The Unlikely Journey: Recent Episodes
Jess Furman, Steven Khuong, Natalise Kalea Robinson
Join three distinct entrepreneurs exploring "success" through vivid discussions of hustle and relationships with influential guests, from technology startup founders to music industry creatives. The Unlikely Journey supports the paths of people who do not follow preordained mainstream routes to success. Your age, experience, and gender do not matter here. The only prerequisite to having a seat at the table is a desire to grow. The Unlikely Journey welcomes anyone and everyone ready for the trek. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-unlikely-journey/support
Dr. Nathan Brown is the Co-Founder and CSO of Parallel Health. Nathan has dedicated his academic and professional career to phage science and innovation, with an expertise in microbial ecology and genomics. After completing his microbiology PhD, Nathan was funded in the UK by the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust to build phage therapeutics for bacterial-based illnesses. When he realized the efficaciousness and safety profile of phages, he was determined to bring phage science to the western world.
Nathan has a passion for preventative health and imagines a world in which health and hygiene are redefined by understanding the microbial world, while empowering people to optimize this vital parallel world they cannot see.
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Learn about the unlikely journey of Gabriela Vilaro. Gabriela is the scarce demographic that represents less than 1% of all venture capital investors in the world: female, Latina, immigrant. Gabriela traces her roots from her humble beginnings in Colombia to getting a full ride to Goergetown University and eventually earning her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Gabriela has 15 years of finance and investing experience across the consumer, technology and financial services sectors. She has helped a wide variety of companies, from early stage startups to large publicly traded multinationals, upgrade their finance, corporate development and strategic planning functions. Gabriela is the co-managing partner at Arbor Road Capital Partners, serves as a board director at Finaktiva, a high growth Latin American fintech company, and as Chief Financial Officer of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Northern California. Gabriela previously led finance for the Central Product Services division at Facebook, and was VP of Corporate Development at Zume Inc, a consumer-tech start-up. Earlier in her career, Gabriela was a senior investor at Investor AB, ($40bn AUM) and Quadrant Capital ($20bn AUM), where she invested in over 20 companies across the United States, Europe and Latin America.
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Learn how the unconventional life choices of Jana Hennig created one of the most "unlikely journeys" we've covered to date. Born in East Germany, Jana has lived and worked in 9 countries from big corporations to small startups, from nonprofits to the world of finance - to sex education, to chocolate marketing, to mushroom farming, to the Olympic Games to marine conservation, and more. We examine her unique path from childhood to the present, fueled by passion, ethics, and spiritual guidance.
Currently, Jana is the founder and executive director of a non-profit called Positively Groundfish that supports sustainable fisheries. Jana holds an MS in Environment Science & Resources and an MBA, both from Stanford University, and is fluent in several languages.
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Learn about the unlikely journey of Jeff Lee. Jeff is the CEO and Co-Founder of DIBS Beauty. He was previously the COO of ARod Corp, where he consulted and helped build multiple household names in beauty and wellness, totaling in the hundreds of millions in revenue.
During his legal career, Jeff practiced at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the most selective corporate law firm in the U.S., after three years at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He has worked on some of the most transformative mergers and acquisitions in the world, as well as numerous first-of-their-kind deals for clients ranging from AT&T and Diageo and Lands’ End.
Jeff received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, his JD from Yale Law School (where he served on the management of the Yale Law Journal and was Executive Editor of the Yale Law Journal on Regulation) and his BA from Stanford University. He currently serves on the alumni board of the Stanford Humanities Center.
A passionate advocate for women in leadership, Jeff regularly consults for PepTalkHer, an organization dedicated to closing the gender pay gap. Jeff received the Firestone Medal, Stanford’s highest research honors, for his work on examining ways to elect more women to presidencies in Latin America. He was also previously a member of the Glass Leadership Institute of the Anti-Defamation League.
And just for fun… Jeff received accreditations in personal training from National Academy of Sports Medicine and in jewelry from the Gemological Institute of America. He’s also been a host and coach for Miss Universe and a spokesperson for Equinox.
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Natalise Kalea Robinson, Jess Furman, and Steven Khuong provide updates on their businesses in Web3, Fintech, and DTC (direct to consumer). Jess discusses her new project DAOVerse while Natalise's Parallel Health was recently mentioned in Fast Company as a "World Changing Idea." Finally, Steven talks about the new phase of Curacubby's growth. This episode delivers real-time insight into the respective businesses operated by the three co-hosts.
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Learn about the unlikely journey of Nell Derick Debevoise, writer, speaker, facilitator, entrepreneur, and CEO. Nell Derick Debevoise has studied adult learning, innovation strategy, intercultural education, and organizational psychology at many of the world’s top universities (Harvard, Columbia Business School, London Business School, Cambridge, Sorbonne Nouvelle, and Università di Roma), starting with a public school education in Hartford, CT. She has lived and worked in the private, public, and for-profit sectors on four continents, supporting refugees in the Middle East; teaching corporate executives in New York about Stakeholder Capitalism; and mediating between Turkish and Cypriot officials.
This diverse experience revealed two related problems that led Nell to create Inspiring Capital. First, business professionals, and their organizations, crave ways to connect their work to a larger purpose. And on the other hand, social and environmental change cannot be left to the not-for-profit sector alone - all organizations must contribute to solving the critical problems of our time. A certified B Corp, Inspiring Capital engages, develops and inspires purpose-driven professionals in Fellowship programs, blending independent, peer, and expert learning - with a mission to shape fairer, healthier, more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative teams, organizations, communities, and economies.
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We get feedback all the time, from friends, family, coworkers, managers, investors - the list goes on. Sometimes the feedback is conflicting. What do you do with conflicting feedback? Learn how to manage feedback productively with case studies from Natalise Kalea Robinson, Steven Khuong, and Jess Furman.
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2022 is here and we are living in a brand new (brave new) world. Technology is advancing at rates so fast we can't keep up with its terminologies. What is in store for humanity this year and beyond? What is the metaverse (hint: it's not META formerly known as Facebook)? What are the implications of the "alternative reality" on life as we know it? Steven Khuong, Jess Furman, and Natalise Kalea Robsion make their predictions on Episode 1 of Season 2 of The Unlikely Journey!
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What's on your reading list? Natalise Kalea Robinson, Jess Furman, and Steven Khuong share their favorite books on this episode, including writings on process management, sociology, psychology, spirituality, and high stakes business dealings, as well as a story about "timeless" love.
Books discussed on this podcast:
Getting Things Done by David Allen
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Neffenegger
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen
Red Notice by Bill Browder
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
The State of Affairs by Esther Perel
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
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How does physical fitness impact performance at work, in relationships, and in our lives in general? Natalise, Steven, and Jess explore the world of physical training and expose their personal routines to keep the mind, body, and spirit operating at optimal levels.
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Learn about the unlikely journey of Major Nick Salinas, U.S. Special Forces "Green Beret," and serial entrepreneur. Nick is an officer in U.S. Army, having served as a special ops commander and completed many tours over the course of two decades, including in the Middle East. After a simultaneous stint at Amazon, Nick has ventured into the entrepreneurial world in the construction, culinary, and health and wellness industries.
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There will be a time in our lives when we are struck by the feeling of doom. Catastrophes are contextual but nonetheless wreak havoc on our emotional state if we let them. Learn about Jess, Natalise, and Steven's history with catastrophes and some strategies they've used to overcome the stress and anxieties associated with their experiences.
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NFT is the hot buzzword these days, but the meaning and application remain elusive to a great degree. Jess, Steven, and Natalise discuss cryptocurrencies vs. traditional exchange of goods and services, and how NFTs can be leveraged, in particular, in the entertainment industry.
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What is company culture? Jess, Steven, and Natalise discuss the intricacies that form the cultures at their respective companies: Sound Revolver, Curacubby, and Parallel Health.
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Change is inevitable. Keeping this perspective top of mind is as critical as anything else in the world of business execution. Jess, Natalise, and Steve discuss when to push, pivot, or fold.
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Learn about the unlikely journey of successful Silicon Valley executive and investor, Rishi Taparia. Rishi is currently Managing Partner at Garuda Ventures and Strategic Advisor at Legion Technologies. Previously, Rishi served as Vice President of Business Operations at Poynt, a hardware and software company building a commerce and payments platform for businesses, Rishi joined as the company’s first non technical hire and was responsible for scaling the company’s business and operations globally.
Rishi joined Poynt from Matrix Partners, an early stage venture firm where he sourced and supported companies including Canva, ApartmentList and Bugsnag. Prior to Matrix, Rishi was an investor at Scale Venture Partners. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in the Financial Institutions group. Rishi graduated with honors from Northwestern University where he obtained a B.A. in Economics and Communications. He currently lives in Orinda with his wife Nisha and son Ishaan and daughter Alia. As Canadian citizen of Indian origin who grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia who has made his way to California by way of Chicago and New York “Where are you from?” is always a difficult question to answer.
Follow Rishi on all of his channels:
Twitter: Twitter.com/taps
Substack: taps.substack.com
Personal website: rishitaparia.com
Investment: garudaventures.com
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June is Pride Month. We pay homage to the LGBTQ / LGBTQIA+ community. Jess leads a brief history lesson on Pride Month and the Stonewall Riots. We discuss the commercialization of Pride and its implications, as well as LGBTQ / LGBTQIA+ representation in vertical industries.
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Happiness - the elusive treasure. How do you find it? Is the pursuit of happiness a fruitless endeavor? Natalise, Steven, and Jess explore achievement vs. fulfillment, the vacation dilemma, and environmental impacts on experiencing joy.
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Transitions in life are never easy. Are comfort and stagnation synonymous? Is growth always painful? Natalise, Steven, and Jess share their unique journeys and dissect what it took to pivot careers, identities, and perspectives. They also dive into gender and equality issues across various industries, including tech and music.
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Learn about the unlikely journey of actress, singer, songwriter, and model, Nina Bergman. Nina was born in Denmark and is the granddaughter of Russian actor Pavel Kadochnikov (Ivan The Terrible). She spent her early childhood traveling around Europe with her Russian Gypsy grandparents. After her parents divorced she lived with various family members. At 14 she received a scholarship to the musical theatre school Urdang Academy in London. A year later she found herself in Moscow attending the Bolshoi Theatre. From there she went to NYC and got accepted to NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She got her first agent and began booking various jobs in plays, movies, commercials, modeling, and also started singing in underground bands.
Being an adrenaline junkie, she found herself making extra money as an amateur boxer which later on helped her book movies like “The Car”, a remake by Universal Pictures, and the long-time awaited “DOOM” movie also with Universal Pictures. Her performance in “Assassin X” earned her the honorable mention award for Best Actress from the AOF International Film Festival for her role as the notorious Trinidad. She starred as “Wonder Woman” directed by Jesse V Johnson starring Timothy V Murphy and Marina Sirtis and also played a cold-hearted killer in “The Wayshower” starring Peter Stormare and Eric Roberts. Plus, starring in “Know New Art”; a Newport Beach Film Festival project by the Freise Brothers and Biscuit Filmworks.
Her other work in LA includes starring opposite actors like John Malkovich, David Arquette, Vivica Fox, Ron Perlman. She has done numerous skits on The Late Late Show with James Corden and Craig Ferguson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and hosting various shows like E! Entertainment, Fuse, and The Grammys as a Trophy Girl. Her reality show credits include Battleground Earth with Tommy Lee and Ludacris. Plus, Hollywoodfruer the Danish acclaimed TV show. A passion for the stage drew her back to her roots as she performed in various plays such as The Cherry Orchard with A Noise Within and her favorite, the portrayal of Marlene Dietrich in Garbo’s Cuban Lover with the Macha Theatre. Her theatrical agent introduced her to Paul Anka who shortly after began managing her music career and helped her sign a 6 album contract to Warner Bros. Record with Rob Cavallo. They called her new solo project N.I.N.A. which led to her current band “Letters From The Fire”. They released a full-length self-titled album available everywhere and have been touring promoting the album.
Nina worked on soundtracks for Lions Gates Movies singing the theme song for Catacombs and Repo the Genetic Opera and Sharknado. She sang the end title song in Black Limousine and was the voice on the soundtrack for All about Her. Additionally, she performed live for the World Series and the NCAA College Football Season. Music Videos: She starred in Gnarls Barkley’s video Gone Daddy Gone, Sick Puppies video All the Same, and Trey Songz Foreigner. She has been seen in over 40 commercials and hundreds of print campaigns. Ranging from La Perla to Apple Computer, Sprite, Nike, and her well-known Nature Valley and Dos Equis with the Most Interesting Man in the World. Her most recent commercial campaign is the Carl’s Jr. Beyond Meat.
Outside of her career, Nina is an avid animal rights activist with an active voice for the ethical treatment of our companions. The lifelong vegan champion for animals continues to participate in numerous charities.
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What is wealth? How do you define it? How do you grow it? Natalise, Steven, and Jess dive into the intricacies around wealth building by analyzing the risks and rewards when leveraging career vs. entrepreneurship. Highlights include the systems of Mark Divine and anecdotes from the Academy Awarding winning film Nomadland.
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How do you successfully transition from one brand to another, deal with imposter syndrome, and build sustainable systems to uplevel your career in the midst of chaos? Jess, Steven, and Natalise dig deep into these topics as well as share some insights about Stanford University and NYU in Episode 2 of The Unlikely Journey!
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Get to know Jess Furman, Steven Khuong, & Natalise Kalea Robinson in Episode 1 of The Unlikely Journey as they discuss Tony Robbins, building wealth, the entertainment industry, owning multiple identities, and how to grow from it!
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