Vanessa Baird-Streeter grew up in one of the most segregated areas of the country where her family could afford a better neighborhood but was never shown those houses. That experience became the lens she has carried into every room she has entered since.She started her career as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, spent a decade in finance and then made history as the first woman of color to serve as Suffolk County Deputy County Executive. In that role she managed a $3.7 billion municipal budget, chaired New York State's most comprehensive police reform plan and led the COVID-19 response for Long Island's most underserved communities. Today she is the President and CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island and she is still doing the same thing she has always done, which is changing systems from the inside out.In this episode Vanessa and Sean get into what it actually costs to be the first in rooms that were not built for you, why success means nothing if you are not opening doors behind you and what it looks like to build a decades long career rooted in purpose over recognition.If you are interested in leadership, public service, generational wealth, breaking barriers or what it takes to create real change in your community this episode is required watching.This Episode Explores:✅ Growing up in a deliberately segregated Long Island community and what that shaped in her from the start✅ Building her career on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs and what finance taught her about access and power✅ Making history as the first woman of color to serve as Suffolk County Deputy County Executive✅ Chairing New York State's most comprehensive police reform and reinvention plan✅ Leading COVID-19 response efforts for Long Island's most underserved and vulnerable communities✅ Why she turned down grad school at University of Chicago and what that decision actually gave her✅ How always leaving on good terms and building bridges became one of her greatest career strategies✅ Managing a $3.7 billion municipal budget and what that level of responsibility requires✅ Why AI is eliminating entry level jobs and what education needs to look like going forward✅ What it means to lift others up without losing yourself and why she believes that is the secret to a fulfilled life🔗 Connect with Vanessa Baird-StreeterInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessa.b.streeter/Health and Welfare Council of Long Island: https://hwcli.com/Follow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Alexis Morgan founded her first real estate investment fund at twenty years old. By twenty one she was managing over forty million dollars. No Wall Street connections. No family money. Just a young woman who figured out how private lending works and built her own version of it from scratch.Today she's the founder of Peach State Capital Group, a private lending and real estate investing platform with over two hundred funded transactions and consistent double digit returns for her investors. She also runs masterminds and education platforms built for the people the financial system was never designed to include.In this episode Alexis breaks down exactly how private lending works, why relationships are the real currency in real estate investing and what it actually takes to raise capital and scale a real estate fund from zero. She gets honest about early money mistakes, the events that changed how she saw the industry and why she says yes to every first invitation.If you are serious about real estate investing, private lending, raising capital or building generational wealth this episode is required watching.This Episode Explores:✅ How to start a real estate investment fund with no Wall Street background✅ What private lending is and why real estate investors need it over traditional banks✅ How she raised and deployed tens of millions through Peach State Capital Group✅ Attending dozens of paid events in year one to build high value relationships✅ The $30,000 event that showed her what real estate investing looks like at scale✅ Using LinkedIn and Instagram to build investor trust through transparency✅ Why private lenders hold the most leverage in any real estate deal✅ How to transition from residential to commercial real estate investing✅ Building wealth and access for people Wall Street was never designed to serve🔗 Connect with Alexis Morgan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexismorganinvests/Peach State Capital Group: https://www.peachstatecapital.com/Follow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Esther Acosta didn't see herself as a comedian. Then one open mic she flourished and found her calling. Three years later she's sold out over thirty shows, performed at the Laugh Factory in Chicago and built one of New York's most authentic comedy platforms from scratch.But before any of that, there was a family secret she didn't find out about until she was twenty one and a pattern she kept repeating in relationships without knowing why. A mother who saw something in her daughter before her daughter could see it herself.Esther's comedy comes straight from her life. A Cuban household, the bad boys, the restaurant kitchen and the things Latina women live through but rarely hear talked about on stage. When she tells a joke she's telling the truth and in this episode she brought all of it.This Episode Explores:✅ Growing up Cuban in Hialeah and the family secret that changed everything✅ Why she kept choosing the wrong men and what she finally realized underneath it✅ The open mic that launched everything and the comedian who refused to believe it was her first time✅ The Latin comedy legend who inspired her to just start✅ Building Out of Control Comedy into thirty sold out shows✅ Running Rincon Criollo, the family restaurant from Corona Queens to Long Island✅ Why we spend our adult lives chasing what we never got as kids🔗 Connect with Esther Acosta Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherthecubancomicRincon Criollo: https://www.rincon-criollo.com/Rincon Criollo: https://www.instagram.com/rinconcriollo76/Follow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Kelly Siegel grew up with alcoholic parents who beat him when they came home drunk. He learned early that showing fear meant weakness and that survival required toughness. By college he was shipping weed on planes and slinging hundred dollar bags of dope to pay tuition. Then he got arrested, everybody testified against him, the college threw him out and the system threw the book at him.He looked in the mirror and said he did this. Then he negotiated his way back into college at twenty years old while fighting criminal charges and did four months in county jail. That moment in a jail cell is where he decided he was never putting himself in that position again.Today Kelly is the CEO of National Technology Management, a high seven figure company approaching eight figures, a motivational speaker and author of Harder Than Life: Weaponizing Poverty, Addiction and Violence. His message is simple: you can learn every business system in the world but if you don't do the work between your ears none of it matters.In this episode Kelly and Sean get into generational cycles of abuse, what it actually means to heal, why scaling yourself is the only real business strategy and the TLC framework Kelly swears by for winning in every area of life.This Episode Explores:✅ Alcoholic parents, childhood beatings and learning to exile fear to survive✅ Shipping weed on planes and selling drugs through college✅ Getting arrested, facing 60 years and everyone turning against him✅ Negotiating his way back into college at twenty years old from a jail cell✅ The mirror moment, which is taking full accountability with no parents to run home to ✅ How street survival instincts kept him small in business for years✅ IFS therapy, exiled emotions and why you can't push out the bad without pushing out the good✅ The first person who genuinely offered to help him and how that changed everything✅ Why you are your best investment and bleeding on people who didn't cut you✅ The TLC framework: Training, Learning and Coaching as a daily operating system🔗 Connect with Kelly SiegelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelly.siegel.71/YouTube: youtube.com/@harderthanlifeWebsite: harderthanlife.comBook: Harder Than LifeFollow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Jonnie Parsons had the $70,000 truck, the four bedroom house and the white picket fence. He gave it all away chasing a void he couldn't fill. What followed was meth, opiates, fentanyl, eighteen months in county jail inside a two year stretch and getting arrested in front of his son and his girlfriend who barely spoke English and didn't have a license.He was a firefighter risking his career to get high two days before his shift. He was a construction worker making good money at eighteen and spending it all on drugs. He kept coming back to the same bottom in different cities, different jobs and different circumstances because the problem was never the situation. It was him.The turning point came in a spiritual dorm behind bars in one of Florida's toughest counties. For the first time in his life, Jonnie says he was in chains and felt completely free. That's where he found God and where everything actually changed.Today, seven years removed from homelessness and addiction, Jonnie is the Executive Vice President of Alliance Land Development, author of the 365-day devotional Unshakable and a man who refuses to waste the life he almost lost several times over.This Episode Explores:✅ Growing up in Fort Pierce with a Vietnam vet father and a mother who never missed a day of work✅ Making good money at eighteen in construction and finding meth and opiates on the job site✅ The void that no amount of money, sex or drugs could fill✅ Eighteen months in county jail inside two years and getting beaten by cops on the last arrest✅ Being a firefighter and using cocaine two days before shifts knowing he could be drug tested✅ Fentanyl taking him to his absolute bottom✅ Getting arrested in front of his son and girlfriend with a warrant out for his arrest✅ Finding God in a spiritual dorm in one of Florida's toughest county jails✅ Getting married with $11 Walmart rings because the pastor paid the $85 marriage certificate✅ From homeless drug addict to Executive VP in seven years🔗 Connect with Jonnie ParsonsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonnie_parsons_official/Book: Unshakable 365 Day Devotional E-Book: 5 Daily Disciplines of Personal DevelopmentFollow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Kereen Evans migrated to the United States at eleven years old. She went on to become a Manhattan prosecutor, a legal advisor, a podcast host in the top ten percent of all podcasts worldwide and a passion to purpose coach. She didn't plan all of it. She just kept moving.In this episode, Kereen gets into what drew her to the prosecutor's office in the first place which was not to lock people up, but to help people stuck in addiction cycles get treatment instead of sentences. She breaks down how that work shaped the way she sees people, asks questions and leads conversations. And she gets honest about what it actually looks like to build a full life while still becoming who you're supposed to be.This is a conversation about alignment, humanity and what happens when you stop waiting for the right moment and just start.This Episode Explores:✅ Migrating to the US at eleven and what that shaped in her✅ From paralegal to Manhattan prosecutor: the path that wasn't random✅ Working in drug treatment alternative programs: rehabilitation over incarceration✅ Why she asks probing questions in every conversation and what that cost her in relationships✅ Bail reform, petty crimes and what real justice actually looks like✅ Views change but choosing humanity first, stays the same✅ Building a podcast to the top ten percent of all shows worldwide✅ Connecting your talents, passions and purpose without waiting until you're ready🔗 Connect with Kereen Evans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekereenconnection/YouTube: youtube.com/@thekereenconnectionWebsite: thekereenconnection.com Podcast: The Kereen ConnectionFollow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Jarred Elmar bought his first properties on courthouse steps right out of high school with no college, no capital, no connections and no safety net. Just a scrappy kid from South Florida who refused to let his circumstances write his ending.Today he's the Managing Partner of The Geneva Group with over 1.8 million square feet of commercial real estate and a goal of 5 million. But the real story isn't the portfolio. It's what it took to build it and who he had to become along the way.In this episode, Jarred gets into the pivotal moment a complete stranger stopped him cold with a tough conversation he didn't ask for and couldn't ignore. He talks about spending years hiding where he came from and why he finally stopped. He breaks down the scrappy, grassroots prospecting model that built his empire and the same one he now teaches young people coming out of high school and college.This is a conversation about owning your story, building from zero and what happens when you stop apologizing for who you are.This Episode Explores:✅ Buying properties on courthouse steps straight out of high school✅ No college, no backing, no experience and why that became the advantage✅ Getting in trouble with the law and what it actually cost him✅ Hiding his background for years and why he finally owned it completely✅ The stranger who gave him a tough pep talk that changed his life✅ Building a grassroots prospecting model from the ground up✅ Teaching the next generation of scrappy, first-generation real estate investors✅ Faith, family and his grandfather's lasting influence✅ The goal: 5 million square feet🔗 Connect with Jarred ElmarInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/geneva_gp/Website: genevagp.com Book: Built From NothingFollow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Ryan Zofay started using drugs at 11. By his late teens he was incarcerated, facing a potential life sentence. Most people don't come back from that but Ryan built a 9-figure business from it.The turning point wasn't a strategy. It was his mother, newly sober herself, walking into that detention center with the 12-step program and a decision to stop abandoning her son. That moment cracked open something that anger, hustle, and failed ventures in his 20s never could.Today Ryan is the founder of We Level Up, a national addiction treatment organization he built from the ground up starting in 2013. He's also a speaker, life and business coach, and author of An Unlikely Businessman: From Overdoses to Multimillionaire. His mission is simple: help people stop reliving the past by finally dealing with what created it.In this episode, Ryan and Sean get into what it actually takes to break generational cycles, why self-acceptance is the real foundation of success, and why surrounding yourself with the wrong people keeps you stuck longer than any addiction ever could.This Episode Explores:✅ Drugs at 11, incarceration by his teens and the childhood trauma underneath it all✅ A mother's sobriety visit that changed everything✅ How the 12-step program became the foundation for a 9-figure business✅ Anger, failed ventures, and what his 20s really taught him✅ Founding We Level Up in 2013 from sales to mission-driven impact✅ Why you keep reliving the past until you meet the unmet needs underneath it✅ Falling in love with yourself as a business strategy, not just self-help talk✅ The ESOP plan: transitioning to employee ownership by 2030✅ Why who you're around matters more than what you know🔗 Connect with Ryan ZofayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryan.zofay/YouTube: youtube.com/@ryanzofayWebsite: ryanzofay.com Book: An Unlikely BusinessmanFollow REAL Mentors PodcastInstagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcastHost Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Franjez grew up in Yonkers with nothing and says that's exactly why he appreciates everything. Raised in a Dominican household where daily drinking was just part of life, he spent years as a New York State corrections officer feeling lost, chasing control and going through the motions. Then a doctor's visit and the right roommate at the right time cracked something open.Now he's the host of Talk About It with Franjez, a platform built on transparency and the conversations most people avoid. Every episode starts the same way, by asking “where did you grow up?” or “how was your childhood?” because Franjez believes everything you are today lives in what you experienced before you had words for it.In this episode, he and Sean get into what it really takes to do a complete 180, why your subconscious is running the show whether you like it or not and what it means to go all in on something you actually love. Including everything hard that comes with it.This Episode Explores: ✅ Growing up Dominican in Yonkers and normalizing what others would call dysfunction ✅ 8.5 years as a corrections officer and feeling lost, goalless or chasing control ✅ The doctor's visit that forced him to pay attention ✅ How one roommate and The Four Agreements changed his trajectory ✅ Why every guest starts with childhood and why that's not an accident ✅ Going all in on content creation: food reviews, podcasting, and building a brand on positivity🔗 Connect with Franjez Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franjez/YouTube: youtube.com/@franjez Podcast: Talk About It with FranjezFollow REAL Mentors Podcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcast Host Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin

Men's mental health is in crisis. The statistics prove it. The disconnection proves it. And nobody wants to sit with that long enough to actually fix it.Vinny Brusco decided to build the fix. He's a certified life coach, Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, host of The Council of Dudes podcast, and founder of Agora Social Club — a physical space in Westchester, NY built specifically to give men a place to connect, grow, and stop white-knuckling life alone. No bar. No ego. No small talk. Just intentional brotherhood.In this episode, Vinny gets into why modern convenience is killing character, what it actually means to be a father versus just a dad, and why most men are ruled by their thoughts instead of leading from them. This is a conversation about what men are missing and what it takes to build it back.This Episode Explores: ✅ The male loneliness epidemic: depression, suicide rates, and the failure to launch ✅ Why comfort is the enemy of the character men actually need ✅ Meditation, sensory deprivation, and BJJ as tools for staying grounded under pressure ✅ Dad vs. father: the difference between being fun and being intentional ✅ How Agora Social Club became the modern fourth place men are desperate for ✅ Self-sabotage, the lure of comfort, and why the journey never gets easier, you just get stronger🔗 Connect with Vinny Brusco Instagram: @vinnybrusco Website: vinnybrusco.com Agora Social Club: agorasocialclub.com | @agora_westchesterFollow REAL Mentors Podcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/realmentorspodcast Host Sean Martin: https://instagram.com/theseanmartin