The Fierce Focus Show

Mark Jennings is the CEO of Subba Media Inc., which allows people to post reviews for any live events. They are currently fundraising with a very cool model (which we do talk about in the interview0 that allows just about anyone take part in an equity stake in the business. If you’re interested, https://netcapital.com/companies/subba-media. In this conversation, we talk about working in media, shifting to work full time on Subba Cultcha, and how he has grown it into something you can invest...

Umber Ahmad is the founder and head chef at Mah Ze Dahr bakery, the first brand under the Colicchio Discovery Platform. Umber grew up being fascinated by how things worked - this led her to study Genetics at MIT, get her Masters in International Health Policy at University of Michigan and an MBA in Business and Finance at Wharton. She has worked at Goldman Sachs & at Morgan Stanley, has worked in the restructuring of hospitals and health systems in the US and Canada, helped brands expand...

Josh Spodek has done 90,000 burpees. He has a PhD in astrophysics from Columbia, and an MBA from the Columbia business school where is is a professor at Columbia Business School’s Program on Social Intelligence. He has a new book out, New book: Leadership Step by Step. This is a LONG episode, and we cover subjects like what a SIDCHA is and why josh has done 90,000 burpees, how and why he went to North Korea, and talk about his leadership course. If you listen to the whole thing, you’ll find...

Adam Harrison is the of Tart, a bakery & coffee shop in London. We talk about his love of languages, his jobs in advertising, how he decided to go out on a limb and start a bakery with his partner Jace, the ups and downs of starting a small business in London and where they plan to be in 5 years.

What do you do when you have Jury Duty? Write a book review. This is an insane case study in content marketing & optimisation. The guy takes questions from twitter (audience engagement), asks them for his youtube show, transcribes the answers, categorizes the content into sections, and then puts the answers in a book. The he names it a hashtag, and records an audiobook that has more original content. That is probably scratching the service of what he did. I'll do more of these - lots of...

Jenny Blake is an author, career and business strategist and international speaker who helps smart people organize their brain, move beyond burnout, and build sustainable, dynamic careers they love. In this interview we talk about starting a new career or pivoting internally at work, avoiding “how” as the first step in the search for a pivot, how to get a mentor, her love of operations and templates on how to make your operations more efficient, how to be a better meditator, why she doesn’t...

Megan Griffiths is a film director living in Seattle Washington. We talk about how she is a master of film - how she builds a character from dialogue in life, where she finds stories, why it is preferable to have multiple story arcs in each story, how long each part of the movie-making process usually takes, the differences between indie and studio films, how to get big talent, the importance of film festivals, much more, and how she focuses. Find her: iTunes, Netflix, amazon prime, twitter...

Cat Castellanos: Neuroplasticity for the Relentlessly Ambitious by The Fierce Focus Show

Charles Mudede is an editor at The Stranger in Seattle. He was Born in Rodesia, Studied political philosophy in Botswana, and is also a film director, and critical thinker. We talk about his thoughts on why growth us unnecessary, why he made the movie Zoo, how a bubble starts, and the housing situation in Seattle.

Michael Ellsworth is a partner at Built By Civilisation - a design firm based in Seattle, Washington. In this conversation, we talk about how he went from working in ad sales with community organisations, and pivoted to working in design. We talk about the name Civilisation, terms like ‘forced perspective” and “simplicity” , what designers do in general, examples of his work such as “drugs over dinner” and identity work for governmental organisations, how he defines "design-thinking”, and...

In this episode, which was recorded at the caddilac house in New York City, I spoke with Jon Rubinstein is the founder of Joe Coffee, consistently ranked one of the best coffee shops in New York City. In this interview, we talk about how and why he decided to create a coffee shop in New York City, where Starbucks had a large footprint, the most critical review he ever received and how he handled it, what goes into sourcing coffee beans, why he expanded Joe, and how he thinks through the...

Cynthia Tee is the executive director of ADA, which helps teach women computer program skills. We talk about her 20 years of experience at Microsoft, diversity in the workplace, how ADA is working to fill the skills gap that exists in tech, and how to teach yourself to learn, and of course, how she focuses.

Ray Mendez is a Partner & the Creative Director at Concept Farm. In our conversation, we talk about why he moved from Bombay at age 23, studying Advertising at Syracuse, then working in New York City and in Amsterdam at agencies like J. Walter Thompson, TBWA Worldwide, and Saatchi & Saatchi. We talked about how he helped create Concept Farm in New York City, the best brief he ever worked on, things he is working on now, and of course, how he focuses.

This is part 2 of my 2-Part interview with Madeline, in which we talk about the creation of wine folly, her systems & inspiration used to create the content for wine folly, commentary on one of her blog posts on “selection massage", the future of wine folly, and how she focuses to make it all happen.

Madeline Puckett is a certified sommelier and the content director at Wine Folly. Our conversation was too long to fit into one podcast episode, so I’ve had to split it. while the 2nd episode is about is more focused on wine-related content, First episode is more or less about business, with a “history of madeline’s wine enthusiasm” at the beginning. We talk about how Madeline got started in the wine world, what went into taking the Certified sommelier test, why passion does not equal...

David Zyla is an emmy award-winning stylist who focuses on color. In his career, he has created wardrobes for such notable names as Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks & Neil Patrick Harris, and worked on ABC’s All My Children as well as other shows. He is also the author of Color your Style, a book showing how people can understand what colors will look best on them. Our conversation covers how he created this career for himself, how colors can enhance or change your mood, what seasonal colors are,...

Rebekah Bastian is the Vp of product at Zillow, the largest real estate marketplace in the US. Our conversation covers how she applied an engineering degree to become involved in the product development world, the Community Pillars project at Zillow, how tech companies can make social change, Aerial acrobatics, writing, and of course, how she focuses.

Albert Edmonds is a professional knife sharpener. He opened up his own knife sharpening shop in 2011 in Seattle, Washington. In our conversation, we talk about what first sparked his interest in knives, how he got his start in the knife sharpening world, his decision to open up his own shop. Then we dive deeper into the world of knives, talking about what different cultures are known for, the materials involved in knives, knife terminology, and tips on proper knife care. Finally, we talk...

Milind Mehere is the CEO & Founder of YieldStreet, which helps people generate income from alternative investments. He is originally From Bombay and started out studying industrial engineering, which is all about improving and optimizing processes. This skill set served him well, as he worked at companies that coined the term Supply Chain Optimization and pioneered RFID technologies. Then, he applied his expertise to Yodle, a marketing platform for small business to acquire & retain...

Nassim Assefi is a Thrillionaire living a portfolio life. Starting out in medicine, studyging biology & medicine at Wellsley, University of Washington & Harvard, She has given her expertise to ZocDoc, to community health centers in her home town of Seattle, and to readers as a novelist, and she was TEDMED's director of stage content for 3 years, was a TEDFellow for 7 years, and curated her first TEDx event in 2010. In October, She will be the Executive Director of MEDICC, which is a NGO...