Passion Project Pending

#28. Lauren Dunn grew up in the Bay Area and attended college at the University San Diego. Once graduated, she had various jobs including working at an art gallery, in events at Stanford and then in Sales and Customer Experience at a tech company in San Francisco. She began to seek out a career in East Asian and Integrative Medicine because of her own journey in healing her hormones and digestion. Alternative Medicine was a powerful catalyst in reframing how she viewed health and the different ways you can heal. Ultimately, she just really wanted to help people. Seeing the effects of the pandemic greatly brought that out. She saw the intense need for people to start viewing their health in a different way and she wanted to be a part of that movement. She is currently studying at Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College (AIMC) in Berkeley. It is a three and a half year program from which she will receive her Masters of Science in East Asian Medicine. Once licensed, her titles will be L.Ac (Licensed Acupuncturist) and Integrative Medicine Practitioner. In this episode, we discuss more about Lauren’s journey to leave a career in tech for the program she’s in currently, the different modalities of East Asian Medicine, and more. It’s an excellent listen for anyone considering exploring a different career than their current situation and anyone curious about acupuncture or other alternative medicine options. 

If anyone wants to book an appointment with her in her student clinic in Berkeley, has any questions or just wants to connect they can message her on her instagram @numahealing. Including links below for helpful resources Lauren has provided.

Helpful articles:

• https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/traditional-chinese-medicine
• https://www.yinovacenter.com/blog/acupuncture-101-the-basics-how-it-works/
• https://www.dynamicacupuncturepdx.com/acupuncture-101

Link to her college: https://www.aimc.edu/event/acupuncture-as-a-profession-open-house-oct/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/numahealing/

https://passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#27. John Peterson is the CEO and co-founder of The Nudge, a company that will text you fun things to do in your city. Originally studying Economics and Computing at UCLA for his undergraduate degree, he then became a growth analyst at American Airlines before moving on to becoming a growth consultant for 6 years. While working as a consultant, he also created a product called 9 Financial that analyzed public stocks and delivered recommendations and sold this to friends as a side hustle. Later he founded the company Livday which was a social network sharing local itineraries and partnering with Lyft, Airbnb and other major brands to do so. Four years ago he founded The Nudge with his sister Sarah, designed to get people out of the house and off their phones to connect in real life doing fun things around their city. In this episode, we discuss John’s career history, relationship with entrepreneurship, his journey to starting The Nudge, learnings from growing it and more.

https://www.nudgetext.com/

https://www.instagram.com/nudgetext/?hl=en

https://www.passionprojectpending.com/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

Stats from intermission:

13 Reasons People Don't Start Businesses and How to Overcome Them: https://www.liveplan.com/blog/reasons-entrepreneurs-are-afraid-to-start-business/#:~:text=In%20a%202021%20Harris%20Poll,explained%20by%20one%20word%E2%80%94fear.

LegalZoom Entrepreneur Statistics: https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/entrepreneur-statistics

#26. Wrapping up season one, this episode will cover everything we’ve achieved so far (statistics and more), the challenges I’ve faced in producing it, the learnings I’ve had after reflecting, the current status, then deeper topics like my mental health throughout this process and how my work with Sage, my life coach, has impacted my thoughts and goals around the show in general. I will also cover why I'm going to continue to do this and what it means to me.

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#25. Patrick Wilson is the oldest sibling of 3 in our family so my oldest brother. He was the first of the three of us (so between me and my other brother Dan) to go to college, and to pick a major - he picked Computer Science even though both our parents were teachers although we do have some engineers in the extended family. At the time, Computer Science seemed to be quite a hot and emerging major and so he kind of trailblazer that path for Dan and I, studying at the University of Michigan and going on to get his masters in Computer Science there. Since the three of us were responsible for financing college he also managed to get some really powerful scholarships that allowed him to graduate his undergrad degree debt free which is really incredible. 

After finishing his masters, during which he also worked as a Teacher’s Assistant for some intro coding classes at Umich, he moved to San Francisco for his first job as a software engineer at Pocket Gems, a video game company, having already also had internships for companies including Yahoo, Twilio and Cisco by then. He worked at Pocket Gems for 3 years before moving to a company that creates trucking software called Samsara. During the pandemic he was laid off due to budget cuts but then was reached out to about a role for a new startup called Toro TMS. Since accepting that job over 3 years ago, he has naturally transitioned into a Senior Product Manager role and found great personal growth through the challenges presented in his responsibilities. He’s also found much more momentum in doing what he does now compared to when he was a software engineer. 

On top of all of this, he and his girlfriend have been getting into the real estate game in recent years in an attempt to generate passive income and move towards financial freedom. If it is not already quite obvious the man loves to stay busy but let’s just also point out his main hobby which is cycling. In his free time, Patrick can be found cycling the roads of Michigan, where he currently lives, and blocking off most future weekends for various cycling races around the country and at this point, world (as he is headed to a trip sponsored by the biking company Trek in Mallorca pretty soon here). 

Personally I am thrilled for this episode because I think both of my brothers have played a pivotal role in where I am today, being a data engineer and all. They have always provided endless support and encouragement in all of my endeavors, and I think that has provided an environment for me to not fear failure as much and just go for everything I want in life.

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#24. Maya Campos is currently an assistant designer at Reformation, learning about the clothing production process and other elements involved in designing their clothes. During and after getting her degree in fashion from Syracuse University, she has worked in a variety of roles to get experience in design, social media marketing campaigns, styling and more. She is a big proponent of reaching out to people via email to introduce herself and pitch herself for roles, attributing her ability to get most of her past opportunities to this tactic - among them being an intern for LoveShackFancy, styling for Athleta, and freelancing for Altazzura and Jonathon Simhkai during New York Fashion Week. In this episode we discuss all this experience, what’s involved in clothing production at a company the size of Reformation, the interview process for a designer, the meaning behind sustainable fashion at Ref and more.

https://www.instagram.com/mayarenecampos/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#23. Dalton Viggers is the co-founder and CEO at bubl, where he's building a revolutionary soundproof booth with advanced technology to create the ultimate work environment. Dalton and his co-founder, Austin, have been working on bubl for the past 3 years, bootstrapping their company all the way from prototype manufacturing to at scale marketing and distribution.

Prior to bubl, Dalton was a senior design manager at Uber where he had the opportunity to have creative jurisdiction across multiple projects. His experience building Uber Kiosk suite to streamline driver sign up and support, order rides without a phone, and improve Eats delivery times led to a deep interest in hardware design.

In this episode, we hear about Dalton's experience building a connected hardware product and company from scratch and get his honest advice on bootstrapping vs. finding funding in a company's early days.

https://www.bubl.space/

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#22. (BONUS EPISODE) Mom and Pop, or Margaret and Michael Wilson met at Michigan State University. Margaret was studying Geography and Michael studied Mathematics. Both ended up getting their teaching certificates after college to turn their favorite subjects into a marketable skill that could translate to a career in education. 

My dad spent his first three years of teaching in Oahu, Hawaii, while my mom worked as a city planner there. After moving back to Traverse City, Michigan, my dad’s hometown and still in my mom’s home state, my dad embarked on a series of teaching roles at different schools in the area and my mom focused on raising us at home and simultaneously instilling in us a love for reading. My mom eventually went on to become an elementary librarian for 17 years while my dad has been teaching for over 30 years - mainly as a math teacher. 

Although I am their child I rarely sit down with them just to quiz them on their career choices and corresponding learnings so I’m hoping this episode will be helpful to anyone wanting to learn about the education system, the challenges and rewards of being a teacher and more. I also ask them how being educators affected their parenting styles because I’m just out here trying to understand my #background and #upbringing. 

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#21. From random gigs in tech to working in fashion and paving her own path upon graduating during the pandemic, Fiona Tran is the founder of 2 companies; FT The Label & LOCO Wetsuits. Two years, many lessons, and one company later- Fiona fell in love with surfing but found issues with her wetsuit and the surf industry. With her entrepreneurial experience and retail background, Fiona finally felt like she found a niche and could produce something of real value while also cultivating a community of surfers. Speaking with Fiona was lovely because on top of all this experience and risk-taking, she is also a content creator, and once a professional stylist, data analyst, and growth marketing manager. In addition to building LOCO Wetsuits, she is pursuing her passion for real estate. I love this energy because there is no better time to chase after your passions and challenge ourselves in our 20s. Tune in to hear more about Fiona’s journey getting to where she is today and her mentality around her company, LOCO Wetsuits, along with what's next in her entrepreneurial journey.

Link to Kickstarter campaign here.

Link to LOCO instagram here.

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#20. Hello anyone and everyone out there in the void listening in. So appreciate your listening, would absolutely love to hear your feedback (to do so please leave a review in Apple Podcasts or message me on the pod instagram @passionprojectpending - website with feedback option coming soon). In this episode, I give an update on how it's going being a solo podcast host after 20 episodes in 22 weeks total of podcasting, coordinating and interviewing with 15 different guests so far.

It has been an absolute ride and we are not done but we are definitely learning some valuable lessons. i.e., learning how to sustain the energy coming from these engaging conversations as well as understanding what sort of value this podcast provides to others. 

While this started as a Passion Project for me myself and I, it's much more rewarding AND motivating to think about how this can help other people who might be in a similar position - they're hungry to try something different for work but lost on how to start and up to their eyeballs in self doubt. Maybe not that aggressive in your case but I digress.

I also talk about some ideas I have to improve the podcast and give it the chance to reach more people, a (singular) idea I have for a business, how I would spend a 40 hour work week (to myself), and just some lil personal life updates.

PS I am ill with a cold in this ep so at times it may sound like I'm falling asleep while speaking but just know - that is not the case!

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending

#19. Damian Tenuta is the founder of Contente, a company geared towards providing social media marketing solutions to doctors and natural health clinics around the world. He started the company in 2019 while still in college and at this point he is working with his brother, leading a team of about 10 people, providing services to 75 clients currently. Damian is a proponent of career coaching and investing in your own growth through hiring others with more experience than you to teach you, something I learn a lot more about from him in this episode. If you've heard of the book "Buy Back Your Time", a popular book for entrepreneurs, Damian is coached by the author Dan Martell. I know Damian from a tech fraternity in college but it was so amazing to understand on a deeper level what he's been up to in building this business and taking such a dynamic and unconventional approach to creating a career for himself - I also especially appreciated his mindset on finding meaning in what you do for work, demystifying the concept of having passion at the forefront throughout your career journey.

Follow Damian on instagram here and his business here.

https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending