What Do You Do? with Rodolfo Cooper: Recent Episodes
Rodolfo Cooper
Podcast dedicated to learning about the day-in-the-life of various professionals through interviews.
How does a Community Development Officer for a bank make a difference in the community?
Listen to Aarika Plunkett, Community Development Officer of Independent Financial, discuss her experiences, how she is able to help those who are underprivileged in the community, great advice and much more.
Listen to Daniel Gilbert, a Managing Director in distressed strategies private equity, as he discusses what distressed private equity is, what private equity is, his experiences, great advice and much more.
Listen to Sylvia Epps, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer and Director of of Research Operations at Decision Information Resources (DIR), discuss her experiences, what DIR does, what she loves about what she does and much more.
Hear the latest in cybersecurity and more from a leading Chief Information Officer, Paul Falor. Listen as Paul discusses leading a company from technology transformation, cybersecurity and much more.
What does an estate planning attorney do?
Listen to Attorney Alecia Jones discuss providing counsel for legacy planning, family & employment law, running Jones Legal, the steps she took to get to where she is, great advice and much more.
What does a foreign exchange sales person do?
Listen to Aspasia losifellis, Managing Director in Foreign Exchange Sales, discuss her experiences, the steps she took, the foreign exchange markets, great advice and much more.
Listen to Malik Boykin, Ph.D., psychology professor at Brown University, discuss his experiences in the psychology research field, overcoming adversity, his song Dancing for Freedom, great advice and much more.
Listen to Dr. Semhar Olubunmi, Executive Medical Director - Anesthesia Services discuss her experiences, medical school and residency and much more.
Listen to Yasmin Cruz Ferrine, General Partner and Co-Founder of Visible Hands VC (a venture capital firm focusing on underrepresented talent in the technology industry) discuss her experiences, helping to build technology startups, great advice and much more.
Listen to Ross Fabricant, Director of Data Science at CenterBook Partners LP, discuss his experiences, using programming and data science for investment opportunities, great advice and much more.
What is it like being a senior corporate counsel at Pfizer during the 2020/2021 Pandemic?
Listen to John Miller, Senior Corporate Counsel, discuss his experiences in intellectual property law in the medical field, his steps to get to where he is, working in the pandemic, great advice and much more.
Listen to Radhika Rajendra, senior executive respiratory sales representative, discuss her experiences, the steps she took to get to where she is, great advice and much more.
Listen to Dr. Michael Hole, discuss his experiences as a board-certified physician, a professor of pediatrics, population health and public policy, his many ventures including being the executive director of The Impact Factory, a cross-sector hub for social innovation, entrepreneurship and service learning and much more.
Dr. Hole, who earned his MD and MBA from Stanford University and completed his residency at Harvard Medical School was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016 and is a member of Mensa.
Listen to Harold Rayfield, therapist and licensed professional counselor in Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas discuss mental therapy, his experiences, his road to where he is and much more.
What is the difference between management consulting and other forms of consulting?
Listen to Kim Muhota, a management consultant and Head of Financial Services, North America at the consulting form he works for discuss his experiences.
What is a real estate developer?
Listen to Acho Azuike, Chief Operations Officer and Managing Director of DC Partners (a real estate development and investment firm), discuss real estate development, his role as the chief operations officer, his projects including the new Thompson Hotel in San Antonio and much more.
Listen to Maya Cooper discuss her experiences as a senior research scientist in the space food labs for NASA. Maya discusses figuring out foods astronauts who will be going to Mars would eat, different experiments she ran, how she got to where she is today and much more.
What does a sales manager of a luxury hotel/resort do?
Listen to Marlon Davis discuss his experiences as the Sales Manager at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Also, listen to Marlon discuss his fantastic YouTube show, the Main Dish with MD.
What do we know about the formation of first stars?
Listen to Anna Schauer, astronomer and hubble fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, discuss her experiences as an astronomer, her steps she took, an idea to have a telescope on the moon, the formation of the first stars, minihalos and so much more.
What is brand marketing?
Listen to Kevin Hamilton, head of brand marketing, public relations and strategy at Avocados from Mexico discuss brand marketing, Avocados from Mexico, his experiences and much more.
Listen to Jawad Abdul-Jabbar discuss his experiences as a musical artist, a healings artist and much more.
Listen to Zakiya Thomas, Director of the Posse Foundation, discuss the foundation, her role and responsibilities as the director and much more.
Listen to Cory Klippsten, Founder and CEO of SwanBitcoin.com discuss bitcoin and his experiences starting and running SwanBitcoin.com.
In addition to being the CEO of SwanBitcoin.com, Cory also serves as an advisor to Unchained Capital, Bitcoin Venture Fund (TVP) and Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT), and is a partner in Bitcoiner Ventures. As an advisor he has supported more than $250M of fundraising since 2016, and as an angel has funded 20+ early stage startups. Before startups, Cory worked for Google, McKinsey, Microsoft and Morgan Stanley, and earned an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Chicago.
Listen to Anna Paglia, global head of ETFs and Indexed Strategies at Invesco, discuss running a $400 billion business, what got her involved with finance and ETFs, great advice for anyone and much more.
What caused the energy failure in Texas that left millions without power, heat and water?
Listen to Ed Hirs, Energy Fellow and lecturer at the University of Houston, discuss the causes of this energy failure and what needs to occur to ensure this does not happen again in this special episode.
Listen to Preston Cherry, Ph.D. discuss his experiences as the founder and president of Concurrent Financial Planning, what got him involved in financial planning, the steps one takes and much more.
www.concurrentfp.com
What is a dramaturg?
Listen to ShaWanna Renee Rivon, award-winning and nationally renowned playwright, producer and dramaturg, discuss her experiences writing Deal Breakers (an NAACP nominated production), nationally toured features like Cheaper to Keep Her, and Marriage Material (starring Vivica A. Fox, Brian McKnight and T-Boz), starring as a series regular on cartoon shows like Strawberry Shortcake (as Rasberry Torte), The Bratz (as Sasha) and The Care Bears (as Cheer Bear) and much more.
ShaWanna has two plays streaming this Winter/Spring, being produced by two theatres, and the best thing about that, you can watch them from any place! If you have the time, please support. Please note---These plays are not suited for kids! Power to the Queendom—February 18th-22nd (Due to Covid, this play will be presented as a sound play) Houston, 1970. Four female members of the Black Panther Party are put in a hostage situation with a Policeman while trying to prevent the death of their leader, Carl Hampton. Based on real events. To stream please visit: https://www.recroomarts.org/power-to-the-queendom Old Black & White Hollywood—April 16th-May 16th (You can sign up now) Hollywood, 1954. A racy Black female comic, Doris Jean, tries to break into Hollywood without playing the tropes of a maid, and ends up creating a hilarious sketch show with a White actress, Eva Rose. Once stardom happens Doris Jean finds out how far a Black actress has to go to make it in Hollywood during Jim Crow. To register please visit: https://www.alleytheatre.org/plays/production-detail/old-black-and-white-hollywood
Listen to Colin Zima, Chief Analytics Officer at Looker, discuss his experiences in analytics, going from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, helping build Looker from a company of a handful of employees to what it is today and much more.
How does analytics help with selling athleisure wear?
Listen to Onaje Barnes discuss his experiences as a strategic account executive at Nike, his experiences as a buyer, his steps to get to where he is and much more.
Listen to Brian Davis, sportswriter for the Austin American Statesman covering all things Longhorns, discuss his experience as a sportswriter, conversations with coaches like Tom Herman and Bobby Knight, the state of Longhorns football and basketball, advice for people getting into the industry and much more.
Listen to Zarin Machanda discuss her experiences as a primatologist, her amazing studies on chimpanzees, her explorations in rainforests and much more.
Kibale Chimpanzee Project | Research, conservation, and education (wordpress.com)
Listen to Dr. Drew Brown discuss his experiences as an orthopedic spine surgeon, the education and steps it took to become one and much more.
www.db4spine.com
What is it like being the associate counsel of an NFL franchise in your hometown?
Listen to Sunil Jamal discuss his experiences as associate counsel of the Houston Texans, the steps he took, great advice for those getting into law and much more.
What does a Director of an art gallery do?
Listen to Lise Ragbir discuss her experiences as director at Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) at the University of Texas at Austin, which goes on behind the scenes at art galleries and much more.
Did you know that there are pharmacists who have clients and provide direct patient care? Listen to Sylvester Agbahiwe discuss his experiences as a clinical pharmacist, the steps he took to become one, what he loves about what he does and much more.
Have you ever thought about buying a company and wanted to know how to go about it? Listen to Ben Hartman, President & owner at MRT Laboratories discuss how his experiences as an engineer, investment banker and MBA student helped him to be able to buy and run the MRT Laboratories.
www.mrtlaboratories.com
Have you ever wondered what it's like to direct a movie? Listen to Ya'Ke Smith, film director at Exodus Filmworks and associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Texas' Moody College of Communication, discuss his experiences.
Listen to Alonzo White discuss his experiences being a commercial mortgage-backed securities trader, working on Wall Street, the steps he needed to take to get to where his is, great advice and much more.
Listen to Colin Morrison discuss his experiences as a biologist and more specifically an ecologist, his travels around the world, the interesting things he's seen and discovered, how he got to where he is today and much more.
Colin is part of a group of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin's Invasive Species Project based at Brackenridge Field Laboratory in Austin who were the first to publish a story in Texas that four native species of prickly pear cactus — and the species that rely on them — face a serious health threat from the cactus moth.
Invasive Cactus Moth Likely to Spread and Destroy Native Prickly Pear (utexas.edu)
Listen to Natasha Eubanks discuss her experiences creating and running TheYBF platforms, working on the radio like The Big Boy Neighborhood, working on tv like her experiences on The Real, being invited to the White House, her advice for future entrepreneurs in her space and more.
Natasha Eubanks is the creator of Young, Black & Fabulous, one of the largest and most influential celebrity entertainment digital platforms. She started the blog as a hobby in June 2005 while in her first year of law school. Natasha noticed there was a lack of African-American celebrities represented by mainstream media, and decided to create a lane for celebrity gossip and entertainment news. She has expanded into hosting The YBF Podcast and serving as a pop culture expert. Today, Natasha has developed YBF into a full-fledged business that enjoys a readership in the millions. The brand shines light on the fabulous side of Black Hollywood, as well as the drama that makes Hollywood, Hollywood.
@TheYBF On Twitter
@TheYBF_Daily on Instagram
TheYBF.com on Facebook
Listen to Lewis Ward, co-owner of Wards Barbershop, discuss being a barber, running a barbershop, the steps he took and much more.
Home | Ward’s Barbershop
Listen to Ryan Nunes, Founder and CEO of Life Changing Capital, a private equity real estate firm, discuss getting into real estate, investing in multi-family units, bringing experiences from Wall Street, giving back to the communities and much more.
Corporate - Life Changing Capital
Listen to Jason Lamin, founder & CEO of Lenox Park Solutions, discuss his experiences being a CEO of a FinTech company, starting a company, changing his company from a consulting company to a technology company, diversity, equity & inclusion, the importance of a great board of directors, a liberal arts education and much more.
Lenox Park Solutions, Inc is a financial technology company that is doing some amazing things in the asset management space by connecting investment professionals to investment opportunities, helping clients manage fundraising, deal pipeline, business development, operations and more.
Home - Lenox Park Inc
Listen to Tai Quarles discuss her experiences being a wedding consultant, running her company Aisle Runners Wedding Consulting Services and much more.
Aisle Runners (weddingconsultingservices.com)
Listen to Ben Couch discuss his experiences as a financial planning and analysis executive and corporate valuation leader.
Great conversation with Jeff Lewis to discuss everything from his experiences being a realtor, being a chef, being a motivational speaker, becoming an entrepreneur, battling Multiple Sclerosis, becoming a Multiple Sclerosis Ambassador, his faith and so much more. This was a very inspirational interview and I hope you enjoy it.
Listen to Marcus Cole discuss his experiences as a commercial airline pilot, a 20 year Navy pilot and an independent health coach.
Listen to Deirdre Shoemaker, Ph,D. discuss her experiences being a physicist and professor, her love of black holes, her recent discoveries and more.
Deirdre and a team of international scientists recently released an updated catalog of gravitational wave detections, more than tripling the number of confirmed events. The catalog includes the heaviest black hole binary system detected so far, the second detection of a binary neutron star merger, two black holes with different masses and the merger of a black hole with a curious object (either the lightest black hole or the heaviest neutron star detected so far).
https://cns.utexas.edu/news/a-cornucopia-of-newly-confirmed-gravitational-wave-detections
Listen to, Janay Anderson, the bestselling author of I Love My Curls discuss her experiences in becoming an author, being a hair esteem coach and a self-esteem coach.
https://ilovemycurlsbook.com/
Listen to Dr. Karen Kaufman discuss her experiences as a board certified allergist immunologist, what she sees on a day-to-day basis and how she got to where she is today.
www.kaufmanallergy.com
Listen to Mewael Ghebremichael, co-owner and chief production officer at a mortgage bank, NRL Mortgage, discuss what he does, the mortgage lending and banking industry, how he got to where he is and much more.
SPECIAL EPISODE - We spoke again to Karen Andersen, senior equity research analyst / healthcare strategist, to get an update on the the recent Covid-19 vaccine developments. Listen as she breaks down the trials, timeline, side effects, dosage, cold storage and much more.
Karen has done some amazing research on the epidemiological and healthcare aspects of the pandemic, and her projections on vaccine development. She ranked first in the biotechnology industry, and had the highest score overall, in The Wall Street Journal’s annual “Best on the Street” analysts survey in 2013, the last year the survey was conducted.
Listen to Ben Milliken discuss his experiences as an actor and producer.
Ben Milliken executive produced and stars in Paramount’s Mighty Oak, alongside Janel Parish, Raven-Symoné, Alexa PenaVega, and Carlos PenaVega. It was the first original film to hit theaters during the pandemic, and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Ben can also be seen in Sonora: The Devil’s Highway which was recently nominated for 10 Ariel Awards (Mexico’s equivalent to the Academy Awards). The movie can be streamed on Pantya, and internationally on Netflix.
Ben is known for his role as ‘Carter’ in season 5 of Amazon Prime's “Bosch” and ‘Tim’ in Blue Crush 2. He also directed the feature film Lake Alice, which starred Brando Eaton and screened at Sundance in 2017.
Listen to Rebecca Rooney discuss her experiences as a private wealth manager providing ultra wealthy individuals with financial services, explain the differences between the different private wealth models (private banking vs broker-dealer), her steps she took to get to where she is and more
Listen to Barbara Ostdiek discuss her experiences as a professor and senior associate dean of degree programs at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.
Listen to Pervis Talyor discuss his experiences as a life coach, his books, his background and stories and much more.
Listen to Def Jam Blaster discuss his experiences as a D.J., his start into the industry, the changes in the industry and much more.
Listen to Michelle Wallace discuss her experiences as an executive chef and assistant general manager, being a female executive chef, her journey and much more.
Michelle is the executive chef at the go-to barbecue joint in Houston, Gatlin's BBQ.
Listen to Karen Andersen discuss her experiences as a senior equity research analyst and the steps she took to get to where she is today.
Listen to Amos Olubunmi (Senior Legal Officer) discuss intellectual property law, breaking down his journey, the importance of mentorship and sponsorship, working for large law firms versus in-house and much more.
Listen to Jeremy Lamin, partner and co-founder of HunterLamin discuss his experiences of being a creative art director and the steps he took to get to where he is today.
Listen to Elliott Scheirman discuss his experiences running for a U.S. House seat, the Libertarian party and his stances and proposals.
Elliott is running as a Libertarian to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 2nd congressional district.
Listen to Andrew Vanderburg discuss his experiences as an astronomer, his discoveries and interesting things about the cosmos.
Andrew recently led an international team of astronomers in the discovery of the first intact planet found closely orbiting a white dwarf.
Listen to Kevin Knight discuss his company, Urban Events Global, what it took to start and run the company and advice for future entrepreneurs.
Urban Events Global was recently named by USA Today as a top 5 winner in the category of Best Adventure Tour Companies. The website is www.urbaneventsglobal.com.
Listen as Samantha Paulsen discusses her experiences as a scientist in the drug product development field.
Listen to Eddie Blackwell discuss his experiences as a global account executive and his steps along the way.
Listen to Daniel Wilson discuss his experiences as an interest rate derivatives marketer.
Listen to former Pro Bowl offensive linemen, Wade Smith, discuss his experience of being an executive director of a foundation (The Wade Smith Foundation).
Listen to Naqam Washington discuss his career and experience being a fitness expert.
Naqam Washington is a celebrity fitness trainer who has trained the likes of Diddy, Cassie, Charlie Cox, Derek Hough, and NBA legends Penny Hardaway, Patrick Ewing, and Kurt Thomas, as well as many others. In 2016, he designed the Arazi Fitness Gloves.
Listen to Matt Myers, Vice President of Earth X Capital, discuss his experiences helping climate tech companies. Matt leads the Earth X Capital department for Earth X, an international environmental nonprofit organization. He founded, developed and managed the nation's largest climate tech investment convening platform, the eCapital Summit. He is also the finance chair of Clean Energy for Biden, a network of clean economy business leaders and advocates organized to elect Joe Biden as President.
Listen to Bishop Foreman discuss his experiences as a bishop, a pastor, a musician, philanthropist, author and much more. Bishop Foreman, PhD., often called “The People’s Bishop,” founded and currently leads the Harvest Church in Aurora, CO, and is in the process of opening a new church in Atlanta, GA. He is the Founder and Chancellor of Harvest Bible College and promotes healthy living with his program, #FitHarvest, after shedding 95 pounds himself. As an author, Bishop Foreman has written five books, including “Getting Your Finances in Order”, “Living in Favor Everyday,” a fifty-two week spiritual devotional, “Sins of the Fathers: Breaking Generational Curses” & "Evolutionaries," which you can purchase at the online store. In 2008, Bishop Foreman launched the Harvest Foundation, which puts on community-based events to meet the practical needs of the people, including the annual Back to School event. He has been a counselor and pastor to all levels of government officials, has had success with celebrity coaching, and frequently co-hosts TV and radio programs. As an entrepreneur, Bishop Foreman has created a step-by-step course to Building a Successful Business. He is considered one of Colorado’s most influential African Americans, and has been inducted into the Colorado Gospel Hall of Fame as well as awarded Colorado’s Pastor of the Year award.
Listen to Toni Harrison, award winning public relations executive, discuss her company Ten35, her experiences in public relations and crisis management and the steps she took to get to where she is today.
Listen to Kumar Vinnakota, law partner at Janik Vinnakota LLP, discuss intellectual property, his experiences as a commercial litigation attorney and steps he took to become a partner.
Kumar was recently appointed as a Master of the Bench at the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn American Inn of Court. It is the highest level attainable within any Inn of Court. Kumar was also unanimously elected to the Lynn Inn of Courts executive committee.
Listen to Byron Holden, a general manager at Snooze AM Eatery, discuss the hospitality business and his experience as a general manager.
Listen to Desmund King discuss his experiences as an investment banker, how he got onto Wall Street and some of the high profile deals he worked on.
Listen to Tommie Lee, Academy Principal of C.E. King High School, discuss his experiences as a principal.
Parker Meeks is the President of Infrastructure at TRC (a full service design and construction management firm) and leads over 1,000 employees. Listen to him discuss his experiences as the President, his past experiences in management consulting and the steps he took to get to where he is today.
Listen to Angela Johnson, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, discuss her experiences in investor relations in the real estate investment industry.
Listen to Clarence Estes, Executive Vice President of You Squared Media, discuss his experiences as a media executive.
Listen to Susan Morrice, Chairwoman of Belize Natural Energy (BNE), discuss her experiences as a geologist and famous wildcatter, building BNE (the #1 revenue generator in Belize and winner of the 2013 Get Energy Global Education award) and the Educo holistic business model.
Susan is the first woman to ever receive the Norman Foster Outstanding Explorer award, in recognition of her outstanding achievement in the exploration in petroleum.
Listen to Jason Catchings, President of Argo Wireless, discuss his company, RFID technology and being an entrepreneur.
Listen to Debra Cooper, Ph.D. discuss her career, her experiences as a chief consultant at the California State Assembly and the steps she took.
Listen to 2020 Bravo Award winner, Sergeant Jeremy Lahar, discuss his experiences as a Houston Police Officer.
Listen to Mickey McGill describe his experiences as a private wealth financial advisor.
Do you ever wonder what a museum curator does? Listen to Malcolm Daniel, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston discuss his experiences and what a curator of photography does.
Listen to Amanda Edwards discuss her experiences as a public servant and her perspective of what it means to be a public servant.
Listen to Dr. Francis Ali-Osmon discuss his experiences as a trauma surgeon and what it takes to be one.
Listen to the experiences of U.S. diplomat, Lisa Buzenas, and learn about working for the U.S. Department of State.
Listen to Dr. Richard Harris discuss his experiences as an internal medicine physician working with preventive care, lifestyle medicine and getting to the root cause of chronic disease.
Listen as Toni Wallace discusses her experiences as an appointed and elected judge. She also discusses being the very first Black female judge in Fort Bend County.
Listen to John McClain, Pro Football Hall of Fame sportswriter, discuss being a sportswriter and his experiences.
Learn about what it took for Dr. Bernard Harris to become an astronaut, his experiences and his perspectives.