The Unlikely Journey

Dr. Nathan Brown is the Co-Founder and CSO of Parallel Health. Nathan has dedicated his academic and professional career to phage science and innovation, with an expertise in microbial ecology and genomics. After completing his microbiology PhD, Nathan was funded in the UK by the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust to build phage therapeutics for bacterial-based illnesses. When he realized the efficaciousness and safety profile of phages, he was determined to bring phage science to the western world.

Nathan has a passion for preventative health and imagines a world in which health and hygiene are redefined by understanding the microbial world, while empowering people to optimize this vital parallel world they cannot see.

Learn about the unlikely journey of Gabriela Vilaro.  Gabriela is the scarce demographic that represents less than 1% of all venture capital investors in the world: female, Latina, immigrant.   Gabriela traces her roots from her humble beginnings in Colombia to getting a full ride to Goergetown University and eventually earning her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Gabriela has 15 years of finance and investing experience across the consumer, technology and financial services sectors. She has helped a wide variety of companies, from early stage startups to large publicly traded multinationals, upgrade their finance, corporate development and strategic planning functions. Gabriela is the co-managing partner at Arbor Road Capital Partners, serves as a board director at Finaktiva, a high growth Latin American fintech company, and as Chief Financial Officer of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Northern California. Gabriela previously led finance for the Central Product Services division at Facebook, and was VP of Corporate Development at Zume Inc, a consumer-tech start-up. Earlier in her career, Gabriela was a senior investor at Investor AB, ($40bn AUM) and Quadrant Capital ($20bn AUM), where she invested in over 20 companies across the United States, Europe and Latin America. 

Learn how the unconventional life choices of Jana Hennig created one of the most "unlikely journeys" we've covered to date.  Born in East Germany, Jana has lived and worked in 9 countries from big corporations to small startups, from nonprofits to the world of finance - to sex education, to chocolate marketing, to mushroom farming, to the Olympic Games to marine conservation, and more.  We examine her unique path from childhood to the present, fueled by passion, ethics, and spiritual guidance.  

Currently, Jana is the founder and executive director of a non-profit called Positively Groundfish that supports sustainable fisheries. Jana holds an MS in Environment Science & Resources and an MBA, both from Stanford University, and is fluent in several languages.

Learn about the unlikely journey of Jeff Lee.  Jeff is the CEO and Co-Founder of DIBS Beauty. He was previously the COO of ARod Corp, where he consulted and helped build multiple household names in beauty and wellness, totaling in the hundreds of millions in revenue.

During his legal career, Jeff practiced at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the most selective corporate law firm in the U.S., after three years at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He has worked on some of the most transformative mergers and acquisitions in the world, as well as numerous first-of-their-kind deals for clients ranging from AT&T and Diageo and Lands’ End.

Jeff received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, his JD from Yale Law School (where he served on the management of the Yale Law Journal and was Executive Editor of the Yale Law Journal on Regulation) and his BA from Stanford University. He currently serves on the alumni board of the Stanford Humanities Center.

A passionate advocate for women in leadership, Jeff regularly consults for PepTalkHer, an organization dedicated to closing the gender pay gap. Jeff received the Firestone Medal, Stanford’s highest research honors, for his work on examining ways to elect more women to presidencies in Latin America. He was also previously a member of the Glass Leadership Institute of the Anti-Defamation League.

And just for fun… Jeff received accreditations in personal training from National Academy of Sports Medicine and in jewelry from the Gemological Institute of America. He’s also been a host and coach for Miss Universe and a spokesperson for Equinox.

Natalise Kalea Robinson, Jess Furman, and Steven Khuong provide updates on their businesses in Web3, Fintech, and DTC (direct to consumer).  Jess discusses her new project DAOVerse while Natalise's Parallel Health was recently mentioned in Fast Company as a "World Changing Idea."  Finally, Steven talks about the new phase of Curacubby's growth.  This episode delivers real-time insight into the respective businesses operated by the three co-hosts.  

Learn about the unlikely journey of Nell Derick Debevoise, writer, speaker, facilitator, entrepreneur, and CEO.  Nell Derick Debevoise has studied adult learning, innovation strategy, intercultural education, and organizational psychology at many of the world’s top universities (Harvard,  Columbia Business School, London Business School, Cambridge, Sorbonne Nouvelle, and Università di Roma), starting with a public school education in Hartford, CT. She has lived and worked in the private, public, and for-profit sectors on four continents, supporting refugees in the Middle East; teaching corporate executives in New York about Stakeholder Capitalism; and mediating between Turkish and Cypriot officials.

This diverse experience revealed two related problems that led Nell to create Inspiring Capital. First, business professionals, and their organizations, crave ways to connect their work to a larger purpose. And on the other hand, social and environmental change cannot be left to the not-for-profit sector alone - all organizations must contribute to solving the critical problems of our time. A certified B Corp, Inspiring Capital engages, develops and inspires purpose-driven professionals in Fellowship programs, blending independent, peer, and expert learning - with a mission to shape fairer, healthier, more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative teams, organizations, communities, and economies.

We get feedback all the time, from friends, family, coworkers, managers, investors - the list goes on.  Sometimes the feedback is conflicting.  What do you do with conflicting feedback?  Learn how to manage feedback productively with case studies from Natalise Kalea Robinson, Steven Khuong, and Jess Furman.

2022 is here and we are living in a brand new (brave new) world.  Technology is advancing at rates so fast we can't keep up with its terminologies.  What is in store for humanity this year and beyond?  What is the metaverse (hint: it's not META formerly known as Facebook)?  What are the implications of the "alternative reality" on life as we know it?  Steven Khuong, Jess Furman, and Natalise Kalea Robsion make their predictions on Episode 1 of Season 2 of The Unlikely Journey! 

What's on your reading list?  Natalise Kalea Robinson, Jess Furman, and Steven Khuong share their favorite books on this episode, including writings on process management, sociology, psychology, spirituality, and high stakes business dealings, as well as a story about "timeless" love.  

Books discussed on this podcast:

Getting Things Done by David Allen

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Neffenegger

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen

Red Notice by Bill Browder

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

The State of Affairs by Esther Perel

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

How does physical fitness impact performance at work, in relationships, and in our lives in general?  Natalise, Steven, and Jess explore the world of physical training and expose their personal routines to keep the mind, body, and spirit operating at optimal levels.