How do you beat the odds and transform yourself? We sit down with Remi Adeleke to talk about how he went from Nigeria, to the Bronx, to the Navy Seals, and now Hollywood. He also shares advice on being a parent, on being a professional writer, and how never to quit despite the odds.

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Remi Adeleke was born in Western Africa, but following the death of his father, he, his mother, and brother relocated permanently to the Bronx in New York City. After years of making regrettable decisions, Remi joined the Navy in 2002 and later became a Navy SEAL. Ending his successful naval career in 2016, he was led to pursue a career in speaking, writing and consulting. Remi holds a BS in organizational leadership and a MS in strategic leadership, both from the University of Charleston West Virginia. 

Transformed: A Navy SEAL’s Unlikely Journey from the Throne of Africa, to the Streets of the Bronx, to Defying All Odds

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How do we talk about things? In her new book, How we talk about language, Betsy Rymes, addresses the intersection of language, phrases, and social meaning. We sit down to talk about her new book and how teaching and social interactions have transformed now that we are all doing online learning, or should we say learning online?

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Betsy Rymes has spent her career thinking about language and how it shapes our lives—whether in language classrooms, captioning an Instagram photo, or joking with friends (or frenemies!).  As Professor and Chair of Educational Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, she continues to research and teach about language, society, and schooling, and how conversation about language shapes our everyday experience of the world. She blogs regularly about this at citizensociolinguistics.com, and her most recent book is How we talk about language: Exploring citizen sociolinguistics (Cambridge, 2020).

Check out her recent post about our changing language during the COVID-19 pandemic on the Cambridge University Press website.

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How many people do you share all your financials with? We sit down with commercial banking relationship manager, Drew Shiavone. We talk about financing for business owners and how to have conversations involving sensitive financial topics.

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My name is Drew Schiavone and I am a Commercial Banking Relationship Manager for First Citizens Bank in Columbia, SC.  After graduating from The University of South Carolina with majors in finance and economics I went straight into a leadership development program with BB&T (Now Truist).  The first two years of my career were spent in an underwriting/analyst role for large industrial and large commercial real estate portfolios.  I have spent the last 6 years as a commercial relationship manager calling on CEOs and CFOs of small $50+ million revenue companies.  In my role, I am primarily responsible for client management, pipeline development, and financial analysis/debt structuring for companies in various industries.

I believe in being an active citizen in my community and most recently have been involved through my board service with the United Way and Richland County First Steps.  Due predominately to my volunteerism, I was recently named a top 10 finalist for the Columbia Young Professional of the year.

On a personal note, I enjoy good food, traveling, golf, and Gamecock football.  My wife and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary and we are crazy dog parents to 1-year-old golden retriever. 

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Would you leave a stable career to pursue your dream? We sit down with a writer and producer in television and streaming, Barry Schkolnick. We talk about how he started his career as a lawyer in New York before making the leap into Hollywood. We also talk about his experience on such shows as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Medical Investigation, and The Division.

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BARRY SCHKOLNICK (CoEp/Consultant):  Barry is a high-level writer and producer who’s worked on SEQUESTERED, a dramatic web series released on Crackle.com, USA Network’s IN PLAIN SIGHT and THE GOOD WIFE for CBS.  Barry also wrote and produced such shows as LAW & ORDER, UNFORGETTABLE, THE GUARDIAN, THE DIVISION, MEDICAL INVESTIGATION, IN JUSTICE, THE DRESDEN FILES, and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Barry wrote fifteen episodes for LAW & ORDER; his work was honored with a nomination for a Writer’s Guild of America award for Best Episode, Dramatic Series and a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. In addition, he was a member of the writing staff of LAW & ORDER’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning season.

In 2015, Barry was honored to give a keynote address in Rio de Janeiro at the RioContent Marketplace, a gathering of over five thousand television writers and executives from all around the world.

He is currently adapting Mike Papantonio’s “Deke” Deketomis novels for television. Previously, he created and executive produced DUALITY, a dramatic series set in Mexico City for Televisa and created the serialized crime drama HIDDEN PARTNERS for eOne with director David Von Ancken and producer Michael Rosenberg.

Barry received his undergraduate education at Swarthmore College, where he graduated with Honors. He began his career as a lawyer after receiving his J.D. degree from the New York University School of Law.

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How do you lead and take care of others? We sit down with the medical director of the ICU at Duke, Mashael Al-Hegelan. We talk about leadership and maintaining relationships in critical care.

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Mashael Al-Hegelan, MD is an Assistant Professor in the division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine. Before joining Duke, she completed her medical school training and Internal Medicine (IM) residency training in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where she spent most of her formative years.  In 2012, she joined Duke Faculty after completing a second Internal Medicine residency, followed by a Pulmonary & Critical Care fellowship at Duke. 

Mashael servesas the Medical Director of the ICU as well as Respiratory Care Service at Duke Regional Hospital. She is also the Interim Medical Director of Pulmonary & Critical Care services at Duke Raleigh.   Mashael also serves as the Secretary and Treasurer of the NC Thoracic Society and is an active board member on the Durham County Hospital Board of Trustee. Along with her administrative duties, Mashael enjoys the clinical challenges that present themselves while rounding in the Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional and Duke Raleigh Medical Intensive Care units (ICU). 

Mashael is also currently pursuing her MBA at Fuqua School of Business. Having been a clinician for over 15 years, she finds herself gravitating towards the administrative and business aspects of healthcare. The innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic planning is something she enjoys and looks forward to using to bridge the gap between clinicians and the hospital administration landscape.

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How do you educate global citizens at business school? We sit down with the dean of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke, Bill Boulding, the son of immigrant parents from Norway and England. We discuss the need for global citizenship and the importance of building relationships from all over the world.

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William “Bill” Boulding is the dean of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.  He is an accomplished scholar with a passion for helping advance business as a force for good.  Bill has advocated at the top levels of government, industry and academia for ways that enable business to improve society.  

He serves as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Council on Values. He serves on the board of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC®), chairs the Board of Directors of Duke Corporate Education and serves on Swarthmore College’s Board of Managers.

Bill received his BA in Economics from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in Managerial Sciences and Applied Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.  

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How will you respond when life challenges you? We sit down with Mohamed Massaquoi, the NFL Cleveland Browns second-round draft pick, and founder of The Vessol, a leadership and change consultancy. We talk about his upbringing as the son of immigrant parents from Liberia, starring on the football field, transitioning from a near-fatal accident, and the founding of his company. 

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In the spring of 2017, Mohamed’s life was disrupted following a near-death ATV accident that resulted in the amputation of his left hand. Prior to that accident, Mohamed performed under high-pressure change daily as a professional athlete in the NFL. Mohamed was a 2009 second-round pick for the Cleveland Browns in the NFL draft and played professionally for 5 seasons.

Mohamed is a graduate of the Harvard Business School after completing the Program for Leadership Development, which functions as their alternative executive MBA. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Georgia. While at the University of Georgia, Mohamed was named 2008 team captain, selected as a first-team All-Southeastern Conference and Academic All-SEC member. He is a member of the 2018 UGA 40 under 40 class. Mohamed currently serves on the University of Georgia alumni board. Mohamed worked at Morgan Stanley prior to founding VESSOL.

An accomplished speaker and thought leader, Mohamed regularly presents on change, opportunities in adversity, and preparing for desired outcomes.

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How do you generate excitement for the Instagram generation? We sit down with Madison Utendahl, a storyteller and pioneering social media strategist. We discuss her experiences with the Victoria Secret's Fashion Show, the Museum of Ice Cream, and now the founder of Utendahl Creative, a brand consultancy.

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Madison Utendahl is a two-time Webby Award winning Content & Social Media Director, specializing in brand-storytelling, social media strategy and experiential marketing. Madison has been a creative on the founding teams of 3 powerful cultural phenomenons: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, 29Rooms and Museum of Ice Cream. As a Founding Partner at Museum of Ice Cream and former Head of Content & Social, Madison grew MOIC’s digital presence to reach an audience of over 1 Billion people in under 20 months. In 2019, she launched Utendahl Creative, a female focused, branding, social media & content strategy agency, servicing clients such as Refinery29, Milk Bar, Lemon Perfect and Bandier (+more). When she is not playing boss at Utendahl Creative, she can be found as an on-camera video host and producer. Since 2016, Madison has interviewed the likes of Arianna Huffington, Martha Hunt, Marcus Samuelson and many more notables. Madison lives in NYC with her dog, Lou.

https://www.madisonutendahl.com/

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How do you lead a team that changes every year? We sit down with the head baseball coach at Duke University, Coach Chris Pollard. We talk about the process he uses to build a positive team culture with young people that equal success both on and off the field.

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Chris Pollard became Duke University's 25th head baseball coach in June of 2012, taking over the reins of the Blue Devil program after successful stints at Pfeiffer University and Appalachian State University. Pollard led the Blue Devils to a magical postseason run in the NCAA Tournament in 2019, culminating in the program’s second straight and second NCAA Super Regional appearance. The NCAA Tournament selection marked the second consecutive appearance for the Blue Devils and the third in the last four seasons. The first head coach to lead Duke to the NCAA Tournament since the Kennedy administration, Pollard is also the fastest Blue Devil head coach to reach 100 wins in Durham. 

Pollard graduated from Davidson in 1996, earning a B.A. in psychology with a concentration in child and adolescent development. He played professionally in both the Western League and the Northern League before returning to Davidson to begin his coaching career. Pollard also received a Master's degree in physical education/health education from Mississippi State in 2004. His wife, Stephanie, is a 1997 Davidson graduate. The couple resides in Durham with their two sons: Thomas and Brady.

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After seeing the first Presidential debate I want to offer some words on how to stay positive and what you can do.

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