Curiocity

Welcome to Curiocity! Where we seek to understand culture creators in Indianapolis. Today we are stoked to have Ryan McCarty on the podcast. Ryan is a force for good in this strange world. He is the co-author of the book, Build a Culture of Good which tells the story of Ryan and Scott and how they were able to develop a "culture of good" while building a more profitable company.

"Culture of Good is a culture change resulting from a deep-seated desire to do more good in the world. What began as a movement at TCC, with 3,000 employees and 800 wireless retail locations across the United States, to do good by including employees and customers has grown into its own company to teach others to build their own Culture of Good. Four years and millions of donated items, volunteer hours and dollars later, our employees are bringing their souls to work every single day. They make an impact beyond the four walls of our stores. They do more than serve our customers. They want to serve the communities in which we conduct business. Together, we are impacting our business and communities in remarkable ways. And, we realized that we could build business by doing good."

If you want to learn more head to their website: Culture of Good

In this podcast we go deep into Ryan's life. We speak about the importance of resiliency in one's life and how to develop that resiliency. Ryan has been through the ringer in his life, but he hasn't let that stop him. He strives to be a force for good in this world and we go through how you can too. As usual, we speak about great restaurants, breweries etc in Indianapolis.

Some quotes I loved from Ryan:

"The shittiest stuff has the potential to decide who you become."

"You have to make a conscious choice on a daily basis."

"Your story is so uniquely you -- it is the one thing in this world that is only yours."

"Big Money Follows Big Vision"

"Your story is so uniquely you - it is the one thing in this world that is only yours."

Hit Ryan up at or in Fountain Square, Indianapolis:

His website: cultureofgood.com

On instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultureofgood/

Thank you for listening and learning about Indianapolis with me. If you are new here, check out some of our other shows. We had an amazing interview with Aman Brar founder of Canvas and was president of Apparatus as they went through a 34 Million dollar acquisition. If you want to learn about brewing beer and the importance of quality head to our conversation with David Waldman, founder of Triton Brewery. If you are more spiritually inclined check out our conversation with Anne Williamson the founder of, The Wayfinding

 

 

The Queen of Millenial Marketing

Welcome to Curiocity! Today we are stoked to have Adrian France - the Queen of Millennial Marketing on the podcast. Adrian was Co-founder and the Chief Creative Officer for The Odyssey. What is the Odyssey? Well, here is a little bit from Adrian's bio that will give you some familiarity.

"Odyssey, a millennial social content platform, democratizes content to bring new, meaningful ideas to the world while enabling businesses to build relationships with more engaged audiences. They have a massive reach with 15+ million audiences with 12,000+ 18-34yr old millennial creators. Odyssey has raised more than $25 million in VC funding." 

If you want to learn more go here!

I had a blast during this podcast, we talk about the current epidemic of fake news. Why she believes it is important for community members to be able to tell their own stories. How the Odyssey created the concept of "dad bod" Being a millennial, how we build a great workplace and fit into the current structure. For the entrepreneurs out there we go deep into the ever elusive skill of getting people to share content.

Adrian left The Odyssey after 8 years to go find herself in Dubai. On this adventure, she stayed at an amazing co-working space called, Hubud. Adrian did find herself and has since returned to the United States to be an Entrepreneur coach. Adrian is a great friend, a phenomenal mentor and you want her on your team.

Some quotes I loved from Adrian:

"People say a lot of the bad things about Greek life... you don't hear the good things."

"You can teach any skill, but it is incredibly hard to find the right mindset."

"There is a choice you can either be a victim of your circumstance or a creator of your world"

"Failure is how we learn."

"You invest in a good mattress, you have a job you love with people you love and then you spend the rest doing things that make you happy."

Some Books  Recommended:

The success principals - Jack Canfield

Meditations - Marcus Aureliu

Hit Adrian up at:

Her website: adrianfrance.com

Especially if you are an entrepreneur, she offers free intro calls to make sure there is fit.

Thank you for listening and learning with me. If you are new here, check out some of our other shows. We had an amazing interview with Aman Brar founder of Canvas and was president of Apparatus as they went through a 34 Million dollar acquisition. If you want to learn about brewing beer and the importance of quality head to our conversation with David Waldman, founder of Triton Brewery. If you are more spiritually inclined check out our conversation with Anne Williamson the founder of, The Wayfinding

 

 

I’m Sky King, host of Curiocity, an Indianapolis based podcast. Our aim is to understand and deconstruct this curious city’s culture creators. Before we get into today's guest. I want to make a promise to you, I will work past the *tick* of "yea" as I seem to say it constantly. Silence is okay. Today we have Aman Brar from Canvas, a text message-based technology platform for recruiters on the show. Aman Believes that an engaged life is a happy life.

Aman Brar has an extensive background in leading technology companies through periods of high growth and has also held key corporate strategy and finance roles at Fortune 500 companies. As former president of Apparatus, Aman led the company through a $34.2 million acquisition by publicly traded and global consultancy, Virtusa, in 2015.

Recognizing the need for a method to boost recruiting productivity, Aman has teamed up with Kelly Lavin and Jared Adams to launch Canvas, the first enterprise-grade text-based interviewing platform that enables recruiters to screen more job candidates and market employment brands.

Companies are already turning to Canvas to interview a range of talent, from welders to engineers to salespersons. Early adopters span from startups to Fortune 500 companies located in Silicon Valley all the way to the Midwest. Canvas is enabling these organizations to transform their reach and engagement with talent by designing their recruitment strategies in a way that aligns with the communication preferences of today’s workforce.

Prior to Apparatus, Aman was vice president of business development for ChaCha Search, leading its corporate strategic partnership activities. Before returning to Indiana for graduate school, Aman lived in Mountain View, Calif., and led a team responsible for the nation’s first consumer DSL broadband service.

Aman sits on the board of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, The YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, Teach for America Indianapolis and Employ Indy. He’s also active with The Mindtrust, The Kelley School of Business Dean’s Council and Wabash College’s Center for Innovation, Business and Entrepreneurship. Aman earned his undergraduate degree from Wabash College and an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University – Bloomington.

Some important topics we cover:

* How can a liberal-arts student move into technology?

* How to pitch Indianapolis in a meaningful way.

* Where he sees Canvas having a unique impact on the democratization of hiring.

* The ultimate productivity hack: Drink Less

*  The importance of 2-year time horizons

* Tips and tricks for becoming more self-aware.

* The importance of living an engaged life.

Great quotes from Aman:

"People tend to do the same things no matter where they live."

"The millennial piece is such an obvious opportunity, but the more interesting thing is what is happening with the rest of the world. Think about the old world, pre-canvas, think about the welder in rural Indiana."

"Text is the most democratized medium of communication."

"We aren't text obsessed we are obsessed with reaching people."

"An engaged life is a happy life"

Restaurants that we speak about:

Neal Brown -- Ukiyo, Moon Rabbit Ramen

Bluebeard, Patachou, Lincoln Square, Crispy Bird, Rook

Books to read:

Full Catastrophe Living - John Kabat-Zinn

The Start-up of you - Reid Hoffman

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert B. Cialdini 

 

Stay engaged with canvas by following them @goCanvasHQ on instagram and twitter and Aman ...

You cannot create anything, especially a distillery if you try and do it all by yourself - Thomas Wysocki

I’m Sky King, host of Curiocity, an Indianapolis based podcast. Our aim is to understand and deconstruct this curious city’s culture creators. Today we have Thomas Wysocki from Broken Beaker Distillery on the show. Thomas provides the step-by-step-guide to distilling. (Which is very different from the process about brewing that we learned from our buddy David Waldman) We learn about the process it takes to create Vodka, Rum and  Whiskey and there are a ton of similarities that you might not expect between the three. We learn about what it is like to go through changing legal environment and working through the complex legal issues that alcohol and beverage companies deal with all the time.

Thomas is extremely honest and frank about his experience and has a lot of insight for would be entrepreneurs. I learned a lot about the realities of entrepreneurship. It is not easy. For Thomas especially, as he has a full-time job as a chemist while running and operating a distillery with his wife who also has a full-time job.

No one is an overnight success

Head to Broken Beaker Distillery on Mass Ave (643 Massachusetts Ave). They have great creative and delicious drinks, good food and a unique and fun atmosphere. Check out their website or follow them on twitter, facebook, and Instagram.

If you want to learn more about the the distilling process they give free tours of the distillery all the time.

Thank you all for listening. I hope this has been entertaining, fun and thought provoking. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] if you have any thoughts on potential guests, questions about the process or criticism (Ex. Wow Sky, you say "yea" a lot here.)

I am out. Do not forget to Seize the Day folks!

 

 

Curiocity Ep. 004: George Okpamen  in Indianapolis

Hi! I’m Sky King, host of Curiocity, an Indianapolis based podcast. Our aim is to understand and deconstruct this curious city’s culture creators. I had an absolute blast in this episode. George is the man, his energy is fantastic and I was loving it. This episode is a bit more explicit than the rest, enjoy!

Today we are blessed to have George Okpamen. Is an amazing man, he is a motivator, a grinder & someone with relentless energy.  Follow his journey on all the social media you can @georgeokk. He will excite you and motivate you and help you seize the day.

George came to Indianapolis as a visiting scientist from Texas.

Let's go be who they said you couldn't. Let's go do what they say you wouldn't. Let's go.

His family is originally from Nigeria and he didn't meet he was a young adult when he went to Nigeria for the first time.

His inspiration for his brand "One Time For The One Time" was based off a misunderstanding of one of Lil Wayne's song.

 He relentlessly supports other creators in Indianapolis and beyond & has been developing cross-cultural communities & collaborations since college. #LetsConnect

He just started a company called 54, with his link brother Cosmo @cosmothebeast. Cosmo was the creator of his logo

You can follow his gallery at @georgeOKKGallery where you can see some amazing shots across Indianapolis

George holds a PharmD from Texas Southern University and is a future leader at Eli Lilly & Co based in Indianapolis

George gave a TedX talk on his life at Eli Lilly

If you loved this episode please rate and subscribe!

Please support George at the GeorgeOKKShop

Info

Twitter: @georgeokk

Instagram: @georgeokk

snapchat: @georgeokk

LikedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeokpamen/

 

Curiocity Ep. 003: Mark Shreve

Hi! I’m Sky King, host of Curiocity, an Indianapolis-based podcast. Our aim is to understand and deconstruct this curious city’s culture creators and their creations.

Today we are blessed to have Mark Shreve, one hell of a host, talented chef and food entrepreneur.

Some facts

He comes from a family with a strong tradition revolving gathering people together, hosting many friends and offering them great meals.

This natural predisposition for being a guest and sharing food (acquired in his upbringing), was further expanded in his over 5 years in Perugia, Italy.

In Italy, working at various restaurants, he developed an expertise in pasta making, an art he brought back to the US.


Indy has remained a constant in Mark's life, he has lived in many cities in the US and has been drawn time and time again back to Indy.

In Denver, Mark founded Cuoco Fresh Pasta, where he was the main pastaiolo.


He’s a B.A. in History and Political Science from the Wabash College and also holds an MBA from the University of Massachusetts.

Info

Twitter: twitter.com/markeshreve

LikedIn: linkedin.com/in/mark-shreve-4626095

 I’m Sky King, host of Curiocity, an Indianapolis-based podcast. Our aim is to understand and deconstruct this curious city’s culture creators.

Today we are blessed to have Anne Williamson, founder of WAYFinding.

Some facts

She has a background in Economics (with a degree from Northwestern University, Illinois).

She had a string of corporate jobs, including 4 years working for The Boston Consulting Group.

It was the symbolism of a dream she had one night that helped her understand that she needed a change in her life.

After that she returned to Northwestern University to study theology

She helped to start the Urban Village Church in Chicago.

Back in Indy, she worked as a consultant for several non-profit associations

Ultimately, Anne founded WAYFinding in Indianapolis

WAYFinding is about “living faithfully beyond the belief box”.

Info

Website: www.wayfindinglife.org

Email: [email protected]

Mailing address: P.O. Box 30423, Indianapolis, IN

Facebook: www.facebook.com/wayfindinglife/

Hi! I’m Sky King, host of CurioCity, an Indianapolis-based podcast. Our aim is to understand and deconstruct this curious city’s culture creators and their creations.

Today we are blessed to have David Waldman, co-founder of Triton Brewing Co.

Some facts

Triton started operations in 2010 and opened to the public in 2011, and have been operating from their brewery in Fort Benjamin Harrison since.

This brewing facility is open to the general public for tours, events and beer tasting

Through the use of great ingredients and especially the treatment of water itself, they’ve created several top-notch and diverse brews, including their flagship ale, the Railsplitter

The company name is a reference to Triton, the water-related greek deity, and son of Poseidon

David’s background is eclectic, having studied English and Religion at Wabash College

Info

Website:  Triton Brewing

Facebook: facebook.com/TritonBrewingCompany

Twitter:  twitter.com/tritonbrewing