The Changeup

This episode's guest is the CEO and founder of Bokksu, Danny Taing. Bokksu delivers authentic Japanese food and lifestyle products to customers around the world. 
I was so impressed with his story that I bought a box for my daughter, and it's awesome. We talk about the inspiration behind Bokksu, how he evolves the company in a competitive subscription box market, and how his decision to come out has influenced his leadership style.

This week's guest is the founder of Phoenicia Diner, Mike Cioffi. 

If you have ever been to the Catskills or ever had a friend go to the Catskills, you have surely heard of Phoenicia Diner.  It's a time warp to classic diners and yesteryear. It almost feels like you pulled up in a wood-paneled station wagon. And the food is really good. Actually, it's fantastic. 

We talk about his choice to change careers, how it became a social media phenomenon, some mistakes along the way, and why it has such a lasting power in a frantic fickle world. 


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This week's guest is Matt Gallira, the Founder and CEO of Big Mozz.  Big Mozz is just that... Big mozzarella sticks, and they are delicious. 

We talk about his journey from creating the recipe, to entering the Brooklyn Shmorgasboard, to scaling the business to be in over 1000 grocery stores across the country. If you can find them at a store near you I highly recommend snagging a few to chew while listening to his story.

This week's guest is the Co-founder of TALEA Beer Co.,  LeAnn Darland. 
Leann and her co-founder Tara Hankinson have built an amazing brewery with 2 locations in Brooklyn and 2 in Manhattan. I am lucky enough to have one two blocks from my office so I visit it pretty frequently.
We talk about her journey from the Navy, to Google, to startup land, to finally going all in on building her own company. We discuss how they are bucking the trend of the Bearded Beer Bro, which I'm one of, and created spaces for people of diverse backgrounds to enjoy great beer. Not only is their beer amazing, they have some of the best designed spaces in the game. This was recorded at their brewery in Williamsburg while the team was brewing, so you will hear the lively reality of a brewery in the background.

TALEA Beer Co.

This week's guests are two of the founders of Wayward Lane Brewing,  Andrew Rowles and Kyle Bergen.

Wayward Lane is an amazing farm, brewery, and taproom located in a restored 1800's hophouse in the town of Schoharie, New York.  They were crowned 2023 New York Brewery of the Year and since opening my shop they have become one of my favorite breweries as they make some amazing IPAs, crisp lagers, and dense porters- They're just crushing it!

The interview was done at their brewery so you'll hear some hustle and bustle in the background. We discussed how they came together and decided upstate New York would be home, how they grew from selling out of the taproom to distributing across the state, and what excites them most about the beer industry in 2024.

https://www.waywardlanebrewing.com/

This week we talk to the founder of Glidelane, Chris Genteel.
Glidelane is an advisory firm with a mission around economic equality to marginalized communities.  By supporting founders of color, they are rooting bias out of products, services, and go-to-market stories.
We talk about how his career at Google evolved as he grew into leadership roles, his transition from the corporate world to startup life, how growing up as the black child raised by a single white mom formed his view on sexism, racism, inequality and how leaders of color can navigate the DEI roller coaster of today. 


https://www.glidelane.com/blog

This week we talk with Bharani Rajakumar,  the CEO and Founder of Transfr. 

Transfr aims to provide every person an opportunity to acquire the skills needed for employment.  Through their VR coaching platform, prospective employees get hands-on training at real technical jobs.

We talk about how growing up working class shaped his vision for what entrepreneurship could be, how he scaled his company, and how VR and AI will play a pivotal role in the future of the workforce.

This week's guest is the founder of More Lake, Erzsi Sousa. 

More Lake is a brand consultancy focused on working with climate companies. We talk about her decision to leave the marketing tech world of Google,  Microsoft and Stripe to focus on companies making an impact on our climate emergency. 

She shares how her family ended up moving from San Francisco to Portugal, finding the right fit with prospective clients, and how a love of the outdoors led to the company's founding.

Interested in learning more about climate change? Check out these resources:

• If you want to start with the basics: The Science of Climate Change Explained from the New York Times
• If you like learning on Youtube: Climate Science Translated and Climate Town, and The Big Misconception About Clean Energy from Huge if True
• If you’re the New Yorker long reads type: Annals of a Warming Planet
• If you like great journalism with personality: Heated
• If you want a great primer in book form: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (Bill Gates)

This week's guest is Peter Corbett,  the Founder, CEO and Coach at Still Rush, a mindful leadership coaching practice. 

We talk about his decision to sell his agency and retire from advertising, his volunteer work as a spiritual caregiver, life, love, loss, and death, and the motivations that moved him to his new life. 

This week's guest is the Co-founder and CEO of Unlock, Jared Cozart.

Jared and I met as fellow agents for the Management Leaders of Tomorrow program and became fast friends as I  gravitated toward his high empathy for others, strong leadership, and his ability to just be real.

We talk about his path to entrepreneurship the struggles and hurdles along the way, how adversity on the baseball field helped sharpen his focus, and how he found the true balance between friendship and work with his co-founders.