50:14] What are you thinking? [00:50:19] Well, I want a New York times. I want a New York times bestseller. I don't want to see, I want to see a time where independent publishing women own pub presses are back on those bestseller lists. Like it's 89.9% big houses at this point. And the big houses just aren't getting huge speaker. I mean, they're just all buying each other up. [00:50:41] They're buying. I guess, I, I guess I believe in the power of like community and words, I think I need my dream. I think I need to, some of the more famous writers that might not need the huge, huge advances and want to try something completely different. Like, I almost like need them in [00:51:00] partnership with me, but I think that's possible. [00:51:02] I think that people. Um, can work with us in a way where you can't get still a traditional deal. And there are still some books that bull make sense for your traditional house. I think I want to disrupt that industry idea that like, you have to stay all the time in traditional house. And if you don't, you're going to get like blacklisted, right? [00:51:23] Like. What or like I self published and I can't now get a publishing deal. What? That doesn't make sense. People like, let it go because of the end. Let it go. Because the media, like if you have something to stay in, you're a nonfiction author. They're going to, you have something to say and you deserve to say it. [00:51:46] Like, I don't think in 30 years someone's going to go, oh God, I had a, I had a self published book and God, I could never get a true D like no, like stop all of that kind of competitive attitude. And instead [00:52:00] let's figure out how we're going to still maintain. Right. This is really cool. For me, the reason I am still very picky about the submissions is I do have concerns with self publishing, for sure. [00:52:16] Um, there's things like, like blinders people have where you may put something that it could be offensive, racist, those types of things. And without a traditional guard, really looking at same with media, right? Like without traditional media really looking at it. There is room for hate speech. We saw that on Twitter. [00:52:39] All over. Right. We've saw that, um, across the board and what that kind of insinuates in our culture and in our communities. So if traditional publishing, we need to change, we still need to be guarded for things like that. And that's why I think if I look 30 years ago, I raised on the beach. Maybe with you. [00:53:00] [00:53:00] They're like having a beer. Champagne. And we're saying we're still, we're still saying to the country, like you can't have hate speech. You can't have to pictures of people in a certain light, right? Like that's what the Dr. Seuss enterprises did and shelves, six books and random house agreed with them. And like, there still needs to be that guy. [00:53:21] But why also does, um, that guard have to control all of distribution? I have no idea why and all of people's IP. And so maybe I'm hoping, you know, whether that be Simon and Schuster, all my colleagues were like, oh, laughing. Cause we've kind of decided. We're going to change that mindset, that access that snobbery, that sometimes does exist in my industry. [00:53:43] And I think the reason I'm talking to you today, or the reason sometimes I'm on clubhouses, that I want people to understand that there's people internally inside my industry that are, that are not so snappy that don't want to say, oh, only the elite have access to publishing. That's not, [00:54:00] that's not okay. [00:54:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:54:02] Once again, I love that. You said that [00:54:06] Angela Engel: [00:54:06] what's true, right? Like I, you don't have to be a celebrity to get, like, why are celebrities getting a cookbook and someone who's been a chef and going to culinary school and is a writer for, you know, even like top columnists in journals are not getting published. [00:54:21] Like that's not. [00:54:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:54:22] Okay. Well, and that's the thing is that you. With your company are offering the opportunity for people to do that. You know, I mean, that, that to me is sort of the key takeaway for me here is that it that's where you're disrupting, you know, that that's, that's where things are really changing and, and more power to you. [00:54:43] I think that's. That's incredible. And again, I have like 45 more questions that maybe you'll come back and do a part two of this interview, uh, because, because I'm having such a wonderful time chatting with you, but I recognize you have a life to get back to. So I would love [00:55:00] it if you wouldn't mind, uh, giving just I put it in the show notes, but people learn differently. [00:55:06] So. Where people can find the collective book studio as far as on Instagram or on LinkedIn, wherever you are and your website, so that I can also put it on the show notes. I would appreciate it very much. [00:55:18] Angela Engel: [00:55:18] Thank you. So our website is the collective. Dot studio. Very easy. It's just the collective book.studio. [00:55:28] And then on LinkedIn, you can just reach out to me, Angela angle, our companies on LinkedIn, as well as the collective books or, you know, so both places, but I, you know, feel free for people to DM me. I love LinkedIn. It's one of my favorite platforms. Um, we also are active on Instagram at the collective book studio. [00:55:47] We don't have Twitter, you know, there's only so many things we manage, but we're so visual that, um, Instagram or LinkedIn as a personal or our website, I would love people to [00:56:00] subscribe to our newsletter. Um, we have a newsletter that's growing that goes out twice a month and it's really great. We have. [00:56:06] This column called read with us, and we give all kinds of tips on what we're reading as a staff. And I don't believe that I have to only tote my books. I get, I really talk about the industry. We have, we have blogs that we write. So I just asked for people to build community with us and to engage with us. [00:56:24] And, um, Yeah, that's part of the fun. [00:56:27] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:56:27] Absolutely. And I can say as a subscriber to the newsletter, that it is a lot of fun and I've gotten some great reading recommendations out of it, so, yeah. Good. Thank you. So again, Angela, I'm super grateful to you for being here. Really? What a, what a joy to talk with you? [00:56:43] I have just one last question and I ask it of everyone who comes on the show and it's a silly question, but I find. The question often yields some pretty poignant answers. And the question is this. If you had an airplane that could sky write [00:57:00] anything for the whole world to see, what would you say [00:57:08] Angela Engel: [00:57:08] change starts with? [00:57:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:57:10] Ah, your mantra. Yes. Yes. That's fabulous. Thank you so much, Angela. I appreciate it. It's great. It's a great, beautiful. I can see it in the sky. [00:57:21] Angela Engel: [00:57:21] I've never been asked that question. Oh my God. If that actually happened. Oh, I would I'll remind house in Oakland. I would just be smiling. I am smiling ear to ear right now and looking out at my porch and my blue sky can imagine that. [00:57:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:57:35] I know. Right. Thank you so much for that, that this has been a fabulous chat with Angela angle, who is. The CEO of the collective book studio, you are going to obviously need to follow her and the studio on Instagram and on LinkedIn. See what they're doing. See how they're disrupting the entire publishing industry. [00:57:56] I am Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset [00:58:00] podcast. If you're liking what you're hearing, please rate and review the show. I love it. I'd love to hear from you. I love your comments as you know, and if you're a writer, get in touch with me because I'm always, always thrilled to talk to other authors until next time. [00:58:13] This is Izolda Trakhtenberg again, reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [00:58:25] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. If you'd like to be a sponsor of the show. I'd love to meet you on patreon.com/innovative mindset. [00:58:43] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters. Today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always. Please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future [00:59:00] results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative minds.    

Business Coach and Entrepreneur Star Hayward on How Women Can Reclaim Their Unique Gifts and Succeed This episode is brought to you by Brain.fm. I love and use brain.fm every day! It combines music and neuroscience to help me focus, meditate, and even sleep! Because you listen to this show, you can get a free trial.* URL: https://brain.fm/innovativemindset If you love it as much as I do, you can get 20% off with this exclusive coupon code: innovativemindset   Star Hayward is a Business Coach, Spiritual Mentor, and Transformation leader with over 20 years of combined experience. Her mission is to empower women-entrepreneurs to own their worth and their voice so they can achieve the freedom and fulfillment they desire in their business as confident, feminine leaders, through self-love mastery and heart-centered business strategies. Connect with Star FB Business Page: https://www.facebook.com/ascendingheartacademy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starhaywardcoaching/ Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@starhayward LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/starhayward/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYyV4qBjOuobSQIGhuveigw Website https://www.ascendingheartacademy.com/   Episode Transcript Star Hayward 2 [00:00:00] Star Hayward: [00:00:00] When you feel that calling inside of you, it does not go away. [00:00:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:10] Hello. Welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. I interview peak performing innovators in the creative social impact and earth conservation spaces or working to change the world. This episode is brought to you by brain FM brain FM combines the best of music and neuroscience to help you. [00:00:28] Focus meditate and even sleep. I love it and have been using it to write, create and do some of my deepest work because you're a listener of the show. You can get a free trial head over to brain.fm/innovative mindset. To check it out. If you decide to subscribe, you can get 20% off with the coupon code, innovative mindset, all one word. [00:00:48] And now let's get to the show. [00:00:54] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg I'm your [00:01:00] host, and I am super thrilled that you're here. I'm also really honored and thrilled to have this week's guest on the show star Hayward. And first of all, I love that. Star Hayward is a business coach, spiritual mentor and transformation leader with over 20 years of combined experience is to empower women entrepreneurs to own their worth and voice so they can achieve the freedom and fulfillment. [00:01:22] They desire in their business as confident feminine leaders through self love mastery, and heart-centered business strategies. You all know how close that is to my heart. So I'm thrilled to welcome star. Thank you so much for being here star. I'm so glad to be speaking with. [00:01:37] Star Hayward: [00:01:37] Thank you so much as all that it is truly a pleasure to be here with you today. [00:01:42] I've so look forward to this conversation. As I know it's going to be on a very high level and we're going to have a lot of fun and so welcome to all of the audience for being here and stick around. This is going to be great. [00:01:56] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:01:56] I, I believe so, too. Thanks so much. Let's [00:02:00] let's get down to brass tacks. Okay. [00:02:01] We were just chatting before we started recording about your philosophy. And I love this philosophy that you are working with something, all the divine feminine and the divine masculine to help specifically, it looks like women entrepreneurs own their leadership skills and really move into their strength and power. [00:02:23] What can you talk about as far as what divine masculine and divine feminine mean? When. We're in we're we're both. We come from both man and woman as babies. Right. That's how babies are made. We all know that. So that means both man and woman is inside us. How does that relate to what you do and what is the divine feminine? [00:02:43] Didn't divine, masculine. And how can you apply that to your leadership? [00:02:49] Star Hayward: [00:02:49] Well, so this is such a powerful question and, and I believe that it will be best answered if I lay a little bit of context [00:03:00] behind divine, feminine and divine masculine, you see these together combine what we know as divine power and empowerment is. [00:03:10] Very alive these days, does it? Not everyone talks about wanting to come into their power. And when we are talking about coming into our power, what this really means is that we are identifying. Action between our external, our, which is defined as our ego power and our internal power, which is our inner power, that inner strength that we are looking for to build from within. [00:03:41] So when we are looking at what that power really means, and, and how do we harness that the distinction of the divine feminine and the divine masculine, which are both branches of defense. Divine power in and of itself. If you were to combine the two, you, [00:04:00] you are in your divine power. So again, as we look at what does inner power really mean? [00:04:09] I am very impassioned by the, the learnings and the perspectives of how the feminine and masculine channels of energy run through us as human beings. And I'll explain more about that and what I mean. So as you, as you noted, we are both masculine and feminine, right? We are a combination. We have these qualities that run in and throughout us, because it's a part of the dual reality that we came in here as human beings to experience in, in the third dimension, as we are on planet earth. [00:04:48] This is a very unique experience in that. Here we have duality. We have right and left. We have up and down. We have black and white. We have love and hate. [00:05:00] So as human beings, we define our experience. By way of this polarity seeing the polarity, right? So, so th it's this polarity that we have running through us that is expressing itself as the feminine and the masculine energies and how these show up are through our personality, our qualities, our behaviors, and really how it is that we navigate making choices and taking action in our lives. [00:05:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:05:35] Wow. Okay. So there's so much to what you just said. We have, we have, uh, we have, we have these already, as you said, inside us. And then we have to develop them from within and yet we get a lot of messages. As far as what are stereotypically feminine traits, stereotypically masculine traits, the messages are there in all, in all marketing commercials, [00:06:00] advertising, you know, I remember those, those commercials from the seventies, you know, I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and she's a woman because I'm a woman. [00:06:09] Right. So, so, so those are, that was a really bizarre, I think for me as a child to see, because I just felt like a person, I didn't feel like I was. Bound by a specific set of behaviors. So when you work with your clients, how do you work around some of their preconceived notions about some of these stereotypically masculine or stereotypically feminine traits? [00:06:34] Star Hayward: [00:06:34] Yes, absolutely. So as women and what you were just speaking to, we know that we have been conditioned and curated to. Climb the ladder of success in society by, by very masculine parameters. And in order to meet these masculine parameters, often a woman finds [00:07:00] herself disconnected from her natural innate feminine qualities. [00:07:07] And I'll explain a little bit more about what I mean by that. So if a woman is in the masculine. Uh, energy of, of creation and innovation and going after, you know, making things happen in her life. The, the masculine is a very motivated energy. It's very deriving energy. It's a generative, generative quality is a difficult word to say sometimes. [00:07:35] Um, and, and the masculine energy is very much about acquiring, right? So for example, Men tend to be very good at sales because they, they have no fear behind asking for the sale because they're their eyes on the prize and that they will often, you know, a man in balance with his divine [00:08:00] masculine will. [00:08:01] We'll close a sale by way of a respectful, you know, honorable in Integris conversation and, uh, collaboration, right? A math, a male that is out of balance in his divine masculine will use fear based tactics and even shame. To close a sale with a client or a customer. So this is a perfect example of where if a woman steps into that and she is taking on these masculine qualities that again, have her, uh, sacrificing or abandoning her emotional, intuitive sensitivity. [00:08:46] Sensitivities in a very positive light, right? This is another conversation we could go into about emotional sensitivity for women. It's actually a very [00:09:00] natural, natural, innate quality that women have. That's very much needed in our world, but it has been asked to be set aside so that in our. Masculine and patriarchal dominant society. [00:09:17] Um, for in, in order for women to really become successful and become visible, acknowledged, and even valued on the level that they, they know that they're worth and that they desire. It's, there's so much shrinking to fit. And again, I'm really sacrificing and compromising her emotional, um, and. Intuitive sensitivities in order to get there. [00:09:44] What happens is, is this woman becomes very good at the masculine behaviors and in doing so, she often feels disconnected from her work. From her vision. She [00:10:00] feels burnt out. She will feel overwhelmed. She will feel inauthentic and. The result is losing luster and losing passion for what her vision is as a business owner in the first place. [00:10:15] So, and then there is also, um, you know, again, going after building a business with that inaction motivated energy. Day after day after day after day, we'll burn really anyone out. So this is great for men and women to pay attention to that, to see where you can bring the feminine qualities. Magnetism attraction, ease, flow, intuition, abundance, connection, service, and tribe. [00:10:49] When we really start to pay attention to how important those are, and then also. The ways in which we can bring those into [00:11:00] the fold, into business as you're bit you're, you're building a business and becoming a leader within yourself, then you're starting to leverage the masculine and the feminine in a way where it's coming into balance and you can see where, okay, I'm going to use, you know, my motivation here and I'm use my intuition here. [00:11:27] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:11:27] That's fascinating. And it brings up a question for me that, uh, that might be a whole nother podcast episode. The thing that, that I'm con sort of curious about, and a little actually also concerned about is that what room is there for there to be a strong. Feminine, an active dynamic, motivated feminine. [00:11:53] Is there such a room in the paradigm that you work in or is it just that, those, [00:12:00] those more active. Qualities are assigned masculine, uh, traits or, or assigned as masculine traits and the qualities of more sort of soft emotional intelligence, intuition, emotion, all of that are assigned more feminine, uh, delineation, I guess. [00:12:19] What is, what is the role of a woman who goes, no, I don't believe this is masculine. It's more me being a strong, confident woman. And those are very feminine traits because I am a strong, confident woman. How does that align or reconcile with the way that you have broken things? [00:12:40] Star Hayward: [00:12:40] That is such a great question. [00:12:42] I love this. Um, yes. So I will start by explaining that each person has both the masculine and feminine energy channels running through them. I call them your inner king and your inner queen. Hmm. And so these channels run through each of us. [00:13:00] However, we each have our natural masculine, feminine ratio and there is no right or wrong whatsoever, but there could be a woman who feels very dominant in her masculine aspects and, um, and her feminine aspects, you know? [00:13:18] Taking the backseat. Whereas another woman could feel very dominant in her feminine qualities and her masculine is really taking a back seat. Now, there again, there is no right or wrong either way. Uh, Where are your ratio falls? Like for example, you may be 70% feminine and 30% masculine, or you might be 60% feminine and 40% masculine as an example. [00:13:46] Um, it really doesn't matter what your ratio turns out to be. I personally, actually, my ratio is 50 50, uh, remarkably enough. And there are many people who do have this, this balance of [00:14:00] the ratio. However, It goes deeper than that. And this is going to answer your question, I believe. So how will, you know, you are imbalance and either is really by being aware of and examining your behavior and your reaction or triggers to certain circumstances. [00:14:23] In addition to how it is that you are. And what it is you're creating in your life. So if there are things that you are creating experiences that you're finding yourself in circumstances that are occurring, that feel out of alignment with you, that something is off something isn't fitting, right. It's not feeling right, and it's not truly what you want. [00:14:50] This is a very good indication that something is out of place. And usually it's something that's out of balance within ourselves, [00:15:00] because everything we experience in life is truly an attraction and a creation from what we are broadcasting from within. So, yes, you're the answer to your question is yes, there is room for a very strong, powerful female to do, be large and in charge in her business. [00:15:21] Yes. Absolutely. And there is room for that soft, empathetic, nurturing, feminine, uh, business owner to also be empowered. And large and in charge in their business in a different way, right. There's room for all of it. My work that I do is to help my clients identify what is standing out of balance. What is out of alignment and what is showing up. [00:15:50] That's giving us information to bring that into balance. And often it has a lot to do. With healing that is, um, that [00:16:00] is needed from deep seated, you know, childhood wounds, where, where there, the individual has come out of childhood. Um, You know, not having all of their needs met, um, on a fundamental level in terms of being unconditionally loved by their mother and unconditionally championed by their father. [00:16:26] I wrote an article about this recently, and I go into more specifics about that. Um, but yeah. Truly the imbalances of our inner king and our inner queen. You could call it our inner child, our inner girl, our inner boy really do root for him. The experiences we have when we are young and impressionable and we're, you know, we're learning from the environment that we're in. [00:16:53] So it really depends on what we were given, what we weren't given. And as we come into adulthood, [00:17:00] This is where we start to see. And, you know, as we come into adulthood as business owners, as innovators, as creators, and we have these visions and we have these passions and we want to go after, you know, what it is that we want to create and the, you know, connecting with your purpose and, um, You know, being driven by a ripple effect, being driven by, you know, wanting to create change in the world, um, in a positive way, whatever that may be often. [00:17:30] As a business owner, it's very common to come, you know, very up close and personal with your limitations, your limiting beliefs, um, your, whatever it is. That's holding you back as self minimizing self-sabotaging behaviors, um, and patterns that all root from those formidable years. So I'm really passionate about. [00:17:58] Lifting up and [00:18:00] inspiring and, and giving women the tools to overcome and break through so that they can be that leader so that they can fulfill their vision. Because so often I find women pack it up and pack it in when the going gets tough because they don't have the support and they don't understand what's going on there. [00:18:23] They're motivated and inspired and they're taking action to a certain point. And then it's like the brakes come on. And they're like, wait a second. I don't know if I can go any further. I think I'm going to go back to the job back to the nine to five and then their vision. To the wayside and it's, it's heartbreaking because we need leaders and we need change makers and we need positive change and humanity as a whole is ready, is ready to rise is ready to ascend. [00:18:57] And it's time. This is the era for the [00:19:00] divine feminine for the feminine leader to step up and step in and really take this. You know, be the beacon and take the torch and, and like the way so that we can bring as a whole, our experienced from a very patriarchal society, not swinging the pendulum over into a matriarchal society, but so that we can come into balance. [00:19:26] And even if the pendulum rocks and wobbles here and there, that ultimately we're living in a much more harmonious exists. [00:19:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:19:37] That's so fascinating. And it's interesting that you mentioned the pendulum. If, if we look at a pendulum swing and we go from patriarchy, we can't immediately go to balance. That's not how a pendulum would work. [00:19:49] Right. It would be the physics would necessitate that it would go pass that balance point over into say matriarchy in order to eventually even out into some sort of [00:20:00] balance. So with, within that, how do we. Uh, as, as people, as women, uh, who are interested in coming into balance, how do we navigate that? How do we navigate the setbacks? [00:20:16] How do we navigate that pendulum swing in a way that we, it will eventually balance, even if it's not going to balance right away, or even if it, as you said, will [00:20:24] Star Hayward: [00:20:24] wobble. Yes, absolutely. So it all starts with them. Right. So just like I was mentioning before, everything that we're experiencing outside of ourselves is a reflection of what we're creating inside of ourselves. [00:20:41] So when we want to come into balance, when we want to yeah. Spotlight and lift women up so that they can take the stage and, you know, carve out space or for us to shine and for our qualities and our gifts and our value to really come [00:21:00] through so that we can bring balance into the world so that we can, um, Lean more into oneness and wholeness, um, together that all starts from within. [00:21:15] And so I would say to that, uh, Zelda, that it begins with a desire, a burning desire for that woman to overcome whatever it is that's holding her back and then finding support. With that desire, opening up to receiving support, opening up to receiving the right information at the right time that she needs for the next step and, and a deep commitment. [00:21:42] It really requires a commitment to what it is that she knows she wants and that she knows she deserves. And, and really holding, you know, holding the belief around that conviction. [00:22:00] Um, and then again, opening up and trusting and finding her way into, uh, calling in all of the support she needs. Because like I said, this is a, it's a transformational experience when we're talking about. [00:22:18] You know, basically walking through the fire, you know, is, is how I call it walking through the fire and burning these aspects of the self down so that you can rise as a Phoenix once again. And you know, we've all been, if you've lived long enough, chances are you've walked through the fire a few times and you're going to walk through the fire again, it's an ongoing process, but there is a time. [00:22:46] And, and a place where, where a person has, has, um, held back and played small enough and they're done. And that, that moment in time is, [00:23:00] is so crux. That moment in time is crucial. And it's at that moment, that that person, that woman has every reason to open up, to receive everything she needs to help her. [00:23:15] You know, see her through to the other side so that she can become who she needs to be to be that empowered leader, um, and fulfill her soul's purpose. [00:23:28] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:23:28] I'm taking it all in for a second. That was, uh, that was a lot of really fascinating information. And it feels to me a little bit like, like there's a leapfrog effect here. [00:23:42] Like we. We have to get to that point. As someone who's decided to make these changes, you have to get to the point where you're, you know, you make the decision and then you're ready to, but for a long time, especially a woman who. As you said, if you live long enough, [00:24:00] you've probably gone through the fire, but you've also probably, you know, been passed over for promotions. [00:24:06] You've also probably had sexism directed at you. You've all seen, you know, things have happened to just about all women in, in that way. So how do, how do we get to that point? Do you have any suggestions? And if you do, what are they. To building that awareness that you might want to change before we even get to the point where we're, I'm going to call star and get business coaching. [00:24:28] How do you get to the point where you build the awareness that it might even be something you need? [00:24:33] Star Hayward: [00:24:33] It begins by understanding that in our life, you know, back to this polarity, this dual reality that we're living in. We, we are being shown what it is that we want and what we don't want on a daily basis by way of our emotional, mental, um, and nervous system, you know, [00:25:00] our by way of our physiology, you know what? [00:25:03] We like lights us up and it feels good. What we don't like. Doesn't feel good. Right. So, so it's understanding. Okay. That felt good. That didn't feel good. I want to feel good. I w because that is my natural, you know, birthright is to feel good and understanding. Okay. What, what is happening here and what it, what is what life is showing me on a daily basis is an opportunity. [00:25:32] It's an opportunity for me to curate what my personal preferences are. And as I identify what my personal preferences are, then I can lean more into those. And it's like, It's like following the crumbs on the trail. Right. And I would say in addition to that, um, you know, increasing your awareness for everyone, who's listening to this, um, is too. [00:26:00] [00:25:59] Open up and find your way into surrounding yourself in the environment of people who lift you up, surround yourself around people who make you feel good, who are inspiring to you. You know, I would say if you're the smartest person in the room you're in the wrong, right? Sure. For sure. Yes. And so it's with that desire. [00:26:27] Behind the desire. There, there is, there is a commitment there, right? There's a desire. But that, that, that, um, I believe that everyone has the ability to commit to their dreams. Everyone has the ability, but then to overcome the hurdles of where the fear set. That is really the work that each of us has to do in order to create and to cultivate anything that we've never done before. [00:26:57] Anything that you've never done before [00:27:00] requires you to stretch outside of your comfort zone, because that's where change occurs. That's where change occurs. So, um, to answer your question, I would say two. You know, keep paying attention, keep paying attention. And if you are in experiences that are, you know, feeling, um, oppressive to you and violating to you, then this is information. [00:27:30] This is information. You are out of alignment with what it is that you truly desire and you're the true essence of your being quite honestly. And so then with that information, one can take that in and say, okay, What kind of change do I need to make, and then finding the courage to make that change. And that's why a supportive community is so important because when you surround yourself around the [00:28:00] people who are making those changes or who have made those changes, you need that inspiration and it's it's reinforcement, right? [00:28:09] It's we learn by repetition. So we want to put ourselves into the environment where. Our bodies and our minds and our spirits and our souls, our hearts are being filled with what it is that we want. I call it, you know, healthy body nutrition, healthy mind nutrition. So, um, so again, if anyone is finding themselves in a position in their lives, uh, where they don't feel respected on the level that they want to be, it is time to start respecting yourself. [00:28:45] And time to get fierce about that time to get, uh, radical about accepting yourself first and starting to learn how it is that you can love yourself more and more day [00:29:00] by day. And I promise you, you know, what? We focus on grows, what we focus on grows and. So everything that we create in our lives has everything to do what we're focusing on. [00:29:12] So if you want change for the better, then you start focusing on what it is that you want to change. And I always say the best place to start, and this is what I do for myself every single day is I make feeling good. The most important thing am I life? Feeling good. So when I catch myself thinking a thought that doesn't feel good, I stop. [00:29:32] And I replace it with one that does, when I find myself taking an action that doesn't feel good. I stopped with my awareness and I replace it with something that feels good. If I'm thinking about contemplating, maybe spending time with somebody that I actually don't really want to spend time with. I stop and I draw my boundary for myself. [00:29:55] And then communicate respectfully that this is not what I desire [00:30:00] at this time in my life. Right? So you, you have, you have got to start valuing yourself more and, you know, back to the external power, you know, when, when we reach outside of ourselves for love, when we reach outside of ourselves to feel empowered, right. [00:30:18] That that's not, that's not authentic. It's not going to be authentic because the only person that is going to care more about you, how you feel and your dreams is you. And so you have every reason to be the become that person that believes in yourself. And that cares about how you feel and cares about your dreams more than anyone else. [00:30:45] More than anyone else. And this is this enters into radical self-responsibility. Which I, which is a part of, you know, what I fold into my transformative process is teaching [00:31:00] women how to become radically responsible for the life that they're creating by way of who they are being, who they are choosing to be in their life, the identity that they are choosing to body embody. [00:31:12] So are, are they choosing to embody scarcity or are they choosing to embody abundance? And, um, and it's pretty, um, clear which one it is. And when we identify that, then we go to work. When we start, um, making the changes and setting the tools and practices into place in order to transition from the scarcity identity, into the abundant identity. [00:31:41] And that is where you. Cultivate that internal power, that inner power, that divine power from within, [00:31:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:31:55] sorry, I'm sorry. I'm processing. [00:31:57] Star Hayward: [00:31:57] I know this is very, very [00:32:00] deep. It's [00:32:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:32:00] very deep. And, and, and yet on some level it's. It's funny because there's a part of me that's going well, of course. Right. And yet it's not something we, we think about. It's not something we, we give ourselves the opportunity to spend a lot of time on because people have to pay the bills and make sure there's food on the table and clean, you know, clean the kitchen sink or whatever. [00:32:29] So, so this seems like it's almost a part of, this has to be. Integrated, if you will, into, as you said, your day-to-day life, but something you said very early on that I think sort of ties into this beautifully is you set the words, purpose led, and I, I wonder how does a purpose led life or a purpose led business? [00:33:01] [00:33:00] Combined with, or integrate with this, this feeling of internal power. How, where do those meet and how can a woman use that fire in order to start or grow a business? That's going to have that purpose behind it. [00:33:20] Star Hayward: [00:33:20] Another amazing, powerful question. I love this conversation. Yes. Um, so. When, when you feel that calling inside of you, it does not go away. [00:33:35] Do you know what I mean? I know, you know what I mean? Because you are living your purpose led life. And, and there's a moment when, when that light bulb goes off, there's a moment for everyone when that voice speaks up inside of you. Now, when you answer the call is up to you. And [00:34:00] sometimes it takes a long time for people to answer that call because they have created their life to fit within a set of expectations that they have upon themselves that other people have put upon themselves, you know, wanting to, um, and feeling the need to fulfill this picture. [00:34:22] That is what society dictates. Looks like success and achievement, right. And reward. And so often women find themselves feeling very empty and men too. But we're speaking about women here, um, find themselves very empty because they went after. All of these things and setting all of the, you know, the career success, becoming the mother, doing, you know, being, get their health and fitness and all of these things. [00:34:53] And I work with women like this. So I'm speaking from my own professional experience [00:35:00] where they've climbed the ladder. They've achieved amazing success in their careers, and they feel absolutely empty inside. And they start to question why I don't get it. I is it that I feel so empty. I have all of this I've achieved so much and I have all of this. [00:35:19] And yet I feel like I'm just a shell of a person and I don't feel connected within myself. And it's in that moment, often, it, you know, it's different for everybody, but it often takes coming to a place of, again, being in the experience of a profound experience of what you don't want. To wake up to what it is that you do want, and when you're ready, that voice will speak up. [00:35:49] And when that voice speaks up inside of you and it says, allow your purpose is calling again. It just won't ever [00:36:00] go away. It. I know this, I know this. And, um, and so then it's, that is the opportunity. That's the invitation. The invitation to say, okay, okay. I get it. I'm here for a reason. I'm supposed to be doing something else now, crap. [00:36:18] I've got to figure out what that is like. Oh no. Now I have a really big problem on my hands because not only, you know, is it a deep discovery and self exploration for, for many people? Some people comes very easily. It's like, oh yeah, that was right before me all, all along like, oh, let's do this. And then for others, it's like, oh no, I got to figure this out. [00:36:42] I've got to find out. And no matter what the process is of becoming connected to your purposes, something that I actually help women do is to really excavate and find out what that soul expertise really is. And then we layer on all of the. Um, [00:37:00] the skills and training and, um, skillsets and knowledge and attributes that they've acquired along the way. [00:37:08] But, um, no matter what the process is or how long it takes for you to get there, the invitation to step into a purpose led life truly is. An invitation to enroll in Ascension school. Like I, you know, and I, and I think, you know what I mean, too, because in order to really truly fulfill your purpose, again, it will, it will bring you face to face with your, all of your fears, all of your doubts, your limiting beliefs, and all of the layers that you adopted that had you creating your life. [00:37:50] Well filling the expectations of others, or maybe it was your own that didn't, didn't really match. And wasn't really in alignment with you. You have to [00:38:00] then figure out how to peel all those layers and start to find a new perspective and a way to put a new meaning on things so that you can start the shift and let go of. [00:38:15] Um, the perspectives and, you know, maybe some of the values that don't serve you and where it is that you want to go. And that is all part of the becoming who you need to be in order to tap into that inner power to find that inner strength to step into your purpose level. Um, so yeah, answering the call of your purpose, um, The byproduct of that in order to truly answer that call and fulfill that vision, uh, the by-product is that Ascension school, which will take you through a, quite a transformative journey [00:39:00] and into your, into your path. [00:39:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:39:03] Wow. That was amazing. So I could keep you here for the next six hours and we can chat, but I know, I know you have a day to get to, and I, and I want to thank you so much for being here. I have just a couple more. Questions, if you don't mind. And I have one last one that is, uh, that is a question I ask everybody who comes on the show, but we'll get to that in a second. [00:39:28] You said something that I, that I think is really interesting. You said that that self-love and, and being heart-centered being centered on your own heart can lead to that purpose led business. And I'm wondering how, how does someone who. Hasn't gotten to that point or maybe has gotten to that point, how do they take the next step? [00:39:55] What is the step that will allow them to innovate? What is the step that will allow them to [00:40:00] make those, those changes? Maybe even on a global scale, what does someone like that need to do? [00:40:06] Star Hayward: [00:40:06] Great question. Um, yes. So as you were pointing to, there are some people who wake up to what their calling is, and then they. [00:40:17] You know, they embrace the path to get there and then others. Are you, it's almost like a reverse engineer. They need to embrace the path and then they fail. They get to their calling, but then there's probably going to be more or work on the other side. So is Y you know, with, with my, with my, um, business, it's called ascending the heart academy. [00:40:41] And, um, and what I have created and ascending heart academy is the. Inner and the outer, uh, transformative journey so that, um, I meet each and every person where they are at along the way. So if we need to start with [00:41:00] heart work, if we need to start with the self love. And getting deeply connected and the, you know, deep, you know, exploration of the self that's, where we began. [00:41:12] If I'm working with someone, who's like, I already have a business, I'm thriving in my business. It's going great. I'm ready to go to the next level. Um, but I, um, you know, shaking in my boots. I don't know how I'm going to do it. I don't know how I'm going to manage a team. I don't know how I'm going to be the leader. [00:41:29] Then we go to. Um, starting there as well. So it's a very customized, very exclusive, um, wa very customized and exclusive program that I offer. Um, so I hope that answers your question that, yeah, it's, it's essentially, um, it doesn't really matter where you are. It just matters where, you know, you want to go and it begins with just asking the question, who [00:41:59] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:41:59] am [00:42:00] I Pema Chodron? [00:42:02] Who's a Tibetan Buddhist nun wrote a book called start where you are. And I, it sounds like you are thinking along the same lines as, as she is. Uh, so I, first of all, star, I want to thank you so much for being on the show. As I said, For another six hours, but I, but I realized that that I need to curtail my curiosity a little bit. [00:42:23] Uh, and, and perhaps sometime you'll come back and we'll, we'll delve even deeper, deeper, deeper, see, I thought star and then the big dipper. And then I was, and then I, and then I was off to the races. So, uh, so would you mind if somebody says, I need to know more about star Hayward, how would somebody. [00:42:42] Finding you, where, where can you be found online your website? If you could just say them, I'll put them in the show notes, but I'd love it. If you'd say them because people learn. [00:42:51] Star Hayward: [00:42:51] Sure. Absolutely. So my website is ascending heart academy.com. My email address is [00:43:00] star@ascendingheartacademy.com. You're welcome to follow me or DM me on Facebook, uh, which I am star Hayward on Facebook and on Instagram at star Hayward coaching. [00:43:13] I'm also out spar Hayward on club. And I co host rooms weekly, multiple rooms throughout the week. Um, you can also find me as an, uh, an executive contributor to brains magazine. In addition to this, as at global network. Um, yeah, I think that pretty much covers it. [00:43:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:43:35] All right. Cool. Thank you that way. If somebody wants to find you, they have adequate ways of doing so. [00:43:42] So here's my last question. And as I said, it's one, I ask everyone that comes on the show. It's a little silly, but I find that it yields some poignant answers. And here it is, if you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? [00:44:05] [00:44:00] Star Hayward: [00:44:05] You are pure love. [00:44:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:44:09] I love that. That's wonder what a, what a delight. Thank you so much for that. It's always interesting to me to see how people answer it and almost always it's, it's just poignant. It's so it's powerful and deep, even though the question itself is rather silly star, once again. Thank you so much for being here. [00:44:26] I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the innovative mindset podcast. [00:44:30] Star Hayward: [00:44:30] It was a pleasure and an honor as all that. Thank you so much. I look forward to future conversations together. Me too. Maybe [00:44:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:44:37] we'll meet up on clubhouse. [00:44:39] Star Hayward: [00:44:39] Uh, [00:44:41] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:44:41] that'd be great. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I am here to remind you to. [00:44:47] Right. And review the show. If you're liking what you're hearing, let me know what you're thinking and also to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. See you next time. [00:45:00] [00:45:00] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you. On patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:45:18] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset. *Thanks for supporting the podcast. If you purchase brain.fm through the link above, please note, I will receive some compensation.

Business Advisor, Crypto Aficionado, Husband, and Father, Chris Niemeyer On How to Forge Your Business Life So You Can Prioritize Your Goals Chris Niemeyer helps business owners design a business lifestyle they love by working smarter, not harder. As a business advisor and consultant, Chris' FREEDOM Business System™ helps you work in your sweet spot so you work less, make more - and spend more time with your loved ones. For years Chris ran his first multi-million dollar company mostly alone. When he became a father, he systematized, hired, and raised up a team to run his business so he could be more engaged at home and travel with his family. Nowadays you'll find him coaching and consulting other entrepreneurs on how to work smarter, not harder by systematizing your business. He's a family man to the core and is likely with his wife and 4 young kids at a beach in Florida or coaching their sports activities when not traveling the world together. I believe we were all created for a purpose and need to get realigned to that. I help people overcome the obstacles that get them stuck so they can work in their sweet spot and live an extraordinary lifestyle. This show is about talking with purpose-driven people. Connect with Chris Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisniemeyer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niemeyerchris Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/niemeyerchris Website: www.ChrisNiemeyer.com   Episode Transcript Chris Niemeyer [00:00:00] Chris Niemeyer: [00:00:00] One thing that I I'll even tell clients or friends that asked me a similar question about this is, you know, they say, boy, it's just seems so risky to go on your own to, to be an entrepreneur. And, you know, there's so much risk involved and that could be true on one hand, but I still, you know what, it's also kind of risky to stay in a job that maybe you don't love and really at the end of the day, Your employer calls the shots. [00:00:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:30] Hi, welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:52] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy [00:01:00] me a cup of@buymeacoffee.com slash Izolda tea. And now let's get on with the show. [00:01:15] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg. I am so happy that you're here and I'm really honored and happy to have this gentleman here on the show today. And there are myriad reasons. One of which is we've both been students in the same. Classes. So you're going to hear us probably giggle about certain things. [00:01:34] Might Kim Lauren Davis, if you're listening, you know, we're talking about you, Chris Niemeyer helps business owners design a business lifestyle. They love by working smarter, not harder as a business advisor and consultant Chris Chris's freedom business system. You know, I love that already helps you work in your sweet spot. [00:01:53] So you work less, make more and spend more time with your lover. For years, Chris ran his multi [00:02:00] check this out. His first multimillion dollar company, mostly alone. When he became a father, he systematized hired and raised up a team to run his business. So he could be more engaged at home and travel with his family. [00:02:12] Nowadays, you're going to find him coaching and consulting other entrepreneurs, how to work smarter, not harder by systematizing your brain. I need all the help I can get with that. So I'm really excited to talk to Chris about it. Chris is a family man to the core and is likely with his wife and four young kids at a beach in Florida or coaching their sports activities when not traveling the world together. [00:02:32] Wow. Chris, thank you so much for being here. [00:02:34]Chris Niemeyer: [00:02:34] . Izolda thank you. It is a pleasure. You have some amazing guests and I have listened. You have. A great communicator and interviewer. So I'm just excited to be here. Thank you again for the opportunity. Oh, it's [00:02:46] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:02:46] my pleasure. My pleasure. I appreciate your kind words. [00:02:49] That's very sweet. I, I wanna just, I want to jump into something that you said. And I adore it. You said that you believe that we were [00:03:00] all created for a purpose and we need to get realigned to that. I would love to hear from you what you mean. First of all, we were all created for a purpose. And what purpose would that be? [00:03:10] Is it individual or is it something that's, that's bigger than one individual person and how do we get realigned to our purpose? What's the process someone would go through to, to be able to do that. [00:03:24] Chris Niemeyer: [00:03:24] Yeah, great question. Well, and, and I, I, I'm going to speak through and kind of talk through, I guess my, uh, my, my lens of faith. [00:03:30] So I just believe that there's a greater purpose that we all have. And, um, and so I think that regardless of your, your belief system or whatever, we're here for a reason, and there's those kind of three existential questions that I'd like to talk about. Who am I, why am I here? And where am I going? And I think sitting with those questions actually frequently, you know, whether that's on a, an annual basis, if you're kind of a planner and it's like, okay, turn of the turn of the calendar year is about to happen. [00:03:58] What did I learn this year? You know, what, what am I [00:04:00] good at? What am I interested in it? And how can I apply that toward a purpose here on this earth to serve others. So I've, I've just been able to. Take action on that over the years. And, and let me tell you, and then we can talk about a story about this, but it's not always been pretty and I've. [00:04:17] Misaligned in seasons two and had to kind of get back into that. So, uh, I'm, I'm a huge fan of just finding your purpose and, and living that out. [00:04:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:04:29] I'm taking all that in for a second. It's so interesting to hear you say that you're a fan of finding your purpose and living it out because I know that there are a lot of people out there who, uh, sort of, they, they, they, they live their lives to do their work. [00:04:45] And they perhaps watch jeopardy and this is not insulting jeopardy. Right? I love jeopardy. But, but the point is that it sounds to me like you're talking something that, that is a calling that's bigger than the day-to-day stuff of life. And I'm wondering [00:05:00] what the process is. What is, what is that, that you go. [00:05:04] Uh, is it a dissatisfaction like, oh, I, I, I don't want to watch jeopardy tonight instead. I want to go out and change the world or whatever. What happens to someone when they get to that place of either doing that assessment like you do, or finding that they're perhaps dissatisfied with their status quo and want to change it? [00:05:22] What would you expect someone to be going through at that moment? [00:05:27] Chris Niemeyer: [00:05:27] Well, I guess if I may then let me just share it a personal experience. Probably your listeners here and others that have these kinds of stories. And sometimes frankly, we don't want to talk about them, but, um, I've just. Okay, to be more open about it. [00:05:41] So my first career back in my early twenties of, of all things was in the political world, which is frankly, in our political climate, embarrassing to say, but, but you know, at an early age I got, I got thrown into, uh, leading, uh, the largest political action committee in Southern California. [00:06:00] And so I was around all these, you know, movers and shakers and big business people and had access to, you know, congressmen and all this stuff. [00:06:07] As an, as an early 20 something, it was a fascinating experience. And I learned a little bit about that whole world for a few years there, but it was also never ending. It was one of those. Do you remember the Blackberry w seven connected to the Blackberry? Oh, yes. There'll be iPhone today, but, uh, uh, yeah, these are early years, so. [00:06:29] It, it was just this kind of frenetic pace. You know, we, we were identifying candidates to run for office fundraising for them doing some lobbying. It was a never ending cycle. And I just remember this, this particular evening. And it's just one that you'll never forget, right. Is I'm just considering just the pace of life, by the way. [00:06:48] My, we had gotten married early on as a couple. And so my wife had gone back to school and we were just living this fast paced life and. There was this particular evening where I'm just [00:07:00] driving home. This is from downtown San Diego. You know, city skyline is in the background, uh, in my rear view mirror. [00:07:07] And I'm driving up, uh, north, north San Diego, right near the Miramar air force base. There's these fighter jets only as, you know, brave pilots going by is where they filmed part of top gun. Right. And I'm just thinking about man, what it must be like to be one of them. And they're just, they're they're bravery and, and no limits and all this stuff. [00:07:25] And I'm reflecting on just I'm feeling kind of boxed in and, and running ragged, you know, and, and just am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? And a song comes on the radio. I'm listening to the radio song comes on the radio and it's by a band called Switchfoot and it's. It's lyrics starts singing out over the radio, says, this is your life. [00:07:46] Are you who you want to be? This is your life. Is it everything you dreamed it would be? And, uh, you know, I, I don't know how God speaks to people, but sometimes maybe it's in different ways. He's spoken through donkeys before. To me, it was, he was [00:08:00] speaking through the radio that day. And, and I think, I just remember pondering those words and then starting to just literally cry out. [00:08:09] This is not the life I meant to live. This, this is not in alignment with who I am and my values. Um, I found myself, you know, compromised in certain situations in that political world. And I literally had to pull over to the side of the road because I had to wipe the tears from my eyes. Cause I couldn't see. [00:08:26] And it was that evening when I waited for my wife to get home. That I said, you know, honey things have got to change. We've got to get back to, we have misaligned. I have misaligned my life and let's get back to what we're supposed to do and who we are. And literally that night as all of this is when we started this kind of process on a back of a napkin, we started listing out the things, what are we interested in? [00:08:51] You know, what do we start. What, what do we, you know, decent good at? Where do we want to go? What, what, what, what just motivates us and fuels us. And that was the [00:09:00] start of my first kind of entrepreneurial journey, again, just realigning. So I think there's people that have those stories where they either hit rock bottom, or they realize that. [00:09:09] I watched too many Jeopardy's in your example, I need to get off the couch and do something. [00:09:15] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:09:15] Yeah. It, it is interesting that what you just said, that you, that you went okay, what, what, what am I good at? What do I, what do I love? What, what are the things that bring me joy? And it took a huge amount of self-awareness I think, to be able to do that, that you went, that you'd realize something had to change, but then you had the. [00:09:36] Okay, let me step back and figure out what that is. And so when you did that, when you were in that space and you and your wife, and, and it's wonderful that she was there with you, you know, that she, that she supported these, these changes that you wanted to make. What was the next step? How did you go from, I work in politics and I'm not happy to the Chris I'm [00:10:00] talking to today who is, seems to be super happy. [00:10:03] And, and, and you're doing your own entrepreneurial journey all the way to today. How did that happen? [00:10:12] Chris Niemeyer: [00:10:12] Yeah. So literally taking that first list that we created, uh, along alongside that list, we had a values list and kind of what we anticipated for the next five years of our life as well. So really kind of vision casting too, and going from a, you know, a young, young, married couple to, Hey, we want to have kids. [00:10:29] And if we're one of kids and raise these kids intentionally and well, What's that going to look like and what is our, our time availability with them. So we, we outlined, I want to have a, a business that if she chooses to, she can stay home and raise the kids. And, and so I, I began literally that next week approaching some of my mentors and saying, Hey, I'm making a pretty big decision here, but I'm gonna leave this political world. [00:10:54] And, and what are your thoughts? And a few of them in the same week gave various [00:11:00] similar recommendations. And they said, Chris, you know, you, you're the kind of guy that you need to own and operate your own company. You need to find out what it is. You're passionate about. What is you're good at? So taking that list that we did and, and something bubbled to the top at that point in our lives. [00:11:17] This was back in 2006. And, uh, my wife had worked for travel companies in the past. So she was engaged with that. We love to travel. We also had background in, in missions and kind of giving back to the community and the world. And so missions and travel. We were married together and took my business experience and kind of her marketing and that awareness of that area. [00:11:37] And that was our first business. It was mission travel. We still own it to this day. Um, just the travel coordination, all that comes with these amazing trips that people take around the world to make the world a better place to, to give back. And so that was the foundation of our journey and it was one where, Hey, it's a home-based business. [00:11:55] I'm working from my laptop. I can choose, you know, when I want to take it. [00:12:00] Break to play with the kids or, or not. And, and, and so that was for us kind of how we started that next step. [00:12:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:12:07] I love that you're location independent. That's really cool. And it's, I feel like I'm dancing around a question that I want to ask, and I'm not quite sure how to ask it. [00:12:18] You went from, you went from being someone who had a job who was working for others too. Too, you know, you shifted to having your own business. What, what, what was that like? What was the, what was, you know, this is the innovative mindset. How did you innovate? What did you do after the, the business that you've the first business that you started to get you okay with it? [00:12:43] Because the thing that concerned. Honestly is that there are a lot of people who think that they could be entrepreneurs, but actually they might not be well suited for it. Or there are a lot of people who are well-suited to be entrepreneurs, but they are staying sort of stuck in [00:13:00] a job because they might be nervous or scared. [00:13:03] How do you tell what is the, the best way for your mindset to shift in order to be able to do what you've done? [00:13:15] Chris Niemeyer: [00:13:15] Yeah. Great, great question. And some complexities there too, but, um, you know, one thing that I I'll even tell, tell clients or friends that asked me similar question about this is, you know, they say it's point it's just seems so risky to go on your own, to, to be an entrepreneur. [00:13:31] And you know, that there's so much risk involved. And that could be true on one hand. Um, but I say, you know what, it's also kind of risky to stay in a job that maybe you don't love. Really at the end of the day, your employer calls the shots, your employer or your market, or your industry is the one that is deciding, well, you have a job or not, to me, that's risky because you don't have control. [00:13:58] You don't have the power to [00:14:00] make and pivot when, uh, an industry shifts or something happens as an entrepreneur. We have that ability and that maneuverability to. Tick and tack and Zig and zag. Right. And so I think there's, there's that awareness that it's like, well, I feel comfortable and, and safe in this job, but am I really, and I think that's a big step to just have some people understand is entrepreneurship while it might sound risky. [00:14:29] For me, it's pretty exhilarating because you have, you have quite a bit of control over how things go and, and, um, I think that's a big mindset shift mindset shift that people, uh, need need to do. [00:14:41] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:14:41] Hmm, there's something in. So, so fascinating about that. I don't know if you know who Tom Peters is. He's he's, uh, an author he wrote in, in search of excellence. [00:14:53] He's sort of a leadership guru. One of the things that he says is that the leader's job is [00:15:00] to support the people they're leading so that they can shine. And so if you're an entrepreneur and you are. And you're the business, the owner of the business. How do you reconcile this notion that you just, that you just stated about, about, you know, you, you have a lot of control too, I guess, hiring or developing the team that will help the business, but also that you can support so that they shine. [00:15:36] Does that. Th I, I hope that that question makes any sort of sense because it's a complicated one. [00:15:43] Chris Niemeyer: [00:15:43] Yeah, no, it is. And there's, there's a lot to unpack there. I think, um, you know, predominantly. In our culture, you know, perhaps, and maybe worldwide, there are just a lot of unsatisfied employees because they don't have the right kind of leaders, whether that's the [00:16:00] manager or the CEO or the C-suite folks, a lot of people are, they're just punching a clock. [00:16:04] And so they're not in satisfaction or alignment with their job, but there are those great exceptions of leaders who say, let's, let's make sure that everyone here feels they've got a purpose. They've got a role, you know, Starting as an entrepreneur, especially as, as a, as a solo preneur to, to start with like a lot of us, we're the ones wearing all those hats, right? [00:16:26] We're we're the salesperson, we're the founder. We're the chief marketing officer. We're the finance bookkeeper. We're, you know, janitor, whatever it is. And as I explained to my coach in class, A lot of those hats are uncomfortable. A lot of those hats, frankly, don't fit because you're supposed to be wearing maybe one, maybe two hats roles in general. [00:16:47] And there's other great people that fit those other roles with their own abilities and skillsets. And so it's your job as, as the leader, as the entrepreneur to bring in those right people. And I got [00:17:00] to that point, you know, years after mission travel, when I was still a preneur who was busy doing that at all, and then realized like, you know what, in order to. [00:17:09] Scale this and keep, I keep my sanity, frankly. Um, I needed to hire the right people who are gifted, talented, and motivated in those areas. Does that help answer that question? It [00:17:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:17:22] does. It's just, you know, like I follow Gary Vaynerchuk, I follow Tim Ferris and the things that they say are very similar to what you just said, that you have to hire the right people. [00:17:35] And Gary Vaynerchuk goes, go so far as to say, you know, hire. And fire fast. Right? So, so that if it's not the right person, uh, then, then no harm, no foul. You've had your 90 days you're out. And that sounds kind of harsh, but that's kind of, it looks like what he does or what he used to do. I don't know if that's what he does still with VaynerMedia. [00:17:56] So, so what is your thought on that, on that [00:18:00] notion? How do you find. The right people so that you can eventually sort of delegate and systematize your business so that you can play to your strengths. [00:18:11] Chris Niemeyer: [00:18:11] Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of common, common answers there in terms of making sure that there's an alignment with various tests or assessments or programs that, you know, to kind of screen and vet employees. [00:18:22] And I think that those are good. And I use, I use a lot of those, you know, everything from. Myers-Briggs and disks and all those kinds of assessments that we probably hear about in the work workforce. Um, but then, you know, I have a lot of things just in the interview process too, where it's like, tell me what you would do in this situation, you know, and just give them a lot of like this open-ended questions to really kind of understand their mindset, who they're, who they are, who they're coming from. [00:18:47] Um, you know, they're, they're joining you in, in a different culture too. And so you need to make sure that the culture is a good fit. You know, with my travel company, that's all worked from home. I [00:19:00] have employees that are scattered across the country. So I need to make sure that if you're coming from a, a regular brick and mortar retail store down the street, that you're going to be comfortable working really kind of isolated. [00:19:13] Um, you know, we've got. Chat features and video and all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, you're, you're kind of isolated and how are you with your time? And so just asking some of those questions about some of those things, to ensure that it is a good fit, um, you know, resumes, assessments that all helps, but sometimes just those really qualified open-ended questions can spur some dialogue and, and maybe raise some flags as well. [00:19:39] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:19:39] Yeah, I can, I can, I can imagine that notion of. Sort of disseminating, figuring out who, who is right for a role and who might not be right. Would be, would be, you know, it is important. And it's also, it seems to me that your. Uh, sort of [00:20:00] perspective and correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm just sort of putting words in your mouth, but your, your perspective seems to be that you can't do it all and you shouldn't do it all right. [00:20:08] In, in, in, in, in building or, or running your business. So if that's the case, If you can't do it all, how do you get to that mindset shift? We're going to be talking about shifts a lot, I guess. How do you get to that mindset shift that makes you go okay. I, for me personally, I I'm just accounting, accounting. [00:20:29] I, I want to run away screaming every time I have to do it. So, so if that's the case, how do I, as, as the, as the, um, I'll be the test subject here. How do I do that? How do I let go of the, of the need to do it all? A and how do I, uh, how do I assess someone in something I'm not good at? Like, if I were to hire an accountant and I'm not good at it, how, how do you know as a leader? [00:20:58] How do you know if you're not good at the [00:21:00] thing that you're trying to hire for? What do you need to do in order to make sure that you will find the right people. [00:21:08] Chris Niemeyer: [00:21:08] Yeah. Great. Great question. Um, so from a mindset perspective, I think it's just understanding too, that again, back to that hat analogy of all that you're having to do and all the hats you're wearing your business, understanding, recognizing I don't have to wear them all. [00:21:24] In fact, I shouldn't wear them all. If my business is going to grow and scale to where I want it to be. And for me to just work in my sweet spot, I've got to delegate. I've got to let other people. Do that. And that's, that's one thing. I mean, just taking a look at your business and go, if you have to show up every day, day in, day out, you know, hour by hour doing the routine maintenance tasks that you're doing in your business. [00:21:48] I hate to tell you, but you don't really have a business. You have a job and you've got multiple jobs. All [00:21:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:21:54] right. Many, many [00:21:55] Chris Niemeyer: [00:21:55] hats, right. Hats. Yes. And so you've got to understand that. [00:22:00] If I want to make this a business, things need to change. And, um, gosh, if we have time in another story that was really foundational for my business to, to pivot and to shift in a big way, was that realization, um, cause I mentioned, you know, we start our business without kids and, and then now we have. [00:22:18] Well, I remember when we got pregnant, right. My wife and I was, we were still in the business and she was like, okay, I'm pregnant. I'm having, I'm having this baby. This business is your baby. Now I'm running it. You know? And I just remember being so excited to be a dad for the first time. You know, we'd waited several years to have kids and, and just eager to, to meet him, to bond with him. [00:22:40] And so when that first baby came, I mean, I was pretty, pretty darn involved. I mean, really to like the point. You know, I roll here because it was like, you know, the, the baby would get up in the middle of night and cry and need to be fed. And I'm like, you know, flipping the light on honey. I'll, I'll get him from the crib and I'll bring him to you and I'll rub your back and we'll fight over who gets to do the diapers and all that [00:23:00] stuff. [00:23:00] And, and I really felt a close bond, you know, with him at that time. Well, fast forward a couple of years later, okay. Our business had grown substantially. We had, we had scaled a bit more, but I was still. Really wearing too many hats. I was doing too many of those roles, bookkeeping, like you just said, I was still doing bookkeeping at the time and just kind of going, oh my gosh, if I'm not at my desk or on the phone, like business, isn't getting done. [00:23:28] Well, sun number two comes around and, and I'm just busy and I, I, I need the sleep. And so, you know, maybe I was, I was maybe useful the first few nights or a week, but it quickly turned into. You know, eyes are closed the middle of night, honey, the baby's crying. Can you go get 'em I'm going, gonna, I'm going to roll over and go back to bed. [00:23:53] Well, something happens and it was, it was it's rocked us to the right. Uh, two months [00:24:00] into, into his birth and I'm not feeling the bond with them because I'm not around them and doing all this stuff. Uh, my brother and sister-in-law were coming down to, to spend the weekend and get to meet Noah for the first time. [00:24:12] And we're waiting up by the fire forum and they call in and say, Hey, you know what, we're going to be late. Just go to bed. And we'll, we'll catch up with the guys in the morning when we get there. And so we threw a few extra logs on the fire head upstairs, put Mila down in his crib. Well in the middle of the night, about one o'clock in the morning, we get this loud knock on our bedroom door and seconds later, my brother bursts in the door and says, Chris, your house is on fire. [00:24:36] Get out. And you know, we're just bewildered. I'm not sure what's going on. And, and my sister-in-law comes in. Grabs no out of his crib meeting him for the first time. And we throw on some blankets and jackets and rushed out of the house and sure enough, our, our roof was on fire. And, you know, we call the call, the fire department. [00:24:57] They were able to come pretty quickly and extinguish the [00:25:00] fire. Well, the next morning when we, I go back to the house to meet the fire chief and our insurance adjuster. And, and as he brings us in the house and starts assessing the damage and talking about what they've discovered, we begin walking upstairs and, uh, I'm getting goosebumps now, but just, I'll never forget that that feeling of when he flung the door open. [00:25:24] And he's talking and we look up and there's a big gaping hole in the ceiling and you can see right to the sky. And as he's talking, I looked down and right down there is our son's crib that was crushed and with charcoal and he is describing that this is the first place that the structure fell. Wow. And I just remember being cut to the core. [00:25:54] And going, I almost lost my son, who I didn't even feel a great bond with at that [00:26:00] time. And I remember driving back to the hotel where we're staying and just processing all that and realizing Chris, some things have to change in your business. You just have a job and multiple jobs. And so you've got to get the right people. [00:26:17] To come in and help you out. And that was a really pivotal time for us to make some big adjustments, make some big hires. And I remember going into that hotel room and my wife didn't know any of this, the time I had to tell her a lot about that, that circumstance later. But I just remember grabbing no in my arms. [00:26:36] It's two months old now just kissing his little bald head and going things are going to be right. Um, and, and that was just the start of a new chapter in our business, a new chapter in our life where, you know, I wanted to be a super present father. I didn't care what the business was going to do or how it was going to scale. [00:26:55] I just wanted to be engaged and active as a, as a daddy. That was my biggest [00:27:00] role in the, in the most comfortable hat that I wanted to wear and knew that everything else would, would work itself out. So for me, that's just one of those examples stories of going. You have to get to a point where you realize those roles. [00:27:15] Aren't going to work and you've got to find the right people to getting engaged with them. So for what it's worth, I don't know if that answers fully your question, but, uh, but that was a foundational time to have that shift in the business mindset. [00:27:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:27:30] Oh, well you answered a thousand questions there. I don't think it was just one. [00:27:35] Thank you so much for sharing that. And I'm so glad that that Noah and all of you were w w you know, that you were all okay. Wow. Uh, Let, I just want to honor that for a second. I'm just so glad that you ha uh, wow. I it's, you know, and it's funny because the, the notion of being purpose driven or [00:28:00] purpose led, uh, yeah. [00:28:03] It's it's very clear to me that you, that you have that, that you are purpose-driven and, and, and work from that truth, obviously, obviously. And so, so to, to bring it back to application, to, to, to sort of being practical, how. When you had that realization, when you realize that being a daddy was the most important thing, being a dad, a husband, a family member, uh, how did you take that into your business and systematize it and make it so that you could focus the bulk of your energy on your family? [00:28:45] Chris Niemeyer: [00:28:45] Yeah. Yeah. And I use this in, in how I lead coaching clients now, too, that are, that are entrepreneurs that want to get out of their grind. Like I was. Um, and I give this analogy that, you know, you need to take a look [00:29:00] at your business as a big skyscraper. So just pick a skyscraper from your, you know, nearest downtown and look at that building and go that building represents my business and every floor on that build. [00:29:13] Represents a department, a function of your business. So on one level, you've got your sales and one level you've got customer service one, then we've got finance or HR or whatever it is for your business. Where do you want your suite to be? Which level, which floor, where do you want your sweet spot to be? [00:29:31] And to understand you need to work in that, in that room. And you can take the proverbial elevator and, and, you know, go back and forth every once in a while and check in on the sales team or the marketing team or whatever, but you need to be in your sweet spot. And so just identifying that to take a look at your business from a 30,000 foot view and go, what are the key components of my business? [00:29:53] And then practically speaking, it's looking at okay. Is still inside my head, which [00:30:00] is, is usually the case for founders and CEOs. There's so much in your head that you've never documented that you've never systematized or put a standard operating procedure in place. And so I remember literally after that whole fire experience going okay, I need to do a really much better job of documenting everything that I do in my day. [00:30:23] And what are the. Top 10 procedures or SOP is I need to put in place. So literally that's what I did. I mean, for those next few weeks, I'm logging time I'm taking on calls or emails or bookkeeping. Getting back to that, all those things where I'm like, you know what, I need to start training people. And, and considering if I want to get a higher director of operations, if I want to hire a director of sales, what is it that I'm doing now that I can. [00:30:52] Document and explain to them, and then they can add even more from there. So that's just a very practical thing that anyone [00:31:00] can do is in terms of document in their time and how they're spending it and then getting the systems in play. [00:31:06] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:31:06] Mm. Yeah, I, I use something called toggle track, which allows me to. [00:31:12] Document exactly what I'm working on because otherwise I personally, my brain, the way it works, I wouldn't know. I wouldn't remember. So I have to, I've just spent 45 minutes on X and that's that's because otherwise I, I, you know, the way, the way my brain works. So, so how do we do that? If, if, if I'm an entrepreneur and if I want to do this system systematization, wow. [00:31:35] That's a long word. If I want to systematize again, I, and I'm not. I'm not good at it. My brain doesn't work that way or whatever it is. Do you have any, any guidance, any materials, any, anything that you would be willing to share? Uh, that, that someone would go, oh yeah. I need to know X in order to be able to do [00:32:00] Y is there anything that you can recommend, any books that you've read, anything like that, that you would be willing to share? [00:32:07] Chris Niemeyer: [00:32:07] Yeah, let me, let me think about the book's perspective, but you know, one of the things that we, instead of just logging undocumented stuff too, is really understanding what, what are the resources that you need in terms of software or hardware, if it, whatever your business might look like, um, you know, what, what checklists do you need in your business too? [00:32:29] To show someone and document kind of the process and procedures that you, that you go through. Um, you know, like I had to, I had to develop call scripts. I had a very certain way of doing things with certain perspective clients or, or in the process right. Of a sale. And so just what are some of the scripts or the, uh, email templates? [00:32:48] Right. We, we developed a whole library of email templates because we realized if you're sending the same kind of email more than twice. Just put it as a template or as a canned response. Right. So things like [00:33:00] that process flows are, are good. Um, I use a lot of tools like, like loom is an example of a video recording and messaging where you can document what you're doing in terms of ScreenFlow. [00:33:13] So if I'm trying to just describe to an employee, Hey here, here's how I do this. Or even to a VA, I use this a lot now with, with virtual assistance. If I'm going to give a project, I'll start that out and just hit record on my screen, talk into the mic process, what I'm doing in my own mind, out loud to them, and then take it from there. [00:33:34] So those are just little tips and tricks to use. [00:33:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:33:38] I love that. I love that notion of here's here's exactly what you would do and, and it would be okay. It would be something that relates to other types of, of professional services and businesses and nonprofits and all of that. It sounds like these are universally applicable. [00:33:56] Is that the case, do you think, or do you think that there are some things in the [00:34:00] sort of more for-profit realm that would not relate well to the nonprofit. [00:34:06] Chris Niemeyer: [00:34:06] No, I think they would. I mean, any, any business profit or nonprofit has certain functions, right? They have certain processes a way of doing things. [00:34:14] Um, I think really, if you, if you peel back the onion, a system or a systemization or whatever that mouthful is, it's really just a way of doing things and, and anyone. You know, uh, a child, a parent, a CEO, you have a way of doing things, so that can apply to just about anything. [00:34:36] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:34:36] Yeah. I wonder about that. I mean, I work a lot in, in the space of people who are doing, uh, as I said, social impact and environmental impact. [00:34:44] I was, I worked at NASA for over 20 years. What can I say? It, it, it doesn't go away. And so, so if that's the case, like someone like me or someone who's, you know, working for an animal shelter and all. Are there ways do you think for them to systematize as [00:35:00] well to make it so that for example, they could do more rescues or things like that, or again, do you think that, that something that's very, non-profit, that's very, almost volunteer driven would be able to do that. [00:35:14] And how do you handle if you're working on this, how do you handle people who are VAs? How do you handle people who are volunteers? How does that work? [00:35:24] Chris Niemeyer: [00:35:24] Yeah, no, I think you do. I mean, whether you're a, again, whether you're NASA or whomever you're working for, right. Um, there's a way of doing things. And so let's just say you're a volunteer and you're working for rescues. [00:35:36] You have a way of doing something when you get that call or that lead, that there's an opportunity. What do you do next? You know, who do you call? How do you vet, if that's an actual, real live opportunity, what, what are the metrics or whatever that might look like in terms of the industry language that's in place for you to say, I've got to make [00:36:00] this call or do this, or do that. [00:36:02] It's kind of like that if, then, then this scenario, which there's, you know, technology for now, but, but how, how would you do that? Or taking it to an extreme. You know, a pilot has something like 130 point checklist that he's got to tick off before he even turns on the propellers. And so that's just a huge, you know, huge safety precautionary type of checklist, but I think anyone profit or nonprofit has that ability. [00:36:29] And then the second part of your question about, uh, you know, training a VA or checking in or whatever, I'm just a big fan of, of checking in with people routinely. Um, so whether it's a VA or, you know, I do a lot of real estate deals these days on the side. Um, if I've got a contract to work on a project, You know, four months or six months project in our contract, we actually have something in play. [00:36:52] It's where it says, Hey, every two weeks, we're just gonna have a five minute call. I just want to check in how's it going? Give me some updates. You know, I do a lot of [00:37:00] stuff out of state, so I'm not even near where these projects are going on, but just to hear here's how things are going or snap, a couple pictures the same. [00:37:08] Are you done with a VA or an employee? Whether they're working, you know, the next desk over or. Countries away. Um, those kinds of things can be done. [00:37:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:37:19] That's that gives me such hope for myself. I certainly hope so. Yeah, I, that it I'm at that point, you know, where this podcast requires more help, more work than I can do in, in, in. [00:37:35] You know, in 1 24 hour, 7, 24 hour periods. So you mentioned something about real estate deals. And we talked a little bit about this before we started recording this chat that you have gotten into both real estate and cryptocurrency. Can you talk a little bit about that? What does, first of all, cryptocurrency is one of those things that I've read about, and I don't, I honestly have no real. [00:37:58] Fundamental [00:38:00] idea of what cryptocurrency is. So could you take a second and describe what it is and also what you're doing with it? [00:38:08] Chris Niemeyer: [00:38:08] Sure. Yeah. This is something I've just been talking a lot more openly about here in the past several months, especially on social media, but. Uh, and unless the first part of the question after by cryptocurrency really is, is a digital currency. [00:38:22] And so, you know, we're all now used to having it in our hands and our, our phones. We can do just about anything. Digitally, right. Whether you want to or not, you have the capability to load your credit cards and check out at the grocery store or, you know, Nordstrom and, and it's all done digitally. So we're used to that now. [00:38:43] And so cryptocurrency and Bitcoin's kind of the gold standard in that that people might hear about on in headlines. Is built on a technology called the blockchain. And, and again, this, this could be a whole nother episode, but, but the technicality of the blockchain [00:39:00] is just, it's an open, open sourced ledger of transactions. [00:39:07] And so. Let's go back to like bookkeeping as an example, coming up on this episode, for whatever reason, buy a bookkeeper, [00:39:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:39:17] because I'm so terrible at it. I keep gnawing away at it. That's that's what it is. [00:39:21] Chris Niemeyer: [00:39:21] Right. Right. So let me give this example. Right? So in the old days we had a file cabinet, right. And the file was in our, in our own office and we kept the ledger. [00:39:33] We can. The books, so to speak, but only we had access to that. Right. And the blockchain and technology, it's all open source out there in the, in the network. We can see exactly what's there. And so I give this example in, in, uh, The previous decade, there was this massive accounting scandal that was by Wells Fargo. [00:39:58] Wells Fargo created three and a half [00:40:00] million fake accounts, fake credit card accounts, fake checking accounts, savings accounts, all this stuff. They created that internally in people's names so they can get bonuses and kickbacks and commissions on this stuff. It was exposed. Wow. If that were on the blockchain, that couldn't happen, but because it was in house. [00:40:19] They had full control. They had secrecy on it. Blockchain provides the transparency. And so, again, there's a lot of complexities to cryptocurrency, but it's just a medium of exchange that can be bought or sold, transferred over, uh, if you own it and you can, you can start using it. People literally now. Buy a Tesla with Bitcoin, they can transfer funds into their Starbucks app and buy a coffee with it. [00:40:43] So it's it's usage is, is exponentially being, uh, being utilized in new ways these days. [00:40:51] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:40:51] Okay. That's very cool. And also immediately I go, what are the governments of different countries [00:41:00] going to say about something that does not seem to require their oversight? How does that work? [00:41:06] Chris Niemeyer: [00:41:06] Yeah. And that's a great question because I think you're gonna see a lot more. [00:41:11] Scrutiny and, and regulation about this. Um, you know, right now, even just here in this country, whether it's the sec or the IRS, they're looking at different ways as cryptocurrency currency, is it an asset there's, there's ramifications for how they classify that? Um, in India, there's a bill going through parliament right now to ban cryptocurrency. [00:41:34] And so how could that happen? You know, frankly, there's a lot of people in speculation saying they can't really do that because it's not something that's like a physical, you know, thing you can combine. And so there's a whole discussion about what will happen with that. Um, you know, I, I just got involved because I'm curious and, um, you know, back to my mentors, 16 years ago, [00:42:00] they, they outlined said, Chris, there's kind of three areas of. [00:42:04] A great way to, to make a living, make a life, you know, perhaps generational wealth for yourself. And that is number one was entrepreneurship, you know, owning and operating a company. Number two was, uh, real estate and various aspects of that development or construction business or top realtor. And number three was financial markets, you know, be a hedge fund, be a trader or whatever they said. [00:42:28] And these guys were respected greatly and they were very successful, uh, financially. Anyway, um, they said the secret though is if you're going to go that first route as a business owner, an entrepreneur is to take your profits and dump them in those two other classes as quickly as possible to really kind of grow the three-legged stool of, of financial wealth and independence. [00:42:49] And so I've just followed that advice over the years and become more focused on that recent. In terms of just building up a real estate portfolio of rental properties and [00:43:00] then crypto, I just sort of dabble in and have fun with and trade and, and investor speculate in because I, I like, uh, I like the technology behind it. [00:43:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:43:09] It's so fascinating that, that, that, that the three legged stool to me, what. What that does. What, what made me go, Ooh, sit up and take notice is the notion that if you want to have, like you said, independence for you, it, it seems to be time with your family and, and being, uh, being the best dad you can be. [00:43:31] And that's fabulous. And for someone who. For example like me, we have a nonprofit that, that works to stop poachers in Africa. Uh, then, then those kinds of investments, those kinds of activities would, would go well to free up the time, you know, so that I could focus on those things. So, so talk to me a little bit about that. [00:43:52] If you would, the allocation. You know, the way, the way I live is you've got one life, make it count. So, [00:44:00] so for me, I want to see what are the possibilities, right? And so it sounds to me like you are sort of the poster boy for, for this kind of, sort of triple threat, if you will, what are your thoughts on that? [00:44:14] As far as allocating that purpose driven life, maybe it's. For business, maybe it is for you, you, you set it up so that you can have your business, have your real estate or cryptocurrency or whatever those things are for each individual person so that you can then be free to do what else you want to do. [00:44:38] How do you feel about that? [00:44:40] Chris Niemeyer: [00:44:40] Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, it gets back to again, purpose and values too. And so like you described each person needs to understand clearly what, what it is they're focused on. What makes an ideal lifestyle for you? You know, is it involved in some nonprofit activities or. [00:45:00] [00:44:59] Things halfway around the world or across the street. That's gonna fill you up and fill up your purpose cup. So to speak. Uh, again, for me, it's, it's all about family, you know, and being the best husband and father I can be and raising these kids in a way that gives them. Um, opportunity and purpose within themselves. [00:45:18] And I'm involved in other, other things as well. And, and non-profits and such, but for me, that's, that's my biggest focus in this season of life. Um, you know, my youngest is five, so I've got what maybe 13, 14 years of. I've heard, possibly being under the roof. You know, I don't know how that's going to boomerang effect thing works, but we'll see, we've got four kids. [00:45:39] I'm pretty sure we'll have some kids around for awhile. Uh, but I think that that is my focus. Right. And so if that is the focus and I've been blessed to have some of these business ventures and, and, and just taking some of those profits to reinvest. The allocation question then becomes, you know, [00:46:00] what's, what's your risk tolerance, what's your, um, you know, asymmetric risk. [00:46:05] So for me, and this gets a little more into the weeds too, but cryptocurrency for example, is very volatile. And so the risk reward can be pretty high, but there's a major price fluctuations and swings. And so you're not going to bet the farm. You're not going to put your entire investment portfolio into something like that. [00:46:26] But if you. 2%, 5%, 10%, let's say. And that has the potential to go. 10 X or 50 X or these crazy values that some people have realized the last couple of years, um, that can do something pretty substantial for your own portfolio and net worth. And so, so you have to kind of look at that and evaluate that from a real estate perspective. [00:46:49] There's multiple, multiple ways to be involved in that. Whether you want to be a bit more active like men and finding deals and vetting them and putting offers in or buying cash or [00:47:00] whatever. Uh, but there's also. You know, REITs real estate investment trusts that you can buy, uh, from the stock market. And so that's just a question of your own allocation and risk tolerance, I think is, is, uh, the best answer there. [00:47:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:47:14] It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a valuable answer because a lot of people think they should be involved in things like this, but maybe they're not well suited for it. You know, that they're, that's not their temperament there to me. But that this whole notion of cryptocurrency and, and, and, and, you know, they say playing the stock market, it's not playing it's, it can be actually quite intense. [00:47:36] And yet, and yet the way for example, I live with all of this is don't invest anything you can't afford to lose a hundred percent. Right. So, so that seems to be, I am very low I'm risk averse, I guess. And, and yet the thing is that within that, when we're talking about this notion of it comes back, I guess, to self-awareness when we're talking about, you know, what [00:48:00] are you prepared to lose and how much are you prepared to risk? [00:48:04] And it sounds to me like that goes for everybody, whether or not you're working a job or whether or not you're an entrepreneur or business owner, et cetera, you have to know that about yourself. You have to know what are you prepared to lose and what are you prepared to risk? And so what do you think, how would, how would someone, how would someone figure that out? [00:48:24] What they're prepared to lose? [00:48:28] Chris Niemeyer: [00:48:28] Boy, that's a, that's a complex problem. Situation, uh, for most people, but I guess it boils down to, like you said, do you feel like you can just lose it all and be comfortable with that? Or do you feel like, yeah, cause there's extremes, right? There's people that would bet the farm and be like, okay, well I'll go save it again and make it up. [00:48:49] And, and that's fine. There's also those that are like, I'm going to stick this under my mattress. Cause I don't want to lose it. You know? So somewhere on the spectrum, we all lie. And so I think [00:49:00] just understanding. That and taking a look at, let's just say, you know, the whole wall street experiment, so to speak because really frankly, it's only been less than a hundred years that a normal individual can go and buy a stock. [00:49:15] So that whole financial services industry is, is relatively new. And, and that's what we get pushed. All the time, it's a massive, massive industry. And so, you know, are you, are you comfortable with seven, 8% and, and taking that slow growth approach of it's going to take 40 or 50 years of working or whatever to get to that retirement point, or are you comfortable maybe taking five or 10 or 20% or whatever that might be into these, you know, quote unquote riskier, uh, play. [00:49:47] Again, that's a personal decision you've got to just set with and go, how, how would I feel if this dropped 50% or whatever, do you need more money in the mattress or money over [00:50:00] here? Right. [00:50:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:50:00] And it's absolutely. And, and it's interesting. I mean, we're not giving financial advice here and I have to say that because no, no, no. [00:50:08] I am not qualified. I am the least qualified person to give financial advice for sure. And yet, this is something that I think it behooves us to think about because everybody is looking and assessing, especially this year of COVID, you know, where they are and, and how they're going to. Proceed, you know, I know a lot of people, a lot of my guests actually have, have made significant changes because of the time in, you know, in the pandemic and sort of really think being, being alone with your thoughts, like you said, being kind of isolated and being alone with your thoughts. [00:50:43] So I I'm wondering what were the realizations, if you had any that you had during that time, when you were sort of sequestered, if you will. [00:50:53] Chris Niemeyer: [00:50:53] Yeah. I, I think, uh, that whole, that whole year for a lot of us, right. [00:51:00] Probably brought on some awareness of, um, you know, am I financially secure or safe or whatever. I mean, everyone, everyone was losing their job or their, their company was, uh, you know, frozen for awhile or whatever that might be. [00:51:15] We, we all had a lot of fear grip us and. And I remember just having to sit with that and go, okay, where were we? Let's just throw everything out there on the table and take a look at that picture. So that's something that we can all do and go, okay, what are there changes that need to be made? You know, the savings rate went through the roof there for awhile because we were also. [00:51:40] Scared and scattered, oh my gosh. Um, I've been living paycheck to paycheck and you know, now I need to save up three to six months like Dave Ramsey says, or whatever the case may be, um, which is not bad advice, frankly. Right. Uh, to I'm looking outside and I'm looking at squirrels right now. I mean, they, they sock away their, their stuff for the winter [00:52:00] because they know that you need to do that. [00:52:02] And so I think there's a bit of that personal introspection to go, you know, where are we. Data in front of you doesn't lie, you know, w whether it's your paycheck or your business, or your bank accounts or whatever, and, and what are you more comfortable with? That's that's always a good place to start. [00:52:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:52:22] Yeah. Again, what, what are you willing to risk and what are you not willing to risk? Absolutely. Chris, I am so grateful that you took the time to chat with me today. This is I could keep you for another four hours and we could, you know, cause I have many more questions, but uh, but I know you've got, oh, thank you so much. [00:52:40] Yeah. You, I know you've got, you've got kids to get back to, so I, and, and, and I want to respect your time and. So I would love it. Actually, if you wouldn't mind, uh, I have just a couple more questions, but the big one is, would you mind sharing? How is someone goes that Chris guy, he knows what he's talking about. [00:52:59] I want to, I [00:53:00] want to go find him on social. Would you mind sharing where someone could find you if they were interested in learning more about what you're doing and how you're doing it? [00:53:09] Chris Niemeyer: [00:53:09] Yeah, absolutely. Well, and thank you again. This is really a pleasure. You're a masterful, uh, Conversation starter. So interviewer, so I really appreciate the time, but yeah, you can find me on Instagram at Chris Niemeyer. [00:53:24] Uh, maybe put that in, in the links there Niemeyers in I E um, and Facebook saying. And LinkedIn as well. So I'm pretty active on Instagram and Facebook. And then my website is Chris niemeyer.com. [00:53:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:53:37] Perfect. And actually I will put all of this in the show notes, but just so you know, the LinkedIn is actually Niemeyer Chris. [00:53:45] And so is Facebook. It's Chris Niemeyer on Instagram and LinkedIn. It's Niemeyer, Chris, N I E M E Y E R. Chris. And if you don't know how to spell Chris, I'm sorry. [00:54:01] [00:54:00] Yeah, that one, that one. Hopefully won't be, I mean, my name is older and I recently got a piece of a piece of snail mail address to  and I have no idea how they got from Izolda to a Zimbra, but I thought that was really amusing anyway. So. Yeah, it was, it was very strange. So I, again, I want to thank you. And I have just one more question. [00:54:23] It's a question. I ask everybody who comes on the show and it's a silly question, but I find that it yields some poignant answers. And the question is this. If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say. [00:54:40] Chris Niemeyer: [00:54:40] Um, mine would be live on purpose, live on purpose. [00:54:46] And I think that would help people understand or at least to ask themselves what does that mean? And am I. That's [00:54:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:54:54] fabulous. I love it. That's so succinct. I love it. Love it. Love it. Thank you, Chris. Once again for being [00:55:00] here, I really appreciate it. I I'm so grateful. I learned so much just talking with you and I'm sure if you're listening, you learned a lot from this as well, and you need to go find Chris Niemeyer on. [00:55:13] Instagram, LinkedIn Facebook and on his website. See what he's up to because obviously he's doing some really cool stuff. This is his older Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. If you're liking what you hear, do me a favor. Go to. Apple podcast rate and review. Tell me what you're thinking. I'd love to hear about it until next time. [00:55:31] Once again, this is his older. Trakhtenberg reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [00:55:43] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on [00:56:00] patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:56:00] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2020. As always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative minds.  

400 Episodes!! I can't believe I'm at this milestone. How exciting. In celebration, I've decided to explore the biggest lessons I've learned from doing hundreds of interviews and making 400 episodes of the show. And, of course, I couldn't just chat. I also have fabulous prizes! Listen to the episode to find out how to enter or see the transcript below for the explanation. Here are the prizes. You could get this super fun sticker of the show (just follow the podcast's IG page and DM me that you've done it). You win a copy of any of my books. Or, you could win copies of all of them (with a pdf of the one that will come out later this autumn). Subscribe to the show or listen on any podcast platform. Connect with me. https://www.instagram.com/izoldat/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/izoldat/ https://twitter.com/IzoldaT Episode transcript 400th episode [00:00:00] We're better when we're together and we're better when we're contributing. So don't wait, start, try, do, and grow. And you are going to be amazed at the things that you will uncover and achieve. If you just start where you are, but start that thing. You want to try to start it. It is crucial and key for all of us. [00:00:20] If you bring your particular creative genius out into the world. [00:00:29] Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host,  izolda Trakhtenberg. On the show, you get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways you can do it. [00:00:53] If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup [00:01:00] at buymeacoffee.com/IzoldaT. And now let's get on with the show. [00:01:14] Hello, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg I'm your host and I am thrilled and honored that you have chosen to listen to the show today and spend a little time with me because I am celebrating today. This episode marks 400 episodes of this podcast. I can't believe it. [00:01:35] I'm super excited. And as promised, if you listen all the way through to the end, We're going to have fabulous prizes. I'm super excited. So here's the thing I have to say that I am. I just I'm privileged. I'm privileged to be able to interview peak performing creatives and Changemakers. These are people who are working in the social impact, creative, environmental, and [00:02:00] animal rights space. [00:02:01] To change the world. That is their mission. That's what they're trying to do. And I'm honored to bring their ideas, their thought processes, the way they do things and how they achieve what they achieve to you. It's incredible. And I'm thrilled that I've gotten a chance to be part of their lives and their process, even though it's a tiny, tiny bit. [00:02:22] But I'm so glad that they have enriched my life, my world. And of course, this podcast, when I first started the podcast, I had no thought in my head, it was going to be like this. At first, it was five minutes a day. And I'm just going to talk about creativity. And as it evolved, I realized I'm not the only one who should be talking. [00:02:40] You know what I mean? I wanted to be, I wanted to bring you information from people who are change-makers, who are peak performing innovators. Many fields and the ones that are closest to my heart are of course, creativity, art, and music, and social impact. How are they [00:03:00] making the world a better place? And of course, animal rights and environmental activism. [00:03:05] So there's, so there's such a wealth of knowledge and, and the people who I interview are incredibly gracious with their wisdom. So I'm really grateful for that. I decided that the way to celebrate these 400 episodes is actually to sort of detail out what I've learned across these 400 episodes. And so I'm going to talk to you a little bit about that. [00:03:31] And if you have questions, if you have thoughts and ideas, I'd love to hear about them. If you have any realizations about what I'm talking about while I'm talking about it. I'd love to hear about that too. And as I said, if you stay to the end fabulous prizes and fabulous, of course, is in quotes I've actually discovered and coined a new word recently. [00:03:51] I'm calling things, fabtastic, so fabulous and fantastic together, fabtastic. So you'll probably start hearing me say that a lot more [00:04:00] because that's really the glee and the joy that I feel whenever I get a chance to talk to some of these incredible change-makers. So. In order, no, that's not true. [00:04:11] Maybe in order, maybe not in order, but these are the things that I've learned after 400 episodes of the podcast. One, people are generous with their time and wisdom. They'll come on the show and let me ask them hard questions and they go deep to bring what they really believe and how they really behave. [00:04:31] They bring such a wealth of knowledge, such wisdom, and they do it incredibly generously. Number two, the causes you believe in are the ones to dedicate your life to. I believe in art and music, and I believe in saving the planet and the animals. And the more I talk about these things, the more doors open for me to do more and serve better. [00:04:54] So dedicating yourself to what you believe in. [00:05:00] We'll help you find others who believe what you believe or who at least are interested in supporting you on your journey as you support them on their. Number three, don't be afraid to innovate. Don't be afraid to solve problems in weird ways and try new stuff. [00:05:19] I've recorded this show on my phone. I've recorded while my guests dog threw up in the corner. I've recorded in busy conference rooms. I've recorded while walking my dog in the rain. We're better when we're together. Right. And we're better when we're contributing. So don't wait, start, try. Do. And grow, and you are going to be amazed at the things that you will uncover and achieve. [00:05:46] If you just start where you are, but start that, then you want to try start. It. It, it is, it is crucial and key for all of us. If you bring [00:06:00] your particular creative genius out into the. Number four. This is something I've known about myself for a long time, but it came home yet again, doing this podcast. I'm nosy. [00:06:14] I love learning about people. I love hearing what makes them tick. I love hearing what their processes are. I love helping in any way I can to get their message out. And sometimes it's really cool is that they, while. Really deep in these conversations, they'll have realizations John Kao, who was recently on the show. [00:06:32] I asked him a question about his six intelligences and how they relate to music and live on the show he went through and related them all. And he'd never done that before. So it was so amazing to be. Even a little part of his process as he realized those things and that whole idea of being nosy. I don't know if I've talked to you. [00:06:52] I think I've talked to you about this before the overheard project that I have been [00:07:00] doing for a while. And that is that I'm a shameless eavesdropper, and I happen to have a terrific memory. So I'm able to keep entire conversations in my head. And I have been overhearing shamelessly eavesdropping on people's conversations. [00:07:13] For years and I've notated them all down. And the book overheard life lessons through eavesdropping is going to be dropping sometime this autumn probably in time for the holidays. It's going to be some sort of an art book and I'm excited about it because it's again, bringing that little bit of slice of life, about how we do things about the things we care about, about the things we love with love and sex and family and friendship and work. [00:07:38] All of these things we talk about. And we, we all say such wisdom. We don't pay attention to it though. It's almost like I wish I could find all of those people who have given me gifted me with such wisdom as they just go on about their lives. And I shamelessly eavesdrop because I love to give them credit, but you know, maybe then maybe they'll [00:08:00] maybe they'll buy the book and they'll realize, oh, that was me. [00:08:04] I don't know if that'll ever happen, but it would be really amazing and hilarious. Number five. The podcasting industry has exploded where they used to be a few hundred thousand. There are now millions of podcasts. So if you've got something to say and you want to start one, don't wait until you have just the right equipment. [00:08:26] Don't wait until your studio is perfect. There will always be another super cool microphone and more soundproofing and better gear. You'll have gear envy like crazy, but what's more important is to get your words out there. Do you remember the movie pump up the volume? Talk hard. My favorite moment in the whole movie is the credits. [00:08:46] When you start hearing all the people who grabbed the courage with both hands and started talking into a microphone, so start and build your gear and your show along the way. There are people out there who are building their businesses, teaching other people how [00:09:00] to start their shows. You can also find everything you need. [00:09:03] On YouTube. I promise you can totally do that. If you've got the resources and you can also bootstrap and start talking about your topic on your phone, number six, your topic can evolve. You can start out like I did and talk about storytelling and then move to creativity only. But then I moved to innovation because I've always loved creativity. [00:09:24] With a purpose. That to me is the most important part is a creative on a mission. That's what an innovator really is. As someone who's a creative, who thinks laterally, who thinks from, from different angles to solve problems, to come up with new ideas and new ways of doing things, that person is a creative on a mission. [00:09:44] And that's what an innovator is. That's what. Do. And it's really exciting to me to get a chance to talk to so many different innovators from so many different possible arenas. You know, I never in my life, what I have [00:10:00] imagined, some of the people who were willing to come on the show and talk to me about how they innovate. [00:10:04] And that brings me to number seven, communication is the vehicle and connection as the result. Really honestly, I had no thought in my head that someone like Tom Peters, who is a communication guru, he is arguably the greatest leadership expert in our generation. And certainly for the last few generations, not only has he been willing to come on the show once, but twice to talk about his ideas about. [00:10:30] What he calls extreme humanism. And that is that we should be leading thinking about the people first and not the bottom line. He believes we should always promote from within that women should be on the boards and leading businesses because women are so much better at investing at communication at looking at and dealing with people and figuring out how to grow businesses and companies and organizations. [00:10:55] Long-term. I had no thought in my head that we would connect and communicate [00:11:00] and, and have such substantive discussions. Another person who's just thrilled me that he was just on the, he just recorded his episode, his episodes actually going to come out sometime in August or September. Peter Shankman was willing to come on the show and talk about how. [00:11:16] His ADHD, his attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder is actually his super power to innovate and to be a creative thinker who thinks laterally and who helps companies and businesses all over the world and organizations and people all over the world innovate and make incredible inroads. Yeah. The way the world will be formed and move moving forward. [00:11:42] How can, how can you possibly, I can't even get over it because I'm just. I'm just lucky. That's I'm lucky. That's not true. I okay. I'm not going to be falsely modest. I worked my patootie off. That's true, but I don't do it alone. And that brings me to number eight, [00:12:00] calling your friends. They will be there and they'll help you along the way. [00:12:03] Like Al Pettaway, Grammy award, winning guitarist and musician and Andrew Lippa, Tony nominated and also Grammy award winning and Emmy nominated. He just got nominated for an Emmy Andrew lipo, who is. An amazing composer and lyricist, and who wrote the music and lyrics to the Broadway sensation, the Adams, family, and other shows and T Morris, who is an incredible author and entertainer and the author of books like podcasting for dummies. [00:12:33] They have all been on the show and have been very gracious with their wisdom. And I'm very glad because. They they were willing to give me their, their wisdom and their knowledge and be part of the process as this show has evolved. And you know what it's about time to get them all back and see where they are now because ti was last on the show. [00:12:54] Last autumn, Andrew was last summer and Al Pettaway was left, was not this [00:13:00] past spring, but the previous spring and why not see where they are so I can get even more information and get even more wisdom from these wonderful men. Privileged to call my friends, but then that brings me to number nine. And number nine is actually about solo episodes. [00:13:18] One of the things that has been such a revelation to me is that when I first started out, I did only solo episodes. And please, in case, because it won't know how should I put this really? Mainly because I was, I was a little trepidatious. I was a little afraid. What would I ask for people to join me to talk about? [00:13:37] And would anybody ever come on the show and. Certainly they have and they continue to, and I do incredible I get incredible information and interviews with such gracious wisdom from all of the people who come on the show. But then there are some times when I have things that I would like to ruminate on discuss and explore, and those are the solo episodes. [00:13:59] And one of the [00:14:00] things that I've learned is that there is a time and place for both. You can indeed do. Both solo episodes and interview episodes. If you want on this kind of a podcast, you know, when, when T Morris was gracious enough to put the innovative mindset podcast into podcasting for dummies, he and his co author placed it in the slice of life section of the, of podcasts that they recommend. [00:14:25] And I thought that was really interesting because. It's not, this show is not so much business, not so much entrepreneurship, not so much slice of life, but yet it's an amalgam of all of them as we explore what it means to change the world for the better, ultimately through different and various forms, whether it's creativity, social impact, environmentalist, or animal rights, the show aims to explore how we all can make a difference and make a change and make the world a better place. [00:14:55] So sometimes. Privileged, as I said to have [00:15:00] interviews, to have people come on the show and give their wisdom. And sometimes these solo episodes are an opportunity for me to give you substantive ideas on how you yourself can take some of the principles that the people who've been on the show have talked about and make them your own and become your own change maker. [00:15:17] If that is what you want to do. Number 10. Yeah, I think I've just talked about this, but here we go. Interviews, as you start out, people come on, your show are doing you a favor they're giving of their time and resources to help you yet. At the same time, if you have even one listener, you'll helping your guests reach someone who didn't know about them before. [00:15:41] Be generous with your time, wisdom and resources. The host guest relationship is important and you can build lifelong friendships and relationships. If you treat your guests with courtesy and respect. And I'm so, as I said, honored and privileged to have these incredible people on the show. [00:16:00] And I'm so grateful that they're willing to do this to be on the show and to give of their time and their knowledge. [00:16:08] It's it's incredible. Number 11 ask. Good questions. Be different, figure out what your podcast point of view is. And then use that as the lens through which you take your listener on a journey. And that's kind of what I do I think. Or at least that's what I try to do. This podcast is a little different because these conversations go really deep. [00:16:31] And one of the things that a lot of my guests say is, you know, No one's ever asked me that question before or, wow. That's a great quote. I need to think about that for a minute. And that's one of the things that I aim to do is to ask questions that give people, pause that make them, give them the opportunity to go deeper into what they've been talking about. [00:16:54] And I said this recently to a guest of mine mayor Meredith Gren dye, she and I were talking [00:17:00] about. This notion of asking deep questions. And one of the reasons that I said to her, one of the reasons that I, that I like asking deep questions is because frankly, if you're a podcast guest, for example, and your audience listens to you, they probably listen to you talk about a lot of the same things a lot, but what if someone asks a question. [00:17:24] That you've never answered before. Wow. The mysteries you could be solving. Right. So that's one of the things that I aim to do with asking deep, good questions. And I, and I plumbed the depths as much as I can. I'm patting myself on the back here a little bit, but I really do try. And the reason for that is because. [00:17:43] My guests to feel like they have benefited in some small way from being on the show, as much as the amazing ways I've benefited from having them on the show. Number 12, a podcast is a [00:18:00] sacred trust, like the Y storytellers in many of our myths. As a podcaster I've taken on the task of telling stories or inviting other people to share their stories only instead of sitting around the bonfire under the cover of darkness, I'm sitting at a mic and telling stories, or I'm inviting the person I'm interviewing. [00:18:22] To sit behind their mic and tell you their story. And there's something so powerful about that hearing stories. We we've been doing it as long as we've been verbal. Someone has asked why or what or how, and someone else has answered. Or they've explored together. And that's one of the things that I aim to do with this show is to give us all an opportunity to explore together what it means to be an innovator, a creative thinker, and someone who wants to change the world for the better. [00:18:55] My guests are going to be. They're, they're all [00:19:00] amazing. They're going to floor you over the next 400 episodes because I'm not going anywhere. This, this show is going to be around. As long as I'm around, I'm going to, I'm going to be 98 years old and barely able to talk. But by gum, I'm going to be out here somehow trying to do this. [00:19:19] Because I think the notion of innovation and how we can be creatives on a mission to make the world a better place. I think it could potentially save all of us. And I would be remiss if I did not, I would be shirking my responsibilities if I did not make that a priority in my life because we have. [00:19:44] Such an incredible responsibility at this tipping point in our species, survival and this at this time of great climate change and habitat destruction, and so many other things, being challenging, that innovation, I [00:20:00] think being creative on a mission will allow us the opportunity to change the world and make it a better place. [00:20:11] So, those are the things that I've learned from doing this podcast. And I am thrilled and honored that you have been listening and being on the show and being on the show. My brain, see, my brain is fried. I've had, I did three interviews today. It was a busy day. So my brain's a little fried, but I, but I do, I do feel like you're on the show with me because I feel like I'm talking to you when. [00:20:39] When I'm doing the show and I feel like we're all sitting around in the end. It's funny. Whenever I'm welcoming a guest to the show, I always say, imagine we're sitting in a cafe and having a cup of coffee together or to two or whatever, it's just a chat. And yet, sometimes. Somebody makes small talk and, oh, hi, how are you? [00:20:57] How's the weather. And sometimes all of [00:21:00] a sudden the conversation goes intense and deep, and you're really thinking, and you're really innovating. And you're really coming up with ideas that you're articulating that you may never have articulated before. And you're doing it for thousands of people who are listening. [00:21:14] It is such an honor and so incredible. And I'm super grateful that you're part of this journey. So here we go. I promised you fabulous prizes in the show notes. If you look on the website, you'll see that there's this really cool. It almost looks like dichroic, but it's not. It's like a reflective, really cool rainbow sticker. [00:21:38] Of the innovative mindset podcast. And I have recently started an actual innovative mindset podcast, Instagram. And so here's how the fabulous prizes are going to go. The first 20 people who follow the Instagram account for the innovative mindset podcast, which is just at innovative mindset podcast, [00:22:00] all one word. [00:22:01] And DM me that you to let me know that you did it because you listened to this episode, we'll get a sticker of the first 20 people. One person is going to get all six books and a PDF of the next one that will come out. This autumn of my stuff, and three people. We'll get, can you tell I'm making some of this up because I can't read the words that I wrote. You'll get a book of your choice for my catalog. So if you go to his old, a t.com and you go to about, and then books, you'll be able to see the six books. [00:22:45] And if you. If you're there and you're in the top 20 and you've DMD me, I'm going to choose someone at random from all the people who follow. And it, you don't have to be in the top 20 to win the, the second prize or the first prize, [00:23:00] but the first top 20 who follow and tell me that they followed will absolutely get a sticker that you can put on your computer or on your coffee cup or wherever, because they're waterproof and you can put them in the dishwasher. [00:23:10] It's really cool. And. Of all the people who follow in DME that they've, that they have followed the Instagram account. You'll get, I'm going to choose three people who get one book out of the catalog and you can choose your book. When I let you know you've won. And in one person I'm going to choose is going to get all six plus the PDF of the new one. [00:23:32] When it comes out in. Hopefully around the holiday season in December. Okay. That was a long and involved way of saying, I didn't quite think this through as well as I could have. Huh. All right. Cool. So here we are. We are at the end of the 400th episode last week was Mike cam. Who's a personal branding expert. [00:23:53] He joined me on the show and next week is Chris Niemeyer who. He's an interesting [00:24:00] man who is taking, he's decided that his goal in his life is to spend more time with his family. So he's developed some strategies and ideas on how to make income so that he has time to spend time with his family. That is his goal. [00:24:15] And one of the things that's really cool is that that applies equally. Well, if you want to be an activist, if you want to be an artist, if you want to do all of these things, however you want to do it, the ideas that he talks about. We'll work. If you want to spend time with your family, if you want to make great art, if you want to be an activist with the SPCA or the sea shepherd conservation society or wherever it is, you want to put your energies. [00:24:40] If what you want to do is make money in one way and do work of your heart in another, or maybe you just love making money. I don't know. Chris will be there to talk you through. How to do it. It's a really cool episode. It made me think in some really interesting ways. And August has incredible guests as well. [00:25:00] [00:25:00] Evan stern is going to be joining me. Meredith granddad is going to be joining me. Angela angle is going to be joining me, star Hayward. It's going to be amazing and I'm going to be doing just so you know, every month, one episode a month is going to be a solo show. It's going to be me talking to you about how to be. [00:25:17] Innovator about how to be a creative on a mission so that you can do the things that you want to do in the, in a different and amazing and exciting and inspiring. All righty. I hope you've enjoyed this episode and all of the things that I've learned after 400 episodes of the innovative mindset podcast. [00:25:37] I am Izolda Trakhtenberg. If you're liking the show, please leave a review. I'd love to hear from you until next time I send you all of my love and I remind you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. And as often as possible, be a creative on a mission. [00:26:01] [00:26:00] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:26:18] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg in his copyright 2021 as always, please remember. For educational and entertainment purposes, only past performance does not guarantee future results. Although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.    

Personal Branding Expert, Mike Kim, Discusses His Bestselling Book, You Are The Brand Mike Kim is a brand strategist for business thought leaders, coaches, and authors who want to create impact with their ideas and get their message heard. Mike's refreshing approach has made him a sought-after speaker, online educator, and consultant for top thought leaders. Mike's clients include New York Times bestselling authors and other experts featured on PBS, TED, CNN, and Fox. Mike has been featured in and written for Inc., Entrepreneur, and The Huffington Post. Mike is the author of the best-selling book, You Are the Brand: The 8-Step Blueprint to Showcase Your Unique Expertise and Build a Highly Profitable, Personally Fulfilling Business. He is also the host of the top-rated and ranked podcast, The Brand You Podcast. He has spoken at industry-leading events including Social Media Marketing World, Tribe Conference, and Podcast Movement. He has been a guest on leading podcasts like Smart Passive Income, Marketing Made Simple, and Read to Lead. He lives in Alexandria, VA. Get the Bestselling You Are The Brand Book (no affiliate on this. I just love the book.) youarethebrandbook.com Connect with Mike Website: mikekim.com Instagram: @mikekimtv Facebook: facebook.com/mikekimtv Twitter: twitter.com/mikekimtv LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekimtv/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/youarethebrand Episode Transcript 7-12-21 Mike Kim [00:00:00] Mike Kim: [00:00:00] This may sound super obvious, but no one really says this is that you can't just go out on eBay or Craigslist and buy a personal brand. You can't buy a Bernay Brown's influence. You can't buy Tony Robbins influence. Even if you were to acquire the rights to their intellectual property and their customer databases, their social media. [00:00:20] You can't buy it. It, when it comes to this, this, this thing called a personal brand, everyone starts from zero. [00:00:32] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:32] Hi and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg. On the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:55] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by [00:01:00] buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup of@buymeacoffee.com slash Izolda tea. And now let's get on with the show. [00:01:17] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I am thrilled that you're here and I'm so happy and thrilled and honored. To bring you this week's guest. Mike Kim is a speaker and marketing strategist, and that is putting it lightly, who specializes in brand strategy and copywriting. [00:01:34] He's been hired by some of today's most influential thought leaders, brands, including John Maxwell, Donald Miller, Suzanne Evans, and capital. For years, he was the chief marketing officer of a successful multi-million dollar company near New York city. Nowadays, you're going to find him speaking at conferences, looking for the next great place to scuba dive, which I love or sipping a glass of Macallan 15, which I also love all while teaching everything. [00:01:59] He knows [00:02:00] about branding, entrepreneurship, and life through his hit podcast brand. You Mike, I'm so thrilled that you're here. Thank you so much for being here. Well, [00:02:08] Mike Kim: [00:02:08] There's is all of the thank you for having me. Uh, it is a pleasure to be here. I hope to add some value to you today and to all of our listeners. [00:02:15] And I knew you were a good woman of taste Macallan 15 is the way to go. Nothing. [00:02:22] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:02:22] Yeah, absolutely. It's so smooth. Okay. We could, we could talk a whiskey till the cows come home, but let's not do that. Uh, so talk to me about what's going on with you. You have a brand new book you're first coming out. [00:02:36] Tomorrow. Talk to me about you are the brand, which I love as the title. What prompted you to write the book? [00:02:45] Mike Kim: [00:02:45] Well, it's funny. And thank you for allowing me to share a little bit about this. Um, it's funny. Cause I signed a book deal about five years ago. I was supposed to write this book five years ago. My publisher assigned me five years ago and then my, my personal life went sideways, [00:03:00] um, a little bit and I just had no creative energy to write the book. [00:03:03] And, um, every ear that passed since then, you know, I was kind of getting my bearings in life and in business and all that sort of thing. Um, last year happens, right? The quarantines, the lockdowns and everything, you know, I travel a lot. Um, and of course that came, you know, much to a halt and I thought about it. [00:03:27] What am I going to do this year? And I had a friend tell me, because I had done a lot of little things. I've built a lot of programs and stuff like that, but I found myself getting a little frustrated cause I was felt like I was a hamster on the, on the wheel running around and he said to me, Hey, um, you do a lot of things. [00:03:44] You're, you're very busy. You're always kind of moving on the move, but you know, it's really fun to build things, to build things that last a long time. And he's a multiple time bestselling author. And he shared that with me and [00:04:00] said, you know, maybe this is the time you build a book. I mean, you don't have to do it this year, but you know, it's fun to build things, build things that will take in last years. [00:04:10] And I really took that advice to heart. Hunkered down, call my publisher back, hired a book, coach hired several coaches and just started writing. And I was like, if there's anything I walk out of from this year of being locked down because of the current virus and all that, it's going to be a book. And that's, that is the hard and fast truth of it. [00:04:32] I mean, I think there are a lot of books that never make it to the light of day because their authors, uh, decide to give up. Um, and I did that for a while, but, um, I was like, this will be the year that I really, really, you know, put this into play and I'm really glad I did. So that's why I wrote it. [00:04:50] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:04:50] Oh, that's fantastic. [00:04:51] I love it. And here, here, there so much of what you just said made me go high. I have to ask all these questions in here. The, the, the [00:05:00] one that sticks in my head though, is. There is this, this notion that we can, that we can do something, but then there's the imposter that goes, you really can't do this. You, you know, the little voice inside your head, that's tap, dancing and telling you not to. [00:05:17] And it sounds like you had some strategies that allowed you to go, you know what? No, I I've gone through all sorts of infernos and now I'm coming out the other side and I'm going to do that. Did you have a voice inside your head? And if so, what did that voice. [00:05:32] Mike Kim: [00:05:32] The voice. So the biggest, I, you know, there's a lot there. [00:05:37] Um, I would say after I finished the book, uh, but I don't think it was a joke. I was like, this is like the third hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And partially it was because I was writing about a time in my life that was really difficult to revisit. Um, my life turned out very different than I thought it would all those years ago when I first signed this book. [00:05:59] Um, [00:06:00] secondly, my writing style changed over the years because I had been a blogger. I had written stories and you know, a lot of that stuff, but the last five, six years I've really spent more as a copywriter in the marketing space, which is to make sales. And when I sat down to write this book, It was a completely different discipline of writing. [00:06:24] Actually, one of my friends, Karen Anderson, who was, who served as a book coach for me through the process. She's like, she's known me for a long time. She said, Hey, your book has no heart in it. She's like, it's got great facts. The frameworks. It's got great information, but I need some more of your personality in this, right? [00:06:44] The warmth that is, you know, who you are. I need the humor. I need a little bit more story, you know, to contextualize it. In the, in the entire book really is about that journey. From how I reinvented myself, I had walked away from a [00:07:00] pretty established career, stepped into a new career, got a job as the chief marketing officer, as you mentioned for that company. [00:07:06] And then within two years, I left to start my own business. So really that three to four year period of my life was very turbulent. I look back on it now and just like, I don't know how I survived that or what I did. When I look back on what I intuitively did. The good things that I did. That's what made it into the book. [00:07:26] And all these years, since I've tested these frameworks, tested how to coach people in building a personal brand. And I'm actually really glad that the book is coming out now because it is, you know, two grades better than what it would have been five years ago. Um, and you can't mess with the timing. I mean, just in the last year and a half, we've all experienced this locked down and shut down and. [00:07:50] People are really rethinking work. They're working from home a lot more, and it is the perfect time for this book to come out. So I'm very, very grateful [00:08:00] for all those things. But yeah, there were definitely voices that were like, this is a pain. I hate this. This is like slogging through mud. And I just kept on putting one foot in front of the other and doing it. [00:08:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:08:09] And you know, it's funny that you say that, that the voices were saying, this is a pain you're going through molasses when you're in the stew, when you're in it. And you're, and you're just like, I just have to put one foot in front of the other. Do you have any practices, anything that you do that goes, okay, I'm going to get my head back in the game. [00:08:28] I'm going to get myself right to do this, or is it just survive at all costs for [00:08:32] Mike Kim: [00:08:32] you? Hmm. Well, one of the things that I really did was, um, stop trying to do it the right way because. When I have all these friends who are authors and they're like, oh yeah, I use this Scrivener program. It's like some software program that people write books in. [00:08:50] Right. And I'm like, okay, fine. I'll use that. Oh yeah. It makes it so easy. And I'm like sitting there on my computer is old and I'm like, I don't know how to use this program. I've never used this before. My job is [00:09:00] not to learn how to use using your program is to write a book. Right. So I stopped doing that. [00:09:04] Then I was like, okay, well I just got to tough it out, but in seat, that's what I heard all the time. BIS, but in C. Get just start writing and then I'd sit down at my computer and I wouldn't write. And I realized it's because I was on my computer all day because the zoom calls. So I hated sitting. On like sitting at my computer, it just, it just drove me crazy. [00:09:26] Right. So then I try to write in, in bed with my laptop and that wasn't good either. Cause I was like, okay, this time. So this is, this is crazy. What I actually did was I took everything out of these, you know, godforsaken programs. Everyone was telling me, you use dumped everything into Google docs and just started writing the book on my phone. [00:09:45] And I would chip away at it. I, I, once I live in Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC right now, and as soon as a couple of places opened back up, you know, bars, restaurants, whatnot, I would go out, I would call an [00:10:00] Uber. I would clack away on my phone and in Google docs in the 20, 30 minutes in the Uber sit down at the bar. [00:10:09] And just collect oil on my phone. And I just chipped away at this thing over the course of like probably nine or 10 months and just kept refining, kept refining, getting, setting it into the editor, getting feedback, you know, refining, refining, refining. And that was really the first and most important thing I had to find out what worked for me and be okay with that. [00:10:33] The second thing I think I really had to do, um, to, to push through that was to, um, create deadlines that I definitely had to stick with. Like I told the publisher, here's the release date I want. I went ahead and had the meeting with the publishers and the, okay. We've all decided it's going to come out July 13th. [00:10:52] Right. I'm like, sure. And I mean, every step of the way, they're like, we cannot print your book. If you don't get this in, by this day. [00:11:00] And those self-imposed deadlines are actually how I work whenever. And this is just how I've worked in business. Anytime that I've really needed to get something done, I've made promises to other people that have it'll be done. [00:11:13] And that has forced me. To take action. Those deadlines have driven action. Um, I'm very grateful to my publisher Morgan James fellowship. They were very patient with me, you know, um, in a lot of ways, uh, I was picky about the artwork. I was picky about the typeface in the book and all that, but all this is. [00:11:35] It's a journey as a creative, it's a journey as a leader, it's a journey as a journey in self-expression, um, to really understand yourself more. I feel so much better equipped if I ever write another book again, which I probably will, but I've learned a lot about myself through this process. [00:11:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:11:54] I'm taking all that in for a second, because there was so much in what you just said. [00:11:58] It's so [00:12:00] I love, love, love, love, love that you said that how much you learned about yourself as part of writing the book and, and it, and it's funny to me that you said that it took patients on the part of your publisher because you were picky about things and I'm like, well, I've written six books. By gum, you better be picky. [00:12:17] It's your baby, you know, and believe me when you hold it for the first time, it's going to be amazing. I wrote this, but, but yet this, this notion of learning a lot about myself, I CA I keep, you know, this is the innovative mindset podcast. So I keep coming back to that. What, what did you learn? What was the thing that changed from, from before you wrote the book to when. [00:12:41] Gave it to the publisher and said it's finished. What was, what was the transformation inside you? [00:12:47] Mike Kim: [00:12:47] I think the biggest thing for me with that was, um, understanding this is a little bit more out there. Um, When quarantines [00:13:00] first happened, bend, it really slowed my life down. Like it did for a lot of other people. [00:13:05] And I thought I had this dream one day, or like, I don't know, just, just one of these meditative experiences about what I really wanted to do with my life. And I realized, I was like, I don't know that I'm doing it yet. Or maybe that changes who knows. Right. And I said to myself, what do. Will really live on after I'm gone. [00:13:29] And again, this is framed by what my friend Jeff told me, you know, it's fun to build things, build things that lasts. And as I was writing this book, I realized, you know what, my nephews are going to read this. They're going to read this if they want to, it'll be there. You know, even after I'm long gone, you know, they're five years old and three years old right now. [00:13:48] And, uh, When I had that kind of experience that this little dream thing, you know, one of those in between waking and sleeping moments, I was like, I just want to write stories. I [00:14:00] just want to tell stories. Stories are what live on. We live. We read stories from hundreds of years ago that were written thousands of years ago. [00:14:06] These stories have been written and we still repurpose and reinterpret and re-express them today. So while I love marketing and I love business coaching, I, I felt very strongly what I really wanted to do later on tap back into telling stories in writing. The book has opened up or reignited part of my creative muscle to, to write, to just write for the sake of, uh, sharing my thoughts, sharing my, um, feeling feelings, but also holding space and creating space for other people. [00:14:43] So, right. Um, not too long ago, um, back in March, when, you know, there were a lot of crazy events going on in the county. And there was a shooting in Atlanta of many Korean women. Um, working out this massage probably really impacted [00:15:00] me because I was like these women, like my mom's age, you know, there's a lot of anti-Asian hate going on. [00:15:05] And I wrote an article it's old, it's just on my blog and it went viral thousands and thousands, and thousands of people read this. And, um, the feedback I got was just as, if not more fulfilling, Than the feedback I got from my clients. Hey, thanks for helping me discover my voice or giving me clarity on my marketing strategy. [00:15:29] But I realized with just a few strokes on the keyboard, I could really create space and hold space for people. Or for the world at large. And I, I don't know what that looks like yet. Right. I've just published the book comes out tomorrow. Right. But, um, and I'm not in a rush to leave the business and marketing space, but I'm starting to get an inkling of what I might want to do in the next phase of my life. [00:15:53] And that's been really funny. I don't think it would have happened. Had it not been for writing this [00:16:00] book. [00:16:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:16:03] I, I love the notion that it's opening, opening that part of you almost up again. You're such a creative person in all ways that I've seen, you know, you're one of my teachers I've learned so much from you and, and yet, uh, and not yet, but, and also. Having having, uh, learning something like marketing and business from someone who is a creative, like you is so fulfilling and inspiring. [00:16:31] And at the same time, this is a strange question because we who are in sort of the entrepreneur space, forget that most people aren't in it. Right. But if you want to further a cause or a business, it seems. It's a great idea to, to, to build that brand. And so I guess the question is how much do you think your personal brand, you might, Kim, your personal brand will, uh, help your [00:17:00] efforts in that next phase? [00:17:01] Whenever that comes you, you may not be in a hurry to leave the personal brand business, but when that next phase comes, how much of what you've built already? We'll help you move forward. [00:17:13] Mike Kim: [00:17:13] Okay. I think it helps a lot. And this is one of the concepts that I cover in the book. Um, the path of the personal brand, right. [00:17:21] And, um, one of the most unique and challenging things about building a business around my self. You know, w which I've done and you've done. Um, certainly as well. Uh, we hear this phrase personal brand thrown out around a lot. And, um, my best attempt to define what a personal brand is, is basically a public identity you've crafted for an express purpose. [00:17:43] Right. Um, and it's a confluence of your ideas, your expertise, your reputation, and your personality. That's, that's an identity, all those things in one. And the funny thing that I've seen in this space, And this may sound super obvious, but no one really says this is that you can't just go out [00:18:00] on eBay or Craigslist and buy. [00:18:02] A personal brand, you can't buy a Bernay Brown's influence. You can't buy Tony Robbins influence. Even if you were to acquire the rights to their intellectual property and their customer databases, their social media accounts, you can't buy it when it comes to this, this, this thing called a personal brand. [00:18:23] Everyone starts from zero. So. Um, when people talk about starting a brand or they, they ask me, you know, how should I start, um, building a brand, um, I asked a lot of them, well, what do you want it to do for you? And they, they often say, this is all they said, well, I want to do whatever I want. And they want to like live in this magical place, which I've since dubbed the land of whatever I want. [00:18:49] And they'll say things like, oh, look at the rock, Dwayne Johnson, you or Oprah, or Carrie Vaynerchuk or Joe Rogan. They can make money doing anything they want. And [00:19:00] what most people don't understand is that there is a path to a place of that kind of influence. That these folks have reached, but it requires that you walk through this really lonely place that I call the valley of focus. [00:19:13] So I can, I can jump into this if that's cool, because I think this will be fun for us to talk about. So, um, you know, let's say you start your journey, you write blog posts, you share some inspirational quotes on social media. You start a new podcast. And unfortunately it doesn't really feel like anyone's listening and this is totally. [00:19:30] Right. Your friends, your family, your colleagues. They're a bit confused by what you're doing in some even stuff following you online, because they're like, what is Mike doing? What is this all to doing? And you feel more alone than ever. And, uh, great news. You're now in the valley of focus and in this valley of focus, you whittle down all of your random ideas. [00:19:51] To focus on one topic, one idea or one market, and you decide, you know, whether you're going to specialize in, you know, helping [00:20:00] people get healthy or you'll make more money or build better relationships. You narrow your focus even further to, to determine what you're going to do in that particular market marketing is a big market, right? [00:20:10] So I had to like narrow that down and say, I'm going to help people with personal branding and copywriting writing their words. And you start to slowly understand much like a nightclub or dance club. You can't play five different types of music and expect like everyone to come to your place. Right. They just don't mix. [00:20:29] You have to have clarity. So I experienced this when I started in business and marketing, probably 90% of the people who follow me just start. Right. A few of them followed me. Um, as I stepped out into this venture, um, but what happens is when you stay focused and you get more narrowed down, um, you become known for a few things and then just eventually, you know, one or two things, but strangely enough, this attracts other influential [00:21:00] people to you who have followings of their own. [00:21:03] And because of that clarity, they may hire you. They may give you a platform. They meet you. Opportunity to speak to their audience about your area of expertise and lo and behold, a bunch of their followers just start following you. Right? And then some other influential person who sees that influential person. [00:21:19] Number one, connected with you, asks you to speak to their audience and boom, the phenomenon happens all over again, and you're starting to gain an audience, build an audience or gain followers rapidly, much more. And your, your story of becoming this rising star and over time. And this is where I feel like I'm starting to step into over time. [00:21:41] Over many years, your audience keeps following you. Not just because of what you know, but because you have who you are, you're not just building a brand, you're becoming your brand. That's the message of the book. You are the brand, right? Because of all this focus, your work [00:22:00] improves, your expertise becomes established and some of your biggest fans become super fans. [00:22:05] If you will, who will gladly follow you into any of your future pursuits? And if you have enough of these people, they will help you reach the land of whatever I want and stay there. Now I've seen this play out. In front of my very eyes with the rock, Dwayne Johnson. When I was in college, I loved this guy. [00:22:26] He was a wrestler, right? Does that today? Everyone knows him as one of the world's biggest action stars are used to all these movies, but yeah, professional wrestling for like 15 years was his valley of focus. And he didn't even really want to become a wrestler. He played college football and wanted to make the NFL and he didn't make. [00:22:45] Right. So this dude pivots into wrestling stays the course. Most people don't realize this either. They don't know this fans hated the rock. When he was first a wrestler, they boot him out of the building. They hated him, right. [00:23:00] They just thought he was so cheesy. He thought their character, the character was stupid and he just kept with it. [00:23:06] And the WWE, you know, his company started reform as I did. And just starting to get really popular. And at the height of his popularity, when I was in college, I remember this, um, he started to make some movies and he was just so good. He was so charismatic. He was so entertaining. He started to leave, uh, wrestling at times to go shoot these movies. [00:23:28] And what happened is the wrestling fans felt like he sold out. And not all of them were thrilled. He was acting so they just stopped following him. They started booing him when he'd come back to wrestling, even though he's one of the most popular people in the company. And yet enough people, enough people like me watched his movies. [00:23:49] I was a fan of him as a wrestler enough people like me watch this movie. And now I still follow him on social media. I probably have bought [00:24:00] under armor, you know, workout gear because he endorses it. Right. And he can do whatever he wants, the workout gear, the athletic apparel, Lisa, oddly enough, he sells tequila that doesn't really seem on brand for a guy who, you know, works out all the time. [00:24:16] You're drinking tequila, you know, but he could do whatever he wants, but people don't realize. Oh, my gosh, the guy labored for 15, 20 years as a wrestler, he had to deal with the heartache of not making the NFL. This is not somebody who just said, I'm going to just talk about everything and whatever I want and people are going to follow me. [00:24:36] So all, all of this, just kind of tying a bow on this. Do I feel like my personal brand will help me in future endeavors? Absolutely. I'm not as popular as a rock, but I do believe that there are some people who have said, Mike, we just like you, we just like what you do. We'd like what you stand for. And I'm curious to see where you're going to go and I'm going to follow. [00:24:58] And because of [00:25:00] that, um, I feel this amount of freedom, I feel a certain amount of freedom and Liberty to go explore these new things. [00:25:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:25:10] First of all. I'm so glad that you talked about the rock because it's a lot of what you said. It really resonates with me because what I, I, I follow him also. And it's not just because he's charismatic. [00:25:20] It's because he's welcoming. If you see what I mean, like he's doing his thing and I know there are millions of fans and it's not like, I feel like he is. Talking directly to me, except for, I kind of do. And, you know, and, and I think for him, it's probably on, on many levels, it's authentic, but also it's very practical, right? [00:25:41] It's a very practical, this is who I am, and this is what I stand for. And he kind of. Set all the dominoes up and knocked all the dominoes down. And that's one of the things I really respect about you is that you are, in addition to being creative, you're very practical. You break things down [00:26:00] in, in the work that I followed with you in the classes I've taken with you in, in a very, um, and I hate the word actionable because it's a weird word, but it's really true. [00:26:09] If I take action on the things that you recommend, things open up. Right? So, so. What, if you can talk about that a little bit, how do you reconcile or combined the very creative parts of who you are with that very practical part of you? [00:26:27] Mike Kim: [00:26:27] Yeah, I think it, you know, it, that's a great question. I think I have always felt more of a bias towards action. [00:26:36] Um, when I've taken various self-assessment, you know, tests and stuff like that, uh, StrengthsFinders was one of them. Uh, I dunno, how many of you listening may have heard of strength finders? Um, but with StrengthsFinder number one was maximizer. Um, which means that I don't like to start things completely from scratch. [00:26:56] I like to take good things and make them. [00:27:00] And I'm like, oh, no wonder I'm a consultant. Right. And then number two was, um, implement. Which means I just go do things. I, I overthink every other area of my life except for creativity and business. I mean, I'm like, I'm like, I want it done yesterday. I just go do it. [00:27:20] Um, it's probably why I work really long hours and get stressed out and stuff because I have more ideas than I can ever execute on. Right. And I have realized that I don't know if I came up with this phrase or I heard it somewhere, but I like it. Um, we are idea rich and execution. Poor. And this world of social media has made that even more of an anathema, if you will. [00:27:43] I mean, it is a sickness it's easy to post other people's ideas. It's really hard to go do them. Sure. So, um, when I see other people take a long time to execute on things, I'm just, it just drives me nuts. Right. And I'm like, okay, that's their own pace. That's their own journey. I'm not going to judge them. [00:27:59] But for [00:28:00] me, um, I, some, sometimes I can't sleep on this. I get it. So I'm like, okay. Uh, I I'm, I'm biased that way, you know, bias towards action. Um, and then the third strength on strength finder was just, it was just a strategic oversight. Like I just see the big picture. I'm always a big picture person. So I'm very bad with little details. [00:28:22] Um, it's why I have an assistant that handles these things, right. I'm just like, I have this idea. I want to see this happen. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And sometimes I, I am my own worst enemy because I know how to do too many things. And so I execute very quickly or I can't wait to get things executed, which makes me a very poor delegate. [00:28:41] Hmm. So I've learned all these things about my workflow in my work life and how I made, and I've realized that that has had to force me as a leader to grow in other areas. I have to become a better leader. I have to become a more patient person. I have to become [00:29:00] more of a visionary and less of a hands-on person. [00:29:02] These are all really big areas I have to grow in. You know, we're here, we're talking about the innovative mindset, right? I have to innovate those parts of my life. Otherwise I will relegate myself to living like this until I'm dead. Um, so it's either changed. And grow and, and, and work with people and work with teams or do this for the rest of my life. [00:29:25] And it is what it is. And there's no wrong answer. That's the other thing, um, that I've really realized there's no wrong answer. I know a lot of people who are like me, and this is what they want. That is how they want to live. They don't want a big team. They don't want an administrator. They don't want people on payroll. [00:29:44] They're okay with doing that. Right. And then there are other people who, who have made that shift and both are valuable. Both are building their business and their life around the kind of life and business they want. Um, so really I'm at that [00:30:00] crossroads where it's like, I'm a creative, but I'm also like very, very wired to take action. [00:30:05] And the more and more self-aware I become, I see options laid out on the table for me. It's like, okay, which path am I going to go down? I have to decide. And that's really, that's really how I see it. [00:30:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:30:19] And it's lovely that it's about self-awareness, you know, so much of this. Is knowing who you are and knowing what you can offer. [00:30:28] And I, and I, I I'm, I'm grateful that you, that you talked about that because I think that's what the book is going to do on a much larger scale for you is it's going to take that particular message and, and amplify it. Uh, and so I'm, I'm really grateful. I want to say that. Because it comes out tomorrow and you should all go get it. [00:30:48] It's you are the brand, the eighth step blueprint to showcase your unique expertise and build a highly profitable business. So if you are interested in learning how to do that, you need to go get this book. [00:31:00] That's just how it is Mike. I'm. I, I could keep you for the next six hours, but I know you have a life to get back to. [00:31:06] So I will ask you the one question you might remember this, you might not that I ask everybody who comes on the show. And before I do that, I will, I will say thank you again for joining me. This was so fabulous and wonderful to get to talk to you about your book and about where you are and where you're going. [00:31:24] The question is this. If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? [00:31:32] Mike Kim: [00:31:32] Oh, yeah, I remember this question. Okay. Um, you know what I've got to say, you are the brand. Um, and, and it's not just because of the book, but it's really the charge that I want to lay out, you know, to my readers, to my friends, to my colleagues, um, there we all, we all have a brand. [00:31:54] Um, we all have a reputation, you know, personal branding. This phrases become, you know, this. [00:32:00] Popular term now. Um, but it's just, it's just your reputation. It's just what people think of you. It's just the identity that you hold in in the, in the minds and hearts of people who know you. And, um, I think one of the things I've learned about life through my work is that entrepreneurship thinking outside the box, it has a way of bringing out the best parts. [00:32:26] And also revealing some of your roughest edges and in a world of image and social media followers. My message really is, you know, be someone worth following, be that truly be who you're trying to sell to people, whether it's, you know, through an Instagram account for fun or trying to land a new job or, or trying to start your business, like you are the brand, don't just build a brand. [00:32:53] Be the brand you that that's who you are. And it's a call for us to, to grow and mature and to be the [00:33:00] best version of ourselves. So that's what I would write across the sky. And it's not just because the book's out tomorrow. [00:33:06] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:33:06] No, but I w you know what? I think that's great. And it's a call to be. Your authentic self, which is, which is the best way to be, because there's so much that we have to fair it through that isn't authentic and real, and you're calling for us to be real. [00:33:22] And I think that's great, Mike, thank you again so much for being here and being so generous with your wisdom and your knowledge. I appreciate it very much. [00:33:31] Mike Kim: [00:33:31] It was a pleasure to be here. And thank you for, uh, sharing me with, with everybody here today and sharing your platform and salt. I've really, really appreciate it. [00:33:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:33:38] My absolute pleasure. This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. If you want to find Mike Kim, you can go to Mike kim.com. You can learn all about him. You can learn all about the book. You can get the book, you should get the book because obviously he knows. Stuff until next time. This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset [00:34:00] podcast, reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [00:34:10] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you. On patrion.com/innovative mindset. [00:34:28] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg in his copyright 2021 as always. Please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.  

Adam Stokes Discusses Lessons We Can Take From Ancient Myths and Stories Adam Oliver Stokes holds degrees in religion from Duke University and Yale Divinity School. He has published on a variety of topics including biblical studies, Mormon studies, Classical studies, and ancient American history. He is the author of three books- From Egypt to Ohio: A Semitic Origin for the Giants of North America, Perspectives on the Old Testament, and The Latin Scrolls: Selections from the Five Megilloth taken from the Latin Vulgate. He currently teaches Latin at Penns Grove High School in New Jersey and lives in Edgewater Park, New Jersey with his wife and two sons. Connect with Adam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamthegiantguy2019/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linguaclassica Episode Transcript 7-5-21 Adam Stokes [00:00:00] Adam Stokes: [00:00:00] I think that that is amazing. Lesson four for today, as we look at the state of the world and we're always wanting to, you know, get more power, get, get more attention, get more fame, but look at what that cost and look how it hurts the people around you. And I think that goes back to looking at, you know, how the, the women in these, in these plays are portray criminal Astra and yeah. [00:00:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:25] Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg. On the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:48] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup@buymeacoffee.com slash Izolda tea. And now [00:01:00] let's get on with the show. [00:01:09] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg, I'm super happy that you're here and I'm really honored and happy to have today's guest on the show. Check this out. And you will know that that my inner Greek mythology nerd is going to be so super happy to talk to this. [00:01:26] Gentlemen, Adam Oliver Stokes holds degrees in religion from duke university and Yale divinity school. He has published on a variety of topics, including biblical studies, Mormon studies, classical studies and ancient American history. He's the author of three books from Egypt to Ohio, a submitted origin for the giants of north America. [00:01:46] Can't wait to talk about that one perspectives on the old Testament and the Latin scrolls selections from the five Meggie LOTE taken from the Latin Vulgate. He currently teaches Latin at Penns Grove high school in New Jersey and lives in Edgewater park, New Jersey with [00:02:00] his wife and two sons. How exciting is this going to be Adam? [00:02:03] Thank you so much for being here. Welcome. [00:02:05] Adam Stokes: [00:02:05] Great to be here as always. Thank you for that. Oh, it's my [00:02:07] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:02:07] pleasure. I'm I'm so excited to talk to you in part, because just let's just jump on in what got you started. I know what got me started reading both inches mythology when I was nine years old. What got you started? [00:02:22] What fascinated you about this, these ancient cultures and civilizations that you decided to make it your life's work? [00:02:30] Adam Stokes: [00:02:30] Yeah, well, I think it goes way back to my seventh grade Latin teacher, Mr. Butoh. My parents, my mom forced me to take Latin. I went in kicking and screaming. My dad thought it was kind of a pointless class to take. [00:02:43] He thought it was, you know, a dead language. But into about a week or so of the class, this was my goodness is older. This is about almost 30 years ago. Into about a week into the class I was hooked. And the reason I was hooked is that Mr. Butoh was kind [00:03:00] of an unconventional Latin teacher. I'm not saying, I mean, he knew his stuff left and right. [00:03:05]Definitely one of the finest linguist I've ever I've ever encountered in my life. But he made it interesting for us. There's a way to teach Latin where it can be really boring and just really dry. And he just, how can I say it? He spiced it up. He brought in a lot of Roman history. He brought in a lot of mythology and I think at the time I was in middle school going into high school. [00:03:29]I was kind of a nerd. I was kind of one of the awkward kids didn't really quite fit in. So the ancient world was kind of my escape and I just, I just fell in love with it. Basically from, from the first time I started. Engage in it. And I knew that in college, I wanted my trajectory to be my trajectory, to be towards looking at our ancient civilizations. [00:03:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:03:54] I love that a teacher inspired you to this because yeah, there are a lot of people who think [00:04:00] Latin is a dead language, but it's the root of so many languages that knowing it can only be of benefit. So let me ask you a question. You're you teach Latin, do you spice it up for your students? And if so, what is it that you do? [00:04:14] Adam Stokes: [00:04:14] Oh, yes. Oh yes. Well my school, I love, I absolutely love the school that I teach at Pence Grove to give you some of the demographics about that school. About 40% of that school is of the school I teach at is made up of Latino students, let you know, and Latino students. So they come in with Spanish and it's really cool because I can hook them early on and say, you know, Spanish comes to. [00:04:37]From Latin. So I bring in a lot of, a lot of my focus is looking at the ways that Spanish intersects with Latin. What words are exactly the same as in Spanish, as they are in Latin. So for example to geek out here the second person singular too, is the same in Spanish. As it is in Latin. But I also do a lot of what Mr. [00:04:58] Beto did as well. We [00:05:00] were always, in fact, sometimes we do more Roman history and Greek mythology than translation of text themselves. So we've looked at basically everything from the Iliad to the Odyssey. We've looked at the various Roman emperors. I really liked the bad emperors, the naughty emperors the ones who, oh, gosh well, there's a bunch of them, but I'll S I'll say we focus a lot on calendula. [00:05:23] We also focus on narrow. So those were the bad guys, my favorite emperor. He wasn't actually bad, but I always highlight him and we must spend about a month on this guy is the emperor Claudius. And the reason that I do that is because Claudius likely. There was a whole mini series of him with my favorite actor who I would gladly divorce my wife or married their dare Jakoby. [00:05:48]Sarah  whom I absolutely love. But also we know from sources that Claudia has had some type of disability that he was possibly autistic or [00:06:00] something like that. And so I have some students who are dealing with disabilities themselves. So I always point to him and students always seem to appreciate this. [00:06:08] And I pointed him and say, you know, this was a guy who inspired his disability rose to be. The emperor, the ruler of the known world at the time. And he's just a fascinating figure, not only for himself, but the way that he intersects with all these different other figures in history curricula Herod Agrippa in in Jewish history Tiberias. [00:06:30]Augustus he intersects with basically all the grades. So we do a lot of stuff with the emperors. I actually have like an emperor battle that they have to do. They have to argue effectively. So get into little small groups and they have to argue effectively, which emperor was the worst. So there'll be a Nero or Caligula and you have to give the reasons why, or they'll even, this is a project I'm going to have them do in the upcoming months. [00:06:54]They will choose an emperor and kind of have to do a campaign for that emperor. So if you want to get this emperor [00:07:00] elected, if you want it to get him voted into office which of course didn't happen in the Roman world. The is just where we're chosen to be emperor or from their lineage. But if you were, if it was modern times and you were trying to get, you know, narrow elected what could you do to get him? [00:07:14]What would you say about him? How would you depict him to get elected? So there's campaign slogans and all that stuff. Now [00:07:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:07:20] is this all. [00:07:21] Adam Stokes: [00:07:21] So most of it is, yes. So they'll so a lot of their projects still basically write out a slogan in Latin. So or write out a description in Latin. [00:07:30] So they'll trans don't write out something in English, translate into Latin and then use that as a template. [00:07:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:07:38] That's so incredible. And I love that you do that, that you get them so engaged and involved and not just sitting down, which I think is phenomenal because often just sitting down for a long time, no matter what you're studying is going to be tougher on a student than, than getting up and actually doing and having a campaign. [00:07:56] So what is the best slogan someone's ever come up with for one of the [00:08:00] emperors? [00:08:01] Adam Stokes: [00:08:01] I think so I did a similar project at the school I taught at earlier, before I came to Penn strobe and I think the best one was. At least this emperor won't feed you to the lions. So I think it was a tighter surface space Sheehan and comparing him to Nero. [00:08:18]I think they were, they were the two emperors up for election. And yeah, I think that, that one, I always get a kick out of. So, you know, it can't be as bad as getting fled to the lions. [00:08:28] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:08:28] That's actually probably true. So let me it's I love, I love what you do as a teacher, but you're also an author and you, you write and you publish works. [00:08:41] And I know that this is, this is going to sound a little weird, but when, when you're doing this, when you're, when you're writing, you're writing for a modern audience writing for a contemporary 20, 21 audience, and you're writing about these things that happened thousands of years [00:09:00] ago, perhaps even longer, how do you make. [00:09:07] How do you make it relevant to the audience of 2021? And what lessons can we, as your readers learn to take into our future from, from these ancient civilizations in ancient stories? [00:09:21] Adam Stokes: [00:09:21] That's, that's a great question. And that's something that is always, like you said, a challenge for anybody trying to, you know, convey ancient history to modern readers. [00:09:31]I've read so many not to knock other textbooks, but especially within biblical studies and old Testament, there's so many textbooks that just give dry explanations of things. So. You'll read a textbook and they'll say, these are the books of the Hebrew Bible. This is their content, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. [00:09:48] But it doesn't really talk about, you know, how this stuff is relevant today. And even though the Bible was written thousands of years ago for one it is, you know, a text that is still accepted as scripture by [00:10:00] large groups of people today, Jews and Christians. And also I think just because it was the primary Western document for so long, it continues to have affects both good and bad for, for our culture and for our society. [00:10:14]And so one of the challenges and one of the things that I try to do in writing both perspectives of the old Testament and the Latin scrolls was to show the, how the Bible or at least how people, how pop culture is understood. The Bible still has implications for issues that we, that we do. [00:10:34]Today. So in my perspective, the old Testament book there's an article in there about the treatment of Israelites towards foreigners. And I tied that article directly into the current discussion about immigration and treatment of foreigners here in America. When at a time when there is, there is increased us, you know, phobia My other book, the Latin scrolls actually, and I was advised to do this by [00:11:00] my editor and I think it was a great idea is older. [00:11:03]I was advised to put a section at the end of each of the megillah each of the scrolls that I translated what is the relevance of this scroll for today? So at the end of each of the translations, there is discussion about, you know, the contemporary relevance of, of the content in each of the scrolls. [00:11:23]So for example the scroll to the book of Esther I say, well, Esther was this average person who suddenly got skyrocketed, you know, to, to the, the highest. The highest status in society. She selling, we stressed into the court of the most powerful people in the world. What happens when this happens to you? [00:11:46] And I gave an example from my own life. I actually, when I was at duke just a little known me from, from Baltimore five foot two, actually got in the same class with the prince of Jordan and actually became friends with him. And so [00:12:00] I started that as an example. You know, what do you do when you basically you encounter a situation where you're suddenly thrust amongst very powerful people. [00:12:11]What ways might you know, you use this, not only to your own benefit, not to sound selfish, but also to the benefit of others as Esther does. So I try to raise questions like that. Song of songs, for example, another one of the Meggie load what does it say about sexuality? You know, we think of, we think of sex and, you know, we think of something, you know, that is, I think he's still in, still in the modern west. [00:12:35] Due to the influence of, of Christianity for so long, we think of sex as something that you know, is, is taboo. But you know what the song a song say about, you know, sexist is a very healthy sexual relationship. How might this be relevant? How might this differ from, you know, talking to my college students, many of whom come from Catholic strong Catholic backgrounds, how might this differ from what you've heard? [00:12:57] How might this be a positive way of understanding, [00:13:00] you know, sexuality? So I do bring that stuff in. I, I bring that stuff in, try to bring it in quite often. And it makes the class much more interesting. Some of the reflection papers I get from students, some of the ways that they answer these are really are really, really profound. [00:13:13] And they, they stick with me just as much as I hope my class sticks with them. [00:13:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:13:19] It's so interesting to me, how often as a teacher, you learn from your students almost as much as they learn [00:13:25] Adam Stokes: [00:13:25] from you. [00:13:28] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:13:28] So when you're in that, when you're in that state and you're looking at something, a document like the old Testament, and you see some things that the song of songs is a great example of something that, that we can really learn from. [00:13:43] And that can be of benefit of increasing kindness and tolerance towards people who are not the same as you especially, and also immigration was xenophobia. And yet there are times when you look at something like the Bible and you go really, you believe that, you know, don't eat crustaceans [00:14:00] or, or don't mix your fabrics or whatever. [00:14:02] So how do we, as modern people incorporate that into our viewpoint of a document, like the old Testament, because some of it frankly, is, is just so jarring. Like don't, you know, W some of the stuff that's, that's pretty violent. And some of the stuff that, that make doesn't make a lot of sense, like donate crustaceans or whatever, or I'm vegan. [00:14:26] So it's easy for me not to eat crustaceans and not, and not to pigs, but at the same time, how do we do that? How do we reconcile in our own cells when you, when we see such, such guidance and advice that is so. Dated, I'll say. [00:14:41] Adam Stokes: [00:14:41] Yeah. Yeah. And I always I do a session on the Abraham tradition in the book of Genesis. [00:14:47] And I always get to that horrible chapter in Genesis 18 where the angels come to Sodom and Gomorrah and lot basically says, you know to the men of the city, you know, I'll just don't do [00:15:00] anything to these male angels, but I'll throw my daughters out of the door to you. So that you can, you can have your way with them. [00:15:06]So, and that's one of many jarring many jarring scenes in the old Testament. I think the old Testament Hebrew Bible has to be taken like any other historical texts. Now, granted it's had much more of an influence than some other ancient texts have, but I think as I think Jesus would say, you have to kind of separate the wheat from the shaft recognize. [00:15:28]That, and I think that biblical scholarship having its basis in the European enlightenment and people likes renos, I think it does as well recognize that this is an ancient text written by human beings, that their morals the morals of their time are much different than the morals of our time. [00:15:44] But there's still stuff that you can wean from this from certain books, Ecclesiastes de Sala songs et cetera that still have value for today and how we interact and how we treat others. So I think excellent [00:16:00] example. I heard a lecture, I can't remember who gave the lecture but it was a woman who does who's a class assist and I'm blanking on her name right now. [00:16:08] She did a lecture on the Iliad and basically say, you know This basically the mindset of all these guys in the Elliot, just for, you know, blood bloodshed and plunder that you get with Agamemnon and Achilles. And basically all of them, they're all kind of all kinds of credit in that regard. [00:16:25]But you can also still take away some moral lessons from, from Homer not just the Elliot, but she was talking about the Odyssey as well. And basically, you know, what does it mean to be a virtuous person ever? She looks different for someone like Achilles or Agamemnon, you know 2,500 years ago. [00:16:45] But I think we can still ask that question as modern people wasn't mean to be virtuous in our time. What does it mean to be known. In our time. And the, the writings of Homer and the other Creek classics bring these questions to mind. Those questions are timeless. Those questions are eternal [00:17:00] and there'll be around long after we aren't. [00:17:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:17:03] Absolutely. I agree with you, the, those questions are timeless. Some of the answers make me cringe, but the questions themselves, you know, all you have to do is look at something like the Oresteia and, and wow. You know, what, what, what happened there was just, you know, wow. So, so when I look at those, when I look at those ancient texts and I look at, you know, oh, you killed my father. [00:17:25] So now I'm going to kill you and this and that. And the, you know, because he's, he sacrificed the daughter and all of these different things. I look at that. And I go, okay, if quite a Maestra, let's say she was in that she played, she was the wife in the arse Daya, and she heard her husband, the king sacrificed his daughter, all of these things happen. [00:17:46] And so she was taking revenge, right. She was taking revenge and she also had a lover and all of the it's a very dramatic and exciting and, and bloody story. Oh yes. So, so, but that's, that's what was, [00:18:00] this is, this is going to be a very feminist question. What was the woman's role here? What kind of power did quite a minister have besides doing what she did in that time? [00:18:11] And how do we, again, as modern people look at these tails and say, okay, this is maybe what quite a master could do. This is what, the path that was open to her or, or the Medea Medea is another great example. What could we do as women. In those times versus what lessons we can learn in modern times from these ancient tales. [00:18:36] Adam Stokes: [00:18:36] Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, I think that a lot of the Greek tails, especially, I think there's a subliminal message of sympathy for these women, like climb industrial, like Medea in, you know, saying that, you know, they're kind of, they're kind of literally restrained by the culture and the time period that they find themselves in and being married [00:19:00] to these men who have absolute power and are kind of, I think, especially with Agamemnon kind of absolutely narcissists. [00:19:09] Hmm. You know, what else could they do? So I think this is definitely when you read the, when you read the Greek place, Sophocles Europe, cities, et cetera, there is always an edge of, at least in my, at least how I read them of sympathy for these women. You know, cause I'm an Esther, it's not just this terrible unfaithful, a woman who kills, who kills Agamemnon, who kills her spouse. [00:19:30] But, you know, look at the context that set this up. And I think a lot of the Greek playwrights are saying, you know, let this be a warning of what absolute power does because Agamemnon he destroyed with, he destroyed a lot of people around him and eventually he destroys himself, his actions destroy himself. [00:19:47]And every step he takes to try and gain more power, including sacrificing his daughter eventually leads to his downfall. And I think that that is amazing lesson. For, for today, as we look at the state of the [00:20:00] world and we're always, you know, wanting to, you know, get more power, get get more attention, get more fame, but, you know, look at, look at what that cost and look how it hurts the people around you. [00:20:11] And I think that goes back, you know, to looking at, you know, how the, the women in these, in these plays are portrayed from a Nestra and Medea. [00:20:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:20:20] It's so interesting. It goes right back to what you said earlier about virtue and what does it mean to be a virtuous person? And now I'm getting into the nitty and the gritty of my, my Greek mythology, and [00:20:34] Adam Stokes: [00:20:34] I can talk to them about this stuff all day. [00:20:36] I [00:20:36] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:20:36] love this. Awesome. So, yeah, because as you, as you might be able to tell I'm a nerd for this. So, so, okay. So take something like the story of Antigony when she's in that position, she, she claims power. She goes, and she buries her brother and against the King's wishes. And then she pays obviously a pretty hefty price. [00:20:57] What again, what do we do? [00:21:00] What do we do now? As far as activism, how do we relate that to people wanting like to, to black lives matter movement? The me too movement, all of those movements are those kinds of protests. And in, in, in the, in the ancient plays, there was death to come. Now we are in a, hopefully much more enlightened place, but still we are faced with the same question. [00:21:26] What am I risking if I speak up, what am I risking? If I take action? Like Antigony did. Yeah. [00:21:34] Adam Stokes: [00:21:34] I think that that's a really good point. And I think, you know, yes, we don't risk death per se, you know, hopefully not, but I know that, you know, I have some activist friends. I used to teach at a Unitarian seminary way back in the day. [00:21:50] And a lot of my a lot of the students I taught went on to, to be activist. I even had some add in at Charleston in 2017. I don't know if you recall [00:22:00] that event with with the of course white supremacist but being an activist from what I've heard of activists, I, I'm not an activist. [00:22:07]Part of me feels ashamed about that, but I'm not really activist per se. But I admire activist. I greatly admire admire activists. And from what they have told me, it is a, it is a taxing thing. So you don't, you know, it's not necessarily that your life is in danger. Sometimes it is sometimes it is, but that the mental burden of, you know, of seeing all the problems in the world and trying to do something about it and feeling like you're just making, you know, baby steps and, you know, just such small head, you know, Just a little headway. [00:22:41]It's sometimes, you know really overwhelming. And so I know that, you know, a lot of activist struggle, you know, with issues of issue, issues of mental health. So I think going back to Antigony you know, making, I think that's a great example because at the end it comes down to what type of decision does she make? [00:22:59] She [00:23:00] can back off and, you know, just have everything go back to normal or she can she can protest and be defined. And what is the cost of that? And I think that's a, that's an extremely relevant question, you know, for for today, you know, even, you know, if, if, like I said, there's no physical harm that comes to you, there is going to be some type of cost when you, when you serve as an activist in the way in, in, in a positive way. [00:23:26] So there is going to be some mental costs, mental toll that it takes on you. And are you, are you ready? You know, are you ready for that? So if that makes sense. Oh, it [00:23:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:23:37] absolutely does. And, and it, you know, we, we all have to evaluate for ourselves what we're going to do and how we're going to do it for sure. [00:23:45] And I, I do want to say something Adam, that I, that I want to make, I want to make this point very clear. Consider yourself an activist you have taken on. The extremely important job [00:24:00] of teaching the next generation and the next generation and the next generation. If that's not an activist, I don't know what it is honestly. [00:24:07] So please do not ever be ashamed of not being perhaps on the frontline at our March. You are an activist every single day. When you walk into the classroom and you help these students, your students discover. And get curious and ask questions and make suppositions and learn that that is if I were, if I were queen honestly or Empress professional basketball players would be making $30,000 a year and teachers were making in the millions. [00:24:35] So, so I, I wanted to say that that's really important for me that you understand, I hold you in the highest regard because you've taken on what I consider to be a sacred [00:24:45] Adam Stokes: [00:24:45] task. Thank you. Thank you. I, I, I definitely, I consider it, you know, sacred as sacred as well. I, my mother was a teacher she taught for 40 years. [00:24:54]And I saw how she influenced people so much even years after. And [00:25:00] literally in the trenches of Baltimore, she literally saved some lives by the direction she was able to put students on. And so I always admired that about her. I mentioned to Mr. Butoh before, so. These are all people that I've looked up to. [00:25:12] And I, I definitely, I felt that their calling was sacred and I feel like teachers call them sacred now. And at least in America, I don't think teachers get enough praise. Oh, not, [00:25:21] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:25:21] not, not even a little I've spent, I've spent time working with teachers and I go into schools to teach. And one of my other gigs and teachers are heroes. [00:25:30] Every single one of you have. You're amazing. I, I want to, if it's okay to switch gears just a little bit and perhaps switch oceans, maybe cross an ocean and let's cross the Atlantic and let's talk about ancient civilizations on the north American continent. Honestly, this is something that I I've done some research before this interview, but I don't really know anything about it. [00:25:53] And, and yet I've been to snake canyon and I've spent time in the Southwest, but I would love to, to [00:26:00] speak with you a little bit about what, what that's about for you, what sparked your interest in ancient American civilizations and. What are your beliefs about these civilizations? Because there's some, there's plenty of stuff we just don't know. [00:26:15] So, so what do you, what got you started and, and what is your focus about that? [00:26:22] Adam Stokes: [00:26:22] Yeah. Happy to talk about that. So what got me started honestly is where was my where my religious views. And I'll say a little bit about that. So I was raised Baptist then For most of my life, then when I got to grad school kind of had a crisis of faith. [00:26:39] I didn't really have any affiliation for a few years. Then spent some time with the Quakers and then joined one of the latter day, Saint movements, not the main one that you know of in Utah. But I'm an elder in a, what's known as a church of Christ with the Elijah message and all of the latter day, Saint traditions, community of Christ the Utah [00:27:00] church the bicker tonight church we're all kind of how can I say what the. [00:27:06] Thing that holds us all together is our belief in something called the book of Mormon or the record of the fights as as my denomination calls it. And in that, in the book of Mormon, I'll just use the more common name. There's the idea that there were ancient civilizations that existed in north America and that at some point Jesus came and visit. [00:27:28] These ancient civilizations. Now that is a faith claim. I'm not going to argue for that one way or another here on this show, but I will say that it got me very interested in trying to see and trying to research what ancient American civilization was like, because I'm sure it's probably the same for you, but when I was growing up basically when you asked about ancient American civilization, you were told the pilgrims and they had a nice Thanksgiving meal with the native Americans. [00:27:56] And that was it. Now you knew a little bit about south America [00:28:00] with the Mayans and the inkind, but no inkers, but nobody and the Aztecs, but nobody ever really. Nobody ever really talks about north America pre 1492. So really my my interest in, you know, what can we know about ancient civilizations in America? [00:28:18]Stemming from my kind of religious background made me get into this topic and from my own research, from what I've been able to ascertain in north America had had just as much of a rich elaborate culture with a huge empire seeking of the empires of the Hopewell and the Edina peoples, just as extensive, just as amazing as the empires of south America. [00:28:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:28:45] That's fascinating. If that, if that is true, if we have civilizations in sort of more north of, of where the Mayans and the Aztecs and Incas were okay. [00:29:00] I, I let's see if I can figure out how to ask this question a few years ago, I visited eczema Pueblo in New Mexico, and it's, it's the most, it's the only continuously in existence town or city or community I should say for, since the 11th century. [00:29:17] Right? So, so they've been around for a while in part, because they're so isolated, they're up on a big rock in the middle of the desert. So, so those folks have been around and we have some sort of continuous records of, of that happening, but, but what are the records that show that, that some of the more in sort of Northern American civilizations were an existence? [00:29:44] When, and again, I don't, I don't, I'm, I'm asking, I'm not trying to be in pertinent or anything. I don't, I've never heard of primary sources that talk about the existence of these sorts of civilizations and, and peoples, [00:30:00] as you're talking about, please enlighten me. [00:30:02] Adam Stokes: [00:30:02] Yeah. That's, that's a really good question. [00:30:04] Most people have it. I mean, I hadn't heard of this until I started doing research for myself. There are not a lot of written records. Now we do have some inscriptions. Some Semitic inscriptions from some of the sites would suggest that some of these early north American campfires came from the near east. [00:30:23] And there's a lot of debate as to whether these inscriptions are forgeries or if they're legitimate, I tend to have, I tend to side on the view that they're legitimate. When you look at them with my background, I have a background in Semitic languages, Hebrew and Aramaic. So But not just a written records mainly through the archeological record. [00:30:41] So one of the things that I do as kind of the geek in me I travel around to various native American mounds. I have often taken my kids. I have a seven year old and a four year old. So I take them with me basically all the time. And they could kind of boil it to like, daddy's looking at his clumps of dirt again. [00:30:59] But [00:31:00] back in the day, thousands of years ago, they weren't actually clumps of dirt. They've been destroyed by by present president habit, the president habitats of, of, of the region. Now. Back in the day these mounds were huge and some of them were as big as the dimensions of the pyramids of Egypt and in the 19th century as people have still found this stuff, some of this stuff today there were excavated in at a lot of these mounds people or excuse me remains skeletal remains of people who seem to have been rulers are decorated with jewelry with all types of fancy items. [00:31:38]Also seem to have been slightly slightly to somewhat significantly taller than. Then modern human beings presently. So between seven to nine feet. So we know that these people were royalty of some type. They seem to rule the region around them, them. And we have this, not only from what we've been [00:32:00] able to determine from the archeological record, but also from just a tradition of native Americans, native Americans talk about people. [00:32:06] Well who were there, who were here before and contemporaneous with their ancestors and how these people basically. Yeah, basically we're the rulers of, of these different civilizations that you have in the Midwest and in the great lakes region et cetera. So short answer to your, to your question, to your really good question. [00:32:28]The archeological evidence and the oral traditions of the native Americans seem to strongly point to a acid empire in north America. [00:32:42] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:32:42] I grew up in Michigan and lived there until after I graduated from the university of Michigan. And one of the places that we went to was serpent mound. And and so that, and I remember being there and I could feel the energy of the place was different when you were nearby there, it was, [00:33:00] it just felt different than when you were a few miles away. [00:33:03] And so I, you know, they say that it's, that it was one of them was created by the Edina culture in like 500, 800 BC to somewhere around there. Can you talk about what the significance, because we don't exactly know why that serpent mound is there and I'm going to have to find a picture of it and put it up in the show notes for this, because. [00:33:27] You know, you, you can see that it's there when you're there, but really it's best seen from above. So, so can you talk about what the significance of the serpent mound is? Well, what is it first of all and what the significance of it is to someone like you, who studies north American ancient [00:33:44] Adam Stokes: [00:33:44] cultures? [00:33:45] Certainly, certainly. I have not. Sadly I haven't been to the serpent man. I've been to some others. I've been to the new work earthworks. I've been to the Fort ancient mound. I've been to the Edina mound in Kentucky. But I have not yet gone to the surfer mal, but it's something that I hope to [00:34:00] do. [00:34:00]Maybe a summer road trip with the kids. I will, I will do it. But yeah, the serpent mound is one of the longest Stretches just by it's by by feet, one of the longest, the mounts that exists in north America. And as you said, it's attributed to the Edina people who live between 500 BCE. [00:34:20] And I believe a hundred CE depending some people debate that some people say 500 BCE to 400 CE. They're saying two major cultures in that region, your team and the hope. Well, and they seem to have fought with each other. We don't actually know their original names. Hopewell and Edina were much later names given to them named after the people who who basically found found their relics. [00:34:45]So we don't know what their original names were. But yeah. So this serpent mound yeah. It's, yeah, it's pretty amazing. It's really something that you can only see really well, just like the new work mound from above when you're actually there. [00:35:00] You you can't really see it very well. But we don't know why that that circuit is there. [00:35:05] There's a, there's a bunch of theories about that that this circuit may represent some form of Gnosticism or Gnostic religion amongst the Edina. The Edina, I should mention along with the hope. Well, a lot of people, including myself, have speculated that their origins come from the near east. [00:35:23] So this could represent a reference to the biblical serpent tradition. Where you had you have the circuit featuring featuring prominently the beginning of the old Testament in the books of Genesis or it could be the Gnostic serpent who provides who provides wisdom. So in the ancient, near east in ancient, near Eastern context, serpents, as well as women were understood as harbingers of wisdom. [00:35:48] That's why in the Genesis story, he is talking to the serpent. The serpent's not interested in the guy because a servant doesn't feel like the dude is all that wise, but he is talking to the woman because they're kindred spirits because [00:36:00] they're both seen as harbingers of wisdom. So a lot of scholars Zelda have said, you know, we're not sure what all of these mounds symbolized, but they were possibly used for ceremony or religious purposes and maybe some type of Gnostic ritual, Gnostic, religious purpose. [00:36:18] Was was evident at the serpent mound. But something, I think this points to basically a large issue, she, that, you know, a lot more work now you have great archeologists in the field of American archeology, gee, but a lot of this stuff has really kind of, kind of been overlooked. And you know, I think when you get to the mountains, a lot of archeologists are content with the, with the explanation that they're just ceremonial and don't really go into more depth with them. [00:36:46] So I think that a lot of the new researchers out there, including myself are trying to, you know, really get into this and say, you know, yes, we see that there's this funky symbol here, but what can we possibly determine about it? Is it more [00:37:00] than just if it is ceremonial, what is a ceremony per se? Can we reconstruct any idea of what of the religious use of, you know, this particular Mount site or that particular Mount site. [00:37:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:37:14] I'm taking it all in for a second. Cause there's, there's so much to what you just said. So here I am, I am looking at the serpent mound or some of the other bandolier in, in New Mexico. Some of these places where people have left an indelible mark, that they were there, whether or not we know what it meant, somebody went, I'm going to, I'm going to let you know I'm going to have this, you know, for posterity, if you will. [00:37:41] Not that they necessarily meant to do that, but it was, it was a way of marking what was happening there. And a few years I go to Ireland a lot. And when, when we were traveling, et cetera, et cetera. But yes, I go to Ireland a lot and I've spent time at the hill of Tara and it's and Newgrange. And, [00:38:00] and so Newgrange is 5,000 years old, or even older than that, maybe 7,000 years old. [00:38:04] I believe it's 5,000 BCE is when it was built over, over time, of course, but Well, again, there are things there that when you, when you're there, there, there are at the, at the winter solstice in Newgrange, for example, you are going to see the sun shine in at the winter solstice. And the two days around that date, the shines in all the way down 90 meters into the central alternatives, the only time of the year, it does that. [00:38:33] So they knew to build it that way. And the same thing happens on the equinoxes into loom in Mexico, the same kind of somebody went, you know what? We honor this so much that we're going to make this happen and Stonehenge and other such structures, if you will. So do we have any instance of this in. [00:38:58] This part of Mexico. Yes. [00:39:00] But, but we're talking here specifically about sort of, I think the America's in the north American part of north America. And I hope, I didn't just say something really insulting to anyone who lives in Mexico, but I, I guess what, what would now be considered the United States or Canada? [00:39:14] Do we have anything like that? Here that we can point to and go, yeah. There, somebody put, thought that sort of thought into this, this the placement of, of these mounds or these or these structures. [00:39:30] Adam Stokes: [00:39:30] Oh, yes. So there is a researcher Sarah Farmer, and she goes into kind of into much more detail than I can about basically the astrological alignment of many of these mounds. [00:39:42]And she argues that both with the solar lunar calendar they are aligned so many of these seem to be astronomically aligned. So suggesting that, you know exactly the exact There was an exact specific purpose to building these mounds. Last October I [00:40:00] was for a church conference in Kentucky and I got to see, I mentioned this before the Edina mound there and the Edina Mount in Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky is really interesting because you can't see it any, you can't see this exactly any more because the river is dried up. [00:40:15] But thousands of years ago, there was a river that ran parallel. To the man. So there's a small mound, there's a river, then there's a small man and then there's a bigger Mount next to it. And this is interesting because we know some people some other scholars have written on this as well. [00:40:35]Such as Dr. Greg little but the river was seen not just in native American thought, but you get this in the Bible as well as the transition between life and death. So it is believed that the river was either the river of pre mortality where the soul slowly start to make, makes it makes its way into the worlds. [00:40:58] The so moves from the river to the [00:41:00] small amount. And then the big man which represents human existence, or it could be the opposite way of the so leaving. The physical the physical realm with the big mound Benchley entering the realm of the dead and then crossing over in to the afterlife with the river. [00:41:17] We're not quite sure either interpretation could could be argued for. But in that instance I think is an excellent example where this Mount is where you have Mount building. That seems to be deliberately planned. They deliberately plan to build this mound near this river to kind of reflect a, a spiritual, a spiritual belief. [00:41:36] They had [00:41:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:41:37] some sort of a crossing over like the river [00:41:38] Adam Stokes: [00:41:38] sticks. Yes, exactly. In Greek mythology. That's a really good example. [00:41:43] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:41:43] So going back to this, this, this notion of the modern lessons that we can learn, I, I was at a conference many years ago with Daniel Hillel. I don't know if you know who he is, biblical scholar and soil scientist. [00:42:00] [00:41:59] And one of the things that he said. Was that when you look at the old Testament in the Aramaic, that it's not dominion over the earth and the animals that it's more like stewardship or caretaking, and it changes everything. If you, if you start describing that, that, that the notion of being caretakers, rather than having dominion over our environment, over the beans we share the planet with it changes that notion of virtue and that notion of how, how responsible we are not to, but for all of the different, incredible natural resources we have. [00:42:36] So when you're working and you're an Aramaic scholar and a Hebrew scholar, when you're working on something like that, when you're looking at these old documents, can you talk a little bit about that notion of, am I choosing the right words? What do I have to do to make sure that I bring across the actual meaning. [00:42:56] Of what is being said when something like dominion versus [00:43:00] stewardship or caretaking has made such a significant difference in how many people view our relationship to the planet we live on. [00:43:08] Adam Stokes: [00:43:08] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a really kind of, I think it's an excellent example of kind of a negative history of interpretation. [00:43:15]People taking the Hebrew term actually is Michele. So it means like exactly, like you said, nurturing. Tender care for the environment. And you see this elsewhere in the Hebrew Torah in Leviticus, this is something I talk about with my, with my students in my old Testament class, this environmental ethos that Leviticus has that we read Leviticus, we read Leviticus 18 and we're like, oh crap. [00:43:42] There's a lot of stuff in Leviticus that yeah, that is problematic. But the thing that goes overlooked and I try to emphasize this for my students. I'm like, don't, don't just skip Leviticus because in the video case, yes, you got, you had some bad stuff, but also in Leviticus you have this really strong environmental ethos where the [00:44:00] children of Israel, the  Israel are supposed to take care of nurture the land. [00:44:07] And if they don't if they don't tend to the land and the land needs. They are punished by God for doing that. So it's a much different view than what has kind of emerged from Western readings of the Bible. We tend to interpret we intend to interpret that language as I think, you know, it's a misreading really that comes from Greek and Latin translations of the Hebrew Bible, reading Michelle reading, excuse me, sorry. [00:44:34] Reading my law for Michelle. So I'm a lock means to rule. This is where we get the word Malek king from. So to rule over and have dominion that gets translated in the Septuagint. And in the Vulgate as to Lord over. So dominatrix in in Latin. But that is not what you get in the original in the original Hebrew. [00:44:56]And so I try to, wherever I see [00:45:00] stuff like that, I try to emphasize and highlight that in my discussion with students and also in my book, there's a chapter in perspectives that deals with kind of the environmental ethos of, of the old Testament. And I think there's a way to navigate that if you give to students too much Hebrew, if they didn't go to Hebrew school or something, they're going to get overwhelmed. [00:45:19] But I think that in instances where, you know, I think this is an excellent example that you brought up where it is definitely relevant and has had, you know, the fairest consequences in the way it's been interpreted. I think you can bring in Hebrew and the, the students are able, are able to understand that and they feel really good because they feel like they know a little bit. [00:45:36] Yeah. [00:45:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:45:38] And I lived in Israel for seven months when I was a child and, and a Hebrew is not an easy language, so it's really, it's it's wonderful. Now, nowadays I can say  and Ken and lo and that's it. That's all I remember. But, but let's, let's talk a little bit, actually, if you don't mind about some of your [00:46:00] publishing work, when, when you're, when you're doing it I I've written books and I got to tell ya non-academic publishing is very different than academic publishing. [00:46:09] Can you talk a little bit about, cause I know there's this notion of publisher parish and all of that, but can you talk a little bit about what academic publishing is and what your experience of it has been. [00:46:22] Adam Stokes: [00:46:22] Yes. Yes. So academic publishing is I would totally agree with you. I'm Izolda is a whole different ball game than non-academic publishing, just because you have, how can I put it, your subject? [00:46:40] Your, your topic is so limited. So even if you're dealing with the Hebrew Bible or the old Testament, most people who are writing about it are specialized in their particular field. So my work I didn't finish my PhD, but when I was working on my PhD, my subs, my focus was on the book of job. [00:46:58] Now here's the problem, [00:47:00] which is that everybody who has a specialty in your field is trying to write a book on the book of job, same thing in the classics. So. There's a district joke among class assists that, you know, everything that's been written about Homer has, has already been written. So there's no need to write anything else. [00:47:17]But there's more stuff published on Homer and on the Iliad and the Odyssey than in any other academic field, including the sciences and cleaning biblical studies et cetera. So you're always trying to your big task is to try and find something creative and new within a field that within a topic that has been written on extensively. [00:47:39]And a lot of times you're not gonna really be able to find anything super new or super innovative, but what you can find Izolda is that what you can do is bring your own perspective. To it, a perspective that hasn't been brought to brought to the material before I think in the classics that you see a [00:48:00] great example of this in several recent publications, several recent translations of the India and the Odyssey done by women, Emily, Montgomery. [00:48:08] Yeah, I believe. But just you know, kind of taking, you know, her experiences as a female class assistant, bringing that to her translation of the Greek and you start to see things, you start to at least start to look at the texts in a way that you haven't you haven't ever looked at the text before. [00:48:27] So that is the main challenge. That is the main challenge. To to writing in academia. The second challenge is that everything in academia for good or bad gets peer reviewed. So I remember the first project I ever worked on was a commentary for same book I'm actually working on. [00:48:48] Now I'm doing a project on now. I mentioned before for the NRSV but the. There was a commentary that I was writing for a book called the Africana [00:49:00] Bible, which was basically black American perspectives on the old Testament. And I had to write on the additions of Daniel, which is one of the books of the Apocrypha, which is included in the Greek Bible, but it's not part of the original Hebrew text. [00:49:14] I wrote my contribution. I had worked on it for several months. I wrote it in 2006 and it went through multiple peer reviews to the point that the final work wasn't published till around 2010. So it can take a really long time with all of the reviews and edits to get, to get something published. [00:49:38]Now the good thing about publishing in academia, I've been working with something a publisher called Nella press for about three or four years now. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful printing press. They have some great academic stuff. And the great thing about working with an academic publishing is that usually if you have a good publisher, like I have, [00:50:00] they're going to give you access to all types of resources that you wouldn't have even in your own home library. [00:50:06] So you get to access databases with thousands of thousands of things. And so you have basically a plethora of resources from which to kind of formulate your own work. But it's not an easy process. There's a lot of peer review this, a lot of them saying, you know, this, distincts go back, fix this up, submit it again. [00:50:29] Over and over and over again. But if you get through it it can be, it can be a very rewarding experience. [00:50:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:50:35] So interesting that you said that I'm glad it's a rewarding experience. It would make me tear my hair out just because what happens when someone says, oh, this part is bad or this part is good or whatever, whatever the corrections or notes that they have, what if you disagree or is it incumbent upon you to change it because they said you had to, or can you sort of stick to your guns and go, no, I really believe this. [00:50:57] You [00:50:57] Adam Stokes: [00:50:57] know, that's a, that's a great question. [00:51:00] A lot of times what I have learned sometimes the hard way is to pick and choose your own battles. Sometimes. If I feel very strongly about something. So there was a whole article that I wanted to put into my perspective of the old Testament book on Deborah, who is one of the female judges in the old Testament. [00:51:21]And there was a little bit of a pushback, you know, why can't we have an article that talks about, you know, the judges in general while I was like, my specific point is to, you know, highlight a female judge. Now we've all heard of Samson. We've heard of Samuel, but we haven't heard of Deborah that much. [00:51:35] So I pushed back on that and I was able to get it. Into my Valium. Other times I've submitted stuff and I've been, you know, I've been like, you know, this work is, is so important. I at least want to get this subject matter. I just want to get this perspective out that what pops out, what ends up on the printed page looks significantly different than what I first wrote down, but [00:52:00] that I was able to get the general idea out. [00:52:01] I made some compromises, but I was able to get the general idea. So you gotta, you have to pick and choose your battles. Hmm. [00:52:08] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:52:08] Yeah, again, that would make me tear my hair out. So this is, this is sort of shifting gears just a little bit if it's okay. Sure. This is a little bit about the tools of your, of your trade. [00:52:20] So you're, you're a scholar and your teacher and you're an author. And all of that is great. I worked at NASA for many years and one of the things that I remember fascinating me a few years ago, I heard about using satellite data. They were able to due to the amount of phosphorus in soil in a certain spot that wasn't supposed to have any kind of premium. [00:52:43]Town or village on it, they found an entire village hidden under 30 feet of soil, essentially. So when you're doing that, and to me, that's super exciting because then they were able to find all of these incredible sort of archaeological mysteries solved because of [00:53:00] why, why was there so much phosphorus? [00:53:01] Oh, that's because there was a human settlement there. So, so what are the tools that you as a scholar use, are you using that kind of, of, you know, LIDAR or some other kind of satellite data to learn about some of these ancient historical places in, in north America? Or are you finding your sources being secondary sources and you go from what some of the other data collectors have [00:53:27] Adam Stokes: [00:53:27] done Haley secondary sources is ODA, mainly secondary sources. [00:53:32]LIDAR is amazing, but usually you have to be working within the context of academia. To have resources for that professors tenured professors spend years writing grants just to get access to that stuff. I, I don't have that type of access. I have, I do teach at in an academic institution but I don't have that type of access. [00:53:54] So a lot of my work comes from what some dude with a light, with a LIDAR ground penetrating [00:54:00] radar has done and written up about his or her research. And so I do that a lot of my stuff is very much old school. I have various Books on the subject by experts, many of those experts in my friends. [00:54:14] So I will contact them and say, you know, Hey, you wrote this, is this what you meant? Or what can you tell me about this? So I basically have a bunch of, you know, concurrences and in fact, a PDF as an articles basically in my library at home that I use. But I also, I, I do the millennial in me also uses digital sources as well. [00:54:36]But that's more limited than say if I was a tenured professor, I have access to some of that stuff. But not as much as if I was a tenured professor. And again, the nice thing. Once you start writing for a particular publisher they will give you what would cost you normally hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to have a subscription, to something like J store or something like that [00:55:00] they will give you access to that. [00:55:01] So I try to take advantage. Whenever I can. [00:55:05] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:55:05] Okay. Cause I was just wondering it's it's so I remember doing some of that work when I worked at NASA and seeing some of the results and just, I thought it was so fascinating to watch finding those kinds of, of touchstones. I, I guess I'll say to, to these ancient peoples is incredible. [00:55:26] Have you found anything that has just proven false? Have you gone? Oh, I had my hopes up and this is just wrong. This is just not supported at all. [00:55:36] Adam Stokes: [00:55:36] Yes. Yes. So there was we should have been proven wrong before. There was a Finding in the late 18 hundreds known as the Kindle hook plates, which were supposed to be re was supposed to be a written document about the history of ancient America. [00:55:51] There's a whole story background story with Joseph Smith in the Mormon church with these plates and people over the years, they were proved [00:56:00] to be hoaxes basically in like a year or so after they were supposedly found. But people through the years have tried to argue for them for their authenticity. [00:56:10]And I really don't see it, which is disappointing because it would be really cool if they were real, because it gives more insight into the history of, of ancient America. But I don't think that they are and you're, and you're gonna, that's going to happen a lot of times. So sometimes just going to find a dead end and the best thing you can do is just turn around and try again. [00:56:29]But overall, I've been more amazed by what I have been able to find. That's turned out to be legitimate or, you know, have some. Something that can be verified rather than something that proves to be false. [00:56:48] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:56:48] So what's next for you? I know that you're in the middle of writing a book and you're also teaching w if you could do anything, if, what, what would you be doing right now? [00:56:57] What, what, what dig would you be on? What [00:57:00] writing would you be doing? [00:57:01] Adam Stokes: [00:57:01] I would be probably at a, I'd probably be at the serpent mound or one of the mountains, Mississippi. Doing doing research there if I could be anywhere right now. So I would love native American mounts is, is something in the past couple of years that I've kind of become my obsession. [00:57:18] So I would love to love to be doing that. But yeah, at the present time I am working, like I mentioned the, on the on the project, the commentary on the additions to Daniel for a new project with the NRSV I'm also a monthly contributor to a magazine ancient American magazine. [00:57:38]So I have an upcoming an upcoming. A segment in there on the low side Luna's stone, which people have argued as a hoax, but there's seems to be a lot of evidence in its favor. And I talk about that. And then I'm always my a latter day Saint faith is very, very important to me. So I'm always kind of writing either reviewing somebody else's book or giving my own [00:58:00] insights into a latter day, Saint history and theology. [00:58:04] So those are the main things that that I'm working on that I'm working on right now. [00:58:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:58:10] That's lovely. Very cool. Well, I, I know that I, I, you and I could be geeking out about mythology for the next six hours, but I know you have a life and a day to get back to, so, so I would love it. If you would do me a favor and can you give sort of your social media links or where, if somebody wanders to know more about your work or follow you online, would you mind just giving those so that I'll put them in the show notes, but it's always really helpful to have more than one way of finding the information. [00:58:37] Adam Stokes: [00:58:37] Absolutely. Absolutely. So I have in addition to being a full-time Latin teacher high school, I'm also a Latin tutor and I have a webpage for my business on Facebook. If you go to Facebook and type in lingua, Classica, that's the name of my business. And I put in a lot of my work and just general stuff about Greek roots [00:59:00] and yeah, Greco, Roman mythology on that side. [00:59:02]So there's a lot of fun stuff on that side. If you're just interested in the Greco-Roman world. I put stuff on there all the time, and then I also have an Instagram account Adam, the giant guy where I put photos of different mounts that I've visited. I put up information about ancient north America and also some fun stuff as well. [00:59:21] So there's pictures of my kids and stuff on there as well. So those are the two, those are my two main social media. [00:59:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:59:29] Fabulous. That's wonderful. Thank you so much for doing that, Adam. You know, it's interesting. I'm in the middle of revising my next book and it's a mystery novel and Roman mythology plays a role and I had to translate from English into Latin and it's too bad. [00:59:44] I didn't know you back then because it wouldn't be, my Latin is probably just atrocious. So you might not ever want to read the book, but [00:59:51] Adam Stokes: [00:59:51] I would love to read the book. [00:59:54] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:59:54] Yeah. Roman mythology plays a big role in the books, so but but yeah, it was really, [01:00:00] it was fascinating to go. How on earth do I translate something that is very much modern sounding the Lang I was speaking in modern English. [01:00:08] Yes. And have it sound properly conjugated and the appropriate translation into Latin. And I'm sure that I'm way off. Oh, well, [01:00:19] Adam Stokes: [01:00:19] well, I was just have to go look at it and I'll criticize you if you are, [01:00:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:00:23] but it won't be, I reviewed because you obviously know so much more about this than I do. You're not like I'm not your peer you're way past your way past what I, what I know how to do. [01:00:32] Well, Adam, I want to thank you so much for being on the show and for taking the time to talk about this. This is it's so fascinating to see how these ancient peoples and ancient knowledge can be really informative to us today. I'm so grateful that you took the time. [01:00:48] Adam Stokes: [01:00:48] My pleasure. I love talking about this uptight. [01:00:50] Thank you so much for having me. It was, oh, [01:00:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:00:53] it was absolutely a delight. I have this one last question that I want to ask. It's a silly little question, but I find [01:01:00] that it, it yields some poignant answers and here's the question. Are [01:01:03] Adam Stokes: [01:01:03] you ready? Certainly I will go for it. All right. [01:01:05] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:01:05] So if you had a plane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say. [01:01:16] Adam Stokes: [01:01:16] I think, I would say carpet diem in the words of Robin Williams seize the day. And the reason I would say that is because so often we spent so much of our lives, you know, thinking. That things will happen to us. I'm not saying that good things won't happen to us, but a lot of times I've been guilty of this in the past. [01:01:37]When we take initiative, we will be surprised at how doors opened up for us. So don't be afraid to, you know, get all out of your day. [01:01:46] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:01:46] Oh, I love that. And I love that you quoted dead poet's society. It's one of my favorite movies. Oh, such a brilliant, brilliant movie. And if you haven't seen it, I'm going to put a link to that in the show notes too, because if you haven't seen it, you need it. [01:01:59] Adam Stokes: [01:01:59] What are [01:02:00] those films you need to see before you die? Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, [01:02:02] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:02:02] completely. Really just tremendous. And when I was talking to you about professor Cameron at the university of Michigan, he was that kind of professor, the kind of teacher Robin Williams is in dead poet's society. Cameron was that kind of teacher at the university of Michigan. [01:02:14] So that's awesome. I highly recommend the movie and also go find the works of Adam Stokes and the works of HD Cameron. And. Read the Odyssey, because it's a great story, regardless of anything else. It's a cool story. All right. This is all the Trakhtenberg for the innova

John Kao, Dubbed Mr. Creativity by Forbes on Creative Thinking, Innovation, and Their Crucial Role in Our New Future The Economist tagged John with the nicknames “Mr. Creativity” and “A Serial Innovator.” He is a thought leader, practitioner, and activist, who has played a leading role in the fields of innovation and business creativity for over 30 years. His knowledge is eclectic and blends the perspectives of former Harvard Business School professor, serial entrepreneur, musician, master facilitator, former CEO, Harvard-trained psychiatrist, best-selling author, and Tony-nominated producer of film and stage. Yamaha Music Corporation named him their first “innovation artist.” He is a trusted advisor to leaders of companies, startups, and nations that are on the hot seat to deliver meaningful innovation strategies and action agendas.  Connect with John https://www.johnkao.com/johnkaolive https://www.instagram.com/johnkaojamming/ https://twitter.com/johnkao https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkao/ The Episode's full transcript John-Kao-on The Innovative Mindset Podcast [00:00:00] John Kao: [00:00:00] The need for innovation and the need to practice innovation never go away. It's kind of the long March. If you will. [00:00:13] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:13] Hi and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:35] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup@buymeacoffee.com slash Izolda tea. And now let's get on with the show. [00:00:57] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset [00:01:00] podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm so happy that you're here and I am ridiculously happy and honored to have today's guest on the show. The man's name is John Kao, and you've got to hear this, the economist tag, John with the nicknames, Mr. [00:01:15] Creativity, and a serial innovator. So you know how close this is to my heart. He is a thought leader, practitioner and activist who has played a leading role in the fields of innovation and business creativity. For over 30 years, his knowledge is eclectic and blends the perspectives of former Harvard business school professors, serial entrepreneur, musician, master facilitator, former CEO, Harvard trained psychiatrist, bestselling author, and Tony nominated producer of film and stage. [00:01:45] Wow, Yamaha music corporation named him their first innovation artist. He's a trusted advisor to leaders of companies, startups, and nations that are on the hot seat to deliver meaningful innovation strategies and action agendas. [00:02:00] Wow, John, thank you so much for being on the show. I'm so honored and thrilled and I'm tripping over my words, but I just want to say thank you for being here and welcome. [00:02:09] John Kao: [00:02:09] Well, the honors online. I'm happy to be here. [00:02:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:02:12] Oh, this is so there are so many things about what you do and have done that every time I read more or learn more, I, I giggle like I'm, I ha I'm a school girl with a crush. I'm going to say that right now, because so much of the work that you're doing is, is it's crucial as we move forward. [00:02:32] And especially this last year has been so much disruption. And you say, you talk about leading in a time of disruption and that you are looking for new and innovative ways to do that. And I would love it. If you would talk about that a minute, just as we get started, what, what does that mean to you? That we are now in this eight time of disruption and what makes this disruption different than the disruptions we've had in the past? [00:03:00] [00:03:00] John Kao: [00:03:00] Well, I'm glad you asked that because it's a great way to frame our conversation. And I think we need to be a bit critical not in a negative critical sense, but in a thoughtful sense about the word disruption, because it's kind of a word that carries some assumptions that once disruption has passed, things will return to a steady state or to a normal. [00:03:20] I actually did a article recently in my forbes.com column where I compared the word disruption to the word, this continuity. And I actually think discontinuity is almost a better way of describing our situation, which is to say we're like sailors that have set forth like Magellan in the great age of sail with maps that were incomplete because in the middle of the ocean the often the legend would be, you know, beyond here, like lie monsters. [00:03:47] And Magellan Vasco, da Gama and others set forth on faith that they would find India or they would find spices. And we are, I think, in an era of discontinuity in the sense that our. Existing [00:04:00] maps no longer suffice for helping us to navigate forward. And, and we're not in a way able to fall back on this idea that things will get back to normal or that a disruption will subside like a storm at sea that gradually gives way to calm waters. [00:04:16] You know, if we think about what we as global civil society are faced with in terms of issues of climate war and peace social inequity et cetera, et cetera, these are mammoth wicked complex problems that can only be resolved by innovation. And that leads to the second point you mentioned in the opening, which is the need for a fresh viewpoint on. [00:04:42] Innovation, as I like to say, we need to innovate innovation. Because innovation has been out there for a long time. It's like, Haley's comment. It comes and goes Praxis and wanes in terms of popularity and being in Vogue with management pundits and with business leaders. [00:05:00] But and, and the importance of innovation continues to be recognized in the C-suite in the you know, at the high levels of companies, CEOs recently polled said that innovation was one of their top priorities, but I would wager that a large percentage of them Can't even define the word meaningfully, let alone point to the practical expression. [00:05:22] You know, the innovation as a discipline, as opposed to innovation as a mood or culture building effort, or as my friend, Rita McGrath likes to call it innovation theater, we're going to be very innovative and we're going to let our hair down and come up with wacky ideas and we'll do that for, you know, the duration of a corporate retreat. [00:05:44] And then we'll go back to business as usual. So I think innovation Marvin Minsky who was one of the fathers of artificial intelligence once said that there were certain words that were like suitcases because you really needed to unpack them to get the full meaning. And innovation is [00:06:00] definitely one of those words. [00:06:01] And because it's so overused in a way we have this phenomenon, I see a lot of innovation, fatigue, or innovation, cynicism, or innovation complacency where people say, oh yeah, you know, we've done innovation. In fact, one person who is a Washington government official once amazingly told me that in his department they had tried innovation and it didn't work. [00:06:25] So now they were doing other things. Oh no, not to, not to turn government into any kind of a cliche, but I, I, what I find often is that there's innovation, cynicism. It's kind of like we did it, you know, it kind of worked but. It was, it was time limited, you know, there was a beginning, middle and end to it. [00:06:43] And in fact, innovation, the need for innovation and the need to practice innovation never go away. It's, it's kind of a, the long March, if you will. So we're in an, a era of discontinuity. We need to, re-imagine what the maps look like. And [00:07:00] innovation is more important than ever, but we need to have a fresh point of view about how to do it, and not just at the level of companies, but at the level of society. [00:07:10] And also bringing it down to the, you know, the trees versus the forest for each one of us as individuals in our lives and in our work, [00:07:21] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:07:21] I'm taking all of that in for a second. Wow. Okay. So. I first of all. Yes, absolutely. I agree. You're going to hear me say that a lot during this next few minutes, but, but yes, absolutely. [00:07:36] The need for reinventing how we innovate and what it actually means to each of us on the individual corporate and even global scale is great. Absolutely. I understand that. And yet, how do we, I mean, I named this podcast, the innovative mindset, how do we as individuals and then companies and organizations and nations [00:08:00] and, and, and the world, how do we get comfortable with innovation? [00:08:03] And if there's no sense of comfort, you mentioned something that was, that you said innovation as a discipline. What are the steps do you think of becoming disciplined as an innovator? What does that mean? And how do you practice it? [00:08:19] John Kao: [00:08:19] Well, in order to answer that question, we have to agree on a definition of innovation. [00:08:25]You know, I, I get into conversations about it often and I always have to start the conversation by saying, what do you mean? What do you mean by the word innovation? Because if we don't have alignment around the definition we really cannot have a conversation. So the dictionary defines innovation as if I amalgamate all the dictionary definitions, it it goes something like this. [00:08:48] Innovation is creativity applied to some purpose to realize value. So that's important to keep in mind because you know, creativity is the [00:09:00] human ability to generate new ideas, new insights and. It's something that all humans have, you know, it's the way our brains work. We free associate. We daydream, we dream at night. [00:09:11]We are able to come up with new things, but it doesn't mean that those new things are valuable. Just like playing random notes on the piano is very creative, but it doesn't lead to a marketable CD, you know, or composition. So creativity applied to some purpose. It has to be about something. [00:09:28] You know, this is a problem I run into all the time in companies where they say, well, you know, our, the goal of our creative efforts is to grow our profits by 5% a year, or it's to accomplish some tactical goal. When in fact innovation always has to be the answer to a a meaningful question because otherwise why bother, you know, it's why get out of bed earlier in the morning to serve that? [00:09:51]Cause, and then finally it has to be about creating something of value. And I would argue of enduring a value. It has to [00:10:00] change the existing order of things. They, the, the simple example is Edison who, when he created the first light bulb was an inventor, but he really wasn't an innovator until light bulbs became pervasive and elect, you know, our society became electrified. [00:10:17] So, you know, this whole notion that innovation is a discipline. You know, if you just take that dictionary definition, you have to be good at ideation, whether it's understanding your individual creativity or understanding how ideas emerge in human interaction collaboration, and then how it emerges in organizations in terms of culture and rewards and talent policies and leadership attention. [00:10:45] And then how it emerges in societies where. Societal goals and purpose and identity and leadership translate either into a environment that encourages creative expression or, or stifles it. [00:11:00] Right. So then we turn our attention to another definition. So I've spent a lot of time trying to think about how to make innovation more tangible for practitioners. [00:11:11] And you know, to me, innovation is a set of capabilities, capabilities, being things that require practice to acquire, like playing the piano, a set of capabilities that enables the continuous realization of a desired future. So, what that means is that you have to have some sense of almost moral purpose. [00:11:35] I don't mean moral enough, a religious sense, but moral in the sense of of what is good, what is virtuous? What is true. And it has to be something that you just don't do episodically, but is part of what you do all the time. And that in order to fully realize innovation, you have to have a vision of the future that you want. [00:11:55] You know, we, we have a vision of the future of our planet as [00:12:00] being in climate equilibrium and at peace. Well, you know, great. So how do we get there? And then the kippah capabilities break down into literally scores is of specific proficiencies that, you know, we, we, if we had 10 hours, we wouldn't be through that. [00:12:15]But ultimately have to do with how you. Linked the right kind of human talents to the right kind of resources, to the right kind of ideas blended with the right kind of processes to enable innovation, the flywheel of innovation to begin to turn. And this is, you know, my thing is really about how you do innovation. [00:12:34] You know, there are plenty of people who can tell you what it is and why it's important, but there are relatively few people out there who are focused on the how, and that's, that's part of my mission statement. [00:12:48] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:12:48] Again, I have to take a couple of seconds and take all of that in it's. It's fascinating to me how this notion of the different areas that [00:13:00] we have to combine the capabilities, the resources, the opportunity for, for innovation. The, the thing that, I'm the thing that I'm struck by though, is something that you said as far as your definition and the, how, I guess the thing that, that makes me go, Hmm. [00:13:18] I wonder is about creativity. That part of it is so you and I are both creative people and we're both musicians, which I think is fabulous. And one of the things that I do with the clients that I work with when I do speaking engagements, all of that is we talk a lot about thinking creatively, giving yourself permission to do that, to think creatively, because many people are afraid or think that they can't. [00:13:42] So if I were going to ask you the following, I'm wondering what your answer will be. You might just go, oh, come on is older. But maybe, maybe it won't be, it won't be a silly question to you, but how can we learn from that notion of innovation to think creatively and how can [00:14:00] we think creatively to move forward? [00:14:04] John Kao: [00:14:04] Well, creativity, as I said earlier, is an attribute of the way humans think and experience their environment. So everybody is creative in the literal sense of being creative, but where I think people get a little confused is equating creativity with talent, you know, so, so Mozart was creative, but he was also a musical genius. [00:14:26]And all of us, you know, in a sense can learn how to find middle C on a piano or learn to listen to our inner monologue in terms of coming up with new things. But creative is not necessarily to be talented or gifted in that, in that sense. So having said that anybody can learn how to be more attentive to their creative output. [00:14:49] They can be more attentive to. Understanding the conditions under which creativity flows for them and, and how to increase the odds of [00:15:00] generating creative ideas Twyla Tharp the choreographer wrote a great book called the creative habit where you know, she gets into very practical tips about, you know, how to record your ideas. [00:15:12]One thing that I, I adopted from her book cause I, I found it highly amusing and ultimately very, very useful was every time she has an idea for a new project, the first thing she does is she she purchases a box and labels it with the name of the project and it might be an empty box for a long time, but it becomes a way of making the idea or the impulse tangible often when I start a project I'll, I'll have a loose-leaf binder. [00:15:38] With nothing in it. I'll put a very nice cover illustration on it and label it with the project name. It's the same idea. And and then ultimately fill it in. But at the beginning it's creating a they're there for the idea to land and to be able to live. So there are there are mountains of of books and a lot of [00:16:00] knowledge about how to enhance ideation. [00:16:02] I, you know, I, I even in my own small way contributed to that. I wrote a book called jamming, which was really what can leaders learn from jazz musicians because jazz musicians are paid to generate new musical ideas. That sound good. As a capability, you know, they don't wish to be creative or, you know, prayer, rubber chicken bones together. [00:16:24] They sit down at the piano and play new notes. That sound great. And it's again, and it's not because they got inspired or, you know, they, they participated in innovation theater it's because they spent decades practicing and studying and learning and immersing themselves in a discipline. So that at the moment of inspiration they could generate something new. [00:16:45] It's [00:16:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:16:45] interesting that you said that it's. It's having the skill to back up the talent. It feels like to me, talent feels in Nate, it's something that you are perhaps born with and then need to build on or build the [00:17:00] skills, but skills you can learn, you can teach yourself the piano or you can learn from, from an instructor. [00:17:06] And, and yet there's a lot of failure in music. I mean, I grew up playing the violin for example. And boy, did I fail a lot because if you're not just right, what was that [00:17:18] John Kao: [00:17:18] takes a while to sound good when you're learning how to play the violin? [00:17:21] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:17:21] Absolutely. It takes a long while. Yeah. Yeah. And yet there, so just a little bit of a background on me, so, so that you can understand the question about to ask better. [00:17:32]I went to high school with the likes of Andrew LOPA and Jeffrey seller, and you're, you've, you've done work in, in, on Broadway. So you I'm sure you know who they are. And you could tell that they were different. Even in high school, even when we were doing musical theater together, Jeffrey was always going to be a producer of some sort that was his great passion. [00:17:51] And then, you know, because of his efforts, we have you know, and of course Lin Manuel Miranda, but we have the likes of Hamilton. We have the likes of rent. [00:18:00] Andrew was always different. Also, there was something about both of them that their talent, you could feel it was innate. And yet they, they both went on and just practiced and practiced and practiced. [00:18:11] And so I wonder for those people who are not perhaps innately talented, what are your thoughts about building those skills? What are your thoughts about saying, okay, this is a muscle that I can exercise and I can improve. As far as being creative, as far as being an innovator. Can you do it just like Malcolm Gladwell says with 10,000 hours or are you sort of out of luck if you don't have that innate talent to begin with? [00:18:39] John Kao: [00:18:39] Well, I think I, my belief is that we all have the innate talent to develop new ideas that could be meaningful. But as you said, and I was going to use the word muscle, there, there is a need to practice. And I think that innovation in companies especially is, is this kind of mental gymnastic that [00:19:00] says, well, you know, you read this book or hear this speech or learn this set of rules. [00:19:05] And then you'll, you'll be more innovative when I think. That's that's like, you know, that's like learning how to play jazz by having somebody show you PowerPoint slides of using you on how to play the diminished scale with the proper fingering. But until you actually sit down at the piano and practice, you're nowhere and practice is really the key to gaining proficiency and gaining skillfulness, so to speak. [00:19:33] So, so the question that I often ask when I'm working with people, whether they're in government or in business is what is your practice model for innovation? What are the things that you. Feel are most important that contribute to being an innovative organization that you practice on a routine basis. [00:19:52] So as to, you know, hone that proficiency and usually the answer is you know, we don't really, it's a hard [00:20:00] question to answer. We don't have to really have an answer to that. So training is important. The ability to establish objective processes that can be repeated. And you know, it's like if you facilitate a design thinking session, once you'll be okay at it, if you do it 50 times, you'll feel really, really capable. [00:20:19] Is the organization able to support that level of practice because, and, and does it have an answer as to why practicing that particular skill is important and how it relates to an overall innovation story for the organization? So it's, you know, once you pull on the thread of innovation, you know, you find that it links to quite a few other considerations, which makes it a complicated affair to manage. [00:20:48] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:20:48] And yet companies who want to, and people who want to and governments that want to become more innovative. And certainly we're seeing [00:21:00] this with the new administration coming in and all of these different things. As far as the climate different initiatives, how, how do we, as, as innovative thinkers, as innovative people or organizations, what's the messaging behind that? [00:21:17] How do we get other people on board or other organizations or other governments or other nations on board with the innovations for something like climate, for example, we're one country, won't one country doing something won't necessarily make. The entire planet healthy again, but a lot of countries working together will definitely make an impact. [00:21:39] What would your thoughts be on that? How do we get people and organizations and governments bought in to this new way of thinking? [00:21:47] John Kao: [00:21:47] Well, the first point is that issues like climate, the wicked problems that face the world are not American problems or Chinese problems or Indian problems, they're human or global problems. [00:21:58] And so they have to be looked at as a [00:22:00] global systems kind of a challenge. Cause you know, America could become net zero carbon, but if the rest of the world isn't, you know, we have to breathe there that belongs to everybody. So I think a lot of the challenge for making the shift to an innovation. [00:22:19]Oriented posture, whether it's in a company that's going through a transformation effort or whether it's galvanizing the world around an agenda like climate is, is creating a sense of urgency. Change doesn't happen in less. There is a reason to change. You know, people are busy enough with their day to day. [00:22:37] And the idea that you get out of bed earlier in the morning to address a challenge, won't really resonate and less. There's a sense that there are real consequences and th th the problem with something like climate change and the environment as. An example is that, you know, people may intellectually understand that it's a problem, but it doesn't show up in your day to day life. [00:22:58] You know, it's not like I, it gets darker [00:23:00] or you know, you get a bill for your electricity. That's twice as big. And, you know, there's a disconnect in terms of what you, as an individual would do to contribute to the environment. So, you know, you could recycle and, you know, you could try to be conservative about using your water and things like that, but there's no connection between that personal narrative and the collective narrative. [00:23:23] So instilling a sense of urgency, number one, and then creating a connection between individual action and the collective wellbeing. So, you know, There are attempts. And I think there's going to be a lot more of this coming down the line that almost creates personal dashboards where your activities around consumption and so forth and so on. [00:23:44]You know, your, your carbon footprint, et cetera, are reflected in recommendations about shifting your behavior. The, the, the, at the national or supernational level, the question is creating buy-in, you know, like if there were some massive disruption [00:24:00] in the global ecosystem that nobody could ignore, then action would be taken just like, you know, the Penn global pandemic has been for all of its unfortunate consequences are real accelerant of national governments taking a global point of view. [00:24:16] And I'm sure there's going to be a lot of call in the aftermath or even currently for new mechanisms for. Mitigating, if not preventing the next pandemic and figuring out mechanisms of international cooperation that go beyond the really unseemly kind of, you know people elbowing each other out of the way and finding that they weren't prepared. [00:24:37] And you know, all of the kinds of shifting things that happened around vaccine allocation globally and so on. So I think it's about it's about leadership and it's about the narrative and it's about creating a sense of of urgency. And once people understand what is needed, then they can fall in. [00:24:55] I mean, if there's no alignment around what the problem is and how to address it, then of course nothing's [00:25:00] going to happen. [00:25:01] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:25:01] Oh, you're singing my song. Yeah, absolutely. And it's interesting. And. It's always been fascinating to me as I worked in earth system science at NASA for many years. And this notion of the difference between weather and climate was very it was profound for people because weather is whether or not it's going to rain tomorrow and climate is years and decades. [00:25:23] And so w the, the issue that we ran into was that people had there's a little bit of a problem. Societaly globally thinking. Long-term that you have to think that, oh, 50 years from now, 40 years from now, the climate will change 20 years from now. The climate will change. And that is important to me now. [00:25:41] So getting people to address it with that sense of urgency, I agree with you. It's really important that the, the thing that I think a lot of people, certainly a lot of my colleagues at NASA struggle with is how, how to, how to get that sense of urgency in front of people. If, if some people are still, [00:26:00] you know, trumpeting that it doesn't exist, that there is no such thing as human, human caused or human accelerated climate change. [00:26:07] So do you have thoughts on that? What are your thoughts on. Changing the thinking of people who either deny something like this or, or, or, or refuse to think that it could be important. Now when the consequences might not be felt for decades. [00:26:27] John Kao: [00:26:27] Well, so this is storytelling. I mean, one of the reasons why I delved into the cultures of Hollywood and Broadway is because I was fascinated by people who made a living, telling stories and selling them to hundreds of millions of people. [00:26:40] So it's one thing, if you publish a white paper or give a speech, it's another thing. If you create a a movie so one of the reasons why an inconvenient truth for its time was such an influential. A piece of media was because it told the story in visual terms and it made [00:27:00] the issues of climate really quite difficult to ignore. [00:27:03] I mean, you have to be in denial to watch the movie and not come out of it, feeling like there was a real a real problem and often, you know, a sense of urgency isn't felt it has to be created. I did some work for a guy named Jaan Timur when he had just taken over Phillips the big Dutch technology conglomerate. [00:27:22] And he in his first management meeting put one item on the agenda for discussion, which was a handout and the handout was a newspaper front page. And the headline story in the upper right-hand corner was Phillips goes bankrupt. And it was a well written story with a lot of analysis set in the future about how this great company, you know, sort of a general electric level company had gone bankrupt. [00:27:49] And that was the only thing that he discussed with his senior people that day. And so in order to take the long view we have to take the idea of [00:28:00] wellbeing, planetary wellbeing down from the level of abstraction, to the level of personal advocacy. You know, we have to be thinking about how it relates to the world that our children are going to be in. [00:28:10]It has to do with our sense of, you know, generative responsibility, as you know, the, the generation that right now is in the driver's seat to assure the, you know, the future viability of the planet, which right now is in some doubt, I mean, it's not horrible yet, but it's bad and getting worse by the day. [00:28:27] So this, this is where, what I call moral intelligence or the ability to craft bridges between innovation and purpose become really, really important. And to create that sense of moral activation. And again, not in the religious sense, but in the values based sense of virtue to to, to frame the right kinds of of activity. [00:28:50] And, you know, a sense of urgency comes from understanding the problem, you know, and I have this framework called the second, this intelligence is that I've been sharing with people, which is a refresh view of how innovation [00:29:00] needs and leadership. Need to work. And one of the key intelligences is context intelligence, or the ability to deeply understand the truth of what's going on in your environment and not to be constrained by denial or by your biases or by your inability to do good research or your ability to go outside of your institution or your frame of reference. [00:29:22] And it's only when you have an accurate point of view, uncontaminated by prejudice or bias that you can then say, oh, we really are in serious trouble. And now we have to really think about the scale at which we operate as innovators, both innovators as individual humans, but also innovators as the institutions of society. [00:29:44] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:29:44] I love that you've mentioned the six intelligences and I love the notion of sort of objective observation instead of, instead of letting your biases. Color what, what you think or what you do. You'll [00:30:00] try to be objective as much as possible. I wonder if you wouldn't mind talking. Cause I, I was, that was actually literally the next question I was going to ask was about the six intelligences. [00:30:10] What prompted you to develop them? And if you don't mind sharing, what are they [00:30:16] John Kao: [00:30:16] sure. So, you know, I've been exposed to lots of different leadership frameworks over the years, and I felt during the pandemic that at least for me, it would be important to take a fresh look at what you really needed to be good at in a time of of this continuity and, you know, turbulence that we've experienced. [00:30:33]And that a lot of the old playbooks around leadership weren't really that valuable in this, in this situation. So I took a leave from the. Notion of multiple intelligences, which is actually an education concept developed by Howard Gardner. Who's a former colleague at he's at the school of education at Harvard. [00:30:52] And you know, he said, well, there's the kind of analytical intelligence that you have when you take sat [00:31:00] tests or math tests, but really there are other intelligences, like kinesthetic intelligence, if you're a great dancer or a auditory intelligence, if you're a great musician or spatial intelligence, if you're a great architect and that we don't test for these are really. [00:31:15]Pay attention to them or educate for them in the same way we do for that more narrow kind of rational analytical intelligence. And I thought, oh, well, I have always believed that. So let me think about whether I can come up with a framework of archetypes of intelligence that are relevant for today. [00:31:33] So the, so there are six and the first is context intelligence and, you know, it's, it's, it's what so bill Bradley was a very famous basketball player in his day. And uh, you know, he was described as always having a sense of where he was, you know, a situational awareness and you know, people like fighter pilots know that they have to be able to not only have 360 degree perspective, but be able to translate that [00:32:00] immediately into A a, a decision and an action taking right. [00:32:04] In order to prevail in fighter pilot combat and things of this kind. So, so there's a whole bunch of knowledge and recommendations around how to create context intelligence, both for individuals and for organizations, moral intelligence, which we've already spoken about is the second, which is the kind of compass of values that basically shape the, the purposeful intention of an organization or of an individual for that matter. [00:32:29] And, you know, what are the values that undergird your your activities? Then you have human intelligence, which is basically cultivating the sensitivity to others that enables collaboration that enables the, the ability to read the language of people. So that. Culture building organizational transformation, narrative development, resonate with humans because so often management is this human free exercise of applying analytical power to, you know, your marketing strategy or your finance [00:33:00] strategy. [00:33:00] But people have a vote and increasingly in this kind of, and post pandemic distributed, you know gig economy world sensitivity and to, especially to talent, you know, and to creative process is really important. And then generative intelligence is basically how you generate ideas and realize value from them which is kind of a repackaging of innovation but and applies to individuals organizations, and even to societies as a whole, as a whole, then we have technological intelligence because. [00:33:32]I argued that many people in positions of leadership don't have a finger feeling for how the development of technology is accelerating and how technologies are beginning to. Blend and, you know, fit together in different ways. You know, the whole merging of the biological and the digital is both confusing and filled with opportunities. [00:33:55] And also how technology relates to your organization [00:34:00] and to the team that every organization is going to be influenced by artificial intelligence and digital technology, digital transformation and transformation for innovation are increasingly converging as topics of concern. And then finally transformation intelligence, again, borrows from some of what we've already discussed, which is, you know, what's your theory of change and how do you affect that transformation? [00:34:26] So whether it's transformation at an individual level or transformation at an enterprise level, you know, what are the levers for accomplishing that? What are the metrics? How do you know that you've been successful? What's the role of narrative, a culture shift, leadership behavior, et cetera. So the feedback that I've gotten and I've turned this into various learning regimes, there's an online course. [00:34:49] That's going up shortly that I hope will be available to lots and lots of people. The feedback I've gotten is wow. You know, here we are in this era of discontinuity, all of [00:35:00] these matter, these six intelligences they resonate, how do we get more? How do we learn about these? And, you know, I feel like you need all of them at least to a certain extent, cause it's like a wheel, you know, the wheel is missing a segment and it's flat on that segment, the wheels, not going to turn very effectively. [00:35:19]And it's also a great way of identifying gaps. Both in yourself and also in your organization, because if you have an organization that's not proficient at some of these things it's just, I would argue not going to be as successful in the current environment, [00:35:36] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:35:36] what a wonderful breakdown. And, and I'm so glad that you have a class that you'll be offering. I hope that you'll let me put that in the show notes so that, so that people can, can find it and perhaps take it. I'm interested in. You mentioned something while you were talking about them, about how often these various intelligences relate to each [00:36:00] other, like you said, well, we talked about that when we talked, you know, this is a callback to innovation, this is a callback to this. [00:36:06] It seems to me that they it's almost like firing synapses in the brain, that they are going to need to use the, all the different intelligences in order to, to, as you said, prevail. And that brings me right back around to music. I feel like when you're playing a musical instrument, in many ways, you need to access all of those intelligences as well in order to be able to Excel at your chosen instrument. [00:36:32] If it's your voice, your piano, your violin, whatever, what are your thoughts about that relationship? I know that you've used music in the past and probably still do to, to help others innovate and to help yourself innovate. How do you relate music to these intelligences and to innovation as a whole. [00:36:50] John Kao: [00:36:50] Well, it's really a great question. [00:36:52] And I, I think this is probably an opportunity for me to step out and reflect for a moment on exactly that [00:37:00] question. Cause I, I wouldn't say that I've thought about it in exactly that way before, so well, let's see. I mean, I'll relate this, especially to to jazz, right? So in jazz the performer needs to have a multidimensional awareness of what's going on and it's not thinking it's really it's sensory awareness, it's emotional Intel emotional awareness. [00:37:23] It's it's awareness of the traditions it's awareness of the sweet spot between what's familiar and what is new it's awareness of one's inner emotional state awareness of the performance environment. So there's a number of dimensions of context, intelligence that are required. Then the second moral intelligence well, you know, for, for me and for, I think anyone who. [00:37:47] You know, it, it takes it seriously. Sitting down at the piano is it's a commitment to purpose and a commitment to authenticity. And, you know, we fall short constantly, or I feel like I fall short constantly, [00:38:00] but the, what matters is picking yourself up and, you know, pursuing the path of virtue to try to create the most beauty and the most authentic way possible. [00:38:09] So it's purposeful and it's about creating that experience for other other people and then human intelligence. I mean, I, I have found that the most interesting kind of challenges for me have been on the self knowledge and mastery of self side, because you know how willing you are to take risks and how willing you are to be on stage and your anxiety to the extent you have it about performance you know, Kenny Werner, who's a music, music, educator, and jazz performer has this great. [00:38:40] A book called effortless mastery, which is all about really overcoming the inner voice of doubt and judgment, which is so important in improvisation. And you know, jazz is really a way of learning about yourself. I mean, not that it's about Naval gazing or narcissism, but that to be a good jazz player, you have to be in tune with yourself as well as the music. [00:39:00] [00:38:59] And then, you know, jazz is inherently about innovation because it's about creating new, new notes that have to sound good and create value. D the technological intelligence, I would say relates in a very literal way to, you know, I, I'm fortunate to have a really good piano and every day I look at it and Marvel at how. [00:39:20] Humans were able to create something so beautiful and also so functional. So mastering the instrument, but now, you know, we have all of this new technology for music. We have technologies that allow people to jam together at a distance over the internet. We have digital keyboards that include lots of learning, learning software and learning assets. [00:39:42] We have digital keyboards that can do everything, but stand on their head. There was a lot to know there. And then finally, transformational intelligence. So, you know, this relates partly to the issue of practice. You know, it's partly a division of, you know, what kind of musician are you [00:40:00] heading in the direction of who do you want to be? [00:40:01]But then also what's the practice model or the steps in the journey that will take you there. What's your theory of change? And, you know, I know for me that you know, my studies of jazz have occurred at two. Times in my life. One of which was when I was a teenager followed by a long hiatus and now I've picked it up again at, with really serious intent. [00:40:22] And so the issues of how my playing is evolving are very much on my mind. So transformation intelligence is important there as well. So there it works, right? [00:40:33] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:40:33] I, yeah, I had a feeling it would, because I've thought about this a lot on when, you know, they're the relationships, there are so striking and this notion of transformation, it's not specifically in strictly to the intelligences, but I feel like especially jazz, cause I'm a jazz musician as well. [00:40:50] Jazz singer. You, you have an opportunity to when you're special, when you're playing with other people too, to be in the pocket to really [00:41:00] make something greater than the sum of its parts. When you are all listening to one another and collaborating, and then your audience gets enriched by that collaboration by that jazz collaboration, or even if it's not jazz for me, traditional music in many ways is similar because there's a lot of improv and a lot of feeling out what the other musicians are doing so that you can again, make something greater than the sum of its parts. [00:41:25] So what role do you think the relationship with an audience has in the six intelligences and also within jazz? [00:41:37] John Kao: [00:41:37] Can you rephrase the question again? Yeah. [00:41:40] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:41:40] I talked so long that you're going, I don't know what's going on anymore. Well, I, the thing that, I'm the thing that I'm asking really is. When you, when you are innovating you're, as you said, it's with a purpose. [00:41:54] So it's never, well, it's almost been never just for yourself. It's for, for perhaps a greater good or for [00:42:00] bigger group. And the same can be said for when you're playing music, unless you're sitting at home in your bedroom and playing your piano, your guitar, and you never play out there. There is this notion of sharing, sharing the innovation, jazz musicians, who, who will get up in the smallest room and, and play that night, for example. [00:42:19] So, so how do we relate that? How do we, how do we do that? And what is the relationship there between the innovator, whether it's a musician or somebody in technology or a leader and the audience whose lives and minds and thoughts and hearts that they are, are trying to affect? [00:42:40] John Kao: [00:42:40] Well, What I'm taking from your question is the need to create a bridge between the person who's, let's say emitting the the new innovative experience or idea or musical expression or whatever. [00:42:55]And, and the audience. And, you know, it's like a sweet spot in, in [00:43:00] jazz. You know, if, if you are if you're. If you're what you're presenting is to cut and dried or elemental, it's not going to land, but if it's to expeditionary or adventurous, it won't land either. And that sweet spot, which you gauge by audience feedback, nonverbal cues the, the vibe in the room and so forth and so on is a moving target. [00:43:24] And sometimes it evolves in the course of a single interaction with an audience. I mean, being a public speaker as I am from time to time, you know, that reading the audience continuously is one of the key skills of delivering a great presentation over, over, you know, whatever, a 30 to 60 minute timeframe. [00:43:42] So having also then. The, the inner integrity of what's being offered, not just as a, you know an exercise in, in corporate entertainment. I mean, so, so much of what is going on out there in terms of keynote speaking is about, you know, can you make the audience laugh and [00:44:00] feel as titillated as possible? [00:44:02] And like they got a free admission to Ted as opposed to really thinking about the inner authenticity of the of what's being communicated and how it's going to land and how it's going to contribute in their own journey of transformation. So, you know, I think these, these elements that we've been talking about provide a really handy framework to be able to evaluate. [00:44:24]Your work as an innovator, what you're putting out there, how it lands with an audience, et cetera. [00:44:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:44:31] And, and yet it's interesting what you just said. It's a, it's a constant, almost on a micro level. It's a constant reinvention of the relationship with your audience. And on a macro level, you can iterate based on the feedback you got and, and how things went each time that you're, you're up in front of an audience. [00:44:50] And, and that brings me to something that I'm, that I would love it. If you would talk about just a little bit, you, you talked some about [00:45:00] intersections and where, where those connections are made, and I know that you, you have a live stream show called intersections, and I would love it. If you would talk a little bit about the show and what your process is, and also what your goal is for keeping this this live stream show going. [00:45:16] Sure. [00:45:17] John Kao: [00:45:17] Well, intersections is a livestream show that happens every Thursday, 10 30 Pacific. I do it with a partner named Brian Solis. Who's among other things, the global evangelist for innovation at Salesforce. So we have between us a pretty enormous network of people who are on the edges of their fields. [00:45:37] And intersections is basically where culture technology and innovation come together with conversations every week with a couple of pioneers. In their field. So it could be a one of the leaders of artificial intelligence research in China, it could be we just had the, the general manager of the San Jose sharks talking about the reinvention of the sports [00:46:00] venue and sports franchise experience and the role of digital in all of that. [00:46:04]We've had musicians talking about advanced technologies that are going to change the way music learning occurs. We've had military strategists talk about cyber security and the solar winds hack we've had big deal, domain experts in innovation, like read them and the graph. So it, it varies, it partly, it relates to our own interests. [00:46:26]And, but it, it, it exhibits a principle, which is that combustion in the sense of innovation combustion tends to happen when you bring diverse perspectives together and force them to coexist in a space in this case, say conversational space because it's we we've, we've had 34 shows to date, and each one has been more exciting and more exhilarating than, than the last. [00:46:50]There's also a website called intersections, live.com where we have the full interviews archive, because they're not. Really time-bound, they're, they're [00:47:00] quite evergreen and we're going to be doing a lot of additional work on the content to make it more available to others. So, you know, it's just another way for me to stay current and have fun talking with interesting people like you. [00:47:14] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:47:14] I'm so grateful. You said that. Thank you so much. And I'm, I, I have listened to just a couple of the episodes, but I want to make sure that I go and listen to more. I I'm I'm so like, honestly, John, I could keep you here for the next six hours and chat with you, but I know you have a life to get to. So I, I wanted to talk just a little bit if it's okay with you about a couple more things that you and I discussed shortly before we started recording this episode, one of them was John cale.live, and the other one is, and this one is so close to my heart. [00:47:46] About your thoughts on the need, the urgent need to reinvent music education. I was very lucky. I had incredible music education in the public schools, but I know that [00:48:00] the, the emphasis on it has really died down. And I think it's, it's a floundering in many ways. I teach nothing against teachers. Teachers do as much as they can, but I think we're, we're in an age now where we really do need to revitalize it. [00:48:16] So I would love it. If you wouldn't mind chatting about both John kao.live for a second, and also this notion that you have about re-inventing music education. I would really love it because both of those fascinate me. Sure. [00:48:29] John Kao: [00:48:29] Happy to do that. So, you know, one of the things that's been going on, especially during the pandemic is not only the need, but the ability of people with some, a bit of expertise to be able to reinvent their connection to their audience using social media. [00:48:45] Using video and using all of the new tools that are coming on stream the applications that enabled people to establish a fairly sophisticated interface with their audience. So I'm not blind to that either, even though I grew up in kind of like the [00:49:00] analog world where, you know, you would teach at a good business school and people would call you up and that would be it, right? [00:49:06] I mean, now it's far more complex and also the opportunity to have an impact more broadly is enabled by the technology. So John kao.live is my recent attempt to put my, some of my learning experiences online. To enable people to subscribe to my ongoing generation of content to be able to access me one-on-one under certain circumstances for consultations. [00:49:32]And we'll see how it goes. It's just in the process of being launched. I'm really excited about it. I mean, during the pandemic, I think even though it's had its own shortcomings and limitations put, has put limitations, it's also been a great enabler of a different form of social interaction. And so I'm, I'm eager to see how that plays out with John Cale live there's music. [00:49:55] Education is concerned. I have a real, you know, I tend to organize my work work based [00:50:00] on projects or causes, right. And so I've adopted music education as a cause, because I think it's both extremely important from a societal point of view and also really in need of some radical. Re-invention first of all, just taking a half step back music is to my mind, one of the most important things that humans have. [00:50:22] And it's one of the most important things that societies have. And, you know, some societies like you know, Finland for instance, has great music education and the highest per capita percentage of trained musicians of any country in the world. You know, China is investing in music education because they believe it contributes to brain development, which is necessary to be competitive in the global economy. [00:50:45]We in America have been divesting ourselves of music education, cause it's not a high priority relative to other things. And I think that's wrong for a number of reasons. I mean, music humanizes us and develops our brains and [00:51:00] gives us cognitive skills and emotional skills, relational skills that are really, really important. [00:51:06] But. And, and, you know, we have this social institution of music, educators public school, music teachers music schools, and what's happening. What I see, I recently wrote an article for the national association of teachers of music or music educators called music education in the age of innovation because I became, I gave some talks to music, educator organizations, and did some workshops. [00:51:32] I I'm, you know, Yamaha made me their first artists and innovation and put me in front of deans of music conservatories and public school music teachers in different ways. And I became aware of the fact that, you know, not to generalize, but that there was a whole world of music. Learning that was growing up around the traditional music institutions that had nothing to do with them. [00:51:56] You know? So today, if you go to YouTube, YouTube is the new [00:52:00] music conservatory, and there are thousands of citizen teachers out there who are happy to show you how to do, you know, urban, dirty chords, or you know, how to do patterns on you know, modes of the melodic, minor, or what whatnot, or help you learn how to use your, you know, Nord, electric, piano, and that. [00:52:19] Very often the people who know the most about things that young people are most interested in are not in the academy. You know, they're in this external space, so that music education has turned inside out. And also that there's now technology that enables people to learn without having to have a music teacher in the conventional sense. [00:52:38] So I believe that, you know, it's the sixth intelligence is music. Education has to know more about what's going on. They have to reaffirm what's important about it. They have to you know, get with the whole technological intelligence piece because there's an ocean of technology out there that most music teachers are, you know, to be Frank, not aware of. [00:52:59] And [00:53:00] then they have to have a model of how they want to evolve. So they stay relevant and serve these purposes. So it's a, it's a big topic. [00:53:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:53:09] Again, you're singing my song. Yeah, it really is. And it's interesting. I'm one of those people on YouTube. I have videos up on how to learn to sing for example. And so lots of us, I think musicians once you're, once you've, I can't say mastered, I will, I will forever be learning. [00:53:26] I will never be a master, I don't think. And that's okay. I'm I'm, I'm okay. As a, as a lifetime learner of music. Hm. But yet when we are in the process yes. Of learning, you know, the NIH has done incredible studies on the fact that you use so many parts of your brain when you're learning, when you're playing a musical instrument, but when choir sing together, their heartbeats synchronize. [00:53:50] I mean, it's, it's just incredible. And yet this, this is something that, like you said, the USA, for example, is divesting itself of music education. When I [00:54:00] think it's one of the most, I agree with you, it's one of the most crucial things. So do we. What do you think is the best way to revitalize it then? Is it to go through the music educators or is it to, like you said, create a sense of urgency in the intended audience, which might not be the music educators themselves, but might instead be the school districts and the governments and the conservatories? [00:54:26] John Kao: [00:54:26] Well, I think it's both in more, I think that, you know, the the move to music learning outside of the music school system is going to continue. And there are going to be new platforms for linking people who know something to people who want to learn something in music, but, you know, you have these, this massive number of music educators out there and. [00:54:49] I think they want to do the right thing. And I think that what they need basically is a bit more insight into what's going on and what their situation is and what they can do. And, you know, [00:55:00] it's kind of like the innovator's dilemma. If they, they they're locked into an existing model and they are improving that model, but they're not thinking outside that model as much as I think is necessary. [00:55:11] So I think to put more music into our world is a multi-pronged effort. And I, I chose music educators because, you know, my experience is they're very receptive to this message and making them more aware of the reality of their situation will produce a lot of benefits. I mean, I, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm all over, what's going on in the world of the app developers and YouTube educators but that, that has a momentum of its own. [00:55:38]Whereas music, education, I think needs a lot of re-imagining. [00:55:46] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:55:46] Yeah, yeah. Again, I you're saying things that I have to sort of take a second and, and let it soak in and really and figure out what my, what my thoughts are on it, because, because it's so rich with with [00:56:00] value and, and I really appreciate you being so incredibly thoughtful in, in, in this conversation, I have just a couple more questions. [00:56:09] First is what are you most curious about right now? [00:56:17] John Kao: [00:56:17] Well I always have a long list, curiosity, the, you know, kind of theme of my whole life I, you know, I'm, I'm thinking a lot about cryptocurrencies and the whole non fungible token phenomenon. So I'm trying to get my mind more firmly around that because for all kinds of reasons I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the offshore wind industry and the physics of energy generation from from especially all of the huge macro projects that are going on in the ocean. [00:56:49] And there are a lot of, a lot of reasons for that. And, you know, I'm, I'm curious to know if I'm ever going to master the The the modes of melodic minor to the point where they show up. [00:57:00] [00:57:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:57:00] Yeah. I don't know. I, I just, I just go with it because I there's, no, again, you can, you can know the theory, but on some level for me anyway, it's, I've I have to feel it and then maybe it'll happen. [00:57:15] And maybe it won't. And so a lot of it for me, depends on who I'm working with and who I'm singing and playing with because we play off each other. So good luck with that. I really, I look forward to hearing your pieces. Will you ever record them, do you think, will you ever share them [00:57:30] John Kao: [00:57:30] out? Well, I, you know, I, I think I got to spend a lot more time in the woodshed, but I I've had the entertainment fantasy of doing some some live streaming at some point. [00:57:39] Fabulous. And I'm always looking for a musical collaborators. So maybe we'll find a couple of pieces and we'll use a friend of mine, just invented some software that will enable. People in Brooklyn and people in San Francisco to play in real time or almost real time. Which has never been possible before. [00:57:55] So maybe we'll be able to jam on some tunes. [00:57:59] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:57:59] I would love [00:58:00] that. That, that would be my honor. That would be terrific. Yeah. I'll bring my, my fiddle and I'll bring my guitar and my voice and we'll see what we can do. And you know, it is interesting. I lead a holiday Carolyn group and of course I used to be in DC and I moved to New York city and they are still in the DC area. [00:58:17] So when we, when we have to sing and there were a few live performances this year, there was no way for me to be part of that because I could not, there was no, there was no software. There was no anything that would allow us to sound appropriate if you will, musically appropriate when we were in different, different places. [00:58:37] It just, so I'm really grateful to your friend for having invented that. That's fabulous. Thank you. Thank your friend for me. And yes, let's jam. [00:58:46] John Kao: [00:58:46] Okay. Great. [00:58:47]Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:58:47] And here's the last question, John, and again, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate you taking the time. It's a, it's a silly question, but I find that it yields some profound answers. [00:58:57] And the question is this. If you had an [00:59:00] airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say? [00:59:05]John Kao: [00:59:05] I would say two words remain optimistic. [00:59:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:59:12] I love that. I love that, especially right now. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's great. Is there anything else that you would like to say before we close out this fabulous conversation? [00:59:24] John Kao: [00:59:24] No, I think I would just like to thank you for being such a great catalyst and conversational partner and I've enjoyed it. [00:59:31] It's, you know, it's good to have the opportunity to step back a little bit and review one's thoughts about. Something that you know is almost at the level of an obsession, right? So there's a Parson, there's a tree's level of looking at it. And this got me back to the forest a bit. [00:59:47] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:59:47] Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for saying that. [00:59:49] I appreciate it. I had a fabulous time as well, and this has been the amazing John Kao on the innovative mindset podcast. I am your host Izolda [01:00:00] Trakhtenberg. If you've enjoyed the episode. Please. Let me know. I'd love to hear it. Go find John kao.live when it airs, go listen to intersections. Obviously, this man is incredible. [01:00:11] Knows what he's talking about and has ideas. We all need to be paying attention to until next time, this is his old, the Trakhtenberg reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot. [01:00:29] so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you're new and if you like what you're hearing, please review it and rate it and let other people know. And if you'd like to be a sponsor of the show, I'd love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset. [01:00:46] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters there today's episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always, please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. [01:01:00] Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.     NEW: Read the full transcript of the episode.

Vikas Garg, abillion Founder and CEO on Changing the World One Dish At A Time Vikas Garg is the Founder & CEO of abillion, a global community on a mission to help a billion people create world-changing impact. Vikas is a dedicated supporter of education and conservation initiatives around the world. He's received Credit Suisse's Global Citizenship Award, is a Young Leader of the Milken Institute, and a Charter Member of The IndUS Entrepreneurs.  A bold idea to change the world brought the abillion team together in the summer of 2017. They wanted to change the world. They started out of Vikas' apartment in Singapore, complete with a furry friend and a fridge full of kale. We've grown but we still maintain our family values as a small, hardworking team. Connect with Vikas https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikas-garg/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/abillion/ https://www.instagram.com/abillion/ The Episode's Full Transcript Vikas Garg-full 6-21-21 [00:00:00] Vikas Garg: [00:00:00] A big part of what we are is an online experience, but that online experience of course extends into the offline world and often extends into something that we all love, which is the funny thing is this is something that we do three, four times a day, and it plays such a pivotal role in. The global economy and in so many, so many aspects of our lives, but also from a sustainability perspective. [00:00:29] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:29] Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:51] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup [00:01:00] of@buymeacoffee.com slash IzoldaT. And now let's get on with the show. [00:01:13] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm super happy that you're here and listening to this incredible episode. I'm also incredibly happy to introduce you to this week's guest. Vikas Garg is the founder and CEO of a billion, a global community on a mission to help a billion people create world changing impact. [00:01:34] You know, that's right. What I'm going to love talking about Vikas is a dedicated supporter of education and conservation initiatives around the world. He's received credit Suisse's global citizenship award is a young leader of the Milken Institute and a charter member of the Indus entrepreneurs. [00:01:53] He's amazing. And he had a bold idea to change the world, and that is exactly what he and his team [00:02:00] are working on. I'm so thrilled to welcome the cost guard. Thank you so much for being here. Hi, how are you? I am fabulous. Thank you so much for asking. I, I wanted, I want, first of all, I want to say that you, I am in New York city and you are in Singapore, so it is in the evening for me. [00:02:18] And it is the very next day in the morning for you. And that's that, that was a little trippy for me. So I was like, oh yeah, it's tomorrow for you. So, and for you it's today and I'm, I'm here, back here and yesterday. So I yesterday that's right. I am, I am so honored and excited to have you on the show actually, because anybody who knows me for any length of time will hear me talk about being vegan and being plant what I call plant powered. [00:02:46] And I, I want to sort of lift up this notion that you have of changing the world and that a billion is about something that's really close to my heart. [00:03:00] It's about getting 1 billion people. To commit to being plant-based by the year 2030. And I was wondering what started this for you? What made you decide that this was going to be your mission? [00:03:15] Vikas Garg: [00:03:15] Oh, great question. And, and thanks. Firstly, thank you for having me on the show. Thank you for having me on the show. My pleasure. And it's always, always nice to, to talk to a fellow new Yorker. I've been living out here in Singapore for the last six years, but grew up in New York city and just immense gratitude for, for having us on the show today. [00:03:35]Yeah, so, you know, I found. So how has the new Yorker? I originally came to New York when I was four years old from India. And one of the things that my mom and dad did to really in a way to preserve our culture and our heritage there were many things that we did, you know, including just like we used to speak Hindi at home, but we also stayed sort of tried and true to our vegetarianism when I was a kid. [00:03:58]And so I, from, [00:04:00] from the day that I was born I was raised vegetarian and growing up in New York in the eighties. You know, like being vegetarian meant that like pretty much my entire food pyramid often was like a slice of pizza. It was like the easiest thing to pretty much get everywhere. And like, you kind of, you know, you could sort of, as a kid, know what you were getting, get like a slice of cheese pizza or a bagel with cream cheese. [00:04:26] And I grew up, so I grew up vegetarian. I grew up never eating meat. And so, and I grew up a big animal lover. Even a bug lover. And it was just something that I got from my mom and dad. It was a really big part of our culture. So, you know, fast forward in my twenties, I decided I wanted to go vegan and that was due to a number of different reasons. [00:04:46]Both my mom and dad got sick, really, really, really sick. And I started to look at like, why are two very, very seemingly healthy people getting so sick? I getting things like heart disease and cancer. And a [00:05:00] lot of the time I started look at a lot of it just started to point to food. I also just other factors kind of involved in that and, and I. [00:05:09] I basically, I went vegan. And what, for me, even as a vegetarian felt very hard at the time because it meant that it meant giving up a lot of the things that I had come to love. Right. It meant like giving up on things like cheese and, you know, especially when you're talking about certain kinds of cuisines foods, whether it's Italian food or Indian food, you know, there's, there's butter in everything. [00:05:34] There's, there's you know, there's eggs and everything there, dairy and everything. There's cheese in nearly everything. Right. And, and it just felt like a huge compromise. And I was already sort of the weird, you know, the, I was already the guy that whenever I went out with all my friends, I've asked like two questions. [00:05:52] To make something vegetarian. And now I was the guy that had to ask five questions to make something be good for sure. You know, and, and so it was, [00:06:00] it, it really very much, it really, in the beginning felt like a compromise and a sacrifice for me. Fast-forward or I'd say that this idea of me going vegan has probably been one of the defining influences, one of the defining factors in my life. [00:06:19] And one of the things that's created, immense joy and immense positivity and immense mindfulness, and really given me so much confidence and control over my life. And it's something that has gone from being sacrificial and compromising to something that's just truly an inspired way of living that helps me feel incredibly connected to everything and incredibly connected to the earth and cry more connected to other people. [00:06:46]You know, very, very, very sort of. I'd say clued into who I am and giving me a sense of purpose and values and that every single day, every single choice I make is, has that [00:07:00] connection as that little connection back to my values, which gives me a lot of confidence in life because I'm leading a life full of purpose and values. [00:07:09] So that was, you know, w w just going back to your question is to sort of, how did I come about this is I finally had, you know, sort of the opportunity in my life. I finally felt like I had gotten to the stage where I was ready to start a company. And I had a career. I didn't have this, we're effectively, we're a technology company, but I, I didn't have a career in tech. [00:07:32] I had a career in finance. And I, you know, I just felt like, okay, I I'm going to make this. I made this decision that I'm going to start my own thing. And I just looked around and I just was like, You know, I spent my entire career, my entire life, 15, 16 years working in an industry, but I ha I was gonna sort of do what I was going to do now for them. [00:07:55] I had the opportunity to do something for the next 30 or 40 years. [00:08:00] And I had an opportunity to really choose what that thing was. Right. So it started to really feel like, wow, I'm still, even though I've been doing something my entire life, I still feel like I'm, I'm, I'm in the early stages of the rest of my life and what do I want to do with it? [00:08:17] And so, you know, I, at the time, I just felt like it was really an opportunity to improve social media, to improve the whole landscape of e-commerce. To build something that was more inspiring and impactful. You know, and I th I really felt like social media was broken. That social media was this sort of failed experiment. [00:08:38] It was this great connector of people, but then it, it, you know, these communities around the world had formed and some of them had become extremely toxic. And, you know, you can see what happened, you know, the 2016 election or even in the last election, right. And many, many other events that happen in society every single day that, you know, that, that social media is, is, has sort of [00:09:00] become responsible for it. [00:09:01] And I just felt like, you know, look, there's, there's an opportunity to create something that actually improve people's lives and improve people's lives and actually stood for something. So that's been the grand experiment for us. I just felt like if we could create something and bring people together in a community, and then we could inspire them and make it easier for people to around the world to live in a more sustainable way. [00:09:23]And remove sort of the barriers and, you know, part of those barriers are, you know, when you go out to eat, some of them are when you go shopping. Some of them are when you travel. Some of them are just sort of when you're, you know, when you're, when you're out and about your day-to-day lives and said, Hey, and some of them involve just having support in your community, right? [00:09:43] Because you may not have that support in your community. So we really wanted to create this kind of community, an online community, a community that, you know, people around the world really could join and feel supported in this journey towards a more sustainable world, a more vegan world. And we felt that this idea [00:10:00] of going vegan, whether it's all the time, or even just consciously making an effort to be. [00:10:07] More vegan some of the time was a huge step in the right direction for the world. And that was something that was worth fighting for it. And then that's sort of how it got started about three and a half years ago. [00:10:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:10:20] Wow. I feel like you should just go and Mike drop and that's it. Yeah. Wow. I'm taking all of that in everything that you said, and there's, so there's so much, there's so much wealth that you've talked about and that isn't necessarily monetary wealth, that feeling of being connected, that feeling of having that confidence. [00:10:44] I love that what you have chosen is to be purposeful with the work that you're doing, because you could have done another app on time management. You could have done another app on, you know, this is how you buy stocks or whatever, but, but you turned it on its [00:11:00] head and you went, no I'm going to do something that means something and use all my skills to do it. [00:11:04] And so when you, when you talked about the sort of early days when you were growing up and how you had to, you know, I'll have a slice of cheese pizza, things have evolved, things have changed, and now we can get there. There are so many restaurants that are vegan only for example. So, so within that framework, within that framework of, of things evolving, what role do you see a billion playing as things move forward? [00:11:31] Cause I know you've got this 20, 30 timeframe, but what role do you see a billion playing in addition to yourself in making that go even further than it otherwise might. [00:11:42] Vikas Garg: [00:11:42] Yeah, sure. So we start, excuse me. So we start with the idea of consumer advocacy first, right? And how do you take data? How do you take consumer data and really use it to actually improve the world? [00:11:55] So where obviously a big part of what we are is an online experience, but that [00:12:00] online exterior experience of course extends into the offline world and often extends into something that we all love, which is ticking. Right. And the funny thing is this is something that we do three, four times a day and it plays such a pivotal role in the global economy. [00:12:17] And. In, in so many, so many aspects of our lives, but also from a sustainability perspective. So for us we started with this idea that, Hey, like people are gonna, you know, people, people get on our app. They, they network with each other. They kind of, you know, they follow each other. They use the app to find great vegan options that can be vegan dishes at any kind of restaurant anywhere in the world. [00:12:39] And we kind of gamified the whole process. We don't focus just on vegan restaurants or vegetarian restaurants, but he's really said, Hey, like if we're going to actually, if the world is going to become a lot more sustainable through vegan food, what we really need to do is create a, create a business, create a company that helps the world helps all of the world's businesses [00:13:00] create. [00:13:00] More vegan food and popularize that amongst people. So that's really, that's a big part of what we do is we do a lot of consumer advocacy. So when, for example, if you went to a restaurant today, you took a photo of your vegan dish, right. That review, then just go, then it goes into the app, but it doesn't stop there. [00:13:20] Our team then goes and figures out. Who's the owner of that business manager of that business, et cetera. And then we get that review back to those business owners. We not only do that, but if we're talking about, let's say it's a Japanese restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, we're then going to send that restaurant. [00:13:37] All of the best rated vegan, Japanese dishes information, a reviews, op options, information to show them. And for many, many different restaurants around New York city and around the world, we might send them the best rated vegan, Japanese dishes from Tokyo. And the whole reason we do that from a consumer advocacy perspective is we want to show them that there's [00:14:00] this global movement growing. [00:14:01] We want to show them that there's an, there's an economic opportunity in having great vegan options. And if we can really have that conversation with that business, that, Hey, it makes sense to have three, four, five, six, 10, you know, to have 20, 30% of your, of your menu being plant-based. Then we actually really start to move the needle. [00:14:22] When you start to think about sustainability, if we could get thousands of restaurants in a, in a, in a geography to actually start thinking this way, And shifting from, you know, let's say one vegan dish, one vegetarian district, you're even lucky to having 10%, 20% than 30% of their menus be plant-based, we'll make a really, really big impact for every body. [00:14:46] And every thing that's kind of involved in the global food system, including the animals and land the environment and people, of course. So that's really in a way, that's, that's a big part of the role that we want to play, which is consumer advocacy [00:15:00] working on behalf of the consumer to give you a sense of it. [00:15:02] Last year, we sent more than 5 million emails all around the world with this kind of information and that sort of competitive landscape, really trying to in a way, create a meritocracy for the whole plant-based industry, trying to say, Hey, Hey, steakhouse. Right. Like, there are people who will go to a steak house and eat right. [00:15:24] If they have a great vegan option and, you know, ironically I, in my career, that's exactly what I used to have to do because I was a banker in New York and, you know, I'd have clients come from other parts of the United States. And I they'd want to go to, you know, some of, one of the famous steakhouses in New York, like Peter Luger and Brooklyn. [00:15:44] And, you know, I'd be sitting there as the vegetarian and then the vegan, and I'd always have this, you know, I'd have this awkward moment where it was like, okay, I'm getting tomatoes and I'm getting  and I'm getting some broccoli, all things that I really love. Right. Like, cause like [00:16:00] I'm very much like I, more than anything I love, well, I love my pasta, but I like more than anything. [00:16:06] I love my whole plant-based sort of, you know, foods and. I just would always be having these conversations with restaurant owners, be like, Hey look, like, I wouldn't mind coming back here and bringing my parents and bringing up friends. Right. But like, can you have one or two really great options for me? [00:16:26] Right. And often that feedback, they would respond to it. Right. And, and, you know, overwhelmingly, we felt like, okay, if we could do this at some scale, then that would be really great. If we could leverage technology to do this instead of door to door activism, if we could leverage technology to do this on a much larger scale, we could really move the needle. [00:16:47] And so today, if you look at just with restaurants and then there's a whole other side to our platform, which is which is, you know, purely from like a consumer review perspective, it's consumer products. And today we have [00:17:00] 160,000 consumer products across about 40,000 brands on our platform. I get to that later, but like the you know, when you look at just the restaurant side of it today, we have. [00:17:10] About 50,000 restaurants on our platform globally, about 65% of them receive this kind of information from us. Sometimes, sometimes it's just impossible to find out any information about a business. It's a business is sitting in Vietnam or maybe in Thailand or in, you know, in, in, in, in, in. You know, in, in Argentina for example, right. [00:17:33] It, it just sometimes it's is a bit difficult, but generally we're able to find that information more than half the time. And we've seen tremendous results when we first started here in Singapore three and a half years ago. And we day one, we started sort of as a global app, but we had zero content. [00:17:49] We had zero users. We started with zero users, zero content, you know, and, and built it up from there. But when we got first got started in Singapore is probably because [00:18:00] we're here because the company is here and all of our team this year, you know, this is one of our most engaged markets globally. When we first got started here in Singapore, I think in our first year we found that there were like less than a thousand vegan options available on restaurant menus, right. [00:18:17] Uh, Restaurants on our platform and that number, like we just did our second annual Singapore, top 50 vegan dish awards. Right. And it's funny because like 40 of those restaurants that are on that list for, you know, the 50, and it's not 50, it's not 50 restaurants, it's 50 dishes because we really think that that's what people, you know, people care about what they're eating, what's on their plate more than anything these days, but like of the 50 dishes, I think around 40, at least 40 of those restaurants are not vegan or vegetarian restaurants. [00:18:50]But they're just, we we've, we just did that. And today, thanks to a lot of the work that we've done. A lot of the work that a lot of other organizations, [00:19:00] companies, et cetera, people have done, we've gone from in the last three, four years. We've gone from a thousand vegan dishes on menus to 16,000. Yes. And you know, so that's pretty awesome. [00:19:11] Like, and it's a huge honor, of course, where, you know, You pick the top 50 from 16,000 it's it's, it's quite a big honor. Right? So it was seeing restaurants respond to that. And like, you know, people get our frame certificates and very meat, heavy restaurants who would have never thought that they were getting, you know, they were going to get an award from a vegan company, a vegan organization, and they're so delighted, you know, they frame it, they put it right up next to their wine spectator award and, and, you know, and, and what ends up happening is they create more plant-based options and they start talking about them and then those things get started. [00:19:49] You know, those ordered, they get ordered and that's really ultimately what creates impact, right? Because that larger pool of businesses around the world that, [00:20:00] you know, we know are never going to, they're likely not going to become vegan businesses. But there's a real opportunity that if we can get them to sort of shift to 20, 30, 40% vegan, that's going to make a massive impact for everything that we care about. [00:20:16] So that's a big role that we play. Obviously we need to grow. Like we want to grow our user base. We want to grow our membership around the world. Our community is really strong right now, and it's in a hundred plus countries. And we just want to grow that and continue building. And as the community gets stronger and the use case gets stronger and the, the, the, the, our sort of product, which is our app gets better and better and better that impact that we make sort of on people in terms of being able to sort of guide people and show them. [00:20:51] And, you know, you mentioned like, You're getting, like, I think that, you know, I've liked a couple of your posts and stuff like that. And it's, I was talking to one of our members in Vancouver [00:21:00] two, three weeks back, and she was telling me how, like she became vegan a year ago. There's a farm animal sanctuary I'm on Vancouver island that we support it's called Rosta. [00:21:12] And she got a flyer about the sanctuary from a friend of hers. And she said, you know, I'm like, this is interesting. You know, I, maybe I should cut down my meat consumption and share that the, the, the sanctuary talks about us as, you know, a great tool for that. And so she started using our app about a year ago and now she and her entire family had become a hundred percent vegan. [00:21:33]And, you know, not only are they become vegan, but they're trying out foods from around the planet. So because they're able to see like people in Singapore or other parts of Asia or parts of Europe and south America are eating, there's a feed. And she, her whole family has gotten an inspiration for cooking and trying new things. [00:21:55] And, you know, and it's, it's, she's felt that it's a very, very [00:22:00] supportive, positive community that really backs her up, that when she posts something, right. Whether she makes something at home using, you know, a plant-based meat product and she takes a photo of it when she posts something, she sees all these comments and she sees all of this engagement and she's built this community and it really feels very supportive and it's really helped her continue on her journey and path to being vegan. [00:22:27] And we love that. Like, I love that, that, that is in a way that is the biggest thing that we can do from an impact perspective is how do we help people and support people on this journey? We know it's hard, right? We know it's not perfect. It's not about perfection, but it's about how do you provide a really supportive community that just rallies behind everybody and supports each other. [00:22:51] And that's really the big shift that we see that we want to see happening in social media as well. So super, super excited about that. And [00:23:00] and you know, really just trying to, trying to build that up and trying to really help people sort of create impact and feel good about creating impact. We have a lot of sort of work around that, that we're doing, but we, I think we do a pretty good job of it today and it's been amazing to, to kind of, to, to kind of see it grow and where it's going to go in the next eight, nine, 10 years. [00:23:20] I can't, you know, I, I can't tell you, but we're, we're all working hard towards that goal. Have a billion [00:23:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:23:25] people. I love that goal. I'm, I'm 110% behind you, a billion percent, if you will. You know, w what's interesting about what you said, and there's so much, there's, you know, you're talking and I'm going, yes, this, I need to ask about this and I need to ask about this. [00:23:40] And, and the thing that, that struck me so hard as you were talking, I've, I've had that happen. The, I go to a restaurant and I have to pick the vegetables that I'm going to ask you to put together. And I go, you know, can you put this together in a salad? Or can you saute these for me in some oil and some garlic, blah, blah, blah. [00:23:58] What's often happened [00:24:00] is. That the chef and I've had this happen several times. The chef comes out and goes, you know, I've never thought of putting these together like that. Do you mind if this is tomorrow is special? No, I do not mind if this is tomorrow special and I've actually had dishes that I've sort of put together, like that end up on the permanent menu of restaurants and amazing. [00:24:20] Yeah, it's really, it's, it's very, it was one of them was called the Isolde salad, which I thought was just hilarious. But, but but the reason I'm bringing this up is because it was a, it was a perception shift, I guess, for the chef. So that notion of we can change, not just the consumers, percept perceptions, but the people who are actually running the restaurants are making the food, their perception that it's possible to make vegan food. [00:24:48] That is good for you and all of that, but also that is scrumptious. That is really [00:24:52] Vikas Garg: [00:24:52] delicious that people want that people [00:24:53] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:24:53] want. Right. So, so, so how. How do we do that [00:25:00] on a, on a, and maybe this isn't part of a billion's mission, but how do we do that on a bigger scale? Because yes, I've, I've had the, as oldest salad become part of, of this Italian restaurants, permanent menu, but, but what do, what can we do as, as people who might be on a billion or people who might not yet know about it, but now of course you do. [00:25:20] So go and get the app, but how, what can we do to change the perception of the people in the industry? Like I see that you're doing the mailings to the restaurants. Is there anything else that we can be doing? And if so, what do you think that is? [00:25:34] Vikas Garg: [00:25:34] Yeah, look, I think that we all think that we all can be really great advocates, right? [00:25:39] So anybody who's listening in on this, on this podcast You know, it can be a voice. Right. And I think that that's one of the most powerful things that you can do is communicate with people. Often, like, I mean, I, in, in Asia specifically when I got here six years ago, one of the things that I saw was, you know, people, a lot of people, when you go to a place, just kind of [00:26:00] accept the status quo for what it is. [00:26:03] Right. And, and so you just ended up, you either, you use a search and you try to find places that have things that you want or things that you can have and you set things as a way. It is a little bit more and we just really wanted to change that. Right. But at the same time, like you get in a place like New York, right. [00:26:20] Where I'd say that, you know, at a place like America, where businesses are much more likely to adapt and try to do anything, they can. To, you know, to, to please a customer and ensure that person's happy. You know, we ha we all have a voice. And so the best thing that anyone can do is, you know, is, Hey, like, you know, be a voice, be a voice for the movement. [00:26:46] Right. Always ask the question and try to have that conversation when you can and try to be really positive about it. Right. So I think that sometimes what happens and, you know, it's always hard to generalize. I don't like generalizing, but I think that sometimes what [00:27:00] happens is some of the, some of the ways that we sort of go about having a voice sometimes are not sometimes can be a bit, bit more argumentative than they are helpful. [00:27:11] And I think it's just a matter of sort of, you know, tone and it's matter of of, of, of, of casting sort of what we're doing, what we want in a very positive way. And reinforce it very positively. I know that the challenges with social issues, right. Is there so much on the line, right. And it's so personal. [00:27:35]And I, you know, so, so for me, like I grew up as an activist since the time that I was a kid in New York and I went to my first peanut rally when I was just seven or eight years old, you know, and, and I kind of always been clued in to sanctuaries and, you know, and, and, and I, and so I, I, I grew up in sort of around this and I was also like, I was a constant debater and I was on the debate team and, you know, and I just, what I [00:28:00] have found is that debate for the sake of debate and you know, or, or, or this like that, you need to be right. [00:28:06] Sort of mentality often. Ends up putting you in a box and I, and, and what you want. And sometimes we forget about, well, what is it that we want? And what's maybe the most effective way to get what we want. And often I would just say that at least what I've learned, and I just turned 40 is can just have it. [00:28:26] You can have a pleasant conversation with somebody that usually does that. I can usually do the trick or at least plant a seed. So yeah, I think that's something that all we all can do. And of course, like, you know plea, like, of course, you know, folks can get on the, get on the app. Like we're really building the social community around this sort of positive messaging and consumer advocacy. [00:28:45]And, you know, give it a shot, try it out. Because not only will whatever work or whatever time you invest in this. Help you and it'll be fun cause it's fun. Just, you know, social [00:29:00] media has to be fun and it's meant to be enjoyable for whatever amount of time you spend on it every day. But then not only that, but it also creates a lot of impact in the world and a lot of positive social change. [00:29:12] And that's really why we designed it is really to give everybody, even people who are not necessarily comfortable, you know, going around and sort of speaking and doing that. Or maybe you're just too busy, an opportunity to just do something fun and gamify that. Do something fun and still make a lot of positive change in society. [00:29:34] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:29:34] I like that you combine both of them. That's that's wonderful. And it's interesting what you were talking about being positive. The app definitely feels, it feels very upbeat. It feels very positive. It feels like I'm contributing to something. When I, when I leave a review and I, and I love that. And, and yet I was telling somebody about it who is not vegan. [00:29:55] And the response I got was, Ugh, another vegan thing, you know? [00:30:00] And that's that, I'm not always positive when I talk about it, because I get, I get into that whole billions of animals are slaughtered every year mindset very quickly. So it's hard for me to stay positive when that is in the forefront. And yet. [00:30:13]When I'm talking about the app to people who are already either vegan, friendly or vegan themselves, it's a really positive experience and I'm getting people to sign up and go, oh, this is cool. When I talk about it to non vegans, there's a, there's an eye roll. And so what is your, what is your thought? [00:30:30] How, how is it best to talk about these subjects? And you said positive and that's great. And yet if they're, if you immediately meet sort of a wall of resistance, is it just a, okay. You're not a person I can talk about this with, or do you have any strategies to talk to people? [00:30:45] Vikas Garg: [00:30:45] Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and you just, you know, just to clarify, like when I say positive, I, you know, I can imagine some of my friends were very passionate activists, their eyes rolling, because it's like, [00:31:00] it's what I want. [00:31:02] I don't mean, you know, like what I don't mean, like, you know, it, it wouldn't be cool for, like, we all know can like racism. Right. Let's just take racism for example, right. There's no, like, we're all like trying to like, from, from like a, a vegan activist perspective. Right. If I was to where my, my sort of, you know, my, my, my activism hat for a second, right. [00:31:24] I would, it's not, I would say that it's not cool. It's not cool to kill a little less. Right. Like, I would say something like that, like you know, and, and we would, I'd say that most people, if you ask them, is it okay to be a little racist? They'd be like, no, what are you talking about? Like, that's not, that's not cool. [00:31:44] Like, you can't be a little racist. And so it's like, you know, I would make the arguments as well. So you're saying, is it it's okay to kill a little, right. Cause like, they'd be like, no, it's not okay to kill a little bit. That's what you do every single day when you, you know, [00:32:00] you eat animals and things like that. [00:32:01] So like that sort of positive, I guess that's the, that idea of sort of positive messaging just for it. What I mean by that is you, to you, what I have found that works the best is sort of being able to relate to people. Right. And we can talk about all of the animal lives. And when you start talking about things like in the billions, often people kind of zone out cause it's, it just, it takes somebody out of their immediate sort of day-to-day life. [00:32:35] But when you can talk to somebody in a way that really connects with them on a personal basis, and the best way to do that is to tell your own personal story. And really like, why are you doing this? And how does it impact you? And really I'd say that that's probably the thing that I have found, you know, it doesn't always work, but that's what I, at least when I come at it [00:33:00] from a very, very personal way, and I talk about my own health and I talk about my mom and dad, and I talk about, you know, I talk about my dog for instance and I talk about the changes that I felt and the struggles that I had you know, that then becomes a very personal story. [00:33:23] And while somebody may not agree with it there, I'll probably a lot more willing to just kind of accept it or recognize that. Okay, cool. I get what this person is about and that's. Like that's their journey. And I respect that. Right. So then like, you know, at least you stroke, I think you establish a foundation which you can then build on from there because the person at least appreciates where you're coming from, some people will, of course never be receptive or be open-minded. [00:33:57] And, and, you know, unfortunately, you know, [00:34:00] like we, we, we live in a world where there's a lot of, you know, human beings are very complex and intellectually, emotionally, mentally, physically, we're also a very, very diverse, you're not going to convince everybody. And that's, you know, th th I, I don't know if there's, you know, it's really about that. [00:34:20] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:34:20] Well, it's it's for you. It's about a billion, which I think is good and, and more than a billion would be even better. I, I that's for sure. It's, what's interesting. That feeling of connection that you talked about earlier is similar to what I heard you say just now that, that it is it's meeting people where, where they are with where you are and I, and I totally respect that. [00:34:45] And yet when I, when I think about it, I'm going okay. So there are all these benefits that you, that you have sort of rot, if you will, you've brought all these benefits from being vegan. And [00:35:00] yet, I don't know. Do you sometimes feel like you're tilting at windmills or do you see enough potential that it, that it's worth it to keep going? [00:35:14] Vikas Garg: [00:35:14] Oh, definitely. I mean, I definitely see a lot of potential. And you know, we do a lot of things. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't work. Sometimes they don't work in the short term and often there is sort of this sense. It's very easy when you've got a whole room full of people to like constantly be pivoting or changing their mind. [00:35:35] And often the hardest thing to do is to stay on tack a hard. One of the artist's things to do is, is really believe in what you're doing and believe in something that maybe not a lot of other people really see as as valuable. And, you know, look, you've got to take it in and you've got to, like, you've got to really analyze it. [00:35:54] You've got to do your work. But you've also got to have conviction and things in life and, [00:36:00] and that's sort of the hardest, I'd say that's one of the hardest things. Sometimes because you could talk to five different people and get five different opinions. Sometimes it's just the way that you ask a question you know, where, you know, you're, you're almost setting yourself up to, to get a certain kind of response. [00:36:16] So it's really, it's it's, I think it's about, I think it's about having, I think a lot of it it's about having conviction and then really thinking, at least for us, like thinking about like, okay, well, how do we build a business and how do we, and some to some degree stay grounded in the way that business works. [00:36:33]And you know, and, and, you know, you're trying to create a new kind of business in an industry that, you know, is evolving, but not a lot of people are sort of accepted yet. But you think it's the future. And so it's, it's hard. It's really, really, really hard. But, but it's also really fun and it's rewarding and. [00:36:55] You know, it's it's when, when you do have your wins, it feels really, really great. [00:37:01] [00:37:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:37:01] I'm sure it does. Absolutely. And you know, it's funny. I, there are people who've known me forever in a day. And one of the first things that they ask me when they see me again, after not having seen me for a while or so you eat meat yet. [00:37:15] And it's it's as if they think it's a temporary thing. And I'm like, it's been over 30 years, I think. I think I'm done. But the interesting thing here is that thing that you said about confidence, there is, there is a, there is a power in my mind to. Standing in your truth. You know, my truth for me, I'm never, I'm never eating animals or any animal products. [00:37:38] Again, I don't use animal products. So that's my truth. And you said earlier that you feel a greater sense of confidence since you have gone vegan. And I would love it. If you could talk a little bit about what the flavor of that is, what is the root of that and, and how do you see it playing out in the way you've [00:38:00] innovated this entire social media space? [00:38:02] He does. [00:38:08] Vikas Garg: [00:38:08] Sorry. Could you repeat that question? [00:38:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:38:12] I got the room. Yeah, [00:38:14] Vikas Garg: [00:38:14] I got the, I got the, I guess, sorry she knocked on the door and knocked on the door. I heard, I heard the, I heard the first part of it, but then I wasn't, I'm not, I wasn't clear. No [00:38:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:38:25] worries. No worries. I love it. Well, the question. No, no, no, no, no, no. [00:38:29] That's great. You know, it's it, this is about it's funny. I the podcast got into the fourth edition of podcasting for dummies. It actually was, was featured in the book and it was featured in the slice of life podcast area. So that's because that's what this is. Things happen. This is a slice of life. [00:38:47] So the question was actually about how your level of confidence has suffused your ability to innovate in, in the social media space, which has innovation, things like, you know, Tik TOK or [00:39:00] whatever. But this is, this is innovation with a purpose. And I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about how your level of confidence relates your ability to go to, I don't know if you have sponsors or if you have investors, but your ability to go to people who don't know anything about this, who don't know anything about veganism and be confident enough to go. [00:39:18] This is a really cool thing, and this is why you want to be part of it. [00:39:23] Vikas Garg: [00:39:23] Yeah, look, you know, you have to turn over a lot of stones. It's very competitive. And depending on who you talk to one person's sort of one person's gauge of success looks very different than another person's gauge of success. [00:39:39]And you know the, the, the thing about, you know, the thing about the space is there's there's, you just, you have to, you have to find, you have to, you know, you have to do the work and you have to, you have to find the people who are going to support you, whether it's financially, and we're very much a venture backed [00:40:00] company at this stage you know, and, and our revenues. [00:40:03]You know, if, if, if tomorrow our funding just completely dried up our revenues definitely wouldn't support what we're, what we're doing and building, we're not a very cap. We're not a very capital intensive business at this stage. We will become a more capital intensive business at this stage. And so it's really, again, it's setting yourself up for thinking, okay, like, well, what does this business really look like over the next three, four, five years? [00:40:25] What are we building? And and really being able to communicate that effectively and meet the folks and build relationships with people and, and, and yeah, and convey, convey that sense of confidence. But behind that sense of confidence, it can't just be back, you know, behind that sense of confidence. [00:40:48] There also has to be work and a plan and a, and being able to sort of describe and show and build. All the things that we need to do [00:41:00] in order to make our business, you know, fundamentally sound and sustainable. So we can be in business in the next 20, 30, and 50 years and get level over the next two. [00:41:11] Yeah, let alone the next sort of two. Right, right. You know, which it really is. It's like, it's like, you want to build yourself for longterm success, but you've got to really think about like, well, okay, how are you going to survive in the next one year, in the next two years? Especially, I'd say that until you get to the stage where you have a hit product, right. [00:41:30] And that takes time, you know, with some of the biggest companies in the food space that that's, you know, that's taken them before, before everybody, you know, in America had heard about the beyond burger. You know, it was even well before it was even the beyond burger was called something else that company had been around for, for almost a decade, by the time, you know, people really started to kind of, it started to go mainstream. [00:41:57] And so while, [00:42:00] you know, while folks like Ethan and the people around him had that vision, they also were very smart about executing and building. And I'm sure that, you know, while they were thinking about what 10 years ahead were those probably very early on in the business, they were probably just thinking about what the next six months looks like. [00:42:17] So there is always that sort of, you know, there's always that sort of, and I don't think that it's a, I don't think that it's an inherent conflict. I just think that it's a responsibility to be thinking about, well, you know, what do you need to do short term? What do you need the next three, six months and nine months and 12 months to look like, right. [00:42:38] What do you need to build? How do you get the, you know, how do you, how do you build something. You know, short-term get that to scale and, you know, what's the long-term vision of this and are the things that you're doing right now matching up with the long-term vision for the car. [00:43:00] [00:42:59] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:42:59] It's a lot, it's a huge balancing act, I imagine. And also just a lot, a lot of balls in the air. So you're, you're a juggler on a, on a unicycle. It sounds like and my husband is a clown. He was a clown in the circus. So I know of what I what's, I'm curious about the, how do I put this? You're it's it feels, it really does feel to me like you have a foot in several worlds, like you have the foot in the activist world, but you also have to have a foot in the sort of bottom line, financial interests world. [00:43:29] And. What, where, what is the line there? What, what, when you have to make a decision based on what's best for the company, what's best for the bill for a billion what's best for, you know, the, in your mind, what's best for the planet, the animals, et cetera. Where do you fall? How do you navigate that when you have to make those decisions? [00:43:52] Vikas Garg: [00:43:52] Well, I think that we have a very strong sort of core set of values. Right. And I think it all [00:44:00] starts there. So one of the great things about running a company that's built around values and purpose is it's pretty, it's, it's pretty clear to everybody what you stand for. Right. And you know, it's pretty clear where you stand on a number of different things you know, in terms of right versus wrong in terms of. [00:44:24] You know, do we do the right thing by people? Or do we take like a more sneaky approach? You know, like just generally it does clear up, it clears up a lot of confusion. It clears up, I'd say clears up a lot of stuff that other companies, you know, would have a problem with because at the end of the day, running a company that's based on values and purpose is an extraordinary filtering mechanism for who even comes into the door right now. [00:44:52] Like, you know, and, and that, that also, I mean, I'm not gonna kid you, like, I sit here and lie to you. Like that's not a perfect thing either. [00:45:00] Sometimes you want to have the sort of the very opposite views. You want to have the conflict you want to have as sophisticated people. You want to have, you know, the most successful, but you want to have the best people who are going to help build your growth, you know, your, your growth engine. [00:45:19] You want to have the most successful people, the most experienced people on product. You want to have the most successful people on biz dev. And so sometimes those sort of, as a company that is built around a mission and a company that's built around values, right. As opposed to, Hey, we're just going to build this really fun sort of video sharing app. [00:45:39] Right. And let's just go out and we don't care what kind of content people are posting. We just want to make sure it goes viral and we want to build that. And, you know, and that's it. We want to create this highly addictive app. Well, you can then welcome just about anybody on the planet, into, you know, into that, except for maybe people who are really [00:46:00] values based. [00:46:01] And so the difference is, is we're quite the opposite of that, right? And so I'd say that one of the biggest challenges that we faced in the flat in the first three years is actually scaling our team. So like, we're finally, you know, we finally have gotten to the stage like three years in where, and especially during last year, like we started last year, With eight, seven or eight people on the team full time. [00:46:25] And today we're at 32. Wow. So like it finally, like last year in spite of COVID in spite of everything last year was really the year where we started to grow, where the team started to grow, where, you know, the, the, the, the number of years of experience and the depth of that experience in terms of colleagues, new colleagues signing up joining was, was, just, was, was, was really sort of got, got a big upgrade. [00:46:52]And it's really nice because like, we have a very highly motivated team and a lot of the, a lot of the [00:47:00] folks who may not have as much experience what they lack and experience they make up for in motivation and initiative. But the reality of that is that. What ends up happening is you end up having a lot of debt. [00:47:13] You ended up having a lot of technical debt on your engineering team. You end up building things on a weak foundation. You end up constantly wanting to iterate, but not necessarily having great plans around it. And so we're finally, you know, or you build something wanting to get to a next stage and maybe you get there, but then you're like, what's next? [00:47:36] And you kind of forgot that like, okay, you might get to the next step, but have you thought five steps forward from there? And so like, we're finally getting better at a lot of those things. And you know, that, so being sort of a values-based organization, being an organization that has a very purposeful mission is now actually I'd say in a [00:48:00] way, a breath of fresh air for a lot of people that are kind of coming into the organization and that's something that's been missing in their lives. [00:48:06] Working at other companies, [00:48:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:48:09] you're singing my song. I love [00:48:11] Vikas Garg: [00:48:11] it. I'm going to, I'm going [00:48:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:48:12] to apply. That's it. I'm going to do it. Okay. So to be, to be perfectly Frank you know, I don't, I I'm, I feel a little bit like I'm like, yes, everything you just said and, and it feels, it feels just a little disingenuous, even though it's not disingenuous, I really wholeheartedly support your mission because it does feel like it's not a, if you're not being vegan, you're, you're directly responsible for killing animals perspective. [00:48:39] It's more like a, Hey, this is something you can think about. And this is something you can dip your toe in if you will. And yet you y'all are activists all over the place. Right? So one of the things that I love, and this is a, I think maybe a gamified thing that you did is that for every 10 reviews you leave. [00:49:00] [00:49:00] The company will make a donation. And I thought that was so I thought it was cool. I thought it was super cool that I got to choose a sanctuary to get my little $10 donation from having given 10 reviews of, of dishes or whatever it was I did first. So what, what it, what role does that sense of play play in the app? [00:49:25] Vikas Garg: [00:49:25] Yeah, so we started with this whole idea that look, you know, we, we want to create an impact. And we think that there's an opportunity here to build a really great company. And we're a really great technology company, a really great platform. And we, I just felt like, you know, people are signing up, they're going to be contributing information. [00:49:47] That information is valuable. They're going to be spending time in their lives and how do we. How do we enrich that experience and how do we help people kind of connect back this idea, this small idea. [00:50:00] So we'll give you a sense of it. Like 65% of our users today are B eaters. 35% of our users are, are, are, are vegans and vegetarians. [00:50:08] So for the 65% of people, right, I really felt like, what are, what can we do to help kind of. Create that connection. So they've gone and they've eaten something vegan or they've bought something that's environmentally friendly and cruelty-free, it might be, let's say it could be, you know, a vegan beauty product, or it could be you know, like the, a, a bag or, you know, a pair of shoes. [00:50:33]That's, that's made without any animals harmed. And so, you know, they share that experience. They share whatever they purchase on the, on the platform to helping build our community. How do we keep them motivated and how do we gamify it a little bit? And how do we help them see that connection all the way through, with what they're buying with the life that that's impacting. [00:50:55] And so that's how we started was if we could just reinforce this [00:51:00] and really create a daily sort of habit around them, choosing this lifestyle on a more regular basis. And we could game-ify that. And we could do that by connecting them. With really impactful causes around the world. And I know that you had captain Paul Watson on your show recently. [00:51:20]But see shepherd is, is one of the organizations that we support that we are, we are, we are very, very, very honored to be partnered with them. But so for us it was, it really it's been, this is the sense of, okay, how do you help organizations around the world that are creating world-changing life-changing impact? [00:51:38] How do you inspire people and how do you motivate people? You know, to basically keep going to, to keep, to, to, to, to keep trying to live this lifestyle and more regular basis by kind of gamifying it. And at the same time, reinforcing it with, Hey, look, this is the impact that's being created. So, you know, at the time the simplest thing that I could kind of come up with was, Hey, let's [00:52:00] put a little sort of award in people's pockets when they choose vegan. [00:52:03]And we chose that to be a dollar. It's just really simple, right? It's a dollar. And what you can do with this on a dollar that you get, like in an Amazon gift card, or that you could go and spend on something, but it's a dollar that we donate to one of our partner organizations and we have about 65 partners around the world from, you know, ranging from farm animal sanctuaries and places like Argentina, to organizations like sea shepherd, which are really focused on Marine life to, you know, to organizations around the world, activist organizations. [00:52:34]We, for instance, we support all three of the farm animal sanctuary is located in South Africa, do a lot of work in South Africa. And it's really just a global movement. Of course we do a lot of, you know, we have a lot of partners in the U S are closest to you as Woodstock in upstate New York in new Paltz. [00:52:52] And Woodstock's been mowed. Woodstock was one of our earliest partners. So yeah, we've just been, you know, I've just been really focused on, on growing [00:53:00] that way and growing responsibly that way. And it's been amazing. I mean, we've donated over half a million dollars since we first got started to amazing organizations around the world. [00:53:10] We're now supporting children's literacy programs in the developing world. So for a dollar, you can put a girl in school for a day for a dollar. You can buy a local language children's book for, for a kid you know, in, in, in a poor country for a dollar you can plant a tree as part of reforestation projects, In parts of all of pine parts around the world for a dollar, actually, not even for a dollar, but for 80 cents, you go through the United nations world food program and something called share the meal for 80 cents. [00:53:43] You can feed a hungry child, three nutritious meals in a day 80 cents. Wow. Right. So like, we don't even think about 80 cents, right. That doesn't even buy you a pack of gum, but like 80 cents can feed a kid for a whole day. Right. It's an amazing program. [00:54:00] And the funny thing about it, most of the meals are plant-based. [00:54:02] Most of the meals are a hundred percent plant-based right. Whenever possible. So, so this, these are the kinds of organizations that we think are making a real impact in the world. They're nonprofits. We want to support them. And a big part of what we do is really connect that our user journey back with that impact that they can create. [00:54:20] And I'd say that's one of our most unique selling points for the platform is, Hey you know, we're creating impact in this way and we're just always working on how do we make this part of sort of the, the platform better. So you mentioned when you get to 10 posts, you get $10, you get $10 every time we get 10 posts, we're actually just, we just remove that barrier. [00:54:40] So in the latest, in the latest version yeah, because we just felt like, Hey, you know, the reason we did it when we first started this two years ago, it was purely administrative was, you know, I'm literally sitting there and manually making these donations. Right. So is that okay? Well, like [00:55:00] let's, you know, and at the time time, in a given week, we were, we might've made a couple of a hundred dollars, a couple of hundred dollars donations. [00:55:07] Now that number has grown. Now we're doing, you know, we're doing, we're doing like 40, $50,000 a month that we're donating to organizations around the world sometimes more. And It, you know, it was just purely administrative is how do I manage all of this stuff? Manage all these donations and things like that. [00:55:25] As, especially as we scale the number of partners, now we have more than 60. Wow. And so we've gotten better at what we do. We've gotten better at sort of, you know in terms of just building the platform. So this stuff can to some of it's, to some degree, some of it can be more automated and more responsive to the user. [00:55:44]So yeah, we just went live with we just went live with that feature. So it's, you know, for the folks that are listening to the podcast, download the app, take a photo. The next time you go to a restaurant, if you eat something vegan, take a photo of it. It's just like creating an Instagram [00:56:00] post. It takes 30 or 40 seconds. [00:56:02] And pu you know, we'll put a dollar in your account that you can use to create impact. Or if you've got something at home, if you've just opened your fridge. Whether it's a bunch of kale or it's a pack of beyond sausages, or it's your favorite vegan butter from Yoko's or any other brand, take a photo of it and share it. [00:56:23] You're going to help the company because, you know, ultimately that review helps the company. It goes online, it helps get them more customers in a way you're going to help that company. Even if the feedback is bad, you're still gonna help the company. You're gonna help that restaurant. You're gonna help other people discover that option and make the world a little bit more vegan every single time. [00:56:48] And you're going to create impact for a life besides your own. And it's just fun. It's a fun thing to do, taking a photo posting it, you know, and really in a way, [00:57:00] creating impact and logging that on a day-to-day basis. So you have this beautiful sort of. View of all of the wonderful vegan, you know, your whole sort of journey around all of this and whether you're vegan already. [00:57:12] And you're just, you know, using it to record sort of, you know, your, your day-to-day habits and create this kind of impact or, Hey, you know, you want to see and socialize and be part of this community and, and, you know, which is really, really supportive. And we backed that up with this amazing little thing that we do which we think is really awesome. [00:57:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:57:31] I think it's really awesome too. And there's another benefit that you haven't talked about, which is close to my heart because I'm a writer and that is. That you get to put your writing hat on when you create a review, when you write about it, and you say that something was scrumptious, or you say that it was malicious or that it needed this, or it needed that, or, or this is what you liked about it. [00:57:52] That those review, you know, you say something like, I don't remember if it's 50 words or 50 characters per review on the, on the app. But the point [00:58:00] is that one of the things I love to do is give my I'm a know it all. I admit that. And, but I love giving my opinion. I love giving my review. I review everything I do. [00:58:09] If I go traveling, I review the place, I do a travel guide. If I go to a new restaurant, I take pictures of the food and I review it and I love talking about it. And so one of the things that the app does is give you the opportunity to have your say, to say it in a way that's really fun and creative, but still to give your opinion on, on what you've experienced. [00:58:30] And I think that's a really big positive in what you're [00:58:33] Vikas Garg: [00:58:33] doing. Oh, thank you. I really appreciate you saying that. [00:58:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:58:38] I mean, it's ju it's the truth and take it from me. As I said, I'm a know it all. So I admit that feely there's anybody who's ever met me will go. Yes, she's a know it all. It's okay. So, so I, I am thrilled and I could, I could keep you talking for the next six hours, but I know you have a life to get back to, and you have a daughter who's been knocking on the door and wanting your [00:59:00] attention. [00:59:00] So I, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing how people can find you on social, how people can find the app, and we're going to put it all in the show notes, but I kind of like having it said as well, just because people learn in different ways. [00:59:18] Vikas Garg: [00:59:18] Yeah. Sure. Well, thank you. So the app, it's just called a billion, a B I L L I O N. [00:59:24] And that's exactly who we are. We're trying to build a social movement for a billion people that makes the world a lot more sustainable that, you know, helps animals that helps people around the world that helps people live in a more healthier and more sustainable way in a happier way, in a more mindful way. [00:59:39] So you can download the, a billion app in either app store and Google play, or if you have an iPhone in, in the iPhone and the apple app store it's completely free. And it's completely free to use. And and we do some really fun things in there. There's vouchers from restaurants every now and then there's lots of stuff going around. [00:59:58] You can engage with businesses. [01:00:00] You know, you'll find that a lot of businesses will respond to feedback. A lot of companies are starting to jump on board. We've gotten a few thousand companies to sort of. To jump on board as well. And it just, it's just a great way to sort of record your daily impact and really find a supportive community around that. [01:00:16] So it's called a billion, that's all one word. And we're of course you can also go to our website. It's a billion www.abillion.com where you'll find all of the information there, if you don't like to use apps. And and that's it. And then as far as find finding me, we're also obviously on all socials. [01:00:32] So on Instagram, we're a billion and on Twitter where a billion app I'm on LinkedIn. I think we're just a billion, but yeah, you can find us on LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn. I don't really hang out on platforms like Facebook. I don't have a personal sort of account on, on social media, a billions the only social media app that I actually use besides LinkedIn. [01:00:52] So you can find me on LinkedIn as well and Picasso Garg. V I K S G a R G. And I'm based in [01:01:00] Singapore. So yeah, look out for me. And if you hear the podcast, please connect with me and let me know. I'd love to get your feedback, love to get your thoughts and love to get to know you better. [01:01:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:01:09] Ah, that's awesome. [01:01:10] And you know, we didn't really talk about that mindfulness aspect and now I'm sorry, we didn't, you're going to have to come back again and we're going to have to get into the nitty and the gritty of that, because there's something very powerful about the mindfulness aspect of feeling like you're in balance. [01:01:26] And in fact, if you wouldn't mind talking about that for a second, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what mindfulness is and how it relates to what your, what your mission is. If you don't mind. [01:01:38] Vikas Garg: [01:01:38] Yeah, no, it's fine. You know, I think that living a life full of values and purpose is is, is something that really can drive mindfulness. [01:01:46] I guess if the question is

Ethical Fashion with Red Tale Moon Clothing Line Founder, CEO, and Artist, Jeanine Boubli Jeanine Boubli is a mixed media artist and creator of the ethical and environmentally conscious lifestyle apparel brand Red Tale Moon. She strives to create awareness and respect for all animals, Mother Nature, and soulful connection through her creative work. Red Tale Moon's designs' are inspired by animals she know well as a volunteer animal caregiver at a local sanctuary. She loves spending time outdoors, taking long walks by the water, and writing poetry. Connect with Jeanine https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanineboubli https://www.instagram.com/jeanineboubli https://www.instagram.com/redtalemoon www.redtalemoon.com The Episode's Transcript Jeanine Boubli-FULL-1 [00:00:00] Jeanine Boubli: [00:00:00] I will say though, that there, now that you're here talking about being scared, there is really nothing scary about following your heart. There is something very scary about not following your heart. [00:00:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:00:17] Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I'm your host Izolda Trakhtenberg. On the show, you get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways. [00:00:40] You can do it too. If you're enjoying the show, I'd be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cuppa at buymeacoffee.com/izoldat. And now let's get on with the show. [00:01:01] [00:01:00] Hey there and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I'm so happy that you're here and I'm honored and happy to have this week's guests. She's amazing. You're going to love her.  Jeanine Boubli is a mixed media artist and creator of the ethical and environmentally conscious lifestyle apparel, brand Red Tale Moon. [00:01:21] So, you know, I love her and you know, you're going to love her too. She strives to create awareness and respect for all animals, mother nature, and soulful connection through her creative work. Red Tale moon's designs are inspired by animals. She knows as well. Well, she's she's a volunteer animal caregiver at a local sanctuary, but she also uses her heart and her imagination to create these incredible designs. [00:01:45] She loves spending time outdoors, taking long walks by the water and writing poetry. Jeanine, I am so glad that you're here. I'm honored and thrilled to talk to you about your ethical stance on what you do and the artistic drive that [00:02:00] helps you help the animals of the world. Welcome to the show. [00:02:03] Jeanine Boubli: [00:02:03] Oh, thank you so much. [00:02:04] I'm so happy for this opportunity to share. Thank you so much. I'm [00:02:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:02:09] so excited. So I. The thing, look, anybody who knows me for any length of time goes, yes, she's, she's an outspoken vegan she's plant powered, blah, blah, blah. Right. I I'm pretty far out with that. So the question I have for anybody I talk to about, about sort of being ethical, as far as how you interact with the rest of the living world is what, what got you started? [00:02:36] What, what was the turning point where you said I'm going to choose a path like this? [00:02:44] Jeanine Boubli: [00:02:44] Well, I didn't, I don't know that I consciously chose it. I feel like it chose itself through, you know, my soul, if you will. I started, you know, I was vegetarian for years and I started volunteering as you [00:03:00] know an animal caregiver at a local sanctuary That happened shortly after too challenging, having two challenging years of my life, my father was sick. [00:03:11] I moved out from the city. I came out to long Island to help him. I didn't realize how much that affected me. Long-term and so after the house was sold and I was like, okay, you know, where am I going to know? Like, I'm not going back to Manhattan right now. And my life was kind of up rooted in a sense my heart was, and yet. [00:03:33]It provided a, all, it also provided like an open an, Oh, well, an open space, like a big, vast bit of land, you know, and my future, because I didn't really know which way I was going to go with my future. And what happened was a neighbor where I moved to a neighbor said to me, one day she saw how I was, how I was with her dog. [00:03:53] She said, she need, you love animals so much. You would love this place. And you know, they've got a cow and they've got [00:04:00] goats and sheep and blah, blah, blah. And I said, Oh, well, I grew up here years ago. I never heard of it. And so the next day I was Googling and I've been volunteering there ever since. And so that was, yeah, that, that, that this experience, that's still part of my life and will always be a part of my life because it's my heart. [00:04:23]Really. Opened up my heart healed my heart, calmed my mind and inspired me to create or to get just being like you just being with the animals and their environment. I did not want to be with people at that time. No, I'm fine now, you know, but I just needed the quiet and just to be in a, in an environment now, all of the animals are loved. [00:04:45] They're not, you know, they're, they're fortunate, they're loved and they're cared for and to be with them and witness their friendship and their wisdom. And when one of them is sick and how, you know, the other ones are there for [00:05:00] them it's just really, really beautiful. And so that's what started to inspire me to. [00:05:05] Go ahead and use them as the subject matter for artwork. Because once again, I was kind of reborn, if you will. Instead I, they opened my heart and with my hearts opened, then I wanted to create, again, it could be in creative, it has always been inside me, but there was, I just kind of closed up like a closed fist. [00:05:24] I, you know, just, but then they, they, they, it was them, it was being with them and their love and their sweetness. That opened that part of me up again. [00:05:35] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:05:35] Yeah. Wow. I, you know, it's so it's wonderful and it's inspiring. And I know, I know other people who have that sort of connection and realize it's worth. [00:05:52] And you took it, you took that connection and you decided to work on behalf of them, these [00:06:00] wonderful critters, these wonderful beings we share the planet with when you started, when you started that, that process of like, okay, I'm good. I'm inspired by this and I'm going to do it right. Can you talk a little bit about what happened inside you that first time you sat down or maybe you weren't sitting? [00:06:20] I don't know what your process is the first time you, you went okay. That's it. I'm going to do this. I'm going to create. Was it a design. Oh, yes. Yeah. So the thing that, and how was your, how was your mind and your heart, where were they when you were doing it? Oh, [00:06:36] Jeanine Boubli: [00:06:36] well this is a, this is a bit of a story, but I'll tell you. [00:06:41] So I we had an Adobe user group on long island. I was the co co-manager of the group and the manager, Sharon. She said to me, one day I was at her house and I remember exactly where we are now because he brought me back there and. She said, you know, I would love to get our members more involved. Can you think of [00:07:00] anything? [00:07:01] And I wasn't thinking I was just responding, you know, when things just come out of your mouth and I said, well, we have so many photographers in this group. Why don't we have them take some pictures? There's pictures of textures, there's textures and everything. I said, why don't we have them take some pictures of textures and then apply those textures to another image and share. [00:07:26] And she said, great idea. Can you come up with something? I said, sure. So lo and behold the next day I, like, I already knew that I w I wanted to use something that was current. I am a creative person. There's like, there's many things that they can create, but I wanted to create something from something that was current in my life. [00:07:48] Something that really meant a lot to me. And that's the animals something from my heart. So I said, okay, I'm going to just, I'll go look through some pictures, you know, of the kids. And I took a picture of salt. She is a white [00:08:00] sheep. And then, you know, just like what somebody's cooking and they don't measure, it was kind of like, you know, somebody's painting and they're splattering the paint. [00:08:08] I was taking some other images, like even a blurred image of an image of some branches, if you will. I did not know what I was going to create. I was just gathering material, whatever felt, something, you know, oh, I'll put this in a layer. Oh, I'll put this in a layer. And then maybe it must've been almost eight or nine hours afterwards, just zoning with Pandora. [00:08:30]I created this. I an art piece with the salts and I shared it with her. She goes, Oh my God, I love this. This is great. Well, what happened was, you know, we had this I couldn't show the process to the people, the, you know, to our members because it was a creative process. I was zoning, you know, it wasn't just apply a filter and, Oh, it looks like this, or, Oh no, this was, you know, masking and taking out and putting in and just, you know, create, create, create a bliss if you will. [00:09:00] [00:08:59] And it had, it just, it was like a co-creation and one thing led to another and I was a member of long Island, visual professionals, a lot of creative people and a woman, Linda from like the Huntington arts council came one night and she spoke about having there was an art an art show. They were going to have a juried art show. [00:09:23] And I had not entered a show in a long time. My creativity, like when my father was sick, I wasn't creative afterwards. I wasn't creative until I was re awakened. If you will, with the animals love and had my groove back. My mother had passed, you know, years before. So there was another time when I kind of closed up in that way. [00:09:45] And it all, it all goes into the creative, whatever we create though, whatever, even the parts, the times when we close up that's also in there and that's important too, that comes, that comes along. So basically she said we are going to have, you know, we [00:10:00] have this this art show coming up and I wanted to share if anybody's interested, it's about you know, you can have photographs, but they need to be enhanced digitally or any kind of digital art. [00:10:11] Lola love a lot. And it was like, somebody was tapping me on the thigh. Janine, you've got to do your art. You've gotta do your art. You've got to, you know, you've got to do this now. It was talking straight to my, she was like, I felt like she was talking directly to my ears amplified. And so I said to her afterwards, oh, I would really like to, you know, get some more information I'd like to enter the show. [00:10:33] And so she said, great, do you have a business card? Well, lo and behold, I had created a square business card with salts picture that fine art piece from the Adobe user group program, you know, from the program from that project. And she looked at Saul's picture and she said, oh my God, I love this. This is great. [00:10:51] And you should, you should enter this. Well, I entered salt, salt ended up winning first place. And that was the beginning of [00:11:00] okay. Universe is like, go, go, go, go with, you know, and, and so that took, I mean, I don't want to. Take too much time talking about it, because then like, there was a series of different things. [00:11:12] Like I created a line of no cards and then one day this woman said, Oh, yes, I love these pictures. They're nice. And I thought to myself, none. And then, and then they're no, no, no. These are not pictures. These are living beings. They might be a nice, you know, there might be a nice picture. Okay. Yes. I could say yes to that, but no, there's so much more to them. [00:11:34] And so one night before I had an opportunity to share a table a local farmer's market if the war just like worse and kept flying out of my fingers, I said, no, no, no, I've got to go ahead and share more. And then I, you know, I cut on, cut up some paper, put them in to sleep so that people would see, okay, this might be a nice picture, you know, and there's a nice animal Lavella, but there's so much more. [00:11:58] And then they would turn [00:12:00] over the card and read what I had to share. And I saw it right with my eyes. They resonated, some people resonated more with the words than they did with the animal, which was, you know, a personal connection. So however somebody is going to Feel a personal connection, whether it's the words or whether it's the images that's the, that's the whole intention, a personal connection makes things more meaningful to us. [00:12:24] So therefore we can share in a different way or maybe, excuse me, change certain choices in our life so that we don't cause any harm on really, you know, not unknowingly, but we can change, you know we can change and make our world a more compassionate place for all the baby. And there's one more like I, one more thing along the line of how, you know, there's like, it's almost like a spiderweb a divine a divine weaving of interrelated, [00:13:00] synchronistic happenings, or symbols, or meet somebody. [00:13:03]I ended up having some. I didn't have red tail moon. At this time, I ended up having some of my prints at a local nature preserve. And now there wasn't a lot of traffic, people were there only on the weekend, sometime a few hours, but it didn't make a difference. I knew that it was up to, it was my cart. [00:13:24] Like it was up to me to just show up and show, show up and share and however, whatever, if one person sees something and they relate to it and it makes them open up their heart or they enjoy it, or they might see something in a different way, then, then that's okay. If a million people see it, same thing. [00:13:43] It doesn't, you know, it's, it's about going ahead and put it showing up and putting it out there. And one day the woman said, you know, I need a, I need a bio from you so I can put it with your work. And initially I kind of felt you know, like it's like like a child or a teenager. Oh, I [00:14:00] don't want to fill out that form. [00:14:01] Right. I felt that that, that, that conditioned response, like, oh God bio. And then I thought for God's six Janine, get over yourself. This is your bio. You can write whatever you want. And so I did, and the word started flying out of my hands. Once I gave myself that freedom and that, you know, permission, yes. [00:14:24] Permission and the worst flew out of my hands and instinctively, or maybe it wasn't extensively. It was like something that was tapping on my shoulder, but it wasn't a physical tap in my, it intuitively something that peg. Go ahead and put a picture of one of the kids in the bio. So I looked and then I just went ahead and I put, I put on pepper, she's a black sheep. [00:14:48] She's very beautiful girl. I put her picture into the bio and then I wrote the bio and then I kept hearing the words over and over again. And I will just read [00:15:00] the very last part of the bio. And then we came like, cause I know I'm talking a lot. This is long, this has been quite a journey. So I didn't know I was going to have an apparel line. [00:15:14] I just, you know, I didn't know any of these things. I just knew that I know, I know what I knew more than anything. I knew who I loved and I love, I love the animals and, you know, love is the strongest. So at the very end of the bio, I wrote, this is my, my Pepper's picture. Be someone who cared. Be someone who shares compassion for all living beings. [00:15:40] If your heart is not open openness, you may be in for a joyous surprise. I am no different than you. I love my friends. I cherish a safe home, a sound, sleep. The music of the birds look at me and then the equal sign on the upper right of the keyboard. I [00:16:00] swear, I swear. I swear was popping out of the keyboard. [00:16:03] Look at me, I'm a of wards, a flying out of my hand, look at me, boom, equal sign, see yourself. And that was it. And then I knew, I CA like I knew that was like everything. And in that little bit, and I said, okay, good. Here's her bio. And then I kept hearing those words over and over again, and I was sleep. I'd wake up tossing and turning. [00:16:28] Look at me, see yourself. And I go ahead, go for a walk. Look at me, see herself in the shower driving. I was like, okay. I go, I have my hands open. You know, like with somebody very expressive with her talking, I'm like, okay, all right, I got it. I'll create a product. And that was, that was the beginning of knowing that I needed something that wasn't just not just, but something additional than a print on a wall that maybe five people will see it, or 50 people were. [00:16:58] I needed something that [00:17:00] was going to be seen so that they were seeing the way I was fortunate to see them and know them. Yeah. [00:17:10] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:17:10] I love that so much. And I love that statement. Look at me, see yourself. So the, I guess the question is, do you have clothing lines with pictures of some of these beautiful. And do you have the quote underneath? [00:17:26] Oh, yes. Yeah. Okay. I need that. I need them [00:17:31] Jeanine Boubli: [00:17:31] pepper. Pepper was my first, you know, and Pepper's picture. And it says be someone who cares, be someone who shares compassion for all living beings and on the bottom. Look at me, see yourself. And I put my TM symbol there too. [00:17:47] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:17:47] I love it. I love it. That is. [00:17:49] So I'm going to max out my credit card. I can tell. So, so here's the thing you, you must. You must have [00:18:00] faced challenges and opposition to doing something like this. Right. And so, so I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about what those challenges were and how you navigated them, because it's such an important process to go through and your wisdom can really help someone else who's going. [00:18:19] I want to do this. I want to live a more compassionate life and I want to put my money where my mouth is. Right. But I'm scared. So if you could talk a little bit about the challenges of that and also about your strategy, how you did it. I would love, love, love to hear it. [00:18:35] Jeanine Boubli: [00:18:35] Sure. I don't know that I had a strategy in my head. [00:18:38]Like I, you know, I got like an outline. I'll do this and then I'll do this and I'll have a business plan. I wasn't. That's not really my, you know, my strong point. I will say though, that there, now that you're here talking about being scared, there is really nothing scared. Scary about following your heart. [00:18:56] There is something very scary about not [00:19:00] following your heart. And if I did not follow my heart and say, like, after save, after my father passed, and then I healed and I started volunteering and I work for XYZ company and from, you know, and I was there from seven in the morning, you know, from commuting or whatever, till if I did not go ahead and honor my art and took and took the safer more supposedly like reliable, dependable income coming in path, I would have lost myself. [00:19:39] Because for years, I've always wanted to do something with my creativity. I was always creative. I always believed in it. And I it has not, you know, I, I know, and like, I love my parents and you know, it has nothing to do with anything they did. It's just I was brought up, you go ahead, get a job. You work up the [00:20:00] corporate, you know, you work up the corporate ladder, you make the money or you make the do whatever. [00:20:04] And then you do what you love when you have time. Or, you know, it's just they always supported my creativity. They did. It's just that maybe it wasn't as safe, you know, and the parent wants a child to be safe, which means pay your rent. Pay and take care of your responsibilities, right. And go on a certain path. [00:20:26] But no, no, no. Sometimes we just all have to follow our own path. And so I would say that the most scary thing is not following something that's deep inside somebody. I that's what, that's, what, like, that's what really is happening. Like that's, that's that it means everything. I will say that you know, resources, obviously finances and things. [00:20:49] It does cost money. It does take time. There's trial and error. I started off with a print on demand company. And then if the [00:21:00] shirts were not organic cotton and for some reason when somebody said to me, well, if you're, I'm all a bit kind of like an attitude, well, if you're all about the environment, what about organic cotton then in and out? [00:21:10] And I said, Well, that's what I really wanted. And this woman from like SBA, small business administrative administration, she said, well, then why aren't you doing it? I said, because I can't find it now. Now it's a couple of years later it's more readily available, but still it's not as available. If somebody wants to do print on demand, which I'm not doing, everything's custom right now. [00:21:32]It is more, it's more expensive. And yeah, so there's like, I, I, I've learned a lot of things. I don't know that I've made it easier for myself with some of my choices. I think some of the, like if I, if I had created if I just went ahead and pick the plain cotton shirt and did it the certain way, and didn't really care about the environment or whatever, or did this or that. [00:21:57]Because, you know, cotton, it's not that cotton, so [00:22:00] so-so whatever, I'm not saying about cotton, but if I went ahead and maybe did what seemingly was a simpler way, seemingly simpler, I don't know that it would have really been a mirror of my values at the deepest level. And I was like, you know what, I'm not a kid. [00:22:17] I've got to, not even if I was young though I wanted to stay true to myself and true to the product because it's more than a product. It's a hard, it's hard first, a product second. [00:22:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:22:31] And you know, what's interesting talking to you about what you just said is that it's evident in talking with you for even just a few minutes. [00:22:39]It's evident, it's evident that you put your heart first into your product. And I think, I think, you know, this is going to sound kind of Calculating. And that's not really what I mean, but I think people resonate with that and the people who need to be your customers will find you because they're looking for the same thing, you know, they're looking for that same [00:23:00] thing. [00:23:00] And so the question then becomes for me, how do you get the word out? I mean, yes, you're on this podcast and I'm glad to get the word out too, to the people who are listening, but how do you get the word out that you have a heart-centered business that is all about, you know, supporting and being kind and compassionate to the beings who share the planet with, to, to the other animals on the planet? [00:23:23] What. What do you do? And, and how does it work for you? Well, [00:23:28] Jeanine Boubli: [00:23:28] I honestly don't know. I need to do more. I do, I do need to do more. We were because it's not a cop out because of COVID, but you know, it was always nice to maybe be involved with pop-ups. We were involved in a couple of pop-ups this way I could speak directly to the people whoever was coming by and share some of the story. [00:23:50] And or even like, just to witness people's reactions and hear what they had to say and hear their experiences with different either [00:24:00] animals or life or what they resonated with and have them share. I do miss that we were in three fashion shows. We were at a vegan fashion show. And yeah, I can remember driving to Atlantic city and it was like such an exciting thing because it was my first fashion show. [00:24:20] And I had my flip flops on my hair was like a mess. And, but I had the, I had the products and it ended up, I ended up having no children models, you know, male models and, you know, women models. And it was just such a wonderful opportunity. And I, I remember that at the end of like all the different designers clothing, when they were presenting them, the The founders or whoever created the clothing like me and the other people, the other people in, I, they needed to go, you know, behind the models, you know, and everybody walks down like this little runway and they, they clap their hands and whatever. [00:24:59] And I [00:25:00] still have my flip flops, [00:25:06] like five in the morning at four in the morning, but I didn't care because you know, when you're following your heart, it's like, all right, this is an opportunity. All systems go, who chairs, you know, there's no time to care about that. You just want to make sure that, you know, the kids are, are, they, they liked their shirt, like, like it fits right. [00:25:23] And they understand, they understand who they're representing. It's not just a shirt. It's, it's a, it's a heart and a soul. And they know about the animals beforehand and they understand the words behind them. If they're wearing something with words. So the fashion show, and then so, and then there was one at national geographic, so I'm just. [00:25:42] In off to the side for a second, because that was a good opportunity to, to get in front of people. It was a sustainable fashion show at national geographic and yeah, in DC, no, no. In Manhattan times square, right in times square, that was a big deal. And very exciting. [00:26:00] And cat who put it together an amazing woman. [00:26:03] And she actually gave me one child model that I didn't know, I was going to be able to have a child wouldn't, you know, as a universe would have it. I had a perfect shirt, actually. He wore assault shirt the fine art piece of salt in his thighs at home. So I could bring it to the fashion show. Like the next day it was just the way everything worked. [00:26:22] And that was a wonderful opportunity to get in front of people who might not all be for the, you know, who, who, who. That that might not love animals or might love animals, but not, yeah, I love all animals or maybe they love all animals and they have never known as she personally, or a rooster or a goat, you know? [00:26:45] And there was this big, huge wall and the pictures of the kids were blown up on this wall. So there was no way that somebody couldn't see them and then, you know, the models, you know, they, they were great. They were amazing. So, so that [00:27:00] was a way of bringing them their message and red tail moon in front of people that might not have been searching for it Googling online. [00:27:12] You know? So that was a, that was a, that was a great opportunity. And also it was a sustainable fashion show. And what we brought to that I believe is the concept of ethical treatment of all animals into the sustainable conversation. Talk about that after, but that was very, very important because I that's, that's, that's not always the case. [00:27:33] There's a little bit of a disconnect there or oversight. And I know that well we both know that I've got to now like reach out to press and do those pitches and get it going and get it out there because it's not going to happen if I don't start knocking on more doors, you know, and it's getting, I, you know, getting to that point, I have met people through you know, some great conversations on [00:28:00] clubhouse and connecting with some people that I've wanted to connect with and that well know or now know what I'm about and what red tail moon's about. [00:28:11] Where if I didn't go ahead and knock on the door, open the door. Or open my ears or speak up in these conversations. They, you know, how are they going to know? [00:28:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:28:23] Sure. And that that's the thing is then you meet people who can elevate what you're saying and get it out to a bigger audience, which [00:28:33] Jeanine Boubli: [00:28:33] it is, it has for sure. [00:28:36] Yeah. Aberrations. I would, I there is a woman who's going to write about ethical, I mean, ethical, she's going to write about, she has she creates vegan handbags and Rachel, moon's going to be one of her ethical crushes that she writes about. So yeah. So that's nice and more of that. And I would love to connect collaborate with a large company. [00:28:59]I believe [00:29:00] what a red tin moon's all about and the quality of the designs and. That everything about it is worthy of that. And I think that a company whose heart isn't in the same place will appreciate that. But I do think it has to be all about heart a connection of heart, because those are the strongest connections. [00:29:20] No, [00:29:21] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:29:21] for sure. And you know, I feel like Stella McCartney, if you're listening, you should. Yeah. [00:29:27] Jeanine Boubli: [00:29:27] Yeah. Call me, here's my number. [00:29:33] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:29:33] So something about the big disconnect, and this is sort of the sustainable conversation with respect to how we, how we treat the animals we share the planet with I'm. Can you, can you talk a little bit about, more about what that means and, and what the importance of it is as far as bringing ethical treatment of all animals to the discussion. [00:29:58] Jeanine Boubli: [00:29:58] Right. It's very, very [00:30:00] important. I just recently, you know, Hermes they, they now they just, they started advertising about launching a new line of bags of you know, created from mushrooms. Right. And so this was, I saw, I saw this on LinkedIn. I already heard about it and I had to speak up because, okay, it's great. [00:30:23] If somebody is trying new things and it's better for the environment, that's great. At the same time. At the same time, there are crocodile farms, thousands and thousands, and thousands of crocodiles being bred. In these swampy looking pools or whatever. The, I, you know, I don't want to be pointing my finger at anybody. [00:30:44] This is just, this is the truth. This is the truth. I'm not making this up. And nobody brought this up in this one discussion. I said, well, this might be great, but at the same time, what about all of the crocodiles? And then they're going to be like skinned [00:31:00] and to be somebody who's back. So does this mean that this company is going it's cha has a change of heart? [00:31:07] So which I don't want to speak for somebody because I'm not that company. So, you know people can make their own judgments and I don't want to be judging anybody just, but at the same time, no judgment and speak up for those that can't speak up for themselves. So I needed to speak up for the crocodiles. [00:31:26] And so the disconnect like, you know, there's. You know, people, not people, but this sustainable conversation, I initially thought, okay, sustainable people care about the environment and they're talking about the ocean, but they're talking and they're talking about, you know, plastic and garbage and wait a minute, wait a minute. [00:31:49] What about the fish? What about the Marine? You know, the wildlife in the sea. What about what about the sheep and the goats and the hens and [00:32:00] the roosters and you know, like, and the ducks and the pigs, like what, doesn't somebody, you know, like who I know people do care. Why is that not being brought up in the discussion? [00:32:11] And the thing is what sustainable people are concerned about the environment and global warming. And the truth is animal agriculture is. Horrible for the environment. It's not even a little bit. It is extremely hard. Horrible. There's excessive CO2 production methane. Let's see. Yeah. I have some notes here just to make sure that I pronounce everything correctly. [00:32:37] Methane nitrous, oxide production. There is top soil, you know, like the soil, they, they feed well, there's also like deforestation there's the water supply. There's the tanneries like if you know, the, the Tanner is once somebody has like weather light, leather cows, [00:33:00] a cow skin there's chemicals in that they, they feed that the innocent animals, they feed them all kinds of chemicals and hormones to fatten them up, to keep them healthy until they. [00:33:14] They killed them. They kill them so they can become somebodies meal. And then that's, I mean, and that's the end of that. So I don't know if I went off on a tangent. They're like there we've been brought up. I mean, I did not know certain things growing up as a child. I did not know. I mean, I became vegetarian pretty much during college. [00:33:34] Well, I gave, I gave, I didn't give up. I gave for E a T horrible word. But I'm not, I'm not, I'm not eating, I'm not eating that anymore. I, I wasn't, I wasn't vegan then, but I just, something was wrong. I just like, I didn't want any part of it. And I we've been brought up. We've all been brought up with advertising. [00:33:57]The, like [00:34:00] the cows. I mean, how many, how many people growing up or kids grow up thinking, oh the cows, the cows milk is for its baby. I don't think a child thinks that. I know, I didn't think that I just thought that ignorance or not knowing as a child, a cow produces milk growing up, you know, the, those parameds you know, make sure you have your milk, make sure you have your protein, the meat, the meat that, this, and the, that I could say, if they knew better, who created that shame on them, shame on them because that pyramid didn't help anybody at all. [00:34:35] It didn't help the animals. It didn't help the environment and it didn't help people's health, if anything, it harmed every, all of them. So now that we know better, we can make better choices. So with a sustainable conversation whether it was at like the fashion show or a group that I was part of there sometimes there were people that just didn't want to hear it. [00:34:58] They didn't, or, [00:35:00] or, and some people didn't care and some people here, but they weren't going to change for whatever reason. I'm not here to go ahead and tell somebody you've got to do this, or you got to do that. I'm all about Nope. Live your life. Freedom for everybody. And that includes also freedom for the animals. [00:35:19] And it means freedom, like cruelty free don't cause any harm to anybody it's like it's, it's causing harm to them. It's actually causing harm back to the people because of you know, the environment and it just, it's not healthy. It's not healthy for them. And yeah, I could go on and on and on. I don't know. [00:35:39] Did I go off on a tangent? [00:35:42] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:35:42] I know you didn't go off on a tangent. I think, I think that it's such a huge topic and obviously one that you're so passionate about and one that I'm passionate about too, that, that there's so much to cover in a question like that, that it's not a tangent. It's more like, and then I can plumb a deeper depth and go [00:36:00] even further and talking about this is. [00:36:03] It sometimes feels to me like, like you're screaming into a void because so many times I've had a similar conversation with someone who tells me, well, we have canine teeth, therefore we must, you know, and I'm like, you know what, quite frankly, those canines, you know, Silverback, gorillas have much bigger canines than be doing that. [00:36:27] So, no, that's not a valid argument, but, but at the same time, there is, there is this feeling that I get, that there is a machine, a marketing machine. And, and I'm sorry if you're a marketer and you're listening to this, I have nothing against marketers, but I feel like some of the really big companies have marketing machines behind them that make things that they put things out that make you think like doing what they say. [00:36:56] Yes. The only way, you know, and so, [00:37:00] so that's why, when I'm asking you these questions about Redtail moon, I'm talking about, I'm talking to an entrepreneur, a business owner who has chosen consciously to do something differently. And so then I start to wonder, how do you, how does any small business owner go up against such a, such a, a behemoth of, of marketing as, as something like animal agriculture or, or, you know, and we even saying that, honestly, shouldn't eat like saying animal, the slaughter of animals for human consumption, you know? [00:37:39] So, so, so, so. So when we look at that, how, you know, how do you do that? What is your process? I'm probably gonna, I have to be very honest. I'm probably gonna lose a ton of listeners with this episode, but I think it's so incredible. [00:37:52] Jeanine Boubli: [00:37:52] Not, I hope, I hope not. I hope if anything, you get more listeners, because I hope that whoever might not want to hear [00:38:00] what we're sharing right now, maybe just some maybe because it's shared from our hearts and not to go there's no, it's not intentionally pointing fingers at anybody. [00:38:15] It's an awareness. It's an appreciation. It's coming from a bigger space than you or from me. It's coming from a bigger space is coming from what needs to be said, what needs to be shared. And it's the people that are not aware yet or who don't care yet, which I I'm listening to. I'm hearing myself now, which is like that. [00:38:42] Perhaps we'll benefit even more from, you know, the, their, their, their lives will expand. Their heart might expand there. They may have more, they'll have better health. I mean, unless they eat all those yummy, delicious vegan treats and that's, you know, cause there's so many options, [00:39:00] but , it's, you know, even on like the energy level, M O God, to think to, to think that I ever wanted. [00:39:11] It's just like, it's, it's horrifying. If I think that, I mean, as a child and not knowing there was the disconnect and just nothing looks like what it is and the supermarkets, it's all like, It's all like a lie, you know, say it's a cow or say, this is a, you know, just see the eyeballs here are the screams. [00:39:34] That's every, every single living being you and I, and everybody listening, we all want, it's like this, we all want a safe home. Right. We that's something else. I didn't share this. I don't know why it kind of came up now, but it came up. They all want to say Paul, they're all like, I mean, it's more comfortable to be a peace, right. [00:39:53] Then, then anxiety around or intense things going on. We all like to be with our friends, you [00:40:00] know, real friends, somebody who gets us at a deeper level to share, or just even like, just, just enjoy a breeze on a warm day. Like I've seen the headlines, you know, their friends and it, little warm Breeza, that's it. [00:40:11] That's all they need. How beautiful is that? It's they're no different. They are no different than us. They are no different, they look different. I think some of them are probably cuter than us definitely care. And I may, you know, I mean, if I was called a, you know, like I brought this up the other day with somebody, even the English language, like, you know, the, the how, okay. [00:40:30] So we're talking about the big companies and advertising and things and marketing. So, I mean, maybe it's not just the English language language and the terms use including animals. Oh, it's a pick style or Ooh, you kill, or, you know, don't be chicken, like, excuse me. But I don't really like, because I don't like that C word either. [00:40:54] I like hens and roosters because I associate C with the store, you know, people eat [00:41:00] back. But the thing is if somebody called me a C, H I C K E N, or a hen or a rooster or a pig, I would be honored. Because there's no more like, genuine than that, you know? [00:41:13] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:41:13] For sure for sure. I actually have taken, I have a huge list that I've been keeping for years now of animal metaphors that I've turned into vegan metaphors. [00:41:26] So, so, well, the, the, I don't have a dog in this fight has become, I don't have a pie in this contest. So things like that I've gone through and I've, I've done so many of those. Let's see killing two birds with one stone has become petting two cats with one hand. [00:41:49] Jeanine Boubli: [00:41:49] So I have this huge list [00:41:51] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:41:51] because it is, it is about awareness, I think. [00:41:54] And that's something that I'd love to talk with you about is this notion of increasing awareness, because with [00:42:00] these sayings, you know, when I say, when I say to someone, well, I don't have a chili in this cook-off and I go, wait, what? And I'm like, yeah, I don't like to say, I don't have a horse in this race. [00:42:09] I say, I don't have a chili in this cook-off or I don't have a PI in this contest. And so people go, that's really odd. Why do you do that? And then I explain and they go, I never. Thought of that. And you know, the horrible one for me is more than one way to skin. A cat has become, there's more than one way to eat a potato. [00:42:29] And I love the, so that's what I've done. And so the question is for me to you is raising awareness. What do we need to do, do you think, because I do, I'm a, I'm a communicator first. And so for me, it's language in one way or another. And so I decided to do these vegan metaphors instead of using the animal cruelty ones. [00:42:52] And so, so what is, what do we do? What does someone who is who's a creative in this way that you are, what do [00:43:00] you do? How do you have those conversations? Is it that you let them see the art and then talk about it? Or is it. Is it a push from you? Like, okay. I guess the question I'm asking is, is it more of a push out to people or is it more of a pull in for them to get curious and then come to you? [00:43:17] How do you do it? How do you have those conversations? I think [00:43:19] Jeanine Boubli: [00:43:19] it's both because I, sometimes that conversation happens even if say I'm in the grocery store and I'm not wearing a red tail moon shirt, or I'm not at a place speaking it out, red tail moon. Somebody might be at the, you know, they're at the checkout and you know, they're smiling, you know, some people, most people smile at each other. [00:43:40] Well, now we have, you know, masks on. So you can't tell they're smiling, but you can tell a little bit from somebody's eyes and you know not that I want to have this reaction, but it's very difficult being in supermarket. Sometimes I consciously avoid certain miles should go ahead and, you know, somebody. [00:43:56]Yeah. You know, like at the checkout somebody said sadness [00:44:00] to some, to me. Oh, I am, you know, I'm smiling under this mask. And I say, Oh yeah, great. You know, hope you're having a nice day. And if I happen to see a piece of my friend's body it's not funny at all. It's kind of horrified in their card automatically. [00:44:15] And it's unconscious. I'm sure that I've got this, not wanting to offend them, but it offends me, but I don't want somebody else's actions to offend me, but it does. It's, you know, it's like somebody's child, you know, if they, if, if there was somebody's child in there, they would, they would understand. And then they might say, because I wasn't happy. [00:44:38] And only a couple of times Oh, is there something the matter? And I said, well, I have to him, you know, I happen to love all animals and take this from heart. That's like, That's my, that's my part of my friends, Bobby in there. And so you know, I hope you enjoy your day. I mean, what am I going to say? [00:44:57] But with the shirts, you know there's a strong [00:45:00] message in there. The reason I did not consciously say, oh, I'm going to, well, pepper was the first, you know, and she had a message of compassion and then I wanted more messages of compassionate. But I also used salts our piece from that was from the beginning, right from, you know, what the adult the Adobe user growth and that it kind of came together. [00:45:23] It didn't consciously come together. It came together and it's like, it has a life of its own if you will. And I saw that I had messages of compassion and people could connect with the animals by reading a message of compassion. They don't mind the messages, don't say You're a horrible person because you're eating my friend. [00:45:42] I got not going to do that. Who am I to judge? I I'm in a, who am I? I mean, I'm not missing whatever. I'm human too. And I didn't know any better before. Cause I think if I did, I think I would have changed. I would hope I would have changed, you know, and then fine art pieces, artsy pieces that [00:46:00] somebody might resonate with because it's artistic looking and it's pretty and there's underlying intention of connecting with each animal through an art piece as well. [00:46:13] And then there's the messages, you know, there's original poetry. And then there's you know, the bold text text is a bold statement, like the ethic L that's also, you know, text as a bold statement. So there's different ways through this. Different designs of connecting with different a different audience, if you will. [00:46:32] That, that's what I hope. That's what I hope. You know, so yeah, so other ways I know that, but when I'm at, at, when I'm at the forum where I volunteer, which is a sanctuary now it was a dairy barn years ago. When people come and visit sometimes, you know, they, they might see, you know, they might come a few times. [00:46:53] They might come more than a few times. It might be their first time. So if I'm there and I'm able to, I like to share a little bit [00:47:00] about the animal's personality. Definitely, definitely, definitely get, have them get eye level, like we have this amazing Turkey Liberty while we all the, all of the turkeys are amazing. [00:47:09] And this little girl was visiting with her parents and I said, oh, come over here. You know, you can, you know, I'll have you meet, you know, Liberty and. So the little girl, like she stabbed me in there, but you know, Liberty of course is a little bit shorter than a little girl. And I said, you know, and I was already crouched down. [00:47:26] I said, you know what, why don't you all crouch down? So we're all at the same level. And then you can look right into her eyes. And then a little girl started going. [00:47:40] I said, you love her, don't you? She goes, yeah, I don't know how happy her parents were if they were going to have whatever for dinner or whatever, but you know what she connected. And so, I mean, in other places, you know what I feel like it's, I think like for you too, it's where everywhere we go, you know, [00:48:00] [00:48:00] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:48:00] it's an opportunity for sure. [00:48:02] I think, and yet the thing is for me, like I, until I, until I became a vegetarian and I will save that story for another day, I think I've done a podcast episode about it. I. Excuse me. I had a lot of animals. I have to admit that. Yeah. And, and I, and you know what, I can feel bad about it for only so long because I think feeling bad about it for me anyway, is a, it's a waste of energy because I did it, I accept it and now I can do better. [00:48:34] And I think that's a lot of what this is for me, you know, except that you are capable of what you did resolve to do better and then act on that resolution. So when you do that, when you, when you yourself resolve to do better, whatever that means for you, what forms does it take in your daily life? [00:48:56] Jeanine Boubli: [00:48:56] When I resolve to do better by me. [00:48:59] Well, just like [00:49:00] what you said, you know, not to, to not rehash certain things, 'cause it doesn't, it doesn't change anything because our paths, I mean, I eat animals as a child and as a teenager I wish I did it. I really do wish I did it. But I did and I wasn't as conscious of certain things. But then I became, and then I changed. [00:49:20]The past is really over for, I mean, yesterday and any day before those days are they could be great memories or not great memories and they're not our today except for what we choose to bring with us. So I can catch myself in certain thoughts sometimes. Or, oh, you know, maybe I should've done this or I could've done this. [00:49:42] Or even with red tail moments, like, oh, I spend most of my resources, like, excuse my language, but. Can we, can I curse on here? I was like, fuck, [00:49:55] you don't because I've had symbols from the universe, if you will. And I've [00:50:00] had amazing magical things happen in my life. And I've also put myself kind of into a bit of a challenging temporary predicament, if you will, at times too. So what I would say that what do we do? I go back to my reason. [00:50:24] Why does that, does that make sense? [00:50:28] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:50:28] Absolutely. I mean, if that's your answer. Yes. [00:50:32] Jeanine Boubli: [00:50:32] Yeah, yeah. It's [00:50:33] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:50:33] I think that's a great answer. I think going back to basics, what, why am I doing what I'm doing? What is, what are the reasons I'm doing it? Yeah, that makes so much sense to me on some very deep levels, because I think that's sort of introspection when you face yourself. [00:50:49] With honesty and heart, you can't lie to yourself, you know, and we're really good at diluting ourselves. So as, as, as a [00:50:57] Jeanine Boubli: [00:50:57] species, yeah, I [00:50:58] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:50:58] could be good at that. [00:51:00] Yeah. Everybody can. I don't think there's anybody who has not lied to themselves every once in a while, but in your heart of hearts, you know, the truth. [00:51:06] So you can lie to yourself only so long before you have to pay the Piper and the Piper's you. So at some point you kind of go, well, I'm going to have to face this, whatever this is, and we all have a different path there to that, to that point. You know? So, so the question that I have, you, you mentioned ethic Al for a little bit ago, and I would love it. [00:51:27] If you would talk a little bit about that, because the, the photograph that we took together, I take a little screenshots so that people can see what's going to be on the show coming up. So it's going to go up a little bit later today. Yeah. It's so exciting. It's so I love, I love having those little pictures that say, look what is going to be on the show. [00:51:44] Yay. So talk to me and you're wearing an ethic Al. Shirt and I'd love it. If you could talk a little bit about what that is and, and what, what inspired you, what was the, what was the moment in the creative spark that got you there? [00:51:58] Jeanine Boubli: [00:51:58] Oh, sure, sure. So I [00:52:00] was sitting in this big chair that I've got and I you know, I've been frustrated or challenged with acceptance with that disconnect of ethical treatment of all animals being included in this, in quotes, sustainable conversation, why it's been either disconnected or overlooked? [00:52:19] I think like an oversight. I think it might be uncomfortable. People don't want to bring it up. They don't want to stir up whatever it is and yet. It's important for every reason for me animals first. So I was sitting on the chair and I, I happened to, I was just, you know, chilling a bit and I was like ethical, ethical, ethical, ethical ethics. [00:52:44] Oh, ah, I saw it. I saw it as old as I saw it. I saw design my eyes were closed and I saw it in my eye through my eyes. I saw this design ethic. Oh. So I went straight over [00:53:00] to my computer and open up illustrator and I typed up exactly what I saw with the bold font and the scripty part and the accent mark on the L and the last Ian, I know that's not the correct. [00:53:17] Accent mark in French. And I'm okay with that. It's artistic license. That's what I saw. That's what came to me. And it was so strong. It was like, look at me, see herself. When I knew there was something there I'm like, that's it that says everything with epic elk came to me. I was like, that's it? And it's something that I know just to be out there more. [00:53:38] And so it says the design ethic, L a strong and confident woman who is compassionate. Heart includes love. Wait, I'm sorry. Love and respect for all animals and mother nature [00:53:56] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:53:56] so much. I need that shirt. I'm again, I'm going to max out my [00:54:00] credit card. I think that's so that's right. That's at the heart of what I believe. [00:54:05] So you're speaking directly to my heart when you, when you read that, you know what I really want to honor for a second here. And I think it's so important to do this is that you listen to your inspirations that you went, oh, I see it. I know it. And you didn't go, ah, Nan, nevermind. Or, oh, it won't be any good or, oh, I'm going to discount it or, oh, I have to go wash the dishes you stopped and you went, let me put this down so that I have it so that I honor that creative spark when it comes. [00:54:37] And I'm wondering, do you have just do, is it just who you are that that happens or do you have any sort of. PR creative practice or any sort of, I'm going to build an awareness for this so that I can grab it when it comes. What, what is your [00:54:52] Jeanine Boubli: [00:54:52] process there? I would say that creativity like that comes when it wills, you know? [00:54:58]But I feel like it's like a [00:55:00] spiritual, spiritual connect. It's like a connection with something much greater than me. And I do have a spiritual practice. I've always been on spiritual in the sense that organized religion was never, never did it for me, but if I was out in nature, That did it for me or being creative that did it for me. [00:55:19]A universal truth that did it for me, something that was all inclusive. And so I, I, you know, I journal most mornings. I, I journal, I think you mentioned Julia camera and once that the artist's way. So I had many, many books and books and journals and things, and I remember even once moving from New Jersey back into Manhattan and having like all of these journals and my closet, and I said, oh, I looked at them and I said, oh, you know what? [00:55:48] You need to go because I've lived you and it's okay to release you. So as far as the spiritual practice, I've also recently, this is after all of these [00:56:00] creations, but I have very happily Notice more synchronicity in my life this past month I started meditating again. I love there's a insight timer or an app [00:56:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:56:11] that happens. [00:56:12] Jeanine Boubli: [00:56:12] I love it. Right. It's great. And they have, you know, you don't, you can pay for it or if there's a million meditations that are, you don't have to pay for. And it's great. There's a great variety. And yeah, so I really love that. So I've been doing that. So I meditate now. I, it doesn't have to be hours and hours and hours a bit in the morning before I get out of bed, I go ahead, make my tea. [00:56:36] I journal. And the evening before I go to sleep, just recently, like in the last week I started listening, listening to something. Before I go to sleep, I'm always like asleep before it's there. Yeah. And I also have to bet and singing bowls. Are they the best? [00:56:51] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:56:51] Yes. Yes. I had a whole set at one point. I love them. [00:56:55] Jeanine Boubli: [00:56:55] Wow. Yes. And the vibrations from the singing bowls is as if [00:57:00] the ocean is, it's like an ocean, like ocean, I, I feel like it's an ocean kind of a roar, but it, doesn't not, it's this bike back and forth and who like, sounds much better than that. And I can tell him, like I know, but sound like, but it's a very, very powerful, energetic vibe that yeah, that, that also that whenever, you know, I bring that into my life that also increased, it increases the creativity things that come to me visually word wise just feel connected and more at keys, if you will not scattered or. [00:57:41] The locks I feel open. Open. Yeah. [00:57:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [00:57:45] Yeah. I love, I love that notion of being, being mindful and letting the creativity flow from that space. I I've gotten increasingly [00:58:00] fascinated by the space between when an idea strikes and when you put words to it, you know, in that, in that instant, you can discount a completely or you can go, no, no, I'm going to stay open to this and see what happens. [00:58:12] And it sounds to me like you have, like, you have embraced that aspect of you and I have an entire framework that I talk about with my coaching clients, about how we can be agile, innovative, and mindful. And that is what leads to gratitude. And that is what leads to inspiration. And that is what leads to happiness and increased health, all sorts of things. [00:58:34] And so, so when you do that, when you're in that, and when you're in that head and heart space, Of creating. This is a strange little question. Do you lose time? [00:58:43] Jeanine Boubli: [00:58:43] Yes. There's no sense of, there is no sense of time at all. I mean, there's hours can go by. I mean, it can anything, there's only a few times, a few cases when that happens a lot to lose [00:59:00] sense of time. [00:59:00] It's being with the animals, it's being in a nature and it's when something creative bursts itself through us. Right. It's like it has a life of its own. And also everything's okay. It's everything is okay. It's not, oh, I've got to do this. Or, oh, shoot, how am I going to do that? Or it's like, it's, it's a knowing. [00:59:28] It's a deep knowing that no matter why everything's okay. Keep on going. It's not about what comes back from the outside. Just keep on going and trust. Because there is a journey that all of us, you know, we all have our own unique journeys. We might all feel love and happiness or sadness and all different things, but we do all have our own unique journey and it's up to us to honor. [00:59:56] What's deep inside of us, no matter [01:00:00] what everybody has something to share that. It's not only valuable to them, but that can actually also help others, [01:00:08] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:00:08] you know? Absolutely. And I feel like what you just said, really doves dovetails beautifully into, and there's an animal metaphor. I have to think of a different one now because because every time I noticed myself saying them, I go, Oh, that's another one you have to change. [01:00:23] So so the, the, the thing about that is that it does, it's it, it's going to coincide some with this notion of allowing yourself to. Be conscious about the contributions that you make. Right? So, so on some level, yes, we all have our own journey, but I think one of the signs of knowing yourself is also knowing, choosing how you will participate in, in this life. [01:00:56] Yes. So, so there there's something so powerful there to me [01:01:00] with what you just said about that, because, because it really does relate very well to being a conscious participant in your life rather than. Almost in a bystander or, or an observer. Hold on one second. Oh God, I'm gonna have to quiet myself down here. [01:01:19] Cause I'm coughing maniac here. [01:01:23] Jeanine Boubli: [01:01:23] Maybe get some water. [01:01:25] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:01:25] Oh, I'm drinking water. But sometimes when, I don't know if this happens to you, but sometimes when I get really passionate about what I'm saying, [01:01:34] so, and I'm very, very passionate about this subject. I think, I think the notion of living. It's weird to say cruelty-free because, because we, we don't, I don't think anybody wants to go or, or maybe, maybe there are some people who do, but I think a lot of us, most of us don't want to think of ourselves as being cruel. [01:01:53] And yet there, there are times that we have to face some pretty hard truths about who we are, and that's [01:02:00] not, again, it's not a judgment. It's more of a fact. Everybody has to face, like you said, we all have contribution we can make, and everybody has to face. Themselves and, and their, their beliefs and their behaviors. [01:02:12] And no one, no one else can do it for you on some level. So, so I'm so grateful that you have been here willing to share your story and your wisdom. And I'd love to ask, Oh, I love the bird in the background. That was great. Oh [01:02:30] yeah. I can hear it. That's beautiful. Oh, beautiful. I I'm a huge fan of bird calls, even though I don't, I don't know. I don't know how to differentiate too many of them, but I think they're beautiful. [01:02:41] Jeanine Boubli: [01:02:41] So happy that you're here and giving. This opportunity to me and to all your listeners. Oh, that's, [01:02:48] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:02:48] that's very sweet. [01:02:49] Thank you. My goodness. I love it. [01:02:54] Well, the birds going, I've got something to say here too. So sorry. So what's next for [01:03:00] you and for red tail moon, [01:03:02] Jeanine Boubli: [01:03:02] what's next for me is getting off my unit lot and reaching out to no, it's true. It's true. It's been like it, sometimes things sometimes it's easier to walk forward because there's something that, and sometimes it's uncomfortable not to walk forward and I'm at that place where it's uncomfortable not to go ahead and give it everything that it's got because it's every, it does mean everything to me. [01:03:29] So I'm planning on yes, I will do it. Go ahead and send some pitches out to different media and. See how I can collaborate with Stella. Are you there Stella McCartney? We're [01:03:45] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:03:45] calling [01:03:45] Jeanine Boubli: [01:03:45] you yes. Stella or somebody else like that. That might have the wisdom or things that know things that I don't know in maybe the retail industry to get [01:04:00] it to where it really does. [01:04:04] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:04:04] yeah. [01:04:05] Jeanine Boubli: [01:04:05] Went into collaborations and anybody, anybody listening to this as any comments or suggestions or conversation? What, well, you know, wants to know why does so and credibly special about it? Spending quiet time with sheep or not quiet time or anything. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm really open. I'm an open heart and but right [01:04:28] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:04:28] now, well, so, so they're, they're, they're, you're, you're, you're leading me beautifully down this particular path. [01:04:35] How can someone who is interested in finding out more about red tail moon find you? [01:04:40] Jeanine Boubli: [01:04:40] Oh, sure. So you can go to well, I'm on Instagram. I'm at red tail moon. So red Shalmar is spelled R E D T a L E M O O N T L like the moon. It is an honor of the red tail Hawk. But that's a whole nother story, but red tail moon [01:05:00] on Instagram red tail moon is also on Facebook. [01:05:03] I do not do a lot of things with Facebook, but I guess I probably, well and also red tailMoon@gmail.com. And my website, which is www.red tail T a L EMR. And then you get to see the different designs that we spoke about and you know, some pictures of the journey so far and clubhouse I'm at Janine bublé. [01:05:32] So that's at you know, the at symbol, Jenny, J E a N I N E B, like boy, O U B, like boy L I, and there are, there has been some interesting conversations, great conversations on clubhouse. So connect with me anyway. Any, any way anywhere I would love to hear from you. [01:05:50] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:05:50] And I'm going to have to find you in clubhouse too. [01:05:52] So because I don't want to connect connected on there yet. Yeah. And, and the thing about this, I'm going to put all of these on the show notes, but I find that it's also [01:06:00] really good if you say it because people learn different in different ways. So you'll be able to find these links on the show notes, and you'll be able to also, if you heard them and you want to write them down, find Janine, obviously she's doing amazing, incredible, inspiring, and gorgeous all at the same time, work on, on behalf of the animals. [01:06:19] And I I'm so thrilled that you were on the show. [01:06:24] Jeanine Boubli: [01:06:24] Thank you so much for having me. [01:06:26] Izolda Trakhtenberg: [01:06:26] It's my, my absolute honor and pleasure. I have one last question. And if you've listened to the episodes, you know what the question is? So I

Izolda Trakhtenberg is a speaker, workshop facilitator, author, and coach who specializes in helping people and companies create, innovate, and collaborate mindfully.Her core philosophy is:AIM High! We must be Agile, Innovative, and Mindful to grow and succeed.Through the tools of creative thinking and innovation, we embrace mindful creative collaboration. Before running her own business, she traveled the world as a NASA Master Trainer transforming people's perspectives on our planet through a mindful teaching process. She has released four books on communication, collaboration, and self-improvement.Nowadays you'll find her speaking at conferences, looking for the next great ocean beach, or singing for hundreds of people — all while interviewing peak performers on creative leadership, innovation, and mindfulness on her podcast, The Innovative Mindset – a twice-weekly show dedicated to mindful innovation and collaboration. Also Dear Listener, if you have any questions that you'd like answered in future episodes, please email them to meridithjoseph@gmail.com###Your hosts of Are You Waiting for Permission? are Meridith Grundei and Joseph Bennett. They're friends, co-hosts, actors, improvisers and coaches. She lives in NYC and coaches actors, business professionals and presenters to fully engage with their audience, and themselves. She also mentors young actors and directors. He lives in San Miguel de Allende, México and  coaches artists and other creative beings about the beautiful business of art — and life. You can find Meridith:Meridith Grundei the performer artist gal Meridith Grundei CoachingYou can find Joseph:Joseph Bennett the artist/coach extraordinaire*Special thanks to Amy Shelley and Gary Grundei of high fiction for letting us use their music for the Are You Waiting for Permission? podcast.And... while the podcast is free, it's not cheap. We'd be thrilled to have your support on PATREONThank you for listening! 

Welcome to the Adapt You Podcast.  The guests on the show will share their stories of struggle and success in the "change areas" around: