Episodes

Super pumped to introduce my guest today Jason Wang. I first met Jason about a year ago through my work with Defy Ventures. And for those who do not know, Defy is an in-prison program where incarcerated men and women take part in a University-accredited program on well-being, entrepreneurship training, personal development, mentoring, business incubation, financing opportunities, and network development. We will get more to that story in a bit. Jason is a born entrepreneur. At the age of 8, he would buy a box of 300 fortune cookies from his dad’s restaurant for $7 and sell them at school for .25 cents each. He quickly became the “Fortune Cookie King” to his fellow classmates. At the age of 13, he started another business that generated over $100k in revenue with 95% profit margins. Unfortunately, this business was illegal. Oh, and his teammates were his fellow gang members. Jason was finally caught at the age of 15 for a first degree felony and was sent to prison on a 12 year sen…

My guest on E40 of #thepozcast Zack Scriven is a self-proclaimed #influencer. A title he takes a lot of pride in but also gets a lot of criticism for as well. Either way he owns it and does his best to embody the title. But Zack is a lot more than that. He quit his lucrative job in Industrial Automation Engineering to pursue content creation full time. He is the host of The Zack Scriven Podcast who graciously had me on about a year ago to share my story. He was one of the first that opened up his show for me and I greatly appreciate that. He is also a highly technically and creatively skilled content creator and founder of Zack Scriven Media- another aspect I admire about him as he constantly innovates and shares his learnings with his tribe. His content is focused around Digital Transformation, featuring both clients within his past industry and others. As well, he has recently completed a 30 day road trip that he documented that we will talk about. His goal is to serve God…

On this our 39th episode, we are going to have some real talk around how to be a successful recruiter, how to hire them and how to build a thriving recruitment business. My guest today, Joe Mullings is the President & CEO of The Mullings Group Companies and TrueFuture TV, is content company. Joe has been building companies and careers since the 1980’s. He has built the world's leading search firm in the medical device industry with clients like Google, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories as well as the emerging technology startups. He is also President & CEO of DragonFly Stories which is a media company that is the production company behind the docu-series TrueFuture as well as the media platform of TMGPulse, a medtech news and opinion website. Joe is serious about physical fitness and MMA and he has also founded The Armory, at the time one of the larger Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts teams with multiple fighters in the UFC and world class Brazilian Jiu Jitsu compe…

My guest today Brandon Steiner, is a true legend and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have him on the show with us today. Steiner Sports was part of my childhood as a staple in Roosevelt Field Mall that I would spend hours at while my mom shopped. I have very vivid memories waiting online for autographs from my favorite Met and Islander players. For those of you unfamiliar, Brandon Steiner is the founder and chairman of Steiner Sports Marketing and Memorabilia, the largest company of its kind in America. In addition to Steiner Sports, he is a premier global motivational and inspirational speaker and featured in basically every relevant publication, tv and radio show. Steiner is the author 3 amazing books around how to live a life on purpose, sports and his life growing up in brooklyn, my place of birth as well. Brandon is a legend, both on and off the field of business. He truly understands the value of long term relationships and has built a career and legacy around it. He h…

Let’s talk about #Sales. #Selling is an essential component in all business. Some of us do it as part of our job and for others it’s our full time job. A major part of my job is selling. Selling candidates on opportunities and selling potential clients on my services. Today I want to bring you a true sales pro and sales industry leader to talk about his story and his approach to hiring sales people and hopefully he will drop some other secrets as well. My guest today Brandon Bornancin is a Serial Salesperson, Author, Angel Investor and keynote speaker on all topics related to sales, marketing and entrepreneurship. His cut to the chase, no BS in the trenches made millions, lost millions and everything in-between since he was 18. Brandon is the CEO & Founder of #Seamless.AI, one of the fastest growing #SaaS companies that delivers the world’s best sales leads. Over 30,000+ companies use Seamless.AI to generate millions in sales at companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Slack, Dell…

Tribe, you are in for a treat on E44 of #thepozcast as my guest Lila Smith #saythingsbetter is a human firework show, sparklers coming at you from every direction. I have had the pleasure to finally meet her in Dallas this past September as she was the keynote speaker for an event I organized. And I can promise you she delivered as promised! We are also now pickle pals but that’s a story for later. Lila Smith used to think that being a professional actress would be the best way to use her love of storytelling to make a difference that mattered in the world. After spending 20 years training and 10 years professionally performing to great acclaim in NYC and around the US, she still felt there was more. More connection, more honesty, and more impact to be had- offstage, in real life. That’s why Lila created Say Things Better, a 5-Step method of Intentional Communication based on the best tools she learned in theater. She now travels around the world helping people and brands across cul…

I am thrilled to introduce my guest today on the show, Julian Placino. We have built an online and offline relationship that has culminated with the co-creation of an industry event this past September in Dallas (that we will get into). In my opinion, our relationship is an incredible example of the power of real networking. We were initially connected about a year ago by my friend and mutual connection, Brian Altomarie. We had a networking chat and Julian graciously invited me on his Pathways to Success podcast to share my story. That evolved to where we are today and more to come. Julian, is a Fortune 500 Speaker who’s spoken hundreds of times at various corporations, conferences, universities, and nonprofits. He is also the host of the extremely successful Pathways to Success Podcast, where he interviews exceptional leaders about their journeys to success including company founders, CEOs, New York Times bestselling authors, TEDx speakers, celebrity athletes, and prolific entrepre…

My guest today, Purdeep Sangah is known as "The Mentor For Men In Business" and helps men WIN in business and life. #menwhowin His personal mission is to help men live more fulfilling lives, have passionate relationships and raise happy families. As an entrepreneur, husband and father, Purdeep knows exactly how tough it can be to balance a successful business with a happy family. Purdeep uses his proprietary system called The Winner’s Formula to help men win. A system developed using leadership psychology, latest neuroscience and modern mindfulness to align a man’s life energy, mind and emotions to create exponential confidence, performance, vitality, wealth, time, options, joy and fulfillment. Prior to creating his own firm, Purdeep was a successful executive at a multi-billion-dollar organization and has spent two decades studying the top business around the world. He applies this knowledge and insight into his practice. We not only connected a few weeks back and had a tremendous…

My next guest is a bit of an underground hero for those who think logically and have average to above average common sense and reasoning. Those that can see through the BS and can think for themselves. Mike Winnet is THE self-appointed, uninspirational, backwards thinking "leader" on a mission to uncover the truth behind all the BS in today's digital me-me-me first world. #contrepreneur He is out to expose all of the get rich quick schemes and mock the vomit-inducing "humblebrag" style of your favourite influencer. His latest "The #Contrepreneur Series" uncovers the truth behind "get rich quick" schemes pushed by insta-successful gurus. You know the type I am talking about right? In 2019 he invested his own time and money into popular passive income streams like; Crypto Mining, UK & Overseas Property Investment, YouTube Revenue, eCommerce, ebooks and online courses. He reports back to all of us, “warts and all” for people to REALLY see if these "shortcuts" to success DO or DON'T ma…

Weed. Grass. Reefer. Dope. Ganga, Skunk. Mary Jane. Herb. Pot. Whatever you want to call it, It's all cannabis, Marijuana. It comes in many forms and it's a tremendous global legal and illegal market. Here in the US the marjuna reform is spreading like wild pot fire across the country, and this couldn't make me happier. In the US as many states are or have legalized medicinal and recreational marijuana, the market has exploded and with that, created a new industry that needs market support. Since 2009, my guest today, Jared Mirsky and his award-winning cannabis-focused branding and marketing agency, Wick & Mortar have been doing just that. They have been featured in dozens of magazines including Entrepreneur Media, Forbes, Wired, Cheddar, National Geographic, Huffington Post, and CNN Money. 2018 was the most explosive growth year yet, and Wick & Mortar continues to rack up awards and honors such as Top 40 under 40 in Marijuana Venture Magazine and most recently ranked #193 by Entr…

Excited to have my guest Dualta Duherty on the show. First, super grateful as he was one of the first #podcasthost to have me on as a guest about a year ago. He gave me the opportunity to share my journey and pivot into #recruiting. I believe it was his show where for the first time I said publicly that I was let go from Vayner and it was quite liberating. But enough about me. He is also a killer global recruiter, who recruits recruiters and has truly established himself and his brand on #LinkedIN. Dualta is focused on the London Recruitment market right now with an established team that covers the global recruitment market. They place agency Recruiters all over the world with a massive focus on the USA, especially New York and LA. They also work with clients in London, Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Auckland, Singapore & Tokyo. You get the picture. I am thrilled to have him on show today to share his story and a whole lot more...

My guest on E31 of #thepozcast is Garrett Mintz is the founder and CEO of Ambition In Motion. Garrett works to connect college students with mentors in their fields of interest so then students can gain greater insight into potential career paths and alumnican have greater engagement with their chapter or alma mater. Garrett is a passionate speaker, entrepreneur, mentor matchmaker, and potential-unlocker who specializes in helping people take massive action to where they would like to be. He works to teach them skills on networking, professional development, and relationship building, and drives them towards achieving their desired outcome. This is what this is all about people, bringing value. I am thrilled to welcome him here to drop some knowledge and share his story.

My guest today, Shay Rowbottom #shayshine is the Queen of LinkedIN content. With over 80K followers and tens of millions of views on her content, she has created one of the most engaging and entertaining brands on the platform. Not only is she a fantastic video creator, but now she is teaching founders and executives the same so they can speak directly to this incredible audience of potential customers and advocates. If you have never heard of Shay and you are active on LinkedIN, SHE is probably doing something wrong! Just kidding. I will be honest, when I first started to notice Shay’s presence, I had mixed feelings and preconceived notions. I was a bit envious of her killer content and engagement. So I did what I do best and decided to take my online offline and I reached out and connected with Shay in June and we had an incredible first conversation. We spoke a lot about who we truly are as humans, what our goals are and we found the common thread of tenacity. I am beyond thrille…

My guests today on #thepozcast are two of the “good recruiters” out there, actually they are some of the great ones because they give back for every placement that their firm makes. Rebecca Oppenheim and Gail Buck are the co-founders of nextOPP Search, a women-owned, B Corp Certified recruiting agency built on a one-for-one model. For every candidate hired, nextOPP donates career coaching services to a survivor of domestic violence working towards financial independence – Hire One Help One©. With over 20 years of combined experience in executive #recruiting they’ve partnered with companies from early stage development to Fortune 500 with a focus on building diverse and inclusive teams. They’re passionate about connecting candidates with meaningful employment and want to empower the next generation of women while doing it. I connected w/ Rebecca recently, talked shop, exchanged war stories and I knew I had to have her and her co founder Gail on to share their journey.

Today I want to switch things up a bit and talk about a very important topic, mental wellness. This is more than a hot topic, its reality and we all need to do a much better job in looking out for ourselves and each other, especially in the workplace. I’ve known my guest today Eric Kussin, an expert in this space, for probably 25 years as we grew up in the same neighborhood in Long Island. We were never really close but always respected and admired each other. In the last few years we connected deeper professionally and the synergy has been fantastic. Eric Kussin is an 18-year professional sports executive, who got his start at the NBA League Office. After five years with the League, he went the team business route and rose the ranks with the expansion Chicago Sky, and later the Phoenix Suns. He then switched over to the NHL, working with the New Jersey Devils, & Florida Panthers. However, a debilitating mental health crisis stopped Eric’s career and life in its tracks for over tw…

Throughout the past 20+ episodes of #thepozcast I have featured the best in class career coaches and branding pros. My guest today, Wendi Weiner is not only one of those, but had a significant ah-ha moment in her career and a major career pivot. Wendi Weiner is an attorney and award-winning writer who has been featured in more than 50 major media outlets (including CNN, HuffPost, Forbes, Fast Company, and Entrepreneur) as a top authority in resume writing, personal branding, and content strategy. As a solopreneur and owner of The Writing Guru, her trademarked namesake company, Wendi creates powerful career and personal brands for attorneys, top-tier executives, and business leaders. She additionally provides high-impact content writing for corporations and major publications, and speaks on the global level about personal branding, resume writing, business professionalism, reputation management, and social networking. Wendi landed on my radar as I have been engaging with top career coa…

On this episode, E26 of #thepozcat, I bring you a master of the art of LinkedIN, tactics, tactics and more tactics. He is a digital marketing Vet who has fully capitalized on LI to grow is own business and teach others with his blueprint course. Joe Apfelbaum is the CEO of Ajax Union, a B2B digital marketing agency based in Brooklyn, NY. Joe is a business strategist, marketing expert and certified Google trainer. Joe is the Author of his new book High Energy Secrets, How he lost 95 pounds and has more energy than ever. When he is not Mojovating entrepreneurs at events and on social media he chills in Brooklyn with his Wife and 5 kids, which is his greatest accomplishment. If he is not all over your feed, by design, then you must not be doing something right. Also, he is known to bust out a freestyle rap (stay tuned till the end) I have been connected to Joe for a while and we have some close mutual friends and colleagues. We have had a couple of great chats and I knew I had to have hi…

Over the past 20+ episodes I have introduced a wide range of pros, from coaches, to external recruiters and thought leaders across talent and growth. Today I want to feature a true bad-ass in house recruiter who knew he wanted to be a recruiter out of school and now leads a huge TA division at one of the biggest brands in the world, Nike. My guest on E24 of #thepozcast, Dustin Wishire is a talent acquisition veteran with diverse recruiting experience that spans both agency and in-house corporate settings across a wide variety of industries. He has spent the last 8 years in the athletic footwear and apparel industry. Formerly leading recruiting teams abroad with adidas, he is currently back home in Portland, Oregon leading a team for Nike. He is also a world traveler, proud father, and a massive Portland Trail Blazers fan. Having lived in 4 countries and visited over 30 in his adult life, Dustin is a recognized global collaborator who has been successful in adapting all that he has lea…

As the pozcast continues to build momentum, I continue to work to bring you the best thought leaders in the talent and career growth industry and my guest on E23 of #thepozcast Jill Katz is at the top of the list. As I ventured down my own career journey, Jill’s name, reputation and work came to light through Mike Vacanti (Humans First) and Claude Silver. Jill and I connected a couple of months back on a true human level and I invited here to join us today. Jill Katz is an Influencer, Speaker and Coach that is passionate about shifting the workplace to be more #PeopleFocused. She is the Founder and Chief Change Officer of Assemble HR Consulting, a boutique Human Resources firm that focuses on Organizational Transformation and Employee Experience. Jill brings candid insights, brave questions, humor and empathy to her advisory practice. She is a seasoned executive coach, facilitator, and human capital expert with more than 20 years of success. She is best known for her “3C’s Approach”:…

For me in my own career and personal growth journey, stepping outside of my comfort zone has been an area of development and tremendous growth that has driven my success. It really kicked into high gear when first deciding to go out on my own and launch my own business, but I wanted to take it a step further. My mentor Marcus Glover has been volunteering for years in the penitentiary system and introduced me to Defy Ventures- where they work with incarcerated men and women to mentor and coach them in creating their own business and prepare them for a better life when released. I have been volunteering with them over the past couple of years and it has been tremendous. One of the biggest (of many) take aways is all about “Second Chances”- and putting life in an entirely new perspective. My guest today, Cheri Garcia is the Founder of Cornbread Hustle, a staffing agency for second chances. Cheri is passionate about helping felons and people in recovery find transformation through employm…

The goal of the pozcast is to bring you, the job seekers, my listeners to new, outside the box advice and tactics to take their search to the next level. My next guest, Austin Belcak does just that. Austin is the founder of Cultivated Culture where he teaches people how to land jobs they love without applying online. His strategies have helped people land jobs at places like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, and more without applying online. Austin has also been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Fast Company, Inc., and more. But that’s not his Day job, he is currently Director of Partnership Development at Microsoft. So he most certainly found a way to land a great gig. Recently I was drawn to Austin’s content on LinkedIN and had to connect and learn more about his approach. We had a great chat and I said I need to have you on the pozcast to share and that’s where we are today! Austin brings you a TON of value and actionable advice and tactics how to m…

Over the past 19 episodes I have had HR pros, thought leaders in cultural transformation and seasoned recruiters. But I have not had anyone on who is currently within their career journey specifically, nor have I had someone on who has continued to fight daily. I was immediately drawn to my next guest as I could relate to him directly having fought my own career battles over the past 15 years. Like him, I have been laid off multiple times and have had to dig down deep to harness my tenacity and my dude, Joe Gill is all tenacity. We found ourselves in the same linked in covos, sometimes aligned and other times having good-spirited debate over various topics. Lately Joe has been putting out almost daily content around social media best practices, being authentic and something that hits home super close to me, always adding value or as Joe says “being a valuenecer”, I LOVE IT! After 5 layoffs and surviving thyroid cancer, Joe believes you can overcome anything with resilience, persevera…

I a super pumped to have Bobby Umar on E19 of #thepozcast. He is a Brand marketer, aerospace design engineer, professional comedic actor, teacher — these are some of the diverse roles Bobby has explored to find his true purpose. Now he leads Raeallan to help GenY / GenX leaders find their passions. Bobby is a serial entrepreneur and motivational speaker on Leadership, Connection, Personal Branding and Career Development. He is a prolific 5 time TEDx speaker, and is a leading social media influencer. Bobby is dedicated to causes embracing youth and diversity. He is a proud father and he just loves playing ultimate frisbee and Settlers of Catan, predicting the Oscars, and remembering the lyrics to every 80′s TV show theme song. Bobby has never lost a thumb war, ever. I am going to challenge him when I finally meet him in person. Bobby has authored 3 books and recently named a "Top 7 Networking Guru to Follow". Inc Magazine named him one of the Top 100 Leadership Speakers Bobby is a soc…

I speak about this a lot, I love connecting with fellow recruiters everywhere across the US and abroad. It’s always great to share war stories, talk shop and learn a thing or two from pros. My guest today is a rock star in the world of Tech Recruitment, based in the Bay Area, Brianna Rooney. Brianna Rooney (AKA the Millionaire Recruiter) is the founder of Techees, a highly successful SF-based tech recruitment firm. She also owns a top 100 restaurant mouthful eatery, has an amazing Chef of a husband and two little kids. Diego Danger (yes that’s his real middle name) 5 years old, and a sweet little 2-year-old girl, Lima Ariel. Techees is a firm that places highly sought-after software professionals with high profile,. companies in the Bay Area. Brianna takes the match making approach to recruitment. Hiring is all too similar to dating. If you want to do it right, you have to take the thoughtful road without all the fluff. The saying, “fire fast and hire slow” does not work in the …