In this episode I chat with Mike Johnson. He's a fellow podcast host who also appeared on Tea with Gary V. We chat about how he came up with the idea for his podcast, what challenges he's faced, and why it's so important for you to put yourself out into the world.
You never know who's listening, reading, or scrolling, and we live in an era where anyone of us can reach the world with a phone and an internet connection.
We also talk about the importance of figuring out your overarching goals and not tying your success, identity, or self-esteem to a singular vessel of delivering on that goal. Listen for more details.
Enjoy!
Today's episode is my full-length interview with Pauleanna Reid. She is a motivational speaker, millennial mentor, celebrity CEO, ghostwriter, and critically acclaimed author of her fiction novel Everything I Couldn't Tell My Mother.
This interview is all about how someone who failed her 11th and 12th grade English classes monumentally succeeded in the art of writing. Pauleanna shares exactly how she got from point A to point B with unique and practical advice.
Pauleanna offers a lot of insight in this interview on topics that affect all of us: we talk about why our culture and generation struggles so much to fulfill ourselves through work and how to fix it. We talk about how she took the leap from dropping out of college to starting her own businesses.
And we also talk about how to reframe your past experiences and how to navigate things like mental health, networking, mentorship, etc.
Pauleanna is a rock star and there's so much to learn from her in this interview!
In this short clip, I chat with Pauleanna Reid, an accomplished author, public speaker, and mentor about passion and purpose. If you're struggling to figure out your sense of purpose or what you're really passionate about this episode is for you. Not only does Pauleanna give examples from her own career, but she also makes some really important practical distinctions about passion and purpose in today's culture. Pauleanna really nails it when describing why our culture and generation really struggle with fulfilling ourselves through our work and how you can overcome that challenge!
In this short clip, Pauleanna Reid talks about how she got her first client for celebrity ghostwriting. It came by way of a mentor and further demonstrates how important it is to have mentors and sponsors in your life. because if you execute against their advice, they can connect you with the right opportunities.
Pauleanna also worked as an executive assistant in an early part of her career. She didn't realize it, but she was actually doing ghostwriting for the CEO's that she was assisting. You never know how a previous job can contribute to a new opportunity, so it's really important to reexamine your past experiences and not be afraid to reposition them to figure out how they might fit something that's been presented to you.
In this short clip, I chat with Pauleanna Reid, an accomplished author, public speaker, and mentor about how she vaulted herself into the world of professional writing.
The story she shares is really important for everybody to hear. She met with a mentor. She executed the mentor's advice over a long period of time and it turned into a bigger opportunity for her. She talks about the distinction between self-worth and market value. You may know that you're a really strong writer, programmer, etc. but if the market doesn't know about your capabilities, you're not going to get connected with the right opportunities.
There is another layer to building the skill set: it's exposure and it's putting yourself out there to the world and giving the market a chance to adopt you for whatever skill set you have.
In this full-length interview, I chat with Tom Levine. Tom is an author, teacher, and speaker. He's written for Spawn, he's published novels, and one of his books just got picked up for a movie script.
In this conversation, we talk about how Tom got to where he is today and how it's a little bit difficult to be a creative when you're putting out work into the world. We talk about overcoming challenges and finding vessels for your overarching goals. Tom talks about a day in his life, and he gives a lot of really great practical advice for young writers, experienced writers, and people who are just interested in creative endeavors.
Tom's been doing this for a long time and he's found a lot of success so I'm really excited for this episode.
In this short clip, I chat with author Tom Levine, about how one of his books got picked up for a movie script. He talks about how that came about, but more importantly, he talks about how he doesn't expect this to be a big box office hit. What he is trying to do is just pilot and test something new to see if it might be an opportunity for him in the future and our full interview we talk about how his overarching goal is to be a storyteller.
Tom is really good at is executing a number of different formats for that storytelling to see if something will catch on and to leverage that experience.
I love Tom's perspective when it comes to meeting his larger goals and it can be applied to any field. Always be testing. Always be learning. Always stay humble.
In this short clip, I chat with author Tom Levine, about how he came into a gig writing for the comic book Spawn. This gig was a really big deal and reveals a very important career growth trick hack tip: what's important about Tom getting this gig is it was partially because of someone he knew, but it was mostly about the fact that that person knew Tom's abilities, and knew what he was interested in.
You could be the best author or the best anything in this world, but if nobody knows your intentions and your goals, they're never going to think of you when an opportunity arises.
Tom's story is such a practical example of that working out in his favor.
In today's short clip. I chat with author Tom Levine. Tom has been really successful in his career so far - he's written for Spawn, he's published novels and one of his books just got picked up for a movie script. One of the narratives that emerge in my conversation with Tom is that he's always adapting to new environments and he's continually testing different channels and formats. This is unique advice that I don't hear a lot from creatives and I think anybody who's aspiring to be an author, a communicator, or a content creator needs to hear this advice.
In today’s episode, I chat with Cassidy Petit, a recent UVM graduate who’s working for Hula, a new co-working space and tech accelerator being constructed to build a community that fosters economic growth in Burlington, Vermont. The company has a big mission: to put Burlington, Vermont on the map as a hub for start-ups and technology companies.
Cassidy is at the center of this as she’s responsible for marketing and operations and making sure the existing community of Burlington and its students know what opportunities are available.
We share her story of how she found herself in this position after originally intending to go into social work. The opportunity for her to contribute to her community in a slightly different way presented itself and she took it on.
Her story is one of focusing on the process, not the outcome, and of not being afraid to take on new challenges.
We talk about how Burlington, VT is a great place to work and live, and how we both share the goal of spreading that message to retain more students and attract more people to the state.
In this short clip, I ask Cassidy about her challenges working at Hula. The way she responds is the exact way you want to respond to a question like this in an interview.
She talks about how being on a small team in fluid roles can be challenging, especially when it requires her to take on work she’s not familiar with, but she repositions it as an opportunity for her to grow.
It’s this type of growth-mindset and not fearing new challenges that will help her grow in her career, and if you take on the same mindset, it can help you grow, too.
In this short clip, Cassidy and I talk about Hula’s mission and the benefits of living in Burlington, Vermont. For students out there listening, there is a vibrant technology scene in Burlington and offers a quality of life that is unrivaled in most other areas.
Dealer.com, the anchor tech company in Burlington, was acquired for $1 billion and has seeded the ground for the second wave of new companies and economic growth. In a city of just over 40,000 people, that’s a big deal.
Cassidy points out that many entrepreneurs who move to Vermont are living their “second life” after living in larger cities, and are enjoying having quality careers and quality of life outside of those careers.
In today’s episode, I chat with entrepreneur Gabriel Appleton, co-founder of Vumonic, a market intelligence tool used by the world's leading strategy teams.
We talk about how authentic curiosity led him to his first venture at a storage company, one he joined despite having accepted an offer at the Economist. He helped to grow the storage company and eventually he and his business partner sold it. After the sale, Gabriel moved to India and met his future business partner to co-found Vumonic.
His story is one of tenacity, staying true to yourself and is a great example of how authentic curiosity can open doors for you in your career.
In this short clip, Gabriel talks about how he validated the business idea for Vumonic and what he did to get the company off the ground. New companies are always faced with the chicken or the egg problem of needing investment to launch a product but needing a product to get the investment. In this case, Gabriel and his business partner applied to a start-up accelerator, got in, and got their company off the ground.
In this short clip, Gabriel shares a story of how he ended up working at his first start-up, All College Storage. When he got on the phone with the company founder, he didn’t do anything fancy, he just showed up, asked thoughtful questions and a door opened for him.
Gabriel mentions that his curiosity has opened other doors for him in his personal and professional life as well, citing that it led him to co-founding his current company, Vumonic.
In today’s episode, I chat with Jacqueline Cardoza who currently works at the CDC and is soon to be taking on a new role at FEMA.
Jacqueline had intentions of being a change maker starting back in college and she’s living up to that dream. She shares her story from undergraduate experiences to attending graduate school at the University of Michigan, and ultimately ending up at the CDC.
She also talks about how it’s okay to not know your path and the importance of trying things to help give you more clarity.
Enjoy!
In this short clip, Jacqueline shares how her proactivity and networking skills opened the door for her at the CDC.
The more you put yourself out there, the more likely you are to connect with people who can help you achieve your goals.
Enjoy!
In this short clip, Jacqueline talks about her application to a graduate program. As she went through this process, her undergrad professors asked her why she wanted to choose this path.
Her answer was that she wasn’t if this was right for her, but she was interested in it and needed to pursue grad school to validate or invalidate that interest.
The lesson for us all here is that we don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes, you just have to try something, you never know if it’ll be a fit.
Jacqueline also talks about struggling when she first got into the program and learning how to ask for help from her professors. This has served her well in her career so far because she learned that you don’t need to know everything, you just have to be resourceful in being aware of those gaps and identifying how to find the answers or help you need.
Enjoy!
In this short clip, I chat with Yvonne Prang about her experience as a mentor and she offers specific advice on how to find a mentor.
What I really like about this episode is that we get the perspective from a mentor - why she gives back, and how she benefits from it too. A lot of us think mentorship is a one-way street, but it really is a mutually beneficial relationship.
Enjoy!
In this short clip, Yvonne gives some really great insight into how she approaches maintaining work-life balance. She is very self-aware, and that helps to inform her strategies for coping with a busy schedule and a busy lifestyle.
What works for her might not necessarily work for you, so we both encourage our listeners, to be honest with themselves to figure out what works for them, and what doesn’t.
Enjoy!