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E55: From College Mascot to Mood Director

GUEST: Jon "Jersey" Goldman

Jon "Jersey" Goldman is an eccentric and extremely energetic worker, performer, and entertainer currently working in numerous fields in the Las Vegas industry. Quoted many times to be the epitome of the saying "Jack of all trades, master of none", Goldman has been commended for his hard work, dedication, and unmatched spirit for all of his "teams" in the restaurant, sports, retail, hotel, and radio industries. Goldman started his work career in 2005 working for a minor league baseball team in Southern New Jersey known as the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League. He continued his work throughout high school in the restaurant business, working at a small 81-seat 50's/60's diner-like venue called "The Pop Shop" in his hometown of Collingswood, New Jersey. After moving across the country to attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Goldman became known to the community as "Jersey", a name given to him by members of the Delta Chi fraternity, which he is now an alum. Throughout his 6 years at UNLV, he performed as over 42 mascots across the country, most notably "Hey Reb", the mascot for UNLV. He worked on-air for the #1 station in Vegas, 98.5 KLUC, as well as in promotions, joined the sports marketing team in UNLV Athletics, and was an integral part of the undergraduate student government experience, constantly fighting for the best experience for students. Currently, Jersey works for the Hakkasan Nightclub and Wet Republic Ultra Pool as the Mood Director, and was recently featured in the Hulu docu-series, "Behind the Mask", which followed him for a year in all of his endeavors and life experiences as UNLV's mascot both inside and outside of the suit. Goldman is known for in energy, eccentric attitude, leadership skills, and for his passion for both his work, and his family. He lives by the quote, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life".

SHOW DETAILS:

If you have been doing business in Las Vegas for any length of time you know that one of the best places to be seen is at our own UNLV Runnin’ Rebel basketball games.  In today’s show Dave talks with Jon Jersey Goldman who put himself through college as UNLV’s mascot, Hey Reb.

Jon talks with Dave about his time as Hey Reb and how that experience has helped him be a better businessman.  Jon also talks about how important it is to do what you love and why you need to treat every customer encounter as if it is the first experience that customer has ever had with your business.  This is a great show for those of you who are trying to improve your brand image and an even better show for those of you who are Rebel fans.

How do you stay motivated? Jon "Jersey" started out as a viking mascot in high school and moved on to his local minor league baseball team to continue his mascot adventures. He found joy making others happy and how could you not make others happy after being 17 different mascots including: chick-fil-a cow, shark, fish, and even a dancing trash man. Jersey turned series when he met the St. Joseph University mascot "the hawk". Standing in a room with just 2 others and the hawk continued to flap his wings and this bothered Jersey. The Hawk said "I get a $75,000 scholarship for 2 years and besides not talking and taking my mask off, the only rule I have is I can't stop flapping my wings, because a hawk never dies. He started to apply to every college as a mascot and in 2008 he was accepted for a full ride scholarship to UNLV. 

What was life like as a mascot at UNLV and tv star? Jersey made the best of his years at UNLV with a full ride scholarship and helped grow the school spirit and many other organizations at UNLV. Jersey did everything from shooting fire out of his finger tips, crowd surfing,