In this episode, which was recorded at the caddilac house in New York City, I spoke with Jon Rubinstein is the founder of Joe Coffee, consistently ranked one of the best coffee shops in New York City. In this interview, we talk about how and why he decided to create a coffee shop in New York City, where Starbucks had a large footprint, the most critical review he ever received and how he handled it, what goes into sourcing coffee beans, why he expanded Joe, and how he thinks through the customer journey, and of course, how he focuses.

Cynthia Tee is the executive director of ADA, which helps teach women computer program skills. We talk about her 20 years of experience at Microsoft, diversity in the workplace, how ADA is working to fill the skills gap that exists in tech, and how to teach yourself to learn, and of course, how she focuses.

Ray Mendez is a Partner & the Creative Director at Concept Farm. In our conversation, we talk about why he moved from Bombay at age 23, studying Advertising at Syracuse, then working in New York City and in Amsterdam at agencies like J. Walter Thompson, TBWA Worldwide, and Saatchi & Saatchi. We talked about how he helped create Concept Farm in New York City, the best brief he ever worked on, things he is working on now, and of course, how he focuses.

This is part 2 of my 2-Part interview with Madeline, in which we talk about the creation of wine folly, her systems & inspiration used to create the content for wine folly, commentary on one of her blog posts on “selection massage", the future of wine folly, and how she focuses to make it all happen.

Madeline Puckett is a certified sommelier and the content director at Wine Folly. Our conversation was too long to fit into one podcast episode, so I’ve had to split it. while the 2nd episode is about is more focused on wine-related content, First episode is more or less about business, with a “history of madeline’s wine enthusiasm” at the beginning. We talk about how Madeline got started in the wine world, what went into taking the Certified sommelier test, why passion does not equal long-term success (in creating a business), how she views failure & the core values used to run Wine Folly, how she got involved in the Somm movie.

David Zyla is an emmy award-winning stylist who focuses on color. In his career, he has created wardrobes for such notable names as Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks & Neil Patrick Harris, and worked on ABC’s All My Children as well as other shows. He is also the author of Color your Style, a book showing how people can understand what colors will look best on them. Our conversation covers how he created this career for himself, how colors can enhance or change your mood, what seasonal colors are, and of course, how he focuses.

Rebekah Bastian is the Vp of product at Zillow, the largest real estate marketplace in the US. Our conversation covers how she applied an engineering degree to become involved in the product development world, the Community Pillars project at Zillow, how tech companies can make social change, Aerial acrobatics, writing, and of course, how she focuses.

Albert Edmonds is a professional knife sharpener. He opened up his own knife sharpening shop in 2011 in Seattle, Washington. In our conversation, we talk about what first sparked his interest in knives, how he got his start in the knife sharpening world, his decision to open up his own shop. Then we dive deeper into the world of knives, talking about what different cultures are known for, the materials involved in knives, knife terminology, and tips on proper knife care. Finally, we talk about how albert focuses to create his business.

Milind Mehere is the CEO & Founder of YieldStreet, which helps people generate income from alternative investments. He is originally From Bombay and started out studying industrial engineering, which is all about improving and optimizing processes. This skill set served him well, as he worked at companies that coined the term Supply Chain Optimization and pioneered RFID technologies. Then, he applied his expertise to Yodle, a marketing platform for small business to acquire & retain customers. The financial crisis made him realize that he wanted to be able to invest in more than the stock market, and the idea of Yield Street was born. We talk about this creation of YieldStreet, how consumers can take control of their finances, how Milind thinks about processes, scaling a company, and how he focuses.

Nassim Assefi is a Thrillionaire living a portfolio life. Starting out in medicine, studyging biology & medicine at Wellsley, University of Washington & Harvard, She has given her expertise to ZocDoc, to community health centers in her home town of Seattle, and to readers as a novelist, and she was TEDMED's director of stage content for 3 years, was a TEDFellow for 7 years, and curated her first TEDx event in 2010. In October, She will be the Executive Director of MEDICC, which is a NGO dedicated to translating the amazing public health and medical education achievements of the Cuban social experiment to the rest of the world.