Podcasts about miami beach

Le 15 juillet 1997, à Miami Beach, le couturier italien Gianni Versace revient à pied du News Café, où il est allé acheter ses journaux. Au moment où il ouvre le portail de sa demeure, un homme s'approche et tire à bout portant. Deux balles l'atteignent à la tête. Versace meurt sur le coup. L'enquête démasque rapidement le coupable. Il s'agit d'Andrew Cunanan, un Américain de 27 ans en cavale, déjà recherché pour une série de meurtres perpétrés à travers le pays. Andrew Cunanan se trouvait à Miami depuis plusieurs semaines et avait vraisemblablement étudié les habitudes de Versace avant de passer à l'acte. Le mobile exact de ce crime n'a jamais été établi avec certitude car le meurtrier s'est suicidé sans laisser la moindre explication. Cependant, au vu de l'enquête, l'hypothèse la plus solide est celle d'un meurtre prémédité visant à marquer les esprits. Selon Donatella Versace, la sœur de Gianni, le meurtrier cherchait la célébrité. La police a d'ailleurs découvert une liste de célébrités parmi les affaires de Cunanan. Malgré ces éléments, les autorités n'ont jamais pu déterminer avec certitude pourquoi Versace avait été précisément ciblé.Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Everyone in Miami has a commute horror story. Omar sits down with Alice Bravo, the engineer who literally wrote Miami-Dade's SMART Plan, to find out why a fully mapped transit expansion has been sitting on a shelf since the 1980s. Alice spent 25+ years building South Florida's biggest infrastructure projects, the Port of Miami Tunnel, the 95 Express Lanes, and as Director of Miami-Dade's Department of Transportation and Public Works, she created the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan: six corridors designed to finally give Miami a real transit network. In this episode, she breaks down exactly what's built, what's funded but stalled, and why a half-penny sales tax voters approved back in 2002 still hasn't delivered the big-ticket corridors people voted for. Chapters: 0:00 – The 2.5-hour commute nobody talks about 0:31 – Welcome to the show + meet Alice Bravo 1:12 – Alice's 25-year path to writing the SMART Plan 4:03 – State of Miami transit: what's working, what's not 6:58 – Inside the new South Dade Bus Rapid Transit launch 10:49 – The SMART Plan, unpacked: 6 corridors that could change everything 15:29 – The half-penny sales tax: where the money actually goes 19:08 – Why these corridors keep stalling out after 40 years 20:03 – North, Northeast, East-West, Kendall, Beach: every corridor explained 23:59 – Realistic timeline: what could happen in the next 5 years 27:44 – The property tax debate now competing for transit funding 32:53 – The Miami Beach connection: what killed the monorail plan 36:19 – What it takes for Miami to become a true global city 38:52 – How residents can actually make their voice heard 40:00 – Final thoughts: autonomous vehicles and what's next  

Tune in the latest Suite Spot episode as special guests, Dave Jacoby, Founder/Owner of Hotel Lucine and Kaleigh Wiese, Founder and CEO of Ode Places, take a moment to discuss the independent and boutique hotel landscape and the 2026 Independent Hotel Show Miami in this episode for the Suite Spot Independent Hotel Show Series. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot podcast. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here with another episode of our Independent Hotel Show series. This is season two. We’ve done quite a number of these independent hotel show series episodes, but this is the first one where we’ve got multiple guests. So I’m excited to bring them both in today. First with me, Dave Jacoby, founder and owner of Hotel Lucine, and Kaleigh Weise, founder and CEO of Ode Places. Dave, Kaleigh, thank you so much for being with me today. Dave Jacoby: So excited. Thanks for having us. Kaleigh Weise: What a way to kick off the independent hotel show. Dave and I got to share the stage last year. Dave Jacoby: We did. Kaleigh Weise: And I feel like we could have talked for a million more hours. And we’re friends, but also we’ve worked together, so I feel like I’m excited to be on together. Ryan Embree: Alright, well this is awesome. I’m excited. We’ll, we won’t be able to speak for a million hours, but we’ll definitely have some time today. And I’m excited, but as tradition here in the Suite Spot, one of the wonderful things about our industry and hospitality is people come from all different walks of life to get into our industry. Sometimes you fall into it with a summer job, sometimes you start as a bellman. Like myself, we love to hear these stories. We live and breathe these stories in hospitality and share them with others. So let’s start by just a proper introduction and maybe your hospitality journeys that led you to your respective positions. Kaleigh, let’s start with you. Kaleigh Weise: Yeah. Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. So if you see me at the show, come find me. I have been self-employed by whole entire career, and I have always been obsessed with the form and function of business. Like, how do you have a brand that really resonates despite, you know, I see your brand is like a lighthouse, right? Like, how are you attracting the right people? But also at the end of the day, like that business has to be incredibly healthy. And then you layer on a hotel, which is a 24/7 breathing company. And so how do you make sure that you have the longevity with systems and processes and you have a brand that continues to resonate as the years develop. And so I got my start serving in essentially helping brand and position and help with coaching for hospitality and service-based businesses. And then that naturally led into places where people slept, right? So I actually was working with event venues for a long time and when we got into the lodging conversation, I was like, now this is fascinating, a one time event versus like, keeping this up 24/7, what does that look like? And so we, I started out places essentially in 2018 after being in Northern California in the Santa Cruz Redwoods, we got to support a property out there. And I was like, the resonance that I got to feel to plant seeds of purpose into the land there of those 80 acres and understanding the choices we made would affect short-term and long-term generations really put me on a trajectory where that’s where I’ve committed my work so far. Ryan Embree: Really cool origin story there. And a lot of parallels from the event industry to hospitality and lodging. So, Dave, what about you? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, thanks. So I’m born and raised in Philadelphia, but somehow I ended up in Galveston, Texas, so I did not have that on my bingo card growing up. But here I am, out of college, worked in some finance and kind of hotel development related positions. First in New York City, then went to graduate school, then moved to Las Vegas and actually was in the casino space. But throughout that whole kind of portion of my journey was developing projects that were other people’s ideas and kind of on behalf of others, even though, you know, in Vegas, for example, I led development and opening up a resort there, moved to Galveston, where my wife is from. And my family’s now based in 2016. And just felt like I fell in love with Galveston, but felt like Galveston needed a slightly different hospitality experience here. Something with a little more soul that matched the soul that this whole town has. But the hospitality offerings that I didn’t feel like harnessed that soul really well, yet found an old kind of out of favor motel on the beach and figured out a way to acquire it and came up with a brand and a design and a team that we put together. And it’s been a labor of love and, you know, blood, sweat and tears sometimes, but a lot of smiles and happiness too. And we’re going on three years open, so, okay, that’s kind of how I got here. Ryan Embree: That’s like the America, the hotel American dream, what you’re doing right now. And listen, I went to school for hospitality and I think just this conversation already between the event management, hospitality, the gaming that you’ve included. I mean, this is like hospitality management 101 through the experiences, but certainly a familiar one where you’re bouncing around. But it sounds like you found your home there in Galveston. I was really excited about this conversation because it’s very rare I get to talk to two guests that have kind of built their brands from the ground up, right? And I think this is a challenge and a task that especially independent hoteliers have to kind of face and building their story and building a brand that resonates with travelers, especially today. So how important is branding and storytelling to connect with guests? Because I think that is what independent hotels strive to do is create this connection that might be missing right now and, you know, really hopefully leads to loyalty in the future. And what maybe advice would you share from your own personal kind of branding journeys? Dave, we’ll start with you and then go to Kaleigh. Dave Jacoby: The brand is so central to what we’re doing. We sort of started with that brand identity, and I use the term identity not as like a business jargon term, but it really is an identity. We personified our brand and there are still decisions that we’ll make where we have this fictitious Aunt Lucine that we will use as a muse for decisions we make around property. And it’s sort of a guiding light for us. But, I think the concept of kind of personifying your brand really helps make it make sense, at least for me. So, I look at how do we connect with our guests? I really look at how we connect with our local community and use that as the window in to our guests with the kind of overriding assumption that if our whole town and local surrounding population considers us part of the fabric of that neighborhood, that the outsiders will, that authenticity will come through. Outsiders will see that that’s where they’ll want to stay. So then, back to the personification of it, just like in your personal life, if you are friends with a group of people, you need to add something to that group and you need to then take something back from that group. So I sort of look at Galveston as the environment here is like a play. And instead of us coming in and saying, well, what is everyone else doing, we’ll do that too. So that we fit in saying, well, how do we add a new main character to the cast here? And I sort of look at it that way. And so what are we adding that’s different, but how does it fit into and, and be complimentary with everything around it? And that’s, that’s kind of how we, we looked at how we fit in and what we offer to our guests both, as, you know, overnight hotel guests and local community that might eat, drink, hang out with us. Ryan Embree: Kaleigh? Kaleigh Weise: Well, I wanna also compliment Dave and Keith have done such a phenomenal job at Hotel Lucine that they have a brand bible, if you will. And I think that it is a testament to how the vision casting of Aunt Lucine infiltrates, the purchases that they make for design, the plants, the employees, the uniforms, how they want them to talk and walk, and all of that alignment I think resonates really well with attracting the right talent, but also attracting the right guests. And so I think having intentionality, I always say, your brand is what other people say it is. So we have to remember that we have control over how we position our brands and what we want. So I think intentionality is first, which I think Hotel Stein does. On the flip side of that, I think we have to be realistic about who is traveling and who is coming to the hotel or who is also the consumer. Obviously on the B2B side, I usually like to pick three to five different personas, and I think that that helps shape making decisions. We have a property we’re working with right now that is on 12 acres. There’s 43 cabins. It’s primarily outside, right? It’s like, okay, who is the ideal person who’s looking for a property like this? And I think the clearer that you can get with that, it helps you understand where your revenue programming is gonna come for, like, come from. It helps you understand like where you should put costs. Like do they care about the amenities? Do they care about the soap? Do they want a robe in the room? And I think sometimes we make decisions that are too close to maybe how we would like to travel or what we think is best, and we forget what our guests might be looking for, which then leads to greater revenue opportunities and better residents that leads to people wanting to come back because they feel like they belong there, right? Like that was created for them. So that’s kind of the flip side of I think knowing who you are, but knowing who your guest is is equally as important. Ryan Embree: Yeah, a hundred percent. And there’s, I mean, guests are leaving us clues constantly on who they are based on online feedback, social media posts, reviews, there’s so many things. Even just a day-to-day conversations, you would be surprised, a tip that everyone gets, you know, you wanna know, you wanna learn about what guests think about you, just hang out in your lobby for a couple minutes during breakfast and just hear the conversations about what people are saying about their stay. But Dave, I loved your point there about talking about being embedded in the local community because you think about people that really prioritize a unique experience in the independent hotel space, which they’re independent hotels are so positioned to do, if you don’t become a part of your community, they’re looking for that unique kind of experience that only an independent hotel can provide them. If you’re really embracing your local community and sharing those same kind of aspects of it’s gonna hopefully resonate with that traveler. And then hopefully they amplify that story a little bit in some of the ways that I was talking about. But one of the things we’re gonna talk about the independent hotel show in a second in September, very excited about that. But one of the things that I love about that show is sometimes as independent hotels, you might feel a little bit like you’re on an island because you don’t have that big brand behind you, right? So getting a bunch of independent hoteliers together, you hear about some of the challenges that are going on right now. And unfortunately right now there’s a lot of noise in our industry. Economic shift, geopolitical factors, rising operational costs and margins are very thin, can be challenging for independent hoteliers. Where do you guys see opportunity right now? Because independent hotels are always looking for that little bit of edge. Where do you see opportunity right now in the state of this industry and maybe where do you see some shared challenges that we have to kind of battle as an industry for independent hotelilers? Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then maybe Dave you could zoom in maybe a little bit more on your property and market. Kaleigh Weise: I think the biggest thing that I’m seeing is, I talk about all these revenue drivers as like little dials. We get to tweak and twist, right? And I think that through some of the impacts that we’re having that are things that are outside of our control, right? There’s only so much we can do with some of these things. There are a few things that you actually can kind of take control over. And I think that investing more in the community and finding opportunities to drive revenue with the people who are in your local area who maybe aren’t traveling for the summer or fall or Christmas or whatever that might be through that event programming, it is not uncommon for us to go into a independent hotel and they haven’t really ever thought about events, especially if they’re under, let’s say 60 keys. Even 20 to 40 or 80 is a great number because you have an opportunity to having a full buyout, or you can have 40th birthday parties or a wedding or something like that. And that can be a huge revenue driver. And so I think as we look at shifts that are happening with, you know, the average event or wedding right now is booking a hundred or event is booking 120 days out. I think the average wedding is booking somewhere between nine and and 14 months out. You can start forecasting revenue a little bit more in control and then focusing on your rooms and your distribution in shorter term pickup opportunities. And so I think understanding where are all of your revenue drivers? What do you have control over? What do you not have control over? And where are, maybe there are opportunities that will be very low lift to you to be able to fill dates and have revenue coming in ways that haven’t been the pickup that you anticipated. Ryan Embree: yeah, and food and beverage, huge opportunity and doesn’t, you’re absolutely right, Kaleigh. It doesn’t necessarily need to be travelers from outside of your market all the time. The hotel restaurant, I feel like has got a bad rap for the last decade or so, but it is turning around, right? And it’s a place where people want to be. It’s a social setting where when people come, you might be hosting people and for the holidays or what have you, and you might find yourself at a hotel restaurant even if they’re not staying there. So it’s certainly a shift in what’s happening right now, but especially for independent hotels. Dave, what about you? What have you kind of seen in your market and maybe any creative solutions for some of these challenges right now? Dave Jacoby: I mean, I’ll sort of piggyback off of what Kaleigh said a little bit there, but it’s events and Kaleigh has sort of focused on booking events from, you know, outside groups. I’ll sort of look at it more as your internal event programming I think is also really important. And, and that’s, and it’s our kind of best way that we use to connect with our local community. And what that event programming is can be so many different things. It sort of depends who you are, who is in your community, and how do you fit into your community, what do you offer? So kind of when I talked about earlier, need to offer something back to your community that you’re in, for us that means a lot of live music. We’re very plugged into the local live music scene and we have a great curated music program every weekend night, all year long. And then in the summer we have a series called Sunset and Sounds, which is sort of larger bands that are touring. Some are touring the U.S. Some are based in Austin or elsewhere in Texas, and they come down to hotel scene and we put on free shows for hotel guests, the community, whoever wants to go. We do wellness events and that might be cold plunges or sound baths. We’ll partner with local organizations that wanna do fundraisers or other events. And it’s just a way to activate the space. It’s a way for people that are not from your town to have a experience where they feel like they’re integrated into what’s happening in that community. It’s a little more interesting for them as a visitor. And if you’re staying at a large chain hotel down the street or in another market, they just can’t deliver that. They don’t have the people, enough people with decision making power that are in the community that are focused on that. It’s just not the way they’re built. So that’s really the advantage I think independents do have over the larger chain hotels. We might not have the distribution systems and some of the other marketing spend, but we do have the ability to deliver on a day-to-day basis and experience that’s just different than what those larger hotels can. Kaleigh Weise: And I would like to comment that, you know, we’re seeing data around three hour drives being really hot, right? So I think sometimes you think you’re marketing to the next nearest city or, you know, looking for that destination destination visitor. I think really thinking about who are those markets that are within a three hour drive that are easy pickup for you once they know that you exist and you’ve again pointed your lighthouse of your marketing and branding in their direction, I think that’s a wonderful way to pick up opportunities for guests and community and events and things like that. Ryan Embree: Hey, I am the father of a 5 and a 3-year-old. And let me tell you, I’m a huge proponent of the three hour trip because that’s about as far as I can get before all of us go a little crazy. So you, you can bet I’m definitely looking for those opportunities to get out there and have that type of experience that Dave, you know, it’s around this time of year when we’re I’m talking to independent hotels that I get so inspired because the freedom of having an independent hotel and the activations and programming that you can put on, I think sometimes independent hotels, because they see some of these big branded hotels not doing some of this programming. They think should I be doing it? And it’s maybe because they have so much red tape in their branding, they have to get approval from, legal or their brand to actually run these things that they’re just not doing it. So it’s such an opportunity, and again, I get so inspired to kind of see that because the way the ingenuity that these independent hoteliers have is just, it’s second to none in our industry. It’s really creating a very cool experience, which is now being showcased and highlighted easier than ever via social media and reviews. So as we talk about industry trends, I wanna see, Kaleigh, you were talking about the three hour trip, right? Wellness is a big one, f &b, what are some of these maybe traveler trends that you’re starting to see bubble up and emerge right now? And how can independent hotels capitalize on these trends and over maybe branded competitors? Dave, you want to start maybe any trends that you’re noticing in your market in Galveston? Dave Jacoby: I’d say one might be the, and to use a buzzword here, the bleisure trends or the business leisure trends. So we will find, sometimes we’ll get small groups, maybe it’s a board or a small creative agency or something like that, that will come and have an offsite with us. And it’s partially meant to be used as a brainstorming session or some obvious business function to their meeting. But it’s also a time to hang out. Some of these groups might bring spouses with them or there might be a business component and then they’ll stay for the weekend and then it’s a little more freeform or social at that point. Or I’ll sort of see this bleisure happen from the other direction where someone will say, Hey, I want to come for a weekend and be at the beach, but why not come on Wednesday night and I’ll stay and I’ll just, I work from home anyway. That’s become so much more acceptable for all or part of the week for so many people. What does it matter if I work from home, from home home or from a hotel or a hotel lobby where I’ve got coffee? And it can be tended to. So we sort of see leisure trips happen in both those directions where the, the work kind of lends a little more leisure and the leisure lends a little more work. Kaleigh Weise: We also have a great living room for people to work and hang out and stay and enjoy beachside. Dave Jacoby: We do, we do. I sit in there often and you’re, and you’re right that it is when I overhear what people are saying about the hotel, I do my work, but I also eave drop and pop in on people and help out with things. Ryan Embree: It’s funny ’cause you know, modern day design for hotels now are accommodating for that. They know that the flexible workspace and they’re building lobby common areas a little bit larger or maybe even not so siloed so that people can mingle, interact, but also have some spaces to work from. So certainly a trend there. Kaylee, what are you seeing maybe from, as you zoom out? Kaleigh Weise: I mean I think experiences and add-ons are something that I continue to be surprised by. So if I’m the North American Ambassador for Muse, so I of course love Muse, but also cloud beds and stay in touch and all of, like, they all offer these add-on options where a guest during checkout or pre-arrival, they can add that early check-in. I’m blown away by the amount of people who opt into that $35 pre-check in or wanna add a bottle of wine to the room. Like those little details, it’s so helpful when they’re coming to have that reminder that we can make this a more customized stay for you. And so I think the sweet spot is no more than seven upsell opportunities. But I think that that even bleeds into, I know when we were helping with Hotel Lucine I’d ideate on some of these things, it’s like they ended up doing pop-up dinners on the balconies of their rooms and adding, I forget, a couple hundred dollars right? Or picnic baskets that people could take offsite. And I think people are hungry for having that almost like travel agent like experience where if the property can customize an itinerary for them or enhancements for their stay, I think they’re very excited and eager to be able to take advantage of that. So I think that’s a trend that’s happening and desirable, but something that I see a lot of independent hoteliers are stuck in the day to day and maybe not adding the attention that they could that will see the revenue that really is low hanging fruit out there. Dave Jacoby: Kaleigh’s so good at that. I mean she helped us with that as she mentioned, but she’s got this ability to kind of come in and just see what’s going on every day and she’s not seeing anything you don’t see immediately. But then she also sees these other opportunities of ways to personalize the guest experience in a way that you’re happy to do and isn’t a heavy lift for you and the guest is happy to pay for. And it’s just such a win-win. It’s almost like you get the surprise and delight moment right outta the gates and the guest pays for it too. It’s a great, it’s a great combo. Kaleigh Weise: Just a matter of training the staff and getting in on the website. Ryan Embree: That’s right. Very important. Get the buy-in from the staff. But you mentioned that word personalized. I mean that’s what we’ve been striving for in this industry for a long time. Personalization and with the rise of technology and AI like I put here, it’s not a podcast in 2026 if we don’t use those words. I don’t think I anybody would listen if we don’t talk about that or that buzzword. But I do wanna talk about it because I think especially with independent hotels, they might be more excited than most because it could figure out a way they could use AI and technology to maybe shrink the difference or find that edge against a branded competitor and maybe not feel so, you know, just David versus Goliath in that sense. So Kaleigh, have you kind of seen any competitive or creative uses of technology and AI in the industry, especially with independent hotels? And then maybe Dave you could share a little bit of your thoughts as well. Kaleigh Weise: I definitely see us being in a bit of a purgatory and as I’m talking about this, I’m thinking fast forward a year from now and I think agentic agents are at our fingertips for having access to supportive administrative help. And I see what Muse is working on behind the scenes and it’s like we’re gonna be living in a very different operational world. In I think all the best ways. And when I think about the future of an org chart at a small independent property where you have to get stuck in the day-to-day right now planning and preparing for guests and double checking things like being able to be synced in when Uber’s about to when Uber’s about to drop off your guest. And being able to be prepared with that timing. I think we’re gonna see our front desk admin become hosts for the first time and really have the time and empowerment to be able to greet them with the level of detail and customization. I also think the automations, I think we’re gonna snap that into being just such a helpful tool to ask the right questions or personalize the spaces. So I think currently it’s very challenging, let’s say for an independent hotel to offer a pillow menu, if you will, for the right pillows that that guest is gonna want. But I think in the future we’re gonna be able to have the opportunity for putting a time and attention into creating experiences that guest deserves that’s customized based on various preferences or interactions. And so I think it’s a really exciting time for actually hospitality to take back the spotlight. And that’s why people join this industry, right? Is they love hosting people and giving people experiences. And I think sometimes the admin takes away from that, you know? And I think that it’s gonna allow us to be more competitive when it comes to distribution. All of us didn’t go to school to be revenue managers, right? And I think that is a, that is a calculated game that to be able to have tools that can help support us and making sure that we’re optimizing the proper ADR and and pickup cost to be able to book our occupancy moving forward. I think it’s a really exciting time. I think we’re just in the purgatory of it right now. It’s like at our fingertips, but we’re not quite there. But I think about a year from now, things are gonna feel like it’s restabilizing in a really exciting way. Ryan Embree: So Dave, from an owner’s per perspective, you’ve, you just talked about how carefully you’ve kind of curated and built this incredible experience at Hotel Lucine. What is your thoughts on when you think about implementing technology or, or some sort of new AI initiative into the guest experience and how you make sure that doesn’t impact your brand too much? Dave Jacoby: I like the term Kaleigh used about purgatory. I don’t think we’re quite there yet. If you look at the amount of, certainly in the independent space, useful applications of AI in the day-to-day life versus the amount of words in print publications about AI, it’s a massive imbalance there. To me, the right ways that AI can be implemented are ways that are invisible to the guests. So the example Kaleigh was using is one that we’re, I’m rolling out actually now in kind of bits and pieces is how do you use AI to improve your day-to-day workflow? And for me, if it’s, I can unleash it on my Google drive and have it pull a bunch of information and synthesize it and put report together for that I can then give to our team. We’ve got better data and that would’ve taken me three hours, but I let it run in the background for 10 minutes and it’s done. You know, things like that to get better insights on your business, that can be done. Now, to the extent we can use AI to free up front desk agents, I’m working through a specific protocol on that now, just to get all the, what’s your pet policy, what time is check? And we just get so many emails that are repetitive in nature to answer. And the front desk agent isn’t always on top of it. Sometimes they’re doing other things, and I’d rather they be eyeball to eyeball with a guest acting as a host or hostess to the people that come in and providing person to person hospitality and not in the computer. We can free that up. You can do that now. So it’s a matter of just setting the systems up and taking the time to do it. And you can set it up with as much automation or oversight as you want to do, but it’s a matter of taking the time to actually do it so that you can free up those personal interactions. Because that’s where we as independent hotels, I think are, that’s what we people come to us for, is for that personalized touch and feeling like they’re having a human interaction and they’re not at a big corporate commoditized hotel. So we wanna give them that as much as we can. Kaleigh Weise: And I mean, I think human-centric is so important. I think we can, we can still remain to have a human-centric business with these tools. I hear all the time people feel like they’re so behind with using AI. And I guess even for those listeners today, I think you can relinquish the shame because the speed in which AI is gonna continue to grow is gonna continue to grow. And I think the application of that, depending on what market you’re in, what tools you’re using, I think if you can focus on one implementation thing that’s gonna actually help you serve your guests better, you’re not behind. It’s really just pacing that is right for your team, for your guests, and what’s gonna be right for you. But also don’t be afraid of it. Like, I think that there’s a lot of exciting things and tools that are only gonna be able to support us as an industry. Ryan Embree: My big bold prediction is that I think the GM of the next couple years is actually gonna look a lot more like maybe the GM of 20, 30 years ago before all of that kind of work that what we traditionally thought a GM had to do with reports and all of these things that actually some of those desk jockeying kind of tasks, AI can, agentic AI could potentially take care of for you. And then you get back to kind of doing what both of you described as, you know, that face-to-face human interaction. So what I’m hoping is that, you know, a lot of this technology actually kind of causes more of our service driven people and hospitality professionals to kind of rise to the top and create some really cool, memorable experiences and maybe just get that service back to where it was. Because it just feels like there’s some aspects of it in some hotels where it just, we completely missed the mark. So that’s my, maybe that’s me being a litte too, but that’s, that’s my 2 cents and what I hope happens. Dave Jacoby: No, no, I think that makes a lot of sense. And I thought of one other great application for independent hoteliers for AI. We don’t have an in-house IT guy. We don’t have an in-house like maintenance tech. We’re just not big enough to carry those positions. But you can go to your, claude, chatGPT, whatever it is, and say, why did my TV turn on three times in the middle of the night by itself in room 212 last night? True story, this happened and the guest was upset. And then I explained what my systems are and how they work and what they can, you give it a little bit of input information, it’ll help you diagnose. I haven’t yet tried the recommendation ’cause I’m on here talking to you guys. But there are all kinds of solutions you can ask for help for and they might not be right, but before you’re spending money to call out an HVAC technician, find somebody who can handle whatever this one specific system you have is and can service that you can troubleshoot a lot of these things and 60, 70% of these things you can fix on your own because it’ll walk you through it. It’s really a helpful way to save money. And that also helps guests experience, right? Because now if that TV’s not turning on three times middle of the night for that guest tomorrow night, she’ll be happy. Ryan Embree: Love it. Yeah. There we go. Just claude gonna be employee of the, of the week over there at Hotel Lucine every week If we get that figured out. But I do wanna shift our attention to the reason we, you know, started this series, the Independent Hotel Show this year happening September 16th and 17th in Miami Beach. We could not be more excited. And for our Suite Spot listeners, don’t forget to use promo code Ryan26 for a complimentary registration. Dave, you’re on the advisory board and Kaleigh, you’re a brand ambassador like myself. We were on a call talking about the show just the other day. I wanna get your thoughts on what inspired you to get involved with this event and maybe some of your personal favorite aspects of the show. So Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then Dave, you can answer. Kaleigh Weise: I have been an active conference goer my whole career, right? Like a little bit of hustling, a little bit of gorilla marketing. And when I look back at the growth and success in my career, it really comes down to the thin threads and the people that I meet. And I think to have an opportunity to pull up a seat at the table for independent hoteliers who do feel very isolated most of the time, right? They don’t have any other friends who have independent hotels to call. They feel like they’re stuck in the day to day. This will be the fourth year. And I’ve been able to be a part all four years. And I think it’s really exciting to even meet back up every year and hear about the growth that each person is experiencing, but also what’s working in their market and not, and just because you’re in Boston or you’re in Galveston or you’re in Monterey, California, you’re gonna find that you have more the same than different when it comes to the day-to-day challenges of operating a business or being able to get in front of the right guests that you know that you deserve, that are paying the price point that you want. And so to have an opportunity to hear what’s relevant in terms of content, but also talk with other people is just invaluable. And so I continue to be really excited about the niche of, you know, the subsegment. The industry is so large in lodging and we really haven’t had a place until the Independent Hotel Show that gathers this segment of people who are doing it. Owner operated and small with a passion. Ryan Embree: Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. Passion is is a word we hear a lot at that show. Because you can just see, I mean these are, you guys are both founders like I mentioned before. I mean the passion behind your brand, the storytelling makes such a huge difference. And to have that much energy and a place Miami Beach of all places, right? One of the independent hotel capital of the world, to see and hear all of that is a truly a memorable experience. Dave what about yourself? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, so unlike Kaleigh, I do not go to a lot of conferences. It’s not generally my thing, but I’ve been into this show and really loved it. I loved how we mentioned earlier how a lot of independent hoteliers haven’t really had a lot of places to congregate and kind of coalesce their thoughts together. I found the panels awesome, even the ones that I was like, well that’s doesn’t really touch what I do in my day to day, but I’m here so I’ll listen. All of them. I found really interesting. More than that, it was just the people that were there, these other independent hotel helped hoteliers who had done gone on their own journeys to get wherever they got. And they had all figured it out. Ghere was not a lot of resources in front of them telling them how to do what they needed to do. They just, they needed to pay their mortgage, they just did the next right thing and got there. So hearing the stories of how people solved whatever the issues were that were in front of them and sharing my own stories and finding the commonalities of maybe the setting was different or the problem was different, but really the approach was very the same. Or getting inspiration from people who have figured out things I hadn’t figured out yet and learning from them. So I really like just the being able to learn so much kind of one-on-one from people and in and in some of the sessions. Kaleigh Weise: I also think they do a great job of pulling together vendors and resources. It is not uncommon for an independent hotelier to go to Costco for some of their… Or order on, you know, Walmart.com or Amazon. And I feel like there really are great resources out there that are made for independent hoteliers and to bring them into the room to have a conversation around cost savings or ability to be able to elevate the amenities that they have on site. I’m really excited ’cause I think of the show floor this year is gonna be bigger and better than ever from what we were hearing in preparation. And so I think it’s a wonderful opportunity that people should allow time to walk the floor in addition to hearing the sessions because those vendors can really change their bottom line quite significantly with implementation. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s so cool to see the eclecticness of the independent hoteliers there from, Dave, you’re a great example coming from Galveston, Texas. You could be coast to coast anywhere from like a little five room air bnb rather to a giant independent hotel in a major market. So just everything in between, all different shapes and sizes when it comes to independent hotels, independent hotels. That’s why we love them so much. That’s why we like hearing the stories and why it’s such a unique space and hospitality. And to be able to spend those couple days putting the spotlight on sometimes, this really, really unique segment, it’s such a privilege. We’ve had the opportunity to cover the show for four years as well. So we’re very excited and hope our Suite Spot listeners will join us in Miami Beach this September. So as we wrap up, I do like to just kind of give the opportunity for any final thoughts as we wrap up today. I want to thank both of you for taking the time to join me today. Kaleigh, any final thoughts before we wrap up? Kaleigh Weise: Yeah, I feel like the, the topic I wanna touch on is a lot of hoteliers in the making are interested in the show and I feel like there’s a little bit of intimidation showing up, not really having background or knowledge or even knowing what they’re getting themselves into. And so I guess from an affirmation perspective, this is a wonderful show if this is an industry that you’re curious about or you wanna learn more about or you wanna have the conversations around. And so we look forward to hopefully welcoming you in September. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, I will echo that. And kind of say there are a lot of people at this show that are interested in the space and maybe are there to learn and they’ll find that people are there like myself or other people who have kind of gone through the process and developed their hotel. I would just say to all of them here, what I’ll say to you at the show is, I didn’t know what I was doing either when I started and a lot of us don’t. And there’s no playbook. There’s not gonna be a playbook. You’re not gonna find one that’s gonna tell you what to do at all steps. You just surround yourself with smart people. You need to know what you can and cannot do and where your limits are and kind of take the plunge and figure it out as you go. And your decision making in the moment is really gonna be what’s gonna drive the process. And if you’re always waiting to have the full roadmap, you’re never gonna have that roadmap. Ryan Embree: Maybe that’ll be our next endeavor as the independent hoteliers playbook and we can publish that as a couple authors. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, a long book. Ryan Embree: Yes. Take a lot I’m sure. Kaleigh Weise: Variation A, B, C, D. Ryan Embree: Exactly. Ryan Embree: Well, Kaleigh, Dave, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time, sharing your stories today. We cannot wait for September at the Independent Hotel Show. And thank you all for listening to the Suite Spot. We will talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

A shiur delivered by R' Mordche Gottlieb in Miami Beach, FL, as we enter Rosh Chodesh Av and the Nine Days.Why did the Eibershter create galus at all? Wouldn't a world of pure geulah have been a better plan? Rebbe Nachman of Breslov gives an original answer: the purpose of galus is not just to escape it — the galus itself becomes part of your geulah.R' Gottlieb explains: the world is filled with countless powers, energies, and wisdoms that seem to run by themselves — money, success, strength, intelligence, and today even AI. A person can live an entire life enjoying these powers while completely disconnected from their Source. But that's exactly the point: when a person looks at a world that could be seen as disconnected and declares Hashem Echad — he gives the Eibershter true malchus, because אין מלך בלא עם, and there's no real kingship without free choice.Topics covered:• What we're really saying in Shema Yisrael — recognizing Achdus HaBorei in a fragmented world• Why Hashem created bechirah — a robot's recognition means nothing• אל יתהלל חכם בחכמתו — the chacham, gibbor and oshir: don't erase your strengths, reconnect them• Kaas is fire, gaava is greatness — how middos ra'os become fuel for avodas Hashem• True anava: not being a nebech, but knowing where your strength comes from• What nechama really means — and what we'll understand looking back at our hardships when Mashiach comes (הזורעים בדמעה ברינה יקצורו)• How to use the Nine Days: don't run from the pain — recognize the galus and demand a geulah• Divrei chizuk on Eretz Yisrael today: the open nissim of the war, the pain of machlokes among Yidden, and why davening for Klal Yisrael's geulah brings your ownR' Gottlieb also introduces Letayel B'Toraso (לטייל בתורתו) — a worldwide project where thousands of Yidden, from all communities, learn the same Torah in Likutey Moharan together, b'iyun, over months. Learning Rebbe Nachman's Torah the way Rebbe Nachman himself instructed makes this "deep sefer" accessible to everyone. To join the program in America, contact R' Nachman Fried.#RebbeNachman #Breslov #LikuteyMoharan #Galus #Geulah #NineDays #TishaBAv #Emunah #Chizuk #Nechama

Being that the 2026 Independent Hotel Show Miami is only a couple of months away, this special IHS Series episode features the VP of Development, U.S. & Canada at Minor Hotels, Genna Panagopoulos!  Genna joins the Suite Spot podcast to discuss: The Minor Hotels Brand & Special Announcements The Independent & Lifestyle Hotel Landscape The 2026 Independent Hotel Show Creating Unique Experiences for Travelers And much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here for the second season of our Independent Hotel Show series. That means we are gearing up, if you can believe it, for the Independent Hotel Show here in September and Miami Beach. I am so excited and equally excited to bring in a familiar voice. We had her on the podcast just a couple months ago in New York City, Genna Panagopoulos, VP of Development North America at Minor Hotels. Genna, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Genna Panagopoulos: Hey, thanks for having me again. Ryan Embree: Yeah, excited to have you. We were talking off camera. Typically, I usually do the virtual interview before meeting you in person, so this is a little bit more comfortable here, virtually back in, in, I think you’re in Atlanta. I’m here in our TMG headquarters in Orlando, but second time on the Suite Spot. We really didn’t get to get into your hospitality background, kind of a tradition here. Wanna introduce you to our audience a little bit more, intimately and in depth. Talk to us a little bit about your background in hospitality and the journey that led you to Minor Hotels. Genna Panagopoulos: Well, it starts a long time ago because I grew up in the hospitality industry. Typical greek immigrant story. My father came here with just a few dollars in his pocket and ended up building a pretty successful restaurant business in Detroit. So if you ever are in Detroit, if you say Jimmy, the Greek people will know him. But I went to, I obviously grew up in Michigan, went to Michigan State, really, and started studying hospitality with the intent of taking over the restaurant business. And then I did an internship for my father and realized I did not love it as much as he did. And so I ended up falling into the hotel space and specifically hotel investment, real estate development, and have just fallen in love ever since I started my career at Davidson Hotels and Resorts back when they were in Memphis, actually on their business development team. And then they moved to Atlanta, ironically, next to IHGs headquarters. So I was with Davidson for a few years, hopped in over to IHG, where I was for 10 years, did everything from feasibility to business development to even brand, which is a little bit unique. And I don’t wanna undermine that because I had a lot of people say at the time, why would a developer ever go to brand? Like, that’s, you’re where you wanna be. But for me, it was so critical to kind of unlocking new opportunities in the future because the skills I gained in a year and a half on the team work just the role that I’m in now is super helpful because it’s, it’s kind of like wearing two different hats, right? A creative versus a mathematician. So anyways, I was there at IHD for 10 years, and then this opportunity at Minor came up last summer. I was so ready and excited to take on like a new challenge and I thought that it’d be a really fun and exciting new endeavor for me with this combination of my background. So, it’s exciting. Minor’s been super supportive and it’s a little weird to go from working in an office with thousands of colleagues to being the one of one in an entire continent, but it’s been great so far. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And what a unique opportunity. We’re gonna talk about that here in a moment because I think it’s absolutely fascinating. But your story is very familiar. I mean that we hear all the time from our guests, a lot of them start in that f&b kind of space and then transition over to the hospitality side, but super comprehensive skillset, which I’m sure has set you up for success in your role at Minor Hotels. Now, we met face to face at NYU IHIF, where just a couple weeks removed. I call this kind of takeaway season where everybody’s on LinkedIn, kind of frantically typing their takeaways and what they felt about the state of the industry right now, what we’re looking back on New York City, maybe you could start kind of zoomed in version of how that event for you and then maybe back up with an industry lens on some of the biggest takeaways from your time at New York City. Genna Panagopoulos: So from a Minor perspective, we had a really successful conference. So we had tons of meetings while we were there. Really good ones too, on some deals that were hopefully perpetuating. And then we’ll be announcing maybe by the Independent Boutique Hotel Show, but it was, the energy was very live, the excitement for Minor Hotels, was very visceral people, I think, you know, hoteliers are really looking for brands that understand their position. And because Minor is, you know, I always describe it as an owner first, then an operator, now a brand, right? And we still own an owner lease a vast majority of our portfolio. So we know what it’s like to be in their shoes, quite honestly. So it was a successful, like I said, the energy was there. It’s very validating to know that a lot of our marketing is working and all of the, the word of mouth and the fact that we’re out there, iI’m having to educate people less and less with every conference about who we are. So that’s great. Zooming out on an industry lens, you know, I think, you know, even just looking at beginning of the year to NYU IHIF, this sentiment is very different, right? You know, at the beginning of the year there was so much excitement over the World Cup. You and I spoke about that at NYU and it’s, it’s obviously been tempered quite a bit, and the K economy is still happening. We’re seeing luxury, the rates of the projects that I’m working on, I’m just shocked at how high they are and, how well the competitors are doing in the upper luxury space. It’s really fascinating. So I’m definitely seeing that as well. But the sentiment, and appetite to grow is definitely there. People are still looking to place equity, not ton, not huge amounts, but we’re, we’re seeing that there are still gaps on that front. Ryan Embree: The resiliency of our industry, I think, continues, right? It just, the momentum there, every single time we see a headwind, we continue to push through, which is really, really cool to see that owner. And, and from a development, I mean, new brands, new projects being announced, this is the space that we’d love to see, you know, more and more because there’s more and more demand growing travelers continue to prioritize travel and the experience economy, which is great for us hoteliers. So we just need some more rooms here, which is obviously what you’re tasked with, right, Jenna? So, but I wanna talk about Minor Hotels. I know you talked about needing a little less education now, but educate us here on the Suite Spot. I mean, Minor Hotels, brand spanning from select service all the way up to that ultra luxury segment ton of brands. They don’t have time for all of them today, but maybe you could share some of your personal favorites and within the hotel, Minor Hotels portfolio, what makes those brands unique? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, sure. So yeah, like you said, we now have 12 different brands, four of which were launched last year right before I joined the company. But we have these two lineages, I think within Minor Hotels history, right? We have our roots, which come from Thailand, and Anantara and Avani are great examples of that. And then we have our European roots from acquisitions over the years. So we’ve got brands like…that came from Portugal, NH, which is a very established brand out of Madrid. The four that we launched last year, offer really unique things that we never had before in our portfolio. So as we were looking to grow, we knew that that was something we’d have to have to kind of have on our menu of options for potential hotels, because some of these brands don’t work in every asset type and not every market, though most of our brands have a lot of flexibility to be able to grow into different asset types. But I guess my favorite, and I’m really excited about the Wolseley hotel brand we launched last year. So Minor International owns, which of course, Banner Hotels Resorts is a part of, owns Wolseley Hospitality Group out of London. And there’s a really beautiful institutional restaurant called the Wolseley that’s very famous. If you ask anybody from London, they definitely know the Wolseley. In fact, most people I know that just traveled to London know the Wolseley. So we own, we own that company and decided to take that brand into the hotel space, which is interesting because it’s a restaurant moving into the hotel world. And our first one will open in New York next year, but it’s been really fast. I think it’s really fascinating. There’s a lot of membership club opportunities with that one. And so that’s kind of an new trend we’re starting to see in the luxury space. Ryan Embree: It’s gotta be great to be able to have that breadth and spectrum of property or investment type for an owner to come in and say, this is maybe the market that I’m interested in pursuing, and then figuring out and kind of curating and tailoring what asset, what brand is gonna fit best there. And we talked about this a little at NYU, but I think, again, your job is so fascinating. You have this well-established, extremely popular worldwide brand, and here you are tasked with bringing it into the North American market, right? I’m sure there’s a lot of envious developers out there, what has been kind of, and really you only get to launch a brand like this into a new market only once. So what has been kind of your approach, Jen? I’d love to get kind of the background on what’s been your approach and what kind of feedback you’ve been initially hearing. Have owners been kind of waiting for this, you know, to arrive here and, and what are you hearing from owners right now? Genna Panagopoulos: It’s a tale of two stories as they say, right? So in the luxury space, there’s so much excitement. We are very established, people in that space know us, and wanna be the first to help us develop here. So that’s where we’ve seen the vast majority of our interest. Now, when you shift to looking at some of the upper upscale through the select service brands that we now also offer franchise, which I don’t know the stat off the top of my head, but it is a large component of those properties, those segments are operated by third parties and franchised. So being that we’re newer into that space, that’s where the challenge has been. So, but yeah, in terms of the hardest thing and I have to tackle every day is where do I spend my time? Because there’s constantly deals coming my way. We have to, we have to be quite strategic and mindful about what has the most likelihood of being the best representation of our brand in our target markets. So early on, when I started, I think the first four weeks of me taking the role, I had developed a pretty cohesive development strategy of where we wanted to spend that time. And where that is really any of the top, let’s call it 20 markets in the US that have international demand. So we have top markets that don’t have as much international demand, and we’ll look at those, but we just think that our value is gonna come from driving international business into these hotels. And then totally opposite from that, with Anantara, our, you know, wellness, upper luxury experiential brand. We are really excited about finding deals in kind of everywhere else except for those urban markets, right? So hard to get to places. Last week I was driving through Utah and Colorado, six hours in between each of them. So just to give you a little flavor, we were looking at a couple different opportunities in those states. You know, Hudson Valley is somewhere we wanna be Montana, Wyoming. So, you know, it’s a little bifurcated our approach to our various brands. But we’re trying to be very diligent and strategic about it. So we don’t get distracted by things that aren’t going to help us grow here. Because once we have good examples, we really believe the first few have to be really good. Once we have those, we’ll be able to drive further, further growth at a more quick pace. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. And what you were talking about how best to spend your time, I think that’s a, a challenge that hoteliers have had since the dawn of this industry. But it’s very exciting and very cool to hear those different approaches because, you know, you have the privilege of having that background, of having that history and, and culture already built over an in another market, bringing that here. But you also have the exciting new flavor of providing something new, maybe in some, some very experiential markets right now, which experiential travel is just absolutely exploding another traveler trend right now. And you already have some several success stories we touched on at NYU. Let’s dive a little deeper into some of those projects, Genna. Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, so we’ve got, I guess our next one that I’ve already kinda spilled the beans on it, but the releases are already out there, but the first Wolseley in the world will be opening next year in New York in the former Lambs Club property. And I think it’s just such a fantastic market to open the first Wolseley hotel. You know, theoretically it could have been in London and hopefully we do have one in London soon, but it’s a very special cherished brand and it’s not the one thing I also just wanna spend a moment on, even though it’s luxury and it’s this very quintessential British kind of formal service style, it’s egalitarian at its roots, it’s really meant for everybody. So you could walk into the, into the Wolseley in London and see celebrities next to politicians and you’re Joe Schmo walking in off the street, you don’t need a reservation. And so I think it’s a really beautiful evolution of the, of the history of that brand. And I’m so excited for it to land in New York. Ryan Embree: So we can announce right now in 2027. The Suite Spot will be on site. We can do nice little episode up there hopefully. Genna Panagopoulos: Next, next conference in New York. We’ll be able to do it there. Ryan Embree: Alright. Genna Panagopoulos: Yes. And then a little, actually, I guess the next one that’ll open in 2029 is Anantara Turks and Caicos, which is a 100% residential hotel, really, really beautiful resort heavy wellness, you’ll find with Anantara. We really lean into the wellness, longevity space. And so, we pride ourselves on always being at the forefront of the latest wellness, the direction wellness is going. And so longevity, for example, right now is very important to us. And we’re seeing that bleed into the residential space. So, you know, just the way that’s getting threaded into the residential experience, into the hotel guest experiences is very fascinating to watch. And then in 2030, we’ll also have another Anantara in Miami, very close to design district. It’s kind of at the epicenter of where design district, Edgewater and Midtown all meet the views from the hotel will be incredible. There’ll be a helipad, a 30,000 square foot spa. And then a mix of hotel rooms, residences that people are living in, and then also residences that can get rented out to hotel guests as well. So we are super excited, I think, you know, having these three hotels in these three markets, right? We’ve covered New York where we already have a hotel, by the way, the NH collection, Madison Avenue, we’ve had there for a few years, which we actually own. And then, you know, Miami, which is a key market, obviously very heavy international demand, but just if you had to tell me to pick one plate, one urban market to put it an Anantara, that would be it. And then Turks and Caicos is such a important market for U.S. leisure travel. So these couldn’t have been better, better markets for us to be entering and launching region. Ryan Embree: Congratulations. What a strong pipeline and really cool projects you’re working on, excited to kind of see those and the announcements as they start to roll in and the pictures, those views that you’re talking about. But I think, you know, the Turks and Caicos property is something we’ve been talking about on the podcast. That CALA region is also booming right now. So, you know, it’s not just, I think sometimes when we say, you know, obviously bringing into the North American market, we tend to go a little bit more domestic, but to expand that into CALA I think is gonna be absolutely critical. ’cause you’re right, so much of that US domestic travel is now spending, you know, time and money in those areas, and looking a little bit more towards that for their experiences. So exciting all around. And of course we love, you know, we’re based here in Florida, so we’d love a new project. We’ll, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that Miami project that you have. But this is speaking of Miami, this is our independent hotel show series. Talk to us, you know, why you feel some of the Minor Hotel brands fit within this independent and lifestyle category. And what advantages do you see independent hotels or even experiential brands and lifestyle brands have in today’s hospitality landscape? Genna Panagopoulos: I’ll answer that last question first. If you don’t have that experiential, that’s table stakes today. So, we’re, I believe we’re only gonna see that become more and more important as the years go on. Because if you look at the consumer data of what the younger demographic, where they’re spending their money, it’s not experiences. It’s not, it’s no longer on goods. So having these really cool, unique experiences that they can travel and and receive is gonna be critical in terms of what we have to offer for independent hoteliers, keep in mind this is our roots, right? We started our, our company was founded by Bill Heineke, who, fun fact, and I can’t remember if I’ve already told you this, but the reason we’re called Minor is that he went to go start his business at a very young age of 17. And when he was getting his his business license, they said, sorry, but you need an adult to sign with you ’cause you’re a minor. So he’s really one of those serial entrepreneurs, wicked smart, wicked great at launching businesses, but he was an independent hotelier. That’s how he got his start. So he’s still driving a lot of the vision of the company. And I could tell you coming from a larger brand company into this environment, it is incredibly entrepreneurial. And because we also own hotels, but also operate for a lot of our owners, we truly believe we have this, like this hotelier mindset. We’re more of an operator than we are a brand at this moment. And so I think that could help lend itself to independent owners who are looking for a little bit of support. And we’re here to lean in as much as they want and as little as they want, but there’s benefits to it, right? We can help save on OTA costs, we can help save on purchasing. We’ve got great technology to help with forecasting and revenue management and and so on. So there’s definitely places to tap in. And I think particularly now more than ever with our two collection brands that we launched last year, so I started telling you this, but I didn’t finish telling you the brands that we launched, but two of them that we launched last year are collections. One is minor reserve collection, which is in the luxury space. And then Colbert collection, which is more upper upscale, maybe entry luxury. And those are just such, they’re primed for independent hotels, right? That’s why they were launched. To be able to keep the heritage and the name of an independent hotel play off of it, but then get all the back support, all the things behind the scenes that consumers will really never see, but it’ll help make operations much more efficient and smooth. And so we think that’s where there’s a lot of opportunity and we’re, you know, we’re priding ourselves on that. We’re here to be a partner and not a brand that’s telling you have to do it this way. So that’s where we’re really thinking this is the opportunity for us in that space. Ryan Embree: Well, it says, it says a lot that, to have two collection brands dedicated to that space really shows the investment in the future of these kind of independently run or branded properties and see the opportunity there because again, looking, you mentioned the lens and view challenges about independent hotelier and brand is very different from those big brands that have the scale to kind of combat those challenges a little bit more efficiently. So, you know, independent hotels, we always talk about on this series specifically are looking for any edge or opportunity to differentiate themselves to the traveler because they are really first in line to present a one of a kind experience. If you think about it, one of those places is f&b, a trend that obviously Minor Hotels has taken and ran with, especially with converting a f&b brand to hospitality brand. How have you leveraged the f&b theme with potential owners and when you’re having these conversations with investors, as you look to bring Minor Hotels to North America? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, so, well first we have a, when I was doing my onboarding in Madrid and Amsterdam, I toured our Anantara in Amsterdam and they had just, maybe they, a couple months before they had just concluded a chef series where they brought I believe 20 or 30 Michelin rated chefs under their roof and had a food festival, which I had never seen that. Like how amazing to bring. I didn’t know that, that that many Michelin chefs would be side by side cooking for each other, right? But it’s a really special thing. And I think that shows you that Minor is very credible in this super experiential high end f&b space separate to that. And so we have the talent in-house. Separate from that, when you look at our brands and the way our Colbert brand, for example, our Colbert, I don’t even wanna call it a brand ’cause it’s a collection. It’s not really a brand the way we thread food and beverage into the guest experience, right? So each hotel is completely unique within the collection. We don’t want any two to really look alike, to be honest with you. But as part of the one ritual that you can, that you can count on as a guest at every Colbert is a food and beverage driven experience. So whether that’s a bespoke cocktail that’s mixed for you, right as you enter the door, or maybe, after you’ve checked in and you’re in your room, a bell cart is a food and beverage bell cart of sorts is delivering a special experience to your door something that ties back to the identity that the hotel has, but is very curated and special, right? Not something that’s like a here’s the, the chocolate chip cookies we made today. No. Right? We want something really beautiful, thoughtful, creative, and that shows the craft in it that either ties to the experience or the identity of the hotel. So I think that’s really important and those little things go a very long way. Ryan Embree: A hundred percent. And those are the little things that add up in the independent hoteliers world that can, you can have the edge, right? And I mean there’s a whole now space with food tourism. I mean, it’s got a name for it now. That’s how large this trend is. And hoteliers are looking at F&B very, very differently than they did five, 10 years ago. It was a first a place where they started to look and say, where can we cut costs? Where can we make efficiencies? Now the brands that I think are doing it right are leaning into it. They’re seeing it as a part of their guest experience and also a huge opportunity for their local markets too. I think people, you know, in locally have looked at through a different lens at what a hotel F&B experience can be. And when someone comes to town, they might not be going to that restaurant. They might be going to a hotel or a resort, and it having that experience there. So very interested to see, right. Genna Panagopoulos: It’s, I don’t mean to interrupt you. But I just wanna say, I was recently having the conversation because when I started in the industry, we would joke, you could, you could like blow a cannon through a hotel restaurant. Nobody wanted to go to a hotel restaurant. Back in the day, they were cool. And it was like, oh, I’m staying at this hotel, meet me at the restaurant. But for a while, you didn’t wanna go to a hotel restaurant. It was vanilla, it was boring, it had no identity. It was just an extension. It was just a restaurant within a hotel. Now it’s such an important driver of bringing people to that hotel, whether local or visiting from out of town. And so there’s such an opportunity. I just, I look back at the time that those hotel restaurants were not attractive. And now I’m like, no, it’s such a beautiful component to an experience and I’ve seen really amazing destination hotels that are operated by the operators, but have a totally unique identity that’s very strong and compatible with the hotel, but not homogenous with the hotel. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. It’s very, very cool to see that evolution. And I think it’s only, again, as the trend continues to grow, I think it’s only gonna get stronger. You’re gonna see more emphasis on that f&b experience. And I personally can’t wait. Because I love those types of experiences to kind of see that evolve. And we’re gonna learn a little bit about maybe some of your favorite f&b experiences within the portfolio here. So let’s do my favorite part of the episode. Some rapid fire to get to know you Genna and the Minor Hotel portfolio a little bit better. Let’s start with one of your, you talked about maybe future favorite views at your property, but right now what is one of the favorite views at your properties in the portfolio? Genna Panagopoulos: I know you’re trying to do rapid fire, but of course I’ll just story tell a little bit. Ryan Embree: No, not at all. Please. Genna Panagopoulos: The Avani in Amsterdam, I had the opportunity during my onboarding with Minor to go to Amsterdam for a few days. Because we have a ton of hotels in Amsterdam. And I got to stay there and I woke up, I think it was a Sunday morning, and I had one of the upper level rooms and floor to ceiling windows. And I just, I watched the city wake up. It was so cool to see the sunrise from my room, but also the canals were coming to life. People were in boats and I had this cup of coffee and they had a great lounge here. And it’s not, it’s not a fancy hotel, right? It’s an approachable lifestyle of hotel. But it was really, it was so beautiful. I had this like Minor Magazine I was reading and I read the full thing. It was so lovely. And I’m actually taking my daughter there in a few, in two weeks, because I loved it so much. Ryan Embree: Very cool. Yeah. And she’ll get to have that view of the, the property as well. What about favorite fact? A fun fact about one of the properties? Genna Panagopoulos: Okay, so one of our new Colbert collections, that I believe is open now in Florence. It’s called Port Rosa, which it translates to Red Door. And it is actually one of the oldest, it might have been the first hotel actually in Italy and one of the first hotels in Europe. So it’s just so funny ’cause here we call our historic hotels 200 years old. And, and here we have like an 800 year old hotel. So I think that’s, I don’t think I could top that. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that puts it in perspective. Favorite signature dish? We talked about f&b experiences at one of the properties. Genna Panagopoulos: So I know I’m talking a lot about Amsterdam, but that was, it obviously left an impression on me, but at the Tivoli, which is one of our entry luxury brands, very well established in Europe, they really pride themselves on food and wine. And so culinary is a huge component of that experience. So I get to eat at the restaurant in the Tivoli called Ombre. And they really try to weave in creativity and art into the overall experience. And so they took it, they took inspiration from Rembrandt, and so Ombre is one of the 12 colors of Rembrandt’s palette. And so they, they had a beautiful way of weaving that into the food, the color of the food, the color of the menu, the names of the menu items. And it was just a beautiful, and you could watch the chef finish the food right at the entrance. And it was just, it was remarkable. It’s also on the canal. It was an evening candle lit room. It was beautiful. Ryan Embree: I mean the marketing team for some of these properties I’m sure has no shortage of content and storytelling. I mean, this is every hotel marketer’s dream. What about favorite guest experience or amenities at one of your properties? Genna Panagopoulos: That’s a good question. The, also in the Avani in Madrid, so, when I had wrapped up, I had trained in Madrid. I went to Amsterdam for a weekend, came back to Madrid to kind of give everybody my 2 cents of how the project or how the onboarding went. And I was only there for one or two nights. I was so tired. I had been gone for like two weeks. I missed my kids. But I came back and the Avani in Madrid as my welcome city had a smoothie set up. And I had never seen this, and I don’t even know if I’ll ever see this again, but they had a little, a little tiny, I think it’s called like a bullet blender, right? That I could blend in my room. They had the most beautiful, I don’t even know what fruit it was, but it was sweet. It was delicious. They had a variety of milks next to it that I could mix with the fruit, and then of course a little ice bucket and some honey. And it was just everything that I needed. I was so tired from being on the road and to come back and have this really like, cool, healthy, nutritious, it was so, it was like they were reading my mind of what I needed. And I’ve never been in a lot of amazing hotels. And again, Avani is not a luxury brand, but they totally nailed it. And then about an hour later after it, ’cause I had checked in fairly late in the day, they showed up at my door with this beautiful wind down tea set up, and it was, you know, tea can be hit or miss. Yeah, it was so beautifully floral and delicious. And I’m not even a tea drinker. And I loved every moment of it. And they had the most perfect cookie to compliment. Ryan Embree: It’s brilliant by the way, that smoothie, because it makes you a part of the process. It makes you feel a part of the experience. I’m sure a ton of people are sharing that on social media. They’re talking about it. I mean, how easy could it have been to just deliver a smoothie, but for you to kind of be a part of that experience, I think makes it a little bit more special. Very, very cool. I’ve never heard that either. Very cool. And then the last but not least, favorite piece of artwork at one of your properties? Genna Panagopoulos: Thats a tough one. Coming back to the fact that we have an NH hotel in Amsterdam called the Schiller, with tons of authentic Danish artwork. But I’ve also heard that the Tivoli Puerto Gaia has a lot of remarkable pieces. In fact, they have over 70 pieces of authentic art. One of my favorite artists is a Spanish artist…and his works are there. So I haven’t seen it in real life, but that’s on my bucket list. Ryan Embree: Well, I’ll tell you, this was probably the most internationally friendly rapid fire that we’ve had here. When asking these questions. You took us to Madrid, Amsterdam, Italy, all over the place. So, we’ll definitely, I can feel the hoteliers now doing some research on these hotels and planning their vacations. Let’s shift to the Independent Hotel show. It’s happening September 16th, 17th in Miami Beach. And remember Suite Spot listeners, don’t forget to use promo code Ryan26 for a complimentary registration. Genna, and I would love to see you there. Genna, you recently joined the show’s advisory board. Congratulations on that. What inspired you to get involved with this event and how do you see it supporting independent hoteliers? Genna Panagopoulos: First of all, thank you. And I’m really flattered to be on the advisory board. When we started our, when I was working through our development strategy as part of that, we were talking about the various conferences we wanted to attend. And we really think that we’re different from a lot of the big players that are already here, right? We’re trying to not be aligned with them, but a totally different offering. And so for us, it was really important that we find these independent hoteliers, boutique hoteliers that, again, are looking for somebody to help support them and maybe make their lives a little bit easier, but not be always watching over their shoulder. And so for us that this was perfect, I actually hadn’t come across it until they reached out to me. And it came about 48 hours after we had said, we need to find a show or a conference that has specifically this. And it just fell into our lap. And so we, it was, it was very serendipitous and we’re very excited. In fact, I hope we can continue to attend and I’ll be bringing my colleague from Mexico actually to help run the process with us while we’re there. So we’re excited. I also think that we could learn a lot of what independent hoteliers need and their challenges are and be able to help them out. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s a very, very unique event. I’ve had the privilege of being to the show since its inception a few years back. So much learning, there is something special when you put a group of independent hoteliers together in a room. The networking that goes down. It really is unlike any other event I’ve been to. So, again, hope you will join Genna and I in Miami Beach in September. We hope to see you there. As we wrap up today, we got a couple more minutes. What is your vision for the future of Minor Hotels in North America? Genna Panagopoulos: Listen, we don’t wanna be as big as everybody else that’s here, but we wanna have a really good foothold. I don’t think I mentioned this, but we have a little over 600 hotels worldwide, including in pipeline. And we’re really everywhere except for North America. And so it just feels like the right progression, of where we even have hotels in South America, in Mexico, right? So we’re really kind of closing in from all directions. And so we just wanna have good hotels here. Good representation on, fun fact, British and US travelers make up the majority of Anantara guests worldwide, even though we have no Anantara here in the U.S.. So, Norin England. So people want it, and I think once they’re here they will absolutely come. So we’re excited. We just want what we want. A good representation of hotels. Hopefully that’s somewhere around 20 to 30 hotels in the coming years. Ryan Embree: Well, you’re off to a super strong start. Congratulations again, Genna. It’s exciting to be here, kind of at the starting line of this Minor Hotel’s journey in North America. It will soon follow suit, like the rest of your brand is. So we’re excited to watch that unfold here in the upcoming years. Genna, thank you so much. We know you’re busy. You mentioned it before. We appreciate you taking your time, spending some time with us and talking about Minor Hotels and in the Independent Hotel Show. Again, we’re, we’re excited that we’ll both be attending there in Miami. And hope you will too. So Genna, thank you for your time. Genna Panagopoulos: Thanks for having me again. Ryan Embree: Alright and we’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. Thank you for listening. To Join our Loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Andy Ansin is the third generation of one of South Florida's most enduring families. His grandfather Sidney founded Sunbeam in 1953. His father Ed turned WSVN-Channel 7 into a Miami institution and built the Miramar Park of Commerce. Now, as CEO of Sunbeam Properties and owner of WSVN, Andy is writing the next chapter at a pace that feels a lot like the newsroom he grew up in.Over a cocktail, we trace the whole arc: a Miami Beach kid running camera cable in the WSVN newsroom as a teenager, coming back after Brown, and stepping into the CEO seat in 2020. Then we get into what he is building now. Miramar Cove, the 125-acre lifestyle center he broke ground on this year, on land his grandfather bought for about a hundred dollars an acre. The Isle of Dreams towers rising in North Bay Village. And the family philosophy behind it, including why he builds with cash instead of debt.This being a biography show, we also get the side most people never see, including his passion for spearfishing. Turns out the guy running two megaprojects at once finds his head clearest underwater. Grab a drink and settle in.Connect with usWant to dive deeper into Miami's commercial real estate scene?

We're delighted today to sit down with MDVIP Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jeffrey Lin to talk about so building a sustainable practice, finding joy in the practice of medicine, and what's happening what the next chapter of Primary Care looks like. Dr. Jeffrey Lin is a board-certified cardiologist, internist, and the newly appointed Chief Medical Officer of MDVIP, the nation's leading network supporting physicians in personalized, preventive, and relationship-driven primary care. A Harvard Medical School graduate and Yale summa cum laude, Dr. Lin completed advanced fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Columbia University before building a distinguished career that spans academic medicine, elite sports cardiology as a consultant to the NFL Players Association, and executive leadership at Devoted Health, where he was the company's first physician hire and helped build a patient-centered care model serving over 400,000 members across 29 states. He joins MDVIP at a pivotal moment in the organization's growth, bringing with him a career-long conviction that prevention is a long game, that physician joy is inseparable from patient outcomes, and that the future of primary care depends on giving doctors the time and the tools to actually know their patients. --- MDVIP Appoints Jeffrey Lin, MD, FACC, as Chief Medical Officer     BOCA RATON, Fla. – April 22, 2026 – MDVIP, the national leader in supporting physicians to provide personalized, preventive, and primary care, today announced the appointment of Dr. Jeffrey Lin as Chief Medical Officer. A board-certified cardiologist and accomplished healthcare executive, Dr. Lin will lead MDVIP's clinical strategy and delivery as the company continues to expand its preventive and relationship-driven primary care model nationwide. Dr. Lin will also collaborate with the network's Medical Advisory Board on MDVIP's current and future offerings. The appointment reflects MDVIP's investment in physician leadership that deeply understands both the patient and provider experience, reinforcing the company's commitment to long-term health outcomes, proactive prevention, and a care model that gives doctors the time and tools to deliver truly personalized care. A cardiologist and internist by training, Dr. Lin has a longstanding commitment to prevention and optimizing health through data-driven, lifestyle-oriented approaches. He joins MDVIP from Devoted Health, where he served as National Medical Director and was the company's first physician hire, responsible for building its clinical care platform from the ground up. Since 2019, he helped lead the development and scaling of a comprehensive, patient-centered care model integrating preventive care, chronic disease management, and longitudinal wellness for primary care patients across the country, growing the clinical team to serve over 400,000 members across 29 states. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Lin will work closely with affiliated physicians and the MDVIP team to enhance the MDVIP experience for patients and providers alike. His priorities include strengthening MDVIP's preventive and wellness programs, supporting physicians transitioning into more manageable practice sizes, and expanding the MDVIP model to new physician segments and patient populations across different life stages. "MDVIP was built on the belief that primary care should be proactive, personal and sustainable for physicians," said Larry Kutscher, CEO and Board Chairman of MDVIP. "Dr. Lin has devoted his career to those same principles, designing care models that prioritize prevention, meaningful time with patients and better long-term health. He will be a powerful advocate for our physician community and a key partner in shaping the future of MDVIP." Dr. Lin's passion for MDVIP's mission is rooted in his early years in practice, when he saw firsthand how fragmented, specialist-heavy care consumed patients' lives and made it difficult to focus on prevention and long-term health. "As a cardiologist, I've always viewed health as a long game," said Dr. Jeffrey Lin, Chief Medical Officer of MDVIP. "The choices we make in our 40s and 60s shape the next 30 years of our lives. MDVIP has spent more than 25 years building a model that gives physicians the time and tools to focus on prevention and real relationships with patients. I'm excited to help bring that kind of care to more doctors and patients across the country." Dr. Lin also emphasized the importance of elevating the physician experience. "You can't deliver great long-term outcomes if the people providing care are burnt out," he added. "I'm looking forward to partnering with our affiliated clinicians to bring more joy back into their practice and help patients live longer, healthier lives." With the appointment of Dr. Lin, MDVIP is beginning a new chapter in its growth story, doubling down on personalized, relationship-centered care and expanding its influence among patients and physicians nationwide. About Dr. Jeffrey Lin Dr. Jeffrey Lin is a board-certified cardiologist, internist, and an accomplished physician executive dedicated to advancing personalized, preventive, and relationship-driven care. He previously served as National Medical Director at Devoted Health, a tech-enabled Medicare Advantage organization, where he's helped lead the development and scaling of a comprehensive, patient-centered care model nationwide since 2019. A cardiologist by training, Dr. Lin has a longstanding commitment to prevention and optimizing cardiovascular health through data-driven, lifestyle-oriented approaches. Earlier in his career, he served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach and Co-Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation, where he built a thriving ambulatory cardiology practice and developed programs that enabled patients to achieve meaningful, sustained improvements in heart health. Dr. Lin's experience also includes caring for elite and professional athletes as a cardiology consultant to the National Football League Players Association, as well as leading clinical research on cardiovascular performance and endurance. His work has been published in leading medical journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Lin earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and graduated summa cum laude from Yale University. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, followed by advanced fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine, sports cardiology, and cardiac imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Columbia University.

Mattia Cicognani is the co-founder of 84 Magic Hospitality, the group behind four of Miami's most talked-about restaurants: Cotoletta in Coconut Grove and Miami Beach, San Lorenzo in Little River, and Si Papa 3190 back in the Grove. In under 18 months, every single location went viral within days of opening, not just because of marketing, but because of an almost instinctive read on neighborhoods, community, and what Miami was ready for. In this episode, Omar sits down with Mattia and Cervera Real Estate top producer Gingi Beltran to make the case that Miami is now a legitimate world-class gastronomic city and that its food revolution isn't just a lifestyle story. It's a real estate story. Where serious restaurateurs plant flags, neighborhoods follow. Where neighborhoods follow, property values move. And the people who see it first are the ones eating at the right tables. Guest: Mattia Cicognani, Gingi Beltran Host: Omar De Windt Producers: Veronica Paris, Jean Avendano This episode is brought to you by Cervera Real Estate, one of Miami's largest independently owned brokerages. With 10 offices across South Florida and more than 50 years of experience, Cervera continues to redefine Miami real estate. If you're ready to be recognized for your talent and want the full backing of the Cervera platform to fuel your growth, email careers@cervera.com today for a one-on-one consultation. To get in touch with our team, call 305.374.3434 or visit www.Cervera.com.

In this episode of Wellness at the Speed of Light, Dr. Stefano Sinicropi speaks with Dr. Ivan Rusilko about lifestyle medicine, integrative health, hormone optimization, sexual wellness, and the importance of taking a more proactive role in personal health. Dr. Rusilko brings his experience as a physician, lifestyle medicine expert, former fitness model, athlete, and founder of Lifestyle Medicine in Miami Beach to a candid conversation about what modern healthcare often misses. Together, they discuss the difference between managing disease and building a stronger foundation for health, performance, longevity, and recovery. The episode explores why tools such as peptides, GLP-1 medications, NAD, regenerative medicine, hormone therapy, and advanced wellness protocols should be understood in the context of lab testing, clinical guidance, and lifestyle fundamentals. Dr. Sinicropi and Dr. Rusilko also discuss metabolic health, mitochondrial function, inflammation, biological aging, sleep, hydration, nutrition, stress reduction, vitamin D, and personalized diagnostics. A major part of the conversation focuses on hormone health, perimenopause, libido, sexual wellness, and why many patients feel underserved when these topics are ignored in traditional care settings. This episode is for listeners interested in lifestyle medicine, integrative care, longevity, hormone health, sexual wellness, recovery, and patient education. It is also valuable for clinicians, health-focused leaders, and anyone seeking a more informed, whole-person approach to long-term wellness. This conversation is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.

This week on Because Miami, Billy Corben is joined by Miami New Times reporter Scott McLendon who wrote about former Miami Beach mayor Phil Levine's relationship with Jeffery Epstein. Plus, Camila Ball comes on the show to talk about being forcefully removed from a Miami-Dade county commission meeting during public comment with the intent on discussing local law enforcement working hand in hand with ICE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Natalie Sawyer is joined by Mark McGhee and Joe Shennan from Boston for the latest World Cup Daily. After a Miami detour featuring iguanas, Miami Beach and a life-changing Chick-fil-A experience, the team reacts to Ecuador's shock win over Germany, Sebastián Beccacece's Disney Prince energy and Scotland's fading knockout hopes. Mark McGhee also gives his view on John McGinn's role and Steve Clarke's post-match mood.Plus, it's Mbappé v Haaland as France face Norway live on talkSPORT, Senegal chase qualification, and the team discuss news of Elliot Anderson's record-breaking move to Manchester City.YouTube: @talkSPORTX: @talkSPORT & @talkSPORT2Instagram: @talkSPORTWebsite: Live Radio, Breaking Sports News, Opinion - talkSPORTPhoto Credit: Getty Images Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Part 2 of Murder: True Crime Stories, host Carter Roy follows Andrew Cunanan's cross-country killing spree from Minneapolis to Miami Beach. After murdering two men he knew personally, Andrew killed a wealthy Chicago real estate developer and a New Jersey cemetery worker before driving south to Florida, where he spent two months hiding in plain sight just miles from Gianni Versace's Ocean Drive mansion. On the morning of July 15th, 1997, Gianni stepped out for magazines and coffee. He never made it back through his front door. What followed was a massive manhunt, an eight-day standoff that ended on a houseboat, and a death that left every question about motive unanswered. Andrew Cunanan took his reasons with him, but Gianni's legacy endured through the sister who refused to let it die.Head over to our Murder True Crime Stories YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@MurderTrueCrimeStoriesJoin Crime House+ to binge a special limited series on Murder: True Crime Stories for America's 250th: The Crimes That Built America. These are the cases that created the FBI, gave us Miranda rights, sparked criminal profiling, and gave us America's Most Wanted. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show's page. You'll also get both parts to every Murder: True Crime Stories case released at once ad-free.

Gianni Versace was the Italian fashion designer who turned bold prints, bare skin, and celebrity culture into a global empire. From his mother's seamstress studio in southern Italy, he rose to dress everyone from Princess Diana to Tupac Shakur, building a brand that generated over $800 million in annual sales by the mid-1990s. In Part 1 of Murder: True Crime Stories, host Carter Roy traces Gianni's creative journey from small-town Calabria to the top of the fashion world, while introducing the man who would destroy it all: Andrew Cunanan, a 27-year-old con artist whose carefully constructed life of lies was collapsing around him. As Gianni settled into his Miami Beach mansion at the height of his influence, Andrew bought a one-way ticket to Minneapolis, where two men who trusted him were about to pay for it with their lives.Head over to our Murder True Crime Stories YouTube channel to WATCH our video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@MurderTrueCrimeStoriesJoin Crime House+ to binge a special limited series on Murder: True Crime Stories for America's 250th: The Crimes That Built America. These are the cases that created the FBI, gave us Miranda rights, sparked criminal profiling, and gave us America's Most Wanted. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show's page. You'll also get both parts to every Murder: True Crime Stories case released at once ad-free.

This week the art world descends on Basel, a Swiss city on the Rhine River, where the latest edition of the world's most important modern and contemporary art fair is taking place. We're talking about Art Basel, of course. Its 290 exhibitors include all the top galleries of the world. It's a place where you can see and buy museum-quality Picassos and Warhols next to still-wet-paint by emerging artists, though there's not as many of those lately. Major collectors like Don and Mera Rubell are there, and so are celebrities like Kanye West and James Franco. At the center of it all is Noah Horowitz, who has been CEO of Art Basel since 2022. Noah and senior writer, Katya Kazakina, have known each other for years, throughout which he has stood at the helm of various art fairs, starting with the first online art fair called VIP in 2010. In 2011 he became the executive director of the Armory Show in New York and remained in that role for almost four years until 2015. He then advanced to Art Basel, becoming its head of the Americas, which put him in charge of Art Basel Miami Beach, the largest contemporary art fair in the United States. In 2021 Sotheby's hired Noah to lead the gallery and private dealer services worldwide, but he stayed for just a year before returning to Art Basel triumphantly as its chief executive. Noah is also the author of the book Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market, published in 2011. For many years, Art Basel ran three art fairs, the original one in Basel, second one in Miami Beach, and the third one in Hong Kong, but in the last couple of years it added a fourth fair in Paris, and just this year another one in Qatar, raising questions about its expansion model and sustainability. It also introduced a new platform, Zero 10, for digital art, and the Art Basel Awards. Noah and Katya discussed the changing art market, digital art, and the strain art fairs place on mid-tier galleries.

Ryan, Dana, and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss the latest highlights from World Cup Day 6, including Lionel Messi and the biggest moments from the tournament so far. They also cover the bizarre incident involving a man accused of slashing a giant inflatable FIFA ball in Miami Beach and share the story of a Swedish World Cup fan experiencing American healthcare during his trip.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Savage sits down with Dr. Michael J. Hall, MD founder of the Hall Longevity Clinic in Miami Beach and author of Infinite Youth: Solving the Aging Equation. Drawing inspiration from his grandmother, who lived to 104, Dr. Hall defines longevity medicine as a proactive, integrative form of functional medicine that focuses on optimizing health rather than simply treating disease. He discusses key lessons from population studies of long-lived communities, introduces his concept of the "Aging Funnel"—which balances genetic factors with lifestyle choices—and addresses common misconceptions surrounding fad diets and health misinformation.The conversation explores evidence-based strategies for healthy aging, including a Mediterranean-style diet, meal timing, and reducing processed food consumption. Dr. Hall also explains advanced diagnostic tools now available and the role of comprehensive screening in early disease detection. Beyond nutrition and medical testing, the discussion underscores the importance of resilience, stress management, spirituality, prayer, and kindness as fundamental pillars of long-term health, vitality, and well-being. Visit Hall Longevity Clinic online at hallongevity.com or call 305-672-4733.   Get your copy of Infinite Youth: Solving the Aging Equation here:  https://a.co/d/08AP25PB

How are beauty and wellness business leaders actually using AI today?  That was the question posed to three longtime industry executives on stage during Glossy's annual E-Commerce Summit in Miami Beach earlier this month — and the answers may surprise you.  For example, Jenna Manula Linares, vp of digital marketing and TikTok Shop at Tarte Cosmetics, has recently added 15-minute team check-ins at the end of each weekly meeting that require staffers to share how they used AI that week and whether or not it was successful.  “We're creating a culture of experimentation,” she said. “So, what I challenge my teams to do each week is to use AI in a new or different way.” The team then tracks these challenges and results using Tarte's internal AI program.  Meanwhile, David Baker, chief revenue officer of the skin-care brand Beekman 1802, has found success in identifying early AI adopters within the brand and empowering them to learn new skills and own tentpole projects. “First and foremost, it's finding the people who have an interest in it, and giving them the room and space to play,” he said.  Baker is teaching his team to think of AI as a colleague that works while the rest of the team is off the clock. “Finding and sourcing creators gets really hard, so we've built an agentic staffer. Her name is Zoe, and Zoe is designed to source [creators] and draft personalized outreach, so that we can find people who fit our ethos and fit our brand voice really, really well at scale, while we sleep,” he said.  “AI has permeated every team and workflow we have at Tarte,” Linares said. “I'm constantly telling my team, if it takes you longer than 15 minutes to do something, there's a faster way, and you should learn and try to figure it out via AI.” Then there is Ulta Beauty, which rolled out one of the largest AI partnerships within beauty retail last month, with Google Gemini. The team has spent the past few weeks learning how its consumers actually use the new AI-powered features, which include an on-site and in-app chatbot.  “We continue to find new data sets that we need to put into [the chatbot's knowledge base, like] store locations, store hours — a lot of those things where customers are just asking generic questions,” said Josh Friedman, svp of digital and e-commerce at Ulta Beauty. “They're asking lots of questions about the brand, and we're seeing some really good use cases with our customer care agent, as well.”  In today's episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, host Lexy Lebsack takes listeners live on stage with Ulta Beauty's Josh Friedman, Tarte's Jenna Manula Linares and Beekman1802's David Baker to learn about the actual impact of AI today. 

Miami has transformed from a vacation destination into one of the world's most sought-after real estate and investment markets. In this interview, I speak with Alicia Lamadrid Paysse, Executive Vice President of Development Sales at Cervera Real Estate, about the forces driving Miami's growth, the influx of international capital, and why investors from Colombia and around the world continue to view South Florida as a compelling destination.Alicia explains how Miami's business-friendly environment, lifestyle advantages, and growing global stature have reshaped the city's real estate market. We explore the rise of North Beach, an emerging Miami Beach neighborhood that offers a unique combination of residential quality of life, tourism demand, and long-term investment potential.We also touch on PALMA Miami Beach Residences, a new 14-story luxury condominium currently under construction. PALMA offers owners the flexibility to enjoy their Miami Beach property while participating in legal short-term rentals when they are away, creating a rare blend of personal use and income-generating potential.To learn more about PALMA Miami Beach Residences or other South Florida real estate opportunities, visit Cervera Real Estate at: cervera.comWatch the video version here: https://youtu.be/JLDp4fyiIr8Read more at Finance Colombia: https://www.financecolombia.com/Subscribe to Finance Colombia for free: https://www.fcsubscribe.com/More about Loren Moss: https://lorenmoss.com/writeContact us: https://unidodigital.media/contact-unido-digital-llc/Follow me on social mediaFacebook https://www.facebook.com/financecolombiaLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/finance-colombia/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/finance_colombia/Read more at Finance Colombia: https://www.financecolombia.com/ Subscribe to Finance Colombia for free: https://www.fcsubscribe.com/ Read more at Cognitive Business News: https://cognitivebusiness.news/ The place for bilingual talent! https://empleobilingue.com/ More about Loren Moss: https://lorenmoss.com/write Contact us: https://unidodigital.media/contact-unido-digital-llc/

Our speaker is Ari Ciment. Ari ran the Covid Ward at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach and is the former president of the hospital's medical staff.  He is probably best known for being my doctor. Get full access to What Happens Next in 6 Minutes with Larry Bernstein at www.whathappensnextin6minutes.com/subscribe

En 1997, Andrew Cunanan puso a Estados Unidos de rodillas. Pero su crimen más perfecto, no fue matar, fue inventar su vida.Esta es la nueva serie de Lugares misteriosos en su seccion Dossier del Crimen y hoy no seguimos un lugar, sino a un criminal.Uno que convirtió cada una de sus mentiras en una sentencia de muerte.Este es el episodio 3 y el último de la serie: "El Final en Miami Beach".Conviértete en un supporter de este podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lugares-misteriosos-casos-paranormales-y-crimenes-reales--4744170/support.

Welcome to the Water Quality Association Podcast. Find us at https://wqa.org. Kindness in business is often viewed as a “soft skill,” but longtime water treatment leader Doug Ramer argues it may be one of the strongest competitive advantages a company can have. In this episode of The Water Quality Association Podcast, Doug joins host Wes Bleed to discuss how intentional, people-first service can strengthen customer trust, improve company culture, and help businesses stand out in an increasingly transactional world. Doug spoke on this topic at the recent WQA Convention & Expo in Miami Beach, FL. The conversation explores: The difference between politeness and true kindness Why relationships still matter in customer service How kindness impacts employee retention Balancing efficiency with meaningful customer interaction Building a culture that customers can actually feel Doug also shares practical stories from decades in the water treatment industry and explains why empowering employees to care for people creates lasting impact.

THE STORM THAT BROKE THE BOOM: THE GREAT MIAMI HURRICANE OF 1926Weather With Enthusiasm | Kol Simcha Productions━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━EPISODE SUMMARYOn the morning of September 18, 1926, a Category 4 hurricane made landfall near Perrine, Florida — just fifteen miles south of downtown Miami — and changed American history. The storm caught a booming, unprepared city almost entirely by surprise, killing hundreds, displacing tens of thousands, and delivering the final blow to the greatest real estate speculation in American history: the Florida Land Boom.This episode tells the full story: the storm's origin in the central Atlantic, the catastrophic failure of the warning system, the deadly lull of the eye, the destruction in Miami and Moore Haven, the economic collapse that followed — and why this hurricane still matters today.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━KEY FACTSMETEOROLOGICAL DETAILS• Storm type: Classic Cape Verde hurricane• Formed: September 11, 1926, central Atlantic Ocean• Category at landfall: 4 (Saffir-Simpson scale)• Peak sustained winds: 150 mph (September 16, 1926)• Winds at Miami landfall: 145 mph• Recorded wind speed: 128 mph from the east/southeast at 7:30 a.m.; anemometer blew away at 8:12 a.m. while registering 120 mph; estimated peak 140–150 mph• Barometric pressure at Miami: 27.61 inches (minimum recorded)• Landfall location: Near Perrine, Florida (15 miles south of downtown Miami)• Landfall date/time: Before 12:00 UTC, September 18, 1926• Radius of storm: Approximately 60 miles wide at landfall; outermost closed isobar 375 miles acrossSTORM SURGE• Coconut Grove: 14–15 feet• Dinner Key: 11.7 feet• Miami Beach and barrier islands: 10-foot surge• Moore Haven (Lake Okeechobee): 13–15 feet of water after dike breach• MacArthur Causeway: submerged under 6 feet of waterTIMELINE• September 11: Storm forms in central Atlantic• September 15–16: Passes north of Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico; reaches Category 4• September 17, noon: Miami Weather Bureau posts storm warnings (one step below hurricane)• September 17, ~11 PM: Hurricane warnings finally issued as barometer drops sharply• September 18, ~2:00 AM: Storm hits Miami Beach• September 18, ~6:30 AM: Eye passes over downtown Miami — lull of ~35 minutes• September 18, ~7:00 AM: Back wall of hurricane arrives; worst destruction begins• September 20: Second landfall near Pensacola, Florida (Category 3)• September 21: Moves into Mississippi and LouisianaDEATH TOLL AND CASUALTIES• Red Cross reported deaths: 372 (as of October 9, 1926)• Deaths in Miami alone: 114• Moore Haven deaths: At least 150 confirmed; estimates up to 300• Missing persons: More than 800 never accounted for• Total injured: Over 6,000• Total deaths across full storm path (including Pensacola/Mobile): 243+DESTRUCTION IN MIAMI AND SOUTH FLORIDA• Homes destroyed: 2,000• Homes damaged: 3,000• Homeless residents: 25,000–47,000• Every building in downtown Miami was damaged or destroyed• Collins Avenue covered in sand; lobbies of oceanfront hotels flooded• Utilities (electricity, water) cut offMOORE HAVEN DISASTER• Lake Okeechobee surge burst through earthen dikes (only 6 feet tall)• Town submerged under 13–15 feet of water• Most buildings swept off foundations• Many bodies carried into the Everglades and never recoveredECONOMIC IMPACT• Property damage (1926 dollars): $105 million (Florida alone: $75 million)• Adjusted for inflation: More than $164 billion in today's dollars• Wealth-normalized estimate (2018): $235.9 billion — the costliest U.S. hurricane on record by that measure• Estimated cost if an identical storm struck in 2005: $140–157 billion• Described by the U.S. Weather Service as "probably the most destructive storm in the history of the United States"• Delivered the final blow to the Florida Land Boom; thousands of newcomers left the state• South Florida entered economic depression three years ahead of the rest of the country• Full economic recovery did not come until the 1940sLEGACY• Miami appointed its first chief building inspector, who created what became the first enforced municipal building code in the United States — later adopted by more than 5,000 U.S. cities• Florida State Legislature created the Okeechobee Flood Control District• President-elect Herbert Hoover visited; authorized cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for comprehensive flood control• Hurricane warning systems nationwide were overhauled• The University of Miami, which opened weeks after the storm, spent its first 15 years in financial hardship due to the boom's collapse━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━SOURCES AND FURTHER READING• NOAA / National Weather Service Miami — "Great Miami Hurricane of 1926" https://www.weather.gov/mfl/miami_hurricane• NOAA National Hurricane Center — "Hurricanes in History" https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/outreach/history/• Wikipedia — "1926 Miami hurricane" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_Miami_hurricane• PBS American Experience — "The Hurricane of 1926" https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/miami-hurricane-1926/• Flamingo Gardens — "Eye-witness Account of the Great Hurricane of 1926" (D. L. Gregory eyewitness letter) https://flamingogardens.org/eye-witness-account-of-great-hurricane/• Florida International University — "Great Miami Hurricane of 1926" (lecture PDF) https://faculty.fiu.edu/~willough/met_4532/PDFS/HCN_LEC16&17_17.pdf• Florida Climate Center — "Hurricanes: Notable Hurricanes in Florida's History" https://climatecenter.fsu.edu/kids/topics/hurricanes/fullBOOK RECOMMENDATIONS• Barnes, J. (1998). Florida's Hurricane History. University of North Carolina Press.• Douglas, M. S. (1958). Hurricane. Rinehart and Company.• Reardon, L. F. (1926/1986 reprint). The Florida Hurricane and Disaster. Lion and Thorne Publishers.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━HASHTAGS#WeatherWithEnthusiasm #GreatMiamiHurricane #Hurricane1926 #MiamiHistory #FloridaHistory #HurricaneHistory #ExtremWeather #NaturalDisaster #FloridaLandBoom #HistoricalHurricane #WeatherPodcast #KolSimchaProductions #MooreHaven #LakeOkeechobee #1920s #StormHistory #CapeVerdeHurricane #Category4 #SouthFloridaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weather-with-enthusiasm--4911017/support.Weather with Enthusiasm is produced by Kol Simcha Productions.New episodes drop daily (B'N)— a morning forecast at 7 AM and historical deep dives Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact: kolsimchaproductions@outlook.comHistorical content is thoroughly researched and factually verified. After it has been factually verified it often will say so in the description. Should you find any mistakes, please email kolsimchaproductions@outlook.com so we can look into it and correct it. Not affiliated with any government agency or academic institution. Presented for educational and entertainment purposes — with meaning.Support the show — exclusive bonus episodes available to subscribers for just $2/month at spreaker.com/organization/kol-simcha

We welcome Steven Meiner, Mayor of Miami Beach, recorded live in a fast-paced hot seat at the Wellist Wellness Week Miami 2026. A champion of modern governance, Steven shares how he is cutting through bureaucratic noise to transform a high-stakes tourist hub into a premier global wellness capital.In this brief but hard-hitting conversation, Seb and Steven deconstruct the intense trade-offs of rapid city expansion. They explore the strategy behind replacing chaotic spring break crowds with health festivals, the reality of chasing Blue Zone accreditation, and the "worst-case scenario" principle for making tough leadership decisions under pressure.Topics Discussed"Smash or Pass" City LogisticsThe Spring Break TransformationThe Infrastructure of Perception (FAR & Density)Hacking Late-Night Emails for GovernanceLaw & Order vs. Unlimited GrowthThe "Worst Case Scenario" Leadership PrincipleBlue Zone Accreditation: Project vs. RealityGlobal Fitness Capital vs. Bureaucratic FrictionThe Epicenter of South Florida TourismThe Compassionate City ParadoxConnect with Steven on InstagramConnect with Sebastian on InstagramSebastianNaum.com

Hour 3 opens with NBA Playoffs talk and a look back at a playoff game that happened 29 years ago between the Bulls and Heat that ended 75-68, sparking a wider debate about how dramatically the NBA has changed, with today's scores often resembling what used to be halftime totals. The conversation turns to whether the modern NBA has become too soft, with criticism of players exaggerating contact and frequent foul calls, especially when compared to the more physical style seen in the NHL playoffs where officials tend to let the game flow. The discussion also briefly touches on Urban Meyer making headlines with recent comments about Michigan. Later in the hour, Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald joins to break down the growing tension between Inter Miami supporters “La Familia” and the club, including Lionel Messi, over perceived lack of acknowledgment at matches, the resulting silent protest, and the broader disconnect between the team and the city after an MLS title without a proper celebration. The hour wraps with the crew discussing weekend plans and the upcoming Air and Sea Show in Miami Beach.

Brian Szytel recaps a positive market turnaround from Miami Beach after Hightower leadership meetings, with the Dow up about 280 points, the S&P up ~15 bps, and the Nasdaq up ~10 bps; year-to-date, the Dow is up ~5%, the S&P ~9%, and the Nasdaq ~13%. Rates were little changed with the 10-year around 4.56%, and WTI oil was slightly down amid reports of a potential Saudi-linked development in the Iran conflict. He discusses persistent core inflation across CPI, PPI, and PCE as demand growth outpaces supply growth alongside rising money supply, while maintaining the thesis of a 1% real Fed funds rate but with higher inflation expectations (now ~2.5–3%) implying a higher terminal Fed funds range. Economic data included slightly better housing starts (~1.5M), in-line jobless claims (209K), strong flash manufacturing PMI (55.3), and slightly softer services PMI (50.9), and he explains why markets focus on results versus expectations. 00:00 Welcome and Updates 00:52 Market Close Recap 01:44 Inflation and Fed Outlook 03:32 Today Economic Data 04:30 How to Read Data 05:33 Wrap Up and Thanks 05:53 Disclosures Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com TheBahnsenGroup.com

Welcome to the Water Quality Association Podcast. Find us at https://wqa.org. In this podcast, we feature highlights from the keynote session at the 2026 Water Quality Association Convention in Miami Beach. This special montage honors leadership, volunteerism, innovation, and the professionals helping shape the future of water quality. Featured segments include award recognitions, reflections on industry impact, and messages focused on service, expertise, and the importance of industry involvement. Learn more about WQA's Convention at https://wqa.org/convention.

Chief Digna Abello made history as the first female Fire Chief of Miami Beach Fire, but her journey was anything but paved. From stepping into a traditionally male dominated profession to becoming a trailblazer in one of the most diverse and dynamic cities in the country, her leadership has been shaped by resilience, humility, and a deep commitment to her people. Leading in a true melting pot like Miami Beach requires constant adaptability, awareness, and an open mindset to serve a global community. In this episode of The Chief Exchange, Chief Abello opens up about the realities of leadership that most people never see. We discuss what it means to be the number one advocate for your firefighters, why safety is an investment and not an expense, and how departments must evolve while still honoring tradition. She shares how Miami Beach attracts firefighters because of its diversity and culture, what it is like leading through financial uncertainty and potential tax cuts in Florida, and the importance of understanding the human dynamic behind every decision you make. From lessons she wishes she knew earlier in her career to the importance of staying grounded in your why as you rise through the ranks, this conversation is about leadership, perspective, and taking care of the people who take care of everyone else.

Dave Rubin is a media personality, political commentator, and entrepreneur best known for hosting The Rubin Report, a long-form interview show focused on politics, culture, and current events. Through conversations with politicians, comedians, authors, academics, and public figures from across the political spectrum, Rubin has built a large independent online audience and become a major voice in digital political media. Catch Dave alongside Ron DeSantis, Ben Shapiro, Jillian Michaels, and Adam at The Fillmore in Miami Beach on June 11th.IN THE NEWS: Xavier Becerra tries to tell a journalist how to do her job in what may be one of the most disastrous interviews of all time, Karen Bass unveils a controversial dental plan for the homeless, and ICE says more than 10,000 foreign students are suspected of defrauding job programs.GET IT ON! FOR MORE WITH DAVE RUBIN:LIVE SHOW: Desantis/ Dave Rubin ft. Ben Shapiro, Jillian Michaels, Adam Carolla@ The Fillmore in Miami Beach on June 11th PODCAST: The Rubin Report INSTAGRAM & X: @rubinreportFOR MORE WITH ELISHA KRAUSS:WEBSITE: elisha krauss.comYOUTUBE: Elisha Krauss INSTAGRAM: @elishakrauss TWITTER: @elishakrauss LIVE SHOWS: May 14 - Covina, CA (Live Podcast)May 15 - Visalia, CAMay 16 - Modesto, CAMay 24 - Costa Mesa, CA (2 Shows)Thank you for supporting our sponsors:Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/adam. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.Limited Time Offer – You Need Fiber. Yes you! Boost your fiber with Huel today using my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code ADAM at https://www.huel.com/ADAM. New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show!Find LUCY near you at lucy.co/stores, or save 20% on your first online order at lucy.co/ACS with promo code ACS.oreillyauto.com/ADAMPluto.tvSimpliSafe.com/ADAMShopify.com/CAROLLASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Miller is the co-founder and CEO of Fundrise, an alternative asset management platform that gives individual investors access to private real estate, private credit, and venture capital. In March 2026, he listed the Fundrise Innovation Fund on the NYSE under the ticker VCX, one of the first publicly traded venture capital funds. VCX gives retail investors direct exposure to private companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, and SpaceX. The fund manages over $650 million and has over 100,000 individual investors. Ben is a returning Summation guest.In this episode of Summation, Ben and Auren discuss:Why VCX traded up 700% on day one while Bill Ackman's fund traded down the next weekWhy ETFs fall apart for private markets and closed-end funds are the right structureHow AI will reshape real estate by 2031 and which markets get hit hardestThe hidden truth that SoHo, Wynwood, and Miami Beach were all built by the same personYou can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Ben Miller on X at @benmillerise

On this episode of The Built World, we sit down with legendary developer Don Peebles founder and CEO of The Peebles Corporation. Over a glass of tequila Don shares the story of building one of the largest real estate development firms in the country, from working as a congressional page at 13 to winning the Royal Palm Hotel deal on Miami Beach and developing the Bath Club.We discuss his first development deal, public-private partnerships, billion-dollar projects, wealth, politics, succession planning, and the future of American cities in a candid conversation filled with lessons from over four decades in real estate.Connect with usWant to dive deeper into Miami's commercial real estate scene? It's our favorite topic and we're always up for a good conversation. Whether you're just exploring or already making big moves, feel free to reach out at info@builtworldadvisors.com or give us a call at 305.498.9410.Prefer to connect online? Find us on LinkedIn or Instagram - we're always open to expanding the conversation.Ben Hoffman: LinkedIn Felipe Azenha: LinkedIn  We extend our sincere gratitude to Büro coworking space for generously granting us the opportunity to record all our podcasts at any of their 8 convenient locations across South Florida.

Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz were two Miami Beach stoners with zero military experience and absolutely no background in military procurement – but they had audacity to spare. The childhood friends hustled their way into nearly $300 million in Pentagon contracts, supplying ammunition to the Afghan army. They raked in millions along the way, blowing their profits on bayfront condos, luxury cars, and Miami clubs. But when you build a weapons empire on hustle, bravado, and a lot of weed… sooner or later, someone will notice the smoke.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"What we don't know CAN really hurt us, " says Florence Comite, M.D.  Comite is a Yale University School of Medicine and National Institutes of Medicine trained physician-scientist, endocrinologist, and the leading voice in the field of precision medicine and healthy longevity. She was founder of the first global women only health center at Yale three decades ago and is founder of the Comite Center for Precision Medicine & Healthy Longevity in 2005, in New York, with satellite offices in Palo Alto and Miami Beach. Her new book, Invincible: Defy Your Genetic Destiny to Live Better, Longer, was published by Little, Brown Spark in April 2026.  Catch this week's episode of mindbodygreen podcast, created in sponsorship with Toyota. For vehicles designed for all that life has to offer, check out the 2026 RAV4, Sienna, Highlander, and Grand Highlander. Hop in, turn on the episode, and enjoy every mile.  00:00 - Aging starts in your thirties 01:55 - The decline of testosterone 07:29 - How genetics dictate aging 10:08 - Increasing testosterone  12:30 - Hormone therapy 17:59 - A DHEA story 20:37 - Metabolic markers 26:11 - Using a continuous glucose monitor 33:13 - Heart medication & testing 36:06 - Personalized medicine & prevention 39:56 - The Alzheimer's spectrum 42:38 - Genetic variables & testing 49:00 - The trouble with AI in medicine For more about Comite, visit her website: https://florencecomite.com/  Buy her book here: https://a.co/d/0cnOvaH8  We hope you enjoy this episode, and feel free to watch the full video on YouTube! Whether it's an article or podcast, we want to know what we can do to help here at mindbodygreen. Let us know at: podcast@mindbodygreen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dramatic video shows moment Frontier Airlines flight hits trespasser on runway; Spanish island braces for hantavirus cruise ship as WHO urges calm; 11 hospitalized after possible boat explosion near Miami Beach; and more on tonight's broadcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Maggie Rulli reports from the Canary Islands, a luxury cruise ship at the center of a deadly outbreak prepares to dock and allow passengers to disembark with medical teams standing by; Morgan Norwood reports from New York, at least 15 people were hurt in a possible boat explosion near Miami Beach; Andrew Dymburt reports from New York, an investigation is underway after a Frontier Airlines jet hit and killed a person walking on the runway while trying to take off in Denver and more on tonight's broadcast of World News Tonight with David Muir.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

USA-Reise trotz Trump? Viele, die sonst gerne in die USA reisen würden, fragen sich gerade: Ist Urlaub in den Vereinigten Staaten eine gute Idee? Die Sorge vor schärferen Einreisekontrollen, Bilder von ICE-Razzien, Donald Trumps Politik, außerdem die insgesamt hohen Preise verunsichern viele. Im Weltspiegel Podcast sprechen wir darüber, wie sich die USA als Urlaubsland verändert haben, ob Touristinnen und Touristen noch willkommen sind und was Urlauber bei der Einreise erwarten müssen. New York, Miami Beach, Yosemite oder die Rockies – die USA haben so viel zu bieten. Demnächst gibt es noch einen Grund, dorthin zu reisen: die Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft. Nur: Haben wir noch Lust auf Urlaub in den USA? Darüber spricht Host Philipp Abresch mit den ARD-Korrespondentinnen Kerstin Klein in Washington und Giselle Uçar in New York. Die beiden geben auch Tipps, wie man das Beste aus seinem Urlaub in den Vereinigten Staaten herausholen kann. ----- Moderation: Philipp Abresch Redaktion: Philipp Abresch, Philipp Weber Mitarbeit: Anna Stosch, Caroline Mennerich Redaktionsschluss: 8.5.2026 ----- Alle Folgen des Weltspiegel Podcasts findet ihr hier: https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/weltspiegel-podcast/61593768/ ----- Feedback, Themenvorschläge & Lob gerne an: weltspiegel.podcast@ard.de

USA-Reise trotz Trump? Viele, die sonst gerne in die USA reisen würden, fragen sich gerade: Ist Urlaub in den Vereinigten Staaten eine gute Idee? Die Sorge vor schärferen Einreisekontrollen, Bilder von ICE-Razzien, Donald Trumps Politik, außerdem die insgesamt hohen Preise verunsichern viele. Im Weltspiegel Podcast sprechen wir darüber, wie sich die USA als Urlaubsland verändert haben, ob Touristinnen und Touristen noch willkommen sind und was Urlauber bei der Einreise erwarten müssen. New York, Miami Beach, Yosemite oder die Rockies – die USA haben so viel zu bieten. Demnächst gibt es noch einen Grund, dorthin zu reisen: die Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft. Nur: Haben wir noch Lust auf Urlaub in den USA? Darüber spricht Host Philipp Abresch mit den ARD-Korrespondentinnen Kerstin Klein in Washington und Giselle Uçar in New York. Die beiden geben auch Tipps, wie man das Beste aus seinem Urlaub in den Vereinigten Staaten herausholen kann. ----- Moderation: Philipp Abresch Redaktion: Philipp Abresch, Philipp Weber Mitarbeit: Anna Stosch, Caroline Mennerich Redaktionsschluss: 8.5.2026 ----- Alle Folgen des Weltspiegel Podcasts findet ihr hier: https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/weltspiegel-podcast/61593768/ ----- Feedback, Themenvorschläge & Lob gerne an: weltspiegel.podcast@ard.de

Welcome to the Water Quality Association Podcast. Find us at https://wqa.org. In this episode, WQA President Greg Reyneke joins Susan Keaton to discuss leadership, innovation, and the future of water quality. Recorded on the expo floor at the WQA Convention & Expo in Miami Beach, this episode captures the energy of the convention and the direction of the industry. Topics include: Reyneke's journey from engineering to global water consulting The importance of education and the WQA Code of Ethics AI as “assistive intelligence” in water treatment Opportunities in small systems and emerging technologies WQA's 2026 priorities: credibility, relevance, and influence Learn more about becoming a WQA Member at https://wqa.org/grow/membership/ Corro-Protec, powered anode rods for water heaters trusted by water treatment professionals and WQA members across North America, and the only WQA Gold Seal-tested and -certified anode rods to NSF/ANSI/CAN 372 for SKUs 96386, 96387, and 96388, brings you today's episode. As part of its 20th anniversary celebration, Corro-Protec presented a technical session at the WQA Convention & Expo in Miami Beach on how water softeners and anodes can affect water heater performance, including sulfur smell in hot water, corrosion, and warranty implications. If you missed it, or if you'd like a colleague to watch it, you can schedule a replay on the Corro-Protec website: https://www.corroprotec.com/wqa-expo-2026-miami-beach/?utm_source=wqa-podcast&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=WQA-podcast-2026-05&utm_term=WQA&utm_content=episode-notes

Axel Hotels runs 12 properties across four countries with nearly 1,000 rooms, and the brand focuses on the LGBTQ+ community. I talk with Efrain Castro, COO of Axel Hotels, about how the brand creates community-driven hotels and where the team wants to expand next.

We have a great new episode this week featuring multi-platinum artist Bryce Vine whose mainstream appeal with underground grit has earned him over 5 billion streams. Bryce introduces us to his one time street dog California who accompanies him on tour, parties and restaurants. We discuss how Cali brings him emotional support, the challenges of touring with a picky eater and how she's a great addition to a studio setting. Fun discussion from one of the coolest dog guys around.You can catch Bryce at the Vans Warped Tour Washington DC June 13-14. For tickets go to brycevine.comBryce gave a shout out to his new vet Eric Valbuena at Pets and Vets Animal Clinic Miami who provide everything from routine checkups to advanced surgery from their state-of-the-art facility in Miami Beach and Biscayne Blvd (Miami). To book an appointment online visit petsandvetsac.comFor more pics and clips of Bryce, Cali and all our previous guests follow the show on Instagram at @rockerdogcast

“Presence is what remains when you strip away all the noise, all the excess.” In this episode, Nick speaks with Dre Baldwin about his journey from basketball to internet entrepreneurship, emphasizing mindset, self-awareness, and overcoming challenges. Listen in to discover how his experiences shaped his approach to self-mastery and success. What to listen for: Dre Baldwin’s basketball career and transition to entrepreneurship The importance of mindset and self-awareness in success Lessons learned from sports and their application to business The role of discipline and resilience in overcoming challenges Strategies for personal growth and self-mastery “You can have all the right skills, desire, motivation, and resources, but if you’re in the wrong vehicle, you will not get to where you want to get to.” Knowing where we want to go is incredibly important to continuing on the right path Sometimes our “right path” is only really just a leg of the journey, and discernment is important to keep on that path or not This also urges us to consider what we really want and to look at the “vehicle” we're in, honestly and without bias or interpretation. “To get to the actual issue, you really have to find out who’s the person behind the issue. Who’s the person behind the problem?” Looking deeper than the surface at our “why” with our goals and pursuits is critical This speaks to ourselves as well as the people we interact with and work with Getting to know a person, or ourselves, deeper ties in wants, hopes, dreams, motivations, and understanding the person behind the problem helps us understand context. About Dre Baldwin Dre built Work On Your Game® to turn disciplined execution into dominance. A 4x TEDx speaker and 43-time author, Dre played pro basketball for 9 years. Today, he helps experts and entrepreneurs install mindset, systems, and strategy to scale from six to seven figures with presence and power. http://DreAllDay.com http://LinkedIn.com/in/DreAllDay http://Instagram.com/DreBaldwin https://www.workonyourgame.com/ Resources: Check out other similar episodes: The Greatness Inside Of You Like A Superstar Athlete With Darlene Santore How To Not Rush Through The Trauma Storm With David Kitchens Interested in starting your own podcast or need help with one you already have? https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/podcasting-services/ Learn more about our host, Nick McGowan. Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5-Star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindset-and-self-mastery-show/id1604262089 Listen to other episodes here: https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/ Watch Clips and highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1tCM7KTe3hrq_-UAa6GHA Guest Inquiries right here: podcasts@themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com Your Friends at “The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show” Click Here To View The Episode Transcript Nick McGowan (00:00.206)Hello and welcome to the Mindset and Self-Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show, we have Dre Baldwin. Dre, what’s going on, man? How are you doing? Dre Baldwin (00:11.005)I’m doing great, Nick. How about yourself? Nick McGowan (00:13.004)I’m good. I’m good. I’m stoked that you’re here. I think it’s gonna be a really good conversation. I told you right up front, I missed the memo for the suit. I’m sorry. But I appreciate you showing up and looking how you are. One of the things that stood out to me when you were your team member reached out about you being on the show was your history in basketball. And being able to tie that into the work that you’re doing now, and how your pursuit of your own version of self mastery has really flexed through every single bit of this. So I know there’s a lot of stuff that we’re gonna get into, but that’s one of the main things that really stood out to me. So I’m excited that you’re here. I always like to get things started though with telling us what’s one thing that most people don’t know about you. It’s a little odd or bizarre and what do you do for a living? Dre Baldwin (00:59.369)One thing that’s a little out of bizarre. once went out on a date with a woman who turned out to be a man and What do I do for a living is I hope I get to give context to that. But anyway, what do I do for a living is We have high level professionals with structured execution if I put it in the one statement Nick McGowan (01:12.75)Yeah. Nick McGowan (01:20.218)Cool. I appreciate that. I’m still chuckling a little bit like who in their right mind wouldn’t give you the platform to like follow up on that? Because the first thing I want to make sure is that you’re not saying it in a really hateful way. I assume that’s not the case. And based on what I know of you, that doesn’t seem to be the case. But again, who in their right mind be like, Nope, we’re leaving that they’re just gonna fucking cliffhanger. So go on, tell us the story. Dre Baldwin (01:27.622)You Dre Baldwin (01:46.739)So this is about, I was about 19, 18, 19 years of age. So we are both from the Philadelphia area. And every year in the summertime in Philadelphia, there’s this event called the Greek Picnic. I don’t know if you knew about it. So the Greek Picnic is all these fraternity and sorority organizations, usually the black fraternity sororities, they all have this big event down at, I think it’s the Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia. Then that’s during the day, the picnics during the day. Then at night, everybody goes to this place called South Street. Nick McGowan (02:10.392)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (02:16.553)And South Street is a place in Philly where everybody just goes and walks. So was kind of like Times Square in Manhattan, the Strip in Vegas, Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. You have South Street in Philadelphia. So I did not pledge in college, but every year, even since I was in high school, we would always go to South Street and 90 degree picnic because everybody’s out there. It’s kind of like New Year’s Eve, Times Square. Everybody’s out there. It’s hard to drive, but there’s so many girls out there. You go out there just to talk to girls. So we go out there and talk to girls and I meet this girl. She was interested in me. I’m interested back. So we exchange phone numbers and all of that. And she lived all the way down there near South Street. I lived up in the upper Northwest part of the city. I go and see her. didn’t actually go on. It technically wasn’t a date. We didn’t go anywhere. I just went to her house. We were basically sitting on the steps talking, but we sat there and talked for an hour or two. She had a roommate. Her roommate came by. She went, goes into the house and another guy while I’m sitting there talking to her, another guy comes up. He goes in to see the roommate. So anyway, we have the conversation, whatever I leave. And a couple of days later, I’m talking to this girl on the phone and I think she noticed my naivete. And she said to me, Dre, I want to let you know something. She said, I’m a pre-op transsexual. I didn’t even quite know what that meant. And I was like, what does that mean? I did know, but I didn’t know. So I had her spell it out. And she said, no, I’m guy, I’m not as endowed as you, but I haven’t had the operation yet. And I just didn’t know. My vision was not. tuned enough to have noticed this when it was all happening. And then I was thinking, I was like, well, what about that guy who came by while we were sitting on your steps, who went in the house to see your roommate? Because a roommate was the same thing. Also preop transsexuals. said, well, yeah, he knew the deal. So I guess he thought I knew the deal. I didn’t know the deal. So this was my learning of finding out what the situation was. So that’s the story there. That was 19 years of age. I’m 44 now. Nick McGowan (04:04.396)Man. Yeah, how old are you? All right, cool, I’m 41. So back then, that you really had an opportunity to be a fucking asshole about it. There’s a lot of people, especially in the Philadelphia area, that would have been so pushed away from that, even gotten violent, and really become hateful with it. And a lot of it was normal back then. There was just hatred of other people and just… just bullshit and especially with guys from the area, we would just be douchebags to each other. And then if something like that happened, like your boys could be after you because of it or whatever. So what a cool thing for you to not be a complete fucking asshole about it. Only for years later to understand like that is, that’s gotta be a big, big life transition for people and to not even think about it from their perspective. Like that’s awesome that she said, this is what’s going on. This is where I’m at. That took a lot of courage to even say that and a lot of courage to step out, you know. Dre Baldwin (05:10.899)Yeah. I guess so, because I think she could tell that I didn’t know. So I think most of the time back then, because we would go to South Street all the time and you would see these cross dressing men walking around. And what would happen is men would drive by in cars and I say those are men and laugh and joke and all that and just drive by. And but you could tell even from across the street, like that’s a man. She had it done well enough that I didn’t know. And I had a couple of my boys with me when I met the girl. None of them said anything. So Nick McGowan (05:25.464)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (05:43.294)They didn’t know. And when I told them, they made jokes about it at the, weren’t around the girl. They made jokes about it with me. I didn’t, I just didn’t even notice. But back then with us, it would be like, okay, you could tell that’s a man. We just keep going. But I think they knew the woman or the man dressed as a woman, whatever you want to call this. They would talk to men who knew the deal. And that was just, they were just cool with it. Like that guy who walked into the house while I was there, I guess he just knew. I just didn’t know. And back then it wasn’t even a thing that we were thinking about, not the way it is now. We weren’t thinking about it in that way. Now it’s much more open. But back then for me, it was something I had never come across. Nick McGowan (06:21.452)I always find it interesting how people choose to answer this question and like what the thing is like I even said before we hit record like just don’t tell me your favorite colors purple or something like that so I always appreciate when people bring something up because there’s some some reason for that like that must have shaped you in some sort of way so even if it’s a subconscious thing that yeah it shaped me but you know I really think about it too too much in this context of this conversation as we talk about that how has that actually shaped you And way that you look at not only people and their choices, but yourself and how it’s kind of folded within your life. Dre Baldwin (06:57.577)Hmm. It’s an interesting question. I never thought about it like that. I always looked at it like a, it’s like a funny thing to me. That’s the reason why I bring it up. Yeah. The other thing, other thing I thought about was I once was in a hot dog eating contest. I think this is a little bit more depth. So that’s why I went with that one. But for me, I never, I never really think about it except when I’m bringing it up, like, Hey, this is, appearances can be deceiving. And nowadays it’s kind of come full circle because now no LGBTQ is a big thing. But in this is what Nick McGowan (07:02.99)Snapple fact sort of thing, Nick McGowan (07:11.279)Hahaha Dre Baldwin (07:26.665)19, this is like 2000 around 2000 2001. It wasn’t a big thing. We knew it existed, but it was way in the shadows. Then as opposed to how it is now. I don’t know how it has affected me subconsciously. I’ve been stopped approaching girls. I kept doing that. So I don’t know. I can’t answer that question. Nick McGowan (07:43.534)Yeah, I appreciate. I appreciate the honest answer. You know, like even it might be something where like down the road you realize, maybe it shaped me this way. And it’s also, it doesn’t have to, you know, that might be one of those things where like, made you kind of look a little differently at things. I find it interesting how some people like your boys, your friends would talk shit or say whatever. And maybe some of those maybe didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but we’re trying to fit within the system of things and like, let’s have these conversations. So I always think this stuff can shape us in some sort of way, because it was just a little different or abnormal or whatever. Sometimes the meaningless things in life are the things that can mean a lot to us or the like random happenstances of things. But it’s funny pointing out like, even with South Street and how South Street is like Times Square. I’ve never thought about that, but I lived on Fitzwater for a little while. like right off of South Street for a while. Yeah, I was actually explaining to my partner recently. I was like, when we go to Philly, we’ll have to go to South Street. South Street is like a long street where you walk in their stores. She was like, that sounds like a normal fucking street. Like, but it’s more than that, you know, so I’m going to use the Times Square thing. But that’s cool. Yeah, exactly. Some people don’t know the ocean drive thing, but like, I get that. Man, so I appreciate bringing that up with Dre Baldwin (08:40.499)Yeah, that’s right there. Dre Baldwin (08:56.809)Alright, four O’s in draft. Yeah. Nick McGowan (09:09.782)the path that you’re on now and the business that you’re on, I think one thing that we could easily skip past is that you spent, what was it, nine, 10 years playing professional basketball? Nick McGowan (09:22.925)So I have never been a professional athlete. I remember wanting to be a professional, a couple different things, you know, as a kid, just like people are like, I want to be a rock star, I want to be this, I want to be that. There’s a level of discipline. There’s a level of belief in yourself, confidence, and like fucking around and finding out to be able to execute on stuff like that. Even if you didn’t get into the NBA or if you were the fucking, I don’t know, you turned into Kevin Durant or whatever, like there’s a lot that you actually went through to figure out. what is it that I want out of life? And you started to do that early on, but you’re not doing it at this point. So I’m interested in how that shaped you. like, tell us a bit about the journey and how that actually led into what you’re doing today. Dre Baldwin (10:04.905)Great question. So it started with, let’s just go back to childhood, always in the sports. And I was playing, one of the first lessons I learned was getting into the proper vehicle. So I was playing baseball for several years. And I realized by the time I got to about right before high school, and this is because when you first played baseball as a kid, you had T ball, you just hit the ball off the tee. Then you have a pitching machine. You know the pitching machine where the ball goes to the same spot every time. I got pretty good at the pitching machine baseball, but then when we had to play against real live people throwing the ball, I couldn’t hit the ball. I probably had a little bit of fear of the ball. So I was never good at hitting and my fielding wasn’t even that great either. So I realized, okay, I’m not going to go too far in baseball. No matter how hard I try at this, I just don’t have the natural inclination, but I was still into sports. So then I moved over to basketball and I started off not good, but I could feel myself getting better at basketball and I stuck with it. And eventually came to what you mentioned. The thing is, later on, looking back, that’s when I realized this principle that I tell people about all the time nowadays is called the right vehicle. So you can have all the right skills, desire, motivation, and resources, but if you’re in the wrong vehicle, you will not get to where you want to get to. And for some people, the right vehicle is playing baseball. For some, it’s basketball. For some, it’s not sports at all. For some, it’s analyzing sports. You can be a podcaster or a YouTuber. For some people, it’s not being in the sports realm. It’s doing something different. Not everybody can do everything even if you put the same amount of effort in. So that’s the first principle I got from sports. Looking back, I didn’t realize that when I was 13, but I realized it later. Then moving on, barely playing in high school, played one year, sat the bench. My going to college, I went to a Division III college. So anyone who doesn’t know sports, the guys you see on TV, that’s Division I. That’s football, basketball, that’s Division I. Division II is right under that and Division III is down in the basement. And the players in Division 3 don’t usually think they’re going to make it pro. A lot of them will say they think they will, but they don’t really believe it because I’ve always been a believer in it. You want to know what somebody believes, that’s what they do. Don’t listen to what they say. And coming out of a Division 3 school, nobody’s calling you to go play pro, most players, even if you were pretty good because you’re playing against other guys who are not pro caliber. So when I got out of college, nobody was calling me. I had to go to these events called exposure camps. You ever heard of those? Know what they are? Nick McGowan (12:18.701)Yeah. Nick McGowan (12:25.942)No, but I would assume it’s like a talent sort of thing where scouts get together and see what you can do. Yeah, cool. Dre Baldwin (12:30.621)Yeah, casting call, a job fair for athletes. And it’s rough because you got 200 guys who all think they should be playing pro, all trying to prove themselves at the same time. And that’d cool if we were playing golf or tennis, but basketball is a team sport. So you’re playing on the same team with five other guys who all think they should be playing pro too. So everybody’s trying to show off. So it’s not the normal type of basketball. It’s not like everyone’s playing selfless basketball because they’re all trying to show off. I went to several of those over the course of my career, but Nick McGowan (12:49.474)Yeah. Dre Baldwin (12:58.727)The first one I went to led to me getting on and getting my first opportunity playing basketball. And in that experience, it was really about investing yourself. Let me tell you how I ended up at that event. So I’m from Philadelphia. The event was in Orlando, Florida. And this is the summer of 2005, graduated college in 2004. The event was not free. You pay $250 to go to the event. I reached out to the event organizers about a month ahead of time and asked them, would it be OK if I pay the event fee? in cash at the door because I did not have a credit card or a bank account at the time. So I had to pay them in cash. They said, yes, you can pay in cash at this time. I’m working at a gym called Valley Total Fitness. I don’t know if you remember them. They’re out of business now, not because of me. I made a lot of sales and at Valley that the commission checks came on a certain Friday every month. I had I didn’t even have to work that day. I had to negotiate with my boss to get the weekend off because the event was Saturday and Sunday. Nick McGowan (13:37.775)yeah. yeah. Yeah. Dre Baldwin (13:55.038)I’m in Philly. We’re going to drive me and a couple of college teammates who are also ambitious. We’re going to rent a car in Philly and drive to Orlando. That’s a 19 hour drive. For those who don’t know the geography, I had to go to my job though first and wait for the DHL truck to come because the DHL guy brought the commission checks. I needed that commission check because I had to go around the corner to the Chinese store and cash it. So I had to cash to pay that $250 at the door. That was my last $250 at this time. I’m living in my parents’ house. I’m working at Valley Total Fitness. have a college degree, but I don’t have anything going on. I spent that 250 at the door and I had to do something over that two day camp to get my first opportunity. So that was really about investing in yourself and really putting your back against the ball. And then you got to perform when it matters. That camp is only two days. It’s not like you have a month to prove yourself. It’s two days. And I played pretty well there. Got my first job. That was 2005. Moving on, fast forwarding in this story, there that Nick McGowan (14:42.498)Yeah. Dre Baldwin (14:51.751)basketball career wasn’t some smooth up into the right process. There’s a lot of people here, professional athlete. Now you’re an entrepreneur. So they think, okay, well, I guess it was easy for you once you got on in sports. But no, there were many times that, how do I better explain it? When there are people in acting, let’s say in the movies, you have your Leonardo DiCaprio’s or Scarlett Johansson’s, they get $50 million to do a movie Will Smith. And no, they don’t do a movie for a year or two. They’re okay. Most actors and actresses careers don’t go that Nick McGowan (15:18.509)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (15:21.159)Most actors and actresses in between movies, what are they doing? All right, they’re bartending, they’re working at Starbucks and they’re bagging groceries. They don’t know if they’re gonna get another job. They are going from casting call to casting call, hoping to get an opportunity to get on. And in sports is the same way. Not every athlete is LeBron James or Lamar Jackson. A lot of athletes are on the fringes, meaning you have a job then you don’t. You’re waiting for your agent to call. You have to stay in shape just in case the call comes, if the call comes. Nick McGowan (15:24.664)Part-time job. Yeah. Thank Nick McGowan (15:34.755)Yeah. Dre Baldwin (15:49.546)Then when it comes, you don’t know how long you’re going to be there because you may face the squeeze on the roster and you’re the one who gets squeezed, not because you can’t play, but because it’s just a numbers game. So a lot of times in my career, even playing overseas, it can be like that. So there are a lot of times in between jobs over the course of my career, I played on a different team every year. I never played in the same team twice in a row or twice total. Every year was a different team, every year, a different country because in between job and in between jobs, didn’t know where the next job was coming or if the next job was coming. Nick McGowan (15:58.05)Yeah. Dre Baldwin (16:18.569)There are times where I had to go get a job because there was no job. So the last time I had it, I went and got two more jobs in between the start of my career. My last job was in 2007. I signed in Montenegro 2008. Haven’t didn’t work a quote unquote regular job after that. That was because I was on this new thing called YouTube. And that’s where I started to build my brand. And that’s where I realized about 2009, 2010, I was putting basketball video content on the internet. That’s when I realized. What I’m doing here on the internet is gonna be bigger than what I’m doing on the basketball court. Even though my content was basketball, it was the internet that was amplifying my name. So if I go to the mall right now today in Miami and somebody recognizes me, it’s not because I played in Slovakia for six months. It’s because I was on YouTube for 10 years making that basketball content. That’s where people know me from, is from YouTube. And I knew back then, I said, this internet thing is gonna be bigger for me than anything I’m doing on the court. And I was right about that. Nick McGowan (17:00.983)Hehehe. Dre Baldwin (17:15.625)At that time, I finished reading this book called The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, I’m you’re familiar with. And in that book, Tim was talking about how you can take an idea and start putting on internet and make money from it. I followed his advice and I started selling $5 training programs to basketball players. That’s where I knew my future was in internet entrepreneurship, or entrepreneurship powered by the internet, let’s put it that way. Harking back a little bit in the story, about 2002. I people can keep up with this timeline. know I’m jumping a lot here. About 2002, I got introduced to a business opportunity. It turned out to be network marketing. I did not build a career in network marketing, but I went to some meetings. And I’m forever grateful for the meetings that I went to and the dabbling that I did in network marketing, because it teaches you a lot about entrepreneurship. It teaches you a lot about how to make money other than a traditional nine to five job, which is what my parents had. That’s all I knew until then. And also you learn a lot about people when you’re… trying to sell them into a network marketing opportunity. So you want to know about yourself too. And as a great sales crash course. in there, two things I got from that. Number one, well, three things. Number one is the entrepreneurship. Number two is that they mentioned these books. They would say personal development, personal development. You got to do the personal development. And they would just mention the names of these authors who I’d never heard of. They would say Tony Robinson, Jim Rohn, and Brian Tracy, and Napoleon Hill. And I’m like, who? I never heard any of these people. Nick McGowan (18:17.442)Yeah. Nick McGowan (18:29.475)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (18:39.475)But I remembered the names. I couldn’t afford the books. They were selling them right outside the hotel room. I couldn’t afford them. But I remember the names. So I went on eBay. So again, those of you old enough, eBay before Amazon was the place you went to eBay to buy stuff. Went on eBay and I bought two pirated copies of two books that I could remember. One of them was called Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And I bought that book. It showed me that there is a way that you could intentionally alter your conscious thoughts that would alter your behavior and thus alter your outcomes. And he was right. Nick McGowan (18:51.47)the Dre Baldwin (19:08.839)And other book I bought was called Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And that book told me, there’s another way that you can actually be an adult and make money other than what I saw the adults around me doing. And the reason why I was so inclined to look at what Mr. Kiyosaki was saying is because my parents showed up every day, did their jobs. They never bragged about it. They never announced it. They did their work every day. The reason I am Nick McGowan (19:19.255)Okay. Dre Baldwin (19:35.038)what people will call a disciplined person to this day is because the example that I had at home from my parents. At the same time, the adults around me talked about work as a necessary evil. It wasn’t, get to go to work. It was, have to go to work. They talked about their jobs as if it was a somewhat negative thing, good because it paid the bills, but negative because they didn’t really like it. And they didn’t really like the people they had to deal with. And I was looking at them thinking, okay, well, I graduated from college. I guess I got to go do maybe a little bit better version of what they’re doing. Nick McGowan (19:45.42)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (20:03.431)But when I read Kiyosaki, he said, there’s another way to do it. And anybody who’s read the book knows he’s juxtaposing his real dad who had a great education, went and got a job and his friends, best friends, dad, the rich dad. He was the one who dropped out of school, but was a business owner. He owned assets and he made money. He seemed happy about going to work. Whereas his poor dad, his real dad got kicked out of the system when he got too old and too expensive for the system. So that put me onto that. And that I got all that from network marketing. Anyway, combined that with Tim Ferriss. seven, eight years later, combined that with the internet, combined that with social media and basketball, that’s where I started to build what became my company, which was helping basketball players at first, and it transitioned into where we are today. Let me jump again in the story. 2015, I’m looking at the end of the road. Okay, I’m going to get out of basketball. What am I going to do next? So at this point, I was starting to make these mindset videos where basketball players who are watching me, my material was all basketball for about the first five years, 2005 to 2010. The players started asking me about mindset because they saw I was putting out videos every single day before that was a normal thing to do. Nowadays, that’s normal. But back then it wasn’t normal. So they’re like, why are you going to the gym every day to work out? Sometimes because I would tell them where I who I was. Division three, Kyle is playing overseas right now. I’m unemployed. You don’t even know if you get another job, Jerry. Why do you keep working out? How do you keep yourself motivated? Or you got cut from your high school team three times like me. Nick McGowan (21:10.968)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (21:28.753)How did you keep going when you got cut and there was no right at the end of the tunnel? And I started talking about things like discipline and confidence and mental toughness and being prepared and how you had to take negative situations and use them as fuel for positive action. And I called it the weekly motivation. And what happened is a bunch of people who didn’t play basketball started finding me there. That’s when I knew, okay, I can take this aspect of what I’m doing and I can serve people outside of the realm of sports, even when I don’t play anymore. Because I knew that if I stopped playing basketball every day and putting these videos out, my $5 products are going to stop selling. I could read the writing on the wall. I saw how it worked. I could tell you that 15 years ago. People are now realizing it now on TikTok, but I knew that back then. So that’s how I knew what I was going to do next. I need to take this mindset stuff, and I’m noticing people who don’t play basketball need it. And that’s what became what I do today. So that was 2015, and now here we are. So let me stop my story so you can get back to ask some questions. Nick McGowan (22:04.782)you Nick McGowan (22:28.078)Like a true professional, ladies and gentlemen, somebody who’s been on many podcasts. I always look for what are the main components of these things. And one of the biggest things that I have learned from being specifically on this show and running this show for four plus years is if you don’t have awareness, you can’t do anything. You just can’t. If you’re not aware of something, you can’t do anything with something you’re not aware of. And a lot of people will push their awareness off like the people that hate their jobs, you know, I got to go to my job. It’s got to pay for things. There can be a level of awareness to go, but wait a minute, fucking time out. If I don’t like this, why don’t I do something else? You and I experienced similar things where people just bitching complain and just fond of bitching complain. Then they belly up to the bar at the end of the week and drink through the weekend and then bitching complain throughout the week and just rinse and repeat instead of going, hold on timeout. Let me do something different. you had a lot of different iterations and things that led you to something else. Like looking back, you probably would have thought way back in the day, I’m gonna be a professional ball player and make millions of dollars. This is how my life is gonna go. Cause you’re on that path and you’re really pushing for it. Even to go spend your last $250 all the way in Orlando, which 19 hours is if you’re fucking moving. Dre Baldwin (23:48.723)So, Nick McGowan (23:49.408)Most people will take like a day and they’ll have to stop, but you and a couple of friends like taking turns asleep and I’ve done that drive before I get it. There’s a lot of different things that could have really pushed you off the path, but you kept going with the path. And that’s what I like to be able to break apart of like, actually kept you going with that? Because you’re aware enough to go, hmm, well. I don’t know if I’m going to get another job doing this, but I’m seeing that I’m having these conversations and I want to talk about these things. Even like with you to say the new thing, YouTube back then, it gets wild to think that, I don’t know, we weren’t super young when YouTube was new, but geez, we really were. And you were early to it, you know? I talked to people about social media at times where I’m like, I had a social media marketing company in 2013 and I was fucking late. Dre Baldwin (24:31.303)this early 20s. Nick McGowan (24:43.508)seven years late and other people now that keep pushing these things, they’re still doing the same thing over and over and over instead of actually saying what’s actually working. What do I want? What do I want to do with this sort of stuff? And I’d love that you actually, you saw a positive in the network marketing. There are a lot of people that shit on MLMs and network marketing because they’ve had bad experiences or they’ve had friends that have tried to push everything on them or wrap fucking things around their stomachs or. tell them they can make money with a light switch or whatever. But you learn a lot through that. And I think that’s a big thing that taking those steps that are risky at times, like think back to the 250, that was a risk. But you were like, fuck it, I wanna go play ball. I’ll drive all the way down there. There are a lot of people in Philly that didn’t wanna do that. They wouldn’t have done it. They wouldn’t have even cashed that check or rented the car. or gotten into the vehicle to drive down there, let alone all the other things that you did. So you had all these little steps that you had to take. There were all these little risks pieces. So how did you tie that into not only what you’re talking about mindset wise, but specifically for yourself? Like what are you able to look back to and go, man, I was really good at this thing. Like you pointed out discipline, because your parents got up, their shoes on, got to work, did their thing, took care of their kids and moved along in life. That’s great, but that’s just one. Dre Baldwin (26:04.835)Mm-hmm. Bye. Nick McGowan (26:07.95)piece of the recipe. What are the other pieces for you that have really helped you figure out this is what works for me and what I can share with other people. Dre Baldwin (26:16.413)Great question. I’m glad you contextualize it that way because it reminds me of something else. So first thing I’ll say, 2013 you had a social media marketing company. I’m sure you were doing well. That was a good business to be in in 2013. Yeah, I can imagine. So speaking of a couple of things, my parents and Napoleon Hill. So Napoleon Hill and Think and Grow Rich talks about this concept of transmutation. Nick McGowan (26:26.702)It was, but we were still late. Yeah. Dre Baldwin (26:39.273)And transmutation is about how you take, it’s the law of conservation of energy. states, energy is neither created nor destroyed, merely changes forms and moves from one object to another. So my parents were traditional, basically it was called them nine to five years. My mom’s in education. My dad worked basically construction as a day job. He was a musician by night. That was his passion, but he didn’t do it full time. This was before, you know, social media. If he was around now, he was my age now, he’d probably have his own brand. Couldn’t do it in 1985, right? So. Nick McGowan (27:07.182)short. Dre Baldwin (27:08.999)So when I graduated from college, again, division three college, my parents don’t know a ton about sports. My dad’s a big sports fan, so they knew some. They don’t know anything about overseas basketball, but they know division three from division one. I come home from college and they say, what are you gonna do now with your degree? I say, I’m gonna be a professional basketball player. Now mind you, I have no prospects. I have no offers. I have no contracts on the table. My mom’s an educator. So her biggest thing was both of my kids are gonna go to college and get a degree because neither of my parents had their degrees when my sister and I got our degrees. My sister became a college professor just to give you a some comparison and my mom’s an educator, very good educator at that. So I say, I’m going to be a basketball player with no prospects. My mom can’t believe it because I sacrificed all this, her talking, I sacrificed all this for you to get your degree and get your education. And now you say you’re to be a basketball player. It was kind of like I was throwing it all away because again, if it would be one thing, if the New York Knicks were offering me a contract, I wasn’t getting offered anything. So she’s like, well, how are you going to do it? She started asking me. questions that any logical person would answer and there were no answers to the questions. And she essentially was saying, hey, if you don’t have any answers to these questions, well, you need to go, you’re living under our roof. You’re an adult now. You’re still eating food. You’re using the electricity. You need to go get a job. And she was right. Nothing she said was wrong. It wasn’t even highly critical. was just, she was holding a mirror up to me and my dad basically co-signed everything that she was saying. Now that even though she wasn’t wrong, the mirror being held up to me angered me. Not that she said anything specifically that bothered me or that my dad said anything specifically. was just the reality was the reality. So the reality became one of my oppositions. And I’ll tie this in in a moment. The other thing was in college, I didn’t even play my senior year because my junior year after my sophomore year, my junior year, the coach who recruited me got fired. New coach comes in and anybody knows anything about college sports. When a new coach comes into a program, they clean house. The same way that when a new CEO joins a company, some of upper management, middle management gets flushed out, not because you’re not good, but because they want to bring in their own people. I ended up out of the program. So my senior year, I was in school, fully eligible, fully healthy, didn’t play basketball. And this is at a division three school. So again, it’s not like I’m looking at future NBA players when I’m watching games. And that bothered me because in my mind, I knew I was better than the players who were on the team. But at the same time, Nick McGowan (29:11.512)Yeah. Nick McGowan (29:24.188)He Dre Baldwin (29:31.53)I’m objective enough to look at myself. can step outside of myself and look at myself and say, OK, well, you think you’re better than them. But let’s look at the reality. Here they are playing. Here you are not playing. And again, this is the Vision 3 school. So how can you prove you’re better than them? Your eligibility is up. This is before name, image, and likeness. Eligibility is up. They’re on the team. You’re not. How can you prove this? Well, the good thing about back then, there’s no YouTube. There’s only one level to go after college in sports. And that’s the pros. Nick McGowan (29:48.248)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (29:59.422)That story that I told you about how I made it pro and the things I was doing once I made a pro was not just off of talent. It wasn’t just off of intellect or strategy. It was the transmutation of the, if you want to call it disappointment, sadness, anger, embarrassment, frustration of those situations. That was the gas in the tank. I needed to prove for posterity sake that my career was not going to be ended by this coach and no, none of these players are going to be able to say that they outdid me. And also Nick McGowan (30:12.163)you Dre Baldwin (30:28.017)my parents, I wasn’t angry at them. They didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t stop me. But the fact that they held up the mirror, they were the messenger. You know, sometimes you sometimes you to kill the messenger. I didn’t kill my parents, but they were the messenger. And I took it out on I didn’t I wasn’t angry at them personally. But I took that energy from both of those situations. And that was no the gas in the tank to get me from Philadelphia to Orlando. That’s a good metaphor right there. That’s right. So that’s that was a big part of what I did. I don’t even remember what your question was. Nick McGowan (30:37.07)Sure. Nick McGowan (30:51.154)Literally. Nick McGowan (30:57.646)It’s all good. Sometimes that’s the best. You’re like, I’m riffing in this direction. Because like you’d said, this this reminds you of some other things, you know, I think it’s interesting how, look, there are different conversations that have been had in so many circles, everybody’s had this sort of conversation, don’t let people shit on your dreams, don’t let people tell you not to blah, blah, blah. And I think a lot of that conversation misses the fucking mark in a big way, because there’s no context to it. Like your mom is an educator. seems to be a logical person asking you logical questions. You interpret it in some sort of way where part of it was like, see it, but fuck you. But I also see what you’re saying. And I’m gonna go this route and I’m gonna go do this thing. And then there are specifically people that are like, no, you don’t wanna do that. This is gonna happen and it’s all gonna be terrible. Cause their fear and all that sort of stuff. There’s a level of discernment that you can sometimes not have the ability to have. because you trust those people so much. And that’s where I think some of the conversation is like, don’t let your family shit out of your dreams, blah, blah. Yes, and still give more to it. If somebody’s trying to love on you and they have their own things, it’s on us to not interpret it in such a way, but it can be really hard when you go, it’s my mom, it’s my whoever, it’s this person. But some of those things will also move us in a beautiful direction. Like I think back to high school and bring this up at different times. Where do you remember being in like 11th grade with like, we’re going to sit you down. We’re going to talk about what college you want to go to, what things you want to do. So next year we can start ramping and doing all these things. Well, when I sat down with the counselor, she was like, all right, well, you’re a musician and an art kid. Like I was one of those kids that if I didn’t want to be in class, I’d be like, I got a project. They’d be like, fuck off. And I’d go and live in the art room. And this counselor was literally like, well, we can get you into music school or art school, but you’re probably not going to make any money. So what do you want to do? And I checked out. I was like, well, don’t want to fucking be here and talk to you because you just told me I’m going to be a starving artist. So fuck that. I ended up getting into a multi-level marketing company like six months later and you learn so much from that shit. And there’s things that I think some people learn manipulation. Other people learn how to actually be better versions in themselves. And some people use it as stepping stone and all that. Like you and I both did that where we didn’t do network marketing forever. Nick McGowan (33:23.936)It was a stepping stone that opened up a whole new world. But then later on in life, you start to see how systems work and how different pieces and components work with things. But you made all these different choices without letting people affect the way that you went about them while still taking some of the consideration of it. And I’m pointing it out in that sort of way, because as I said to you, even off air, the idea is for people to get something from this where they go, huh, maybe I need to think about this a little differently. And somebody roughly our age or even in their late thirties or early fifties or whatever, you’ve been through enough of a career and have enough of a body of work in a sense where then you can look back and you can see patterns of things. What do I like? What do I not like? What do I actually want? Those are really fucking tough questions for people to ask because then they go, well, what if I don’t want my family? What if I don’t want this job that I’ve been here for 25 years? Or what if I want to do something totally different? Dre Baldwin (34:13.513)Hmm. Nick McGowan (34:22.688)And there’s a balance to that. Like, there are people that are like, fuck it, I was a lawyer one day and next thing you know, I’m painting and that’s it. There’s context there. There’s many conversations they’ve had in their own head. So what does that look like with the work that you do now, specifically with different people that are progressing through their life and having those conversations or maybe shying even away from those conversations within themselves? Dre Baldwin (34:48.969)It’s a great question because a lot of times these days, mostly working with professionals, entrepreneurs, high performers, these people usually come to you with a high performer level surface level issue, usually based around money and or the things they need to do to make money, more marketing, better clients, transitioning, quitting my job, starting a business, et cetera. So to get to the actual issue, that is an issue. Yes, they do want to make more money. Yes, they do need better clients and they want to sell this course or whatever it is they’re doing. But to get to the actual issue, you really have to find out who’s the person behind the issue. Who’s the person behind the problem? And noticing their patterns, noticing their mental blocks. Sometimes the mental block is they can’t see themselves charging more money. Sometimes the mental block is I know who pays me the most money. That’s the top 20 % of my clientele, but the bottom 80 % for me to drop them, they’re going to think I’m a jerk. They’re going to think I don’t value them. They may not like me. Nick McGowan (35:35.48)Yeah. Dre Baldwin (35:47.758)They just don’t have the heart to do it. Not drop them, but pass them off to somebody who’s less senior than you and your company. Sometimes that’s the challenge for people. Sometimes the challenge is just moving themselves to do the things that need to be done, the grunt work. And there is no business, no career that does not have grunt work. A lot of people think that there is one, there isn’t one. There is some type of work you have to do no matter what you do for a Sometimes it’s moving themselves to be able to do that. Sometimes when I’m working with people, sometimes it’s professionals, but there’s a personal issue. I’m not spending as much time with my kids as I want to. My wife is not initiating sex as often as she needs to. A single man who just wants to talk to more girls, but he keeps second guessing himself and hesitating and him and in hauling when he sees a girl on the train and by the time he approaches her, the energy is gone because he waited too long. So it’s sometimes just it’s not sometimes, but all the time finding out who the person is. And once we get to that part and we get through the layers of the surface level stuff that they’ve gotten so used to telling people and we get to the personal stuff. And that’s when we can start to make the change because even though that personal stuff, the stuff that people see in the mirror, it’s hard to sell because you can’t count it, measure it, you can’t see it. That’s the main thing most people need. But almost nobody shows up saying, this is what I want. They show up saying, I want the thing on the surface, the thing I can count, measure and check the box for. But the only way to get those resolved is we got to get to who the person is. So you have to show them this, but you got to give them that. So the metaphor I like to use is feeding medicine to a dog. Nick McGowan (36:55.48)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (37:01.24)the Dre Baldwin (37:16.963)You they don’t really need the peanut butter, but they say they want the peanut butter, but you got to hide the medicine inside of it. So you got to get them to understand. Yes, I can help you with the surface level issue. Now that they believe that what we’re going to get to without me even having to say it explicitly, Nick, is we have to figure out who is the person you see in the mirror, because until this person changes, you’re never going to be willing to confidently say that number in the middle of a meeting to get the price that you want for this project. You keep charging about our you need to be charged about the project. Nick McGowan (37:34.838)Mm-hmm. Dre Baldwin (37:44.424)Now you’re accepting $200 an hour. You need to be charging them 100K for the project for six months, but you’re not willing to say that number. So until we fix how you see yourself, I can say the number for you. I can go get the deal, but you can’t get it. You have to say the number. So we got to deal with that part. Not all this other, all these other things are just details is we got to get to who you see in the mirror because who you see in the mirror leads to how you carry yourself energetically. 85 % of communication is nonverbal. So Whatever you see in the mirror is how you carry yourself. Other people pick up on that non-verbally. They respond to it non-verbally. That leads to them saying yes or no for reasons that have nothing to do with what you actually said and nothing to do what they actually said. So whatever reason they gave you is not the real reason. And whatever you think is the reason is not the real reason. But that is the main conversation. Most people don’t understand that. So my job is helping people understand that and understand when you get the non-verbal part right, what you say verbally doesn’t really matter that much. Nick McGowan (38:29.166)You Dre Baldwin (38:41.915)One thing you learn in sales, you can’t say the right thing to the wrong person. You can’t say the wrong thing to the right person. When the energy is right, it doesn’t matter. But most people are so stuck in their heads, especially high performance, because high performance is usually really smart. They have a lot of information, a lot of knowledge. They read a ton of books. They’ve written books. It’s hard to get them to get past the intellectual level to the energetic level. But that’s where everything is happening. Nick McGowan (38:45.912)Yeah. Nick McGowan (38:49.624)Yeah. Nick McGowan (39:05.353)I’m so glad that you got to this point of the energetic level. There are the things that were, yeah, we want the surface thing because we need the surface thing. Just like we want to sell things because really we want to do these other things. Some people, it’s a thing where, I want to sell more because I want a second home or I want a beach house or whatever. That’s an issue in and of itself. If it’s like, I just want to do this to buy this thing where I’m not going to go down that path, but… The reason why I bring that up is I think there are times where we can look at things and say, want this because other people want me to want it. The system of the world tells me I should have this. Like showing up to a meeting in this bad ass car, like if you have a broken down car or something that actually makes sense for you to have, and you enjoy having a 2009 Accord or whatever it is, that shouldn’t dictate the type of level of service that you have. But people will think that they have to put on this facade and the charade. because they’re afraid to be themselves when in most times, as you know, most people don’t know who themselves are. They don’t know who it is that they really want to be or what they want to do. The energetic part of it is so huge, especially in sales. I mean, you and I could shoot the shit on sales forever. I think about the people that I’ve trained over the course of time where they just have such a hard time not reading a script because they can’t embody it. They can’t embody the framework of how to have the conversation to ultimately level the person and fucking just see if you can help. Cause if he can’t get off the phone, if you can, beautiful, continue the conversation. But the bullshitting is not going to help either one of you. But people will go, well, I have to do this. And we do it mostly to ourselves. Like if you think about how many people talk shit to themselves, like, geez, if that was a friend or somebody outside, you would have a restraining order, you know, like you’d be fearing for your life. So getting to that level is really difficult for a lot of people, even the people that do a lot of the work, because it’s asking them to shake the boundaries and the foundation of themselves. And that can be really uncomfortable, especially for high performers that are like, I’ve been doing this at such a high level. Now you’re asking me to go backward. Now we’re asking you to actually adjust the foundation so you go forward from there. I mean, I really appreciate you being on today. Appreciate the wisdom and the insight. Nick McGowan (41:28.056)For those people that are on their path towards self-mastery, be it somebody who’s a performer or somebody who’s an athlete or somebody who’s just really trying to figure out how do they fit within their own little piece of the world, what’s your advice for them on their path towards self-mastery? Dre Baldwin (41:43.546)Biggest thing is for people to get more fully present with themselves. Everybody’s heard the term being fully present. What presence is, is not something that you learn, is not something you add on, is not something you develop. Presence already exists. Presence is what remains when you strip away all the noise, all the excess. So anything that’s coming from your smartphone is noise. Text messages, emails, notifications, any app you can get on, all of it is noise. It’s an added on. It didn’t come with you standard equipment when you were born. Nick McGowan (42:04.078)You Dre Baldwin (42:12.829)Your thoughts about the future is noise because you’re time traveling into the future that didn’t happen. You’re reminiscing on the past is noise because you’re time traveling into the past that already happened. You thinking about something that’s not happening where you are right now in the moment where your feet are is noise because you are not in the place that you are. You’re not grounded in the current moment. Presence is what’s left when you strip away all that excess. The challenge for many people is that presence bothers them because they’re left with the only thing they don’t want to deal with, which is themselves. When you strip everything away, all that’s left is just you dealing with you. And that’s uncomfortable for people. And interestingly enough, a lot of high performers are uncomfortable with themselves. So what we do is we keep adding on more noise. You can listen to another podcast. You can read another book. You can watch another YouTube video. You can go gather more information. You can go give out more information. That all keeps your mind stimulated and occupied so you don’t have to deal with yourself. When you get used to dealing with yourself, you calm down that, as they say, the monkey mind. This is what they talk about in mindfulness or yoga or any type of meditation when you get comfortable being with yourself your signal Internally that you project externally gets ten times stronger and you actually get better results The challenge is you had to deal with the withdrawal symptoms of turning all that stimulus off Doesn’t mean you can’t stimulate doesn’t mean you don’t read talk do your work But you have to be able to turn it off and control it instead of it controlling you the world that we’re in now today Nick these devices have trained us to be controlled. We’re not in control anymore. We’re being controlled. We have to still have a device. I still got a phone. I got two phones on my desk and an iPad and a computer, but I control them. They don’t control me. Exactly. So the thing is you have to learn to control them and turn them off when you want to not be pulled in by the dopamine rush. I think that’s the biggest thing in the world we’re in today, especially for the highly intelligent high performers. Nick McGowan (43:41.806)Mm-hmm. Nick McGowan (44:04.216)Yeah, and that could be fun. Literally in those moments like where you know, like I think about myself at times. I’m an iPad kid in a way. Like I have my video games that I play and I’ll veg out and I kind of work through them are primarily like 2K games, know, NBA and NFL and stuff. But there are times where I can feel like, I’ve just been doing this for a bit. And it’s an actual lift to put the fucking thing down to step up. move out of the energy of watching TV, even if you’re like, look, I’m gonna give myself an hour or two to just veg and whatever. When you feel it, that’s one of those moments where it’s like you have an opportunity to do something with it, because you are really present and you’re aware of yourself enough to go, all right, motherfucker, get up, get out of here, go do something else. That is one of those moments that people that have a hard time sitting with themselves miss those because you don’t see them more often. But when you see it, You can’t not see it. Like I joke about self-awareness at times. Like the more aware you become, the fucking more aware you become. And the more aware you become, the more aware you become. Like you can’t get away from it. And it can be really tough, but I appreciate the work that you’re doing. There’s a lot when people say like, you know, you want to be mindful. Like I hear from times different, different people listening. They’re like, you can’t just mindset your way through life. Like I get it. Listen to the fucking conversations. That’s not what we talk about. It’s not about just. forcing yourself to do a thing that either one of us are saying. It’s about actually taking this and figuring out how does it work into my life? And how do I think about things a little differently? And what do you want to do from there? So Dre, I appreciate you being on today. This has been awesome. I’m sure we could just sit here and just keep talking about things, but it is almost top of the art. Before I let you go, where can people find you and where can they connect with you? Dre Baldwin (45:51.997)They can just go to work on your game.com work on your game.com and anything you need will be found there. Nick McGowan (45:58.262)Awesome. Again, man, I appreciate your time today. Thank you very much. Dre Baldwin (46:01.321)Thanks for having me on Nick, appreciate the conversation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCcqCo4KTqk

In this episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Matt Britton and Christian Muche, Global President and Co-Founder of POSSIBLE, discuss how an industry-defining event is built from scratch. Christian shares how POSSIBLE came out of a gap he saw in the market during COVID, why Miami Beach became the right home for it, and how the conference has grown into something closer to a year-round platform than an annual gathering. They also touch upon what makes sponsorship activations work, how POSSIBLE Connect is reshaping the buyer-seller relationship, and why Christian believes trust is the most valuable currency in business today. Follow Suzy on Twitter: @AskSuzyBizFollow Christian Muche on LinkedInSubscribe to The Speed of Culture on your favorite podcast platform.And if you have a question or suggestions for the show, send us an email at suzy@suzy.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you sleeping on Hyrox? That's a mistake.In this episode, Two-Brain CEO John Franklin and founder Chris Cooper discuss the hottest thing in fitness right now: Hyrox.John, fresh off a race in Miami Beach, had nothing but praise for the event, and Chris Cooper suggests the races give your members a reason to keep training and way to find success and smiles outside the gym.The best part? Hyrox affiliation fees for gyms are low—about US$150 a month—so it's easy to get huge ROI, if you have a plan. No plan? No ROI. Solid plan? Huge ROI is possible.For example, one Two-Brain gym generates $12,500 a month in Hyrox revenue, and another added $100,000 in annual revenue just by setting up two Hyrox training sessions a week.Chris and John dig into the details to help you determine if a Hyrox program is right for your gym, even if you're a CrossFit affiliate. Newsflash: CrossFit gyms don't need to be scared of Hyrox; the program is complementary. Check out this discussion, and if you want to take the next step, "The Complete Guide to Hyrox Affiliation for Gym Owners" is available if you DM Chris Cooper through our Gym Owners United group, linked below.LinksGym Owners UnitedBook a Call0:29 - Why is Hyrox working?4:02 - The opportunity5:48 - Should CrossFit gyms be afraid?8:05 - How to get ROI15:48 - Marketing, selling, retaining

Send us Fan MailC4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children's books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. Season 6 Episode #11 Victoria Pelletier is coming from Miami Beach, Florida (inform, inspire, & transform)You can find Victoria via her website victoria-pelletier.comAbout Victoria's work:  Victoria is a 20+ year Corporate Executive, Board Director, #1 selling author and Professional Public Speaker. Nicknamed the “Turn Around Queen” and the “CEO Whisperer” by former colleagues and employers, Victoria inspires and empowers her team and clients to change mindsets and drive growth in business, leadership and culture. As someone who does not subscribe to the status quo, she is always ready for new challenges becoming one of the youngest Chief Operating Officers at the age of 24, president by 35 and a CEO at age 41.  As a prolific motivational and inspirational speaker, Victoria has delivered keynotes discussing the significance of Whole Human Leadership - being an empathetic and authentic leader, as well as the importance of personal branding and its impact on professional growth; the power of DEI on corporate cultures and building a life of resilience. Victoria, thanks for sharing your many gifts, thanks for empowering the people you serve to develop their best selves, and thanks for being our guest on Life's Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show.TOTD – “It's hard to know whether to laugh or to cry at the human predicament.   Here we are with so much wisdom and tenderness, and  - without even knowing it – we cover it over to protect ourselves from insecurity.   Although we have the potential to experience the freedom of a butterfly, we mysteriously prefer the small and fearful cocoon of ego.”The Places That Scare You by Pema ChodronBuild a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose! In this episode:What was life like growing up?Harmony in you doing you, raising children, empowering staff, building culture, writing books, …how do and did you do it…What is Leadership and how is it changing?  Affect of AI?  Skills needed now and in the future…The Power of ReflectionSelf – Love…the most loving thing you can do…Healthy Resilience…Congrats on your tedx talk…1.8 million views…Your adoptive mother was an inspiration…Begins with anchoring yourself to a goal…Self- Reflection leads to Self- AwarenessPermission to Fail…give yourself time to grieve and thenBooks – The Power of Whole Human Leadership: Managing Modern Workers Toward Purpose and Profit, Influence Unleashed, Unstoppable, The Leadership Transition Guide…The Power of Empathy….Legacy 

We're sharing how to spend four full days enjoying all the best Miami Beach has to offer. We share amazing beachfront properties to stay at, great places to eat, where to get Miami Beach drinks, beautiful rooftop bars, how to enjoy the beach beds and umbrellas, and where to go out dancing for some of that iconic Miami nightlife!We break down the differences between South Beach, Mid-Beach, and North Beach so you can choose the perfect area for your stay, plus hotel recommendations from mid-range gems to luxury oceanfront resorts.Miami Beach hotels we recommend (and stayed at during this trip!) are the Eden Roc Hotel for a bougie oceanfront option and the conveniently located Albion South Beach Hotel for a mid-range option.There is so much more to do in Miami, check out our Viator shop for other things to do in Miami we recommend for more inspo!Find a great flight deal to nearby Miami with Thrifty Traveler Premium, sign up to get flight deals sent straight to your inbox. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription!—---------------------------------------Shop: Trip Itineraries ⁠& ⁠Amazon Storefront ⁠Connect: ⁠YouTube⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠, and ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠and contact us at travelsquadpodcast@gmail.com to submit a question of the week or inquire about guest interviews and advertising. Submit a question of the week or inquire about guest interviews and advertising.Contains affiliate links, thanks for supporting Travel Squad Podcast!

In this episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins sits down with author and historian Gary Clemente for a deep dive into the remarkable life of Nicola Gentile, one of the most influential yet little-known figures in early American organized crime. Click here to find books by mob expert Gary Celemente Gentile was no street thug. Born in Sicily in 1884, he immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and became a roving Mafia diplomat—trusted to mediate disputes among crime families in cities such as New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Kansas City, Pueblo, Chicago, and beyond. Known as Zio Nicola (“Uncle Nick”), Gentile operated as a stabilizing force during the most violent period of Mafia history, including Prohibition and the Castellammarese War. Clemente reveals that Gentile's story survives largely because Gentile broke the ultimate Mafia rule: he wrote memoirs. Those writings—published in Italy in the 1960s—were seized by the FBI and later translated by Clemente's father, Peter Clemente, one of the first Sicilian-born agents assigned to the FBI's elite Top Hoodlum Squad. The episode offers rare insight into those translations and the intelligence value they held for federal investigators. The discussion traces Gentile's interactions with legendary figures such as Carlo Gambino, Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and Vito Genovese, as well as his behind-the-scenes role in shaping the Mafia's modern organizational structure—including the creation of the national Commission. The episode also explores Gentile's personal contradictions: a lifelong criminal who saw himself as an honorable man, a mediator capable of violence, and a romantic who later believed a lover betrayed him to federal authorities. After fleeing the U.S. under indictment, Gentile returned to Sicily, where he later provided intelligence to Allied forces during World War II—another unlikely chapter in an already extraordinary life. Despite being sentenced to death by Mafia leaders for publishing his memoirs, Gentile was spared due to the respect he commanded on both sides of the Atlantic. He died peacefully in Sicily in 1970, leaving behind a story so expansive it feels tailor-made for film. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. [0:00] Hey, all you wiretappers, Gary Jenkins back here in the studio of Gangland Wire. I am a former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective and now turned podcaster and documented filmmaker. We record the mafia, everything we can about the mob. And today I’ve been wanting to do this story, guys, as a man named Nicola Gentile. Did I get that right, Gary? Beautiful. All right. This is Gary Clemente, and Gary’s been on before, or GP Clemente. He’s been on before. His father was Peter Clemente, who was one of the original Sicilian-born FBI agents in the United States and did a lot of translation work with Bellacci. And he’s written, he’s writing books. So we talked about the first book, but tell just a little bit more about it. And guys, I’ll have links to that book. And then tell me a little bit about the two more you have coming out. The first book that I wrote in a series of books about my father’s lengthy FBI career is called Untold Mafia Tales from the FBI Top Hoodlum Squad. [1:04] And it’s about my father’s career in the mafia from 1950 to 1976. And in 1957, he became a part of the Top Hoodlum squad, which is an elite group that J.H. Goober started as part of the Top Hoodlum program. And what happened was in 1957, they had a big mafia conclave meeting in Appalachian, New York. [1:30] And they had about 60 members of the mafia throughout the country, all the bosses that attended this meeting. And it became publicized. The cops were there. They confiscated their identification, their wallets, the money, everything. And it got released into the news. This was a big story. [1:50] So what happened was J. Edgar Hoover at that time had been denying the existence of the mafia for a number of reasons. Probably because he didn’t want to get involved with all of the muck of trying to prosecute these gangland people because he knew that they had a lot of buffers between the bosses and the guys committing the murders. So he knew it was going to be difficult, and it would blemish their conviction record and rate. So he kind of stayed away from it, denied the existence of the mafia, And along comes this Appalachian Conclave meeting. It got released into the news, and everybody was up in arms about this. That’s when Hoover decided to start the Top Hoodland program, because there was absolutely no denial of what was going on here, that there was some sort of vast criminal organization that was highly organized, and he had to do something about it. So in 1957, my father became part of the Top Hoodlum program. [2:54] And in particular, the Top Hoodlum squad in New York City, which is really a hotbed of mafia criminal activity. You couldn’t get any more hotter than what they had. They had five mafia families alone in New York. And the first book was really about how my father confronted Carlo Gambino, how Carlo Gambino became one of his original subjects for him to study and to profile. [3:24] He was ordered to do that, and he was happy to do that. The book is really about him confronting face-to-face with Carlo Gambino, and then afterwards wiretapping him at the Golden Gate Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. He was on the other side of a wall. From Gambino for six weeks. Gambino did not know he was on the other side of the wall wiretapping him with another agent. So that’s what the first book was about. And the second book is about really the backstory of my father’s life before he got into the FBI a little bit. Then his first years in the Bureau, when he was a part of the investigation of the Communist Party and the Workers’, Party and the few offices that he was in, like the Springfield, Illinois office, and also Cleveland. And then he became a part of the New York office. He was still investigating communist activities at the time. And then he became a part of the Top Woodland squad. And his milieu, his wheelhouse, became organized crime and the mafia. So that’s generally what has happened so far. The second book is being released this coming month, and it will We’ll have book two and book three talking about these sorts of things. [4:44] Interesting. Interesting. All right, guys, I’ll have a link to the old book down there in the show notes and look for that new book coming up and we’ll get back together. I’ll get back with Gary after the book comes out sometime and we’ll do another show. And we’re not going to talk about the mafia so much. We’re going to talk about these activities, which I think is interesting, of the FBI against the Social Workers Party and the Communist Party USA because they did a lot of work. When I was growing up, Gary, do you remember I Led Three Lives, the TV show about, his last name was Phil Brick. It was a weekly TV show about an undercover FBI agent who supposedly was working as a member of the Communist Party. He would go to these meetings and things like that. Do you remember that? I Led Three Lives. I do remember that. That show goes way, way back. What year was that show? Oh, that had to be 1953, 54. I had to be like 9, 10 years old, 55. I was 10 years old, so it probably may be 1955. I do remember the show. I think I’ve seen reruns of it. Yeah, I bet it’s on YouTube. I have to look that up for fun one of these days. [5:52] Issue Machine’s show back then, we will talk about this later on at another time as regards to the second book. Back in the 1950s, J. Edgar Hoover’s main enemy was the Communist Party. It wasn’t organized crime. That was his top focus. He wrote a book called Masters of Deceit. And people, I think everybody, they should have this book in public school system, but they don’t want to do that today. Today’s public school system, they try to inculcate youngsters in more social activities and social warriors and not learning about the perils of Marxism and communism. [6:33] Okay, today we’re going to talk about Nicola Gentile. Now, 1903, he was a Sicilian immigrant that came to the United States, and he found a lot of opportunity among the other Sicilian immigrants because he was a blackhander, if you will, when he first got here. He was a criminal who came over from Sicily, but he was able to move among all the different families, all the different cities, and settle disputes and help people get organized and do things like that. Gary, start telling us a little bit about what you remember about Nicola Gentile. First of all, I want to tell people that Nicola Gentile was an uber jovelace. He was jovelace on steroids. Somebody later on in his life, toward the end of his life, he wrote his memoirs down. This was in 1963. So what happened was he published his memoirs in Italy. He had a co-author, he had another journalist write these memoirs down in Sicilia. [7:36] These memoirs were then grabbed by the FBI and they were given to my father. My father had the papers written in Sicilian. And I remember as a boy in 1963, when this happened, my father was sitting at a table translating these memoirs with my grandmother. Now, my grandmother grew up not too far away. My grandmother and my grandfather grew up not too far away from Nicola Gentile. Nicola was born in the town of Siculiana. Try to say that, Gary. [8:14] I give. I said that one real fast. So he’s writing these, translating the memoirs with my Sicilian-speaking grandmother and grandfather. My grandfather spoke, my grandparents, my father spoke Sicilian as well, too. He grew up with that as a little boy. But my grandmother and my grandfather were helping him translate these papers. These are the FBI papers. This is a copy. This is a copy of the FBI photocopy after it got translated. And my father did write some notes here and there. You can see it’s fairly light. The print is fairly light on it. I do have some post-it notes or notations, comments on it. But this is about 185 pages that were translated. And the language is quite formal, I’ll read to you a little bit of the first page What Nicola Gentile wrote as he started off Before you get started there, was that book ever translated? Is that available here in English form like on Amazon as a book you can buy today? I know a lot of people are wondering, can I find that? [9:34] That’s a good question. I haven’t gone that far yet. Okay, all right. I don’t know. I’ll take a look. That is a good question. But this is the translation that my father and my grandparents did. And whether it came out that way in these books that are out now, I don’t know. There are some books that do talk about Nicola Jantili, but I don’t know if there are any English translation books. So this is how the first page of Nicola’s book opens. Siculiana, a small town of Sicily, did not, prior to 1900, offer any opportunity for work or secondary school education for the betterment of life of its youth. [10:22] The greater portion of whom in which there existed the disposition encouraged by the family while still young frequented the shop of an artisan where they struggled to learn a trade, but at the same time often neglecting school so that illiteracy reigned supreme. So that’s the sort of language that Nicola used in it. And it’s quite interesting. It’s a bit formal. He does jump around a bit from his activities from one place to another. He talks a lot about how he knew practically everybody in the mob at that time. He knew people like Luciano. He knew he interacted with Al Capone. He interacted with Vito Genovese. He interacted with Albert the Mad Hatter, Anastasia. These were all the big shots. I’m talking about in the 1920s through the 1930s and all the way after. If you remember that in the 1920s, the 1919 prohibition happened, okay? That’s what really blew up out of everything, the prestige, the money, and the power of the mafia. That’s how it grew because of prohibition. and they were able to bootleg liquor, and Nikola was indeed a part of this. [11:51] He traveled around a lot. Now, what was the deal with that? He was in New York. I think that was his base, and that’s where he got started, but he traveled to, I think, New Orleans, or did he come up from New Orleans? I can’t remember. He was in Kansas City. He was in Cleveland. He was in Pueblo, Colorado. He made some connections. There’s a really old, early family in Pueblo, Colorado. I’ve talked to a descendant of that family, and I’ve talked to another author that knew quite a little bit about it so he traveled around to these different families what was the story with that, For whatever reason, he was a robing ambassador and a mediator. Look, you’re talking about organized crime. You’re talking about the mafia. You’re talking about vicious people who had one thing and one thing only in mind. What was it? Duh, money. Money and power. Because of that, you’re going to have disputes. You’re going to have arguments. You’re going to have people being killed as a result of it. And Gentile was the sort of individual that, think of Nicola Gentile as a Vida Colleone. [12:59] Think of him as a godfather figure. Very wise, understanding how to mediate the disputes, realizing that, as everybody else did, that if we do not mediate these disputes, what will happen? We will be at each other’s throats like animals. Yeah. And our organization cannot exist. Our universe, our world cannot exist if this happens. So we must mediate these disputes. We must have an organizational structure. We must have a boss. We must have an underboss. We must have a consigliere, an advisor, who tells, who gives words of wisdom about how to proceed with business. Whether to take somebody out, how to proceed in such a fashion. So all of that was a part of the world. And it existed for many years, for many decades because of that. [14:01] Now, let me start off a little bit to tell you the beginnings of Nicola so we can lead up to how he got to this position. So he was born in 1884. He came to America at the age of 19 and went to New York. He travels to Kansas City to meet with his brother Vincent, who lived in Topeka, Kansas, not too far away from Kansas City. He started working out in the Santa Fe Railroad, and he became a linen peddler, and he did make some money doing that. He returned to Italy in 1909. He married in 1910 and had a daughter named Maria. Now, in his papers, you really don’t hear anything more about that happening. You don’t hear anything about his wife, children, nothing. And it isn’t until later on, at the very end of his memoirs, he talks about the women in his life. We’ll get to that later. But so what happened was he returns back from Italy, gets back to America, and he goes to Canada. Then he moves to San Francisco with his brother, and he continues to sell linen until 1914. And it isn’t until he was a year or two later, maybe about the age of 19, 20 or so, he starts getting involved with the Honor Society. [15:27] Now, he knows about the Honor Society from back in Sicily. He’s been well aware of it. He’s been involved with it. At the age of 15, he had been convicted of a crime, and he had been sentenced to jail at the age of 15. So he wasn’t new to the world of organized crime. He knew it from back in Sicily. It’s a very deep fabric of the world of Sicily at that time. Why is that? Because in Sicily, in those years, in the late 1800s, you had either what? You had a sort of a feudal system where people were working for these large landowners, and the landowners were absentee landowners, okay? They delegated authority to people underneath them, and the people working for their land and working on their land were really, for example, a lot of poverty happened because of it. So to bridge that sort of gap with poverty, the Mafia started, in other words, and they called it the Honor Society. These were men of honor. And Nicola Gentile describes it as the, let me see here. [16:39] He describes the honor society, originating many years ago in antiquity, and it gives the right to defend the honor of the weak and to respect human law. With these principles as its guide, it’s still operated within the mafia. So you understand that within the honor society, here’s the code that we must be civilized, even though we’re acting like animals. [17:08] We don’t want to act too much like animals but otherwise we will destroy, the golden goose so this is what they put in the back of their minds we must act in a civilized manner, so that was the understanding of how the outer society worked so he went to New York he went to Brooklyn, and at that time the mafia probably had 2,000 2,000 members of the mafia in New York at that time, between the five families. They call them Bocate families. So he joined the Outer Society in Pittsburgh. [17:49] And soon after, he was asked by Gregorio Conte, the head of the mob boss in Pittsburgh, to do a killing for him. Okay? Now, he doesn’t say whether this was an initiation right, because that’s what they usually did in the mafia. You had to kill somebody in order to be initiated into the mafia, become a member of it. So he was ordered to do a killing, and what happened was he confronted this individual in front of a restaurant. His brother shoots the victim in front of the restaurant. He runs away before Nikola, empties his gun into the guy. Paul runs away. Nicola’s standing there with his gun. People are yelling and screaming, oh my gosh, he did it. He killed this person. Paul is running down the street. He takes his firearm. He shoots it up in the air. [18:45] Scares the crowd away. Nicola runs away. He escapes from that scene. Now, Nicola really has never, throughout his mafia career, he’s never been arrested. It isn’t until later on in his life that he actually does get under the eye of the police and he becomes indicted and will get arrested. So that’s what happens to him later on. But later, during his life in the mob, he does not get arrested in any way, shape, or form. Although he got to Italy, when he goes back to Italy, he was under the scrutiny of the police there and he had been arrested. He gets out on bail, and he was accused of crimes there. So he was pretty slippery. But in terms of what we’re talking about, his mediation skills, little by little, he becomes this sort of individual that people look at as somebody that can mediate their problems and to tamper down the situation that can become very hot. And he became somebody that the other mobsters called, they called him Uncle Nick or Zio Nicola, Zio Cola, Uncle Cola. They saw him as a sort of a vunticular figure. [20:07] That could ameliorate these disputes and these situations that they were involved with. In Kansas City, our mob boss was Nick Savella for a long time, and I was looking over some wiretaps, and people were talking about him, and one of his underlings was talking to another underling about something he was going to take to him, and he called him Zeo the whole time. They always referred to him as Zeo, so that’s a term of honor and respect throughout the mafia world. [20:37] That’s right. As I keep saying, the mafia was able to exist for as long as it did because they had an organizational structure. They had a code of honor that kept them from not acting like wild animals too much. Too much. A lot of these people, you’ve met more than your share of criminals. Gary, you know how many of these people can be. Some of them can be very business-like. Some of them can be very vicious, vicious, sick people too. And the great scarpets of the world that would kill dozens of people. These were psychopaths. You had your whole range. You had your whole range of people. And the fascinating thing about Gentile was that he knew a lot of these individuals. You talked about the Kansas City, the Kansas City entity. Yes, Pueblo, Colorado did have its problems at that time. And somebody had been killed, the Pueblo, Colorado family, and that sort of spilled over into Kansas City. Kansas City was asking to mediate the situation, and it was Chile mediated the situation because of it. [21:57] Chantina became the boss of the Kansas City family. Now, he does not get into this in great depth about what he did in Kansas City at Boston, but it was a temporary thing. He was bopping around from Pittsburgh to Cleveland to Kansas City. He went to New York. He was in Boston. He was far away, San Francisco, Los Angeles. He was all over the place. And he was very well respected. He had a lot to do with what was going on in Chicago with Al Capone. Interestingly enough, Al Capone, at that time, when Gentile encountered him, his family, if you want to call it his crime family, had a lot of international entities in it. It wasn’t an Italian thing. He had a lot of different people from different ethnic backgrounds as a part of his organization. It wasn’t until Nicola comes around and the mafia bosses came around and told him, look, this is what the mafia is like. We’re not an international group here. [23:08] It’s strictly Italian. You want to be a part of it, you need to buy into this. Okay. And that’s indeed what he did, bought into the mafia, marginalize the people that were not Italians. Booted them out and or killed them sometimes and started his own mafia italian thing in chicago which became very very well known as as a bloody place to believe bloody bloody place to be because of the the killings that they had prior to him being a part of the mafia officially there were a tremendous amount of gangland killings as you know in chicago so he had a large part to and he He did keep a lot of those other ethnicities around as players, as people he could use, though. And on into Frank Nitti’s time and on up into current modern times, up into the 50s and 60s, they had several people that were on the periphery would be associates. But I guess he had more organization of Sicilians, it looks to me like, over the years. Yes, yes, he did. What happened eventually was, as Gary, the Castellamareci War erupted in the 1930s. That’s another hard one to say, Castellamareci. Castellamareci. I can say that, Castellamareci. [24:35] Try to say that real fast. So what happened, the Castellamareci War erupted. In June, the boss mazzeria was the boss of bosses. They called him the king. Was the boss of the Capetituticape, the boss of bosses, okay? [24:53] And Mazzaria was wielding a very heavy hand that a lot of the other bosses in the country did not like at that time. And in particular, Maranzano became his chief foe. And he was originally from the Castellammare area of Sicily, okay? and his henchmen, his crew, the men around him were from that area. So they had a big war with the children past Mazaria. They wanted to assume power. A lot of people were dying. They were dropping like flies, especially over in New York. And Nicola Gentile was one of the people that were trying to mediate this situation between Mazaria and Marazano. Originally, Nicola sided with Mazaria, but then the ties changed. In turn, everybody wanted Mazaria dead. All the other bosses wanted him dead, including Capone. Mazaria was eventually executed in, I believe it was 1931. [26:05] And so Salvatore Marzano assumes power, okay? The people that Mazaria had underneath him, And Marisano said, we need to get rid of these guys. So he wound up killing all of the mazzarela boys. So everybody was saying, look, I don’t see any end of this bloodshed. We don’t need this publicity, okay? We need to operate in the shadows, okay? And Carlo Gambino was an expert at doing that. So what happened was the war ended. Marisano took over. He kills the boys. But then after that Marzano, what happens power gets to his head and easily lies the crown of the king, Marzano eventually gets killed by the other bosses and it was Vito Genovese. [27:00] It was Vito Genovese that was ordered to do the hit on Marazano with his crew. And as a result of that, Gary, the other bosses said, look, we need more structure here. There’s too much bloodshed. We can’t have this going on forever and ever. So they created a commission. Now, they did have other commissions before. They did have general assemblies like that. And so they created a commission that included Lucky Luciano, included Al Capone. [27:35] Included Joe Profaggi, included Joe Bananas as part of the commission to settle down, settle things down. Now, I said that originally, when we started that, that they had an Appalachian conclave, right? They had about 60 bosses, 60, 80 bosses there at that conclave. That’s big. Believe it or not, while the big war was going on, Al Capone had a meeting on his dime in Boston, I believe. Guess who was there? I’m sorry, about 500. They had 500 mafia guys there. And there was no publicity about it. Not what happened later on in Appalachian, New York. So here you have, you imagine, 500 mob guys meeting at a hotel in Boston, and it wasn’t covered by the media at that time. But that’s part and parcel of what Nicola was involved with, some of the people he was involved with at that time. So what happens to him later on? What stirs him to write this book? [28:44] What happened was, toward the latter part of his life, he starts to talk about a couple of women that he was involved with. He talks about, I will put all the paperwork so you can actually hear the words that he talks about. He talks about how he met this woman named Maria. [29:08] He meets this woman named Maria, and he really captures his imagination. He doesn’t talk about that he had been married, that he also had a child, too. He had a child named Maria. So he meets this woman named Maria, and she’s really stricken with him. And to the point where she tells him that she’s so smitten with him that I’m going to read what, He tried to pose as a jewelry salesman so that he could meet her. He says, I suspected that you weren’t a jewelry salesman. She says to him, she said, you did. She whispered in my ear, lightly touching my earlobe with her lips. She used to finish by kissing me on the mouth wild with love. There were moments of passion that our bodies would entwine, palpitating with love, and which would later be abandoned with languid reproves. So that’s the sort of language he used. And at one point, he talks about how he liked going to her apartment to visit her when he was feeling edgy. [30:28] You’re a mobster. You feel a little bit edgy. You’re always looking over your shoulder, right? So he was happy to go to her apartment to calm down, and she would talk to him. And she says, Mary was happy to see me. She used to tell me, Nick, that’s how she called me, you are an extraordinary man. You don’t know with what fear and respect those Boers, the Shacatani, speaker view. The Shacatani were the people of Sciacca, Sicily, that were mobsters that he associated with. It says, your name impresses everyone. Any woman alive brought to live among this rabble would be happy to be your co-worker, to wear men’s clothes, and at the necessary time of the occasion should present itself, to embrace a Tommy gun and die in your arm. [31:26] So that’s the sort of romantic verbiage that they used at the time. So what happened, too, was he sees her, then eventually he meets another woman named Dorothy. [31:41] She professes herself to be Irish to begin with, but then he finds out later as she tells him, I’m actually not Irish. I come from a Sicilian family. But she just wanted to impress him somehow to get his eyes. She was very attracted to him, to this woman, Dorothy. What happened was they have a love affair with each other, and Nikola, this is to the very end of his story here, Nikola had been involved with a gambling house in New York, and the gambling house was starting to go underwater. He needed money, so it was proposed to him by another mobster by the name of Jacono to do some narcotic trafficking down in Texas and Louisiana. [32:31] He gets the permission to do so from his bosses. Look, Nicola was still a roving asset, and he had to get permission to do things so that he could acquire enough money for investments, so he can give them money back, so he gets permission to do this. He starts getting involved with the drug trafficking trade in Texas and Louisiana, and he sees that he’s being tailed a lot. He doesn’t understand why. He says, out of nowhere, the police would show up. How did they find out? At the same time, he was trying to contact Dorothy. Before he left, Dorothy asked him. [33:11] Will I be seeing you much? She said, I don’t know. I could be gone six months or a year. She says that she’s so heartbroken about this. And he leaves and he gets involved with the drug trade. And he’s asking these questions about how is it that the cops are showing up at these different places where we are trying to transact business? What happens was he tried to contact Dorothy at different places where she said that she could be contacted. She didn’t get back to him. So he puts two and two together. He thinks that he believes that Dorothy was actually a treasury agent. She had been spying on him, that she was the Mata Hari, so to speak, and was feeding the information to the feds. to where he was. So what happened was they indicted him, got out on bail on $18,000 bail, and he was urged to be a stowaway to get to Italy. So he stows away on a ship, gets back to Italy. And interestingly enough, Gary. [34:23] He starts at World War II erupts, and he becomes an asset to the Allies in Sicily. He’s given them intelligence about what’s happening in Sicily with the mafia in Sicily. And the mafia in Sicily did not want to have anything to do with Mussolini. Mussolini was trying to bag on them big time. He’s trying to shut them down. And Nicola helped the Allies with intelligence reports on what was going on in Sicily. And that was a big part of what he was doing. And then later on, it wasn’t until 1963 or so, and he was still getting involved. He was still getting involved with the mafia at that time, doing criminal activities. But he wasn’t welcomed as much as he had been before. But he was still involved with them. What happened was the 60s came around, and he started writing his memoirs. He was an older man, and he started writing these things down on paper. [35:28] Which is what a mafia member does not do. You do not speak a word, let alone try to write it on paper. Otherwise, it’s a penalty of death. So he wrote all of these memoirs down in 1963. It got published that he was sentenced to death. But one of the mafia families in Sicily refused to do it. They refused to do it because he had a lot of respect. Members of the mafia in the U.S. And also in Sicily respected Gintilian very much because he had this godfather air about him. He had the Vita Corleone air about him. I will talk to you, and I will come up with a solution for you. Everybody’s calmed down by that. They’re not so excited and bloodthirsty when they hear that. They sense him to death. The mafia family in Sicily refused to carry out the hit. The book was published, and he lived the rest of his life in peace. He died peacefully as an old man in Sicily in 1970. Wow, 1970. That’s a hell of a story. That is a hell of a story, man. [36:44] I’m telling you you can make a movie out of this man’s life oh yeah literally the way he was jumping around from one place to the other he was really a maverick rogue sort of individual who is who did not have a higher education about him but was extremely intelligent and was able to use this and that’s what that’s why they respected him a lot of these individuals that he dealt with were boars and uneducated individuals to begin with. Many of them were highly intelligent. And as my dad always told me, his son, these individuals, especially the mob bosses, they could have been tycoons of finance. They could have been industrial tycoons, wizards of finance and economics and Wall Street if they had wanted to, but they did not want to. So they choose a life of crime. [37:40] Interesting. I’ll tell you what, that’s a hell of a story, Gary. That is a really cool story. I’d always wanted to do this guy’s story, mainly because I knew of his Kansas City connection. I talked to our local FBI agent here that has chronicled a lot of these things, got a book out there about those early days, and he’s excited. He’s looking forward to listening to this. So I really appreciate you coming on the show. Gary Clemente, GP Clemente. His father was Peter Clemente, the first Sicilian-born member of the FBI Top Hoodlum Squad. And Gary has been translating his works, is what he did. He wrote down a lot of stuff, and Gary’s been translating. He’s putting it down to a series of books. It’s called, let’s see, it is Untold Mafia Tales from the FBI Top Hoodlum Squad, I believe. I think I can read that on your event there. He does speaking events, too. If you’re back east, you’re from New York City area. Where are you from? Where do you speak at? I originally grew up in New Jersey, not too far from one of the Sopranos guys. [38:47] In New Jersey, my father was working at the New York office at that time and decided to buy a home in the suburbs of New York, not too far away from New York City. So that’s where I grew up. On the right side of the track. If somebody wants to get a hold of you to do a speaking engagement, though, how do they find you? They can get a hold of me at my email, gpclementibooks, gpclementibooks, at gmail.com. And I’m also on X, gpclementi16, I’m also on X. And the book is available on Amazon. You can pick it up there, and it’s doing quite well. I’m looking forward to the next one coming out next month. Yeah, I bet you’re looking forward to that. Yeah, and if you get his book, be sure and give him a review. Give him a good review on whatever review you want to give, but give him a good review. Please. [39:48] Because it helps these guys a lot to get a good review. More people will buy their book. And we, guys, we all want to encourage these mob historians. And Gary has done a real great job at chronicling the history, not just the blood and guts. We all like the blood and guts stories and the murder stories, but the entire history. You were talking about them being out in Pueblo, Colorado, and I just couldn’t figure that out. I just talked to a woman whose ancestors were in Pueblo, Colorado, connected to the mob out there. And she said that what it is, there was lead mines out there, and a lot of Sicilians were miners, and they went to that southern Colorado area to work in the mines. And I know we have a large group of Sicilian populations in southwest Missouri where there were strip mines down there for coal. And it’s a huge family of them down there. And so it’s, you know, where the work was is where people went to, and that’s how they ended up spread around the country. [40:45] That’s right. There were many Sicilians in San Francisco, Louisiana. Believe it or not, when Sicilians were in Louisiana when they first immigrated to Louisiana, there were several of them that had been home because they were looked upon as less than human. And the locals did not want them infiltrating their population. So it didn’t just happen to African-Americans, it also happened to Sicilians. Yeah, I’ve read about that story. So it’s an immigrant experience. Any group of immigrants that comes to the United States at first. [41:25] You know, the greater population, the English and the Irish and the Germans already have the good jobs and they keep them pushed out. And they have a different language, totally different language. And everybody else is speaking English. And so it’s really hard for an immigrant population to move in. That’s why they have to start businesses. And along with them, they brought the mafia. They had brought this tradition of the mafia that is shadow government, if you will, for them. Well, that’s true. And I must add that even though I talk a lot about the mafia and the world of the mafia, the Cosa Nostra, that my father was involved with, My father would be the first to tell you he was not proud of the criminal association and organization that these people started. He was not proud of it in any way. In fact, if you read my first book, you will read the part about how my father confronted Carlo Gambino and told him to his face that he was not proud of what Gambino and his associates were doing. And the bad name that they were bringing upon other Italian and Sicilians that had come to this country, like my grandparents, that work hard and made something of themselves. It’s not something to be proud of. Fascinating, interesting, but it’s not something that I’m certainly not proud of either. But pretty amazing, considering these people could have done something more honest. [42:51] But they chose not to. That’s a whole other story and movie to talk about. Yeah, it is. Gary Clemente, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Thanks so much. You’re welcome. Thank you, Gary. Great being here. Gary to Gary. Gary to Gary, yeah. You know, they don’t name Gary anymore. Gary, little kids, Gary anymore. That was back right after the war in the early 50s. Everybody was named Gary. I had three Garys, I think, in my class. I tell you, I went to this movie with my grandkids. It’s called Zootopia. And they had a character in there called Gary the Snake. [43:27] So that’s what we’ve devolved down to, We’re nothing but snakes, Gary Guys, I really appreciate y’all tuning in And don’t forget to like and subscribe And down in the show notes, I’m going to have links to this stuff And I’ve got links to some of the stuff that I sell My books and DVDs If you want to rent them, I’ve got a link to that You can rent my DVDs for $1.99 So thanks a lot, guys. Okay, Gary, thank you. Hey, thank you, Gary. Thank you very much. Really appreciate that you’re having me on. Really enjoy it. Anything I can do for you, please let me know. Anything I can do. You know that I’ve got your endorsement on the back of the book, right? I didn’t remember. I do so much sometimes, Gary, that I forget all what I do good. Yeah, I’ve got your endorsement on the back of the book. I gave you a good endorsement. All right. The second book, the one that’s coming out, the one that’s coming out, we’ll have the same thing on there. You got some author blurbs? You got enough author blurbs on there? Yeah, yeah. Your endorsement will be on the back of the next book, too. Okay, all right, all right. All right, Gary. Thanks a lot, my friend. Hey, thank you, buddy. Anything in Kansas City. When the other book comes out, I’ll let you know. Yeah, let me know. We’ll do that show here in a couple of months. Okay? Hey, thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right, all right. Stay safe. Okay, buddy. Take care. Bye-bye.

Rover made it back from Miami. Miami Beach is clear of crime. V2V. Porn watching. The man who wrote the opening song to the Lion King is suing a comedian over a joke they made about the song lyrics. Comedian Druski impersonated Erika Kirk. A student newspaper changed their headline after scrutiny. Former Navy Seal. Video evidence of Rover's side eye. A woman is accused of peeing all over the furniture at her Airbnb. In a landmark youth social media addiction case Meta and Google are hit with $6M verdict. The show watches video of AnnieBella69 peeing on furniture at the Airbnb. Videos tweeted out by The White House.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rover made it back from Miami. Miami Beach is clear of crime. V2V. Porn watching. The man who wrote the opening song to the Lion King is suing a comedian over a joke they made about the song lyrics. 

Rover made it back from Miami. Miami Beach is clear of crime. V2V. Porn watching. The man who wrote the opening song to the Lion King is suing a comedian over a joke they made about the song lyrics. Comedian Druski impersonated Erika Kirk. A student newspaper changed their headline after scrutiny. Former Navy Seal. Video evidence of Rover's side eye. A woman is accused of peeing all over the furniture at her Airbnb. In a landmark youth social media addiction case Meta and Google are hit with $6M verdict. The show watches video of AnnieBella69 peeing on furniture at the Airbnb. Videos tweeted out by The White House.

Rover made it back from Miami. Miami Beach is clear of crime. V2V. Porn watching. The man who wrote the opening song to the Lion King is suing a comedian over a joke they made about the song lyrics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Because Miami returns to talk about First Amendment violations and Francis Suarez scandals. First, Army National Guard veteran Raquel Pacheco talks about her Constitutional rights being infringed due to Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner sending a cop to her home because of a social media post he found too mean. And Miami New Times writer Naomi Feinstein talks about the...not one...not two...but THREE scandals that the former mayor of Miami finds himself in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices