The Matt Show

Sam Thousand is a musician, event curator, and director. Sam speaks on his career in the performing music space, his vision to create ChiBrations to bring more discoverability to the rising arts scene in Chicago, and how he believes art has the potential to unify us in incredible ways.

In my interview with Zehra, we discuss how her understanding of art history informs her work in Venture Capital. We talk about the events she curates in New York, from breakfasts and panel discussions to pottery classes and workout sessions. Zehra emphasizes the value of genuine engagement, diversity, and community-building, highlighting the need for meaningful connections and respecting participants' time.

Chris Vergara is an up and coming Director & Creative strategist. Chris has directed videos for Chance The Rapper, G-Eazy, SuperStarKami, Dry Boy, and more… Not only music videos, but Chris has made corporate videos, travel videos, short documentaries, Chris has done it all.

Chris and Matt have a unique shared history, meeting each other as budding entrepreneurs in the creatives scene and growing along side each other since.

Chris speaks on his journey in the field, his own creative process & how he goes about his work, & passion for treating his creative work simultaneously as intimate art but as a business product and figure how the best strategies to market it.

Follow Chris on Instagram

Matt interviews Jaeson, the founder of 88rising and OP3N. Jaeson shares his incredible story of growing up in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s and how he was exposed to hip hop culture, kicked out of three high schools, became a youth pastor, paying Bruno Mars only $1,500 to record four Christian rap tracks with him before the fame, and even being mentored by MC Hammer who brought him around the early buildings of YouTube, PayPal and more. Jaeson talks about  East West Ventures and 88Rising, bridging gaps between the east and west through entertainment and technology.

Jamie Cho is a marketing lead at Wildr, working to make social media a more positive space. Her background is focused on consumer social & our conversation was focused around empowering creatives in the creator economy.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoonseojamiecho/

Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/itsjamiecho

Ruben Harris is the CEO of Career Karam, the number one destination for career guidance & the largest platform to help workers find job training programs and get jobs in tech. Rubin has helped tens of thousands of people get into tech and inspire people to see that you can get into tech regardless of how much experience you have, where you come from, what school you went to, or what struggles you've been through. Career karma has raised over $50 million to date. Ruben has advised the cities of San Francisco and Miami on workforce development. He was a professional cello player. He has a deep love for Japanese culture, just like me, not to mention he's rubbed shoulders with the likes of Alexis Ohanian, Jeezy. Sway In The Morning, Tim Cook, Gary Vee, Mariah Carey, and more.



Follow Ruben …

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rubenharris

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvxlGJyvbwg/

Georgia Dienst's background includes Google, Google's Innovation Lab Google X, Kernel innovating in the field of neuroscience and neuromedicine. Today she's a CEO coach to VC backed founders.

Matt and Isiah ThoughtPoet Veney get deep into room for improvement in Chicago's creative scene and the city as a whole.

ThoughtPoet is a writer, photographer, community organizer. ThoughtPoet has been featured in The Field Museum, The Chicago Tribune, Essence Mag, Southside weekly, and The Chicago Reader. He’s done work with G herbo, Taylor Bennett, Vic Mensa, Chance the Rapper, and even grew up on the same block as Mick Jenkins!

ThoughtPoet captures so much history and humanity through his photography, he’s even considered a historian in some sense through the authenticity of his lens.

Follow the Thought Poet… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thoughtpoet77/

David Umeh is the founder of Clouty.io - Clouty turns real-time music data into tradeable indexes. Allowing you to track, buy, and sell interest in the songs that make up your favorite genres in real-time. The Clouty MUSIQ index is live on the Bloomberg Terminal and has been featured in the Financial Times.

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TroyFromChicago is a Emmy Award winning cinematic director and and photographer. His work has been featured in Billboard, TIME Magazine, the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Basel: Switzerland, and more. Troy has directed or been a part of the production of videos for Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper, Joey Purp, Super Start Kami, Joey Badass, Lucki, Matt Ox, and more..

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Follow Troy:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/troyfromchicago/ 

Website: https://www.troyfromchicago.com/ 

Follow Matt:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt