Grateful Living

Existential crises are not fun. You may feel inadequate, not successful or just unhappy about not being where you want to be in a certain aspect of your life.

In this vlog, I give my advice on how to handle a quarter-life crisis.

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Yasmin Cruz Ferrine is the co-founder and general partner of Visible Hands - a 14-week, virtual-first accelerator on a mission to invest in overlooked founders (people of color and women).

She and her co-founders, Daniel Acheampong and Justin Kang, started the company two years ago when they decided they wanted to stop relying on invisible forces slowly changing the face of Silicon Valley and take matters into their own hands. 2.2% of all VC funding goes to female founding teams and less than 2% to racially diverse founders.

In this interview, we talk about:

- Yasmin's educational journey - going to Babson College for undergrad degree in finance and Boston College for her MBA

- Yasmin's business journey - working in finance, corporate responsibility, family office, political fundraising and now in venture capital

- Visible Hands - a venture capital firm she co-founded to help solve the diversity funding gap for underrepresented tech founders in venture capital

Visible Hand/Yasmin's Socials:

Visible Hands Website: https://www.visiblehands.vc/

Visible Hands Twitter: https://twitter.com/visiblehandsvc

Yasmin's Twitter: https://twitter.com/YasCruzFerrine

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro

0:55 Yasmin’s childhood

2:45 How important is El Salvador in your story?

4:15 How was growing up being raised by a single mother?

7:05 Any advice to stepfathers building trust to their stepdaughter?

8:40 How was going to Nobles for high school?

11:41 How did you make the decision to go to Babson?

13:30 Any advice to finance undergrad majors?

14:44 How was your first job as a small cap equity analyst at Manulife Financial?

17:32 What did your Director of Corporate Responsibility at John Hancock teach you?

21:21 How can philanthropic organizations be better at solving societal issues?

23:45 What value does the MBA provide?

25:55 Why did you move onto Brown Advisory?

28:11 Any advice on changing jobs?

30:56 How can corporations do a better job with making diverse employees show up as their whole self?

34:35 You got married in 2019. Any advice on love?

37:50 A lot of people think you should be married by 30. How was your process?

39:30 How did you make your partner feel loved despite being extremely committed to your career?

41:57 How was working for Deval for All?

45:12 Any stories about Deval Patrick?

48:39 What are the stats on venture capital funding with respect to underrepresented founders?

49:56 What were the lessons from raising a $10.5 m fund?

52:08 Advice to diverse tech founders?

53:16 What are you hoping to accomplish with Visible Hands in the next 5-10 years?

53:57 What makes Visible Hands unique as an accelerator?

55:52 Any words of wisdom on becoming a mother?

Couples often decide to take a break in their relationship.

In this vlog, I give my opinion on relationship breaks.

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Kainoa Spenser is a necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating bacteria) survivor and a quadruple amputee and will speak about his life experience.

In this interview, we talk about:

- Kainoa's life journey with necrotizing fasciitis including waking up from a coma after 3.5 weeks, passing away twice, and becoming a quadruple amputee

- Kainoa's advice to those with limb loss/limb difference on the self-love journey

- Kainoa's life perspective on adversity, challenges, and defying the odds

Kainoa's Socials:

Live Like Kainoa Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LIVELIKEKAINOA/

Live Like Kainoa Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livelikekainoa/?hl=en

Kainoa's Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kspenser97/

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro

0:55 Can you give us an introduction on your background - family situation and where you grew up?

3:09 Can you give us the story of getting necrotizing fasciitis?

5:44 You were in a coma for 3.5 weeks, how was it waking up from the coma?

10:26 Were you bitter or mad after losing your fingers?

15:40 How did you keep your mental health positive during your hospital stay?

22:04 How can friends support someone with a large hospital stay?

28:26 How does hearing “you passed away twice” affect your life outlook?

33:54 What was it like trying to learn how to talk and swallow again?

37:04 Did you ever feel like recovery was too big of a challenge?

41:17 Any advice to people interacting with people with limb loss/limb difference?

48:24 Any advice on the journey of self-love?

55:47 Do you want to talk about epilepsy and seizure journey?

1:01:03 Why aren’t you more bitter given all the challenges you’ve been given?

1:10:20 Anything else we didn’t get a chance to talk about?

1:12:41 Best way to support you?

Many startup founders and small business owners find it hard to compete with bigger business in terms of retaining their employees and keeping them away from bigger businesses hiring them.

In this vlog, I give 3 strategies on how small businesses can retain employees better.

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Guy is the Chief Evangelist of Canva and has been since 2014. He is also the host for the Remarkable People podcast which has featured people such as Jane Goodall, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Steve Wozniak, Angela Duckwort, and many more. Guy worked for Apple twice: first as a Software Evangelist from 1983-1987 and then as Chief Evangelist from 1995-1997. Guy is also the author of fifteen books. His latest books are Wise Guy (Lessons from Life) and The Art of the Start 2.0.

In this interview, we talk about:

- Guy experience working for Apple in the 1980s & 1990s and working with Steve Jobs

- Guy's advice for people in their 20s and 30s who are self-conscious about finding success

- Guy's business advice and lessons from entrepreneurship and being in the tech industry

Guy’s socials:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GuyKawasaki

Remarkable People Podcast: http://remarkablepeople.com

Guy’s website: https://guykawasaki.com/

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Approximate Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro

1:03 Can you tell us about your childhood and family situation?

2:35 How much did your Japanese background shape you?

4:20 How did you handle coming from a poorer background at a private school with wealthier individuals?

6:38 You went to Stanford, any advice on making the most of college experience?

9:11 Did you feel like a failure after quitting law school?

10:46 Any advice on making the most of the MBA experience?

13:10 What was it like working for a smaller firm after your MBA?

16:00 Any advice on breaking into the tech sector?

19:33 Did you think Steve Jobs would become the revolutionary he became?

21:13 Did you think Apple was forcing employees to work too many hours?

24:07 What did you think of the leadership during your time at Apple from 1983 to 1987?

25:26 Any advice on love?

26:52 Any advice on timing for leaving a job?

28:34 Any lessons on entrepreneurship?

30:00 How did fatherhood change you?

30:40 Any advice on the adoption process?

31:45 Do you feel like your kids were intimidated by your success?

33:21 What was it like coming back to Apple in 1995?

34:19 What were you trying to do with Garage Technology Ventures?

35:49 Should evangelism be more of a role at companies?

37:34 How do you manage growth at Canva?

38:45 How did you get so good at being such a good keynote speaker?

40:06 Any advice on becoming a writer?

41:56 Why did you start the Remarkable People podcast?

44:28 Did you make any major mistakes in life?

46:05 What’s driving you today?

48:09 Mindset for success?

The MBA is a powerful tool both from a learning perspective about business and can also be valuable to advance in your professional career.

The question of whether to do a full-time or part-time MBA sometimes comes up for people considering getting an MBA.

I did my part-time MBA from Babson from September 2019 to December of 2021 so I'll speak from the perspective of a part-time MBA student.

I also consulted friends of mine who were in the full-time program at Babson and other schools to give the full-time MBAs perspective.

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Osamase Ekhator is a Boston based poet, writer and author. His debut book, "Situationship" was invited to the 2019 Brooklyn Book Festival on behalf of AZURE Literary Group, recognized by the 2020 North Street Book Prize, and studied at the University of Bonn in Germany.

Osamase will be releasing his second book, "I AM YOU: A Book of Poetry" on July 26th.

Osamase will begin to earn his MBA degree at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management this fall.

In this interview, we talk about:

- Osamase's life since we last talked to him on the Grateful Living Podcast in July of 2020

- His writing process for writing "I AM YOU"

- The themes within the book - including love, religion, and social injustice

- His thoughts on activism and creating a better society

- His advice to younger poets

Osamase's Socials:

Osamase's Website: https://www.osamasetorbest.com/

Osamase's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/osamasetorbest/

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Approximate Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro

2:26 What has life been like since we last talked publicly in July of 2020?

7:30 How did you keep your perseverance mindset even after not being happy with your first GMAT test score?

10:38 How did you stay consistent with poetry despite having a full-time job, social life and studying for GMAT?

13:23 Can you talk about the writing process for I AM YOU?

18:32 When did you feel comfortable being an activist?

25:19 What do you hope that people who aren’t a person of color learn from your poems on race?

29:30 For someone who doubts racism is a big issue in society, what would you say?

31:48 There’s a narrative of becoming a man in the book, do you want to speak about that journey?

38:58 Do you want to talk about the Black Excellence parts in the book?

42:09 Do you want to talk about the poem “Family Cookout?”

45:50 Do you want to talk about the song “Rain”?

51:58 Do you want to talk about the 3 covers ?

55:25 Collaboration with Joe Tavaras?

1:00:20 Any other symbolism we haven’t talked about?

1:04:45 How did you come up with the title “I AM YOU”?

1:09:25 Was it hard to recall some of the racism in your childhood?

1:12:17 Do you get tired being an activist?

1:15:25 Do you have any advice for allies who want to better society?

1:20:35 Any advice to young people who have a passion?

1:26:35 do you want to share 2 more poems from the book?

1:29:46 Best way to support you?

In this vlog, I talk about 8 strategies that might help with dealing and moving forward from a trauma.

Note: I’m not a licensed therapist, mental health professional, or psychologist. Everything, I’m saying here is from life experience and from friends who have gone through trauma.

Trigger warning: I give examples of some traumas.

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Steve is a Suicide Prevention and Workplace Well-Being Advocate, and the Director and Founder of The Jordan Legacy, an organization whose mission is to be at the forefront of the advancement of mental health towards preventing suicide.

Steve got into this line of work after losing his son Jordan to suicide on December 4, 2019.

In this interview, we talk about:

- Jordan's life and mental health history

- Getting a phone call finding out his son had died by suicide

- Managing the grieving process - sleep, grief, family dynamics

- Advice to kids, adults and parents on handling mental health struggles

Steve/The Jordan Legacy's Socials:

The Jordan Legacy Webiste: https://thejordanlegacy.com/

The Jordan Legacy Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordanlegacyuk

Steve's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevephilliphope/

Grateful Living Info:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4

Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/

Approximate Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro

0:44 Can you give an intro on your family and what Jordan was like as a kid?

5:41 Was there any discussion on mental health struggles prior to 2015?

7:58 Did Jordan ever use the word “suicide” in his discussions with any family members?

17:18 Did Jordan ever “suicide” in his discussions with friends?

21:15 Did Jordan struggle to ask for help?

22:45 Do you have any advice to parents who have kids dealing with mental health struggles?

28:15 Were there any signs Jordan was considering suicide looking back at the week before his passing?

31:10 What was December 4th like?

38:00 Did you feel guilty?

43:30 What have you done for yourself in terms of the grief process - have you joined a support group or are you seeing a mental health professional?

49:58 How did family dynamics change? Do you have any advice?

56:05 What’s the best way to support you?

59:50 Anything else you want to say?