I Make a Living

As an entrepreneur, JJ Ramberg has been on both sides of the coin. She spent 13 years hosting MSNBC’s Your Business, telling small-business stories and offering tons of real-life advice; she’s also launched her own tech businesses at the same time. She’s now the co-founder of three start-ups, including GoodPods, a social media app for podcasts and their listeners. We talk to her about building tech companies, family dynamics, and working for a good cause.

This week, we talked to Lisa Song Sutton, a self-described “serial entrepreneur” and multi-faceted businessperson in our episode. In her role on the StartupNV board, she’s seen more than her fair share of investment pitches—on this Nerdisode, she shares her top tips for nailing yours.

What do boozy cupcakes and real estate have in common? If you’re Lisa Song Sutton, Las Vegas-based entrepreneur and former Miss Nevada, they’re just two parts of a wildly diverse business portfolio. Lisa is a former model and lawyer immersed in the entrepreneurial world: she’s both a small-business owner herself and an angel investor. Today we talk to her about her passion for diversification.

On this week’s Nerdisode, Nayamka Roberts Smith, aka Nai, the labeautyologist, gives us her tried-and-true methods for building an authentic and engaged social media audience.

Nayamka “Nai” Roberts-Smith, also known as LABeautyologist, is a powerhouse esthetician who has leveraged her social media platforms to grow her business, her audience, and her voice.

Earlier this week, mega-event planner and reality TV host David Tutera talked to us about his path to success; in our Nerdisode, he gives us the nitty-gritty on keeping his clients on budget and your team happy.

David Tutera is an event planner to the stars: he’s done Elton John’s wedding and Matthew McConaughey’s gala events. He’s also a celebrity in his own right, with his reality TV shows offering a behind-the-scenes look at his events. This week, he shares his origin story (a singing telegram is involved!) and how he stayed afloat when in-person gatherings were off-limits.

Erica Mandy is the creator and host of The Newsworthy, a “fast, fair and fun” daily news podcast that breaks down the headlines in fifteen minutes or less. She’s up against the heavy hitters—NPR, The New York Times, and CBS News—so today we talk to her about what running a small podcast in a big pond is like.

This week, we talked to poet and artist Morgan Harper Nichols. In our I Make A Living: Nerdisode, she shares what gets her inspired.

In today’s episode, we check in with multi-hyphenate Morgan Harper Nichols, who makes her living as a poet, artist, musician, author, and podcaster. We talk about trading the music industry for poetry and art, the importance of listening to your followers, and how happy accidents have led her on this journey. We also talk about how a recent diagnosis affected her path and perspective on life.