The Intersection
By The Intersection
Hosted by Matt Smith.
The IntersectionFeb 27, 2023
Matt's Entrepreneurial Journey: 8 Years Distilled In 30min
Chicago’s #1 Music Business Lawyer: Artists, Understand Your Value!
Eddie is a seasoned professional in the music industry. As an attorney, he founded 'Protect and Collect,' specializing in intellectual property. He's taught at SAE, is an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago, and has spoken at major events like South by Southwest. Sometimes Eddie is a DJ! Eddie is deeply ingrained in Chicago's music and cultural ecosystem. Follow Eddie on Instagram or visit his law firm’s website with the links below:
Eddie’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandersesq/
Eddie’s Firm, Protect & Collect: https://www.sandersesq.com/protectcollect
The Stitch Gawd on Making Custom Jackets For Kendrick, Bad Bunny, and Kanye
Emma Mckee is a legendary cross stitcher. In 2014, Emma stitched her first piece: An adaptation of Will Prince’s artwork for Chance the Rapper’s song “Hey Ma.” She followed that with a piece for street artist JC Rivera, Chicago’s “Bear Champ.”
Her portfolio expanded from there, as she firmly planted herself within Chicago’s rap community, as the scene’s preeminent — and only — hip-hop cross stitcher, earning the name Stitch Gawd
.Since 2014, she’s created countless pieces for musicians and artists both in and outside Chicago.
Follow Stitch Gawd on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestitchgawd/
View Stitch Gawd's online store: https://stitchgawd.com/store
Sam Thousand on Unity Through Art
Sam Thousand is a musician, event curator, and director. Sam speaks on his career in the performing music space, his vision to create ChiBrations to bring more discoverability to the rising arts scene in Chicago, and how he believes art has the potential to unify us in incredible ways. #mattsmith #theintersection #theintersectionpod #theintersectionpodcast #samthousand Follow Sam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samthousand/
Zehra Naqvi: From Art History to Venture Capital & Crafting Authentic Communities
In my interview with Zehra, we discuss how her understanding of art history informs her work in Venture Capital. We talk about the events she curates in New York, from breakfasts and panel discussions to pottery classes and workout sessions. Zehra emphasizes the value of genuine engagement, diversity, and community-building, highlighting the need for meaningful connections and respecting participants' time.
Follow Zehra on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zehranaqvi_
Chris Vergara on Mastering The Creative AND Business Sides Of Directing. Shooting for Chance The Rapper, G-Eazy and more
Chris Vergara is an up and coming Director & Creative strategist. Chris has directed videos for Chance The Rapper, G-Eazy, SuperStarKami, Dry Boy, and more… Not only music videos, but Chris has made corporate videos, travel videos, short documentaries, Chris has done it all.
Chris and Matt have a unique shared history, meeting each other as budding entrepreneurs in the creatives scene and growing along side each other since.
Chris speaks on his journey in the field, his own creative process & how he goes about his work, & passion for treating his creative work simultaneously as intimate art but as a business product and figure how the best strategies to market it.
Jaeson Ma on starting 88Rising, Bridging East & West, Moving Culture Forward
Matt interviews Jaeson, the founder of 88rising and OP3N. Jaeson shares his incredible story of growing up in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s and how he was exposed to hip hop culture, kicked out of three high schools, became a youth pastor, paying Bruno Mars only $1,500 to record four Christian rap tracks with him before the fame, and even being mentored by MC Hammer who brought him around the early buildings of YouTube, PayPal and more. Jaeson talks about East West Ventures and 88Rising, bridging gaps between the east and west through entertainment and technology.
Jamie Cho on The Creator Economy And Empowering Creatives
Jamie Cho is a marketing lead at Wildr, working to make social media a more positive space. Her background is focused on consumer social & our conversation was focused around empowering creatives in the creator economy.
Follow Jamie:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoonseojamiecho/
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/itsjamiecho
#theintersectionpodcast #nostopmatt #theintersection
Ruben Harris Breaks Down The Future Of Job Training
Ruben Harris is the CEO of Career Karam, the number one destination for career guidance & the largest platform to help workers find job training programs and get jobs in tech. Rubin has helped tens of thousands of people get into tech and inspire people to see that you can get into tech regardless of how much experience you have, where you come from, what school you went to, or what struggles you've been through. Career karma has raised over $50 million to date. Ruben has advised the cities of San Francisco and Miami on workforce development. He was a professional cello player. He has a deep love for Japanese culture, just like me, not to mention he's rubbed shoulders with the likes of Alexis Ohanian, Jeezy. Sway In The Morning, Tim Cook, Gary Vee, Mariah Carey, and more.
Follow Ruben …
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rubenharris
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvxlGJyvbwg/
Georgia Dienst on Google X, Coaching CEOs, Global Entrepreneurship.
Georgia Dienst's background includes Google, Google's Innovation Lab Google X, Kernel innovating in the field of neuroscience and neuromedicine. Today she's a CEO coach to VC backed founders. See her website: https://www.georgiadienst.com/ #theintersection #theintersectionpodcast #mattsmith
ThoughtPoet on Building A New Chicago From The Ground Up
Matt and Isiah ThoughtPoet Veney get deep into room for improvement in Chicago's creative scene and the city as a whole.
ThoughtPoet is a writer, photographer, community organizer. ThoughtPoet has been featured in The Field Museum, The Chicago Tribune, Essence Mag, Southside weekly, and The Chicago Reader. He’s done work with G herbo, Taylor Bennett, Vic Mensa, Chance the Rapper, and even grew up on the same block as Mick Jenkins!
ThoughtPoet captures so much history and humanity through his photography, he’s even considered a historian in some sense through the authenticity of his lens.
Follow the Thought Poet… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thoughtpoet77/
TroyFromChicago on Directing for Chance The Rapper, Joey Badass, Vic Mensa, NIKE, Roc Nation & More.
TroyFromChicago is a Emmy Award winning cinematic director and and photographer. His work has been featured in Billboard, TIME Magazine, the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Basel: Switzerland, and more. Troy has directed or been a part of the production of videos for Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper, Joey Purp, Super Start Kami, Joey Badass, Lucki, Matt Ox, and more..
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Follow Troy:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/troyfromchicago/
Website: https://www.troyfromchicago.com/
Follow Matt:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Enitain Bereola on 3X Best Selling Books, Largest E-commerce Platform for Black Businesses and more.
Enitan is a 3x best selling author on dating and relationships in the modern world. Enitan is the co-founder and creative director of FLOURYSH, the largest platform to shop and discover Black-owned businesses. He’s produced short films, been a keynote speaker at Stanford & Harvard, partnered on projects with Usher, even majored in computer science and interned at HP in Silicon Valley! Follow Enitan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bereolaesque/
FLOURYSH site: https://flourysh.com/ __________________ Follow Matt: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Sonia Nagar on Pritzker Group And Going From Founder to VC
Sonia Nagar is a general partner venture capitalist at the Pritzker Group. With a background in mechanical engineering, self-taught programming skills, an MBA from Harvard, and experience launching an e-commerce startup herself, Sonia has an impressive track record in the business-building world.
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Follow Sonia:
Sonia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonias3/
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Follow Matt:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Gale Wilkinson on VITALIZE VC, Angel Investing, and 10+ years in Venture Capital.
Gale Wilkinson is the founding partner at VITALIZE VC where she invests in early stage startups. Gale is well known as a venture capitalist in Chicago and on Twitter. democratizing access to angel investing through Vitalize Angels, the world’s first angel group for both accredited and non-accredited investors. ______ Follow Gale: Gale’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/galeforcevc?s=21&... Gale’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/galevc ______ Follow Matt: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Wally Green on Ping Pong in North Korea for Peace, Diminishing Ignorance, and more.
Wally Green is a professional ping pong legend. As US ambassador for ping pong, Wally has played in North Korea for world peace and diplomacy and represented the US all around the world in Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, Croatia, and more.
He’s been featured in the New York Times and Olympics.com. He’s been on the Steve Harvey show. He was featured in an award winning documentary called “The Tables”. He’s a TEDx speaker. And Wally is famous for being able to beat anyone in ping pong with just his phone.
Ian Brock on Dream Hustle Code, Getting Kids Into Tech, and "The New Nerd"
Ian Brock is the founder of Dream Hustle Code, making tech and being in the tech industry cool for kids that would have otherwise seen the space as lame or felt alienated by it. At only 18 years old Ian is an accomplished entrepreneur who has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Oprah, Steve Harvey, Ben Horowitz, G Herbo, Robert F. Smith, Eric Thomas and many more.
Follow Ian
Dream Hustle Code Website: https://www.dreamhustlecode.com/
Ian's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ian__brock/
Ian's Twitter: https://twitter.com/dreamhustlecode
Follow Matt
Matt's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Matt's Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Scott Kitun on SongFinch, TechNori, and disliking NFTs
Scott Kitun is the founder of Tech Nori, one of the truly OG startup content and community brands that contributed a lot to the startup ecosystem in Chicago over the years. Scott is the founder of Song Finch, a company that makes it easier for independent music artists to make money without having to be super famous, letting you make money from selling custom songs for people. Songfinch was named the 166th fastest growing company in 2022 by Inc magazine. Scott is also a founding partner at Off Center VC, a venture fund that backs non-traditional founders with a history of “never giving up”. Scott has a big footprint in the Chicago Tech and startup ecosystem. Follow Scott: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kitun Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitun/ SongFinch: https://www.songfinch.com/ Off Center VC: https://www.offcenter.vc/ __________ Follow Matt: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Kim Aponi on Chi Products, Being an Artist, Traveling, Trusting Intuition.
Kim Aponi is a fashion designer, event curator, painter, and all around artist. She is the founder of Chi Products, a clothing and design brand representing Chicago and the world. Her team is based out of New York. She’s worked with Adidas, Pyer Moss, and collaborated with Urban Outfitters. She’s on the Vic Mensa team and is tapped in with a lot of music talent in Chicago. From throwing several hundred person events in Chicago to moving her team to New York, she’s an all around creative super star!
Follow Kim:
Instragam: https://www.instagram.com/kimaponi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/exhalx Chi Products
website: https://chicagocreateslegends.com/
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Follow Matt:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
NoCapSawBuck on Punk, Hollyweird, Music, Being Yourself.
NoCapSawBuck is a recording artist, designer, and culture curator based out of Chicago. Follow SawBuck on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nocapsawbuckk/
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Follow Matt:
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Maddie Wang on Founders Communities & Community Building
Maddie Wang is the founder of Founders Cafe, an online support network made up of founders from Y-Combinator, Harvard, Stanford and more. She has a bunch of cool accolades including making $60,000 as a 13 year old off of a MineCraft server she ran, or making $120,000+ as a 19 year old off of her own Amazon store. Maddie worked on many startup projects through college and ended dropping out Stanford to work on Founder Cafe. As of this recording, Maddie travels around the world working on Founders Cafe as a digital nomad. Follow Maddie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lesbianbezos Contact Maddie: Maddie@founderscafe.io Check out Founder Cafe: https://founderscafe.io/ _________ Follow Matt: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Paige Finn on Behind Genius Ventures and Making VC Cool
Paige Finn Doherty is the Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures where they invest in the future of work and the future of play. She has a background in mechanical engineering, computer science, and building dope sh*t! She’s based out of San Deigo.
Behind Genius Venture’s Website: https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/
Follow Paige on Twitter: https://twitter.com/paigefinnn
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Follow Matt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Nait Jones on Chillin With Ye & Zuckerberg, Cultural Geniuses, And Being At a16z.
Nait Jones is an expert on the intersection of technology and culture. Nait was a partner at Andreessen Horowitz for 8 years where he led TxO, the Talent Opportunity Initiative. TxO is A fund that invests in and searches for cultural geniuses and founders with unconventional backgrounds. Nait Jones also helped create Royal, partnering with Nas and various other musicians to use NFTs to invest in music. Having no degree and living out of his car Nait moved to Silicon Valley where he rose the ranks and launched his own successful business. Nait has deep roots in the culture of Hip-Hop. Nait mentors many young founders, is close friends with Ben Horowitz, ran a show on ClubHouse where he garnered over 4M followers, lived in England and Germany as a child, and many other cool stuff you’ll hear in this episode.
Follow Nait on…
Twitter (best): https://twitter.com/NaithanJones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naitjones/
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Follow Matt on…
Twitter (best): https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
SoloCelo on Performing at SXSW & Summer Smash, Meeting ASAP Rocky, Going Viral on TikTok.
SoloCelo is a recording artist from Chicago now based in LA and very close friend of Matt’s since elementary school. Within the past year Solo has gone from a few 1000 to over 190,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. He’s built a small but growing loyal fanbase at the intersection of hip-hop, rock, pop, and rnb sound. He’s been featured in Gary Vee’s Monday to Monday playlist of upcoming artists to watch. He’s won the Rising Artist showcase hosted by Social Works in Chicago and performed at Summer Smash.
Follow Solo:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@solocelo_?lang=en
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/28iF2lSSdTB7jwUNQuh497
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solocelo_/
Follow Matt:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Sonny on Getting Offered 6-Figure Deals, Opening For Pusha T and more
Sonny is a recording artist and creative based in Chicago. He holds over 15 million streams on Spotify, been named an artist to watch by Lyrical Lemonade, featured in Vogue, opened up for Pusha T at Radius in Chicago and more. He's a part of a creative collective called High Life and is generally very tapped into the network of underground creatives and artists in Chicago.
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Follow Sonny Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3KDKJ7Z0kgJrQS1CH43PM4
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn7ZJ5xgLS5/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hatesonny
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Follow Matt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hatesonn
Jeff Osuji on Creating The Premier Event Platform For The Culture
Jeff Osuji is the founder of Eventnoire. The company has been the ticketing platform for Hyde Park Fest, Chance The Rapper Night At The Museum, Techrise, NBA Allstar Weekend Events and more. Jeff has a background in advertising, marketing, and hosting many events. Jeff & Eventnoire have been recognized and won pitch competitions with Google for Startups, Mountain Dew, P33, and more.
Contact & follow Eventnoire:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eventnoirehq/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eventnoire
Email: Jeff@eventnoire.com
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Follow Matt:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Claude Cimeus on Improving Chicago's Tech Ecosystem, Tech Week Chicago, And Chicago's Food Scene.
Claude Cimeus is an an entrepreneur, Director of Platform At P33, and has lead a new wave of tech events in Chicago post-covid. Most noteablely, Claude led Tech Week Chicago, a 3 day long series of panels, networking, after-parties, and even brought Pusha-T to the club! Claude only eats out so we talked restaurants in Chicago, sports, growing up in Haiti, working with political figures in Illinois and much much more!
Follow Claude:
on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClaudeCimeus
on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudecimeus/
on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claude-cimeus-37550874/
Check out Tech Week Chicago: https://gotechchicago.com/week/
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Follow Matt:
on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Senite on Backyard Shows To Headlining Concert Halls In A Year
Senite is a singer and song-writer based out of Chicago, IL. Within a year and a half she went from a very modest audience & performing in backyard stages to filling concert venue halls and pulling in over a million streams. She’s very connected to the hive-mind of super talented rising Chicago creatives and artists of all kinds.
Learn more about Senite
Senite's Website: https://www.senite.co/home
Senite's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_senite/
Senite's Twitter: https://twitter.com/seniteb
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Follow Matt
Matt's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Matt's Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Andy Dunn on BiPolar, Selling Bonobos For $300M, and His New Startup Pumpkin Pie
Andy and I both share Bi-Polar disorder and being an entrepreneur in the midst of struggling with episodes. Andy and I explore the complexities of Bi-Polar disorder and describe the shared experiences someone with Bi-Polar ends up going through. We talk improve the cost of support for mental health, selling his company for $300M, his book Burn Rate: “Launching A Startup and Loosing My Mind.” And his new venture and app Pumpkin Pie, a new social media platform to make platonic friendships.
Learn more about Andy:
Burn Rate Book: https://www.burnratebook.com/
Pumpkin Pie: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pumpkin... Bonobos (former owner): https://www.instagram.com/bonobos/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dunn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dunn/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyrdunn/
Follow Matt:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
Jewel Ifeguni on Bringing Representation To Tech & Media
Jewel Ifeguni is an associate producer at Decoy Games, a black-owned video game studio where only 2% of the gaming industry is made up of black people. She's the founder of You Matter Studios, a media studio with a focus on improving representation in media. And she has worked at Minecraft at Mojang at Microsoft as a Technical Project manager.
Follow Jewel here: https://www.instagram.com/jewelzofthenile/
Learn more about Decoy Games: https://www.decoygames.com/
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Follow Matt...
on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonstop.matt/
on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstopmatt
Baco on Being Dynamic And Thinking Outside The Box
Baco is a multi-disciplinary artist from Chicago, mainly focused on music.
Follow Baco on Instagram: @lovebaco
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Reach out to Matt on
Instagram: @nonstop.matt
Twitter: @nonstopmatt
Landon Campbell on Being a VC At 24 + Bringing More Early Capital To Chicago
Landon Campbell is an early stage investor at Drive Capital, a podcast host where he has interviewed the likes of Steve Wozniak, he’s a frequent event host in Chicago for technology and venture capital, and he’s a TedX speaker!
Reach out to Landon on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn (Landon W. Campbell)
Follow Landon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/landon20s
Follow Landon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/landon20s/
Learn more about Drive Capital: https://drivecapital.com/
Listen to Landon’s podcast: https://www.intheir20s.com/
Makafui Searcy on Creating An Art Renaissance And Running Fourtune House
Makafui Searcy is the owner of Fourtune House, a creative empowerment workshop and event space on the South Side of Chicago in Bronzeville. At 22 years old, Makafui has lead a way for empowering the creative development of young artists to access reassures and opportunities. Makafui’s inner circle consists of some of Chicagos most talented rising artist from musicians, to film makers, to visual artists and more. Makafui has a well-rounded mind and is an avid explorer from many counties to many disciplines.
Learn more about Fourtune House:
Follow Makafui on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makafuikofisearcy/
Follow Makafui on Twitter: https://twitter.com/makafuisearcy
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DM the Intersection on Instagram to contact us: https://www.instagram.com/the.intersection.pod/
Aaqib Usman on Launching Light Pong, Growing Up In Kuwait, and Moving To NYC From Chicago
Aaqib Usman is the founder of Light Pong, the world's first 1-Dimensional game console or you could say the world's first connected toy company. As of this recording, I happen to work for Light Pong! Aaqib is an entrepreneur with an extensive background in bringing together the physical and digital worlds. He's previously the founder of Midwest Immersive, a tech installation and tech-based experiential company where he did work for Verizon, Progressive and many other companies.
You can connect with Aaqib via...
Instagram: @immersive.aaqib
Twitter: @itsaaqib
Learn more about Light Pong at: playlightpong.com
or on YouTube: youtube.com/playlightpong
Gabe Tavas on Creating Artificial Wood To Combat Deforestation And BioTech
Gabe Tavas is the founder of Symmetry Wood. At Symmetry Gabe has developed Pyrus, a material made from bacteria that closely mimics wood to prevent deforestation.
Gabe and Symmetry won the national James Dyson award and have been featured in the World Economic Form.
Gabe is a long time friend of mine and we worked as co-founders for 3 years on and off on different projects.
Gabe is an avid maker-of-things, sustainability specialist, and materials specialist.
Learn more about Symmetry here: http://symmetrywood.com/
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The Intersection YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheIntersectionPod
The Intersection Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MXARDdPTmyuJra6uo1k3d
The Intersection Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection/id1317620369
Mirza Baig on Monk Mode, Fake Flexers, and Burnout
Mirza Baig is a software engineer and entrepreneur. He's the creator of an app called Monk Mode to help you stay on track of your desired habits, he created an event discovery tool for Muslim events at mosques around your area, and is building a coaching/therapy platform. He's also a founding engineer at Cash Drop.
Follow The Intersection on Instagram: The.Intersection.Pod
Ruben Flores on Creating Generational Wealth For Latinos World Wide
Ruben Flores is the founder and CEO of CashDrop. He’s on a mission to create as much generational wealth for Latinos world wide as possible. He’s a serial entrepreneur and I’ve actually had the pleasure of interviewing him two other times in the past.
@the.intersection.pod / all socials
@cashdrop.biz to follow CashDrop
DM me on Instagram for podcast inquiries @nonstop.matt
Jonah T. Wallach
Jonah is an amazing artist in graphic design, film, fashion, modeling, and music who has done work with large molding agencies including Photogenics LA and Anti-Agency as a model and media creator. Jonah has worked along side Tyler The Creator for GOLF (but didn’t wanna talk about it cause he’s tired of being recognized for that). Jonah has made various short films on his own and for large brands. Jonah has made a lot of amazing drawn and graphic art as stand alone works, for his clothing, and for various clients.
Check out Jonah’s work at: http://www.jonahtwallach.net/
Follow Jonah on Instagram @Jonah_of_arc
Email Jonah: jonahtwallach@gmail.com
This episode included conversation around: freeing yourself from being self-obsessed, what is truth & ego mascaraing as truth, going to college at USC, the culture of LA, status, making normal vs weird art, taking your art seriously vs playfully, not losing faith in your efforts, dressing intentionally, why privileged people should always be uncomfortable, empathy, and much more…
Matt has known Jonah since high school where they shared various classes and Matt watched Jonah just draw and draw and draw… Jonah even designed Matt’s initial logo for @hustlegurus (a documentary series about Chicago startups) and various song covers from when Matt rapped in high school and after.
Please share and review the show if you enjoyed this episode!
Prod. Ra & GoldenBoyMnny: Performing At Summer Smash, Working With SupaBwe, Not Getting Paid For 150M Streams, and Moving In Silence.
Matt finally interviews a couple of his best friends after years and years of working along side them and watching them grow… Ra Gordon and Emmanuel Isreal (GoldenBoyMnny) are two underground Chicago hip-hop legends in-the-making. Ra is an 18 year old producer who went from making beats in his family’s basement to working in professional studios all around Chicago and has managed to create songs with artists that have garnered millions of plays and is currently being mentored/managed by Chicago icon Freddy Burton AKA Supa Bwe. GoldenBoyManny has gone from making music videos for his friend’s YouTube gaming channel as a young teenager to securing a performing spot and official poster listing for Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash 2021.
Manny is the founder of a hip-hop collective called Exit The Premises (ETP) that both Ra and Matt are members of.
The three discuss Ra and Manny’s journey in the music industry, being genuine and using their authenticity to connect with other creatives in the music industry who have helped them rise up.
Follow Ra & GoldenBoyMnny:
GoldenBoyMnny:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvo40DLDYo9nZNSgJvr26w
Instagram: @goldenboymnny
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/goldenboymnny/1437734560
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/09yOJNztuGRIdAS1V3PZ8t
Ra:
Instagram: @prod.ra
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeVEjzysSteq4NKjAUKas6g
BeatStars: https://www.beatstars.com/ra_beats/tracks
Sir Trevor James & AM On: The Music Industry, Moving From Iran to Turkey to Chicago, and Building Their Brand “Collected”.
Sir Trevor James is a producer, creative director, and entrepreneur and AM (Amin Mashadi) is a music artist, both part of the “Collected” collective. We sat down and discussed their most recent fully self-product event “Collected As One.” We talked about their experience going to music-focused colleges in Chicago such as Columbia and SAE. We discussed best practices in the music industry, Trevor and Amin’s growing-up stories (including Amin moving from Iran to Turkey to Chicago and being split from his family multiple times for years on end. We ended with how they want to evolve as creatives from creating music for movies to hosting events for fitness and car shows and much more.
Follow Trevor and Amin:
Sir Trevor James:
Instagram: @sirtrevorjames
Website: https://www.sirtrevorjames.com/
Amin Mashadi:
Instagram: @its.amofficial
Website: https://www.itsamofficial.com/
Trip On Dropping Out High School, Craftsmanship & Building “Rips”, Influence Of Street Culture, and Becoming Multi-Disciplined.
Matt Interviews Jaylen who goes by Trip and @rips.chicago on social media. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago in Chatham one block away from Cottage Grove. Trip talks about the trials and tribulations that he went through growing up and being a truly loving person while still standing your ground. Choosing to be interested in stuff that may have been considered “weird” by his peers but still being accepted in crowds of very different kinds of people from the nerds to the streets. Trip talks about why street culture is glorified, the influence of music, and how people try to be “gangster” when they’re really just doing “foul sh*t” .
Trip talks about being involved in photography and videography, moving into fashion + craftsmanship + design of all kinds with his brand “Rips” that he is building up and how he respects and puts real effort into educating himself on the process of any creative discipline he learns. He touches on the value of quality and working with smaller suppliers who he loves to build relationships with where he can pay someone and it truly matters. He touches on the vision for Rips and how he wants to take the brand to a point where he can step away from it and work on other projects. He also touches on his spiritual beliefs and what he thinks motivates humans towards certain behaviors.
Follow Trip:
Instagram: rips.chicago
Twitter: @RIPSCHICAGO
Mental Health And Relating As Young Peers w/ Graeme Phillips
Matt talks with Graeme Phillips founder of Chicago Socrates, an artist collective and artist support network in Chicago. Graeme is a big advocate for mental health with his own stories of struggles and learning to work with the craziness of his own mind. Matt and Graeme discuss their own mental health stories in an open dialogue around working through the dark places that our minds can end up even when we least expect it and how to have empathy for those who’ve been consumed by temporary insanity. Plus, some philosophy and discussion on finding meaning in our lives.
Neither Matt or Graeme are formal experts in mental health or psychology, but have their own experiences and insights from those experiences to share.
Reach out to Graeme:
Personal Instagram: i.nstagraeme
Chicago Socrates: @chicago.socrates
Follow the host:
Instagram: @nonstop.matt
nonstopmatt.com
Living Life By Your Own Design w/ Hayden Humphrey
Matt interviews Hayden Humphrey a life coach and career coach. Hayden helps people break out of the “script” of how life is “supposed” to go and helps people live life by their own design.
Matt and Hayden talk about how to live a life that is an authentic reflection of you and how businesses can be more human, as Hayden calls it: “leading with love”.
Follow Hayden:
Instagram: @haydenashimself
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/haydenhumphrey/
Website: haydenhumphrey.com
Follow the host:
Instagram: @nonstopmatt
Website: nonstopmatt.com
Bryan Arriaga (Savybah) & Esteban Escobar (Made By Escobar)
On this episode Matt interviews Bryan Arriaga founder of Global WSDM and Esteban Escobar founder of Mayan Jade. Both heavily influenced by the city of Chicago and culturally aware, the three discuss Chicago’s beauties and flaws. Escobar gives you the scoop behind his latest work with Mayan Jade and his brand’s roots with Mayan designers in Guatemala + working on new furniture. Savybah talks about his mission with Global WSDM, collaborating on a new clothing piece with Escobar, and his experience going to every 77 neighborhood of Chicago for his new book Chicago 77.
Follow & Contact the guests:
Bryan Arriaga on Instagram @savybah
Esteban Escobar on Instagram @madeby_escobar
And his brand on Instagram … @mayan_jade
Getting Untaped Youth Trained & Employed In Digital Marketing + Coaching Entrepreneurs w/ Kevin P. Davenport
Kevin P. Davenport is the founder of Ideal Digital Chicago where they churn out youth by training them in digital marketing, working for Ideal Digital, and then getting them employed at a larger company. Author of the Ideal Candidate, Kevin knows that many disadvantaged youth grow up without basic life skills for living on their own and wrote a book plus created many workshops and events to help fill that gap. Kevin is an expert not just in unlocking youth potential and putting it to work but in coaching founders of all levels on his own as well as at the Chicago Urban League who are making $50,000-100,000 in revenue to grow their business. Matt and Kevin discuss his work and other topics such as improving education for entrepreneurship and diversity and inclusion in the corporate world.
Follow Kevin:
Instagram: @kevinpdavenport
kevinpdavenport.com
Crypto Currency Revolution w/ CoinFlipATM
Talking with Daniel Polostky, the founder and CEO of CoinFlipATM a crypto ATM for converting your cash into Bitcoin or other crypto currencies. Based in Chicago.
Diversity, Inclusion, And Race: Britney Robbins CEO of Gray Matter Experience
A really interesting conversation on how to leverage, include, and empower black and brown business owners in America and how that ultimately benefits us all and is in the interest of everyone to be involved.
Learn more about Gray Matter at: graymatterexperience.com
Listen to the full thing with links at: DoGoodCollab.Com
Three Young Midwest Creatives: NikosOnTheRun, Jared Avaloss, RoarJMckay
Matt Smith chats with NikosOnTheRun, Jared Avaloss, and RoarJMckay… Talking about their creatives process, where they draw inspiration from, advice for multimedia creatives, how we can do better business together and much more.
Follow them on Instagram:
Nikos: @NikosOnTheRun
Jared: @JaredAvaloss
John: @RoarJMckay
Freestyle Convo: Rob Baco, NoCapSawBuck, and Dutcho.
Matt Smith talks with 3 artistic and musical masterminds on the come up in Chicago about work and life.
Follow them on Instagram:
Rob Baco: @rob.baco
NoCapSawbuck: @nocapsawbuckk
Dutcho: @dutcho6700
Freestyle Conversation: Kevin P. Davenport
Matt Smith & Kevin Davenport talk entrepreneurship, taking care of yourself so that you can do better work, spirituality, and much more.
Kevin is a Chicago-based serial entrepreneur & social impact leader. He supports and uplifts other budding businesses and business founders. He is the author of The Ideal Candidate. His mission and vision is to build self-sufficient life and professional skills for 1 million youth, age 16-24.
Learn more about Kevin: theidealcandidate.org
Learn more about Do Good: DoGoodCollab.Com