Can I Laugh On Your Shoulder?

I want you to think back to a time early on in your life when you were a child or teenager. Think about an adult in your life who made an impact on you then, who spoke into your life and encouraged you. It could be a parent, coach, teacher, or guidance counselor. Who is an adult in your life that made a positive impact on you; the person you know helped make you who you are today? The reality is that there are children who grow up in our country and around the world who don't have an adult who speaks into their life like that. My guest today had someone like that in his life, and his in now changing the lives of thousands of young people by paying it forward. Michael Arterberry is the executive director of Youth Voices Center, Inc. and the creator of The Power of Peace program. Michael began his tenure working with youth by obtaining a bachelor's degree in Social Work from Iona College. In founding YVC in 2008, Michael drew heavily on his own understanding and empathy for the pressures and difficulties of the teenager years and his own experiences growing up in poverty. Michael has worked with thousands of teens in a range of settings over the past 24 years as a social worker and counselor. As a teenager, Michael himself was fortunate to receive guidance from positive adult role models who helped him over come adversities and set high expectations for his future. Michael recently released his book, "Be Encouraged!!!: 250 Days of Motivation and Encouragement and this time it's FREE! He's also launched his new course called "The Shake the Dirt Experience." You can find the free book, along with the Shake the Dirt experience course information at shakethedirtexperience.com. I have to tell you: I loved my time with Michael. I was in awe of his story, his relatability, and his encouragement. You may want to listen to this one more than once. With no further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Michael!

3:36 - The Michael 101

• To introduce people to his story, Michael often tells a story about a farmer and a donkey that correlates to who he is and what he does. The donkey is one of the farmer's favorite farm animals because after working all day, he lets the donkey come back to the house to play with the farmer's kids and then releases him back onto the farm for the night. This is the normal routine they have each night.
• One night after the farmer brings releases the donkey back out onto the farm after playing with the kids, the donkey wanders around at night and falls into an empty water well. The donkey is stuck and cries for help. When the farmer calls for the donkey the next morning, but he never appears, the farmer starts looking for the donkey. He finally hears the donkey's calls and finds him in the well.
• The farmer brings 6 friends to help get the donkey out of the well. One of his friends suggests pulling the donkey out with a rope. They miss the donkey over and over until they throw the rope on the donkey's hind legs and start pulling the donkey up the well. Halfway up, they realize the donkey is too heavy, so they lower him back to the bottom of the well.
• The farmer has to make a grim decision because he can't feed him the food his family eats, but he's like a pet, so he certainly can't starve him. One of the farmer's hot-headed friends suggests the farmer shoot the donkey. Of course, the farmer can't do that. A more reasonable friend says "You don't want your kids to fall into the well, so we're going to have to bury him." The farmer realized he'd have to sacrifice the donkey to make sure his kids were safe.
• The farmer and his friends all get shovels and start shoveling the dirt. Every time the dirt hit the donkey, the donkey would scream and cause the farmer distress. This continued: dirt was shoveled, the donkey would scream. Dirt was shoveled, the donkey would scream…until the screaming stopped. The next think you know, you can see half the donkey's body, then you can see the entire donkey, then the donkey walks right out of the well.
• Every time the dirt would hit the donkey's back, the donkey would shake it off and step on it. He took every scoop of dirt that was meant to kill him to to save his life.
• Michael is the donkey and he describes these things in his life as the "dirt": He grew up in a home with a raging, alcoholic father. It created an environment where Michael never had a day of peace. Michael's parents both worked full time, but his father's money went to drinking, and his mother's housekeeping salary went to taking care of her kids. There was a lot of love, but not much financial stability.
• His home was dysfunctional, but so were most of the homes in his neighborhood. Michael describes his peers raising each other, but with false systems of dysfunction instead of trying to move forward and get out of it. On top of all, there was also a lot of crime in his community.
• Michael was able to grow up in that environment, yet not allow any of those negative things to seep in. He refused to let it mold him into a profile of the kind of person expected to come from those experiences.

8:50 - The Master Encourager

• Michael wants to see people "shake their dirt" the way he was able to. God has given him an ability to make sense of the experiences of young people who are going through what Michael went through. He works on youth development with Power of Peace, his nonprofit, Youth Voices Center, and reaches adults through public speaking about his life.
• The turning point for Michael, when he realized he wasn't going to let the dirt bury him really didn't happen until he started pursing his career. When he was young, Michael's mom tried to offset chaos in their household was to introduce Michael to sports. At 8 years old, she started him in soccer then basketball, baseball, and football.
• When Michael graduated from high school, he had opportunities to play any of those four sports but chose football because it was his favorite. He was able to live in the craziness happening in his home but create a traditional household from the resources he found outside of it. His coaches became father figures, his teammates like siblings, and the accolades that often come from parents came instead from the people who loved watching Michael play football.
• The chaos in Michael's home became normal to him and just didn't affect him. Once he became a Christian, and started his work, Michael really started understanding how things happen for a reason, and that God can use his life's experiences to make positive impacts.

15:18 - Youth Voices Center

• Michael started Youth Voices Center in 2008. Michael went to college to study social work and mixed his academics with his life story and really started to have an impact in his career. However, he was given curriculums from agencies that wouldn't work. He would get in trouble when the curriculums didn't work out, so he decide to make his own curriculums.
• While working for a nonprofit, Michael created a curriculum called Power of Peace designed from his own ideas and experiences and programs he had studied in the past two create a two-day program for high school students.
• The nonprofit started paying him a salary for the program, but his boss showed him how much money was coming into the agency. It was nowhere near what little Michael was being paid. She took him to a lunch to meet a philanthropist to make a good impression to make more money.
• When it was Michael's turn to talk, he had notes under the table to speak on all the accolades the program had accumulated. Right before he spoke, he tore up his notes and threw them on the restaurant floor. Instead he told the philanthropist, "Don't worry about your money, because the person I'm most accountable to is God."
• The body language reactions around the table ranged from anger to shock. The lawyer laughed hysterically. Michael just waited. Little did he know, he'd stepped out on faith in front of a devoted Christian with a lot of money. She would meet Michael for breakfast to fellowship. Each time, she'd bring well-known Christian with her as well.
• Finally Michael got up the gumption to ask her for money for his program, not the agency. She gave him half to talk on the road, and said she'd leave half with the agency to they would not be displeased. Michael still wanted the full amount, so he kept meeting with her secretly. She did her own research and when she realized it was his program, he sold Michael he could have the full amount.
• In 2008, Michael stepped out on his own and had the freedom to offer his programs to schools for FREE! FREE!!!!!!

21:13 – Fruits of Michael's Labor

• Michael says the "special sauce" of his program is when he quiets his spirit and lets the Holy Spirit do the work. Sometimes he'll be speaking and it's almost like he's having an out-of-body experience with the words that come out.
• Michael calls any kids who go through his program his surrogate kids. He has two biological children, but all the children in the program are like his own as well.
• One of the kids in his program came from a family where four generations never experienced a single high school graduate. Michael started working with her and became her accountability partner. There were times she wanted to give up, and it was a long road of hard work, but she became the first of four generations to earn her high school diploma. It's what Michael wants for all his kids who come from that cycle.
• Tune in at 24:49 to hear a serious and powerful story about one of Michael's kids who grew up in the foster care system and broke the cycle, going on to earn his master's in business administration after going through Michael's program (as a warning, the first part of this story may be difficult for some to listen to).
• Words are powerful. As the book of James tells us, there is life and death in the tongue. Words can build up, or they can break down. Mentors speaking positive words over someone absolutely changes lives. For Michael, it's a mentality about creating a culture to raise oneself to a higher level to prevent circumstances from becoming our standard or our expectation.
• Michael's programs create community and culture between kids that might not typically have opportunities to interact. His program creates empathy and brings kids together so that they can hear each other and understand each other, and it's so powerful.
• All too often we can talk ourselves out of things that can change everything for us. For example, when attending a conference, you could strike up a new friendship on the way to the conference before you even get there, and it could change the entire course of your life. That's why Michael says, "the change is in the show up."

42:10 - Getting to Know Our Guest

• Join me as I learn some fun facts about Michael like what he would eat if he had to eat the same thing for dinner every night, who he'd choose to narrate his life, his favorite TV show to watch growing up, and a dream he's yet to achieve. Be sure to listen to Michael's answer to what it means to him to run a business with purpose.

• You can find more about Michael's book and programs here: shakethedirtexperience.com
• You can find Michael's wife, Rachel's book "God Was Holding My Hand" here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6647636.Rachel_Arterberry

Memorable Quotes

13:02- "It was really an earthshattering moment when I was studying in the word and it talked about how the enemy peeks into your future and when he sees what you're about to get from God, he can't stop it, but he can get in your path. When I look back over my story, he peeked into my future and saw the impact I was going to have on the world, and tried to take me out."

"I think survival and being resilient speaks to anybody in the world."

19:23 "When she said she would give it (the money) to me, I was going to back out because I was afraid…the executive director looked at me and said, "What would your kids say if they ever knew that you had this opportunity and you passed it up?"

24:00 - "Poverty is not only financial, but people who grow up in poverty end up having a poverty mentality…always feeling like someone owes you something."

25:52 – "It warmed my heart that I had spoke into this boy's life and he felt like my words were powerful enough that he made sure he shared them with his peers."

29:21 – "It created a culture in me of trying to raise myself to a higher level which prevented me from using my life and its situation as being a baseline."

32:38 – "The change is in the show up."

33:58 – "Sometimes the fear of not coming prevents them from being able to go over the hurdle. So just show up. Walk into the room."

34:52 – "Fear is paralyzing, so if you allow fear to control your life, you never move. So move!"

41:13- "When you commune with him regularly as deep as I do, life is not easy, but I don't have to do much to hear his voice. I'm being prompted as the day goes, so it's not often that I get lost."

About Michael Arterberry:

Michael Arterberry is the Executive Director of Youth Voices Center, Inc. and the creator of the Power of Peace Program.

Michael began his tenure working with youth by obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work from Iona College.

In founding YVC in 2008, Michael drew heavily on his understanding and empathy for the pressures and difficulties of the teenage years. In addition to his own experiences growing up in poverty, Michael has worked with thousands of teens in a range of settings over the past 24 years as a social worker and counselor. As a teenager, Michael was fortunate to receive guidance from positive adult role models who helped him to overcome adversities and set high expectations for his future.

Grateful for the role these mentors played in his own development, Michael decided to dedicate his professional life to helping teenagers navigate the difficult adolescent years.

Michael decided to form YVC while working on the Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) in Green Haven Correctional Facility. Serving as a counselor in AVP, Michael was impressed by the progress of inmates who entered the program with plenty of hesitation and resistance and left the program raving about how much it transformed their perception of themselves and others. Realizing the power of this type of experiential program, Michael founded YVC and launched the Power of Peace program to transform the lives of youth.

In 2010, Michael was selected out of hundreds of nominees to receive a USA Network Characters Unite Award, given to individuals who demonstrate exceptional commitment to combating prejudice and discrimination while increasing tolerance and acceptance within their community.

In 2014, he was the recipient of the 100 Men of Color Award for leadership in education, government, mentorship, entrepreneurial success and community service.

And most recently, he was awarded the EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD from Y-COP, the Youth Community Outreach Program in Mt. Vernon at the First Annual Dinner Dance on September 29th, 2016.

To learn more about Michael and how he encourages others, please visit his Blog and Subscribe for updates.

Michael is also the subject of his wife's first religion based, spirituality book, "God Was Holding My Hand," in which Rachel Arterberry chronicles his journey of coming to know the Lord. Spanning from his tumultuous childhood, to a college football injury that turned into spinal cord surgery, Michael becomes self aware that God was holding his hand each step of the way. For more information on the book, please click here.

www.michaelarterberry.com and www.youthvoicescenter.org

What to do you when your life gets hard? Where do you turn? What's your immediate reaction when pain, suffering, or challenge comes your way? Think honestly about what your answers to those questions might be. Everyone's answers are likely to be different, especially if you're approaching suffering, pain, or grief from the worldview of a Christian or not. If you're listening right now and don't personally identify as a believer, please don't stop listening. Today's episode might just be for you. My guest this week is Daniel Grothe, the teaching pastor at the influential New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO, and the author of Chasing Wisdom: The Lifelong Pursuit of Living Well. Daniel's book draws upon his 10-year apprenticeship with Eugene Peterson, who translated The Message translation of the Bible. Daniel and his wife Lisa live on a small hobby farm outside of Colorado Springs with their three children, Lillian, Wilson, and Wakely. You're going to love my chat with Daniel. This episode will go down as one of my top favorites, so jump right in and join me as Daniel shares about his life and the early challenges he went through early in his career at New Life Church.

6:59 - The Daniel 101

• Daniel is originally from Tulsa Oklahoma, the son of two pastors, he grew up in church and has traveled the world as a musician recording on albums with bands like Gungor.
• He was in church all the time, and Daniel knew early on he was meant to work in the church too. Shortly after college, he married Lisa, and 12 days later they drove to Colorado Springs to start work at New Life Church.
• Daniels parents never made him feel that church was the "family business" that he had to be a part of. They invited their children into their lives, teaching them their interests and bringing them along on adventures.
• Many pastor's kids resent the church because they sense that their parents were disinterested in their lives or that God is ripping their parents away from them. Daniel's parents did do that and Daniel encourages parents to consider whether they may be giving their kids a reason to stay away from Jesus and the church.

12:09 – A Hard Ministerial Road

• Daniel has been with New Life Church for 15 years, but the road hasn't always been easy there. The church was prospering when Daniel and Lisa arrived. The senior pastor was the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and New Life was essentially the talking head for the evangelical church.
• Two years after Daniel's journey at New Life Church began, the bottom fell out. The senior pastor of the church was caught in a scandal, and the church went from riding high to scandal and also discovering the church was $26 million in debt as the US economy was tanking. The church had to fire 44 people overnight and had to look for a new pastor.
• As things finally started to turn for the better and the staff started trusting a new pastor, the church was attacked on a Sunday morning by a gunman firing an assault rifle through the children's area of the church. Two teenagers were killed in the parking lot of the church and the shooter committed suicide.

15:29 – The Message

• Daniel was only 25, and he and his wife had just had their first child. On his day off, Daniel went shopping in a local Goodwill, and found a book on the shelf called "The Contemplative Pastor" by Eugene H. Peterson. Daniel recognized Eugene as the person who translated The Message translation of the Bible.
• Daniel read the book in one day. It grabbed his imagination and Daniel decided to write to Eugene to ask if he could spend a day with him. Eugene responded! He told Daniel that he'd be willing to spend a day with him…after Daniel writes a three-page paper on "what is church and a three page paper on what is pastor to see if we even have enough common ground to begin a conversation.
• Eugene put Daniel through the gauntlet in response to the papers Daniel wrote as requested. At the end of that letter response, Eugene said, "If you think we have enough common ground after these letters, then I'd be happy to have you. I just don't want to be a touristy visit."
• That started a 10-year long back and forth with Eugene and Daniel. Eugene challenged Daniel, made him read and write, asked questions, listened, and pastored. Daniel told Eugene in one of his last visits that Eugene changed his life with three words: Not so fast. Eugene knew what he was building in Daniel by making Daniel work for it and fight for it.
• Eugene was not famous until well after completing The Message translation. He faithfully served the same congregation of 300 people for 30 years. As soon as he translates a bible, celebrities started calling. Had that happened when Eugene was younger, it would have crushed him, but the Lord knew that after decades of obscurity, he could trust Eugene with becoming available to the world.
• The people we stand to learn the most from are the ones that will never make it on the front page of a newspaper. Daniel describes them as Saints who have been tested in the fields of obscurity.

30:25 – Chasing Wisdom

• Daniel's book, Chasing Wisdom: The Lifelong Pursuit of Living Well draws upon his 10-year apprenticeship with Eugene and Daniel's journey as a pastor.
• Daniel wants people to know that there are wise sages and elders (like Eugene was for him) who can help you think through an appropriate response to life. They are hidden in plain sight. They won't chase you down, but if you look for them, they'll help put you on the right track.

36:04 – Leading Your Own Family

• Daniel and his wife Lisa recognize that their children are the greatest gift that God has given them and that they will return those gifts they will release to the world after 18 years.
• As parents, we are to protect our children, but our jobs are also to invite them into the way life works with all its complexities, to shepherd them and help them develop nuance and abilities to think through life logically. Daniel tells his kids stories and then ask them what they would do in that scenario.
• If we can't manage our own families, what business do we have trying to manage God's house? We need to start at home and do our best there first.

41:38 – Getting To Know Our Guest

• Daniel shares his recommendations of a favorite books with "wisdom from the old libraries," his unusual talents, his pet peeves, and what his walk up song would be. I ask Daniel the question I ask all my guests, "What does it mean to you to run a business with purpose?" Be sure to stay tuned for his answer, it will be encouraging to you, no matter where you are in your business or chasing after your purpose.

Memorable Quotes

10:10 - "That's one of the great things that parents can make sure they're thinking about: Are you giving your kids a reason to stiff-arm Jesus or the church?"

19:23 – "We think that if any kind of trouble washes ashore in our life, that this Jesus thing is a scam or our faith is weak…but a theology of suffering matters."

28:14 – "I jokingly say that it only took Eugene (Peterson) 65 years to be an overnight success."

28:51 – "When I look at Eugene, to me, he's a provocation for living slowly and faithfully and letting God do what he wants to do over the course of decades."

34:00 – "The Saints in obscurity who have been tested in the fields of obscurity and their lives have stood the test of time: Those are the people you should chase. Those are the people you should apprenticeship yourself to because they're not looking for the wrong things. They've got all the unholy ambition out of them and if you'll come close and ask good questions, if you'll dignify them and honor them, and then just wait to listen, they'll give you wisdom that it took them 87 years to gain. So ask!

39:18- "My job is to invite him into how life works and shepherd him along the way…so recognizing that these are our greatest gifts and our greatest gift to the world and trying our best not to give our 'leftovers' to our most important people.

About Daniel Grothe:

Daniel Grothe is the Teaching Pastor at the influential New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Daniel and his wife, Lisa, live on a small hobby farm outside of Colorado Springs with their three children: Lillian, Wilson, and Wakley. To learn more, visit DanielGrothe.com and connect with him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Grothe is also the author of the book Chasing Wisdom: The Lifelong Pursuit of Living Well [Thomas Nelson, April 2020]. Drawing upon scripture and his own 10-year apprenticeship with Eugene Peterson, Grothe has been featured in Christian Post, Christian News Journal and Crosswalk showing us how to get wisdom for ourselves by examining what the Bible has to say about it and by providing practical steps for acquiring it, including learning to ask for help, living quietly, and above all, seeking those who are themselves wise.

A few months ago, I heard about this show called The Chosen. It depicts the life of Jesus and the disciples in a unique way, taking a look at Jesus' life, and how the disciples became disciples. When I first heard about it, I was skeptical, but I gave it a try. After the second episode, I was hooked! Not only have I watched the entire season once, I've actually watched it though three times now. When I fell in love with the show, I started to do more research on it. Not only is it a unique show in and of itself, it's also the first series that is the #1 crowd-funded media project in history. It even has its own app! As I began to dive deeper, I learned more about the company producing the show, VidAngel. The show is directed by Dallas Jenkins, the son of Jerry Jenkins, who wrote the Left Behind series. I wanted to know more about VidAngel and why this platform wanted to produce a show about Jesus in such a unique way. My guest this week is Neal Harmon. Neal is the CEO and cofounder of VidAngel, a streaming service that allows parents to skip objectionable content in entertainment using groundbreaking technology. VidAngel has been highly profiled for The Chosen, and its other incredible family-based content like Dry Bar Comedy. VidAngel recently made headlines by offer all of its streaming content for free during the Covid-19 pandemic, provided that people agree to social distancing of course. My conversation with Neal was incredible and refreshing He was very transparent about the story of VidAngel as it experiences growing pains and lessons many young companies experience. You're going to love this conversation with Neal, so let's dive in!

4:30 - The Neal 101

• Neal grew up in Idaho working on dairy farms and even tried to start his own cattle business at one point, but as he got older and learned more about the world, he started working with web businesses. After experiencing a spectacular failure right out of college, he started a company called OraBrush, a tongue cleaner that got rid of bad breath.
• OraBrush went from zero sales to global distribution in just a few years, thanks to YouTube marketing. Later a company reached out to Neal and his brother, cofounders of OraBrush, to help them market Poo~Pourri!
• The Poo~Pourri ad campaign was so successful that it turned Neal and his brother into an ad agency. Shortly after that, they started VidAngel, which is something Neal and his three brothers wanted to create for their own families.
• Neal's favorite movie is Cinderella Man. The movie portrays people having character, even in their darkest moments, but the movie has a coach who has a foul mouth. Neal wanted his young kids to be able to see the story, but didn't want them hearing or repeating those words in their home.
• VidAngel allows you to take popular movies and TV shows, and skip over content you don't find appropriate for your own home. It's like a pre-programmed remote.
• Neal and his brothers had a bigger vision for VidAngel, too. They wanted to have a bigger impact on media and on the world. They knew that if they found the people who valued protecting their families by using technology to skip over specific content, that they would also have a group of people they could also distribute content in a manner that would be a better fit than what Hollywood provides.

10:53 - A Broken Feedback Loop

• The creators in Hollywood love to see who wins the awards each year, but it seems they are essentially making movies for each other. About three fourths of the revenue in the box office comes from the family friendly movie, but half the titles coming out of Hollywood are rated R. VidAngel is bridging the gap to give creators a feedback loop. If audiences are skipping over certain scenes, creators can learn how to adjust the content that is affecting their market. It allows them to listen to their market, rather than their peers.
• When there is immediate feedback, there is acknowledgement of an issue and something productive can be done with that information. Since big studios own the distribution channels, they can also fill those with what they chose. VidAngel's feedback loop helps create a voice for those without access to big distribution channels.

14:10 – Resistance, Controversy, Transparency, Growth

• During the summer of 2016, VidAngel faced a lawsuit with The Walt Disney Company. It was a shock to VidAngel because before they started their service, they actually wrote The Walt Disney Company in good faith and transparency, telling them about the service, giving them information on the users they'd tested it with, and asked for their feedback. They shared their own reasoning for why they thought what they were doing was ok, but also gave The Walt Disney Company an opportunity to let them know if they thought anything being done was unlawful.
• VidAngel heard no response from The Walt Disney Company until a year later when families were already enjoying what VidAngel was providing. VidAngel asked their customers if they'd be interested in investing in VidAngel to start growing the next phase of the company, and their customers said they'd put in over 60 million dollars to help it grow. Two weeks later, The Walt Disney Company sued VidAngel.
• It's been a long, difficult journey and a lot of time spent in depositions. After the lawsuit started, VidAngel reached out to their customers asking if they wanted to take it to the Supreme Court if they were willing to invest $5 million into the company. They invested $10 million in 5 days. Because of that, VidAngel has been able to improve their product and fight the legal battle.
• VidAngel doesn't know what will happen now in the midst of this process. They are trusting that they have been called to work to help families through their services and will continue moving forward in faith as they wait for the outcome and experience the process.

20:00 – The Chosen

• The Chosen is VidAngel's first scripted original series. It will be a multi-season series based on the gospels and the life of Jesus from the perspective of the disciples. The first season is out with 8 episodes. The Chosen is the highest grossing crowdfunded media project of all time.
• VidAngel's first original series is called Dry Bar Comedy, which has over a billion views per year. It's a stand-up comedy series (with clean humor). When Dry Bar started out performing all the other studios in the digital space, VidAngel learned that the data from people's skip choices can create a bigger market when the comedians improve their content based on the consumer feedback loop.
• VidAngel decided they wanted to do a real TV series next, and after a friend of Neal's introduced them to a short film by Dallas Jenkins, Neal's brother Jeffrey pitched an idea to do something similar on the life of Jesus. Neal wasn't interested at first, but after watching Dallas Jenkin's short film on the birth of Christ, everything changed. Neal knew then and there he wanted to get behind a project like this on VidAngel.
• VidAngel has a lot more exciting these coming. The Chosen has awakened in a lot of people the desire to change media. They want to hear stories from the bible that are well written with a high level of video production, imagery, and storytelling. They want to see the ability for both reverence, humanity, and light-heartedness in the portrayal of Jesus. It was important to Dallas to find someone to play Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) who was slightly unexpected, unique, and genuine, rather than a famous Hollywood actor.
• In The Chosen, you get much more insight into each individual's story and what their lives were like before Jesus and then their individual relationships with Jesus. The stories are plausible, relatable, and do not conflict with scripture. There is a biblical committee and those working on the show have educational backgrounds in biblical studies and have taken trips to Israel to study. Their goal is to stay true to the Bible.

44:15 – Find out how the cast and crew are dealing with COVID-19 and what's on the horizon for The Chosen.

You can watch The Chosen on VidAngel (and skip parts that your children may not be ready for or that might be scary). You can also download the app The Chosen app. Either option allows you to watch for free!

46:12 - Getting to Know Our Guest

Find out what meal Neal would eat if he had to eat the same thing for dinner every night for the rest of his life, a dream of his he's yet to achieve, his favorite TV show when he was growing up, and of course, what it means to Neal to run a business with purpose.

Memorable Quotes

13:50 - "The beautiful thing about the internet is that it provides an opportunity for those of us who don't have a have a voice in the big distribution channels to have a voice for ourselves and create content for ourselves."

25:20 – "I think the reason that The Chosen has so much of a good spirit about it is because I think a lot of the people making it, and the distributor who's getting behind it, are going through similar trials and facing similar situations in modern society as what the disciples faced back then."

38:18 – "The goal of the scriptures and The Chosen is to lead us to understanding who He (Jesus) was and that He redeems us. If we don't get there or if we get off the mark or too caught up in how good the actors are or how famous the show becomes, then we've missed the mark. As soon as it takes us into the scriptures and gets us into a relationship with Christ, then it will have been a successful project."

39:58 – "This project is just about telling the stories of Jesus in a way that we can all relate to to and can hopefully lead people of all faiths, and people who don't have faith, to our Redeemer."

Connect with Neal Harmon and Watch The Chosen:

• https://www.vidangel.com/
• https://twitter.com/nealsharmon
• https://www.facebook.com/VidAngel/
• https://www.pinterest.com/vidangelnews/
• https://twitter.com/VidAngel/
• https://www.instagram.com/vidangel/
• https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen/
• https://thechosenmerch.com/
• https://twitter.com/thechosentv
• https://www.facebook.com/InsideTheChosen/
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBXOFnNTULFaAnj24PAeblg
• https://www.instagram.com/thechosentvseries/

ABOUT NEAL HARMON, CEO, VIDANGEL

How can parents make entertainment good for their homes? Neal is the CEO and co-founder of VidAngel, a streaming service that allows parents to skip objectionable content in entertainment using ground breaking technology. VidAngel has been highly-profiled for The Chosen, its original series about Jesus and the #1 crowdfunded media project in history, and its other incredible family-based content like Dry Bar Comedy. VidAngel recently made headlines by offering all of its streaming content free during the COVID-19 pandemic, provided people agree to social distancing of course.

As a mom, I can't help but look at my kids and think about the kind of world that they are growing up in. I feel an immense sense of responsibility to teach them to be good humans and citizens who are kind, generous, and thoughtful justice-seekers. There are times when we the world feels crazy and when I see amazing young people working to improve it, it gives me hope. My guests today are going to inspire you to feel like the next generation is changing the world. This week on the podcast I'm talking to the incredible all girl, pop rock band, Girl Pow-R. The group consists of incredibly talented girls ages 11-17 years-old who create and sing original music, play cover songs, and dance. They have six original songs and debuted their first album last summer. The group is based in Toronto, but its members are all across Ontario from Windsor to Niagara Falls to Collingwood to Oshhawa. Girl Pow-R's sound is rooted in pop rock with the goal of inspiring others to be their best through their music and lyrics. All too often, young people are influenced by the thoughts and life experiences of singers and musicians who are in their late teens and twenties. Girl Pow-R believes it's time to give young people alternatives to these messages. In addition to their passion for music, each girl also has a social cause that they represent like advocating for better education for girls around the world, ending youth homelessness, Give Peace a Chance, mental health support and awareness, and all of us taking better care of ourselves through the food that we eat. Girl Pow-R is Juno nominated (like the Canadian Grammy's) for album of the year in the children's category, making them the first ever group of young people to be nominated in the children's category gor album of the year. I loved having these amazing girls on the show! Be sure to stay until the end of the show because I will be including their hit songs, This Is Us, and Never Let Go.

Girl Pow-R 101

• Girl Pow-R is based in the Greater Toronto area (like Drake😉). They play their own instruments, sing, and perform at local events. The group started over three years ago when their now manager, Dawn Van Dam, set out to start a girl band that would inspire the world.
• Dawn found the first band members through an online audition where each girl sang a song they liked. From there, Dawn selected members based on who would best represent the name Girl Pow-R.
• Today on the podcast we have members Aashika, Prajeet, Chloe Rae, Kalista, and Chloe. Each has a unique contribution to the group.
• Aashika is 12 and comes up with a lot of group ideas and sings lower harmonies.
• Rajesh is 13, and her unique contribution is her sense of humor and electric guitar playing.
• Chloe Rae is 12 and she also sings with a lower voice. She's one of the newer members, having joined in the last few months!
• Emma is 14 and has been singing from a very young age. Her unique contribution is playing piano chords and her knowledge of technology. (She helps Dawn with that too)!
• Kalista is 16 and has been in the group since it started. She has learned how to play three instruments since joining the band. She loves helping new members learn songs and choreography.
• Chloe is 12 and has been in the group for two years and has learned a lot of new dances and vocal skills. She can also hit very low notes like Ashika and Kalista!

14:05 – Empowering Songs That Are Fun to Listen to

• Girl Pow-R songs have positive messages about empowerment for all types of people. Their hope to inspire others. Their song This is Us highlights each of their social causes.
• The group uses their music videos and social media to further amplify awareness and support around the causes they care about. Each girl has her own cause that she focuses on.
• 16:20 – Tune in to hear more about each girl's social cause.

21:00 – Original Songwriting

• Girl Pow-R covers songs when they perform but they also write their own original songs. They break into smaller groups to determine what subjects they want to cover in their songs and start brainstorming with sticky notes in their dance studio. The mirrors are usually covered with ideas.
• Girl Pow-R songwriting in a collaborative effort where each girl has a chance to speak about something that is important to her. Then their producer gives them a beat to work from and a guide melody to get the timing and order of the song just right. Everyone has a chance to add their own input within the group.
• The girls have found that their mutual love of music and like-minded hopes to help change the world helps them work well together.

23:12 – Touring Fun!

• Girl Pow-R joined the Boys of Summer Tour in Washington, Boston, and New York. One of the craziest memories they have is going to the wrong hotel that was an hour away from the hotel they were supposed to be in!
• During another Summer tour, they group was in a rural area in Ontario. In the middle of their set, there was a huge rainstorm with thunder and lightning. The girls had to stop the show for a few minutes while tents started blowing away!

25:49 – JUNO Awards Nomination

• The JUNO Awards is like the Grammy's in the US. Girl Pow-R was nominated for best album, which means, for the first time ever in the JUNO Awards, kids were nominated for an award!
• No matter the results, the recognition is a huge accomplishment for Girl Pow-R. Their hard work and touring is starting to really pay off in people listening and their causes being heard!

27:51- Big Girl Pow-R Dreams

• The group wants to open for one of their favorite artists. They love the Spice Girls, Avril Lavigne, and Alessia Cara. They hope to be the opener for the Spice Girls if they go on a reunion tour.
• Alessia Cara is also young and advocates for similar issues like kindness and loving yourself. Girl Pow-R got to meet Alessia recently, and she loved their music and ideas.

30:18 – Get to know a little more about each of the girls in Girl Pow-R! 37:15 – Getting To Know Our Guests

• Find out who each girl would pick to play them in a movie, what music they like to listen to get hyped up, what books and movies they like, and of course the best part…hear from each girl about what it means to them to run a business with purpose (48:50).

Memorable Quotes:

49:18 - "It's really cool to know that we're inspiring young adults to never give up and to always believe in yourself."

50:29 - "Music influences so many other people. It feels so good knowing you can just make someone's day by playing music and singing and dancing and doing what I love and helping other people at the same time."

You can listen to two Girl Pow-R songs right here on the podcast by checking out these time stamps:

52:04 – "This Is Us"

55:17 - "Never Let Go"

You can follow Girl Pow-R where they hang out on social media and listen to their songs by following the links below!

• Website: https://www.girl-pow-r.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girl_pow_r/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GirlPowRMusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Girl_Pow_R
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoEcpYSxfY3QKm_3M0W9wdg
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/girlpowrmusic/boards/

There's something to be said for getting out and experiencing the world - going and visiting different countries and learning more about other cultures and communities. The more that we can expand our horizons, the more we can learn to appreciate the beauty of this world we live in and see other people through God's eyes. Today's guest shares how her experience of living in six different countries has shaped who she is today and why she started her business. Deanna Cook is a global change maker and development professional with extensive international experience in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Her latest project, LIYA Collective, is a sustainable accessory brand of minimalist pieces ethically made around the world. She loves yoga, travel, spending time outdoors with her puppies, and all things conscious living. My conversation with Deanna was such a breath of fresh air. She encouraged and inspired me in so many ways, and I know you're going to love learning more about how her life and business.

2:11 - The Deanna 101

• Deanna has always been interested in the world around her and learning about other countries and languages. When she was a kid, she told people she wanted to be a lawyer for the United Nations because she wanted to help people all around the world.
• When she went to university, she studied international business in an interdisciplinary program where she also learned French and Spanish as well as studying aboard in Spain. After she graduated, she interned with a small nonprofit in Canada that helped woman artisan groups around the world learn about entrepreneurship.
• When the internship was over, Deanna moved to Taiwan and taught English for a few years. She even learned Mandarin, but knew she wanted to get back into the nonprofit space. She moved to Tanzania and worked as a marketing and fundraising coordinator for a small grassroots nonprofit that worked in the local community to support children and families affected by HIV/AIDs and poverty.
• Deanna also worked with small, sustainable businesses in the community including a school program with the nonprofit and some larger-scale environmental initiatives. At the same time, she also experienced transformation in her personal life that caused her to examine her purchasing habits and consumption and how that all ties into a bigger global picture.
• Her experiences in Tanzania shaped the way Deanna wanted to live and the brands she wanted to support. After working for so long with nonprofits and schools, she started exploring how business could be used to affect change in the world.
• Around that time, Deanna was offered an amazing opportunity to work on an international development project in Thailand. At the end of 2018, she left Tanzania and moved to Bangkok to work with USAID on a project on education and employability in STEM fields.
• In her free time, she also learned about traditional Thai handicrafts and textiles. This was the beginning of connecting the pieces that had shaped her life so far: sustainable business, ethical products, and global supply chains. She started to meet with production partners to co-create products she wanted to see in her own life.
• When her USAID contract finished in mid-2019, Deanna moved to Costa Rica with her partner who'd started a teaching job there. Deanna continued working on the business that would later become LIYA Collective. In April 2020, preorders for LIYA Collective were launched for their first collection, sustainably made, minimalist Thai silk scarves.

8:54 – Shaped by Your Surroundings

• Living aboard in many different places has helped Deanna recognize the effects of the second-hand supply chain industry. Our rapid consumption in America greatly impacts small businesses owners in other places. Deanna tries to look at things in more of a global context now.
• There are many conversations around waste and fast fashion, but many people don't consciously realize where things go when they are thrown away. It's easy to forget this when waste is very out of sight, out of mind in our country.
• Deanna's experiences traveling and living abroad have framed the way she takes care of what she already owns and how she disposes of things that may no longer serve her. She considers whether she can hold on to things to reuse them, repurpose, or re-wear them. She tries to buy locally from small businesses where she is rather than ordering from Amazon and having it sent to her.
• Conscious consumerism doesn't mean you shouldn't buy things. It's saying to be aware of how you buy and the way you dispose of things.

18:22 – Launching LIYA Collective

• Deanna carefully considered whether to launch during Covid-19. The biggest reason for deciding to continue forward with the launch was based on the fact that their production partners in Thailand were counting on the order that had been in preparation for an entire year.
• Deanna knew postponing or canceling the launch would have left the partners in the supply chain without a significant income they'd been counting on for so long.
• LIYA Collective launched a simple collection of one design in three neutral colors. Deanna worked with the partners to decide the right weave, silk, and colors of the scarf. The goal is to create an accessory you can invest in that won't go out of style and can be worn for years to come in many different ways.
• In the future, Deanna is interested in warmer textiles, hats, and handbags. Her big dreams also include expanding partnerships to more countries.

27:50 - Getting to Know Our Guest

• Find out which country is Deanna's favorite of the ones she's visited, whether she has any "usual" talents, something that's important to that she doesn't get to talk about often, and her answer to what it means to her to run a business with purpose (pssst, spoiler alert, you don't have to be perfect to do it).

Memorable Quotes

• 10:51 - "When you live in other cultures, you're going to make mistakes, you're not going to know what's happening a lot of the time, you might not understand the language right away. I think that's a beautiful thing to be able to listen and to learn from others, and to come with an open mind.
• 16:00 – "It's not a black and white thing and I am far from perfect…it's being conscious about what is coming into your life, how you're taking care of what's already there, and what happens after it leaves your home."
• 17:49 – "I want customers to really love what they're buying, to erally take care of it and invest in pieces that they're going to treasure."
• 26:37 - "I think this is a turning point where we can reimagine what global partnerships might look like, even if we have to do more work remotely."

About Deanna Cook:

Deanna Cook is an experienced marketing and communications professional with a diverse history in the social impact and sustainability sectors. Originally from Canada, she's spent the better part of the past decade living around the globe, working on a wide variety of projects from the World Cleanup Day environmental campaign in Tanzania to multi-million dollar USAID initiatives in education and employability in Thailand. As a freelancer, Deanna has had the opportunity to work with a number of local, national, and international changemakers and organizations, including SheWorks!, CIVICUS, Gradian Health Systems, Personify, and Earthing. She also founded an ethical fashion accessory brand, LIYA Collective, and is passionate about emerging movements in wellness, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and tech. In the digital marketing realm, Deanna particularly specializes in the verticals of social media, email marketing, and strategic communications, with the goal of helping organizations streamline their messaging and thus amplify their impact.

Connect with Deanna Cook & LIYA Collective:

• http://liyacollective.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/liyacollective
• https://www.pinterest.com/liyacollective/
• https://www.instagram.com/liyacollective/

There is nothing more encouraging to me than seeing young people making a difference and pursing entrepreneurship; being the change-makers. They push me to do more and be better. My guest today is an incredibly inspiring young leader named Miracle Olatunji. Miracle is an entrepreneur, international speaker, and the author of the book, "Purpose: How to Live and Lead with Impact." In high school (yes, high school), she founded OpportuniMe, an education startup that connects high school youth to summer experiential-learning opportunities for passion, career, and self-discovery. Miracle is absolutely that. She is an incredibly inspiring young leader and you're going to love my conversation with her today!

2:27 - The Miracle 101

• Miracle's story starts before she was born. The fact that Miracle is alive today is exactly why she got her name. When Miracle's mother was pregnant, she started having premature contractions and doctors told her that the changes of her baby surviving prematurely were pretty much non-existent. Despite that grim statement, Miracle was born full-term and healthy.
• Her path to entrepreneurship started in a program called The Diamond Challenge, a entrepreneurship contest for high school students. Miracle decided to try it out and pitched an idea with her friends. That experience gave her the confidence to never limit herself based on her age, gender, or anything else.
• Through the Diamond Challenge, Miracle started her first organization, OpportuniMe. OpportuniMe helps people realize and reach their full potential through connection to opportunities and resources to explore different career paths and connect with other young people. Miracle's first book "Purpose" was published in the summer of 2019.

4:25 – The Diamond Challenge

• The Diamond Challenge that Miracle participated in is a competition run through the University of Delaware but is specifically for high school students. The program gives students access to video courses about entrepreneurship and the process of turning an idea into reality. There are two tracks to the competition, the business side and the social enterprise side.
• Various colleges, high schools, and churches all over the world host "pitch sites." Students can also pitch their ideas virtually.
• Miracle participated in the follow up event after the Diamond Challenge. While in her first year at the follow-up event, she was inspired by the closing keynote speaker who said that one of the key parts of entrepreneurship is solving problems.
• When she returned to school in the fall and talked about her experience with the Diamond Challenge, she realized how many of her peers didn't know about the opportunities out there for them or that these programs existed.
• Miracle learned that your passion must be cultivated. It doesn't fall from the sky and into your lap. She knew her peers simply didn't have the same access to opportunities that open the doors to interests and passions.

9:05 – OpportuniMe

• Miracle started OpportuniMe when she was just 17 years old. Since then the biggest lesson she's learned is the power of her mindset. She didn't know a lot in the beginning. She had to work on herself push through the fear of rejection when starting things she'd never done before.
• She realized that if you don't ask for anything, you don't even have the opportunity for a "yes", "no", or "not right now."
• Miracle is realizing now in college, that many college students are experiencing the same feelings of trying to discover what they are passionate about and that they are also trying to find purpose. She has extended the mission beyond high school students to also include people who are going to be entering the workforce soon, are entering it now, or have been in it for a few years.

15:37 – Purpose: How to Live and Lead with Impact

• At the start of the new year in 2018, Miracle made a vision board. She researched about visualizations and how things become more real in our minds when we are able to see a picture of it first.
• One of the things on Miracle's vision board was a quote, "Write a book, change the world." She had always had the desire to write a book, but it seemed overwhelming and she didn't think it was possible. She decided to stay dedicated to achieving it anyway.
• In a community called "NextGen Summit", Miracle joined a webinar about writing a book. She sent the instructor an email introducing herself and talking about her goal to write a book. The next week they spoke on the phone and Miracle enrolled in the program and stared writing her book!
• The program is based around a community of aspiring book authors supporting other aspiring book authors. Each cohort releases their books on the same day. Miracle was inspired to write her book based on her own personal experiences and aspiring leaders from all different walks of life.
• Purpose seems very abstract, but Miracle wanted to break that down to help people realize that it can be simplified to personal reflection on your values and what makes you come alive.
• You can find Purpose: How to Live and Lead with Impact on Amazon.

20:12 - On the Horizon

• As you know by now, Miracle really wants to help create opportunities for others. This summer to (especially now to help offset the effects of Covid-19 on college internships), she's hiring college students with skills in social media, content marketing, and more. She wants to help students build their skills, learn new ones, and get compensated for their time.
• In the future, Miracle also plans to participate in more campaigns like Barbie's #rolemodels #youcanbeanything campaign to inspire people around the world that they have potential that shouldn't be limited by any aspect of their identity.

23:00 – Getting to Know Our Guest

• Learn about Miracle's unusual talent, what her "walk up/hype" song would be, what makes her feel most alive, who she'd pick to play her in a movie, and what she's learning about herself during Covid-19. Be sure to stay tuned to hear what it means to Miracle to run a business with purpose.

Memorable Quotes

• 3:43 - "I realized that I shouldn't limit myself based on age or gender or anything. I should see myself as someone who is able to make a difference in the world because I truly believe that every single person on this planet has a purpose and s unique impact that they can make on the world."
• 7:17 – "These programs create a way to explore, and you can't know if you're passionate about something unless you try it."
• 7:40 - "The thing about passion…is that it takes exploration and trying different things. It would be nice if our passion just fell into our lap, but we have to do the work to figure out what makes us come alive."
• 10:52 – "It's important to not reject yourself before you give anybody the opportunity to give you a yes or no."
• 22:25 "You have unlimited potential. You shouldn't limit yourself based on any aspect of your identity."

About Miracle Olatunji:

Miracle Olatunji is a student at Northeastern University, entrepreneur, public speaker, and author of Purpose: How To Live and Lead With Impact . She is the founder OpportuniMe, an award-winning social enterprise which helps the next generation of leaders to realize their potential and make an impact in their work and in the world. At Northeastern, Miracle is a business and finance major with a passion for entrepreneurship, technology, social impact, health & wellness, fashion, and innovation. She's been honored as one of The Tempest Magazine's '40 Women To Watch Who Are Changing The World', a Young Futurist and Game-changer by The Root Magazine , and she was selected as a Young Global Leadership Scholar.Her work has also been featured in Forbes, Thrive Global, Technical.ly, BostInno, The CEO Library, ReadWrite, The Female Lead, and other publications. Miracle is also building Her Wallet Media, a new platform for women and girls to gain knowledge and resources on the topics of building their "net worth, network, and self worth" through content, community, and coaching. She was honored as an EXTRAOrdinary Woman by Boston.gov during the International Women's Day Celebration at City Hall. Miracle was recently part of Barbie's #YouCanBeAnything #MoreRoleModels campaign aimed at closing the dream gap and inspiring women and girls around the world. She was also part of Melinda Gates and the Harvard Business Review 's 'Equality Can't Wait' campaign.

Social Media & Links

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miracleolatunji/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miracleolatunji
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mirolatunji
• Speaking: https://www.apbspeakers.com/speaker/miracle-olatunji/
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Purpose-How-Live-Lead-Impact/dp/1641372664/

It's Episode 200, and today's guest is the one and only John Stillman, my husband! I knew for this episode I'd have to invite my special guest back to the show. His first appearance was Episode 100, and since my listeners loved it, I thought it was about time I brought him back for another interview! It's hard to believe we are here at 200 episodes. It was a different time when I launched this show in the summer of 2016. I certainly didn't think then about being at episode 200. We have some fun things planned including listener-submitted questions, a review of the top 10 episodes, and more!

4:31 – Kicking things off with the first user-submitted question which is actually a question that many of you asked: "What have things been like for us over the past few months?"

• We're both self-employed. John has a financial advising business and media company and went from working in an office to working from home with me!
• During quarantine 2020, we've developed some habits and routines that John enjoys very much, especially getting Chipotle for lunch every Monday. We don't know what we were doing on Saturdays before Covid-19, but we've finished a number of house projects that have been waiting for us to complete them and enjoyed leisurely prepared breakfasts and slow mornings.
• Since I'm working at home and home-schooling, implementing true rest on the weekends became important too, which led us to examine our Sabbath and really for the first time, intentionally carve out a time for rest on the weekends.
• John's weeknight habits have changed too. He's much less inclined to do any work on his laptop in the evenings, compared to when he was working all day in the office. He's been more disciplined in keeping his workday confined to regular business hours because he's already home all day. We both feel much more efficient, too.
• It's been really nice to be home together. When John started returning to the office for half days, it was actually much harder than either of us thought it was going to be!
• The biggest adjustment for me has been recording podcasts at home. I usually go to the recording studio, but moving all of that into well, basically my closet, has been a big transition.

10:19 – User Submitted Questions, Let's Dive into the Q&A!

10:40 – Question One: "What is your favorite quality about the other person?"

12:57 – Question Two: "John, you have edited nearly all of Molly's podcasts episodes. Which one, or which ones have stood out to you. Do you have any particularly favorite interviews?"

14:12 – Question Three: "How do you build your business as a woman without losing your marriage?"

21:03 – We're going to take a quick break from questions to recap the top 10 episodes of the first 200 of the Business With Purpose podcast! These are the most popular episodes based on the highest number of downloads + a few honorable mentions of my personal favorites:

21: 30, #10 –Episode 129: Chris Solt, Executive Director at Fair Trade Federation

21:47, #9 – Episode 149: Llenay Ferretti, Ten Thousand Villages & Bhava World Project

22:04, #8 – Episode 100: The 100th Episode Spectacular with Guest – My Husband!

22:22, #7 – Episode 110: How To Know If A Brand Is Ethical

22:41, #6 – Episode 139: Mark Choyt, Reflective Jewelry

24:04, #5 – Episode 136: Fair Trade Federation Conference Recap

24:26, #4 Episode 130: Solo Episode, So You Just Marie-Kondo'D Your Life? What to Do with All Those Things That Don't Spark Joy

25:37, #3 Episode 137: Rebecca Smith, Better Life Bags

26:20, #2 Episode 135: Kat Eckles, Founder of Clean Juice

26:38, #1 Episode 71: Devan Kline & Morgan Kline, Founders of Burn Boot Camp

27:25, Honorable Mentions: These are some of my all-time favorites in no particular order:

27:36 Episode 165, Santiago, "Jimmy" Mellado, Compassion International President & CEO

28:03 – Episode 115, Antonio T. Smith Jr., From Living In A Dumpster to Self-Made Millionaire

28:32 – Episode 101: Barrett Ward, Founder & CEO of ABLE

28:59 – Episode 155: Sharon Hodde Miller, Author, Speaker, Theologian

29:34 – Episode 124: Leon Lee, Founder of Flying Cloud Productions, Producer of "Letters From Masanjia"

29:41 – Episode 153: Comedian Kevin Fredericks, Aka @kevonstage

30:56 – Back to your questions! The first one is for John: "Do you ever feel like a #instagramhusband ?

35:13 – "Do you have any first steps or resources for couples to get on the same page financially before marriage?"

37:49 – "Do you think couples should combine their finances?"

40:43 – "Where do you see the other person in 10 years"

41:53 – I loved that someone asked us the question I ask all my guests: "What does it mean to you to run a business with purpose?"

46:40 – My answer to "What does it mean to you to run a business with purpose?"

Thank you for the support that all of you have given me. I truly would not be doing this if not for you being on this journey with me. For those who've left comments, I appreciate it so much! If you want to leave a review, it is much appreciated and helps me know how the show is helping you. Subscribing and sharing is also incredibly helpful. Thank you for being a part of this community and learning more about doing something with purpose, on purpose with me!

If you're not a member of the "Purchase with Purpose" Facebook group, it's a great place to ask questions and learn more about fair trade and ethical fashion.

Here's to 200 episodes and here's to you! Thank you for your questions and thank you John for joining me!

Over the last couple years, I've been on a slow but steady journey of becoming somebody who is less wasteful. I may not get to the point of being able to fit all my trash from the month into a mason jar, but I have been making slow, intentional choices to reduce and use less waste. Along this journey, there have been certain items that have made me wonder, "Could there be a zero waste option for this?" Especially for bathroom products like Q tips and tissues. There have not been many options on the market…until today! My guest this week is Isabel Aagaard, founder of Last Object, a Danish design trio who have chosen to tackle some of the least sexy objects out there like cotton swabs and disposable tissues. They are addressing the problem of single-use items and looking past the highly visible culprits like plastic bottles and straws. Last Swab is the reusable alternative to cotton swabs, which replace the need for the 1.5 billion single-use Q tips produced daily, only to be thrown out after one use. Last Tissue saves 2 liters of water per tissue and has become wildly popular on Kickstarter. Prior to founding Last Object, Isabel designed the first reusable chemotherapy bag to reduce waste in the medical industry, and it is now being used all over Denmark. I was fascinated with this conversation with Isabel and know you're going to love learning about these unique designs that's changing the world!

4:22 - The Isabel 101

• Isabel was born and raised in the beautiful city of Copenhagen, Denmark. She has an IT background and obtained a master's degree in collaborative design. That background brought her to where she is today, along with her passion for the environment and startups.
• All of Isabel's focus combines sustainability with collaborative design efforts. She loves exploring how to create and make things that are usable in collaboration with the people who will be using them.
• Isabel's worlds meet at the intersection of anthropology and collaboration and is referred to as Co-design. It's a field that's grown in the last few years and has started to spread through other countries.
• As an example, when working for hospitals, instead of looking at patients and creating a design solution for them, Isabel creates tools to help patients design their own solutions. It takes people, interactions, and their abilities into account, instead of being a designer who decides what they think is best for the design.

8:29 – Last Object

• Last Object's mission is to create an alternative to single-use items. They started with Last Swab and Last Tissue as the first two products.
• There are three designers (one of whom is Isabel's brother). When Isabel was working in design for hospitals, the idea for starting a sustainable design business started over lunch one day with her brother and a designer named Cole.
• In doing various research on the contributing facts to pollution with single-use items, they found that Q tips were one of the 10 biggest contributors to waste on the planet. They also knew they wanted to tackle issues that have not been tackled already (like alternatives to plastic straws). They also wanted to look at single-use items that are frequently used, so that cutting down of those products would make a huge impact.
• Last Object starts the design process by thinking of the simplest way to recreate a reusable product. It has to be something you would know how to use just by looking at the design.
• There are many iterations that happen before a final product comes to fruition. The team continues prototyping, using different forms, scaling up, scaling down, and testing with 3D printing, and experimenting with paint palettes.
• Last Object debuted in April 2019. The initial reactions in the marketplace started about 50/50 on social media. Some loved it, others thought it was gross, but the most important thing that happened was people were talking about it.

16:40 - Speaking of Questions, "How Does it Work?"

• Last Swab is made of a durable core plastic, and the ends are made of TPE, which is a plastic that has a similar feeling to silicon. The tips are melded together to be sure they don't come apart. Each swab also comes with its own carrying case that keeps it hygienic to carry with you or store in your bathroom.
• One swab is a version for cleaning your ears with a textured surface to help clean. Another version if for makeup application with a soft, pointed end to use for detail or removing excess makeup. Both swabs can be washed easily with soap and water.
• Last Tissue is sort of like a modern-day handkerchief. It's six small handkerchiefs in a hypoallergenic box. Isabel describes it as if a handkerchief and a tissue box had a baby. That way you can keep your handkerchief in a hygienic place instead of stuffing it into your pocket.
• Environmentally, the swab and tissues help cut down on waste.

21:17 – Collaborative Design for the Future

• Last Object is looking at some more complicated design processes for future products that replace single-use products, but plan on staying on the bathroom objects side of design.
• Toilet paper isn't at the top of their next design plans, but it's still on the list! It's just more of the "holy grail" of design. Isabel says if they figure out the toilet paper design, they can go ahead and retire.

23:07 – Get Your Hands On Last Swab or Last Tissue!

• Last Object has a system of testing and love to try out everything they make. When they launched their Last Swab, they did so on Kickstarter. They have a website where they sell their products but always release them on a crowd funding site first.
• Last Tissue just finished a campaign on Indiegogo and will launch on the website soon. You can enter your email address to be informed when they're in stock.
• The next brand new product launch is planned for the end of this summer, so stay tuned!

25:00 – Reducing Waste in the Medical Industry

• When Isabel was in design school, her department was contacted by the local hospital asking if there were any designers interested in helping find a solution to create reusable chemotherapy bags in order to be able to allow patients to receive chemotherapy at home.
• It started as a school group project with four other co-designers, and when Isabel's group completed their design, two of the members went out to figure out how to actually produce it. It took about a year, but they were able to get the bags produced and all the hospitals have since bought into the reusable chemotherapy bag!
• You can find Last Object and follow their work on Instagram (@lastswab and @lastobject) where they're always updating about new products.

27:11 – Getting to Know Our Guest

• Find out what Isabel is learning about herself during Covid-19, who she'd most like to sit next to on a 16-hour flight and why, what she would do differently if she knew no one was judging her, what she's reading right now, and the question I ask all my guests, "What does it mean to you to run a business with purpose?"

Memorable Quotes:

13:27 - "We wanted to tell you what the product is doing by just design. That's why we want to refer to how it looks or how the single-use item looks."

16:00 - "It actually created a conversation, and that's exactly what you want when you're designing something. You want people to question it."

20:52- "We wanted to take the convenient, modern side of the tissue pack and then really incorporate making it into something that could actually be good for the environment."

22:12 - "I can tell you that we're going to stay in the bathroom area because that's a really fun area to be in. We're gonna make some more 'ew' products."

As a business owner, often one of our biggest pain points are taxes and accounting. My guest today is especially passionate about helping social entrepreneurs tackle this aspect of their business in a purposeful way. Jessica Mah is the founder and CEO of inDinero and loves helping entrepreneurs run better businesses. She has grown the company from zero to over 250 employees and has been featured in the Forbes & Inc "30 Under 30 list." Jessica left high school at age 15 to attend Bard College at Simon's Rock, studied computer science at UC Berkeley, went through Y Combinator, and is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). I loved talking with Jessica! She is brilliant and can take concepts like taxes and accounting, do them with passion and purpose, and even make others excited about them! Join me for this inspiring conversation with Jessica Mah.

2:17 - The Jess 101

• Jess Mah is the founder and CEO of a company called inDinero. inDinero does accounting and taxes for small businesses with the idea that there's a better way to deliver a more delightful accounting experience for business owners through technology and automation.
• Jess found a way to create sustainable and ethical finance for businesses working on social issues.
• B Corps are certified purpose-driven organizations, but it is an extremely difficult process to be certified. It can take years to prepare for, and Jess and her team help their customers who have purpose-driven businesses make a greater impact right away rather than getting bogged down in years of certification processes.

6:07 – Purpose-Driven Organizations in a Time of Crisis.

• During this unprecedented time of a global pandemic, the work of inDinero can help businesses tackle the difficult questions that may initially arise like "How will we pay our rent", or "How do we deal with payroll when our employees are not working?"
• Once that painful part has been addressed and tackled, the next steps are finding ways to recalibrate and innovate for a "new normal."
• It can be hard to see the other side of the hard times or the breakthrough that can come from a challenging season in our businesses or personal lives.
• Jess is using that mission-driven motivation from both her personal and professional life to rally with other organizations (like c19coalition.org) and raise working capital to provide PPE for hospitals and other businesses.

13:39 – Prioritizing Profit, People, and Planet

• Jess had an epiphany while attending a CEO summit series. She initially got into accounting because she believed it could be turned around from something that's typically boring to something that's sexy. She wanted to help companies feel like they're doing something impactful for business and the world at large.
• While speaking with a very successful global business owner at the summit series, Jess told him that she loves her business and would like for it to be more helpful and impactful.
• The conversation helped Jess consider how doubling or tripling a company's bottom line, helping them manage their giving program, and lending to other non-profit organizations could allow them to do more good overall.

17:15 – Purpose Along the Way

• Jess' first goal was to make an entrepreneur's life better because accounting and financial management is so painful for entrepreneurs. What she found over the years was that it didn't feel as impactful as she thought it could and knew she could help business impact scale up to 80-90%.
• So many entrepreneurs are or have been in Jess' shoes where they start making a profit and realize they want to be able to do good as well.
• That process is challenging because once they've started growing profit, they don't have as strong of a cultural pull to make a difference. The products being sold may not be directly tied to impact.
• Jess started being more candid and open conversations with other businesses wanting to make impact, which helped create a more powerful change through collaboration.
• In the next 10 years, Jess thinks there will be an even greater shift to a triple-bottom line of planet, people, and profit. Not only does she think it's possible, she thinks it will actually be front and center of most organizations.
• Collaborating with various leaders and businesses on the C19 Coalition has created so much opportunity for a more collective community. Working together has multiplied the amount of good.
• Accounting may not directly change the world, but inDinero can help their customers utilize their assets for greater impact.

27:41 – Getting to Know Our Guest

• Find out Jess is learning about herself during Covid-19, what her guilty pleasure is, what she would do differently if she knew no one was judging her, what she's reading right now, and of course, what it means to Jess to run a business with purpose!

CONNECT WITH JESS AND INDINERO:

• If you would like to connect with Jess and her team to talk about the good work you're trying to do, you can email [email protected]
• https://www.indinero.com/
• https://twitter.com/indinero
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/indinero
• https://www.facebook.com/inDinerocom

Memorable Quotes:

• 5:56 - "Doing this helps a CEO be more focused and probably be more successful than if they were just directly focused on only profit and making money."
• 7:40 – "As Covid-19 became a problem, I told our employees that this is their chance to be the essential, front line workers but in the business world. You have doctors and nurses helping patients, and in our case, businesses are our patients."
• 11:31 - "I think it's a two-part problem. On one hand, we do have to deal with the onslaught of problems …that's the most painful part, but once you get through that, then you can start having these conversations around how we really maximize this and see it as an opportunity."

ABOUT JESSICA MAH:

As Founder and CEO of inDinero, Jess loves helping entrepreneurs run better businesses. She has grown the company from zero to over 250 employees and has been featured in the Forbes and Inc 30 Under 30 Lists. Jessica left high school at age 15 to attend Bard College at Simon's Rock, studied computer science at U.C. Berkeley, went through Y Combinator, and is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO). Her passions and hobbies include mentoring up-and-coming entrepreneurs, DJ'ing at night clubs, and flying airplanes. She's also been extremely active with C19Coalition which is helping bring millions of N95 masks and other medical supplies to hospitals.

Leave a comment below with something you learned from this episode.

I am so excited to welcome Keenya Kelly to the show this week. Keenya is an incredible, powerhouse entrepreneur. We connected a few months ago and I knew I wanted to have her on the show. We had such an incredible conversation and I know you're going to be encouraged and inspired!

ABOUT KEENYA KELLY:

As an accomplished business executive, teacher and inspirational speaker, Keenya Kelly found her voice by writing & speaking about understanding your God-given purpose and living up to your fullest potential. She captures her audiences by conveying powerful lessons of overcoming fear, self-doubt, & divorce to creating successful six-figure businesses.

Keenya believes that when you identify with who you are at the core of your being, begin a journey of overcoming obstacles and self-doubt, you can achieve absolute greatness.

Keenya Kelly leaves audiences with a sense of empowerment and a call to action that encourages them to reach their full potential. She believes that everyone is equipped; people can do and become anything they put their minds to despite their starting points. Keenya has helped countless individuals and entrepreneurs realize how to finish strong. Her proven strategies will show you how you can be NEXT!

BOOK: Before you quit your job

With the rise of social media entrepreneurship at an all-time high, the rise of making irrational life-changing decisions such as quitting your job is as well.

We believe that there comes a time in your career where you have to choose the next stage for you, however, that change can be calculated, full of wisdom and not irrational spontaneity.

Before You Quit Your Job is a step by step guide for individuals that desire to build businesses while working full-time on their jobs. It teaches you all of the ways to train yourself, your mind and those around you, how to adjust to the new life you are embarking upon, while building a sustainable, profitable business.

Keenya's Podcast: Life and Business with Keenya Kelly Facebook Show: The Keenya Kelly Morning Show Connect with Keenya:

• https://www.instagram.com/keenya_kelly/
• https://www.facebook.com/keenyakelly
• https://twitter.com/keenyakelly
• https://www.keenyakelly.com/
• https://www.youtube.com/keenyakelly