#8: Personal Loss and Tragedy: Rebuilding Life After Losing Everything In Palisades Fire

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Divot

Derek Andersen

23 episodes

1 day ago

Divot brings you weekly conversations with the people building the future—founders, creators, athletes, and visionaries pushing the limits of business, technology, sports, and entertainment. We go beyond success stories to explore the real moments that define a journey—the risks, the failures, the breakthroughs, and the lessons that can help you on your path. Stories of people making their mark, and how you can too. New episodes every Wednesday. #DivotPodcast #Business #Tech #Sports #Entertainment #Innovation

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#8: Personal Loss and Tragedy: Rebuilding Life After Losing Everything In Palisades Fire

Divot

43 minutes

6 months ago

#8: Personal Loss and Tragedy: Rebuilding Life After Losing Everything In Palisades Fire

His family lost their home, memories, and peace — in minutes. What came next would define his legacy. Rich Raddon, co-founder and co-CEO of ZEFR, opens up about losing everything in a wildfire — and what it taught him about rebuilding, resilience, and leading with heart.

From sleeping in his office to supporting a 200-person team while navigating grief, Rich shares how tragedy transformed his leadership — and how ZEFR became a category leader in brand safety, working with billions of impressions across YouTube, TikTok, and Meta.

We go deep on faith, therapy, family, purpose, and the mindset it takes to turn pain into clarity — and companies into movements.

Follow Rich – X (Twitter): https://x.com/richraddon

Follow Derek – X (Twitter): https://x.com/derekjandersen

Timestamps:

0:00 – The fire that changed everything

3:00 – Evacuation, loss, and finding only ashes

6:30 – Journals, photos, heirlooms: what was lost

10:00 – Strangers, neighbors, and unexpected grace

13:00 – The role of therapy and grief processing

17:00 – Leading a startup while homeless

21:00 – How pain forged a new leadership style

26:00 – Rebuilding life in San Clemente

30:00 – ZEFR’s rise in the brand safety space

34:00 – YouTube, Meta, TikTok: managing billions of impressions

38:00 – The emotional weight of impact

42:00 – Rich’s personal framework for optimism and faith

45:00 – What he hopes his kids will remember

Episode Partners:

Notion

Startups get up to 6 months free of Notion with unlimited AI. Use code SGXNotion: https://ntn.so/startup

Google Cloud

Accelerate your AI startup with Google for Startups Cloud Program: https://partners.startupgrind.com/partner/google-cloud/

Follow Divot:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Divotpod

X (Twitter): https://x.com/divotdotorg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divotdotorg

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@divot.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/divotdotorg/

#RichRaddon #StartupResilience #BrandSafety #Zephyr #Movieclips #WildfireRecovery #MentalHealthForFounders #FaithInBusiness #DivotPodcast