Today Amy takes a peek behind the curtain to learn the trick of pivoting from “almost famous” magician to keynote speaker, coach and workshop presenter. You will enjoy hearing Brian Miller tell his very unusual career story.

Brian comes from a family involved with music, math and science.  Those influences brought him, at the end of high school, to a decision to study rock guitar at a very prestigious school. He was delighted when he was accepted there, but shortly thereafter he realized the money spent for that education might never be returned through a career in music.  So as a 17 year-old, he made the sobering decision to enter a local college on a full scholarship as an audio engineering major.

During his freshman year, the music industry nearly collapsed with the advent of Napster and uncontrolled file sharing.  This brought Brian to reconsider his thoughts of continuing his major because a future in audio engineering was beginning to look bleak. He returned then his sophomore year with the intention of studying to be a math teacher.  Although he thought this might be a good fit, it wasn’t, and by the time he finished his last undergrad year, he had earned a dual degree in math and philosophy.

What to do with this new degree?  He decided to go directly for a Ph.D in philosophy.  He applied and was accepted to the program he wanted. But Presto Chango! The would-be doctor of philosophy was now going to be a professional magician! What?

Brian had always been interested in magic, and as a kid, he often performed in magic shows. He had continued performing in college and was often tapped to entertain for college events. It was a sideline interest and hobby that occasionally brought in some spending money.  Listen to him explain to Amy how this major reversal on his career path took place.

But how do you become a professional magician?  Can someone really do that?  Brian detailed his process.  He had already developed a website and had business cards printed.  He began working for very little as an entertainer in restaurants ad each time he performed at a table, he handed out one of his business cards.  His earnings were hardly enough to live on, and he went through all his savings in no time.  Luckily his college Director of Student Activities had taken an interest in him, having put him on stage for several events during his undergrad years.  Through him, Brian was introduced to the owner of Neon Entertainment where he signed on. Little by little he began to be hired for more professional gigs. 

A second lucky break occurred when he was in the right place at the right time and was hired by Foxwoods Resort Casino, one of the 2 largest casinos in North America.  He became their exclusive magician, and he hadn’t been out of college a year yet. Over the following ten years, he became a better magician and “was about as successful as he could be without being famous.”  But in 2015, his career took another turn.

He had been performing at colleges and doing corporate events for some time, and this set him up for his transition from magician to public speaker. He began by giving a few speeches and incorporating a little of his magic in them.   He was somewhat surprised to see how much audiences loved his blended performances.  They lined up to thank him for his insightful presentations afterwards, and this was when the real magic happened.  Brian realized he was having a different kind of impact than he had when he performed solely as a magician. He found this extremely gratifying, enough so that he pursued even more speaking engagements.

At about this time, he was invited to give a TEDx talk.  He was hoping the video might get at least 5000 hits so that he could justify raising his fees a bit.  As it turned out, it received over 3.3 million views!

Why was his speech so successful? Brian listened to the presentations of other magicians and realized they were discussing topics that were generally of real interest only to other magicians.  He found himself thinking about what he could take from his magician’s life to share with a general audience that would be of more consequence.  What he arrived at was “perspective taking”.  He explains to us what that is and what a valuable tool it can be for anyone if they learn how to use it properly.  As a magician, he had intuitively used perspective taking all through his life and now he was ready to share his insight through his speaking engagements. Thus, was born his speech, “How to Magically Connect with Anyone”. This speech explains the power of perspective taking and how it can help anyone who cares to use it.

His talks were so well received that at this point he became fully involved with public speaking.  But as his popularity grew, he began to feel inadequately prepared.  How could he be an “expert” without having done any formal research or learning?  He decided to remedy the situation by delving into the psychology behind what he was delivering in his presentations. He explored every avenue he could think of to gather data and proof of his assertions.  After a year or two immersing himself in the topic, he felt more qualified to speak authoritatively about “human connection”. His speaking engagements gradually then became his mainstay, dedicated to promoting the benefits of perspective taking to make meaningful human connections.

What advice does he have to share from his unusual career?  He says don’t worry if you don’t know what your passion is.  You will find it by putting yourself out there.  Meet new people, try new things. Take risks. Step out of the box. Yes, hard work, talent and persistence are vital, but a measure of luck is also involved. Open yourself up to opportunity.  Who knows what’s in the cards for you?

Takeaways:

• Risk taking is often rewarding but may also involve a lot of work

• People skills can be improved and in turn can improve your life

• Staying positive helps you to find and focus on the good in seemingly bad situations

• Allow yourself to step outside the box

• Networking is a skill that puts you at great advantage, so it pays to learn to network well

• Prepare in school as best you can for the road you think you’ll take, but don’t be afraid to take a detour, as it may be the better road

Contact:

softskillsarehard.com

Podcast-Beyondnetworkingpodcast.com

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

Xi Chen is the Founder and Designer of Sonderlier, a sustainable clothing brand offering women camera-ready clothing they could sleep in. Xi dreamed of fashion design since she was a little girl. Yet, no one around her worked in a creative capacity, so she initially pursued “more practical” careers. Likewise, she also did not have any entrepreneurial role models. She opted for a degree in mathematics, with intentions to transition into finance. By leveraging her unexpected experiences into her career as a fashion designer, Xi’s story will inspire you to embrace your individual background to disrupt any industry.

However, like all great founding stories, Xi strayed from her initial path. When she came across industrial engineering, she knew this field was a strong match for her “optimization brain.” After graduation, she focused on how sustainable policies affected companies’ supply chains. Xi earned her M.S. and PhD in industrial engineering at University of Minnesota. She also became an engineering professor at University of Michigan, Dearborn. 

Despite enjoying teaching and researching in the industrial engineering field, Xi wanted a career immersed in creativity. She still thought about her life-long dream of becoming a fashion designer. After struggling for years to find clothes that would allow her to be comfortable yet still feel inspired and put-together, she discovered that many other women had the same problem. Specifically, she and her friends worked from home and felt like they had few occasions to wear their fancier clothing, other than her kitchen table. Yet, while they wanted to be comfortable, they still wanted to wear something that made them feel special, as opposed to sweats/athletic apparel. In 2019, she decided to fill this gap and finally pursue a career that would allow her to introduce herself as “Xi Chen, fashion designer.”

When starting and naming her company, Sonderlier, Xi stayed true to her motivations. She resonated with the word, “sonder,” meaning, the realization that everyone passing by has a life as vivid and as full as one's own. The name’s root word pairs perfectly with Xi’s vision, as she aimed to create apparel that draws attention to the every-day. With the suffix, “lier,” she included it to emphasize that “sonder” is her clothing line’s guiding principle.

Xi has found that her background provides a unique perspective in her design. Channeling her industrial engineering “optimization brain,” she did not want to create apparel for the sake of designing, but rather, she intended her clothes to provide long-term multi-functional value to customers. With her passion for sustainability, Xi also noticed how much waste the fashion industry created, as pieces were only meant for certain occasions. She calls her designs “camera ready,” easily worn for an event, but that also functions as sleepwear or working attire. All materials used are certified eco-friendly. Driven by wanting to fight unethical approaches in the fashion industry, Xi partnered with a women-owned production company, where all the seamstresses are women and are paid a living wage.

She enjoys combining her love for fashion with a focus on functionality that allows the pieces to fit seamlessly into everyday life. In March 2021, Xi launched Sonderlier’s first collection on Kickstarter, which was successfully funded in under 24 hours. Aligned with its mission to decrease waste, Sonderlier only fulfills orders that are placed. Following making prototypes, doing wear tests, and the Kickstarter campaign, the company is now producing its first line. She has also been featured on Nasdaq as a woman founder disrupting her industry.

Through Sonderlier, Xi hopes to create clothing that serves women’s everyday wellbeing so that they feel beautiful and inspired whether it’s a special event or a regular Tuesday. Let this “regular Tuesday” (or whatever day you listen) be one that creates a lasting impression on you. Xi’s ability to combine her background in supply chain management with her passions for sustainability and fashion will encourage you to bring your full self to any sector you pursue.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How a fashion designer really starts their career (it’s not just drawing a design and getting someone to sew it)
• Advice on conducting an effective Kickstarter campaign 
• Xi’s take on fashion’s “million dollar question”-How Covid has/will transform the industry
• The importance of seeking out mentors in your field and to achieve specific goals, like starting a Kickstarter campaign from the ground up
• How two unlikely areas-sustainable policies and fashion-can pair together to reimagine an entire industry
• Why an unlikely career path to a new industry can enable you to be a changemaker

Goals. Drive. Adaptability. Passion. Follow through. To start your own business, especially if you are completely changing your career, you need to have a combination of all of the above qualities. Not only does Jamion Berry possess these qualities necessary for him to found the apparel start-up, Execumask, but as a multipreneur executing FIVE business pursuits amid a pandemic, he exemplifies each of these traits to the fullest.

Evident that these characteristics are innate to Jamion’s personality, his story of doing whatever it takes to achieve his professional goals begins 20+ years ago. Classmates with host Amy Rowland, he graduated from the small liberal arts school, Kenyon College, with a degree in chemistry. He’d also always aspired to be an engineer. So, Jamion opted to do a partnership program with Washington University St. Louis’s engineering department. He graduated with not one, but two—Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

With his degrees in hand hand, Jamion did not hesitate to push himself out of his comfort zones to achieve his professional goals. When given the opportunity to gain experience with capital and process improvement projects as a project manager for Kraft Foods, he moved from the Midwest to Florida. His vibrant personality and interest in finding ways to “continuously improve” enabled him to excel in this role, in which he was traveling to and making recommendations to increase efficacy at Kraft’s multiple southern plant locations. In line with making his dreams a reality, he networked with the right people to move up the corporate ladder as a continuous improvement lead engineer in Atlanta, a city where he’d always wanted to live. Jamion thrived finding ways to better Kraft products’ efficiency, procurement, and quality. He especially enjoyed that in this role, he was able to travel globally, adapting to solve international plants’ needs. 

His drive for learning was not just confined to improving business practices, as he decided to pursue an Executive MBA at Emory University in 2013. Likewise, so that he could pursue his MBA while working full time in his management/engineering role, he needed to adapt his already driven self to leverage unprecedented levels of determination and eagerness. Simultaneously, Jamion also bought a condo and became a landlord/property manager. Despite how demanding it was to be a full-time student, manager, and landlord, Jamion reflects on his time at business school as “one of the best decisions [he] ever made.” 

His commitment to personal growth paid off; shortly after graduating from Emory, Jamion received a call from McDonald’s to join its executive team, located in Chicago. Jamion had always aspired to live in Chicago, but was only willing to make the move if he could afford to live in the city. As McDonald's new Director of Continuous Improvement, Jamion saw himself as a change agent, building the improvement program “from the ground up.” Between training 1000+ employees and working in Germany, he reflects very positively on this career step. However, it was also at this time that Jamion realized that after 20 years in corporate America, he was ready to transition to a career that allowed him to be his authentic self. 

Driven to find a fulfilling career hallmarked by his happiness, Jamion left McDonald’s in February 2020-a month before the pandemic. Through reflecting upon “what [he] wanted to focus on… and create,” Jamion realized that he could adapt his interest in men’s fashion to fit a growing need in the apparel industry-luxury face masks to match custom pocket squares. With the encouragement of his peers and professional connections, as well as thorough research into the mask market, he founded Execumask. Where many Americans were deterred by the pandemic, he adapted to the situation, following through to become an entrepreneur. Execumask marked the beginning of Jamion’s success in pivoting from 20 years in the food production industry to his new saga as a multipreneur. 

Not one to settle, Jamion simultaneously pursued his dreams of owning/managing a luxury apartment building. Despite the obstacles in quitting his corporate job and applying for loans in a pandemic, he overcame the odds, opening his building in August 2020. From both not paying rent and garnering an income through his residential building, Jamion is investing in himself so that he can also accomplish his goals of being a public speaker. In mere months, his YouTube channel of motivational videos gained a large following, large enough that it caught the attention of a fellow Kenyon College graduate. She urged him to invest in himself by studying to become a life coach. Jamion is also in the preliminary stages of opening his own consulting firm.

Jamion’s story is one of allowing yourself to rise to the occasion to achieve your professional goals. Be inspired by how, for his entire life, Jamion radiated positivity needed to persevere through challenges. The only move that makes sense for Jamion so that he can manifest his happiness and career aspirations. Having the courage to pursue five of your entrepreneurial goals at once? You will be encouraged by Jamion’s resilience and energy in this episode to accomplish any (or all) of your ambitions.

A recurring theme in Jamion’s interview is “creating your own life.” This episode will motivate you to shape an idea or aspiration you have into reality.

Topics in this episode:

• Advice on transforming your interests and/or hobbies into a career
• The importance of both leveraging connections to support your business pursuits, as well as in being open to new ideas or opportunities those in your network suggest
• How to fully observe/analyze a problem to then create a marketable solution
• A keen sense on problem solving to accomplish every step in developing a start-up
• Why visualizing and writing your goals out is key to achieving them
• How a multipreneur compartmentalizes his very busy day
• Seeking out relationships and pursuits that are rooted in appreciation

Fashionably Late is proud to release our Female Founder Series. Each week in April, Fashionably Late will feature a different female founder. From the tech space to the wellness industry, our four business leaders are eager to share their journey, advice, and fun personal tidbits. For our final episode in the series, we have She is the creator/founder of SoChill.io, “The world’s first meditation and digital wellness platform focused on helping companies take an integrated approach to mindful leadership and corporate wellbeing.” Amy discusses with her the pivot she made from working in the international hospitality business to forming this innovative program focusing on mindfulness and meditation.

Although in her early career years Xochitl was involved with public relations and creating partnerships for luxury hotels, she was always offering meditation and mindfulness coaching on the side.  These methods are second nature to her as she grew up with them from childhood as a result of her parents’ teaching and involvement with the techniques. She has also found inspiration over the years from more formal sources such as the writings of Deepak Chopra. She has continually attended seminars offered by many others influential in these anciently rooted practices too. Thus immersed, Xochitl began to formulate an idea that would take her away from the hotel industry and move her towards a new career encompassing her extensive knowledge and interest in mindfulness and meditation.

So, what did she come up with?  In essence, her platform focuses on assisting two groups.  First, it focuses on business leaders.  It educates them to the many benefits of integrating mindfulness into the culture of their companies and teaches them how to gain personally from engaging in mindful behavior.  SoChill.io can also work then with employee groups to carry through with infusing mindfulness habits within their daily work tasks and their lives outside of the office.

SoChill.io was born of the Covid 19 Pandemic.  Xochitl had written her business plan before the pandemic, but she was waiting for the opportune time to take action.  When the pandemic struck, it was the right moment to dust off the business plan and get to work.  The launch took place on July 1, 2020, and things have been busy since then as concern for mental health issues of employees has moved to the forefront of nearly every type of business.

She explains to Amy that the most difficult part of preparing for her launch was doing the necessary research.  She describes herself as impatient, but holding off for the right moment was obviously a good choice. She has lots of future plans for her company, but she’s learned to unfold her ideas in a measured way. Her newest service will be unveiled 5/5/21, so watch the website for details!

Amy inquires about crossover skills she was able to transfer from her previous work.  Xochitl explains that although on the surface the two businesses don’t have much in common, she did learn a lot in the hospitality field about public relations.  Marketing strategies might differ, but she had learned how to make effective cold calls, create brochures, write good promotional emails and develop a powerful website.  The biggest difference was starting everything from scratch as opposed to working for a well-oiled and established international brand.

What can a business gain from engaging with SoChill.io?  Leaders and employees will learn how to focus better and stress will be reduced.  People will find they are more resilient.  Ongoing surveys will help refine the personalization of the program for individuals and groups.  Xochitl uses the word “sculpted” to describe the process by which the program becomes highly individualized to each leader or group.

What advice can Xochitl give from the experience she’s gained on her entrepreneurial journey? She tells us that establishing and being aware of your personal values is a crucial first step. Once you have these in mind, you can better put in place the values you want your company to support and advance.  You must have these values in mind as you write your business plan because they will guide decision making going forward.  “It’s your company’s DNA,” Xochitl says. She also reiterates the need for patience. Don’t try to do everything at once. Timing is critical. 

Xochitl Ivory gives us a very contemporary story to consider.  She is energetic, thoughtful, passionate and a risk taker. 

Topics in this episode:

• Getting to know yourself is important
• Why patience is invaluable
• The differences between mindfulness and meditation
• How can mindfulness benefit me?
• When is the right time to start your own business?
• What are some of the necessary steps in crafting a good business plan?
• What crossover skills can you put to work for you?
• What are the steps from concept to launch?

Links:

https://sochill.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/xochitl-de-groot-ivory-10809794/

Fashionably Late is proud to release our Female Founder Series. Each week in April, Fashionably Late will feature a different female founder. From the tech space to the wellness industry, our four business leaders are eager to share their journey, advice, and fun personal tidbits. This week we have Caroline McCaffery, Co-Founder & CEO Her story is one about following your passions, using them to drive your professional trajectory, and trusting yourself to transform your career at any point. Driven by her desire to constantly learn and solve problems, Caroline has met job, career, and industry shifts with an openness integral for her success of founding her own company. Her adaptability and excitement for online privacy, her company’s sector, will empower you to take the risks necessary for finding professional fulfillment. 

Starting her career when the .com bubble burst, Caroline has always been intrigued by and worked in the tech space. A lawyer by training, Caroline’s first role as an attorney was at Gunderson Dettmer, a firm that works with startups in the tech and life sciences spaces. As a Corporate Securities Attorney, she aided startups with financing, often debt and equity, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Spending almost ten years with the firm, Caroline was able to get a lot of experience working with startups. 

Excited and challenged by supporting startups, in 2011, Caroline transitioned into her first in-house role. Still eager to work in tech, she joined the marketing and advertising automation company, Sailthru. She notes that she started this position at a transition moment in the internet space, as big data emerged as the leading technology. As Sailthru processed online users’ data, Caroline recognized a problem: how could users ensure how/if their digital information would be protected? Following her budding curiosity in data while still staying in her industry of expertise (tech), Caroline shifted her focus as an attorney to commercial and privacy. 

These new interests in data security and privacy led her to seek another general counsel role at another tech start-up, Clarifai. She entered the AI facial recognition company in its early stages. She found her role morphing outside its job description, as she also supported the company’s strategy and operations. By leveraging what she learned about startups while at a firm and as Sailthru’s privacy-focused general counsel, as well as embracing her intuition and openness, Caroline became the VP of Business Affairs while retaining her General Counsel title.

Continuing to focus on privacy law while tackling unfamiliar strategy-based challenges as VP of Business Affairs gave her “a taste of the entrepreneurial side of [her]self.” As the “type of person who loves to constantly learn new things,” she recognized that new challenges and new opportunities to develop solutions fuel her drive.

In addition to expanding her hard skills while at Clarifai, Caroline also gained a much deeper understanding of AI and cybersecurity, contributing to her growing passion for technology and data privacy. From there, she developed a hunger to create tech to ameliorate issues affecting users’ online protections. After meeting George Rosamond, her future co-founder and CTO, a conversation about anonymity online evolved into a problem they were determined to solve. The security questionnaires that companies send to potential vendors who process online information can 1000+ questions long, plaguing vendors. These are sent pre-sale and in some cases the vendor will spend hours to complete the questionnaire without even landing a sale!

Since she and George clearly identified the challenge they wanted to solve and through discussions, discovered potential software solutions, it seemed as if the natural next step would be to start their B2B SAAS company, ClearOPS. They even had large goals for ClearOPS working as a “wheel in the spokes” type of mode, in which their services can connect other businesses and ultimately improve privacy communications. George was ready to commit full-time to transition their idea into an executed product. But starting a business is never linear. For Caroline, first came her “professional identity crisis.” 

Caroline wavered between staying at the job she loved, finding a new GC role, or following her dream to start ClearOPS. She asked, “Am I a lawyer? Am I capable of being a COO? .Or am I a founder?” As a lawyer, she is trained to circumvent risks. Pursuing a career marked by innumerous risks seemed like the choice to avoid. Even when she conducted extensive research to evaluate if there was a market for their security/privacy product- there was- she was still uncertain. Until one day at breakfast, she got the push needed to “take a leap of faith” to begin identifying as a founder.

Listen to Caroline’s journey of founding and becoming ClearOPS CEO and you will realize that you do not have to be just one career label, as she constantly adapted to execute whatever work she wanted to get done. You will be motivated by how she and George completely pivoted their initial model after taking potential investors’ “fair critical feedback.” Despite ClearOPS losing its biggest deal during the pandemic, as CEO, Caroline again adjusted to the circumstance, conducting business so that their company finished the year with a product on the market and multiple customers. ClearOPS’ founding story is one of balancing the line between following your passions and adapting to meet the needs of your business, ever-evolving market, and customers’ needs. Both Caroline and ClearOPS continue to meet goals, providing the team confidence that ClearOPS will be a central player in the growing privacy tech space.

A recurring theme in Caroline’s narrative is that a passion for learning, then trying new things offers fulfillment and fuels success.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why it is in a startup’s best interest to be proactive and hire a lawyer early
• Insight into evolutions within the internet space, including the emergence of big data and privacy 
• A lawyer’s take on overcoming and managing risk
• The different lessons learned from working at a firm, as an in-house GC, and as a founder
• The importance of leaning on your support network and only taking “fair critical feedback”
• Why execution is more imperative than conjuring an idea 

Links:

https://www.clearops.io/

Fashionably Late is proud to release our Female Founder Series! Each week in April 2021, Fashionably Late will feature a female founder. From the tech space to the wellness industry, our four business leaders are eager to share their journey, advice, and fun personal tidbits. This week we have Susannah Bailin, Founder & CEO of AC-Health. She is an enthusiastic entrepreneur and a staunch supporter of women in the “second commencement” of their careers.  Susannah shares some great advice in this episode.

Susannah began her professional life after earning an MBA from Harvard Business School.  In fact, she set up her first business, RPC, in Harvard Square. She sought out angel funding and modeled her business plan after the successful Kaplan, Inc. educational preparation programs. Her business focused specifically on career development training. The company was successful with its students and also provided for Susannah’s own development as an entrepreneur. She learned through trial and error how to manage a business and she did so until selling it 6 years later.

While deliberating on her next career move, Susannah provided career counseling, and sat on several nonprofit boards which focused on concerns such as fundraising, literacy and women’s health issues.  She had learned that she loved being a problem-solver and she liked being her own boss as well.  After a period of time, she made the decision to return to the for-profit world, and so she began collecting her ideas and doing research. 

As she considered what she would do, she sought out advice and opinions from others. During this time, she experienced a very painful physical condition. Her shoulders were “frozen”.  This impediment actually helped prompt an idea, and she began to gather input. Eventually she found that she, as well as many she interviewed, were often frustrated with the “follow through” aspect of their caregivers’ treatment plans. She learned many people don’t follow the advice, exercises or other post-treatment directives given because to keep track of the instructions was sometimes cumbersome or confusing. Rather than try to get clarification, many people just ignored what their caregiver had instructed. Susannah saw a problem and began work on a solution.

What she came up with is now AC-Health, a digital platform that customizes a patient’s follow up instructions and helps him or her to achieve the treatment goals set by caregivers. No more looking for loose sheets of paper that may or may not make it home!  Patients can see live demonstrations of the exercises they are to do and they don’t have to fidget through a lengthy menu to find what they need.  Patients easily retrieve customized, live and recorded videos from their trusted provider as well as behavioral motivation and rewards to redefine their engagement. Trust, Easy Access and Rewards!

As an entrepreneur, Susannah finds fulfillment in several of ways.  She says entrepreneurship goes to her core values.  She values creativity, those things new or novel, and she loves to problem solve.  She is fascinated by how technology can be used as well.  Her work offers her all of this, and more.

Her experience has taught her that an entrepreneur has to deal with the limits encountered for  many needed initial resources.  Of course, your financial resources and ability to raise funding are major primary concerns. You are also limited by your own implicit biases.  You can’t understand or immediately take in the perceptions of others, so you must seek those perceptions out in order to study and address them.

Susannah was initially helped by angel investors when she started out and now she’s become one herself.  She has an interest in helping other women entrepreneurs and angel investing has given her the opportunity she sought to encourage and help other women who want to begin their own businesses.

On the topic of the Covid health crisis, Susannah explains that the pandemic has unintentionally advanced telehealth.  Patients have been forced to become more familiar with using computers in order to interact with their caregivers.  This has pushed the fledgling telehealth field ahead by ten years, Susannah estimates. 

Susannah has good advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.  Start a new business?  Yes!  Start now, she says, but you must do your research, and this could take some time so make sure to allow for it in planning.  Spend wisely.  Susannah learned this through her own experience.  If need be, start your business as a side hustle.  She also says to put your focus into making a quality product, not into making money at the start.  It will pay off in the long run. 

As for AC-Health, Susannah says her future will be in strengthening its offerings in occupational and physical therapies.  She wants to continue to emphasize user involvement and engagement. 

Topics in this episode:

• Why you need to identify your core values before starting a business;
• How your career focus in the first part of your work years can change radically in the second part
• Methods to determine what kind of business you want to start
• How to equip yourself to start a successful business
• Why you have to study implicit biases carefully
• How to thoughtfully strategize for success.

Links:

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

https://ac-health.com/

[email protected]

Fashionably Late is proud to release our Female Founder Series! Each week in April 2021, Fashionably Late will feature a female founder. From the tech space to the wellness industry, our four business leaders are eager to share their journey, advice, and fun personal tidbits. This week we have Alexandra Zatarain from Eight Sleep.

Identify a problem. Develop a solution. Sell that solution. This is the roadmap for many startups and budding entrepreneurs, including for Alexandra Zatarain. Co-Founder and VP of Brand and Marketing for the pioneering mattress company, Alexandra explains just how intricate, scientific, and collaborative the process was in founding her start-up, as well as in establishing its trajectory for long-term success.

Nearly a decade ago, Alexandra’s husband and soon-to-be co-founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, Matteo Franceschetti, struggled with sleep to the extent that it was beginning to impact him. Looking into the sector for relief, Matteo discovered there were three options for helping with sleep: mattress companies, sleep trackers, and pharmaceuticals. Both having worked for tech startups, the couple identified the need for a product that used innovative technology to actively improve sleep. Thus, the idea for Eight Sleep, the world’s first sleep fitness company, was born! Eager to utilize her background in marketing/PR, Alexandra left her job at a successful fintech startup to be “all-in” in founding the tech-based mattress company. 

Driven by their fundamental belief that technology is key for improving sleep, Alexandra and Matteo set out to develop their general concept into a tangible effective product. The first step included moving to San Francisco to join their cofounder and Chief Technical Officer, Massimo “Max” Bassi. The team faced their first challenge: they were creating a “smart mattress cover,” a product that was the first of its kind. 

Once they set up their office- an apartment full of desks- Alexandra believed it was most important to validate that people besides her husband desired their tech-based sleep product. She dedicated months to inviting “everyone they knew in San Francisco” to view a prototype and share their sleep experiences. Alexandra used this data about most pressing issues regarding sleep, as well as information about sleeping environments, to completely inform their product design and eventual crowdfunding campaign. Likewise, she spoke to sleep experts/medical professionals, ultimately leading them to develop technology that regulates biometrics including a sleeper’s temperature, heart rate, humidity etc.

The thorough research in learning about the sleep problem, who was affected, and the contributing factors proved vital when the team launched their Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in 2015. Alexandra employed her marketing/pr experiences to Eight Sleep, spending 5-6 months connecting with potential customers and working entirely on the campaign. She found that consumers resonated with her startup’s two-fold approach in personalizing and improving sleep through tech, as well as tracking data so someone can make individual changes to achieve sleep fitness. The campaign was extremely successful, raising over $1.2M. 

Both the original model, the smart mattress cover, and their latest mattress, The Pod, have redefined the sleep market. Since 2015, 30,000+ restless sleepers have relied on Eight Sleep. This immense popularity has led to the company securing over $65M in venture funding. Alexandra’s leadership in helping Eight Sleep reach these achievements did not go unnoticed, as in 2017, she was named as one of Forbes’s 30 Under 30 in Consumer Technology. 

Listen to her describe the most valuable lessons she has learned on her continuous journey as a co-founder, including how she balances working with her business and life partner, Matteo. You will be motivated by her thoroughness, especially in how it enabled her to accomplish Eight Sleep’s goals during the pandemic, despite difficult challenges, including layoffs. Few companies can say they supported their staff and adapted their business plans to accomplish their best year in revenue in 2020 and are already rehiring employees. More so, Alexandra has no plans for stagnating Eight Sleep. Hearing how she envisions continuing to disrupt the sleep and tech industries by transforming their technology to detect preventative health signs will help you understand how to pilot and grow your startup. 

A recurring theme in Alexandra’s interview is that you have to be “all in” in order to surpass your goals; get ready to be “all-in” for this informative, down-to-earth, and refreshing episode.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to market new revolutionary products/innovations in an already robust market
• The importance of validation from prospective customers before developing a product, and how to attain this necessary step
• The significance of mental health and self-reflection for a founder
• What it’s like to start a company with co-founders, especially when one is your spouse
• Why it’s beneficial not to have a “plan-B” and why your ideas should always be ambitious

Links:

https://www.eightsleep.com/

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

Today you’ll meet audacious Austin Kaiser. Austin is not following a career path, he’s forging one. He is a media pioneer. You will be fascinated by his creative, synergistic thinking and how that thinking is helping him carve a niche that spans current media and artistic endeavors of every sort.

Austin began his journey at Rutgers University. He majored in economics and environmental science. Both areas interested him but he found he was not passionately driven to pursue either, so he made his first pivot before he even had a career. At the end of his junior year, Austin decided he needed to find quickly what he was truly meant to do.

He and his housemates spent a lot of time watching YouTube and visiting many other popular media sites. Austin was very enthusiastic about social media and began to think that maybe this was the path his career should take. As he considered the possibility, it occurred to him that every major company and the smaller ones as well, were hiring media managers to advance their products effectively on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He began to shape a plan to make his way into the social media world.

During his senior year, many of his friends were taking internships, hoping to segue effectively into their respective careers. Austin decided to do the same. Unfortunately, none of the major social media sites seemed to be offering media manager internships as the field was so new. Not to be daunted, Austin created his own internship by making contact with popular YouTubers offering his volunteer services. He became familiar with as many tasks as he could that a media manager might encounter. For example, he ran surveys, collected memes and was a willing gopher. He was building a unique resume targeted at a market which he knew had already or soon would have, positions for someone with his unique background.

His diligence paid off. Austin landed his dream job. He was hired by Complex Magazine in his first media manager position. He loved it. He says it changed his life as he then knew this was exactly the kind of work he wanted to do. How is it then that he only stayed with the magazine for 9 months?

He decided he didn’t know enough. He began reading everything he could to bring himself up to speed. His scope continued to widen as he realized the concept of “media” was far greater than he realized. He was not only learning from the content he was devouring, but he was also observing how the authors wrote. As he continued to educate himself, Austin says he was increasingly enthralled with writing and the power it has. Cue the pivot.

While at work, he became curious about anything that caught on and went viral. Why do some things take off and become instantly popular? As he considered that, he says he realized he was asking a “golden goose “ question. He was so curious about this that it prompted his big pivot. He exited his great job to work full time researching and writing a book exploring viral ideas from past to present. He thought this might very well be the opportunity to be one of the first to write about this 21st century topic.

Luckily, his parents remained supportive, and he moved back home so he could tackle his writing and research full time. Amy was curious as to why he didn’t keep his job and work on the book in his free time. Austin says he needed to be fully immersed in the writing in order to produce the outcome he wanted. His efforts took 25 months and became much broader in scope than he originally anticipated. When he finished, he self-published Putting Wings on Ideas.

He wanted to say even more than he did in that first book, so he wrote yet a second and a third. (He has now been writing for 5 years.) But he realized all of his work would probably go unnoticed if he didn’t develop a following. Who better than a social media expert to advance that? Thus, he opened an Instagram account called Advice for Artists where he currently has a whopping 30,000 followers.

Artists and talent of all types interact with him and each other on Advice for Artists. Austin gathers inspiration from them all, he says. He now also has a newsletter that comes out each Saturday, and his next big venture is a digital magazine called Artfest, a compilation of contributions from his myriad Instagram followers. Eventually, if it’s successful, there will be a $10 charge for the magazine with its over 5 hours of creative content, and artists will be paid while helping to support each other.

Austin Kaiser sparks creativity from his daily interactions with artistic people from every field. His passion and enthusiasm for his own creative work and the managing of his Instagram community is obvious and infectious. You will enjoy listening to a genuinely excited Austin Kaiser explain how he is creating a 21st century career path for himself and others who will follow.

Topics in this episode:

Inspirational Quote: “Everybody in their life uses creativity. The artistic process is relatable for everybody.”

• Find something that inspires you to jump in with both feet
• How art is important to daily life and how to promote it
• How passion creates persistence; How to develop media followers
• How and why you can be fearless and create real meaning in your career life

Links:www.artfest.com

• Instagram: Advice for Artists
• Putting Wings On Ideas: How Content Travels And Becomes Popular: Kaiser, Austin: 9798618288507: Amazon.com: Books
• Feel Free To Feel Free: Secrets Of The Universe Condensed Into Clever One-Liners: Kaiser, Austin: 9781702639347: Amazon.com: Books

Anu Chadha is a delightfully upbeat entrepreneur who sits down with Amy to discuss her most remarkable life and career. Her message of empowerment and positivity and her indomitable “can do” attitude will leave you inspired.

Anu attended school in the northern part of India at Sacred Heart College where she studied psychology and English. When she finished there, she was just 18 1/2 years old and wasn’t sure what she might be able to do with the education she had received to that point. She decided to go to Delhi. There she took a 9 month secretarial course to prepare her for a what seemed to an inexperienced young Anu to be a practical job. It was the late 70’s, and she was still thinking about what direction she might take with her life when her parents intervened.

She was then nearly 20, and in her culture, it was time for her to marry. After a short two-month courtship, it was arranged she would be wed to a man from a well-to-do family. Her brief courtship and social mores disallowed her from learning much about her fiancé prior to their vows. This was unfortunate. He turned out to be an alcoholic and prone to violent outbursts. She endured 12 years with him in all, but because she by then had two young daughters, she felt she couldn’t leave the abusive situation. Intimidated by her husband and his parents, she stayed in the union until she finally found the courage to take her children and return to her parents. Although she didn’t know how they would react, she determined through prayer that she would go and ask for their help.

She found they were supportive, and they took in the family of 3. They advised her to find work and they would look after the children. She was ready and willing to do this, but she still had no past work experience to show. Luckily a member of her extended family ran a textile business, so she went there, not knowing what she could possibly do. Undaunted, for 6 months she was a focused observer. She also made friends with the buyers and the customers during this learning period. Her knowledge of English was very helpful, but her genuine and friendly approach proved her greatest asset.

She continued eagerly to demonstrate she was up to any work assigned to her. She set about cementing that impression in the minds of everyone she interacted with. She made herself indispensable, and little by little, she learned the textile business from top to bottom.

As her confidence grew, and she proved her value to the business, she knew what she wanted her permanent assignment to be. She wanted to travel overseas as the business’ product representative. She had not only proven her worth to the company by then, but she also had proven it to herself.

In 2004, Anu made her first career pivot. The company was moving the plant to the outskirts of town. This involved a 2 hour commute each way on public transport for her. Anu would rarely see her children if she stayed on. As she thought about what to do, fate once more stepped in to guide her. As always, the universe had her back.

She was in Delhi for work when she met a Danish man, also in the textile business. He told her he was looking for someone to help him expand his company in India. She took this as a much-needed sign and gladly agreed to this big new job which involved going out on her own. For 2 years she worked with him and after that time, he told her he was having health issues. He said he needed to retire and intended slowly to shut down his business. Again, Anu faced a dilemma. What would she do now?

In January 2004, she was on a business trip to Norway. She happened into a shop and saw some exceptional Indian made merchandise there. She bought a few samples, and decided she wanted to make contact with the buyer who had sold the items to the shop. The salesperson gave her the number, and the next day she was able to make the contact. As Anu explained who she was and her interest in the samples, she discovered the person on the other end of the line was someone she had worked with for over a decade at her first job. Fortuitously, that phone meeting began a whole new association and the growth of Anu’s business.

That business today, 3A Clothing Company, is housed in a 12,000 square foot factory where Anu hires and mentors her many female factory workers. She and her company have won numerous awards for their ethical practices and leadership in the fashion industry. Anu is a sought after speaker and shares her philosophy liberally with Amy throughout today’s discussion. Most remarkable in Anu’s story is that she built her business without any help. She will convince you that you can also meet your goals with some simple practices. Her incredible work ethic, grit and belief in karma make this an interesting and inspiring story that will help inspire you in your career journey.  

Topics in this episode:

• How to make the most of on the job training
• How you empower others along the way and how those efforts later return to you
• The critical importance of building a networking habit
• How determination and positivity will drive your towards your goal
• Using meditation to stay balanced
• Inspirational Quote: “Don’t be jealous of the success of others. It destroys you. Be happy for others, but in your heart say, ‘I want you to do well, but I want to do it better.’”

Links: 3Aclothing – 3Aclothing

Meet Robert Read, a scientist who volunteers his expertise and his time for the greater good. His career didn’t start out that way, but we learn today how he made the pivot from a world where patents and profits are the goal, to satisfying work creating and promoting inventions meant to serve mankind rather than a corporate culture.

Rob attended college at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His intention was to major in physics, but he eventually found computer science a better fit. During those early years, he was inspired by the 1981 Buckminster Fuller book, Critical Path. Those who have read it will hear some of its precepts loud and clear in Rob’s career story.

Rob was busy raising and supporting a family as he prepared to enter the University of Texas to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science. His thoughts, of course, turned to what he wanted to do when he finished. He considered academia and research so he might explore theoretical work. His time at U Texas was teaching him that unlike many or his peers, his goal was not to become rich and/or famous. He was interested in finding positive solutions through science to benefit all of society without an emphasis on money or notoriety.

After he finished his degree at Texas, he took an altogether different direction. He decided he would like to have a business of his own. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out. Still raising a family and needing a solid occupation, he turned to standard “.com” jobs. After a series of these, he again tried creating his own business, just to meet with the same results he previously experienced. He was now 15 years into his career and tired of pivoting, but he had not yet found his niche.

Fortunately, at this point, he learned of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship Program. He applied and won the fellowship which took him to Washington, D.C. He thoroughly enjoyed being an innovator for the federal government for 6 months. He found his work highly motivating because what he was doing had a lot of positive human impact. He was asked to stay on, and for 18 additional months he started a tech innovator-incubator program. He found this work to be enjoyable and it built his confidence. This entire period had helped to awaken his earlier desire to use science to benefit humanity rather than “making rich people richer,” as he says.

Buoyed by new self-confidence and a greater certainty about his direction, Rob began his non-profit organization, Public Invention. Amy asks Rob to tell us the differences between his nonprofit and those profit-oriented businesses he worked for previously. It is at this point in the conversation that the listener will understand how truly unique Rob’s work is. His organization is the antithesis of the pressure, profit and patent driven companies of the world. Instead, he and the volunteer scientists and inventors strive to create designs that may be freely used by everyone. The culture of the workplace (pre-pandemic), is strikingly different as you might imagine. He also shares a bit about the tester Public Invention created to evaluate ventilators for use during the pandemic. It is fascinating to hear the process they followed in order to bring this item to speedy completion.

His work at Public Invention has fulfilled Rob. He finds great joy in encouraging and assisting others to help mankind. He spends his days now reaching out and involving himself with projects of other like-minded individuals. His time is spent Zoom conferencing since the pandemic, but he still does hands -work. He tells us there is a big difference in leading people who are being told what to produce as opposed to leading those who are following their own passion and creating their vision.

Topics in this episode:

• Don’t hold back. Find the courage to move forward sooner rather than later
• How to swim successfully against convention
• How making a start on your project will eventually draw help, support and allies
• Why it’s ok if you don’t succeed but it isn’t ok not to try
• How synergy surrounds creative energy and why that’s important to personal fulfillment and continued success
• How to avoid being paralyzed by perfectionism

Links:

• pubinv.org
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-read-878987/