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Have you ever wondered what it takes to upend one of the oldest categories ever? To create real, radical innovation and do something that almost everyone in the industry said was impossible? If so, you’re going to love this dialogue with our guest, John Spagnola.

In this episode of Follow Your Different, John Spagnola talks about how he redesigned an old category and broke through expectations and preexisting ideas in the Spirits category. He is the epitome of a pirate , dreamer, and innovator.

John Spagnola is the founder of Ublendit, THE pioneer in custom Spirits category. They create custom blended spirits for hotels, bars, nightclubs, and restaurants so they can have their own unique, custom-branded and blended spirits.

Ublendit: Breaking the Fixed Mindset

John talks about Ublendit and how he didn’t want it to be just another spirits company. At the time, the formula for making a spirits company was as follows: You build a brand, market it to distributors, and hopefully get your brand into different establishments through said distributors.

There were those who commented that while John might start out with this completely new idea he had, he’ll eventually move into the same model eventually.

John was having none of it.

“The more I go into it, the more I thought: no, you’re totally wrong. The way you’re thinking about is totally wrong. There are so many angles that we can manipulate here, that you’re not even thinking about.” – John Spagnola

John has always been into trying new things. Creating something that was game-changing and can disrupt the status quo was the dream. He feels fortunate that his investors shared the same views as he did and were willing to take risks.

 Going Against the Grain

John further elaborates as to why most spirits companies follow the traditional category model. Eventually, it all boiled down to how big of an investment it can be, that they think it won’t be worth their time. Most of the people who tried having multiple blends end up discarding underperforming ones and just focusing their effort to their best-selling ones.

“I kind of understand where people come from for there, but there’s all these new, different elements that have opened up to allow us to, to be so versatile.” – John Spagnola

John went against the grain and pushed forward with his custom-blended and branded spirits, and have not look back since. Nowadays, there are technologies that allow businesses to blend spirits in smaller scales, much like what Ublendit is doing. Yet John and Ublendit has the distinction of being the trailblazers for the category.

Knowing Your Market

As a Category Designer, one has to do their due diligence and know what you are working with. Otherwise, how can you change a category to something your target audience cares about?

This is exactly what John did by going around and doing research on the target market. He identified what the pain points of various businesses are, and create something new that solves those issues.

After doing his market research, he found two major factors that interest people. The first one was price, because they need to make money. The other one was having custom labels to promote their own brand.

So John got to work in combining these two factors, and a new category was born. As for his clients, they wished Ublendit was created sooner.

“The thing that stuck with me is (he said,) you’re giving me goose for $5. He literally said, I wish that I had found you 10 years ago when I started this company. I was like, well, we weren’t there yet. We didn’t exist yet. He’s like, well, now you have us forever.” – John Spagnola

To hear more from John Spagnola and how to be a legendary category designer, download and listen to this episode.

BIO:

John Spagnola is the CEO of Ublendit, LLC. Ublendit is a pioneer in the custom spirts category. They are the first to create custom spirits for hotels, bars, nightclubs, restaurants and special events.

John is also Managing Partner at Venture Santa Cruz, where they identify new markets to make a difference in and disrupt them.

He’s based in Santa Cruz, CA.

Links:

Website: Ublendit.com

LinkedIn: in/JohnSpagnola

More about John Spagnola and Ublendit

Off The Lip Radio podcast

A new blended whiskey draws attention to local bartenders’ secret

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

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In Hebrew, the name “Mosha” means “Salvation”. That was the name of a 13-year-old boy who was forced into a Nazi concentration camp, and spent the next five years in 18 more. Yet somehow, he lived.

In this episode of Follow Your Different, Daniel Gefen shares a real, raw dialogue about his grandfather Mosha, and how he has influenced Daniel’s life and his drive to become a podcasting entrepreneur.

You’ll also hear about how Daniel embraces faith, family, and philosophy to guide his life, and how he turns frustration into fascination.

Mosha, the Survivor

Daniel shares the story of his grandfather, Mosha. Mosha was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. He was shot, buried alive, and hanged twice, yet he somehow managed to live on.

After the war, Mosha fled to Switzerland. He had no money, no connections, and couldn’t even speak the language. While all he had was himself, he made full use of his talents. He built a farm by himself, and continued to build himself up until he had his own hotel business.

Yet even as a multimillionaire hotel owner, Mosha had always strived to live a simpler life. All his focus was on how he could help others be happy.

“The reason he opened the hotel wasn’t to make money. The reason he opened the hotel was because he wanted to serve people. That’s how he lived his life. He lived in a very small little apartment above the hotel his whole life, didn’t drive a car, and gave away pretty much almost all of his money to charities.” – Daniel Gefen

Giving Voice to Others through Podcasting

Daniel talks about how the more recent generations have become too focused on themselves.  While it’s not a bad thing to have some self-love, being too wrapped up with oneself can narrow one’s view.

Sometimes, focusing outwardly and living for something or someone else can give you a higher purpose. For Daniel, it was giving voice to those who have long yearned to share their stories through his podcasts.

“I kind of feel like my career is all about giving people exposure right through podcasting. My whole career is all about giving people the opportunity to promote and share their stories and get themselves out there on the biggest podcast. Ironically, I feel like I’m doing something that my grandfather couldn’t do.” – Daniel Gefen

Don’t Lock Yourself in a Should Prison

Daniel describes how his grandfather’s past trauma has also affected future generations of the family. One of the affected parties is his father and Daniel’s relationship with him growing up.

Yet he doesn’t blame his grandfather nor his father for it. Instead of letting things stay as it is, Daniel strived to reach out and build a strong connection with his father.

Rather than focusing on what other people should do, Daniel decided to focus on what he could do for them. He also learned to choose what’s best given the situation, rather than hoping for that perfect ending.

“I have a mentor, a rabbi, who many times has said to me, “You know, do you want to be right? Or do you want to be happy? You can’t always have both. Sometimes you can. But a lot of times, you cannot have both. So what do you want? You get to choose.” ” – Daniel Gefen

To hear more from Daniel Gefen and on how his grandfather inspired him to be an entrepreneur, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Daniel Gefen is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Gefen Media Group – a podcast production and booking agency helping clients build a loyal following through the power of podcasting. He is also the host of the top-rated podcast show called ‘Can I Pick Your Brain?’ which has exceeded over 150,000 downloads and was named top 26 podcasts to listen to by CIO Magazine. He has interviewed over 100 thought leaders, Billionaires and celebrities.

In 2017, he was named one of the top 25 most influential influencers and has been featured in dozens of media publications including Forbes Inc, CIO, Influencive, Success Radio and over 70 leading podcasts.

Daniel lives with his wife Lorren and 4 children in the hills of Bet Shemesh, Israel.

You can listen to his show by searching for ‘Can I Pick Your Brain?’ on iTunes or other podcast platforms.

Links:

Website: Gefen Media Group

Get Booked: Podbooker.com

LinkedIn: in/GefenMedia

Amazon Books: The Self Help Addict

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

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Most leaders want to build a legendary business and be socially and environmentally responsible at the same time. Sadly, many get caught in a false dilemma between doing good in business and doing good in the world. In spite of that, there are companies that strive to do both and continue to prosper to this day.

In this episode of Follow Your Different, Dr. Gero Leson shares how Dr. Bronner’s has become the pioneer in the global movement to establish socially just and environmentally responsible supply chains. So if you care about building a long term, successful business that dominates its niche and makes a giant difference in the world, you’re going to love everything about this conversation.

Having an Impact on the World

If you’re looking for a company that has an impact on the world, look no further than Dr. Bronner’s. They have spent 70 years showing everyone that you don’t have to choose just one to maintain good growth. They back up this claim by ranking as the second highest scoring B Corp in the world.

Dr. Gero Leson attributes this success to having an authentic brand and being consistent about it all these years. He believes that the causes they address speak to the general public, particularly to people who advocate saving the planet.

“There are many other things. Of course, it’s the quality of our product, no doubt. But I think it’s also the messaging and then the action (we take). It’s what we do to have an impact beyond just making soap. I think that package speaks to people, and we have a fantastic team that’s all driven by the same vision.” – Dr. Gero Leson

Standing the Test of Time

Dr. Gero shares his thoughts on how Dr. Bronner’s is still relevant after all these years. Despite having new ideas and products launched, they have stayed true to their desire to have more natural and sustainable products and ingredients in the market.

As for their sustained growth, Dr. Gero explains that they don’t focus on it. He knows it sounds like a cliché, but that mindset helped them explore new ideas that others would find risky.

“This is not about cashing out, getting a few millions in the bank and then retire and just sit on the board of philanthropic organizations. The Bronners’ and most of our executive team just love being able to make decisions and bring about change, and that drives me alive. This is the biggest fun ever. I could retire, but that would be so boring. It’s just so much fun to use your business to bring about change, honestly.” – Dr. Gero Leson

Precision and Creativity

Nowadays, it is normal to have your Executive offices and your production line separate.  Yet for the longest time, Dr. Bronner’s has kept it all in one place. This leads to a unique contrast of seeing everything work with exact precision, but in an environment driven by everyone’s creativity and individuality.

 “It is really fun to watch normal people respond to this. I sometimes bring in the chiefs of our projects and they’re very normal people. They come there and they say, “Huh, there’s a very interesting, great atmosphere here”. Its a very unique contrast of normality, efficiency, planning and at the same time, you have wildness and independence driving.” – Dr. Gero Leson

To hear more from Dr. Gero Leson and his thoughts on building a business that thrives while making a difference, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

DR. GERO LESON is Vice President of Special Operations at Dr. Bronner’s, the top-selling brand of natural soaps in North America.

After joining the company in 2005, he helped it transition to sourcing all its major ingredients directly from certified fair trade and organic projects.

Under his leadership, Dr. Bronner’s has become a pioneer in the global movement to establish socially just and environmentally responsible supply chains.

Leson speaks regularly on business, sustainability, fair trade, and regenerative agriculture. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Links

Website: DrBronner.com

Facebook: fb/DrBronner

Instagram: @DrBronner

Twitter: @DrBronner

Get the Book: Honor Thy Label

More about Dr. Gero Leson

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

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Most people would like to be more creative, and some would like to make a living with their creativity. Though without legendary role models, particularly those who are willing to get real and go deep about their experience, it’s hard to learn what it really takes. In today’s dialogue with Nasri, you’re going to learn about it and a lot more.

In this episode of Follow Your Different, it is all about Nasri. His music has been streamed over 4 billion times to date. He’s a Grammy Award winning songwriter, producer, and singer who’s worked with literally the biggest names in music today. Nasri has won a Grammy Award for his works, including Best Latin Pop Album for his work with Shakira on her record Eldorado in 2017, and Best R&B album for his work on Chris Brown’s F.A.M.E. record.

His band Magic! released three successful chart-topping albums with RCA Records, and he’s probably best known for their international smash hit “Rude”. He also just released a brand-new EP, a solo EP called “Here for You” to much critical acclaim.

This is also Nasri’s first podcast experience, so join him and Christopher as they discuss Grammys, working with great musicians, and how to live a creative life.

On Nasri Winning the Grammys

Christopher starts off with the big one, and asks what it was like winning the Grammys. Nasri shares his thoughts on collaborating with a lot of talented artists and producers in the industry, and the experience of creating Grammy Award-winning songs.

He also adds that nowadays, producing music is different than before. It’s normal to see five or more people being credited in one song, and that’s okay. All of it is necessary to create great music. Though it is understandable why some might be confused when they see multiple names in the credits.

“Now when you make music, everybody has a little piece of everything. It’s kind of confusing when you see four or five names on a credit, or even seven or eight, nine names on a credit of a song. It’s confusing to the audience to like “Seven people wrote this song?” No, seven people didn’t write the song. Two or three people wrote the song, and then it goes through a process of like, “hey, let’s team up with this sound designer”, and they also want a piece of the publishing.” – Nasri  

On Creatives Self-Producing

Christopher brings up his experience on publications, and on why he chose to self-publish later on. Nasri agrees with the sentiment, and points out that it’s not a bad idea to work with a company first before trying to publish or produce on your own. At the very least, you’ll get some much-needed experience from them first and commit less mistakes when you are on our own afterwards.

“I think the beginning stages, if you look at why you may need a publisher, it has made me learn a couple things, you know. To see kind of what the scope of marketing for this medium is, and that’s what I went through. In the band Magic!, we were signed to RCA Records, and I was like, “Okay, cool.” When I went now to make my solo project, I felt like I had a pretty good grip of how to market something.” – Nasri

He’s also glad that he got into self-production. He talks about how he’s not on other people’s clock but his own, and he take his time and perfect his craft.

“I’m in no rush. I own the master. I have nobody telling me in some sort of meeting that is not moving fast enough. That’s (part of) what I didn’t like.” – Nasri

Nasri’s New EP

Speaking of producing something, Nasri recently released his new EP, “Here For You”. Nasri talks about how it came to be, and how much fun it was to create. He also got into the finer details and how happy he is with its reception.

“So all of a sudden, this whole thing just came together through us just being passionate about it. And some of the stories that in all the years of him making music, this is one of the first times that his wife has actually listened to the music on repeat, you know? Because generally, a lot of the stuff we make our wives are like, yeah, another pop song. They’ll listen to it once or twice and be like, “okay, cool”. But now, we went in and made some real music.” – Nasri

To hear more about Nasri and his thoughts on creating great music on his first-ever podcast, download and listen to this episode.

Bio

Nasri

With over 4 billion streams to his name, Grammy-winning artist/producer Nasri Atweh has solidified himself as a certified hitmaker.

Lending his songwriting talents for artists including Justin Bieber, Halsey, Robin Thicke, Usher, John Legend, Skip Marley, H.E.R., Chloe x Halle and many more, Nasri has proven his ability to bring the best out of the artists with whom he works and elevate their art to a whole new level.

Nasri was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and began singing at age 6. In 2002, Nasri won the John Lennon songwriting contest with a song he wrote with one of his closest collaborators, Adam Messinger.

Following this, Nasri and Adam then formed the production duo called “The Messengers.”

Together, they helped drive the reunion of New Kids on the Block and wrote hits for Christina Aguilera, David Guetta, Cody Simpson, Jason Derulo, and many more. Nasri and Adam were nominated for two Grammys in 2011 for their work on Justin Bieber’s My World 2.0andChris Brown’s Graffiti and the duo won the Grammy for Best R&B Album in 2012 for their work on Chris Brown’s F.A.M.E.

Additionally, Nasri won the Grammy award for Best Latin Pop Album for his work on Shakira’s El Dorado in 2017.

In 2013, Nasri took a step out from behind the curtain as the front man of MAGIC!

The band released their highly successful debut song “Rude” which topped the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom. MAGIC! has gone on to release three albums with RCA Records: Don’t Kill the Magic (2013), Primary Colours (2016), and Expectations (2018). Today, Nasri continues to work with music’s top talents. In 2020, albums he worked on received multiple Grammy Awards including Best Pop Vocal Album (Justin Bieber – Changes), Best R&B Song (Skip Marley ft. H.E.R. – “Slow Down”), Best Reggae Album (Skip Marley – Higher Ground), Best R&B Album (John Legend – Bigger Love) and Best Progressive R&B Album (Chloe x Halle – Ungodly Hour).

Links

Follow Nasri today!

Twitter: @NasriWorld

Instagram: @NasriAtweh

YouTube: @NasriAtweh

Learn more about Nasri!

Rolling Stone

ABC News Radio

Drop the Spotlight

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

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Nowadays, people live at a time when discerning what’s right and wrong is getting more complex. As your choices can have profound, long term implications, it’s best to know where your moral compass lies.

In this episode of Follow Your Different, Dr. Susan Liautaud talks about Ethics and why it is more than just common sense. She explains why it matters more today, and how to apply an Ethics lens to critical areas of society. This is a fascinating conversation that will matter to anyone who cares about making the world a different place.

Dr. Susan Liautaud is the author of the new bestseller, The Power of Ethics: How to Make Good Choices in a Complicated World. She is an Ethics Advisor to major corporations and institutions, and also teaches Ethics at Stanford. She serves as Chair of the London School of Economics and Political Science Council.

Why Ethics is Not Common Sense

It used to be that people grew up on stories that gave examples of what’s right and wrong. Everything seemed black and white, and the lines in the sand were clear. In today’s world, where information is but a touch of a screen away, these lines have seemingly been blurred.

Dr. Susan Liautaud uses media platforms like Facebook or Twitter as examples for this. On one hand, it serves as a tool to connect people together and have lively conversations. On the other hand, there are some that use it to bully people and spread misinformation.

“In today’s world, you know, good and bad are all mixed. We are in this gray zone and things that can be used for the good like social media. Yet they can also be used for harm, like bullying on social media or spread of disinformation. So I think largely because the world has just gotten so complicated and technology and all the forces driving it aren’t really common sense for a lot of people.” – Dr. Susan Liautaud

The World is Changing so Fast

Christopher shares that for him, changing your opinion on something is not a bad thing. It means that you are open to new ideas and correcting your own.

“If you haven’t changed your mind lately, how do you know you have one?” – Christopher Lochhead

Dr. Susan agrees with this sentiment, and describes that Ethics can be the same way. The things we find ethical or otherwise can be flipped due to recent events or newly-available information. For her, it’s better to be in-the-know rather than to always stick with the old ways.

“I think one of the things about ethics that’s different today is that the world is changing so fast. The complexity I referred to earlier is evolving so quickly that we need to be monitoring, instead of holding our nose and leaping into a decision and being sure that we’re absolutely right. So I don’t call it flip flopping. I call it staying grounded in reality.” – Dr. Susan Liautaud

Finding Non-Binary Solutions

As more people get access to information and the lines between black and white get even more blurred, people’s definition of Ethics changes even further. For Dr. Susan, this is not a bad thing. Her main concern lies with people still looking for binary solutions to solve ethical problems.

Dr. Susan explains how people can get stuck behind a yes or no mindset for different situations, which limits their thinking to binary solutions. She elaborates further by using Christopher’s foil board example:

“What I would say is, can’t we find a solution that is non-binary, other than you can’t foil board on a public beach. Maybe you can foil board at certain times of day, in a place where there are only foil boarders who are willing to put themselves at that risk. We get ourselves into this Yes, No, black, white, one side of the wall or the other binary thinking, and we never get to seizing opportunity and mitigating risk.”   – Dr. Susan Liautaud

To know more about Dr. Susan Liautaud and how Ethics is not common sense in some companies, download and listen to this episode.

Bio

Dr. Susan Liautaud teaches cutting-edge ethics at Stanford University and serves as Chair of the Council (trustees) at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She advises corporations, NGOs, and governmental bodies and their leaders on internationally complex ethics matters and is the Founder of the Ethics Incubator.

Links

Follow Dr. Susan Liautaud here!

Susan Liautaud’s website

Linkedin: in/SusanLiautaudJDPHD

Twitter: @SusanLiautaud

Stanford profile: Dr. Susan Liautaud

Find out more about Dr. Susan Liautaud in these articles:

Washington Post

Simon and Schuster

Huffington Post

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

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In today’s episode of Follow Your Different, we are joined by Behavioral Ecologist and world-renowned Elephant Scientist, Dr. Caitlin O’Connell. She spent more than 30 years studying animals in their natural habitats. Dr. Caitlin has also taught at places like Stanford and Harvard.

She’s got a brand-new book out called Wild Rituals, where she explores 10 lessons animals can teach us about connection, community, and our own humanity. Her book comes out at a time in history when the human race is dealing with some pretty deep existential questions. Dr. O’Connell is here to help us deepen our understanding of ourselves by teaching us all about these legendary animals.

Taking Social Rituals for Granted

As the pandemic continues to keep everyone socially distant, people have started noticing social rituals and activities that we used to take for granted. Dr. Caitlin talks about the rituals in wild animal societies and how intense each social interaction was, even for something as simple as a greeting. 

She further explains that in our current isolation, people have realized the importance of these rituals in our lives, no matter how basic it may have seemed. 

“The reason I was inspired to write about rituals in wild animal societies was really just to remind us of how important ritual is in our own lives, and how similar our rituals are to other animals.” – Dr. Caitlin O’Connell

Different, But the Same

Dr. Caitlin discusses how we as a species have evolved, and how tools like language have accelerated our growth. Yet it is important to remember that everyone came from the same humble beginnings, but took different paths. 

She reminds everyone we all evolved this need for ritual for the same purpose, despite the differences we display them. 

“It’s easy for people to do that because we are the only species that evolved language. Then by that language, suddenly we just accelerated away from the branch on our evolutionary tree. But the thing to remember is that we all came from the same humble beginnings, whether or not we moved in another direction.” – Dr. Caitlin O’Connell

The Importance of Rituals

Dr. Caitlin and Christopher dive into the importance of social rituals, and why we cling to them almost instinctively. Dr. Caitlin shares that inclusion in such rituals makes us feel comfortable and connected. 

“Well, rituals are very calming, they’re very soothing, they comfort us and, and make us feel connected. They, especially group rituals, when you’re doing something as a group, let’s say in a marching band or synchronized swimming, or singing with your friends to cheer your team on. They make you feel included and more bonded to the people that you’re with.” – Dr. Caitlin O’Connell

She also explains that as the population grew and society became more diverse, some social rituals have evolved to help identify each other from different groups. Yet as all of these group rituals help people feel bonded to the group, rituals can also lead down a dark path.

To know more about Dr. Caitlin O’Connell, as well as the dark path and how we can avoid it as social animals, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Dr. Caitlin O’Connell has been called a modern renaissance creative.

She is currently on the faculty at the Eaton Peabody Lab at Harvard Medical School studying elephant low-frequency hearing while also overseeing a non-profit foundation, (Utopia Scientific) promoting the importance of science and conservation.

Dr. Caitlin is an award-winning author and photographer and has been studying elephants in the wild for the last thirty years, having written dozens of scientific papers and numerous feature magazine articles and two memoirs about her experiences.

She taught creative science writing for Stanford and The New York Times and co-developed the award-winning Smithsonian documentary, Elephant King.

Dr. Caitlin is currently developing a new elephant docu-drama, Elephant Crown, and working on several feature movie and television scripts aimed at getting real science into popular media.

 She has authored eight popular books about elephants, including an award-nominated thriller series about the ivory trade that is also being released as a graphic novel.

Links:

Website: Dr. Caitlin O’Connell’s Official Website

Amazon Books: Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us About Connection, Community, and Ourselves

Twitter: @Dr. Caitlin O’Connell

Instagram: @Dr. Caitlin O’Connell

Harvard links: @Dr. Caitlin O’Connell

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

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In today’s episode of Follow Your Different, we are joined yet again by the breathtaking Dushka Zapata. Dushka is one of our regular guests in the podcast and one of the most important and prolific writers this world has to offer. The world truly needs more of Dushka.

Additionally, in an act of radical generosity, Dushka has decided to make all e-versions of her published books available on Amazon, for free, starting March 17, 2021. Everything she has published will be available in ebook form for free within a 24-hour period. We highly recommend going and check out the link and read her astounding books.

The Prioritization of Well-Being

The pandemic has changed everyone’s relationship landscape, and the glue that has held those relationships has modified its fundamental composition. Dushka discusses that the difficulty in prioritizing one’s well-being is due to the fact that oftentimes it is impossible to tell what exactly is the best for one’s well-being.

She shares that the only way to find the answer is to spend time alone, compassionately and gently, giving thought to what is genuinely best for oneself.

“We are all like boats and we all carry other people who take care of the maintenance of the boat. If the boat sinks, you are useless to others. So what is it that you need to do for the boat, which is you? You need to be functional for others.

The most responsible thing that we can do is to think about the best ways we can take care of ourselves.” – Dushka Zapata

The Pursuit of Happiness

Dushka discusses that her definition for the pursuit of happiness is less about being happy and more about the feeling of whether her actions have a sense of purpose. Most people are trapped in a constant state of sabotaging their own happiness because they feel like it’s too much. When in reality, there is no logical limit to how happy one can become. 

She encourages people to never believe in mediocrity, low-grade despair, and to devise small steps to interests that bring one closer to happiness.

“There isn’t a higher being monitoring your amount of happiness. I think that if there were a first step, it would be to remove your own tendency to sabotage your own happiness.

If there were a second step, it would be about identifying the wants that are real.

And, if there were a third step, it would be about truly understanding what the difference is between the superficial want and the deeper wants.” – Dushka Zapata

The Architecture of One’s Fabrication

Dushka and Christopher discuss how life is just the story that people tell themselves about the facts, people live in the architecture of their own fabrication. Dushka shares how it is worthwhile to perceive oneself as the person who thinks their thoughts rather than being one’s thoughts. This guarantees a life not filled with suffering over things that are uncontrollable and non-existent. 

“To me, a really central part about learning how to love myself has to do with making a distinction between the things I believe that are not true.” – Dushka Zapata

To know more about the legendary Dushka Zapata and how to prioritize your well-being, download and listen to this episode. 

Bio:

After working for more than 20 years in the communications industry, Dushka noticed a theme.

People find it very difficult to articulate who they are and what they do.

This holds true for both companies and for individuals.

For companies, this is an impediment to the development of an identity, a reputation, a brand.

It makes it hard for customers to see how companies are different from their competitors.

For individuals, in a new world order of personal brands, it makes it hard to develop one that feels real.

This is the focus of Dushka’s work: she helps companies and people put into simple terms who they are, what they do, and where to go next.

Her work comes to life through message development, presentation training, media training and personal brand development.

It comes to life through executive coaching, workshops and public speaking.

It comes to life through what she writes.

Dushka has written ten bestseller.

Her work has been consumed on Q&A site Qoura 180M times.

Links:

Amazon Authors: Dushka Zapata

Quora: Dushka Zapata

Linkedin: Dushka Zapata

Instagram: @dushkaamateur

Twitter: @dushkamateur

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

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Teri Williams is the legendary President and Chief Operating Officer of OneUnited Bank. She is helping transform the country with the empire she is currently building. From purchasing a small struggling community bank in Boston to creating OneUnited Bank, the largest black-owned bank in the United States of America. Since they have started, Teri and her husband, Kevin, with their team have made over $1 billion in loans together. Along with being an entrepreneur, she is also an author with her book, I Got Bank!: What My Granddad Taught Me About Money. Today, we have a powerful conversation about OneUnited Bank’s mission and how the couple runs a successful powerful business while raising two wonderful children. Teri has some fascinating insights on what it really means to make money and the statistics of the black community in the financial system. We also talk about how Teri and Kevin are showing how banking and entrepreneurship can change lives, communities, and even a country.

The OneUnitedBank

OneUnited Bank is the largest black-owned bank in the country. It has not only started as a community but is also transforming to becoming a digital bank. The goal they have is to make financial literacy a core value in the black community. Teri gives a bit of her personal background and story, and how she learned business from her grandmother. She shares how one of the important things for the black community is to recognize those individuals who have been there, eliminate the carried shame, and value one’s experiences.

“We’re finding ourselves not being able to speak in our authentic voice. We’re finding that our community is not listening to us because we’re not speaking in our authentic voice. So we have changed our communication. It was important for us, as a bank, to speak to the challenges that our community faces, not to run away from them. From that came this bank black movement. It is a bank black movement where black people can speak how they are going to move their money to black owned banks and are going to support black businesses.” – Teri Williams

Black Communities in the Financial System

Teri discusses the statistics and the poor treatment of the black community in the financial system. She shares how the homeownership rate in the black community is 30 percent lower compared to the white community. The number of loans and mortgages from national banks is 1 to 2 percent of all mortgages that are given to black families. Though, there is hope. OneUnited Banks is creating partnerships and transacting with big corporations that are currently making big differences to the community.

“Netflix was the first to come out with this. Because of corporations like them, a lot of corporations have followed. I think the corporations realize that this is a way to contribute to what these banks are trying to do. It’s also important for people to know what we do. Over 70% of our lending actually goes into the community and our credit losses are almost zero. It’s not like we’re doing lending that is risky. We are just doing lending that isn’t being done by other institutions. That lending is giving our community an opportunity to build well.” – Teri Williams

OneTransaction Campaign and Conference

For Black History Month, Teri shares the OneTransaction Campaign and Conference that will be held on Juneteenth (June 19, 2021) from 1:00 – 6:00 PM ET (Eastern Time). The campaign will be a free virtual conference encouraging the black community to focus on one transaction in 2021. It will be filled with amazing speakers who are passionate to educate the community on how they can create generational wealth and close the racial wealth gap. We hope you can virtually join and register for the OneTransaction Campaign and Conference and be part of the conversation.

“We give them a choice of six transactions. It could be a will, life insurance, home ownership, having a profitable business, improving their credit score or savings, and investments. We ask them to select one of those six transactions and then we provide them with action steps to accomplish that in 2021. We’re having this conference on Juneteenth which is an African-American holiday. We want to really educate the community on how they can build wealth.” – Teri Williams

To know more about Teri Williams and the amazing work her and husband are doing at OneUnited Bank, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Teri Williams is President and Chief Operating Officer of OneUnited Bank. She is responsible for the implementation of the Bank’s strategic initiatives, as well as the day-to-day operations of the bank. These operational areas include all retail branches, marketing, compliance, lending, information technology, customer support, legal, and human resources. Under her leadership, OneUnited Bank has consolidated the local names and product offerings of four (4) banks to create a powerful national brand supported by innovative products and services. She believes the financial services industry has not connected with urban communities to fully support economic development and wealth building. OneUnited Bank can serve as a bridge by offering affordable financial services for all and financial workshops. She brings 30 years of financial services expertise from premier institutions such as Bank of America and American Express, where she was one of the youngest Vice Presidents. Ms. Williams holds an M.B.A. with honors from Harvard University and a B.A. with distinctions from Brown University. She has served as Treasurer of Dimock Community Health Center in Roxbury, MA for over 5 years. She currently serves on the Boards of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA) where she serves as Treasurer and the 79th Street Corridor Initiative in Miami Florida. Ms. Williams is the author of I Got Bank! What My Granddad Taught Me About Money (Beckham Publishing) a financial literacy book for urban youth. Ms. Williams has received numerous notations and awards for her contribution to urban communities including from the Urban League, NAACP, and the National Black MBA Association.

Links:

OneUnited Management Why OneUnited Amazon Books: I Got Bank!: What My Granddad Taught Me About Money Justice Deposits: How NetFlix, Twitter & Costco Are Leading Conscious Capital & You Can Too We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes

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Gloria Hwang was a long-time cyclist who never wore a helmet. She thought they were too bulky, inconvenient, and space-agey looking. Then, a friend of hers died in a bike accident. She decided something had to be done about helmets. Gloria, a savvy professional who’s been working for five years inside the legendary Tom’s shoes, saw the new mobility category designed right in front of her eyes.

With a very small amount of money and a Kickstarter campaign, she started Thousand Helmets. In this episode, we talk about Gloria’s story, as an entrepreneur and category designer and her mission of saving lives.

The Mission of Thousand Helmets

When Gloria decided to buy a helmet for herself, she saw a bunch of passable-looking helmets, but there’s nothing she wanted to wear. The number one reason people don’t ride a bike, skateboard, or scooter is they just don’t feel safe. So, she believed that making a helmet that people would want to wear could help save a lot of lives:

“I really believe that I can create a product that people want to wear and I could solve a lot of problems. They could help save lives, and I could get people moving around cities in a different way.” – Gloria Hwang

Prioritizing the Customer’s Perspective

As helmets have been around since forever, Christopher asks Gloria how she saw an opportunity to create a different category of helmets. She says that it was all about customer insight as she was once a customer. Their first products were based on a human-centered design perspective and not on a market perspective.

“As a consumer, you have a whole different set of customer needs and problems than what’s on the shelves. Then you kind of know that there is something out there for you that needs to be created.” – Gloria Hwang

Design Philosophy

Gloria shares the fundamental concepts in their product development process. The first one is style, and the second one is safety so that people can be safe and look stylish at the same time. The last one is convenience, which created the idea of their secret PopLock function to avoid theft when people leave their helmets behind.

“There’s the execution where things need to be beautiful and high quality, but it always goes back down to what the customer would be thinking right now and what problem they encounter when they’re deciding to pick up a helmet. So, at the end of the day, it’s kind of trying to get a good understanding of what that customer wants.” – Gloria Hwang

To know more about Gloria Hwang and how to be a bootstrap entrepreneur, download and listen to this episode. 

Links:

Thousand Helmets – Our Story

Instagram: @explorethousand

Twitter: @explorethousand

Linkedin: Gloria Hwang

Designer Spotlight: Thousand Bike Helmets Become A Stylish Safety Accessory

Pinterest

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes