The Hustle Theory

In Episode 13, we celebrate Pride Month by sitting down with award-winning educator and presenter, Mitchel Meighen. Mitchel has been recognized for his passion for student engagement and non-traditional teaching philosophies. He has a special interest in ed tech and empowering students to be active contributors to their educational goals and outcomes. 

Mitchel has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished Educator, a program designed by Apple to recognize K-12 and higher-education pioneers who are looking to change the world and use Apple technologies to transform teaching and learning. 

We discuss his journey coming out and the importance of living your true self. We also touch on the importance of empowering and educating our youth early on about Pride, and more. 

How many times have you caught yourself living vicariously through someone else? How many times have you told yourself that you WISH you could do something, but were too scared to actually do it? 

Most of the time, we are our biggest barrier to overcoming fear to do whatever we put our minds to. We are so quick to think about all the cons of what could happen if we took a risk in life, rather than all the pros that could come. 

Episode 12: Living Fearlessly dives into why it's important to do things for yourself without the fear of the what-ifs, of judgment, and more. I share my story of living fearlessly and the ups and downs that had to happen before I finally made my big move to LA! The key to living fearlessly is falling in love with the process with less emphasis on the end goal. 

In Episode 11, we sit down with Chicago native, Phor, to discuss his journey opening up about his depression and the importance of breaking the silence around mental health. 

Phor is a tattoo artist, rapper, and cast member of VH1's Black Ink Crew Chicago. Since opening up about his battle with depression, Phor has emphasized the importance of advocating for mental health. 

In 2020, he released his album, "Self Love," to share his journey of rediscovering his worth and the healthy habits that have helped him love himself. 

Phor hopes his platform can give others an outlet to openly talk about mental health and end any negative stigmas, especially in the Black Community. 

Never neglect your mental health. Unfortunately, seeking professional help isn't always the cheapest. This is why some people think they have to put their mental health on the back burner. However, there are other methods to help you cope for FREE until you can receive professional help.

In Episode 10: How to Cope w/ Depression for FREE, I talk about ways that helped me cope with my depression using the acronym IRIS. Blue Irises commonly symbolize faith and hope. Both of which I hope you continue to have throughout your mental health journey. I also share four free apps that you can also integrate into your daily lives to help you cope.

Florida native, Francene Halili found her passion for the essence of creativity through fashion, architecture, marketing, film, dance, and the arts. Francene started her journey studying architecture and found herself following a non-traditional path to blend her educational background with her dream of pursuing dance professionally. 

Rather than practicing professionally with her Masters in Architecture, she trusted her vision to have the best of both worlds and became a set designer and creative producer while also professionally dancing on the very stages she helped design! Not only has she worked with the biggest names in the Latin music industry including the Latin Billboards, Luis Fonsi, and more. But, she has also worked with some major players in the fashion industry including The Row, Tory Burch, and more. 

In Episode 9: The Best of Both Worlds, Francene shares her experiences how each one allowed her to gain the knowledge and skills to be able to create connections between multiple realms within the industry. Francene says, "Through experiences of being the user and performer to creator and producer, it has given me an innovative and strategic edge." 

Trust is crucial to so many aspects of life. It’s the foundation for all external relationships, as well as the relationship you have with yourself. In fact, I’d like to bet that trusting in yourself is the key to success.    

When you begin to trust yourself, it enables you to trust that you can overcome anything. That’s why self-trust brings confidence and belief in yourself to achieve your biggest dreams. Any obstacles you may face don’t mean it’s time to give up because when you trust yourself you know the purpose you have for your goal is more important than anything else.    

In Episode 8: Trusting Yourself, I talk about why trusting yourself is a lot harder to do than we think and how we can begin to practice it more.

Are you truly creating for yourself? In Episode 7: Creating For Yourself, we sit down with SznVibes and discuss this topic. As artists and innovators, it's easy to allow your journey to be limited by the opinions of others. However, this episode dives deeper into the importance of creating for yourself in order to live your most authentic and fulfilling journey. 

SznVibes is a multi-faceted individual within the entertainment industry. He is a Chicago-based recording artist and founder of Defy The Odds (DTO) Records. The independent label includes Defy The Odds Magazine and Defy The Odds Studios. SznVibes sole purpose in creating DTO is to give all artists the opportunity and resources to grow. He does everything with passion and hopes to provide more artists around the world with a community built for them to succeed. 

Chicago native, Jackie Potter, began her professional career in advertising for one of the largest holding companies in the world. Jackie is a natural go-getter and knew she was meant to fulfill a different role.  

She then transitioned into recruiting and was finally able to fully step into her true power. However, life happens and major events were soon to change Jackie's life entirely.  

With her passion, resilience, growth mindset, and more, Jackie was able to use these events to propel her towards her higher purpose and fully embrace the role she was meant to take on in life. 

Jackie is now the CEO and Founder of JP Talent which is an agency that pairs top-tier creative talent with clients and projects that are aligned in specific interests and passions.  

In Episode 6: Stepping Into Your Power, Jackie shares a vulnerable moment with us and shares intimate events prior to JP Talent and how they were all meant to serve her entrepreneurial journey now. 

For the past few months, I have been so focused on investing in myself to finally embrace who I am meant to become and to love myself unconditionally. For years I prided myself for never allowing myself the chance to have a toxic relationship, or so I thought. Little did I know I was having a toxic relationship with myself for years. 

In Episode 5: Exposing My Toxic Relationship, I talk about my journey with self-love. From what self-love truly means, to examples of self-hate I used to burden myself with, to why this journey means so much to me. By sharing my own story, I hope that I will create a moment of self-reflection in you guys to start your own journey or to keep pushing through the journey you may already be on. 

Ahmed Ismail possesses a diverse set of experiences that include working as a software engineering intern for a fortune 500 company, starting a Black Lives Matter chapter in Iowa, participating in 2 startup boot camps, doing research for the U.S. Department of Energy, lobbying for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and serving on the Strategic Planning Task Force for a multi-million dollar non-profit called the National Society of Black Engineers, where he is helping shape the vision for the organization's next 5 years.

Episode 4: The Role of Financial Literacy features a conversation on Ahmed's journey as a first-generation immigrant from Sudan navigating through the obstacles of creating generational wealth and the role of financial literacy through his journey.