In this episode, Rich and Gianni have lots to discuss. In a week of major headlines, they get into Naomi Osaka’s decision not to do media interviews at the French Open, which led to a fine, and ultimately to her decision to withdraw. Rich and Gianni tackle the complex sides of her decision, and what it means for one of the world's most influential athletes to declare her mental health a priority over competing in an event. They also give props to super agent, Rich Paul of UTA/Klutch Sports, following the New Yorker’s deep-dive on how he's impacted the business of basketball and helped fuel the player empowerment movement. They also chat about recent developments in the Crypto and collectibles space, and tease a big announcement on Sabrina Ionescu’s collab with Boardroom. Rich also gets personal, talking about challenging periods in his own life that have given him far greater empathy for people, including rich athletes, contending with mental health challenges. And of course, Rich and Gianni marvel at KD's performance in the playoffs, and the Nets tougher matchups going forward.

In 2012, as a high school junior from Flint, Michigan, Claressa Shields qualified for the Olympics and won a Gold medal in boxing. She won another in 2016, becoming the first US boxer to win gold at consecutive Olympic Games. As a pro, she's undefeated, and widely-regarded as the best female pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Seeking a new challenge, she's signed a deal with the Professional Fighters League and is now training for her MMA debut. On June 3rd, ESPN+ begins streaming a 4-part series about her bid to become an MMA fighter, with a live broadcast of her bout on June 10th.  Her compelling story has also been the subject of a documentary, “T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold" and is being developed into a motion picture written by Oscar Winner, Barry Jenkins, to be directed by Oscar-nominee, Rachel Morrison, the cinematographer of Black Panther. In this episode, she talks to Rich and Gianni about her tough upbringing in Flint Michigan, her father's role in introducing her to boxing, her admiration for Serena Williams, and the challenges of training in multiple disciplines to prepare for her first MMA fight. 

Haley Rosen was a collegiate soccer star at Stanford University, and went on to play professionally both in the US and Europe. But after an injury-shortened career, she moved back to Silicon Valley to work in tech. But motivated by the dearth of coverage of women's sports -- 44% of athletes are women, yet they only garner 4% of sports coverage -- she kicked off an Instagram page called Just Women's Sports. The page attracted a following, and convinced Rosen it could be scaled into a business. The solo founder and her team have now attracted a rabid fan base and venture investors including Spark, Andreessen Horowitz, Greycroft, and yes, 35 Ventures. Rosen talks to Rich and Gianni about how the rising visibility of women's sports and athletes in 2020 helped fuel her business launch; her appreciation for Kevin Durant's enthusiastic support for the platform, and much more.

On this episode of Out of Office, Rich and Gianni talk to Acorns co-founder Noah Kerner, who has extensive experience in founding and growing start-ups. This episode will cover Noah's career trajectory, including how he and his team have grown Acorns including throughout the challenges of the last year. Previous guests / episodes in line with the overall ethos of this episode include Dan Fleyshman(founder, Elevator Studio), Gary Vaynerchuk, & Dave Grutman (Groot Hospitality), all of whom built their businesses as start ups.

Ionescu, the budding WNBA superstar, and Sabathia, the recently-retired MLB All-star are at opposing junctures of decorated careers. Ionescu is just starting her WNBA career after putting together one of the most-decorated resumes in college basketball history. The child of Romanian immigrants, she shattered multiple college basketball records playing for the University of Oregon, where she ended up a Pac-12 all-time assists leader (breaking Gary Payton’s record), and the only NCAA D1 player ever to record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds. Named the best collegiate female basketball player in the nation, she was #1 pick in the 2020 WNBA draft, selected by the NY Liberty. Though injuries early in the pandemic-plagued season prevented her from realizing her first-year potential, she's ready to fulfill her promise as the league prepares for its '21 season. On the other side of the career spectrum is CC Sabathia, who helped the NY Yankees win a World Series in 2009, led MLB in wins in both ’09 and ’10, was a 6x All-Star, and struck out over 3,000 in a brilliant career. Now the host of the popular podcast, R2C2, with co-host, Ryan Ruocco, he's also an entrepreneur and philanthropist.  Rich talks to Sabathia and Ionescu about the pressures and joys of playing under the New York spotlight, the special relationship Ionescu had with Kobe Bryant, and how the WNBA Bubble revved up Ionescu's competitive juices. They also get into her career goals and Sabathia's post-career moves.  This episode was recorded on April 22 as part of a live Boardroom University event.

Annastasia Seebohm is the newly appointed CEO of Brilliant Minds Foundation. This marks her second CEO role under the age of 35. Brilliant Minds Foundation was founded in 2015 by Spotify founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, and has brought together the world’s most influential thought leaders at the intersection of humanity and technology.Prior to her current role, Seebohm was the Group CEO of Quintessentially. The first female and millennial to hold the Group CEO role, Seebohm was responsible for the strategy and day-to-day operations of Quintessentially, the world’s leading lifestyle group. She led over 1,000 employees across 50 cities, and spearheaded Quintessentially’s global growth. During her tenure, annual revenues exceeded $100 million. She’s been profiled in publications including Forbes, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, The CEO Magazine and Harvard Business Review. British GQ listed Seebohm as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People in the UK.Seebohm talks to Rich and Gianni about the “70/30 rule” she followed to achieve her dream of becoming a CEO before age 30, illuminates the importance of young entrepreneurs finding their “why,” and talks about the childhood experience that supercharged her maturity, enabling her to lead organizations from a young age. 

Bozoma St. John has been a high-profile brand architect and marketing whiz for some of the world’s most innovative entertainment and tech companies. Her resume includes executive positions at Pepsi, Uber, Endeavor, Apple, and now Netflix. But as an African-American woman of Ghanaian parentage, St. John’s ascent up the corporate ladder has involved numerous struggles for rewards worthy of her contributions. Many of her early successes were created behind the scenes, including her notably arranging, while at Pepsi, Beyonce’s memorable 2013 Super Bowl half-time show. In 2016, as Head of Global Marketing for Apple Music, she hit the stage at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Her presentation became a viral sensation, with Buzzfeed commenting: “Bozoma St. John is the Coolest Person To Ever Go Onstage At An Apple Event.” It elevated St. John’s public profile, and she's now known in the public consciousness as much for being a style icon as a savvy behind-the-scenes corporate marketer. St. John talks to Rich and Gianni about her fall out with Pepsi after the Beyonce half-time show, getting LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the back seat of an Uber for an award-winning campaign, and why Gianni was such a good intern. [Yes, St. John was Gianni's boss for his 1st corporate internship.] She also talks about how she rebounded from tremendous grief after the death of her husband, why she relates so well to tech founders, and why she's so excited about Netflix's future. 

When Arianna Huffington co-founded The Huffington Post in 2005, it created a blueprint for a new kind of digital media company at a time news and social conversation were rapidly migrating from traditional to online media outlets. That success led to a $315 million acquisition by AOL, with Huffington remaining as President and Editor in Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group. Five years later, she would start Thrive Global, which helped major companies and their employees build healthy habits through inspirational storytelling and actionable steps to help navigate a stressful world with greater resilience.  Huffington's fascinating backstory is as compelling as her gifts for storytelling. She was born in Greece, but moved to the UK at 16, speaking virtually no english. She earned acceptance to Cambridge, one of the UK's most prestigious universities, where she became a star debater. A prolific author, she penned numerous bestsellers; hired a young Van Jones as her campaign manager in a 2003 bid for California governor against Arnold Schwarzenegger; and then launched her successful media career. Huffington talks to Rich and Gianni about meeting Rich and KD for the first time, and how her unsuccessful campaign for governor led her to the insights that fueled the success of The Huffington Post. She also shares how her relentless entrepreneurial work ethic led to burnout and a 2007 incident that made her realize her work habits were hazardous to her health. The incident inspired the formation of Thrive Global.  

Alex Honnold gained global fame after the release of the film Free Solo, based on his death-defying climb --with no ropes or safety equipment--  of Yosemite Park’s El Capitan. The film captivated audiences, won the 2019 Oscar for Best Documentary, and established Honnold as one of the world's greatest athletes. Though Honnold has not always appeared to revel in the fame the film brought him, he’s made good use of the opportunities. Now, the primary face of his sport, he's expanded the work of his foundation, and has greatly raised awareness for rock climbing. As the upcoming Olympics prepares to feature climbing as an event for the first time, Honnold was likely a big factor in the sport achieving Olympic status. In this episode, Honnold talks to Rich and Gianni about what people get wrong about what motivates elite climbers, why he’s excited about his new podcast series, and the inspiration he's taken from legendary female climber, Lynn Hill. Honnold even invites Rich and Gianni to climb rocks with him in Central Park next time he visits New York City. 

As a Managing Partner at Andreesen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley's most influential Venture Capital firms, Chris Lyons also runs its Cultural Leadership Fund, the first consisting of 100% African American Limited Partners. To date, CLF has invested in over 65 startups at the intersection of culture and innovation, and across multiple industries including consumer, enterprise, crypto, and fintech. Lyons also created Silicon Valley’s first “influencer network,” establishing numerous strategic partnerships between emerging technology companies and seasoned athletes, entertainers, musicians and corporate executives. In 2019, Lyons was named one of Fast Company's Most Creative People. But Lyons has a very atypical Silicon Valley success story. He started his music business career as a sound engineer for Grammy-winning producer, Jermaine Dupri, and initially went out to Silicon Valley for what he assumed would be a short trip. But in 2013, Lyons landed a position as Chief of Staff to Ben Horowitz, the Andreesen Horowitz co-founder, where his smarts, hustle, and well-developed network accelerated his rise through the ranks. In this episode, Lyons talks to Rich and Gianni about how invaluable his music business background has been to his Silicon Valley success; the seeds of his friendship with Rich and KD; how he ended up founding Italian wine brand, Lyons Wine; and his passion for diversifying the ranks of tech entrepreneurs and VC professionals.