Leap To Purpose

If there’s one word that Brandon Peele would use to describe his journey from venture capital, investment banking, and startups to the founding of his very own Unity Lab, it would be ‘purpose.’ Brandon, together with Unity Lab, is on a mission to activate purpose and belonging at scale in companies. Brandon thinks that knowing one’s purpose is a human right, and they should at least know where and how to start.

Brandon, in his late 20s, despite living a successful life, started to realize how unfulfilled he was with the life he was living. This led him to wanting to know more about his true purpose—what was he here for? Fast forward to 2012, Brandon has becomes an advocate, an author, and a key note speaker preaching about activating and fulfilling one’s purpose. In fact, Brandon just released a book called Purpose Work Nation.

Brandon believes that the only time we can realize our true potential is when we found out what our purpose really is. Similarly, an organization/company can perform best and meet maximum productivity if the diverse people working together can understand their individual purpose, which eventually lead to understanding that each one is different and connecting to each other despite these differences.

For Brandon, it’s important that realizing the purpose begins with leadership, as it’s the leaders who have the power to embed purpose to the company’s mission, vision, and values. Once the leaders see the importance of purpose, they will want their employees to learn and grow as well. Unity Lab implements their programs by providing modules to small groups, promoting deeper connection among work peers.

Statistics show positive effects of the program to organizations in terms of tenure, productivity, and international commitment. Brandon thinks that these effects can ripple to the employees’ families, then later to their communities. Brandon believes that this should be a norm—individual purpose should be a well-understood human potential, and Unity Lab will continuously help out organizations and employees to maximize their potentials.

Today’s Guest

Brandon Peele (he/him) is a best-selling author, the CEO of Unity Lab, and an expert in purpose, leadership + culture change. He's trusted as a keynote speaker, consultant and program leader by organizations such as Google, Johnson & Johnson, Stanford University, JDRF, Morgan Stanley, U.S. Marine Corps, University of California - Berkeley, LinkedIn, the U.S. Navy, Slalom Consulting, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the University of Minnesota.

He is the author of  Purpose Work Nation (2022), The Purpose Field Guide (2019), and Planet on Purpose (2018), and co-author of Purpose Rising (2017) and The Purpose Blueprint (2015). His work has been featured by news organizations such as USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and Forbes.

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Most business names probably have good stories, but Kristina Shea’s is one for the books. Kristina thought about naming her company Blue Skys Life & Beauty after looking up the blue skies in one of the darkest days of her life and realizing that even when everything is falling apart, everything will be okay. This realization helped her change her mindset and helped her keep moving forward.

Kristina, having used to working for 60 to 80 hours, decided to do something more purposeful. She pushed for this dream, despite not having much and despite not knowing what the future holds for her. This is why her company name’s is spelled as “BlueSkys” instead of “Blueskies”— because she believes that people should always be about their  Y (why) or their purpose.

What is Kristina and her company’s purpose? She built a brand that empowers women to reprioritize self-care because she believes that when people feel good outside, they will also feel good inside. And feeling good changes a lot as of things as it can reflect to how they deal with their business, career, family, and every single relationships they have, including with their own selves.

Kristina’s discovery of the health benefits of the CBD oil rooted from health issues that she herself experienced. Eventually she realized how it helps her skin from inflammation, along its other benefits such as its capability to fight free radicals that cause cancer as well as it being an antioxidant. Kristina also obtained a science degree in cannabis then later left her career in marketing communications and move to the cannabis public space to learn more.

Spending over a year doing research and talking to formulators and manufacturers, Kristina entered the field of beauty and skin care. She wanted to offer products that are non-toxic but also sustainable. Having products that has CBD, which always gets tied in marijuana and cannabis, Kristina opens up about her struggles with legalities and finances, among other things. Despite these, Kristina keeps on going as she believes that her story, her voice, her products, and her services is bound to resonate with and help someone.

Today’s Guest

With a strong business background as a senior executive, Kristina Shea has stepped out on her own into the entrepreneur space as the founder of BlueSkys Life™, a purpose-led, inclusive, holistic lifestyle wellness brand. 

Kristina has a life story of resilience — she has been widowed TWICE, experienced crushing personal & financial loss while raising her daughter as a single mother — and experiencing debilitating serious health conditions resulting from corporate burnout…

After 20 years of corporate America, she has turned focus to build an inclusive lifestyle wellness company ‘BlueSkys Life & Beauty™’—  a purpose-led brand which is focused on non-toxic products and non-toxic thinking. BlueSkys Life & Beauty offers natural skincare and wellness combined with education to support women to live their best life, and to build their WELLTH.

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Today, we had a delightful conversation with Lindsey McCoy, the co-founder and CEO of Plaine Products. Lindsey started the company with her sister, and they’re on a mission to reduce the use of plastics. Lindsey thought about doing this after witnessing how plastics never really never really disappear once they’re made, despite her teenage promise to never get into business.

Being inspired with the pile of shampoo bottles in their bathroom, as well as the humble beginnings of the now media giant Netflix, Lindsey began to think of the possibility of refilling bottles used as packaging instead of throwing them away. They spent lots of research about the best reusable bottles to use, the best way to clean them, and the best ingredients to use for their product. As they delve in more deeply to the problem, Lindsey found out that most mainstream personal care products use a lot of chemical.

After a year and a half of preparation, they launched Plaine Products, a company that use vegan and cruelty-free ingredients for shampoo, conditioner and body wash. But what’s new? Their smart packaging. The initial order comes with a pump, which consumers can refill once they ran low. A refill bottle gets sent to the customer, while the original bottle gets sent back to the company and gets reused by other customers. Since then, the company’s growth has been organic.

Lindsey also talked about how some people thought her idea was ridiculous, but she never really got a good explanation why except that it’s never been done before. Thanks to Lindsey’s tenacity, the good people around her (including her sister, her co-founder), and a great idea, Plaine Products came to existence. It’s been feedback and continuous learning that make Plaine Products the awesome company it is now.

What does Lindsey want to tell others who want to start but just don’t know how? The secret is to start now as nothing can ever be perfect. Also, be patient with yourself—everything is a learning process, so always be willing to learn and take feedback seriously. And if you have an idea, stick with it! Well, unless it’s illegal.

Today’s Guest

Lindsey McCoy is co-founder and CEO of Plaine Products, which offers premium personal care products in aluminum bottles that can be returned, refilled and reused. She was inspired to start Plaine Products after spending 10 years working on environmental education in the Bahamas, islands full of single-use plastic. All of the products are vegan, non-GMO, cruelty-free, biodegradable, color-safe and free of parabens, sulfates and toxins, good for the body and the planet. Based in the USA, Plaine Products is B Corp and a member of 1% for the Planet. Lindsey has a master’s degree from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs from Indiana University. She is currently on the Board of Plastic Ocean Project and a volunteer for Citizen’s Climate Lobby.

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One would think that the starts aligned for Gayle Martz, our guest today, to have all the people she needed to succeed. This is one of the best lessons she has ever learned in life— surround yourself with the proper people. This is her formula to success, as the founder of the very successful Sherpa Pet Trading Company. Gayle’s company produced the very first soft sided pet carrier.

Gayle came from many walks of life. She is an advocate for pets. She was a flight attendant, a photographer, and a fashionista. And judging how far Gayle’s business has come, it turns out that she has a knack for entrepreneurship, too! As Gayle fondly recalled, her “fashion became passion.”

Gayle first thought of making pet carriers in the 1970’s due to a personal pain point: she couldn’t get her pet on the plane. Most hard pet carriers were not allowed by airlines, so Gayle thought of prototyping a soft, fashionable, pet carrier with her own dog Sherpa as the model. Combining her skills, passion, and advocacy, she carried out her business plan the most natural way—by determining the problem, making sure there’s no solution yet, and presenting the solution.

Even with no technology, only with the right people by her side including her wonderful mom who handles the finances, Gayle was able to talk to a manufacturer in Korea and make the first 1200 pieces of her carrier. She’s able to have her creation displayed in big stores such as Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, and many others. She also realized her advantage as she knows exactly what her market likes, having herself as her own market.

From copyright to permits all the way to marketing, Gayle, with the help of people she trusts, took care of everything  Fur parents and pet parents in New York and in the world knew of Gayle’s creation, the Sherpa Bag, which is now a household name for those who want something “safe, comfortable and stylish.”

If you’d like to learn more about Gayle’s journey to becoming the founder of a leading company, read her book It's In The Bag: How to turn a passion into a new business.

Today’s Guest

Gayle Martz is the founder of The SHERPA Pet Trading Company, where she single-handedly designed, manufactured and marketed the iconic SHERPA Bag you see everywhere! This carrier, which millions have bought for their dogs, cats and other animal companions, continues to be THE top-selling, prize-winning, globally-popularly soft-sided pet carrier. Further, It is because of Gayle's advocacy and entrepreneurship that pet travel on airlines is now possible and common. Gayle's the author of "IT'S IN THE BAG," which is part memoir and part business book.

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Today, we’re happy to have Dr. Adi Diner on the show. Adi is a physicist who co-founded iFocus Health, a company that aims to help ADHD patients track their ADHD. Adi thought of doing this as she and her kid are persons diagnosed with ADHD themselves, and they have no way of knowing which medications work or not.

With this pain point, Adi started iFocus. Instead of coming up with an expensive instrument, Adi and her team use only a webcam and a Chrome extension to do eye tracking to the person diagnosed with ADHD. The data then gets recorded and becomes a becomes available for doctor’s interpretation. Ultimately, iFocus helps tell if the patient is getting better or not.

Adi worked with hundreds of persons from different fields to make her vision happen. She worked with clinicians, ADHD patients and parents, administrators, a data scientist (her sister), and many others. She did all the necessary tests to her friends and their kids with ADHD and got astounding results.

With iFocus, Adi dreams that people with ADHD would get the same care that people with other  medical conditions get. Luckily, Adi has been getting a lot of support from advisors and people in the community.

As Adi and her team in iFocus get ready for more to come, she left some words for others who would like also follow their passion and do something meaningful: you need to be resilient. Making mistakes is inevitable, so get ready. In the end, no one has it easy, so be ready to get comfortable outside your comfort zone.

Today’s Guest

Adi has a Ph.D. in Physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science. Over the past 20 years, Adi has been leading the development of lasers, biotech, and medical devices. Adi’s expertise is finding original practical solutions for complex nearly impossible problems. A mother to a kid with ADHD and an ADHDier, Adi applies her passion for learning and out-of-the-box thinking to find ways to improve the treatment for individuals with ADHD.

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Our special guest today is Jeff Rasley, a lawyer-turned-philanthropist and author. Jeff founded The Basa Village Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps marginalized communities in Nepal. The books the Jeff wrote, Bringing Progress to Paradise (2010) and You Have to Get Lost Before You Can Be Found (2020) describe his journey from simply an adventurer to becoming a philanthropist. Jeff coined the term “philanthro-trekking” to describe what he has been doing. 

Before establishing The Basa Village, Jeff has been a lawyer for 30 years. However, in his 40s, despite being financially independent and having a successful law firm, Jeff encountered midlife crisis, leading him to mountaineering. Jeff found mountaineering to be therapeutic, and it became perfect chance to channel his adventurous side, which has been ignored due to busy and fast-paced life.  

But being in the mountains and meeting the communities, Jeff fell in love with what should’ve been a hobby. Through mountaineering, Jeff found a new purpose in life: to do philanthropic work over Nepal, which he discovered to be a country in need of help and support.  

Luckily, Jeff was able to find other climbers and trekkers who share the same purpose. Together, they founded The Basa Village Foundation. Since then, they have been doing several projects. They had been providing clothing, books, and other needs for children. They also plan on reaching communities with no electricity, water, and medical clinics. All their staff are unpaid, and their efforts are completely voluntary.  

Jeff also mentioned the part of his philanthropic work that he least like, which was fundraising. But he ends up doing it anyway, as the donated money can get a really long way—five thousand dollars are enough to give a village two more  teachers, two more classrooms, which means two more groups of students can learn.   

Today’s Guest 

Jeff Rasley is the author of eleven books; the most recent is America’s Existential Crisis: Our Inherited Obligation to Native Nations.  He has published numerous articles in academic and mainstream periodicals, including Newsweek, Chicago Magazine, ABA Journal, Family Law Review, The Journal of Communal Societies, and Friends Journal.  He is an award-winning photographer and his pictures taken in the Himalayas and Caribbean and Pacific islands have been published in several journals.  He has appeared as a featured guest on over 100 radio and podcast programs.   

Jeff founded The Basa Village Foundation USA and has been doing philanthropic works in Nepal since then. Jeff’s wrote two books about his philanthropy and mountaineering journey Bringing Progress to Paradise (2010) and You Have to Get Lost Before You Can Be Found (2020).  

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Today’s story of success will leave you fascinated and inspired. Meet Michael Vail, a former inspector who left his high-paying job to pursue his big dream. Now, Michael owns many business including Cedar Sense, a well-loved online store that features all-natural cedar products.

As someone who’s worked at sawmill for quite a long time Michael thinks that cedar-made things have become a dying art form, which is a loss as they are environment-friendly alternatives. With consumers’ tendency to lean towards natural products, Michael sees great potential with cedar, which he’s really excited about.

Michael didn’t have it easy. He started with zero experience in handling a business, only equipped with things he learned from an Amazon training. When he was just beginning to build his business, he had to be away from his family, not to mention the anxiety of leaving a secured job. But he pursued entrepreneurship anyway as he didn’t want to have any regrets. Fast forward to present, Michael knows that he made the right choice.

After many years in the business, it’s not so scary anymore. There will come to a point that you almost expect struggles to come up. But here’s one thing Michael learned: as long as you have the right reasons, you will always, always, figure it out.

Entrepreneurship is not a walk on the park. A lot of successes are not even seen, but that shouldn’t matter. Just have the right mindset, build something purposeful, have a strong belief, and work on the right timing. And one final advice from Michael: don’t sit on the fence—either do it, or don’t.

Today’s Guest

Michael Vail is the owner of Cedar Sense. He started Cedar Sense in 2019 with one product in a few stores in Northern MN and on Amazon. He quit his career of 11 years to start his business with no formal education and not even knowing what an ‘LLC’ was before starting. Now, he’s grown it from $20K in sales in 2019, to $384K in 2020, and $840K+ last year.

He's mostly a one-man show but he’s proud to boast that he is hiring his very first full-time employee next month. This is a true milestone as employment opportunity is why he started his company in the first place especially when living in rural area and on the reservation, there is not much for career opportunities.  Michael intends to change that with Cedar Sense.

What You’ll Learn:

On today’s episode, we’re speaking with Joya Dass, a successful news anchor who founded an academy whose mission is to empower women to become leaders. Through her very own platform, the Women's Leadership Academy, Joya teaches best practices around self-leadership, networking, and getting ahead career-wise. This rooted from her desire to become a mentor, someone she didn’t have when she was starting her career.

Joya talks about her dream of becoming a news anchor, something quite foreign to her parents, who are Indian immigrants. Joya pursued her dream, living a life of her own since she was 18. Joya dreams of changing the stereotype about Indian women, that Indian women are so much more than chattel wives.

As a passionate storyteller, Joya shared very important things about balancing professionalism and vulnerability. She shared how a good storyteller can tell stories from things she’s already healed from—and how this can invoke a “me too!” mindset from the audience. There’s no need to try so hard, personal stories can go a long way!

Does Joya miss being on TV? Not so much, for a very good reason. While Joya left the television to become a full-time entrepreneur, she never really left. Together with a friend, she also established a documentary production company to tell beautiful stories. Now she gets to manage an entire production, which she really loves.

Joya talks about confidence, as well as the ability to knit personal stories to an actionable item worthy for listeners. Most importantly, how mindset could make or break a person, especially an entrepreneur. Joya may have learned all these the hard way, but it’s totally worth it.

Today’s Guest

Joya Dass

Joya been a television anchor for major networks for 20 years. Her beat was financial news. Every day, she interviewed the CEOs ringing the opening or closing bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

What makes her a formidable speaker today is that she knows how to speak succinctly, powerfully and with story. She's a fierce moderator, leading with her natural curiosity. She follows that up with even more probing questions that allow you to arrive at your own conclusions.

She can draw out the shyest person in the room and have them take up space.

What You’ll Learn:

In today’s episode, a picture of faith and perseverance through failures will leave us leaping to our feet as we think of things we want to achieve. We will be featuring Chase Damiano, a management consultant, who teaches achievers to lead from within. He is passionate about coaching and helping entrepreneurs align themselves and their organizations to a common roadmap.

Chase served as Commonwealth Joe’s Chief Operating Officer and built the company into a seven-figure revenue enterprise over the period of five years. He built and layered processes and systems and the different hires in order to build the organization. There were failures along the way yet he realized that it was necessary for the right financial opportunity for the company.

Despite all of that business success and years of serving Commonwealth Joe, he remained disconnected, unfulfilled and disengaged. Chase decided to leave and it was not easy for him. He felt lost and empty. He took the chance for a three-month sabbatical and eventually got to the point where he felt recharged.

Chase felt a strong calling to help other entrepreneurs with the exact same challenge that he had wrestling with the sense of loneliness, disconnection and burnout. He seeks to support entrepreneurs solve their problems because he solved part of those pieces. His aim is to guide them as they achieve their wildest dreams without getting lost along the way.

Today’s Guest

Chase Damiano is a consultant, coach, and business advisor who specializes in assisting entrepreneurs, executives, and CEOs get out of the weeds. He focuses on helping company leaders better understand their goals, make better decisions, and achieve superior business results including revenue and profits.

He works with the organization through a combination of repeatable playbooks training, mentorship and coaching to build wealth and obtain personal freedom. He was the COO of Commonwealth Joe, where he assisted a family business in doubling its revenue from $0 to $5 million in five years and gained more than 500 B2B clients and 70 employees in just 5 years.

Contact Info:

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

What You’ll Learn:

Today’s podcast will leave you inspired and encouraged to do something good for others. Our guest on the show for today is Annie Henderson, a Certified Professional Life Coach specializing as a Coming Out Coach for the LGBTQIA community and helps people-pleasers to avoid conflict, over apologize, and struggle to say no, start living authentically and find peace they have been missing.

Annie Henderson has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She loves everything about this field and has always wanted to be a psychologist but there were things that deter her from that career. She also has a master’s degree in education and used to teach first graders.

After going from an unfulfilled existence checking all the boxes of perceived success, to breaking into an intentional, abundant life, she now uses her experiences and professional background as a teacher, counselor, and life coach, to teach and mentor others. In working with her diverse clientele to discover unapologetic joy, including the LGBTQIA community and people-pleasers, her teachings focus on releasing self-doubt, embracing the power in setting boundaries and removing the habit of over apologizing.

Her expertise has helped countless individuals deal with the difficulties they may have been encountering. She states that aside from having an accountability partner, resources like books, listening to podcasts and even investing in coaching programs would be greatly beneficial in resetting a person’s mindset.

Today’s Guest

Annie Henderson is a Life Coach, Coming Out Coach for LGBTQ+ and families, counselor, consultant, educator, and mom. She has worked with clients and helped them overcome their fears and helped them gain a new perspective through her one-on-one coaching. She has helped people ages 6-65 years old.

She believes that although we cannot change difficult situations of the past, we can work together to better understand and resolve challenges in our lives. She believes that having people to support us on our journey is a huge help.

Contact Info:

https://anniemhenderson.com/

What You’ll Learn: