[Episode 5] Adam Reist always finds a way to make things happen. His story is one about perseverance and positivity. Those two traits, in combination, have allowed him to develop his passions into a personally fulfilling and meaningful career.

His journey may not have been what he initially expected but he always found a path forward and more importantly has always stayed true to himself. You can hear his love of filmmaking and music in the stories he tells. For Adam, the obstacles he faced on his creative journey were embraced as creative challenges. One can't help but get caught up in his positive energy as he tells us his story about where these new challenges have taken him in life. Listen to this episode and you'll hear it for yourself. With the right attitude, there is nothing you can't accomplish.

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[Episode 4] Josh Rose joins us to talk about his lifelong love of photography and how he's been able to build a career around doing what he loves. When you do what you love as a career, it forces you to approach each project from a business point of view. You apply your creativity as part of your business for the benefit of your clients. No one asks you why you do it, they are mainly interested in your application of creative solutions to benefit their business. And although that is an important aspect to the creative professional, we here at The Gray Matters are solely interested in why our guests do what they love to do.

In this episode, Josh talks about how he feel in love with photography and why he still does it. As a seasoned creative marketing executive, Josh tells us how he got hooked on the creative process, and how even to this day, in every opportunity, he's searching for that moment of inspiration that he first felt when he was young taking his first pictures with his first camera. He's still chasing that original feeling and that personal creative journey is what makes Josh special. We should all find something that drives us to express something personal. Why we do it is just as important what we do and we can all relate to Josh's story.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Allan Karl shares his story about what inspired him to pursue his dream and accomplish something no man has ever done. In Allan’s words: “I will circumnavigate the globe alone from top to bottom, and all the way around.”

For Allan, he chose to do this journey on his motorcycle, a single cylinder BMW F650GS Dakar. With a few important modifications to his bike and a packing list that grew shorter as he realized what he really needed, he set off on July 4, 2005 and began the journey of his life that would span two years and cover 62,000 miles through more than 50 countries and all 7 continents including the Arctic Ocean and Circle.

Allan Karl was feeling something was not right about his current career path years ago. Then came 9/11, and that confirmed that he did not want to spend the rest of his adult life confined to an office space, doing something he did not have a passion for, just to make a lot of money. Instead he followed his passion for adventure travel, photography and connecting with people. And then when he read Neil Peart's book, “Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road”, that was it, he was ready to pack up and really go. So, he sold everything he owned, bought a motorcycle and started his journey. Three years. Five continents. A broken leg in Bolivia. An uncomfortable encounter with guerilla militia in the jungles of Colombia, and much more. Back in the states, he wrote a book about it called, “Forks:A Quest for Culture, Cuisine, and Connection”. And one thing you will hear, Allan is not done traveling. Still a lot to see. And now his career revolves around his passion for travel (as well as, cooking, photography and motivational speaking too). Beyond this, he has a deep passion for connecting with new people, from different cultures. He often uses a mantra , “Stay curious”. 

We caught up Allan, homebound for the first time in a while. 

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Jacqueline Porter saw The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center at the age of 6 and she was hooked. In this episode Jaqueline discusses her journey as a dancer, performer, and ultimately a dance teacher. From her early days studying at the world-renowned Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, to moving to New York City at the young age of 17 with dreams of stage stardom, to founding The Dallas Dance Conservatory, she has no plans for slowing down.

Today, Jacqueline continues to embrace her passion for dance to the fullest as a teacher. Sharing her passion and instilling the love for dance which she had as a young girl into a new generation of dancers. From Pennsylvania to New York City, from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, through love and heartbreak, always with the passion for dance by her side, in heart and soul, she has truly found her calling.

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