Tony Ferguson is from the U.K. and one of the very first hires at Interscope Records before the label even existed. He's also a consummate musician, music producer and all around good human. He was also my mentor when i worked in the music business. He signed and discovered Gwen Stefani / No Doubt and fought to keep them on the label when the label wanted to drop them(Gwen and No Doubt would go onto sell 50+ million copies worldwide).

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS //

+ Growing up playing in bands in London

+ Touring with ZZ Top and going through the racist south as a Brit

+ Where he was when he heard the john Lennon had been killed

+ Touring post riot Detroit

+ Getting the unexpected / fateful phone call from Jimmy Iovine

+ Managing bands with Jimmy Iovine

+ Ted Fields wealthy financier comes in to back Interscope

+ The very first hit Interscope had.. a cheesy Latin hip hop song

+ Signing Gwen Stefani & No Doubt, Jimmy wanting to break up the band

+ How Tony was harshly judged by his peers for signing No Doubt

+ How Tony ended up discovering No Doubt and how ZERO Producers wanted

to work with Gwen and the band at first

Samson Shulman is from Detroit and was accepted to law school in 2004 and chose instead to take a leap of faith, at age 23, moving to L.A. to pursue a career in the music business. Since then, he’s worked for Interscope Records, Atlantic Records, The Tonight Show, and secured multiple major record deals for up and coming artists under the talent management company he founded, 5AM Collective. He is currently pursuing a Master's in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University in Los Angeles.

Today's co-host, Yung $tanny, is originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has worked for Island Records, BMG and Interscope Records and is also currently pursuing a Master's in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University in Los Angeles.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS //

+ How the music industry resembles casino gambling in Las Vegas

+ Gabor Mate's philosophy that we should not be asking ourselves why the

addiction but rather asking, why the pain?

+ What happens when we are fully driven by our ego

+ Samson's history with Gambling addiction, his darkest days and how he

grew and eventually benefitted from having gone through his addiction

+ How important motives are and what really subconsciously drives us

+ How a deep feeling of connection is found both in music and in the recovery

rooms of 12 step programs and how all people should have access to some

version of this

Sky Keller (aka Amber Jones) is an artist, singer, and a registered travel nurse. She has had several songs buzzing on music blogs, played live to packed out audiences, and auditioned for American Idol. She has also spent much time in 2020 working to help victims of COVID-19 in crowded hospitals. She grew up in Connecticut but through a chance encounter with Tai Bo legend, Billy Blanks ended up moving to Los Angeles and building a whole new life.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS //

+ A random invite from her mom to a fitness studio leading to meeting Tai Bo legend Billy Blanks and moving to L.A.

+ A Cancelled Uber driver, leading to a different driver, leading to meeting

one of Maroon 5's managers, working with Samson and finding an amazing

group of new friends

+ How she deals with the ups and downs of pursuing her music career

+ Auditioning for American Idol and not making the cut

+ How its ok for music to be a fulfilling hobby in the way bicyclists who spend

money on the leisure of biking get enjoyment and fulfillment

+ The life changing experience of her playing an intimate show and the power

of the emotions hitting her and the audience

+ How some of our BIGGEST blessings in life are unanswered prayers

+ A play by play description on how she gets herself out of her darkest places

in life and things others can also do to help themselves

+ Her biggest blessing / takeaway from the year 2020

Jason Bernstein is a current Master's in Clinical Psychology Student at Antioch University (we met in virtual class together as a result of the pandemic). Jason was a Division 1, nationally rated Golfer on scholarship at college in Delaware before being swallowed up by his addiction to pills and heroin. Thankfully, he ultimately, found his way out of the darkness and back into the light and is on a whole new career / life path in psychology with the intention of using his experience to help others.

Episode Highlights //

+ The miracle of Jason still being here considering how bad it got with his

addiction

+ How he was able to hide his addiction from others, which can be more

dangerous because no one can see that he was killing himself

+ How addiction caused him his golfing scholarship at the University Of

Delaware

+ Losing 5 of his close friends to drug addiction

+ How we are mostly taught alcohol, weed etc is OK but Heroin isn't and how

he got into heroin in the first place

+ We discuss Gabor Mate PhD philosophy on addiction and how we shouldn't

ask ourselves why the addiction and instead ask ourselves why the pain?

+ His first month of becoming clean and sober and the light returning

+ Making amends with those he hurt as a result of addiction

+ Society's limited view on mental illness and addiction... still

+ His advice to those considering abandoning their addiction

Zara Michales is Venice Beach local, Australian native and multi-hyphenate creative. She has had two children's books published. She previously worked in Government and fitness training when she lived in Australia and is currently working on film projects and authoring books as a local Angeleno now.

Episode Highlights //

+ Packing up her life in Australia on a Friday and landing in LA on a Monday

+ Family pressures

+ Recites beautiful poetry from one of the children's books she wrote

+ Finding work / life balance

+ Rejections experienced pursuing auditions and what she has learned

+ Going through the hardest time in her life and it teaching her to be

appreciative of seconds now in her life

+ Not chasing people to be in your life and instead realizing you can give what

you are seeking in them to yourself

Navin Watumull is a life transition blackbelt. He is currently a senior marketing manager at Go Fund Me, and former GM of Justin Timberlake's record label, Tennman Records, which was a joint venture with Interscope Records. Additionally, he has a successful foodie blog on Instagram with nearly 8,000 followers, he grew from scratch that highlights LA's best fare check him out at @thebadhindu on IG.

Episode Highlights //

+ The final days of his time at Justin Timberlake's record label

+ The toxic nature that exists in the music industry

+ How interviewing for Amazon made him a superstar at interviewing

+ How to find your personal narrative that makes sense to others

+ Going over a year unemployed and feeling dismayed about finding his next

job, and the experience made him question his self worth

+ A funny story about the head of hip hop A&R at Interscope

+ How we all have an underlying through line with what inspires us and our

talent, and how we can peel into that like an onion

+ Dating Advice, and how losing all hope helped Navin find his wife :)

Navin Watumull is a life transition blackbelt. He is currently a senior marketing manager at Go Fund Me, and former GM of Justin Timberlake's record label, Tennman Records, which was a joint venture with Interscope Records. Additionally, he has a successful foodie blog on Instagram with nearly 8,000 followers, he grew from scratch that highlights LA's best fare check him out at @thebadhindu on IG.

Episode Highlights //

+ Growing up in South India and getting inspired by hip hop culture

+ Getting fired from a free internship at Interscope

+ Finding his mentor and the early days of building Justin TImberlake's

Record Label

+ Making yourself *NEEDED* at your organization

+ How normal "professionalism" (suits and ties etc) aren't respected in the

music industry

+ Setting up a meeting with Justin Timberlake & Justin Bieber

+ How Justin Timberlake liked to develop the artists at his label

+ How looking back on how our life path unfolds is mind blowing

Malachi Mott is an instructor, producer, rapper, and overall creative from New York. He has worked at Interscope Records, Sean John and for Diddy's record label. He currently works at soundbetter.com where he helps polish and mold songs from developing artists.

Episode Highlights //

+ Hilarious Jimmy Iovine story when Malachi was new to music biz

+ Why people who take only a few minutes to do a job deserve $$$

+ Wisdom from Dr. Dre that changed his life

+ Observing Diddy when he was an intern and recognizing his unrefined

wisdom, different from Jimmy & Dre

+ Becoming homeless briefly during his transition and break from music

+ How his family responded when he said he was going to pursue a creative

path in life

Kirk Smalley is on a mission to end bullying after losing his 11 year old son, Ty, to suicide on May 13, 2010. Kirk has appeared on numerous media outlets including CNN, Today Show etc, and was invited to The White House, by President Obama, to discuss school bullying. Kirk has spoken throughout the world in over 18 countries, on initiatives to end school bullying. Additionally, Kirk’s advocacy has led him to the Oklahoma State capital. He is currently working with the Oklahoma legislature to enact anti-bullying legislation.

Episode Highlights //

+ Bullying in the social media era versus old school bullying

+ How the impact of being bullied as a kid can last an entire lifetime

+ What causes kids and adults to bully others in the first place?

+ The epidemic of bullying that exists in the native american culture

+ Speaking at over 1600 schools and 1.5 million children

+ Hearing kids come up to him after he speaks, saying they were going to take their life, but hearing him speak made them not want to go through with it

+ The importance of remembering if you are being bullied, that school is not a forever thing!

+ 1 in 4 children have had a plan to commit suicide

+ My harsh experiences with bullying, when switching schools growing up

+ Humanity going off course by a couple degrees and this adding up to a big

distance.

+ The bully who targeted Kirk's son, not having any remorse

Emily Morwen is a Toronto native, and was first introduced to yoga in 2000 in New York City where she was studying theater. She has been teaching yoga for 10 years. She is the creator of Yoga Theater for Kids (which she taught in schools, and foster youth programs throughout LA). In 2011, Emily and her incredible partners opened up Modo Yoga LA on La Brea, which quickly won Best Yoga Studio in LA in Los Angeles Magazine 2013. She then co-opened Modo Yoga Seattle, Modo Yoga East (in Echo Park) and Modo Yoga West (Venice). When Emily is not teaching or being an entrepreneur/community builder, you can find her immersed in philanthropic work.

Episode Highlights //

+Landing in LA as a Canadian transplant and having to start from scratch

+Opening a yoga studio in the saturated yoga studio environment of LA

+Early days of modo yoga studios and running on fumes

+Being a mom to newborns and juggling a full life mid pandemic

+How anxiety and insomnia led her to find answers in yoga when younger

+The most climactic moment on her entrepreneurial journey followed by being

forced to close due to Covid-19