Agents of Innovation

Jerz Chrysler describes himself as "a recovering American." Born and raised in California, he left the United States 16 years ago after a successful stint in real estate. Around the time the 2008 bubble burst, he decided to spend a few months traveling throughout Latin America. He never went back home permanently.

He has lived in Panama, Brazil, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, and Paraguay. He holds a dual US / Austrian citizenship. He also hold residence cards in: Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Spain, Paragua, Mexico, and Argentina.

Today he spends much of his time helping others build a life of sovereignty by obtaining residencies and citizenships in multiple countries.

He was our guest on Episode 141 of the Agents of Innovation podcast. This podcast was recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/1_v6HB98vlQ

You can connect with Jerz on X @TheJerzWay and also through his website: https://thejerzway.com

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You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

Always on the forefront of new ideas, Matthew Farrar has dedicated his career to developing creative solutions to advance brands and advocate for causes. From his experience running an industry-leading marketing firm to harnessing communications and marketing tactics as a government affairs consultant, Matthew deeply understands the importance of authentic and creative storytelling.

Matthew grew up in Panama City, Florida, and relocated to Tallahassee in 2004. He began his professional career as a government affairs consultant, where he worked for seven years managing legislative priorities and advocacy initiatives for corporate, non-profit, and trade-association clients across a variety of industries. In 2014, Matthew co-founded SDS, one of the southeast’s fastest-growing privately-held companies, as recognized by Inc. Magazine and the Inc. 5000. SDS is a cutting-edge marketing and advertising agency of talented professionals using cutting-edge marketing and advertising tactics to deliver industry-leading results.

Matthew’s insatiable curiosity and penchant for innovative technology keep him on the bleeding edge of the latest techniques, tools, and trends to create dynamic and engaging content. His technical production expertise and attention to detail has led to beautiful creative outcomes in a variety of mediums. Farrar has built a cutting-edge video production and broadcast studio, one of Florida’s most advanced podcast studios, and has led content creation projects spanning from the Florida Keys to the Canadian border.

A native Floridian, his love of the outdoors and nature was developed fishing and swimming in the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s Emerald Coast and spending time in Florida’s state and national parks. Having traveled to some of the most beautiful locations in the United States to get the perfect shot – and having experienced the unparalleled natural beauty of destinations like Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria – Matthew’s experience, creativity, and technical expertise bring stories to life.

He was our guest on Episode 140 of the Agents of Innovation podcast.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/D0ahVIDkmZ0

You can learn more about Matthew Farrar at: https://matthewfarrar.com

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

Alejandro Storni is a visionary rooted in the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires, effortlessly intertwines creativity into every facet of his life. Leading Shock Your Cocktail, he crafts immersive event experiences while championing CoolturaBA, a cultural cornerstone online honored by the City Government. As Senior Creative at Drago for IQOS global communication, Alejandro deftly navigates the dynamic realms of creativity, culture, and marketing.

A respected educator at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE), Alejandro's innovative teaching methods have earned him acclaim among peers and students alike. His entrepreneurial spirit expressed itself in Wimet, an inventive startup reshaping idle spaces for productions & events, sold in 2018.

In all his endeavors, Alejandro's dedication to innovation and cultural enrichment shines through. With a fervent passion for turning ideas into reality, he seeks to inspire others and pushes the boundaries of creativity, enriching the cultural landscape one venture at a time.

Alejandro is also a local advisor to Fearless Journeys and has helped organize so many great experiences in Argentina.

He was our guest on Episode 139 of the Agents of Innovation podcast.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/BTG5of9vCNY

You can learn more about Alejandro Storni at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandrostornithe Agents of Innovation podcast.

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

Alexander McCobin is a co-founder and General Partner of Liberty Ventures. He has helped start or led many organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit. He is best known for being the founder and President of Students For Liberty and CEO of Conscious Capitalism.

In addition to Liberty Ventures, Alexander is the CEO of Leap, which helps organizations integrate their purpose, people, and profits to scale revenue and impact.

Alexander received his BA and MA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from Georgetown University, and lives out of 2 suitcases when he’s not on the old family farm in Sullivan County, PA.

He was our guest on Episode 138 of the Agents of Innovation podcast.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/2KtTACpSulg

You can learn more about Alexander McCobin at: https://www.libertyventures.vc/alexander-mccobin

Find more about some of his projects at the links below:

https://www.libertyventures.vc

https://www.goleap.us

https://www.principledbusiness.org

https://www.libertyventures.vc/podcast

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

0:00 Intro to episode

01:32 About Liberty Ventures

2:23 Students For Liberty

6:20 Conscious Capitalism (CEO)

7:18 Being Entrepreneurial

9:45 Liberty Ventures

13:03 Listening, Pivoting, Adapting

14:40 Leap

17:50 Mentorship

19:40 Principled Business Network

23:32 Capitalism

29:04 Dunder Mifflin / The Office

31:42 Liberty Ventures Angel Investor Network

36:47 Productivity

42:30 Challenging Yourself

44:22 Teaming Up in Dushore, PA

45:50 Positive Mindset

50:30 Fearless Journeys Summary Challenge 2024

51:50 The Comfort Crisis

Michael Sayman is the author of "App Kid: How a Child of Immigrants Grabbed a Piece of the American Dream," an inspiring and deeply personal story of one of Silicon Valley's most extraordinary entrepreneurs, who taught himself to code when he was thirteen and thus began his American dream.

Watching his parents lose their jobs in the Great Recession, Michael Sayman, then thirteen, did a Google search: “How to code?” Within a year he had already launched an iPhone application and with it he was earning thousands of dollars a month, enough to keep his family afloat and without having to leave the United States.

Completely self-taught, Michael went from high school straight into the professional world, and when he was seventeen, he was Facebook's youngest employee, creating new features that wowed Mark Zuckerberg. Three years later, he decided to go to Google, where he became a product manager and a founder in residence.

After his stint in Silicon Valley, he now splits time between his hometown of Miami, Florida and Connecticut.

He was our guest on Episode 137 of the Agents of Innovation podcast.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VfDIt3ftqPg

You can learn more about Michael Sayman at: https://twitter.com/michaelsayman

Find his book, "App Kid," at: https://amzn.to/3Hdo1P3

Special thanks to our friends at the Miami Book Fair. Learn more at: https://www.miamibookfair.com

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

Harold Hughes is the founder & CEO of Bandwagon, a South Carolina-based experience technology company. Under his leadership, Bandwagon has raised more than $3M in venture capital and successfully acquired IdealSeat, Inc. in 2020. Harold has had his ideas validated as a graduate of the Founder Institute Accelerator (and now serves as Director for their Austin chapter), one of the inaugural companies in Google for Startups Black Founders Exchange Program, and most recently, the inaugural cohort of the IBM Blockchain Accelerator in 2019.

A man of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Harold is actively involved in his community, participating on the Board of Directors for BEAM, a non-profit that focuses on the advancement of women entrepreneurs as they grow their companies as well as a founding team member of Amass, an end-to-end wealth building platform for Black Americans. To that end, Harold is also an active angel investor, investing in women, people of color, and Black founder-led companies. Most notably, he has invested in Partake Foods, the Jay-Z-backed CPG company making allergy-friendly snacks, as well as companies like Goodr, Chipper, Journey Foods, Republic, and Stix.

Harold is a graduate of Clemson University, where he received Bachelor’s degrees in both Economics (B.A.) and Political Science (B.A.). As a “Triple Tiger”, he also completed his MBA at Clemson before pursuing a graduate certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Stanford University.

Harold is the author of "A Kids Book About Blockchain."

He was our guest on Episode 136 of the Agents of Innovation podcast, filmed and recorded at the 40th Annual Miami Book Fair, on November 19, 2023.

This can also be viewed on our YouTube channel here:

https://youtu.be/3QlX_ch7DtY

You can learn more about Harold Hughes at: https://bandwagonfanclub.com/team/harold-hughes/

Find his new book at: https://amzn.to/4azCnqC

Learn more about the Miami Book Fair at:

https://www.miamibookfair.com

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

Chris Wilson was born and raised in Washington D.C, and grew up under extremely difficult circumstances. Poverty, drug addiction, and gun violence was the everyday norm in his community. At the age of 17, he was charged with a crime, convicted, and sentenced to natural life in prison. It was during times of isolation that he decided to not only to turn his life around, but to make a difference in the lives of people who currently live in poverty-stricken communities similar to his childhood surroundings.

After serving more than 16 years in prison, Chris was released in 2012. He recently authored a book, "The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose."

He was our guest on Episode 135 of the Agents of Innovation podcast, filmed and recorded at the 40th Annual Miami Book Fair, on November 19, 2023.

This can also be viewed on our YouTube channel here:

https://youtu.be/aAbejASmiuA

You can learn more about Chris Wilson at: https://chriswilson.biz/

Find his new book at: https://amzn.to/46tEzN7

Learn more about the Miami Book Fair at:

https://www.miamibookfair.com

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the Los Angeles Times and author of the new book, "Blood in the Machine: the Origins of the Rebellion against Big Tech." He is also the author of the 2017 book, "The One Device: the Secret History of the iPhone."

Brian is a founder of VICE’s speculative fiction outlet Terraform, and published a best-of anthology, "Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn, with MCD Books, in 2022."

He was our guest on Episode 134 of the Agents of Innovation podcast, filmed and recorded at the 40th Annual Miami Book Fair, on November 19, 2023. This can also be viewed on our YouTube channel here:

https://youtu.be/7m6mZUb6JUs

You can learn more about Brian Merchant at: https://brianmerchant.org

Find his new book at: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

Learn more about the Miami Book Fair at:

https://www.miamibookfair.com

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/

Philip Wilson is the founder and CEO of Ecofiltro, a social enterprise dedicated to providing clean water to the rural poor of Mexico and Central America. He graduated with an MBA from Wharton and a BA from Notre Dame. He has over twenty-five years of experience as an entrepreneur in the United States and Guatemala, and firmly believes that the world’s most pressing problems can be solved by applying business practices to social challenges.

He is the founder and CEO of SolucionWeb, the leading web and social media services company in Guatemala. Philip is a member of the board of the Guatemalan Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, was named “Social Entrepreneur of the Year for Central America” by the Schwab Foundation in Davos, Switzerland and “One of the 10 most successful Social Entrepreneurs in Latin America” by New Ventures Mexico. To date, over 800,000 families in rural areas have been served by Ecofiltro and the goal is to reach 1 million families by the year 2025.

In 2022, Philip founded El Cubo, an entrepreneurial center whose purpose is to help entrepreneurs create and grow companies in Guatemala.

He was our guest on Episode 133 of the Agents of Innovation podcast, where we sat down with him at El Cubo in Antigua, Guatemala and toured the EcoFiltro facilities. Some of this can best be seen here on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/XYaiu5H8f44?si=ruGx9XItukMvKINU

You can learn more about Ecofiltro at: https://ecofiltro.com.gt/es/quienes-somos

You can also follow Philip Wilson on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipwilsonarzu/

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org

James Nuveen is a U.S. citizen who left his job and left the country in 2021. He started his own company and traveled and lived in multiple countries in Latin America. He has lived in Medellin, Colombia for two years and recently purchased a home there. Is this what the American Dream is supposed to look like? To James, it is. He is the happiest he's ever been, the fittest he's ever been, is earning more money than he's ever earned, and more importantly, he says "I'm more free." Now he is on a mission to help others live their own version of the American Dream by avoiding some of the mistakes he has and helping provide a space for adventurers and builders to learn from each other – and create a life worth living.

He was our guest on Episode 132 of the Agents of Innovation podcast.

This full episode can also be viewed on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/D4QQeWsy4D0

You can learn more about James at https://jamesnuveen.com.

You can also follow James Nuveen on his Twitter/X page: https://twitter.com/jamesnuveen

Follow the Agents of Innovation podcast on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgentsOfInnovationPodcast

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agentinnovation

You can support this podcast and our Fearless Journeys community on our Patreon account: www.patreon.com/fearlessjourneys

You can also join our network through the Fearless Journeys community at: https://www.fearlessjourneys.org/