Dream Big

Naomi is a 16 year old entrepreneur and education reform advocate. Since the earliest of days, Naomi has started multiple businesses - especially Spice it Up and now Bright Futures. She has had the ambition to envision her business and the diligence to execute on them. Most notably, she is a national intern for Girl Scouts of the USA and received the Gold Award Girl Scout in 2020. Naomi has much wisdom and a still disposition to her. Enjoy this episode as we talk deep about her journey so far. Attaching Things/Links Mentioned: Naomi's Journey Entrepreneurship Business Curiosity Education Education Reform Favorite Books Daily Routines Naomi’s Website Naomi’s LinkedIn Naomi’s Twitter Naomi’s Instagram #DreamBIG #ImproveYourselfImpactLives To see what we are up to and what is going on around the Dream BIG & Co community you can follow us on the following platforms: Website Instagram Twitter Facebook Vimeo Snapchat Tik Tok LinkedIn Medium Our Spotify Playlist Our Amazon Alexa Skill - Dream BIG Daily Our Am

Abby Sugar is the Founder and CEO of Play Out Apparel. She launched Play Out's first styles in 2014, as the first and only gender-equal underwear brand to show at Lingerie Fashion Week, and graduated from The Founder Institute Silicon Valley Winter 2020 cohort. As an outgoing, unapologetically queer startup founder, she strives to be a leading voice in and for the LGBTQ+ community. Abby’s entrepreneurial spirit and unique personal style give her an outsider’s advantage in the world of fashion. After her original cofounder left Play Out and she took some time to re-envision the brand, her dear friend E Leifer joined as CDO in 2017. Enjoy this episode and hit up Abby if you got value out of this discussion. And remember, you can always: f*#king figure it out. Go get it! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Abby's Journey Play Out Apparel Entrepreneurship Figuring it Out Product Market Fit Fashion Team Culture Communication [Book] The Phantom Tool Booth Abby’s Instagram Abby’s LinkedIn Play Out Apparel Website #Dr

A family man, entrepreneur, engineer, and now politician. Peter Zieve was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin. He grew up under an engineer, as well. So, Peter Zieve eventually decided to attend MIT, where his brother went as well, and graduated from in 1976 with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He later entered graduate school at MIT and founded EFB Inc. He stayed with EFB Inc until 1983 when he entered graduate school at the University of Washington to eventually earn a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. As part of his PhD program, he developed the Low Voltage Electromagnetic Riveter and started Electroimpact, Inc. upon graduation in July 1986.   It’s been in operation for 35 years. Peter’s son Michael also attended MIT and is serving as a Vice-President of Electroimpact. You can say it runs in the family.  Enjoy this deep dive and special format on the life of Peter and the story of Electroimpact Inc. Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Peter's Journey MIT EFB Inc. Electroimpact Inc. Engineering Ownership Innov

Danny Miranda is a writer and learner - both of which he has been a life-long learner of. Since he was young, Danny has been writing. Whether it was being a Media Relations Intern for the New York Mets, Public Relations Intern for the NYIT, or an Owner/Editor of Knicks Vision (his own media publication that he started at just age 15), writing was the thread to bind it all. Through and through, Danny has been through the wilderness of his own internal and being in a better spot each and every day, he wants to share his journey with others and empower/uplift others through positivity and interviewing others. He does the latter through his podcast: The Danny Miranda Podcast. Be sure to check it out below and as with this episode…. happy watching. Enjoy! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Danny’s Journey Podcasting “What do you mean, I’m not doing anything. I’m just being me.” (Danny) Tom Brady <> “Obsession” Love [Book] Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins [Book] Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on I

Ari Lewis was born in New York City and raised in Long Island. After moving to Ohio and completing undergrad, his childhood best friend and him started Grasshopper Capital, a hedge fund focused on investing in digital assets. They sold the firm in 2018 to Token Capital Management, an Australian asset management firm. Thereafter, Ari co-founded GreenBlock strategic communications and innovation consultancy firm. His consulting work has led him to working with one-person startups all the way to state governments and Fortune 500 organizations. Most recently, and after many years, Ari is a prominent voice on Twitter and has also started Payload, a newsletter about everything space. Ari has also helped found BrandStreet.co - a community for brand builders. Enjoy! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Writing Ari’s Journey Newsletters Twitter Community Building Owning One’s Audience BrandStreet.co Content How to Post Consistently Ari’s Website BrandStreet.co Website Ari’s LinkedIn Ari’s Instagram Ari’s Twitter Ari’s Y

During this conversation, Dr. Shaun L. McKay showed his depth of knowledge and range of expertise in everything education. Not only will every student resonate with this, but every faculty person, teacher, administrator, politician should too. There is great gold in what is said during this conversation. Dr. McKay is an accomplished leader in post-secondary education, who, from 2010 to May 2019, served as President of Suffolk County Community College, the largest community college in the State of New York, with an annual enrollment of over 30,000 credit-earning and 8,000 continuing education students. Before that he served as Executive Dean, CEO of Suffolk’s Grant Campus, serving the western communities of the county. Prior to joining Suffolk, Dr. McKay served as Director of Planning for the Community College of Baltimore County and spent eight years in various positions at Morgan State University. He has also taught both undergraduate and graduate courses at several institutions. With a slew of degrees, Dr.

Brandon C. Ballard is a servant leader. He has built himself through his fair share of the trials and obstacles in life though. There have been tough moments of experiencing homelessness, having relationship issues, and sometimes having no financial backing or opportunity in sight. Brandon was also a former 8-year U.S. Army Reservist - serving since 2012. In 2015, Brandon went through a valuable journey in a casino as he worked his way from security guard to a position in Human Resources to then VIP Marketing. By intentional development, Brandon is an adept creative. His former business, BrandonCaptures, “is all about persistence and personality”. He has been able to partner with brands such as Radio One, Entercom, iHeartMedia, PECO, and Temple University. He also founded The Creative’s Pace, which is meant to “support entrepreneurs in a holistic way by providing content and resources that will transform the mind and average perspective towards creative business.” Brandon is a great connector and communicator

Jordan Gross is reimagining personal development. His full focus is to trail-blaze personal development through creative storytelling. Imagitivitation….. imagination, creativity, implementation. Through writing, speaking, going back to school to learn the field and skills of therapy, and building communities of dreamers/makers, Jordan wants to uplift others with storytelling being the main foundation. 2021 is Jordan’s year of experimentation. That’s why he is doing said things above. Another example being, his new book “What Happen in Tomorrow World”, which is a modern day fable about navigating uncertainty. As he says, “The stories I write now are all for my grandma.” This new book just so happens to include the spirit of his grandma, as well. Being a 3-time author (Getting COMFY, Journey to Cloud Nine, What Happens in Tomorrow World), TEDx speaker, and even doing 90 podcast interviews in 90 days in one month within 2020, he is someone you want to take notes on. Tune into this discussion to hear the journey

Jim Feldkamp is the Lead Consultant - Intelligence & Counterterrorism at Complete Threat Preparedness. As a Commander, James (Jim) L. Feldkamp, USN Ret., Jim was a US Naval Flight Officer, Counter-Measures Officer (ECMO), and Navigator for the EA-6B – the U.S. Navy’s carrier-based electronic attack aircraft. He flew off the USS Midway in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991. Affiliating with the U.S. Naval Reserves became a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Norfolk, Virginia. Jim was a founding member of the Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force and, as a collateral duty, was one of three pilots in the Norfolk office that conducted aerial physical surveillance of suspects in criminal and terrorist cases. In 2004 he resigned from the FBI to become the Republican nominee for Oregon’s District 4 Congressional seat during both the 2004 and 2006 election cycles. In 2007 he was recalled to active Navy reserve duty to help establish the precursor office of NMIO and was respo

Jared Kleinert is a 3-time author (2 Billion Under 20, 3 Billion Under 30, and How to Build a World-Class Network in Record Time), award-winning author, entrepreneur, and world-class networker. He’s the guy who knows the guy….. who knows the guy. At age 15, he started his first business (NowIGetIt.com). At 18, he became one of the youngest signed authors of a business book in MacMillan’s 175+ year history. Later, he became one of the first 10 employees for an enterprise SaaS company called 15Five, where he worked under “The Most Connected Man You Don’t Know In Silicon Valley” (according to Forbes). That same year, he began his own marketing consulting firm after landing #1 NYT bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi (former CMO of Deloitte and author of Never Eat Alone) as his first-ever client. The marketing consulting firm referred to is Kleinert Ventures, which is an entrepreneurial marketing consultancy that partners with #1 NYT bestselling authors, Fortune 500 executives, major keynote speakers, Emmy award-win

On July 26, 2016, Nneka Brown sold 8,000 notebooks in 24 hours with her award winning stationery manufacturing company Nneka is a service disabled U.S. Army Veteran who sustained several traumatic brain injuries from jumping out of airplanes. 45 days after leaving her 9 year career in the US Army due to injuries, her new path in life was established for good. She’s been navigating through the obstacles of being a first-time founder and a disabled business owner since that day and has many stories to go along with it. Enjoy this deep dive with Nneka Brown! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Nneka’s Journey Nneka’s Time in the Army Leadership Lessons from the Army July 26, 2016 Entrepreneurship Partnership with Usher’s Non-Profit Education Reform Innovative Supplies Website Innovative Supplies Instagram #DreamBIG #ImproveYourselfImpactLives To see what we are up to and what is going on around the Dream BIG & Co community you can follow us on the following platforms: Website Instagram Twitter Facebook Vimeo

Hennesys Disla is an experienced founder and the Creator of ArmHug with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. She is skilled in healthcare, medical technology, and teaching. Hennesys has a unique story in that she went to art school and was going to pursue a career at Disney Animation Studios. However, she was later engulfed into the world of science. After being taken on a lab tour by a science friend from Stanford University, she couldn't believe how much she was missing out in the science world. One thing Hennesys says is that she knew she would find her/mission if she enjoyed doing a job while working for free. So, after volunteering at Mount Sinai Hospital in NY in 2015 and then staying for 2 years, it clicked for her. To date, Hennesys has 2 patents under her belt and is solving a need that she, and others, came across while working at Mount Sinai Hospital - the ability to easily take care of patients and have the proper medical equipment to readily do so. This is

Last year, Karina Popovich was honored as Teen Vogue's 21 Under 21 for organizing an international group of makers to produce 82,000 units of PPE. After going back home to Brooklyn “mid-semester with her 3 [3D] printers”, she did research on understanding how to “print medical grade PPE and additional materials.” That grew into Makers for COVID-19 and a group of 170+ members and one of the largest Maker collaborations for COVID-19. In that being said, Karina is the Founder of Makers for COVID-19. The Head of Education and Policy at Women in 3D Printing, and an AAAS If/Then Ambassador. She is now at Cornell University in the Dyson School of Economics and Finance. From a young age, Karina had a knack for making things (i.e. building bridges out of popsicle sticks when young) and solving problems. With a spine of great virtue, Karina continues a similar pursuit, just on a larger playing field. As she progresses in her endeavors, she keeps the mission of increasing the presence and opportunity for females in STEM

Genevieve Kim is a storyteller at heart, photographer, and creative consultant to many. She founded and built a creative media production studio called Triangleflash Studio, launched the global photography movement called the EYESEEYOU Project in 2017, and her work has appeared in The NY Times, Harper’s Bazaar, UN Habitats Reports, Business Insider, AdWeek, MOZAIC, and more. Some of her clients as a creator include the UN Habitats, TEDx, Inscape, The Assemblage, Invisible Technologies, and When We Band Together. She is actually in the midst of writing a book called “My Big Fu*^ You’s: Memoirs of a Creative Entrepreneur”. Her openness to sharing her story is why she is such an altruistic, giving, of-service person. To explain Genevieve in short, it was at age five that she started taking piano lessons and studied to be a classically trained opera singer. Through progression and evolution, she opened a yoga wellness center at one point. Yet, later on discovered her knack for business, as much as she did for cre

Presence Plumb is the host of the podcast ”It starts with Action”. It came out just last year after she found her voice and also her vision. At age 9, Presence moved to a foreign country. She didn’t know the language, received extremely low grades in her first year, and was bullied immensely because of it. But eventually she worked her way to the best student of the year and also received the good student of the year award, which only 10 students receive in Hong Kong. The bullying didn’t stop there though, as she was then bullied for her looks. This caused Presence to plunge into 6 years of anorexia and at the age of 14 was hospitalized since she was “basically a few days from death”. This shifted her perspective and got her thinking what she wanted her life to be like. After recovery and improvement, Presence moved back to her home country to start over. In 1 month she lost all of her hair due to alopecia, which caused her to go into depression for 2 years. With needed change, she committed herself to improv

“I really wanted to create an impact bigger than just my community and contribute on a global scale [with Lê Crumb Bakery]. That’s why I added on the mission of donating a portion to Doctors Without Borders, which impacts over 70 countries.” (Orange Coast Magazine) That’s Christin Le. She is a still an on-going, first-generation, Vietnamese student at Johns Hopkins University studying Public Health and Neuroscience on the pre-med track. However, this past spring, she founded Lê Crumb Bakery that donates a portion of the proceeds to Doctors Without Borders (as mentioned above). Her unique entry into the world of entrepreneurship is not that unorthodox considering the world’s current circumstances are causing people to be more selfless more than ever. Enjoy! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Christin’s Aspirations Opening Lê Crumb Bakery Public Health The Power of Community Leveraging Community Supporting Those in Need During the Pandemic Through Baking Rejection’s Importance Reflection The Importance of Questi

Shaun Jay is an award winning magician. He’s been seen on FOX, ABC, NBC, Masters of Illusion on the CW Network and also the TEDx Stage. Magician Shaun Jay started his career at the early age of 12 and has studied under some of the biggest names in magic over the past 17 years along with Jeff Mcbride at the Magic and Mystery School. When not performing or speaking at events, Shaun uses his talents for 3D CAD design and prototyping as a trusted creative consultant for one of the world’s premiere and most respected magic brands, Paul Harris Presents. Shaun is part of an exclusive team that helps invent some of the most cutting edge illusions that are then sold to other magicians across the globe. Magician Shaun Jay is frequently booked for festivals in Raleigh NC, Chapel Hill NC, Wake Forest NC, Cary NC. Morrisville NC, and Pinehurst NC, and Virginia Beach, Virginia.  With the help of his swift hands and a fast-paced show, he fascinates crowds with his unique brand of magic, so unique in fact that he has ea

Yuri is an organizational development + HR strategy consultant, the Principal of Master The Talk Consulting, and a Forbes Coaches Council Member and startup advisor. Yuri holds roles at Elite Healthcare Consultants and HR, Talent & Systems Consulting (an award-winning HR consultancy). He has consulted and spoken at numerous Fortune 500 and Inc. 5000 companies, VC-backed startups and top universities, including EY, Google, Columbia and UPenn, likewise appearing on network TV and top podcasts. An expert in people, organizational operations, and startups, he has formulated his years of experience into one book for all to learn from…... His new book, Be Your Own Commander-in-Chief, is out now: CLICK HERE Enjoy! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Yuri’s Life Journey Yuri’s Upcoming Books The History of Business Vulnerability Purpose Kindness The Secret to Satya Nadella’s Success is a Fish-Shaped Curve HR Organizational Behavior Language & Psychology Story Mind, Body, Soul “If you don’t ask, the answers alwa

Serena Scanzillo is a Biomechanics Specialist, NESTA FNC, with 12 years of training experience. She is the founder of SerenaFit, a high performance lifestyle program that focuses on habits, fitness, nutrition and mindfulness, which are all topics we cover in this episode. Serena has the following certifications under her belt too: NASM Certified Personal Trainer, CPR/AED Certified (AHA), NESTA Fitness Nutrition Coach, AFPA Functional Sports Exercise Specialist, AFPA Trainer of Special Populations, Bariatric Exercise Specialist. Enjoy our conversation and reach out to Serena if it helps you in any way! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Fitness/Nutrition Serena’s Journey Love of Sports - Especially When Growing Up Health Goal Setting Frameworks Conscious Competence Meditation Practices Mental Wellness Future Aspirations Serena’s Website: https://serenafit.com/ Serena’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serenafitonline Serena’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SerenaFit Serena’s Twitter: https://twitter.co

Erifili Gounari is a 21 year old student, entrepreneur, and social media specialist from Greece. In May 2020, she launched The Z Link, the first Gen Z-led social media marketing studio that helps brands reach Gen Z on social media. Currently studying for her undergraduate degree, she was recently named Forbes 30 Under 30 for Greece, and has worked with companies from all around the world and across industries to create social media strategies and content. Before launching her business, Erifili had worked on the digital marketing teams of organizations such as the European Parliament, the Uffizi Museum, and more. Enjoy the conversation! Attached Things/Links Mentioned: Erifili’s Journey Thus Far Brand/Content Strategy Greece (the country) Art History Social Media Marketing The social media of Chipotle, Wendy’s, Lemonade (the insurance brand) Nike Jack Butcher; Visualize Value Favorite Books to Gift (especially during the holidays): Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, Originals by Adam Grant, and Solve for Happy by Mo