Apogee Strong

Darren Virassammy is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of 34 Strong, a new breed of consultancy that gives a voice to disengaged employees by helping organizations like yours become great places to work. A leading expert in the global Employee Engagement community, Darren leverages the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment to create massive shifts within organizations, both culturally and on the bottom line.

Virassammy entered the realm of employee engagement and Strengths Based-Development after 10 years in senior construction management roles where, as he puts it, he had the privilege to serve on highly engaged teams with phenomenal leadership and the privilege to serve on highly disengaged teams under dysfunctional leadership. Virassammy experienced the organizational and personal carnage of disengagement and also relished the power of highly engaged teams. After discovering Strengths as a clear vehicle to drive employee engagement, he decided to partner with CEO Brandon Miller to form 34 Strong to create the change they both wanted to see in organizations for generations to come.

More places you can find him:

Instagram - @darrenvirassammy

Twitter - @DVirassammy

Kirk Uhler is a man who does not stand idly by and allow injustice to take place. First elected to the Placer County Board of Supervisors in 1992, Kirk started his service as a county supervisor to combat the overspending and fiscal mismanagement of previous boards. In 2006 Kirk was appointed back to the board, continuing the same objective he had when first elected.

He has been vocal about the handling of Covid-19 since the beginning and when he began to see patterns of mishandling of the situation at the state level, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He shared a video to Facebook on May 11 where he reads an email from the Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services threatening him and the residents of Placer County, and his eloquent response. Through this video, Matt became connected with Kirk when he reached out to thank him for all that he is doing for the small businesses and individuals of the community, and the rest is history. Now, hear his take on the Essential 11 Questions.

Kirk's Call to Action:

Californians, get in contact with your local board of supervisors and city council members and let them know that you support moving forward with reopening and the governer's overreach must be corrected.

Kirks Website - https://kirkuhler.com/full

Facebook - Kirk Uhler on Facebook

Brian Weisfeld has been building businesses his entire life. In elementary school, he bought 95 pounds of gummy bears and hired my friends to sell them. As a teen, he made and sold mixtapes (ask your parents what those are), sorted baseball cards (he got paid in cards), babysat four-days-a-week after school, and sold nuts and dried fruit (and more gummy bears) in a neighborhood store. As an adult, he has helped build a number of well-known billion-dollar companies including IMAX Corporation and Coupons.com. Then he watched his oldest daughter struggle to sell Girl Scout cookies and he also became frustrated with some of the less-than-empowering influences he saw for his two girls. So he bought a copy of Writing Children’s Books for Dummies and decided to write a novel series to inspire girls to open their first lemonade stands or other businesses and to empower them with an entrepreneurial mindset. He is the Founder and Chief Squad Officer of The Startup Squad, an initiative dedicated to empowering girls to realize their potential and follow their dreams, whatever their passion. The Startup Squad is his first book and is co-authored with Nicole C. Kear. Brian lives in Silicon Valley and can often be found eating gummy bears with his wife while watching his two daughters sell lemonade from the end of our driveway. 

Now, hear his take on the Essential 11 questions. 

More places you can find Brian: 

Website - https://www.brianweisfeld.com/ 

Instagram - @thestartupsquad 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thestartupsquad/ & Brian Weisfeld

Since 1996, Joshua Wayne has worked with youth and families in just about every setting imaginable: drug and alcohol treatment, with at-risk foster youth, community mental health, private practice, and as a Director of Special Education at District of Columbia Public Schools. He is currently a member of Top Youth Speakers, where he speaks about adolescent mental health to students, the parents, teachers, and other caring adults in their lives. Joshua is also the author of “The Simple Parenting Guide to Technology” which is the first book in The Simple Parenting Guides book series and he's Co-Creator with Josh Shipp of the One Caring Adult™ online parenting community where they provide resources to empower parents, teachers and other caring adults in the lives of kids. He's passionate about helping teen and young adult men face the challenges before them, and build the skills & confidence needed to find the path in life that is right for them. Now, hear his take on the Essential 11 Questions.

More places you can find Joshua:

Website - https://www.joshuawayne.com/

Twitter - @Joshua_Wayne

Linkedin - Joshua Wayne

His New Book - The Simple Parenting Guide to Technology

Ben Greenfield is a biohacker, human body and brain performance coach, ex-bodybuilder, Ironman triathlete, professional Spartan athlete, anti-aging consultant, speaker, and author of the New York Times Bestseller “Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life”. Ben is a Spartan SGX certified coach, was voted as NSCA’s Personal Trainer of the year in 2008 and was named by Greatist as one of the top 100 Most Influential People In Health And Fitness in 2013 and 2014. Ben's articles, podcast, and videos reach over a million unique views each month. With nearly two decades of experience working as a strength and conditioning coach, exercise physiologist and biomechanist, Ben is also the man responsible for maximizing performance, recovery, fat loss, digestion, brain, sleep and hormone optimization for CEO’s, ultra-endurance competitors, and a wide variety of professional athletes, including poker champions, tennis players, motocross competitors, the NFL, the NHL, the UFC and beyond. Now, hear his take on the Essential 11 questions.

More places you can find Ben:

Website - https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/

Book - Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life

Twitter - @bengreenfield

Instagram - @bengreenfieldfitness

Facebook - Ben Greenfield

Bruce Buffer is an American professional mixed martial arts ring announcer and the official Octagon announcer for UFC events, introduced on broadcasts as the "Veteran Voice of the Octagon". Bruce's catchphrase is "It's time!", which he announces before the main event of the UFC. He is the half brother of the boxing and professional wrestling ring announcer Michael Buffer and is the President and CEO of their company, The Buffer Partnership. Buffer holds a black belt in Tang Soo Do and has fought as a kickboxer. He is well-versed in the art of self-discipline and hard work and as a result, he has achieved so much in his life. Now, hear his take on the Essential 11 questions.

More places you can find Bruce:

Twitter - @brucebuffer

Instagram - @brucebufferufc

Book - It's Time!: My 360-Degree View of the UFC

Jack Bonneau's mission is to provide kids the opportunity to learn and experience entrepreneurship, business, financial literacy; develop social and life skills while making money and having fun. He strives to inspire other kids to find their passions, follow their dreams and have fun! Jack is a TEDx speaker, a speaker at public schools, and is growing his business while helping others. He's been on Shark Tank, he is the CEO and co-founder of Jack's Stands, and as his latest endeavor, he is also the founder and chief evangelist of TeenHustl; a hyper-local delivery service provided by teenagers on electric scooters and bikes. Like DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, and Postmates, only better.

More places you can find Jack:

Website - https://www.teenhustl.com/

Instagram - @teenhustl

Twitter - @TeenHustl & @JackBonneau

Linkedin - Jack Bonneau

Jordan Kunaszyk is someone who knew early on that football was his passion and has repetitively shown that he's comfortable putting in the hard work- and it continues to pay off. Kunaszyk was born in Sacramento, California, and grew up in nearby Roseville. He attended Roseville High School, where he played football. Arriving to high school at 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds, he did not make the varsity team until his junior year during which time he chose to push his limits and put forth the effort to get better. By the point he joined varsity, he had grown to 6 feet and 175 pounds. After high school, he went on to play football for The University of California and then on to the NFL from there. He's had to struggle and fight to get to each point of success but that's something that he takes pride in.

During this interview, he shares the mindsets that helped him to achieve all that he has so far and he very quickly becomes Matt's favorite player in the NFL. Now, hear his take on the Essential 11 Questions.

Instagram - @jordankunaszyk

A globally recognized expert in education, Tony Wagner is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, founded by Linda Darling-Hammond in 2015. Prior to this appointment, Tony held a variety of positions at Harvard University for more than twenty years, including four years as an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab and the founder and co-director, for more than a decade, of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His previous work experience includes twelve years as a high school teacher, K-8 principal, university professor in teacher education, and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility. Now, hear his take on the Essential 11 Questions.

More places you can find Tony:

Website - https://www.tonywagner.com/

Twitter - @DrTonyWagner

Brynne Kennedy is an American entrepreneur, author and candidate for US Congress in California's Fourth Congressional District (CA-04).

More places you can find Brynne:

Instagram - @brynnekenn

Twitter - @BrynneSpeak

Website - https://brynneforcongress.com/

Book - Flat, Fluid, and Fast