Innovation Crush

In the middle of Panamanian jungle, a small town has been forming. Not just any town, a place that is re-imagining everything from civic infrastructure, to sustainability, education, ethics, creativity and more-- all while celebrating the lives and passions of everyone who encounters it. The place is described as "a new village being built in a Panamanian river valley to bring together entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and modern day romantics." This is Kalu Yala, the brainchild of Jimmy Stice, a real estate pioneer, marketing aficionado, and an all around cool guy with good ol' Southern charm. On this episode Innovation Crush (recorded in the jungle), Jimmy discusses how Kalu Yala came to be, what he's had to navigate to build his vision, how the essence brand extends beyond it's physical locale, and what it takes to be a leader of a massive undertaking. More at: https://kaluyala.com/

T.K. Coleman is passionate about others realizing their most passionate pursuits. The classically trained philosopher, 90's movie lover, and business educator champions breaking down personal barriers in order to get to your highest creative self. Among other things, he is the Education Director for Praxis, a 10-month apprenticeship program that combines a traditional liberal arts education with practical skills training, 1-on-1 coaching, academic mentoring, group discussions, professional-development workshops, and real-word business experience. On Innovation Crush, TK talks everything from teamwork to child entrepreneurship, to financial structures,-- all at the intersection of personal development. Along the way, he breaks down key points of why we do--and don't do--the things we need for top tier creativity. http://www.discoverpraxis.com/

A high school graduate at age 14, and a college graduate at age, 18, Brian Wong is now - at age 24 - one of the most savvy and intuitive entrepreneurs in America. His company, Kiip, is a rewards and loyalty platform geared towards customers on mobile devices, giving out over 11 rewards per second, and close to 500 million monthly "moments" - a term he and his team coined referencing engagement opportunities. A natural observer, Brian's professional and personal curiosity is rooted in cultural behavior, social psychology, and smart business thinking. On Innovation Crush, Brian discusses everything from how to nurture gifted children, to improving one's creative spark, to team leadership, and the globalization of rewards.

Marika Anthony Shaw is commonly known as a member of the super music group, Arcade Fire. A classically trained violinist raised by a linguistics pioneer, Marika grew up watching her mom revitalize dying languages in remote areas of the world. Later, while touring the world herself with Arcade Fire, Marika had an epiphany. If bands added $1 to the price of their ticket sales, the lump sum could be donated to a charity of the group's choice. Thus, www.Plus1.org was born. Now in it's second year, Plus1 has turned Marika into a full time business woman, changing the world one dollar at a time. On Innovation Crush, Marika discusses her transition from band mate to CEO, the hurdles and triumphs she's faced along the way, thought leadership, the art of persuasion, and an obvious passion for change. Feat guest host, Monika Bielskyte, founder of All Future Everything.

What happens when you take a Boeing-grade rocket scientist and send him all over the planet with National Geographic? You birth an entirely new industry. Shah Selbe is one of the key pioneers of Conservation Tech, a field that combines social media, technology, science and social psychology to solve the Earth's problem. As a NatGeo Explorer, he is one of few selected to go on MacGyver-like missions in remote areas most affected by things like climate change, poaching, illegal fishing, drilling, extinction, and sometimes mother nature herself. Along the way, he has coined the phrase, "Internet of Earth Things," highlighting the fact that next evolution of digital/social connectivity is being connected to the planet. On Innovation Crush, Shah discusses the hurdles of being a young scientist among is stayed peers, his transition from rocket to earth science, his desire to work with VC's, and and that one time he used a FedEx strategy to solve a fishing problem.

If this was the Oscars, this would be the Best Film winner. We looked at listens, shares, downloads and likes and hands down, the top episode of 2015 was Chamillionare's "From Rap Ventures to Venture Capital." Early in his Grammy award winning career, rapper, Chamillionaire learned some valuable lessons about business. Whether bootstrapping his own sales of mixtapes, negotiating higher payouts from his label, developing off the wall promotional marketing schemes, or reinvesting his money into multiple ventures, he always looked for smarter and better ways to achieve success. Fast forward to almost 10 years later, where Chamillionaire is a key investor in Maker Studios, an adviser to several startups and established companies, and now entrepreneur in residence at Upfront Ventures, Los Angeles' largest venture capital fund. On Innovation Crush, Cham dishes on everything from growing up poor, to serial entrepreneurship, world changing technologies, avoiding social media, and having never wanted to be famous.

EDM legend and cultural icon, Steve Aoki currently ranks #5 on Forbes list of the world's highest paid DJ's. The DJ/Producer/Entrepreneur/Endorsee often performs up to 3 gigs a day, has worked with brands like Bud Light and Scion, and takes no pause in the daily social-media documentation of his life. The person helping hold it all these multiple interests and creative endeavors together? Matt Colon. A legend in his own right, Matt is often sited as the reason EDM became what it is today.... a $6 billion dollar global business. He is co-founder of Deckstar, an all-star management firm with a roster full of new and well-known talent ranging Porter Robinson to Blink 182. One part counselor, one part creative director, and three parts business visionary, his job is to translate wildly creative opportunities into tangible business opportunities and vice versa. On Innovation Crush, Matt dishes on the ups and downs of the manager's role in (show)business, walks through his own origin story, highlights how tea

By the time she was 17, Jane Buckingham was already one of Oprah's Favorite Things. The book she authored a year earlier, Teens Speak Out, had served as an in-depth observation of the life and minds of teenage girls and caught the attention of the media mogul. Born the daughter of a psychologist and journalist, Jane continued her development as an observer of culture, and eventually created some of the world's most followed trend reports, including the coveted Cassandra Report. Along the way she has authored several books under a family of "Modern Girl" titles that identify every-day life-hacks and shortcuts for the modern woman. As a multiple award-winning industry thought leader, her company, Trendera, is highly sought after by corporations large and small for insights on consumer and cultural behavior. On Innovation Crush, Jane breaks down her history as an observer of culture, her challenges with work-life balance, how trend spotting works, gaps in diversity, and how to translate trends into actionab

Thought leaders from Mattel, Hasbro, Anki and the USC Annenberg Center for Innovation discuss the cognitive, social, and technological future of play. Sandbox Summit has spent the last five years creating a new type of playground for children by redefining traditional play patterns, as the lines between digital and physical play continue to blur. Sandbox Summit’s annual conference has brought industry leaders, educators and parents together to create a forum to create ways for children to incorporate technology into their play and become active innovators. See a video of the conversation here: https://vimeo.com/144449876 Panelists: Aslan Appleman, Sr. Director of Advanced Concepts, Mattel Erin Reilly, Managing Director and Research Fellow, USC Annenberg Innovation Lab Joby Otero, Chief Creative Officer, Anki Dan Judkins, VP, Design & Development, iPlay & Mobile, Hasbro

How do you raise 1.2 million dollars in only a couple years? Just ask 9-year-old, social good superhero and entrepreneurial powerhouse, Dylan Siegel. At age 6, the then-to-be author, philanthropist, merchandiser, chocolate connoisseur, and all around BOSS got it in his head that he would raise some money for his best friend's rare disease by writing a book. Per his own creativity, Dylan's effort quickly turned into a 7-figure fundraising collection of bracelets, hair ties, Hershey chocolate bars and books while sparking a global movement of kids and families creating their own ways to do the same. On Innovation Crush, Dylan and his dad discuss their journey, and everything from parenting (Dylan has 2 other siblings) to video games, dealing with press, to Dylan's vision for a mobile app that allows others to create their own movement. More at chocolatebarbook.com/

In the midst of US economic crisis, Skinner Layne made a bold and strategic move, relocating to Santiago, Chile. Soon after, the former political campaign adviser turned financial consultant, created Exopshere, an organization focused on entrepreneurial learning through a series scientific, emotional, and business educational experiences. With a collective goal to "Disturb The Universe," his team and advisory board boasts a global who's who of engineers, social scientists, and experts from almost every corner of business. On Innovation Crush, Skinner breaks down the success of Exosphere, demystifies our obsession with failure, and explores how every problem in business is a people problem. www.exosphe.re

Moran Cerf is widely known for his Grand Slam Award-Winning talk on The Moth where he intricately describes a series of hilarious events that took place when he broke into a bank. The former hacker, graphic designer, filmmaker turned neuroscientist slash professor slash marketing consultant has gone from professionally breaking into banks (paid for by the banks to test their security systems), to professionally breaking into brains (often paid for by brands). His studies of our ability to control emotion, using dreams to introduce or eliminate habits, the science of free will, simple decision-making and more have informed and entertained groups ranging from marketers to audiences at the World Economic Forum. On Innovation Crush, the anomaly that is Moran Cerf, discusses everything from making life transitions, defining his personal brand, the neuroscience of marketing, and that one time he was dead and alive at the same time. www.neuro-ex.com/

As CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Nancy Hill gets a birds eye view of the world's most dominant for force behind the world's greatest economy... advertising. From Madison Avenue, to Silicon Valley to the White House, Nancy and the 4A's deal with everything from educating future leaders, to political policy change, to regulating ethical business practices, to tackling diversity issues and probably a whole bunch of other top secret things we'll probably never know about. As the first female CEO of the 100 year old organization, she has faced many challenges, and at the same time has created a slew high-five worthy successes for the industry as a whole. On Innovation Crush, Nancy, talks about her own sense of integrity, how growing up in a small town molded her leadership style, technology's affect on the industry, and the future of the advertising industry. www.aaaa.org

Behind the Hustle, Samsung, and Innovation Crush bring together three of of the world's most creative designers for an exciting conversation spanning fashion, technology, entrepreneurship, business models, failure, and everything in between. Featuring Jason Mayden, former head of global brand design at Nike, and currently VP of Design at venture firm, Mark One; Chris Stamp, CEO of Stampd (currently as in market collaborations with Puma and GAP), and Spencer Nikosey, creator and designer of Kill Spencer. More info at www.behindthehustle.com

How do you get 10's of 1000's of people to do absolutely anything you want them do all at once? Just ask Elan Lee, alternate reality game pioneer, marketer extraordinaire, video game designer, and record breaking crowdfunding raiser ($8M for Exploding Kittens). As a failing high school student, Elan Lee was the first person in the world to photograph a sound wave; of course after inventing the method for doing so himself. As a winning story teller and entrepreneur, he has taken home coveted Clio and Emmy awards, and his inspired brands and fans all over the world to do the seemingly impossible. On Innovation Crush, Elan talks about his 3 step process for creativity, his numerous failures, his biggest wins, empowering crowds, and his completion of 46 room escapes (and counting). http://twitter.com/elanlee

At Sci Futures, Ari Popper and his team of visionary engineers, writers, and tinkerers play with the imagined future. With some of the world's top brands and corporations as clients, his job is literally taking science fiction from movies, books, and television and turning them to actionable products and services we can see today. From Visa to General Mills to Lowe's (for which they made a real life version of Star Trek's Holodeck), Ford, Crayola and more, Ari has been the puppet master pulling the strings to make the future happen now. On Innovation Crush, Ari discusses his tools of the trade, leaving his sales job, what he wanted to be as a kid, his workplace superpower, and what it takes to accurately predict the future through fiction. See Ari and others like him live at http://createtech.aaaa.org/#ct2015-1

Every company, city, social media platform, school, brand, and so on, talks about the idea of building community. But with few true successes to note, there questions abound as to how to do it. Enter Ava Bromberg. A former sculptor turned civic maven, Ava is the SVP of business development for LA's largest maker community and a beacon for "how to" rethink community design for today's technological and entrepreneurial city infrastructures. With over 860,000 sq feet, about a dozen floors, 100's of businesses large and small, and a 4 story wooden chair out in front just for kicks, LA's REEF, is one of the largest gatherings of creative-minded artists and businesses in the world. On this episode, Ava walks through what it takes to build a thriving, self selecting, collaborative, diverse, entertaining, and cohesive community...under one roof. In partnership with Innovation Week Los Angeles: http://www.innovate.la

"Innovation to me is purposefully making mistakes." - Dan Harmon Dan Harmon is an expert at building Community. Literally. He is best known for creating the TV series, COMMUNITY, loosely based on his time spent in community college. What he is also an expert at is not fitting in. Most Google search results will tell you he's brash, overly honest, combative, mean, or otherwise difficult to work with. Perhaps these are all side effects from when mad genius and creativity collide. Perhaps it all comes from place of knowing oneself and being confident in the fact that we're all human and emotional beings on an unknown journey. Stemming from his unique - let's call it "flair" - Dan has carved out lane after lane for himself, adored by fans and industry insiders for his books, his teachings, his personal philosophies, his podcast, his comedy, his honesty, and the overall unique way he sees the world. On this 100th episode of Innovation Crush, Dan continues his to bring us along on his quest for truth in all things

With 99 episodes complete, we've looked at ton of creative business and cultural problems solved by some of the world's top thinkers and doers. Now, joined by a few innovation brothers from other mothers, this episode is a brief look back at a few episodes, themes, guests, and concepts that have been examined over the past two years on Innovation Crush. And just in case you forgot: "Every week, Innovation Crush smashes convention to bits by profiling some of the world's most daring projects and the people behind them. From marketing ideas to technology innovations, disruptive business models, personal development, and everything between, IC is a one stop shop for all the "who-to-know" and "what-to-know" you'll ever need to know. Hosted by long-time idea maker, Chris Denson, the show serves up a giant helping of some of the best minds around the world, all with a heaping side of occasional bad jokes. Listen. Enjoy. Repeat."

"Innovation to me is... terrifying." Damian Kulash is best known as the front man of super genius creative musical group, OK Go. As the grandson of the inventor of the fish stick (real talk), it's no surprise that many of the inventive genes he comes from manifest themselves in his group's whimsical and audacious creative exploits. Whether art projects, dabbling in physics, tinkering with biology, creating visual illusions, or reinventing marketing; bringing their musical visions to life in far-more-than-interesting ways has always been a part of their creative and business culture. Fresh off a 2015 MTV VMA win ("I Won't Let You Down"), Damian visits Innovation Crush to talk about everything from having the second ever viral video on YouTube to maintaining team chemistry, working with brands, becoming a business man, to their process of printing an album on strands of DNA... and a few crazy things on their current creative wishlist.