Podcasts about ylc

Youth Landscapers Collective (YLC) operate as a youth arts organisation based in the National Forest area of England. They describe themselves as “a collective of young people, artists and technicians who collaborate with our local community to explore this landscape's industrial past and forest future.” In the final episode of the current series of YLC Special Editions, Sophie Hope interviews Youth Landscapers' Producer Rebecca Lee along with members Alfie Ropson and Georgia Harris-Marsh, and board member Jo Wheeler. YLC reflect on their experiences of last year's song-making project, get into the nitty gritty around the youth-led structure of the organisation and discuss future plans.

Youth Landscapers Collective is a youth arts organisation based in the National Forest area of England. We're a collective of young people, artists and technicians who collaborate with our local community to explore this landscape's industrial past and forest future.In this episode we want to give you a sense of how we work together. YLC member Kris Kirkwood has built a sound narrative of our 2024 song-making project, using audio recordings from our sessions - from the seeds of our ideas through to performance. Here's a bit of context about the project, to help set the scene:In 2023, YLC created The Stage of Possibility – a vibrant, democratic space designed, built and curated by YLC to showcase stories and voices from the National Forest at Timber Festival. The project connected us back to the creative and resourceful communities that grew from the former coalpits and pipe works of this area. In 2024 we wanted to strengthen that connection and also perform together on the stage too! We created a set of locally inspired songs, in a project we called: WAYANNAEYINANYONNIT (A Big Story).Working with artists Rebecca Lee and Jesscia Harby and our community we sought out the hidden stories of our local area, finding them in discussions with former mining engineer, pipe worker, and co-founder of Moira Replan Graham Knight, research visits to Moira Furnace Museum and The Magic Attic Community Archive, and sharing our own personal experiences. From Graham we learned stories of injustices small and large in the mine - the disappearance of cakes sent down for overtime workers and the tragic death of a young co-worker in an accident. From Clyde at Magic Attic we learnt local dialect and the definition and pronunciation of our title: WAYANNAEYINANYONNIT. More than anything we responded with heart to what it must have felt like to take part in each of these stories and what it's like to be living here today, many of our houses built over the unfilled mining tunnels.The songs we made and performed share our experience of the National Forest, as the past, present and future overlap, canaries sing, children climb on the lime kilns, new words are shouted, and we make sure we're all alright.

Youth Landscapers Collective (YLC) is a youth arts organisation based in the National Forest area of England. We're a collective of young people, artists and technicians who collaborate with our local community to explore this landscape's industrial past and forest future. Together we make ambitious, creative projects to share at a variety of festivals, events, and online. In the past nine years we've worked with over 50 groups and individuals, including a beekeeper, ex-miners, scouts, Derbyshire's official fungi recorder, potters, photographers, a mushroom grower, narrowboat restorers, museum curators, community archivists, forestry workers, amateur radio enthusiasts, musicians, kiln workers, historians, wildlife recorders, filmmakers, charcoal makers, bird watchers and folk singers. Over that time our youth members have grown in confidence and skills, developing experience and commitment to shape and direct where Youth Landscapers Collective goes next. In this episode we introduce you to who we are and what we do via an online conversation between artist Jo Wheeler, who helped initiate YLC in 2016, and three of our Youth Council members, Alfie Ropson, Isaac Munslow and Kris Kirkwood. Alfie, Isaac and Kris have all been involved with YLC since the early days and now contribute as paid project assistants, artists, technicians and board members.

The #BeyondHAE youth-produced podcast kicks off January 2025 with an exciting series of episodes spotlighting the newest members of the Youth Leadership Council who joined in 2024. Meet Caroline, who was diagnosed with HAE as a young child, and Avery, a dedicated caregiver for her brother. Both joined the YLC in 2024 and are excited to serve as leaders in the HAE community. With new episodes releasing weekly throughout January and February, listeners will get to know these inspiring young leaders and discover what fuels their passion for HAE advocacy. This youth produced podcast is brought to you thanks to the support of the Hereditary Angioedema Association, a patient advocacy organization serving the needs of the HAE patient and caregiver community. To learn more about the HAEA and access our incredible support network, visit, ⁠⁠⁠www.haea.org⁠⁠⁠. Thank you to our sponsor, ⁠KalVista⁠.

In der vierten Episode sind Clara Kallich und Martin Auer von Youth Lead The Change Germany e.V. zu Gast. YLC möchte jungen Menschen die Möglichkeit bieten, unsere Demokratie mitzugestalten. Inspiriert von einer Idee aus Boston sammeln beide hier in Deutschland erste Erfahrungen mit dem Projekt. SIe berichten, welche Hürden sie nehmen mussten aber auch von ersten Erfolgen. Über das aufregende erste große Projekt in Köln erfährst du mehr im Interview! Du willst mehr über YLC wissen? https://ylc-germany.de/ https://www.instagram.com/ylc.germany/ Ein Überblick aller Episoden findest Du hier: https://www.petrakellystiftung.de/de/jung-und-aktiv-podcastreihe

YLC managing editor joins host John Deeks this week to discuss the latest Retirement Affordability Index figures.

Gary Andrews has more than 25 years of media experience and is the managing editor for YourLifeChoices. Gary joins me on the show today to talk about where he sees YLC going in the future. Gary says he wants to take YLC back to its roots, listening to what the readers want and providing them with guidance around complex subjects involved in retirement.

This week our guest is, Jennifer Rodriguez, Youth Law Center Executive Director. YLC is a national public interest law firm that has worked for 4 decades to transform foster care and juvenile justice systems so every child and youth can thrive. Don't forget to follow or subscribe to the Heart of Giving podcast and leave a comment on iTunes. Follow us on Instagram @bbbwisegive and X @wisegiving. 

We put a bow on Cooperative Month with Youth Tourist, Leadership Track student, and YLC representative for Blue Ridge Energy, Haley Dorsey, guest hosting an episode of Unplugged, interviewing CEO, Doug Johnson.

Our guest this episode is Garett Tomasek. Garett describes himself as an “advocate for the disability community, specifically working directly with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities”. In our time together we discussed his involvement and commitment to an international program called Best Buddies. This program promotes especially inclusion for the community of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Even so, what Garett and the Best Buddies family does, of course, directly effects so many outside the community served by Best Buddies.   Garett will spend much of our time together discussing his experiences with raising awareness of disabilities through Best Buddies. Today he chairs the Young Leaders Council for Best Buddies. Clearly as you will see Garett is a leader young or not. He is definitely a fierce and unstoppable advocate and I hope you will enjoy and appreciate what he has to say.   There is more to Garett than his involvement in Best Buddies. I will let him tell you all about his lifestyle and how he lives his absolutely positive life.     About the Guest:   Garett Tomasek advocates for the disability community, specifically working directly with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). He studied Economics at Texas A&M University and works for an insurance company as a Business Analyst. Born and raised in Texas, he lived a traditional life, with one sibling and two loving parents. Living in the South, he had to learn about self-acceptance quickly as he struggled to accept being gay. The social isolation of not knowing who to trust he felt ostracized at times. Feeling different at times allowed him to connect to his peers who have an IDD, as they often shared the idea of just wanting to be accepted.  As a Board of Directors and Chair of the Young Leaders Council (YLC) at Best Buddies International, accessibility has become his driving passion. Best Buddies International “is the world's largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).” The YLC is an international council of participants working collaboratively on special interest initiatives to further the organization's impact. He is a champion for online and event accessibility, educating organizations on the missed economic opportunities when they choose not to have inclusive universal accessible practices.   Ways to connect with Milam:   LinkedIn: Garett Tomasek, link to LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gtomasek/  Instagram: _garett_tomasek, link to Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/_garett_tomasek/   About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes      Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Hi, once again, and welcome to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. I love that anyway, today we get to talk with Garrett Tomasek, who deals a lot with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He's got a degree from Texas a&m University. And I'm not going to give you all the details because it's kind of more fun to hear it from him. So Garrett, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here.   Garrett Tomasek ** 01:48 Well, thank you so much for having me. And it's a pleasure to be here.   Michael Hingson ** 01:52 Well, why don't we start by you telling us maybe just a little bit about you kind of as a younger Garrett going through school, or any of that kind of stuff that you think is relevant and how you got kind of a little bit, at least where you are today.   Garrett Tomasek ** 02:07 Yeah. So I like had mentioned I am a recent graduate of Texas a&m university, I got a BS in economics. I was born and raised in North Houston, Texas, and I have two amazing parents and wonderful sister about four years younger than me. But growing up, I kind of found best buddies in high school. But sophomore year, and a friend had mentioned it to me, and I should kind of come to an event and it was an unbelievable, surreal experience. But growing up, I struggle a lot with my self identity and acceptance of being gay. And that's I think, where I kind of gravitated towards Best Buddies and a sense of wanting this sense of self acceptance. And I really struggled a lot with that. So having society I guess, wanting to accept me, I think gravitated me to best buddies and a sense of relating to other individuals with an ID of just wanting to be accepted. And finding Best Buddies is a fantastic organization just dedicated to inclusion and opportunity. And it's just been a fantastic experience since and I'm currently now a chair of the Young Leaders Council, which is a council of 24 different people across the country and two people from Canada as well. And I'm a board of director for the organization as well.   Michael Hingson ** 03:47 Tell me a little bit more about Best Buddies what it is, and we'd love to know more about how you got how you gravitated to it. But I'd love to learn more about the whole nature of Best Buddies, if you would, please.   Garrett Tomasek ** 03:58 Oh, yeah, it is a really, really cool organization. We are the world's largest organization dedicated to ending that social, physical and economic isolation individuals with an intellectual and developmental disability face or an IDD. We're all across the United States. We're in 43 different countries and we have our four main pillars, friendship, leadership, integrated employment and inclusive living. We started off in our friendship program. That's how we got founded back in 1989. And ever since we've grown to this global mission and just spreading inclusion all over the world and all over the country and it is a fantastic experience. And the three different four different pillars. It's the friendship pillar. So that's basically one to one friendships between a person with and without an IDD. And that can be from college. Each to elementary and we even have citizens and a buddy. So we try to make inclusion on all platforms in all arenas. And we have a leadership development, which is basically our ambassador program, training individuals with an add on how to self advocate, which is very important and honestly a really hard skill to learn of public speaking. And we have integrated employment in forming employers the importance of hiring people with a disability, and honestly the cost savings that they can achieve when hiring a person with an IDD. And our newest program, which is kind of my favorite now, which is inclusive living and it's kind of really conceptualizes all aspects of life. And it allows an individual with an IDD to live independently. So they can have an inclusive life of friends and have a job and now live independently. I'm all aspects that are very important and really, really cool and very impactful.   Michael Hingson ** 06:08 So how does it work? What kinds of things do you do to not only promote a lot more inclusion, and equality? But But how does? How do the programs work? Or what kinds of things do you specifically do?   Garrett Tomasek ** 06:22 So our friendship pillar is mainly in schools. So an example can be like a chapter. So my school that I just graduated from, from Texas a&m, we had a chapter and the way the chapters usually are set up is, at the beginning of the year, the chapter will pair individuals with an add in individuals without an add into a friendship. And they hang out several times a month, the chapter hosts different events. For everyone that is a member to hang out and have fun, they'll do like different dances and stuff. But mainly as a promotion aspect. It's just social media, word of mouth, and everyone just kind of talking about the impact that they have on themselves. Best Buddies has really helped me self discover myself, and really pushed me to be a better person and a better leader. And it's just a fantastic opportunity.   Michael Hingson ** 07:28 What kinds of things do you do in terms of helping, like with employment and so on? I'd love to hear some stories about that.   Garrett Tomasek ** 07:38 Oh, yeah, it's very impactful. So for example, there, I used to work at a grocery store in Texas called HEB. Wonderful grocery store, absolutely love it. And the way the program works with Best Buddies is that we partnered with organizations or companies like HNB. And we kind of go in and we tell them like, Hey, this is our program. These are the opportunities that are there for you. So I'm a person with when you hire a person with an IDD there, have significantly less turnover rate than a person without a disability without an IDD. And we show them other amazing things that the individuals in our program have and the skills that they're able to bring to the job and the individuals in our programs are paired up with a job coach, and the job coach goes to the job site, make sure that they have everything that they need advocates for any resources or support that they may need to be successful in their jobs. But Best Buddies is basically in that aspect, a support system to the person with an IDD so that they can be successful in that job. And over time, they kind of wean off and they kind of add in that support as needed. So that they can be successful and in their hopes and dreams. And we sit down with them and we set out Okay, so here are your goals are what are your goals, and then they go through and they make a path so that they can achieve those goals and set in achievable steps so that they can aspire to whatever they want to do in life.   Michael Hingson ** 09:27 What kind of reactions have you had from employers, not only at the beginning, when you're approaching them and saying, Hey, let's talk about this. But then later when they actually start having employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities, what what changes because I'm assuming things sort of change in their attitudes. Oh,   Garrett Tomasek ** 09:50 significantly. I think it's almost like a company wide cultural shifts, honestly, because, at first I think it's just a stereotype that individual with a disability are not effective, or they can't do the job as successfully as a person without a disability, and showing them that this person can be successful, but not just successful can honestly do the job better than their peers at times and showing that there is a path forward. And it kind of spreads throughout the company. And a lot of times, individuals from those companies will come and volunteer with the organization and other events as well. But it really changes perspective on not just the individuals working directly with our participants at that company, but it spreads throughout the company, and it really makes a cultural change. And it really pushes the importance of diversity and inclusion at the at the workforce.   Michael Hingson ** 10:57 Do you find that people with disabilities, once they get a job and start to work somewhere, tend to stay longer, and don't just go search for the next job?   Garrett Tomasek ** 11:10 Oh, for sure. I have had conversations with many of my friends who have an IDD and may start in a job and they talk about how they don't like it and I tell them that you can leave that is that is an option for you, you don't have to stick there that you can go search for another job that you can go do something else. But a lot of the times they feel so grateful and they enjoy the employer, they may not always enjoy the the hard work and the the mundane tasks at times, but who doesn't. And but they feel very loyal to that employer because that the employer gave them that opportunity, an opportunity that many people don't do and or many employers don't jump out to do that. And so they feel very grateful. And so they don't usually jump around. So they that's why that that really low turnover rate. But it's also very difficult for a person with a disability to get another job, specifically person with an IBD.   Michael Hingson ** 12:14 Well, not just especially it goes across all all lines of disabilities, it certainly has been true for persons with physical disabilities, we do recognize that if a company decides to be willing to hire us, and makes appropriate accommodations, which don't necessarily have to be at all expensive or complicated. But the companies that decide to really include us, we'll discover and do discover that not only can we do the job, but we will stay and oftentimes we can do it better. And that opens up the doors. And so I really liked the way you put that because it has been something that a number of studies have been conducted around. And it's always been the case that people with disabilities who get jobs, recognize how hard it was to get the job in the first place. So we love it. And we're going to be very loyal to the companies who are willing to hire us and bring us on board.   Garrett Tomasek ** 13:16 Oh, for sure. And it's it's really heartwarming, warming to hear and talk to my friends, when they get a job and the level of impact and just the overwhelming of emotions and feelings that they have when they are able to secure that employment so that they can be independent, and they can live the life that they are have just dreamed of. And not the dream that they've not just the life that they dreamed up but a life that they've been told that they can't achieve. And they are proving everyone wrong. And it is it is a really cool thing to hear when my friends are experiencing that.   Michael Hingson ** 14:06 This may not be a really magical question, but it still is worth asking. Do you find that the employers who catch on to this really become some of the strongest advocates on behalf of these employees and others?   Garrett Tomasek ** 14:20 Oh, for sure. Oh, for sure. And it spreads because they talk to their friends, they talk to their clients and they talk to people in their inner circles and it spreads it starts off with one employer and it starts and it spreads from there. i Yes.   Michael Hingson ** 14:38 Yeah. I mean, it's in that's the way it really ought to be that they catch on and then it gets to be a snowball rolling downhill and getting a lot more snow in other words that you get more people who become involved and it's a it's an increasing sort of thing, which is great. What kinds of jobs do you generally find that people are getting or does it go across As the board,   Garrett Tomasek ** 15:01 it honestly kind of really goes across the board. That's what he does a really great job and sitting down one on one with our participants in our jobs program to highlight their excitement, their goals and what they want to do. And we've really tried to align them to that career so that they can be successful and that they enjoy the job that they're doing. So it really kind of goes across the board and that aspect. So for example, I know, a couple of people in the chapter that I was in at a&m That worked at the grocery store, they were a bagger. I have a another friend that was at the information desk on campus, another friend that worked at the George HW Bush Museum and Library. So there's a lot of different opportunities that are available. And it's not just kind of like one job kind of thing.   Michael Hingson ** 16:07 Do you see that some of the people who go to work at a particular place like the George HW Bush Library, or the Information Center, and so on, that there is advancement, do they get promoted?   Garrett Tomasek ** 16:21 You know, that is an area that I think still has a barrier. And I think that is that next step and next arena for organizations, like Best Buddies, or advocates to continue to advocate and to show, hey, this person has been very successful, not just successful, but they are doing their job even more efficiently than the person that they just replaced, that they deserve to be promoted, and they should not be overlooked. It's not always the case that they're overlooked. But I do think that there is some seeing multiple instances in that way. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 16:59 Yeah. And that's, of course, the next major step. And it makes perfect sense. I've seen that happen a lot that Oh, you do really well on this job. And yeah, there are other jobs, and there's a promotion, but we really like you being where you are. And that's, that's an attitude that we really need to be able to break down as well. And, of course, the the reality is that a person has to be able to prove that they can take an advancement. But more often than not, I think people would be surprised if they just if they really gave people the chance that they could go up and do higher level kinds of jobs. It doesn't have to be just one job fits all.   Garrett Tomasek ** 17:44 I completely agree.   Michael Hingson ** 17:47 Well, tell us more about you. Well, before we do that, well, let's do that. Tell us more about you. So you got involved in Best Buddies in high school, you said right. How did you actually first discover them?   Garrett Tomasek ** 18:00 So I had a friend back in, I think it was my sophomore year of high school. And she had mentioned, hey, you should come check out best buddies. She didn't do a great job on selling it, honestly, she just kind of said, Come on. It's basically just a group of friends hanging out. And I was like, Well, I really involved in all these other organizations. And I don't know if I really have time right now. And so I kind of pushed it off the can down the road. And eventually, I went to my first event and it was a Valentine's Day dance. And it was like I stepped into a portal into another world, and you stepped into the room. And you just felt this overwhelming feeling of joy, as it was a party celebrating acceptance, inclusion. And it's still something today that I struggle with, to put into words how impactful that that moment was on me. And after that event, I was hooked. And I joined the club and became heavily involved and just ran up the leadership pole as high as I can and got involved as much as I could and just trying to spread that mission and showing the possibilities that are within Best Buddies. And it was still, like I said, such an impactful event that really just changed my life.   Michael Hingson ** 19:36 So it's all volunteer program for you. Yes, yeah. So you and you said you're part of the Young Leaders Council now.   Garrett Tomasek ** 19:48 Yes. So after I got involved after that one event, I ended up being the the vice president of the chapter by that next year. At the beginning that night. next year and the year after that I became chapter president. That was during my senior year of high school, I started, Amr founded about nine different chapters in my area, a couple of different elementary, middle school and high school chapters, and won a couple of awards for my chapter, I want a couple of when won an award for chapter president and I was encouraged by the staff in Texas to apply for the Young Leaders Council. And that's where I currently preside over and the Young Leaders Council is basically a council of different participants in the organization. And our job is basically to advocate the participant perspective to the staff, who run best buddies on a daily basis and show them hey, this is what's rockin and rolling. And this is some areas that we could look further into. And we work a lot on special interests, so building different resources, doing little mini studies, and really kind of further developing the skills of the individuals on the council so that they can be more effective leaders in their communities. And when they go on past Best Buddies, or past the council, that they can make a stronger impact, whether that's at their job or other organizations as well.   Michael Hingson ** 21:30 What are some of the major disabilities that you encounter and Best Buddies?   Garrett Tomasek ** 21:34 Um, it's a wide range, zero palsy, Down syndrome. It's, it's a good wide range   Michael Hingson ** 21:44 of autism. Oh, yeah. So do you ever find or get involved with or advocate for any of the people with disabilities getting service animals to assist them? Do you ever have any involvement in that, um,   Garrett Tomasek ** 22:00 I don't have any involvement in that I don't actually know too many people that have a service animal that's in Best Buddies, I think I've met maybe one or two, and they had a vision or hearing disability. But those were the only two people that I knew. And that was mainly I believe, I met them at our annual leadership conference. And that's a really cool experience that one is, once a year, it's at Indiana University. It's basically representative from just about every chapter across the globe coming together for a long weekend. And those are the only two people that I've kind of met, I asked   Michael Hingson ** 22:40 the question only because I've been to places like Canine Companions for Independence, which is a school started up in Santa Rosa, California, but they have several campuses now. And among other things, they have trained service dogs to deal with people with autism and other kinds of disabilities. So it was just more of a curiosity as to whether you had encountered a lot of that. And of course, the reality is that most people, no matter what the so called disability is, don't use a service animal, even with with guide dogs. Um, I think it's probably well, it's less than 10%. I think there are about 10,000 guide dog users in the United States. And there are a whole lot more blind people than that, but it was a question I was just kind of curious about. But it is a, it is an issue that, that sometimes people find animals can really help them a lot, which, which is a good thing. But again, it takes a fair amount to want to have that responsibility. And oftentimes, the person with a disability can't necessarily handle the service animal on their own. So oftentimes, I think, with a number of the intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities that that people have, when they train with an animal, somebody else who is going to be the person who will be with them, will also be involved in learning to use the dog and may actually do some of the actual dog handling with him for the person. So it's, it's, it's a process all the way around. That is really cool.   Garrett Tomasek ** 24:19 Yeah, um, I know, at least at the my university, we had a pretty big program where students would train guide dogs, and that was really cool. We soon raised the puppies. Yeah. But they were they were already pretty fully grown, or at least they look fully grown. And they were mainly training them on campus who go on and off buses and it was always really cool. Seeing them go around campus and stuff, but, um, but I know that was a really big program at my university.   Michael Hingson ** 24:54 Yeah, I call them puppies because the until they actually go back to the school do the training. They're considered in the hands of puppy raisers. And oh, technically, you could have a 15 month old puppy. Well, I have a seven year old guy dog who thinks he's a puppy. But it is. But yeah, I've seen some colleges do that several years ago, I had the opportunity to go speak at Hartwick College in New York. And they have a, what they call it a puppy club on campus, from one of the guide dog schools, and they had several dogs on campus. And the school really accepted them, then the the job of the students who were involved was to raise the dogs to teach them basic skills. But what it also meant was when it came time for finals, anyone who needed a dog fix to calm down and be a little bit more ready for finals could have a dog visit their room and spend some time with them. So the dogs earn their own keep. Now, nothing like having a dog to help out when you're getting ready for final I guess, I had my own dog. So I was spoiled in that regard. Well, you we found you or I found you through Sheldon Lewis. And I guess that's is it best buddies that uses AccessiBe   26:12 we are in the process of furthering our partner with you guys. And one of the steps was to really kind of further our conversations and learn more about the impact with accessiBE. In fact, I actually had an internship with the insurance company over the summer, and actually pitch so at the in the summer, we had a pitch a product. And I wanted to do something with accessibility. And our team focused a lot with the digital aspects of our company. And so I discovered you guys, and I was like, look at this amazing company. And so I pitched to them, and they absolutely loved it. I don't know where that how that process ended up going. But as for specifically with Best Buddies, we are in the process of further strengthening our relationship with accessiBe.   Michael Hingson ** 27:06 Well, that's, that's cool. So what do you do now so that you have an income to be able to support your best buddies habit?   Garrett Tomasek ** 27:13 There you go. So currently, I will. So the this past semester, I actually had three jobs. I was at the information desk on campus, it was like a student center. And I helped train different student workers was a job coach for a program for specifically for individuals with an IUD so they can get a higher education and a job at the end of four years. And I was also an undergrad teaching assistant. But post graduation, I'll be working for that same insurance company that I internship over the summer. But as a business analyst, I believe my specific title is going to be associate product specialists. So I kind of like the title product specialists is kind of kind of cool.   Michael Hingson ** 28:01 Uh huh. So you work for an insurance company now? Yes. And what do you do? Um,   Garrett Tomasek ** 28:10 so we basically, um, I guess the best way to explain it is like we're a project management team. So we kind of work with engineers to make our websites legal to make sure our websites are up to code up to standards, and we work with advisors to make sure the resources or the documents on there are accessible to them, how we can improve that for them. And are they honestly being used? We look at the data analytics as well into that,   Michael Hingson ** 28:46 not to try to cause any grief or anything but how does the insurance industry deal with or view persons with developmental or intellectual disabilities years ago, we had major problems with insurance companies when it came to insuring say blind people or other persons with physical disabilities. And it turns out that the insurance companies were erroneously assuming that we were a higher risk. And I suspect that probably intellectual and developmental disabilities fall under the the legislation that has passed but just curious, is that ever been an issue in the insurance world to your knowledge?   Garrett Tomasek ** 29:25 I'm not to my knowledge. I can't speak on that. There is a lot of work to be done, just like in any area, but the specifically what I did over the summer, when I was working on my specific project, I worked a lot with advisors and I worked with a couple of specific advisors that have a vision disability, and how they told me the multiple loops and things means that they had to do just so that they can effectively read a document that they needed to do, so that they can be successful. And it was, when I had, I had multiple meetings with with them. And after I spoke with them, they were really high performers for the company. And they were still having to jump through all these hoops. So if we were able to make the process of, Hey, these are documents easier to them, for them to read and to understand, then they can spend more time on growing their business and growing the overall company. So that was a a unique and really cool experience for myself to learn more about the their life and the struggles that they go through, and so that I could be an advocate at corporate for them and advocate for better and more accessible tools and things for them.   Michael Hingson ** 31:04 I think the big challenge that we all tend to face is that companies in general haven't recognized that it's reasonable to say that part of the cost of doing business is providing full inclusion. You're right, there are documents that oftentimes are not prepared in a way that make them accessible. Oftentimes, there are meetings and documents aren't provided in advance so that people can research them. And the reality is, if companies would never do handouts at meetings, but provide them even a few hours in advance, it would be much better because if you hand out a document at a meeting, people have to read the document in order to talk about it, rather than giving people the documents and then saying your we'll talk about this at the meeting and then really being able to deal with it. So there's an advantage of doing that. But it goes even deeper, you know, people have coffee machines and other things at job sites that aren't accessible, because they're touchscreens, and things like that. And so the result is that some of us don't have access to it. Yet, we provide lights so that all of you sighted people can get around in the dark or we provide other kinds of things. We provide computer monitors, but people have had problems even getting access to screen reading software. The reality is that inclusion should be part of the cost of doing business. And it's so hard to get people to break down that barrier in their own mind. Oh for short,   Garrett Tomasek ** 32:44 and that's basically the curb cut effect. That's the idea that literally the cut in the curb for that ramp when you are out in public and different shopping centers and you have the concrete ramp up to the store. Not just individuals with a physical disability utilize that the a mom pushing their child in a stroller or dad pushing their child in a stroller or the the mailman with all these packages rolling up on that ramp that it makes society more efficient that these things that are, quote unquote accommodating for individuals with a disability really make everyone's life easier. And it's a beneficial to everyone, just like how you were saying.   Michael Hingson ** 33:35 Yeah, and one of the ones that amazes me the most. And I'm actually about to start on an adventure. So my attitude may upgrade. But one of the things that amazes me is that we have Android phones and iPhones very smart phones that to one degree or another and mostly talk. But I don't see Apple for example, really promoting voiceover, the whole screen reader process as a powerful tool for drivers in vehicles to make a lot more of what a driver normally would look at a screen to see rather than using a phone that talks and letting things come through verbally so that they can keep their eyes more on the road. Now having said that, my adventure is my wife passed away this past November and we and she was in a wheelchair she's been in chair her whole life and we had a 2017 van that was modified for her and we just sold that vehicle to to someone to actually to the company who originally provided it to us. But for me not being a driver which is okay because I think most people don't do a very good job of driving from my observations are but be that as it may be I need to get a car so that if I need to get around, I don't have to use somebody else's vehicle, they can drive my vehicle and we don't do wear and tear on their car. And I'm looking at getting new cars, a new vehicle, and it will be a whole lot less expensive than the wheelchair van was. And I'll be interested to see if in like 2023 vehicles, voices have been and voice technology has been integrated more into the driver experience. And I don't know the answer to that. But I was looking at a couple of vehicles this morning. And they say they've got voice recognition and other things. But I'd be curious to see if the voice output process has become a little bit more sophisticated. But my impression is, at least I don't hear anybody talking about it, that not a lot has been done. To eliminate a drivers need to look at screens rather than using voice.   Garrett Tomasek ** 35:53 That is a really interesting observation. But first, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, I can't imagine.   Michael Hingson ** 36:02 But she's still around. And if I don't behave, she's gonna beat me up. So I'm.   Garrett Tomasek ** 36:08 But that is a really cool observation. I haven't ever really thought about that. But I've really thought about the self automated self driving vehicles and how that's really going to transform the landscape, they have a long way to go to make sure that the safety aspects are all there. But that's really going to really transform so many lives. And it's really going to level out a lot of the playing field when it comes to opportunities.   Michael Hingson ** 36:37 Well, in so many ways, right? Because if you truly have good operating safe, autonomous vehicles, the accident rates going to go way down. And yes, it's going to help for people like me, if I want to just go out and get in the car and go somewhere, assuming again, the interfaces and the technology is there that allows me to do it, to be able to say, I want to go to the Costco and Victorville or be able to do that in some way. And that the technology is there to really let be input that. And that's of course, part of the whole issue. If you get a Tesla vehicle, everything is touchscreen. And of course, they would say, well, we can do that, because there's so much of the vehicle keeping in its own lane and monitoring itself that it that you can have the time to do that. And my response is balderdash. Because the reality is, you're still looking at the screen, rather than keeping your eye on the road part of the time. And as a passenger, I can't ever operate even a radio in a Tesla, because it's all touchscreen. And it shouldn't be that way because that clearly isn't very inclusive. No, it's   Garrett Tomasek ** 37:45 not. No, it's not. But I'm, I'm optimistic. I'm very hopeful that as the technology advances for those automated vehicles that the car industries or Apple or phone industries really see that there's a lot of opportunity for them that they are missing out on to make that technology more inclusive and available to all individuals no matter their ability. And I'm, I'm optimistic I think that if Apple or Android or Tesla or Ford, whoever it may be doesn't make that I'm sure some engineer or entrepreneur will come along and see that opportunity and make that.   Michael Hingson ** 38:38 Well, the issue is that the technology is available to do all of that today. The problem is, the problem is selling both the manufacturers and to some degree the public on it. But I think that if people really start to look at it, they're going to recognize how much greater a good experience a good driver experience it will create. And a much safer driver experience. I'm all in favor of autonomous vehicles, I really liked what Tesla's doing in a lot of different ways. And I think that overall, they they do start to make driving safer, but they're still missing out on a lot of stuff. And it isn't just the driver experience that we have to take into account. It's the passenger experience as well. But I agree with you, and I'm very hopeful that over time, we will find that people will, in reality, do the things that will truly make a driving experience and a passenger experience not only more enjoyable but safer. And the way to do that is to make sure that everybody has access. So it's a it's a process and it is a mindset shift all the way around. And that's really what it comes down to. So it's something that we'll have to hopefully see happen and I have faith that people overall have common sense. So you know, I think We'll, we'll see how that goes. I think that's the best thing. So, as an advocate, what's, what are some of the challenges? Or what's the biggest challenge that you face? And dealing with being an advocate? And how do you deal with it?   Garrett Tomasek ** 40:17 I'm educating others, and showing them the importance of inclusivity of accessibility. And it's very easy to discuss these conversations with groups of individuals who are exposed or have direct relationships with individuals with a disability, it comes very difficult to individuals who don't have those relationships or and it's often very difficult to get through to educate them on that importance, and why it's important, and a lot of people are very knee driven. And it's kind of like, well, I don't need that. So why do I need to focus on it, and it's, you got to find and change your argument, depending on who you're discussing with and what their individualize, I guess, priorities or view on life. So I guess the biggest difficulty is changing your argument, so that you're able to get the advocacy or the goal accomplished, it may not be the perfect packaged message that you would have liked it to be packaged up as, but the goal is to get the move that needle to further improve access, improve accessibility, because if there's not access inclusion can't exist. And that's, that's the goal is to have universal access as much as we can. So that's really the difficulty is knowing your audience and really knowing how to best package that message.   Michael Hingson ** 42:14 What is a typical roadblock that you find and face when you're talking with someone about say hiring a person with an intellectual or developmental disability? What's What's the barrier that comes up,   Garrett Tomasek ** 42:27 um, I think just predispose ideas, that person with a disability can't be successful in that role. And it's not just the individuals who aren't exposed or have relationships with other people with a disability or person with an IDD. But even parents, at times, have very similar parents with a child with an IDD have very similar ideas and thoughts because they were told one thing, they were told that their child can't do certain things. But organizations such as excessive FBI or Best Buddies is changing that narrative and changing the landscape and literally pulling opportunities out of thin air. And it's, it's, um, yeah, it's just it's   Michael Hingson ** 43:23 how do you break down the barrier? What do you say that causes an aha moment and gets the person to realize, maybe I had it wrong.   Garrett Tomasek ** 43:31 I think just having that genuine conversation, making sure you're not accusing anyone and making sure you are being as direct but open as possible and letting them know that they can ask any questions that they that they would like to ask that and letting them know that you may not message your question, the most appropriate way. But this is a safe space, and I'm here to help educate you on how to best talk about different identities or different groups. What is the most appropriate way of talking about a person with a disability or a person with an IDD and how to best package that I think a lot of people aren't aware of that. And so they are nervous in that area. And so they just kind of avoid it at times at all costs, so that they don't have to approach those things. But I think in forming individuals with who are able bodied, that the conversation that I'm having with them is a safe space that I'm here to educate them and I'm here to support them so that they can be more inclusive and have more accessible practices, and that they can be an advocate for others that them also understand Anything that this is not inclusion and accessibility is not a one man's fight. This is a collective group that we need everyone and as many people as possible because we have to work together to make that change to change the world to change our countries to change our communities. And we need numbers, and we have to, we need everyone on board or as many people as we can on board.   Michael Hingson ** 45:26 Have you faced discrimination in your own life for any reasons?   Garrett Tomasek ** 45:30 Um, I don't think I have personally but I have seen others who have, and it's very difficult to, to witness that. And it's hard as a friend to, to be there for that person. Because I don't know what that's like, I don't know how they're feeling. But I am here, I'm here to support them. And I'm here to help them in, get them through that situation. And it's, unfortunately, there aren't a lot of resources or support in our societies to defend against that, or the ones that are that are there, it's very difficult to do that. Or to penalize the people who are discriminating. But I personally, I don't believe I have, but I do know, I do have friends who have?   Michael Hingson ** 46:26 Well, I asked the question in, in part, because you said earlier that you were gay, and I didn't know whether you had ever faced any discrimination or whether that's ever come up for you? And I'm glad it hasn't. It shouldn't. But people are people, right. And so we always have challenges.   Garrett Tomasek ** 46:44 Oh, yeah. And that is part of who I am. And that is something that I have struggled with. But I have the opportunity and the ability to camouflage and society, I can dress a certain way. And I can act a certain way. And it makes it more difficult for people to I guess I label me and I guess discriminate against me. But that also is not truly authentic to who I am. And so I have that struggle on a daily basis. And that's something that I, I have to Yeah, I have to face daily at times. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 47:31 it's too bad that you even have to think about it, right? Because you are who you are. And there shouldn't be a problem with that. And unfortunately, all too often, all too many people do think it's a problem. And it's it's so unfortunate that we tend to be so judgmental at times.   Garrett Tomasek ** 47:51 Oh, for sure. And it was a growing up in the south and south of us that we have a very strong relation to religion, and I'm a big promoter of religion, I think it really helps people make meaning of things that don't really make sense. So I really, I think, I promote religion. I've really liked it. But I think it at times has hindered people from being who they truly are. And it's prevented me like you had said that I have to kind of second guess, the environments. I go into how I'm dressing how I act, how I talk. And it's it's frustrating at times, but I'm, I'm so fortunate to be in this situation I am because I do have that option. I do have that way that I guess that backdoor exit at times and not everyone has that, unfortunately. So.   Michael Hingson ** 49:05 Yeah. Well, I too, have a very deep belief in God and so on. And I believe in Christianity, but I also know that it's amazing how many people decide to be judgmental, which goes absolutely against the teachings of Jesus and it it doesn't matter what the Bible says about being gay or whatever word you want to use or not. The issue is it's still a relationship between you and God and it's not up to us to judge that and that's where the problem comes in.   Garrett Tomasek ** 49:42 Oh, for sure. And that's, um, I grew up a Lutheran all my life I went through confirmation and it because of certain groups and certain people at times and certain judge judgmental people. but it's really affected my faith, it's it's affected my belief and religion and and it's affected my relationship with the church or with God. And I'm and it's just because of a couple of collective people unfortunately.   Michael Hingson ** 50:17 Well, the reality, of course is to really look at it, there are two different things, there's a relationship with the church, and then it's a relationship with God. And the church is really composed of people. They can say what they want, but there are so many times that the relationship with God becomes affected by the judgmental pneus of people, which is, which is too bad? Yeah. Well, if you were to give some advice to somebody starting out in the whole world of nonprofits, and so what kind of advice would you give to somebody starting out? And what would you suggest that they do? How would you help them move along in the process?   Garrett Tomasek ** 51:00 You know, I always hear this, and it's maybe a cliche at this point, but write your y down and hold on to it revisit to it as much as you can. advocacy work is not easy. It's not designed to be easy. That's why you're here. There's a reason why you're here. There's a reason why you're advocating for a specific reason or specific mission. But your y will be your anchor at times. And it's oftentimes your last barrier, keeping you in the fight, you will get exhausted. Like I said, it's not easy, but we need you the mission that you were fighting for, or that you were advocating for, needs you. And without you. We can't make a difference. It's a collective change. It can no one individual can can make that that change. So it's a collective group and knowing your why and staying true to your why helps fuel your abilities of making that change and advocating for others and creating more inclusive, accessible environments.   Michael Hingson ** 52:18 I have been in the position of being a strong advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities for many years, I joined the National Federation of the Blind in 1972. And my story, in a sense is really similar to yours. When I was first approached, I had absolutely no interest in doing it. And finally, they kept calling and calling and I went to a meeting. And it took several meetings before I decided, well, maybe there's something to be said for this. And I became involved with I've been doing it ever since. But you know, there are a lot of people who say, Well, I'm not really a fighter I support but I'm not really a fighter. What do you say to people like that?   Garrett Tomasek ** 52:59 Well, I think I'm I agree, I don't I think fighting at times can come off very aggressive. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 53:06 And I don't mean fighting in this. Yeah.   Garrett Tomasek ** 53:09 Yeah, I, I know what you mean. But I also know what and other people's context. And I think it's can come off as like, it's too much work, or it's too hard. But and people are busy, people are exhausted, they are going to work, they come home, and they repeat day in and day out. And at times, you feel like you don't have time to go volunteer for a nonprofit, or you don't have time to go advocate for others. But doing something small makes a huge difference. So whether that's you devoting five minutes, to sending an email to your friends and family about an organization that you have found really passionate about, you're making a difference because you're spreading that mission, you're spreading that that organization's word, and you're making that difference, it's theirs doesn't have to be you devoting hundreds of 1000s of hours for helping set up an event to fundraise a bunch of money. You don't have to always donate a bunch of money. It's whatever you can do is perfect. And there's it's your you're part of moving that needle, you're part of making that change. And whatever you can of that organization, whoever you devote that time and that effort to is and should be internally grateful for your, your support.   Michael Hingson ** 54:48 We're all role models or can be and the reality is if you can live your life in a very positive way and don't let people beat you down whether you're doing all sorts of volunteer hours or not. The fact that you live your life, and we all can live our lives to a large degree on our own terms. And yes, sometimes things come along. But if we persevere and go through it, by definition, we're helping move the needle, as you would say. What do organizations lose? Do you think when they don't have accessibility or accessible priorities in their existence?   Garrett Tomasek ** 55:30 They're losing opportunities. They're, they're taking on extra costs that they don't need to be taking on. They're not running their firm or organization as efficiently as they could. They are essentially discriminating against certain individuals, and they're missing out on opportunities.   Michael Hingson ** 55:50 Yeah, no doubt about it. And they're, they're missing out on a whole segment of the population that they've never perhaps come in contact with, that could truly enrich their lives.   Garrett Tomasek ** 56:05 Oh, yeah. I mean, I believe I saw the number a couple of days ago, it puts the disability community at a purchase purchasing power globally, about $8 trillion. Just from a consumer, if I was a company, and I wanted as many people as possible to purchase my product, that's a big purchasing power, that's a big population that could be purchasing my product or packaging, packaging, my surfaces. Or that's a big population that I should be hiring and be bringing into my workforce, so that I can make sure that I'm having an accessible or inclusive work and product and services.   Michael Hingson ** 56:49 The Center for Disease Control, says that 25%, roughly, of all people in the United States have some sort of disability, if you carry that across to places that don't include accessibility, or make a welcoming environment for persons with disabilities, they're losing out on 25% of their potential business. And the other side of that is or the other part of that is, and this is something that comes from a survey that was done by the Nielsen Company, the people who do all the ratings in 2016, where they said that people who have disabilities are extremely much more brand loyal to organizations that do provide inclusion and do welcome them in. So Oh, yeah, companies, some companies get it.   Garrett Tomasek ** 57:47 Oh, yeah, I mean, um, Pottery Barn, just recently released a, an accessible line of furniture and their furniture isn't cheap. It's really nice furniture. And it's pretty pricey. But that is a role model of that industry of it starts with one company, and it moves on from there, and other companies start noticing that there is opportunity within this community that they are missing out on, and they adapt, and they change because if they don't adapt and change, then they're gonna, they're not gonna be able to run efficiently and they're losing out on opportunities to to be successful.   Michael Hingson ** 58:33 How do you involve inclusion and accessibility and these ideas you're talking about in your daily just personal life,   Garrett Tomasek ** 58:43 advocacy at your work or in the day to day life? I mean, it can be as simple as, for example, at work, my previous job, when I was an undergrad, we had some renovations in our we had like, piano practice rooms that students could check out, and they were being renovated and usually or before they were being renovated. They were accessible to individuals with a physical disability, meaning that they there was a elevator, or a ramp that individuals with a disability could access to gain access to those practice rooms. But during the construction when they were remodeling, and they moved the piano rooms to an area that word was inaccessible. So work, I advocated and I told my employers, I said, Hey, this is no longer accessible. What are we going to do to change this or where what other opportunities can we create so that if a person that comes up to the dust that asked for a practice room, we are able to provide that to them and we're not turning them away just because they have a disability and we ended up creating alternative opportunities. And we made a couple of rooms accessible so that they could practice if they, if a person with a disability came to the desk and wanted to use the practice room.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:15 There you go. You're, you're putting in practice what you preach.   Garrett Tomasek ** 1:00:19 There you go. Yeah. And it's it's simple stuff like that. It's, it's just saying something. It's, it's advocating, because the the person that came up to the desk and asked for the practice room, use a mobility device, a wheelchair, and they I said, Give me one second, I have to ask my supervisor to unlock the other room. And they were ready just to walk away, because they thought it was going to be too difficult. But I was I informed them that like, no, no, it's okay. It's a super easy process will actually start showing you where the room is right away. And just saying something makes a huge difference.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:05 Yeah. That makes perfect sense. Yeah. Well, tell me if people want to contact you or learn more about Best Buddies, or remember more about you and just learn more about accessibility in general, how can they do that?   1:01:19 Well, you can find me on LinkedIn, or Instagram, most social media, you can search my name, it's G A R E T T  T O M A S E K, , on LinkedIn, and Instagram. But for Best Buddies, we are in all social media platforms. So you just type in Best Buddies. B E S T  B U D D I E S.org. That's our website. Or you just type in our name into any social media platform. And you can follow us we have a bunch of different newsletters that we send out monthly, the national or international headquarters office sends out information all the time on ways to get involved and learn more on the different things that we're making, the impact that we're making on the IDD community. But if you want to get involved in your local community or your local area, go to that same website, best buddies.org. You can search for the state or city that you're in, and you can contact your office, you can sign up for their local newsletter, and they will tell you all the different ways for you to get involved. If you want to get involved in a Chapter, a citizen program, however you want to be involved, we would love to have you there. We want you to be a part of the mission of making the universal accessible worlds and make inclusion a reality for everyone.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:49 And, you know, that's as good as it gets. And you talked earlier about your challenge of as people become involved becoming good speakers, you certainly have demonstrated that you can be a good speaker at this.   Garrett Tomasek ** 1:03:00 Well, thank you so much. Well, I   1:03:02 want to thank you for being with us today. And I want to thank you for listening. hope that you've enjoyed this and you've learned a lot. Reach out to Garrett reach out to Best Buddies learn a little bit more about the whole idea of inclusion and accessibility. Of course, you can listen to other episodes of unstoppable mindset and learn that as well. I'd love to hear from you. Please reach out to Michaelhi M i c h e l h i accessibe A C C E S S I  B E.com. Love to hear from you. You can also go to our podcast web page www dot Michael hingson M I C H A E L H I N G S O N .com/podcast. And we'd love to hear your thoughts and we'd love it. If you listen to more of the podcasts. If you haven't, we do want to hear your thoughts. We do want to hear your opinions, we value them very highly. And I would ask that if you would please do so please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening to the podcast. We really appreciate your ratings. And of course, we would like to have those great five star ratings whenever possible. So thank you again for being here with us today on unstoppable mindset. And Garrett especially you thank you very much for being here. And we'll have to do this and talk some more in the future.   Garrett Tomasek ** 1:04:16 I would love it. Thank you so much for having me.   **Michael Hingson ** 1:04:23 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

In this episode of the Your Life Choices Podcast, we're joined by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia CEO Matt Cameron Smith and YLC travel editor and publisher Leon Della Bosca for a detailed insight into the wonders of the NT. There's some surprises that just may encourage you to head north too.

As many students continue to suffer as a result of the ever-changing dynamic of education, more and more students of color are seeking a safe place of refuge in their classrooms. In this week's episode of our 3rd Annual Divine 9 Series, "How Sororities and Fraternities Support Mental Health Awareness," we are joined by Kary Pounders, Spring 1989 initiate Tau Tau Chapter member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. This Restorative Justice Teacher with the Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP) at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, CA has also served as an educator in Lynwood and Compton. Mr. Pounders discusses the imbalance and lack of fair opportunities available for students of color in our communities today. Find out how you can still weather the storm and become who you were meant to be. Mr. Pounders completed his Master of Science in Educational Leadership at Pepperdine University and received his Bachelor's in Accounting at Prairie View University in Prairie View, Texas. As a Tau Tau Chapter member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., he has served as the Chapter GALA Chair, Social Action Chair, Fundraising Chair, and Presenter at the YLC for ages 8-12 for several years at Compton College. He is also a member of the YLC committee and has participated in voter registration, the King Parade for several years, the Easter Egg Hunt, mentorship programming, and sang with the Omega Choir for the 100th celebration. To learn more about Mr. Pounders, connect with him via email at kary.pounders@lausd.net.

Rick Mitry from Mitry Lawyers speaks with John Deeks and YLC journalist, Brad Lockyer about the class action proceedings against the Commonwealth Government. The class action is on behalf of individuals who are over 65 years and who have a disability due to their exclusion from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Mr Mitry explains the breach of constitutional and human rights and the need for change. Listen in to find out if you are eligible to join this important class action

For college-aged students, Summer Staff is the experience of a lifetime. Encouraging them to sign up, however, often takes consistent and intentional effort on the part of YLC staff and leaders. On this episode, John Byard (Point Loma), Billy Jack Blankenship (San Diego State), and Ryan Buskirk (Grand Canyon University) share their most valuable tips and tricks from their Summer Staff recruitment strategy for Young Life College. 

In this episode of Real Hope, host Glenn Cranfield has a conversation with Kim James, Executive Director at Young Leaders Council (YLC) in Nashville, TN, to discuss how her team trains the next generation of nonprofit board members. YLC trains over 165 professionals every year and they are dedicated to both genuine and intentional future leaders. To learn more about Kim's work at Young Leaders Council, or to apply to the program, visit: https://www.youngleaderscouncil.org To learn more about Glenn's work as President/CEO of Nashville Rescue Mission, visit: https://nashvillerescuemission.org Support Nashville Rescue Mission:Donate: nashvillerescuemission.orgTwitter: @nashvillerescueIG: @nashvillerescueFacebook: facebook.com/nashvillerescuemission Follow Glenn Cranfield:Website: glenncranfield.comFacebook: facebook.com/revglenncranfieldTwitter: @glenncranfieldIG: @revglenn

In this episode, Young Life College staff Holli Hennigan (Nashville) and Ben Boelter (Fresno State) return to the podcast to share their best practices on Leadership Training and recruitment. Whether we send college students to lead their peers through YLC leadership, or we send them out to surrounding high schools and middle schools, students who come through leadership training should experience deeper community, excitement for the adventure of leading, and be propelled to live a life of significance.

In this episode of Let's Grow, I had the opportunity to speak with Mark Moore, Jr. regarding how to see success in a vision. Mark is the founder and CEO of The Moore Group, under which he has birthed The Young Leaders Conference, affectionately known as “YLC”. YLC, formally known as YLR, the Young Leaders Retreat , was started in 2012 as a small revival in a hotel conference room, with only 50 registrants. Over the course of just 7 years, YLR, has grown into the Premiere gathering place for over thousands of Young Leaders each year. He has hosted three successful Young Leader Retreats and 3 successful Young Leaders conferences with registrants from the 49 state and 20+ countries! His passion for ministry and the market place, as well as the tools he uses for success, is a game changer! You'll definitely grow after hearing his insight!  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jeffrey-whittaker0/support

Welcome to Season 7 Episode 5 of What's Literacy Got To Do With It? by Literacy Quebec! In today's HUGE episode we are joined by 8 guests over 4 segments! You heard right! 8 guests who help us celebrate International Literacy Day which is tomorrow the 8th September! Each of our guests take us on their amazing literacy journeys of life long learning, share cutting edge information on current literacy issues and successes around the world, PLUS promote LQ's e-learning course we will all learn from and an exciting live streamed event to support literacy this International Literacy Day! We are joined by: Christopher Skeete Member of the National Assembly of Quebec representing the Sainte-Rose district; Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for Relations with English-Speaking Quebecers; and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Responsible for the Fight Against Racism. Christopher shares his emotional story of early school struggles, embracing how he learnt differently, and achieving some life goals through being open to help and having a “finish what you started” attitude. Hervé Huot-Marchand, Chief of Youth, Literacy and Skills Development Section, Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems, Education Sector at UNESCO. Hervé explains the importance of UNESCO's work on literacy and education around the world and about the celebrations and learning events organized by UNESCO for International Literacy Day. Literacy Quebec project manager Laura Thompson, Executive Director Margot Legault and Alice Issac, Learning and Performance Improvement Consultant, who take us through the Literacy and Clear Language 101 E-Learning course on the Literacy Quebec Wendy Seys, Executive Director at Yamaska Literacy Council & Jennifer Fawcett, a student from Bishops University working with YLC discuss the YLC's 40th anniversary, their “heritage minute” style literacy project, and the PGI for Literacy event that is taking place on the 9th of September. We also hear an excerpt from volunteers, Martha and Susan, talk about their experience over the years. We also discuss some links and special news items: Learn more about Literacy Quebec's Literacy Helpline or call 1-888-521-8181 UNESCO's ILD live events on September 8th and 9th International Literacy Day on September 8th. Literacy Quebec is celebrating by running daily giveaways and competitions! Check out our social media! Yamaska Literacy Council's 2021 PGI Virtual Fundraiser for Literacy Thursday, Sept 9 @ 7 pm For all upcoming literacy events check out our members' websites and social media for updates What's Literacy Got To Do With It? is a community-based podcast for English-speaking, lifelong literacy learners in Quebec. Our hosts Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore from Literacy Quebec, explore topics around community building, lifelong curiosity, and the multiple types of literacy. Subscribe, share our podcast, and write to us at admin@literacyquebec.org, send us a voicemail at 514-508-6805. Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for videos of interviews and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @LiteracyQuebec --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/literacy-quebec/message

Award-winning author Mark Brandi joins YLC podcast John Deeks and Publisher Leon Della Bosca to talk books. We discuss his background, his process, and what it takes to be a successful writer. Mark's new book – 'The Others' – is now available at all good book stores. You can also find Mark's other books 'Wimmera' and 'The Rip' and read more of his work at www.markbrandi.com.

Get your student leader team together to listen to this special episode! Is your team recruiting students to join a club or inviting them into a community of adventure and significance? YLC staff Alyssa Beaubien (Florida State) and Brad Akin (Ole Miss) join us along with Grace McKissick, a YLC student leader, to talk Welcome Week from the student leadership perspective. Student leaders invite peers to take their next steps in following Jesus--all while together having the ultimate “college experience.”

This podcast features Venezuelan Jorge Galicia, a lawsuit student who escaped his country and is now speaking to college students nationwide about his experience.  Jorge recounts Venezuela’s path, beginning with socialist policies such as free college and free health care, then descending to the authoritarian regime it is today.  This podcast was first aired for PRI’s Young Leaders Circle.  The interview was conducted by Evan Harris, director of YLC.

After conducting a nationwide survey of YLC student leadership teams, Billy Jack Blankenship of San Diego State and Sara Cummings of James Madison share their findings. The top theme across 160 surveys was student leaders' uncertainty of contact work on a college campus. Billy Jack and Sara dive into how we can cast vision to student leaders to build relationships with disinterested peers on their campus, clarify contact work, and ultimately invite more students to take their next steps in following Jesus.

In this episode, NORLI Executive Director Stephen Reuther interviews Dr. Lindsey Jakiel Diulus, Executive Director of the Young Leadership Council, about her personal path and philosophy of leadership development, as well as the work and legacy of the YLC.

In this episode we hear a talk from Crystal Kirgiss, Vice President of Discipleship for Young Life. This is her main stage talk from YLC 2020 about being true to Jesus, a gentle invitation to something bigger and better than our cultural call to be true to (just) ourselves.

In the third episode of Youth Voice Matters, Marlborough youth interview Samy, Anjie and Anoushka from the Youth Leaders Corps (YLC) of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Centers (BARCC). The BARCC YLC is a group made up of 11 high school aged youth that learn about and create projects to educate their communities on issues of sexual violence prevention and healthy relationships promotion. They also work on developing the necessary skills to hold difficult conversations, as well as think critically about the roots of sexual violence and how it is perpetuated Given the topic of this podcast episode, we want to give a content warning. During this episode we will be discussing the topic of sexual violence. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center is here to support you with a variety of free resources. Please head to www.barcc.org for more resources and on social media @barccofficial. Learn More? To join the YLC: https://barcc.org/join/ylc For free BARCC trainings/workshops: https://barcc.org/information/training More information can be found in this one pager flyer Music on piano from Marlborough's very own, Marissa Petty.

In a season of limited travel and complicated logistics, University of Memphis College Director Blake Spann and YLC student Bryce join the podcast to remind us why—even now—it’s worth it. The story of Blake and Bryce’s spontaneous trip to the beach reveals students’ desperate need for community, adventure and significance—and there is simply no better way for them to experience this than to invite them to take a risk out of their comfort zones, to get off campus and be changed by an adventure of a lifetime.

In the first of a 4-podcast series, Ben Boelter of Fresno State and Andi Seaton of Cal State San Marcos talk Social Media, a platform where they have met and engaged with hundreds of new students. While painting a picture of community, adventure and significance, they also relentlessly interact with followers to make the invitation personal. In a culture where social media is a dilemma, YLC staff can redeem this tool, enter into the world beneath, and invite students to take their next steps in following Jesus.

Get ready to experience some of the talks and breakouts from YLC 2019 & 2020 in a new, more accessible way. We've been hard at work repackaging the live conference content into short episodes that will equip, energize, and connect us as we love and disciple teenagers in the way of Jesus.

Jason Rinne and Kenny Nollan host Alberto Cuellar, Director of Diversity Initiatives & CQ Training, and Bridget Chacón, YL Area Director in El Paso leading YLC at UTEP, to talk race from the Latino perspective. Many Latino college students are walking away from faith amid tension of embracing their roots and pressure to assimilate into American culture. Bridget and Alberto share their own experiences and encourage staff as we invite Latino students into una vida en comunidad, aventura y significancia.

John Byard returns to the podcast with Chico Area Director Joe Grap and Chico State College Director Kevin Reid. Joe and Kevin share how their volunteers, funding and Committee structures work together as a team under one area. While Episode 10 speaks to stand-alone college areas, this episode surrounds Committee support for YLC within a local area Committee structure. By unifying resources, ministries can be stronger together—ultimately inviting more students to take their next steps in following Jesus.

This week on Wrestling Omakase we're joined by returning guest and VOW contributor Thomas Fischbeck (@rasslingratings) for a trip around Japanese wrestling! It starts with a deep dive into All Japan based around their 9/3 Summer Explosion Korakuen show, though we also talk at length about their booking at the moment, Kento Miyahara's title reign, why we'd like to see more cooperation between AJPW and the other puro companies and whether things feel stagnant right now. But there's also much praise for two outstanding main events as well as a couple surprisingly good undercard matches. We wrap up the AJPW segment with a look ahead to the upcoming Oudou Tournament, going over all the first round matches and who are picks are to ultimately win the entire thing. Then we turn to NJPW to talk the Road to Destruction tour, with our main focus being the Young Lions Cup, as we discuss all eight YLC matches so far. We don't do full match breakdowns for the three Korakuens but we do talk some of the major angles and feuds so far including a weirdly horny Naito-White IC feud, Ishii/YH-GOD, and more. And we do brief breakdowns of the three Korakuen main events as well as a couple other recommended matches from the shows. Then we turn our attention to the rest of the Destruction tour, specifically previewing the big matches from the Beppu, Kagoshima and Kobe shows over the next few weeks. We also give an early look at the King of Pro Wrestling card, speculate on what one of the key matches for the US Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour could be, and even give some fantasy booking for what might happen with the IC and US titles between now and Wrestle Kingdom. Our last segments takes us to the land of Tokyo Joshi and DDT, as we talk two shows both from September 1st in Osaka. The TJPW review is full of praise for what was a really fun show up and down the card, including an amazing six-person tag with Yuka Sakazaki giving an arm wringer to a mop that John gave four stars, and another great Su Yung match. The DDT review on the other hand is of possibly our least favorite big DDT show in ages, with a lot of stuff on the card that disappointed. Once that's done we look ahead to TJPW's upcoming weekend back in Tokyo and DDT's next Korakuen show at the end of the month. Finally we wrap things up with a short but spirited mailbag, including an insane question asking two people who do not watch WWE to name all 18 (!) current WWE champions. You'll have to listen to hear how we did! A really fun show! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

EP003 - CEO and Founder of Smartcar, Inc., Sahas Katta http://www.vehicle2.getspiffy.com Episode 3 is an interview with Sahas Katta, CEO and Founder of Smartcar, Inc.; recorded on Thursday, March 7th, 2019. Sahas and Scot discuss a variety of topics, including: The origins and purpose of Smartcar Sahas’ experience pitching to investors Smartcar attending hackathons across the country Impact of software developers on the future of connected cars, vs innovations from automotive brands and companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon How Lyft looks to change traditional car ownership in light of their IPO filing Growth of electrification in regards to range and convenient recharging, including Tesla’s V3 Supercharging announcement Realistic expectations for the wide use of autonomous vehicles Be sure to follow Sahas on Twitter and LinkedIn! If you enjoyed this episode, please write us a review on iTunes! The four pillars of Vehicle 2.0 are electrification, connectivity, autonomy, and changing ownership models. In the Vehicle 2.0 Podcast, we will look at the future of the auto industry through guest expert interviews, deep dives into specific topics, news coverage, and hot takes with instant analysis on what the latest breaking news means for today and in time to come. This episode was produced and sound engineered by Jackson Balling, and hosted by Scot Wingo.   Transcript:   Scot: [01:00] Welcome to the Vehicle 2.0 podcast. This is our third episode and it's being recorded Thursday, March 7th, 2019. Today on the show, we are excited to welcome Sahas Katta, CEO of Smartcar. Welcome to the show, Sahas. Sahas: [01:16] Thanks for having me. Scot: [01:17] Yeah, so let's start off. Um, you and I have known each other for a little while here about six months. Um, but the listeners don't know you. So let's start off with a little bit of your career path. How did you become the CEO and Founder of Smartcar? Sahas: [01:30] Yeah, absolutely. So my background, I grew up in a Silicon Valley, uh, studied computer science and engineering at UC Davis. And as I was growing up, I was someone who'd always be tinkering on my family or parents, cars, not per se on the engine itself, but actually oddly enough, more on the, uh, software and infotainment side of vehicles trying to figure out how to get lossless audio codecs, deploy on my stereo system or create a way to play videos on my infotainment system or things along those lines. I never really thought the world of software engineering would really collide with automobiles or mobility. A few years later after I had left UC Davis, I ended up, uh, on a weekend deciding to try to build an application for a car, uh, just for fun and realize that that was actually very difficult to do and, uh, uh, decided I want to do something about it and started prototyping and trying to build a car platform. And that was kind of the early genesis of a Smartcar coming about and me ending up starting that company. Scot: [02:42] Cool. The, uh, so I've met a lot of people in Silicon Valley. You're, I think you're the only person I've ever met that's actually from Silicon Valley. How is that? Is that, uh, is rare for most people as it has been for me? Sahas: [02:53] I think so. Um, uh, it's been very exciting being here just because a lot of the founders do know are all Silicon Valley born and bred, but there are people from pretty much every corner of the world who are building really incredible things. So, uh, it, it is pretty exciting to get to work with at least people. Scot: [03:12] Yeah. Awesome. Um, so give us a little perspective on Smartcar how, what's your kind of elevator pitch when you're at a cocktail party and people ask you what you're building? Sahas: [03:21] Yeah. Smart car is the API for your car. Uh, if you're a software developer, you can write a couple lines of code after reading our Api docs on our website and you can actually do a lot of really incredible stuff to your car. Uh, whether that's, uh, getting the location of the vehicle YLC over the Internet. It's a domino reading or even sending signals to the Karta lock or unlock it stores remotely over the Internet so it could write it literally a couple of lines of code on your computer and the car in your driveway will magically unlock. That was something that was very difficult to do. And we somehow figured out how to turn it into a process where developer can go from start to finish in making that happen. And no matter no more than a few minutes. Scot: [04:06] Awesome. And then I should have said it at the top of the show, but full disclosure, we are partners. So over here at Spiffy, we were using Smartcar as part of our connected car initiative and, and you know, by, uh, our developers are using your, your wonderful Api Apis to help us get access to vehicles for surfacing them. So, uh, we, we can vouch that it's real and it works and we've enjoyed working with you guys. Sahas: [04:28] Appreciate it. Thank you very much. It's been great working with your team as well. Scot: [04:31] Yeah. So, uh, as a, as a fellow startup guy, uh, one of my first questions is, you know, how, how big are you guys? Um, I know I saw that you guys have raised some capital, so the extent, whatever you're comfortable sharing, you know, obviously I don't want to get into, into dicey territory, but, but how, how big are you guys and how big do you think this could be? Sahas: [04:49] So taking a step back, um, the company started off, uh, with myself and a female into kind of getting the idea. I started working on convincing my brother who now happens to be the co-founder and CTO of the company to quit his job at Linkedin and join me on this journey to build this company. And that was maybe three months in of me trying to start the company. And he was a little resistant at first. He thought it was a crazy idea. And I've worked on that for probably about six months or something of that sort of trying to join. And finally, by the nine month mark or 10, 10 month mark, he finally said, okay, I'll quit. And let's do this. By that point, even though he was working his full-time job, he was on weekends and evenings, uh, um, helping prototype the first version, very, very early version of the product. Sahas: [05:43] And we use that very early prototype, uh, that, uh, he built, um, with me while he was still working another job to take that to investors and pitch idea. So the company at this time, it was just him and me and we were living in a small in South San Jose. And, uh, we went out to pitch a lot of ECS and uh, start off with a lot of angels and incubators. We unfortunately got rejected from a lot of the incubators. Almost everyone said, this is a ridiculous idea. Uh, I don't see, oh, you could actually make this work. But within about a few weeks, um, we ended up meeting, uh, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen and entrepreneur partners at the firm, Andreessen Horowitz. And we pitched to him. We really didn't know who they were at the time. Uh, for those who aren't startup, we're holding, um, it's a really famous from a, they've been early investors in a lot of incredible companies like Airbnb, Lyft, Facebook and uh, octa and a lot of really a well regarded companies today. Sahas: [06:44] But we walked in not really knowing who they are. Uh, we should have probably done her homework, but we hadn't, uh, we didn't spend all their time reading about vcs. We were just focused on our product and we give them a genuine pitch of what we do. Uh, we brought a couple of cars so there are parking lot and demoed or tech working. So we were standing in the parking lot and writing a couple lines of code on her command, prompt our terminal on our computer and showing them how we're pulling data out of these cars and unlocking the doors to these vehicles. And they got pretty excited and they ended up up, uh, writing a check to us. It just the two of us, uh, for $2 million. And that's how the company got started and fast track to kind of where we are now. Since then, we've now raised a little over $12 million in venture capital from both Andreessen Horowitz and another firm called NEA I, which is not as new enterprise associates. And, uh, the team is approximately 20 people and this year we're actually on traction doubling the head count. So, uh, we've had a pretty exciting journey and, uh, we're really looking forward to what's coming next. Scot: [07:49] Pretty cool. Um, yeah, the, I'm a huge fan of, uh, Ben's book, "The Hard Thing About Hard Things." It's uh, it's one of my go tos so I have not met him. I've met mark a couple times, but I'm, I'm super jealous that you got to meet and pitch him. I bet that was fun. Sahas: [08:06] Yeah, no, I love that book. There is just a, I think the first time I read it was before I uh, or right after I started the company. And uh, um, I didn't really understand most of it because I have not really gone through any aspects of building a company. Uh, but I actually re-read it, um, uh, just a few months ago, a second time and it added so much more value. What the context, having tried to build something, uh, with learning how to hire people, manage people, uh, unfortunate circumstances of learning how, what and to let go of people and a tough decisions when it comes to your finances, numbers and scaling the company. So I think it's a really great book for entrepreneurs who are maybe pass their seed stage and maybe at least around the series a stage of their company and uh, figuring out how to get it to scale. Scot: [08:56] Yeah. Last time I was in your office, it seemed like half the folks there were coming back or going to a hackathon. And that seems to be a big way you guys get your APIs and the in the hands of folks don't tell us about the hackathons that you guys sponsor. Sahas: [09:10] Yeah. Um, so when we think about are the connected car market, when we, when we look at the industry, what we see is the innovation that's happening moving forward is no longer necessarily hardware innovation but really software innovation. The next generation of companies and ideas that are making the world a better place and turning mobility in general into something that's more accessible for more people than ever is really being driven by a software bill. Uh, advancement, suffer advancement. So she'd say or applications. And when you answer the question of who is, uh, uh, built software, it comes down to developers. Most of the innovations until today in the soft or in the automobile or mobility space weren't really being driven by, uh, application developers. And that's because there hadn't been really a platform for them in the space. What we realized is we need to figure out a way to get this in front of all sorts of developers, even if it's a girl in her dorm room, uh, who, uh, as a hobby is building the next killer app without knowing it. Sahas: [10:21] So that meant we had to figure out how to get our product in the hands of a lot of really talented students. And what we've been doing for the past year or so is actually going to some of the top universities in the country where they're hosting. These are actually pretty large hackathons where, uh, in some cases over up about a thousand people show up to these and spend 48 hours building an application. And we've been bringing, uh, vehicles to them, uh, to the back. Athens are real Tesla in person and uh, these students are issue, see the passion in their eyes. They get super excited and within 48 hours to have some incredible application actually built that's working and they're able to actually test it on a real car that's parked right in front of the building. And we've seen this as a really great way to get our product into the hands of a lot of innovative early developers and you think a lot, a lot more companies should actually be doing something in that space. Scot: [11:15] Cool. Any, um, uh, what are some of the things that you can talk about that people have built it, these hackathons using, using Smartcar? Sahas: [11:23] There has been, there's been a lot of uh, really incredible and so maybe I'll tell you one of the sillier are fun ones, but, um, we had someone, actually I want to hurt first hackathons. We had this uh, API endpoint. We were still testing in the early days, uh, to let you actually hook the car. So someone bill actually an alarm clock app that honks your car in the morning to wake you up. And uh, I think everyone got a really good laugh out of that. Um, but, um, and if you actually kind of look some of the more serious things people are building, we've seen people build some really cool things from voice assistance, uh, Alexa integrations or Google home where you can do things like when you're going to bed, say, Hey Alexa, lock my car for me. And it sends a signal to your vehicle and locks, locks the car in your driveway or parking the sidewalk in front of your home. So people are building a lot of really, really neat things that can actually build in a pretty short timeframe. But um, in some way or another actually, uh, could be utilized by a lot of people. Um, if that application, we're a distributed into the marketplace with a little bit of marketing. I do think a lot of these are really incredible valuable ideas. Scot: [12:35] Awesome. Yeah, those are, those are good examples. I like the skill. I'm actually have to, uh, hopefully they're release that and I, I can use that myself. Absolutely. So, so here on the Vehicle 2.0 podcast, we have a framework where we talk about kind of what I think of as the four big changes that are rocking the car world. Um, so there's connectivity, uh, there's electrification, autonomy, and then changing ownership models. I wanted it to spin through those with you and kind of get your, your, your thoughts for what's going on there. Uh, let's start with conductivity cause that's obviously near and dear to your heart. Where do you think we are as an industry right now with connectivity? Uh, and then where do you see it going over the coming years? Sahas: [13:15] So this is one of those things where when you look at vehicles today, most people who are kind of bystanders or just the average person driving their vehicle may not realize it, but all these new cars that are now shipping our, uh, shipping, uh, right off the factory law or dealership lot. When you, when you pick it up, uh, with a cellular Modem Builtin, that means that the car itself is talking to the Internet, uh, through, uh, one of the Telcos, the same seller carriers you use for your smartphone as the service provider. The number of cars that are actually shipping now, uh, with the seller Modem Builtin is growing very dramatically. Um, I think the last number I heard was, uh, nearly two out of every three cars shipping this year are now shipping with some form of a four g cellular connectivity Builtin. Mm. And the neat thing here is that, uh, within the next few years, uh, essentially 100% of all new cars hitting the streets will be internet connected, almost guaranteed. And this opens the doors to an insane number of possibilities where these cars can now integrate dramatically more easily, uh, with all sorts of applications and services without having to still retrofit on some form of aftermarket hardware or any pain points of that sore. It can, these cars are, are good to go around in the box just like your cell phone is. Scot: [14:40] Cool. So, um, so that's sort of kind of foundationally we're going to have 100% of cars connected. Uh, and then what are some of the use cases that you, you had forecast once we have that platform in place? Sahas: [14:51] Yeah, there is a lot of fun, but let's go back to the topic you asked me about right before that, which is actually developers, um, water, at least developers, uh, kind of building this platform and what are the use cases that they're coming up with? And, uh, one of those companies, uh, who's developers is using us as you guys, you guys have figured out a way to take advantage of these APIs and enable your customers to not have to be present at a vehicle to be able to unlock their vehicles stores and vacuuming, cleaning the interior. And ideally that hopefully is creating a much more compelling experience for people who want to have an on demand, a carwash, uh, make that happen. Um, but if you kind of continue down that thread, there are a lot of really incredible companies for utilizing this technology. We have companies who have fleets, large fleets of cars, and they didn't really have an easy way to build some sort of a dashboard to know where their cars are at any given time. Sahas: [15:53] And they're able to use this technology to build those internal dashboards and uh, or even a tablet applications for themselves so they can keep an eye on, uh, where there vehicles in their fleet are at any given time. Uh, we've also seen companies in the insurance tech space utilizing our tech. Uh, one of the new trends that's really taking off recently is a new models of pricing insurance, uh, specifically models of insurance where you're charged by the number of miles you drive. And, uh, our technology lets developers really use an endpoint to get an abdominal reading from a car or I'll see over the internet. And that actually makes it very, very easy for some of these insurance companies with, of course the customer's consent to be able to get their odometer reading and price them based on the number of miles they drive. Sahas: [16:42] And all of these may seem really, really small, but when you kind of put together that whole future picture, uh, you end up in a world where you have all sorts of really incredible applications that kind of makes the whole car ownership experience a lot better than it is today. Very cool. Um, are there use cases as you think out where it makes sense for the cars to talk to each other? Um, so this is something that I think, uh, the industry's been going back and forth on. Um, the term you just mentioned, cars talking to each other is under a label called VTV vehicle to vehicle communication. Uh, that's something that's been under discussions by the industry for probably over a decade now. And it's seen in a lot of ups and downs. And, uh, I think when we end up looking at the world we live in today, um, I personally am starting to lean towards realizing that centralized communications have been for the most part, um, the more successful and mechanism of enabling devices to communicate or vehicles to communicate with one another. Sahas: [17:45] Uh, and if you look at anything from file sharing your Dropbox on your computer or your cloud storage or how you send emails, all of these today or even this podcast we're on, uh, it's not happening peer to peer for the most part, but most of our mobile devices or computers and services we use are all reliant on centralized infrastructure. And we do think there is a valid need in some cases to have HIV. Uh, we think if when the latencies come down and you have things like five g and a bandwidth is available at even larger scale instead of being just, you know, megabits, but gigabits of bandwidth and latencies are milliseconds, you may not really need VTV. Um, I think that's going to be, uh, not as big of an opportunity as a lot of people do think it is today. Scot: [18:37] Okay. Um, one thing, uh, whenever I start talking about connected car a, I've always been a little surprised. There's a lot of people that the first thing they bring up the security, I guess I've, I've been in it enough, I don't really worry about it, but what's, what's your standard answer when people say, oh my gosh, you know, what, what about security? Sahas: [18:54] Yeah, I think first of all, um, that's a great question because there today isn't really much regulatory policies around automotive security. When you look at the financial sector, you have requirements like PCI compliance, uh, what comes to having to store, um, data like a customer's credit card number on file. There were a lot of, uh, regulatory steps that you need to take in terms of being compliant to be able to do that. When you look at the healthcare industry, you have things like Hipaa, which when it comes to storing anything, data about medical records, about a patient or whatever it might be, there's regular regulatory frameworks and, uh, you need to comply with a lot of those, uh, that structure to be able to actually store medical records or anything on a patient. But when it comes to cars, unfortunately there isn't yet something of that sort. Sahas: [19:51] Uh, I think that's something that's on the horizon that will come and companies like Smartcar like us are probably going to be on the cusp of helping define that as it happens. Um, but today, uh, it, it's, it's, it's a good, it's a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that, um, we have a lot of freedom to operate. The curse is that there may also be bad actors in the space who don't take consumer interests at heart, who don't take data privacy at heart and are building things that aren't in the best interest of the average person who may not know what's actually happening with their vehicle data or vehicle information. So to Kinda answer that again, like what is it that we're doing a Smartcar, uh, we fundamentally at smart Smartcar believe that data is a fundamental human right. Uh, we believe that people should have control over their information. Sahas: [20:39] Uh, we don't believe that people's automotive data should be sold to marketers or advertisers or anyone who is willing to pay a for it. But rather our mission and belief is that we want to really empower the end consumer, the person who drives a car. Uh, we want to empower them to have control over the information and voluntarily be able to opt in to use applications and services of their choice. So if they want to go ahead and say, hey, I want to, uh, install the spiffy app and I want to allow spiffy to be able to locate my car so they can find it, and then they can unlock it during that, uh, surface order delivery window, do that service and leave. Um, and they choose to give, uh, that company access. They should have the tools to be able to do that. But what shouldn't happen is if some insurance company says, Hey, uh, I'm considering selling a policy to this person and I want to go buy this customer's data from them, and I don't want them to know that I'm doing this. Sahas: [21:39] That should never happen. Um, if a consumer voluntarily chooses to say, hey, I'm fine sharing it because I choose chose to do so, they should be able to do that. But there should never be a practice in the industry where information about a cut infancy tumor, whether it's worth Victor van, where they're going, where they've been, or any of their telementory like how much they've driven their car, who's driven their car, when they drove their car, anything of that sort that should all be controlled by the user. They should be able to make their decisions as to who gets access to that, why they would give it access to it and actually do the actual final clicking of the button to say, I approve this. Scot: [22:17] That seems like a good framework. I like where you're going with that. Yeah. Um, well then connected car, it's been interesting to watch. So it seemed like, you know, so, so we talked about the car itself being connected to, to the Internet. Uh, but then there's also a lot of the in dash experience kinds of things and it seems like the OEMs and kind of the early days, they tried to do stuff there and then, you know, consumers are like, well, I've got this phone in my pocket, I'll just connect to Bluetooth and, and use that. So all this dash stuff was happening and people weren't using it. Um, now we see, uh, all the big players. So, so apple, Google, um, and now you're in the Apple really doing things like CarPlay and um, what's the Google one called to the, was that, yeah, there you go. Android auto. Uh, and then, uh, you know, now Amazon has an Alexa for, for insight. Alexa auto I guess is what they call. Um, how do you view those things as far as the topic of connectivity and is that going to be the winter or are we going to see another cycle where the OEMs now come back and they've done a better job? Sahas: [23:17] Yeah, it's, it's, it's hard to tell, but I can kind of give you a couple of examples of, uh, how I think it may play out. Um, so, uh, it's kind of funny because, uh, let's take a platform that's like Google's Android for instance. Uh, it's today worldwide, uh, the predominant market share. It's a very successful platform. Uh, I personally use it on my mobile device as well. I have a android device. Uh, however, if you take a step back and ask the question, uh, where else has android in successful? Google had this vision where android would be running on all form factors, all platforms, all types of devices. And now let's look at where, what's happened with it. Um, they tried bringing into tablets and it had a little bit of success for maybe a few months or a year, about several years ago, but that really faded away. Uh, Google try to bring android two watches and that also never really took off. Sahas: [24:20] They also try to bring android to TV's, android TVS. Um, they tried it still kind of around, but it's just hanging in there. It's never been anything. I would call an outright success by any means. Uh, and in fact, Google has competing services to themselves, like Chromecast, which doesn't run on Android, uh, uh, and Google home doesn't run on android or a lot of these products that they now have had successes with to not use android. So now let's talk about the car. Um, Google is undoubtedly putting a dramatic amount of effort into turning, convincing car companies to make android the default operating system, uh, for the maps, navigation, uh, music and, uh, infotainment system as it's called in the vehicle. Uh, but it's still at the end of the day begs a question, we'll android succeed in this ecosystem on this form factor, which is a vehicle when it has repeatedly failed on everything from televisions to watches to tablets. Sahas: [25:18] And so that's, that's where I kind of have to say I leave it at, but, um, if I would also look at it from another perspective, Google is hilariously actually at a race with itself and there's, they're working in one group and the organization as part of the sibling company of Waymo, which is under the alphabet parent company. On during self-driving cars to market. And another end of the spectrum, they still have this other group called android under Google that is building an infotainment system for cars. And here's why they're at a race with each other. In my opinion, if the self-driving car ends up winning, uh, you won't need an infotainment system in a vehicle because the moment that you know, the seats turnaround, the front seats are facing the rear seats, there are seats are facing forward. It's kind of like a living room in your car, uh, traveling on the road. Sahas: [26:06] Uh, in any of those situations, you're likely gonna end up choosing to pull all the brand new smartphone or maybe a tablet out of your pocket and choosing to use that device over whatever is built into the car. And the reason for that is what our is building in the car by definition is probably already three or four years old because that's the time cycle, product lifetime cycle that it takes a car company to get something into a vehicle. So what that means is that if the autonomous car comes first, any efforts Google has in terms of trying to make their infotainment system, uh, prevalent in the market is going to be relevant. Uh, but if the car doesn't come around and for you know, a decade or something longer, there will be definitely an opportunity for Google's android infotainment system to have some lifespan span before the autonomous vehicle eventually does show up. Scot: [26:55] Yeah. Cool. And then, uh, how about Apple and Amazon? Any, any point of view on those guys? Sahas: [27:00] Yeah, so apple, apple hasn't yet taken to my knowledge so far, uh, an initiative to bring some form of Ios to run natively in a vehicle itself. And that's going to be, in my opinion, the biggest roadblock for their success. Uh, if, uh, today that depending on a smartphone to project the end of the vehicle, uh, and, but the vehicle can't have nothing in the car if your phone isn't there because your phone might be out of battery or we may break it, which means you can't use infotainment system if your phone's broken or something of that sort, which means that the car companies still needs to have an operating system, uh, that need to be present in the vehicle as you're, everyone's familiar with. Apple's always had a strong stance about having apples upbring systems only running on apple hardware that we'll watch a watch. Ios only runs on an apple watch. A ios only runs on iPads and iPhones and Macintosh only runs on Mac books. Even there are television, the apple TV that they're Tbos only runs on apple TV hardware. So they would need to be breaking something that's culturally been part of their core philosophy to decide to for the first time, bring their operating system to run on a hardware and experienced that is not built. And designed by apple. So if that does happen, it'll be very interesting. But I see it unlikely to happen anytime soon. Scot: [28:24] Cool. Um, so stepping outside of connected car, let's talk about car ownership. So you had a, you'd entered that there's some fleets out there using Smartcar to kind of know what's going on. Um, do you see individual ownership, uh, diminishing pretty rapidly and, uh, I was, I'm sure you've read the Lyft S1. This kind of been the most interesting reading in the industry for awhile. Uh, you know, they're, they're projecting a, uh, you know, the end of car ownership here pretty quickly, so, so where do you fall on that? Sahas: [28:53] Yeah. Um, so I read that as well, and I think, uh, um, one they need to create an optimal outlook for their own business as their IPO. So, uh, it's a nice for them to ever in that, uh, that outlook. Um, and I've met both John and Logan, who are the founders of Lyft a couple of times are incredible people and I'm very supportive of, uh, uh, an admiration of the incredible company and they built. Um, but, uh, when you actually look at what's happened today, um, yes, there is definitely a decline amongst a certain age demographic of people who are buying vehicles. Uh, but, uh, the, when you look at the end result of it, there's also the fact that the market size itself is just growing. There is also a lot of room for more modes of transport that include private ownership to coexist as well. And I think there is always going to be a pendulum swing. Sometimes people thinking, Hey, we'll uh, uh, use everything as a service and then people go back to us saying, hey, we should run this infrastructure or have ownership of this ourselves. So that shift back and forth I think happens every 10 or 15 years in the industry right now. I think you're correct that there is a trend towards using vehicles as a service. I think it will sway back and forth and I don't think that it's, it's settled anytime soon. I'm just yet. Scot: [30:15] Cool. Um, so the next kind of pillar is electrification. You're the only person I know that has an electrical Volkswagen. So you must be a true believer to have taken that plunge. Where do you think we're going? On the eve slope of the curve. Sahas: [30:29] Yeah. Um, so definitely a very early adopter of all sorts of technology, not just cars is some, is the way I would kind of describe myself. I actually convinced my father to buy a one of the first hundred or so Tesla model s's as they rolled out. Um, so definitely a very early her on the front end, a huge believer in electrification and electric vehicles. I currently, as you mentioned, uh, drive a Volkswagen Eagle, which is very limited I should say with a 80 mile range. Uh, I am fortunate enough that I live very close to our, my apartment is, um, but there are undoubtedly a lot of challenges that need to be resolved. As an example with myself, um, I used to actually live in a house, um, before moving into my current apartment since I was trying to move closer to work and my home had a, a one to 40 volt outlet in my garage. Sahas: [31:26] So I was fully charged, uh, in my, with my vehicle and ready to go every day and never really had to worry about charging my car, waiting somewhere for my car to charge, cause, uh, plugging in at night and I would be ready to go in the morning. Uh, but since moving to my apartment, my apartment complex, which probably has a couple hundred apartments in that block, offers one ed charging style and there's probably a couple dozen people who now how evs in my complex. So there's this problem with infrastructure not being ready. Uh, people who do live in cities who don't have residential homes with the traditional, you know, two car garage may not be able to have a bible to even consider an electric car is an option unless there is infrastructure provided to them by their apartment complex. Or maybe their workplace is willing to provide them a network of chargers so that they can charge while there cars parked your work. So there are undoubtedly significant challenges. Um, but I do think that the future is undoubtedly electric. Scot: [32:30] So how do you solve that? And now I'm worried that you're going to get stuck somewhere. Sahas: [32:35] Um, well, uh, I think, uh, I don't know if you saw the news, but last night, uh, Tesla actually announced a version 3.0 they're supercharging. And it was very interesting. Uh, and part of why is Tesla is laid out, you know, something like over 10,000 superchargers across the country. And, uh, and they were already starting to, in some certain areas, uh, reached peak, uh, acid. And the reason for that is when they just had the model lesson x, there weren't that many cars on the road. Uh, there wouldn't be too much congestion at any of these charging stations for instance, and mountain view or something in San Jose, California. However, now with model threes in the road and then likely shipping, you know, millions of these cars over the next few years, if there's going to be no way to satisfy a large, and where people with the number of stalls they have to charge these vehicles. Sahas: [33:29] So what Tesla actually, well everyone thought they would do would be to simply put twice as many or three times as many charging stalls and every grocery complex or in every supermarket complex or wherever it is, where these charging stalls are, but they actually did something rather interesting. They actually solved the problem in a different way. Uh, what they've done with supercharging 3.0 is they make it now possible to charge your car from zero miles of charges, 75 miles a charge in five minutes. They brought the time it takes to charge your vehicle down by nearly 50%. So what that means is when someone previously had to wait maybe 30 40 minutes to charge their car, you're not finishing that and maybe 10 or 15 minutes tops, meaning that during the same number hours during a day, you can actually satisfy twice as much capacity without even having to go around getting around to add in more stalls. So I think there are a lot of creative, ingenious ways to solve this problem. And if you get to a point where it's even faster than the s version 3.0 they just announced within the next few years, you're practically at the same speed and time it takes to fill up your gas at a gas station, which is no more than a couple minutes. And when you get to that point it, you, you don't need women think about or worry about this being a challenge. So it's actually very exciting to see a trend going in this direction. Scot: [34:45] Yeah. The, uh, the other thing they've done, um, I've, I had a model s and now have a model three is they've introduced idle fees. So, uh, because the superchargers usually weren't that full. A lot of times I would just charge and go shopping and the vehicle will be done and I'd still be shopping. Uh, and now they start to hit you with a little fee as, as you kind of sit there idle. So they're creating an economic disincentive for idling at the chargers, which is interesting. Sahas: [35:10] Yeah, that makes it a lot of sense. And it's pretty brilliant. Did you say it? You said you just said you had a Model 3. Scot: [35:15] Yeah, I do. Sahas: [35:16] So your car is actually compatible with this out of the box. So yeah, as they are rolling out this update and announcement, um, within the next few months you'll probably have a supercharger somewhere near your home where you can likely charge up the entire car from empty to nearly full, probably within, you know, 15 minutes or so, which is pretty incredible. Yeah, Scot: [35:37] yeah, yeah. I'm looking forward to trying that out. Do you, uh, uh, one thing that always surprises people that come from the e-commerce world is we're really only of fiscal items. We're only at about 15% are bought online. And I think when people look at their individual usage, they would expect it to be more like 20, 30, 40%. Because a lot of times people are on Amazon prime and they're, they're, they're, they're really overindexing on that. When do you think we get to kind of that material amount of, of electric vehicles? Like, like let's call it 15% or 20, somewhere in there? Sahas: [36:10] Uh, honestly I haven't been keeping up with the numbers, so I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. Um, but what I do know is, uh, there is one market where there's undoubtedly that level of transformation actually happening in a very short timeframe. And that's China. That's early due to the fact that there are the right garment incentives likely in place too, and courage, um, uh, OEMs to actually make these vehicles, make them available at certain price points and also incentives to enable consumers to actually be able to afford and buy these vehicles. And I think that if, uh, the United States also figures out something similar, if that sort, whether it's on state levels or whether it's on the federal level, that could help drive that transformation sooner than later. Scot: [36:59] Pretty cool. Yeah, China's can be fascinating to watch to see, see how that comes up. Um, so the, the last pillar of vehicle 2.0 is autonomous vehicles. And, uh, what are your thoughts on that as a guy that tinkers with cars? Is are, are we going to get there or is it always going to be some kind of a limited use or maybe a public transit kind of a thing? Sahas: [37:19] I think we're going to get there. Um, and I think we're going to get there quicker than most people think. Uh, I once again, I have the unique luxury and privilege to live in mountain view California. And uh, if I walk out of my office or out of my home and just watch the street for no more than 10 minutes, I will likely in that short window of time have seen multiple self-driving cars drive by, whether it's Google's Waymo or Apple’s self-driving car or something out of Ford's R&D lab or BMWs or Honda's Nissan's or one of the self-driving car startups like Nero or drive AI or deep map or any of these companies. While you may not see it in most parts of the country, if you are a mountain, you don't even need to be an you downtown are you? Sahas: [38:10] I'm not even talking about standing in front of Google's campus, pretty much any street in this town. You probably won't go 10 minutes without seeing more than at least two different types of self-driving cars driving by with all sorts of Berlin, um, engineers and mine's working at working on solving this problem. So I am very optimistic that some modes of transport will become fully autonomous. Whether specific types of routes between, let's say the SFO airport in San Francisco, downtown or some, some farms, some specific paths. At the very least, uh, I'm quite confident will become so well mapped out and so well structured that you can confidently send someone down that road in an autonomous vehicle with almost zero risk. And I think something of that sort is probably no more than months away from actually occurring. Scot: [39:04] Okay. So very bullish on autonomous vehicles. It's interesting. Yeah. Sahas: [39:08] And to be clear, it's not a, I'm not saying you're going to have the dream that everyone has where you can really get into your car, press a button and it navigates anywhere you want it to go. What I'm saying is you, there are specific routes between, let's say the, uh, UC or Stanford campus and San Francisco airport, specifically that route that's specifically mapped out with almost guaranteed confidence. Something of that sort will be more like be possible in a short timeframe before we get to kind of the all in one purpose, self-driving car that can do anything and everything. Scot: [39:42] Yeah. One of the things that kind of blows my mind is a software guy is, you know, so these, these vehicles are gathering so much data, terabytes and terabytes of data at night. They plugged them in and they just download all that into the cloud and then what they're able to do is run the simulated miles. Right. So, uh, so now and then, and then because you can, you know, now that you're in the cloud, you can run parallel simulated miles. So they may go, uh, I dunno, 500 miles a day, but at night, you know, they could virtually take that experience and 10, 20, 30, 40,000 exit if they wanted to too. So kind of very much being in the matrix and it hurts my head to think about it too much. I just sort of, yeah, Sahas: [40:19] Funny story where, uh, some of these self-driving car companies that have a test fleet, let's say in Arizona where there's a lot of them are running right now at quarters and Silicon Valley. There's just simply not enough bandwidth, uh, to actually transmit the status between r and d centers and their actual test fleet in a different state. So the way they're actually transporting the data is by briefcase with an engineer flying hard disks, a back and forth on an airplane. And that's apparently faster than uploading it through in fiber networks because just the sheer size of volume of information they're collecting from these cars. So I thought that was pretty interesting to hear about. Scot: [40:57] Yeah, we're still living in a sneaker net world sometimes. Cool. Um, last topic, uh, another way to think about what's going on with cars is kind of the, the lifecycle of cars. You talked to a little bit about, you know, some of these innovative insurance models being per mile and, and that kind of thing. Uh, I can't watch TV without the whole set of commercials being, you know, one of these Carvana or room and one of these kind of companies. So all of these new ways of buying and selling and owning cars, um, what are you seeing out there in Silicon Valley from innovation around that? Sahas: [41:31] Yeah, I'll give you examples of where we're at at the same time. And you know, 2019 or let's say a year ago in 2018 one, uh, my Volkswagen e golf and then the Tesla model three, uh, I went ahead and leased my Volkswagen. I went to my local dealer. I love this car by the way, but it did take me nearly four and a half or five hours. Maybe I'll spending time at that dealer from when I walked in to actually leaving with that car, just to do the paperwork and get everything done and out the door. And then at the same time, uh, helped, uh, my mother, uh, order her model three. Um, it took maybe two or three minutes, um, through the webpage on tussles website. Uh, it was, no, it took no longer than ordering a new pair of socks off amazon.com and you're living in a world where both of these are happening still in parallel. So when I look at that, I think it's quite clear that one is going to be the future. And I wouldn't be surprised if we see that level of a car purchasing experience emerging, uh, across all brands within the next hopefully year or two. Scot: [42:49] Yeah. What, what, um, I often think what's going to happen to the dealers, right? So Tesla doesn't have this, this kind of, you know, dinosaur dealer type model or, or you know, uh, uh, incumbent innovator's dilemma style thing. But the other OEMs would really struggle with that, right? Because they've, they've got all these dealers that kind of hold the inventory and everything like that. But do you have a point of view of what happens to, to car dealers down the road? Sahas: [43:14] I think that they will need to go away. Um, if he, you know, they were, the dealership was introduced in a way to protect consumers from the car companies that consumers are buying cars from under the circumstance that they don't, um, uphold some form of contract when it comes to effects and a vehicle or workmanship issues and things along those lines. And that time was very necessary a long time ago when automobiles were introduced. However, let's look at any other industry again. Um, you can buy your iPhone directly from apple or you can buy it through what you may want to call a dealer, whether it's a best buy store or another retailer like target that may sell your an iPhone. It's the same thing for your Dell laptop or you're a Samsung android device. Uh, you always have a way in 2019 across the most technology products to purchase it directly from the manufacturer or through a distributor. Sahas: [44:17] The automobile today, aside from Tesla, the only way to get it is through a licensed dealer or distributor. You cannot get it for the most part, uh, directly from the OEM unless it's some sort of exception, uh, fleets or something of that sort. So I think that aired, I'm needs to change. I think there needs to be both options. And I do think that, uh, the R and d capacity for innovation to happen, uh, it's not sitting in the hands are on the laps of dealers who can reinvent the diverse experience. Uh, if someone wants to innovate the direct sales model, uh, OEMs, even though, uh, it may take them some time, they do have the capital and the willingness to actually create an example or an experience that rivals Tesla and they do have the capital to do it. But there are some regulatory stuff that's in the way for them to make that happen. But I do think consumers at the end of the day should have the option to buy it a vehicle that they want in the way they want it, whether it's direct from the manufacturer or from a dealership that they're comfortable with. Scot: [45:22] Yeah. And over back in my e-commerce world, this is a, you know, it was never was rarely thought of a brand could good, right? She had almost be like Nike level. Uh, and then now that that damn has broken every brands going direct, it's total chaos. And uh, and now every retailer is trying to be a brand and every brand is trying to be a retailer. So it's interesting to watch these things kind of reached this tipping point and then like go through a massive acceleration. So we'll, we'll kind of, it'll be fascinating to see what happens to these dealer networks. Absolutely. Cool. Uh, so we're, we're getting up against time here. Any last thoughts for listeners? So you want to share her, cause you're, you kind of spend all your time marinating in this world and in any other thoughts on the future of, of vehicles and where they're going, you want to share? Sahas: [46:03] Yeah, sure. I'll let, maybe we'll leave everyone with one thought. Um, when we look at what is the purpose of vehicles in most of the United States, the automobile is the only way to get to most places. Whether it's work, whether it's your school library, Grocery Star Hospital, or you know, to visit your family or friends is the only viable option because there isn't really a strong public transit infrastructure, uh, in most parts of the country, which means that mobility and cars are really more than just a luxury. It's, it's actually a necessity which really makes mobility fundamentally a human rights issue. Uh, to be a productive, successful member of society and to have a path to opportunity in a better life. You need mobility. So in our opinion, we want to really figure out a way to empower these developers to build all of these new forms of transit, new forms of car sharing, new forms of car rental, new forms of insurance, all of these things to become possible and ultimately will hopefully see a world in the near future where transportation is more accessible to the demographics that have kind of have been left behind in the dust where transportation is more affordable, it's more efficient, it's environmentally friendly, and ideally safe as well. Scot: [47:25] Cool. It's a, it's a deep thought. I'm gonna, I'm gonna spend some time pondering that one. Um, and last question, if a, if folks want to find follow friend tweets, uh, whatever, uh, with you, where do you hang out online? Sahas: [47:39] Smartcar.com is our company's website and you can actually find my email, my phone number, everything on the about page. I'm also on Twitter and Linkedin, so I'm very easy to find. Scot: [47:54] Awesome. Well we really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, connecting all the cars in the world to join us on the Vehicle 2.0 Podcast. Sahas: [48:02] No, I appreciate it, Scot. I think, uh, what you guys are doing is pretty incredible and you're one of the key companies, I think driving a lot of innovation, you know, the vehicle 2.0 evolution. So we're really excited to be working with you. We think you guys are working on something incredible and I think companies like you are really those, uh, FM, the data companies that are helping make this transformation happen. So thank you very much for having me look forward to continuing working with, with you guys. Scot: [48:27] Awesome. And listeners. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please take a minute and go rate us in your favorite podcast listening app. Five-stars is always appreciated. Vote with how you feel and we will join you on the next episode.

This week, Raven and Tara recap the YLC conference in Atlanta GA This episode is a little different but still filled with practical principles. Watch the evening services of YLC @ https://www.facebook.com/exploreylc/ Register for YLC 2019 at www.exploreylc.com Read more about Lebron James and the I PROMISE Academy https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/04/us/lebron-james-opens-school-trnd/index.html Follow us on social media @godigotquestions on FB and IG Raven's IG: ladyraie Tara's IG: iam.simplytara

Charles speaks with members of the YLC to talk this year's Wednesdays At The Square. Originally aired on March 13th 2018.

spirit and fun@YLC by Stupod

In the previous episode, we started the history of Tai Chi, recognizing that little was in fact, factual, and that there was little point in attempting to substantiate the insubstantial, as history tends to lean heavily towards the partial and the subjective. And so we ended up about to launch into the -totally unsubstantiated - two-minute version of the History of Tai Chi Chuan. A version that takes into account a world suffering from attention deficiency and a world raised on a diet of social media updates and twitter length items. Therefore the Teapotmonk presents.... The Twitter History of Tai Chi in 5 Stages Stage 1: The Mongoose In the beginning, the world was composed of 10,000 things, mostly serpents and mongooses fighting each other in an unobserved manner. Later, a few human beings occupied the planet, mostly stiff and awkward types practicing single martial postures, bringing to mind those displayed by John Saxon in Enter the Dragon. Stage 2: The Pritt Stick Onto this stage comes Chang San Feng, possibly the most renowned mongoose observer of his time, and a dab hand at sticking together otherwise fragmented John Saxon like postures. With his trusty orang-utan buddy, CSF fuses the moves into a single simian form and changes forever the nature of the internal arts and the private life of the average mongoose. Stage 3: The Peeking Several centuries later, in The Village of the Chens, the legacy of Chang San Feng was held hostage until a certain outsider named Yang Lu Chan ‘the invincible’, peeked into the Chen training halls, video-taped their secret routines and uploaded them onto YouTube and at last the secret was out. When the Chens were sent an anonymous email with a link to YLC's video channel, they dragged him into their lair where - he reputedly 'whupped' the entire clan with one little finger and thereafter changed the direction of Tai Chi forever. Stage 4: From Invincibility to Commercial Viability The Video-Peeker's Grandson, Yang Chen Fu - a large and somewhat rotund figure - was burdened with the responsibility of continuing the lineage, so he peeked and learnt from the violent clashes of the Chinese Boxers and Foreign firearms so prevalent during the period. Discovering to his surprise that his generation had inherited little of his grandfathers invincibility, and without even sending a tweet to the Chen's - he unilaterally shifted the balance away from Tai Chi Chuan - as the Ultimate Martial Fist - to that of simply ‘Tai Chi’ the Ultimate exercise regime for all shapes and sizes. (Now Available on DVD from all good stockists) Stage 5: Shifting Sands After this, the world shifts continues to evolve, and some practitioners decide to evolve with it, whilst others carry on bending spears with their necks and pretending they are still in the 18th century. Some bits of Tai Chi flee political change by going West. Some bits stay in Asia. Everything changes, however, because it is in the nature of things to do so. In fact, some argue that Tai Chi is built on such foundations and is destined to effortlessly adapt to another time, language, culture and society. Sadly, such evolution is then criticised for the next 50 years for having adapted from the Chen Lair, and stiff and unbending types all over the world fight to re-establish things the way they were, back before the time of the peeker, back before Mongooses were observed; with the aim of shielding us from the Weapons of Mass Information. And thus ends the twitter history of Tai Chi Chuan. In part 3 of the history of Tai chi Chuan, we add a more literal an account of how Tai Chi moved west and the legacy those immigrants who brought it with them, have left with us. See you there.

This week on Wrestling Omakase we're joined by returning guest and VOW contributor Thomas Fischbeck (@rasslingratings) for a trip around Japanese wrestling! It starts with a deep dive into All Japan based around their 9/3 Summer Explosion Korakuen show, though we also talk at length about their booking at the moment, Kento Miyahara's title reign, why we'd like to see more cooperation between AJPW and the other puro companies and whether things feel stagnant right now. But there's also much praise for two outstanding main events as well as a couple surprisingly good undercard matches. We wrap up the AJPW segment with a look ahead to the upcoming Oudou Tournament, going over all the first round matches and who are picks are to ultimately win the entire thing.Then we turn to NJPW to talk the Road to Destruction tour, with our main focus being the Young Lions Cup, as we discuss all eight YLC matches so far. We don't do full match breakdowns for the three Korakuens but we do talk some of the major angles and feuds so far including a weirdly horny Naito-White IC feud, Ishii/YH-GOD, and more. And we do brief breakdowns of the three Korakuen main events as well as a couple other recommended matches from the shows. Then we turn our attention to the rest of the Destruction tour, specifically previewing the big matches from the Beppu, Kagoshima and Kobe shows over the next few weeks. We also give an early look at the King of Pro Wrestling card, speculate on what one of the key matches for the US Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour could be, and even give some fantasy booking for what might happen with the IC and US titles between now and Wrestle Kingdom.Our last segments takes us to the land of Tokyo Joshi and DDT, as we talk two shows both from September 1st in Osaka. The TJPW review is full of praise for what was a really fun show up and down the card, including an amazing six-person tag with Yuka Sakazaki giving an arm wringer to a mop that John gave four stars, and another great Su Yung match. The DDT review on the other hand is of possibly our least favorite big DDT show in ages, with a lot of stuff on the card that disappointed. Once that's done we look ahead to TJPW's upcoming weekend back in Tokyo and DDT's next Korakuen show at the end of the month.Finally we wrap things up with a short but spirited mailbag, including an insane question asking two people who do not watch WWE to name all 18 (!) current WWE champions. You'll have to listen to hear how we did! A really fun show!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsWant to advertise on this podcast? Go to https://redcircle.com/brands and sign up.