Midlife Male by Greg Scheinman

Jordan Strouse has practiced law since 2009. Jordan previously was in-house counsel with a publicly traded international land and offshore drilling contractor, and most recently was based in Cape Town, South Africa as Regional General Counsel for the Sub-Saharan Africa operations of one of the world's largest oilfield service manufacturers and service providers. Jordan's primary expertise is as transactional and business counsel in the oil & gas industry, but has counseled start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors, private equity-backed ventures and growth stage portfolio companies with respect to acquisitions and international contracting. In 2016, while living in Cape Town, South Africa, Jordan formed a partnership with Sweat 1000 Founders Andrew & Paul Rothschild to bring Sweat 1000 to the United States with Houston as the brand’s first location outside of South Africa and first and home base for the United States. Sweat 1000 currently has 3 branches in South Africa (2 in Cape Town and 1 in Johannesburg) and the Houston location as the only other in the world. Along with his partners, Jordan opened Sweat 1000’s doors in Houston in early 2018 and eyeing potential expansion opportunities with investors from all over the country inquiring about opportunities.

Entrepreneur Shareef Malnik is one of the country’s top restaurateurs. The Forge is Malnik’s celebrated, award-winning steakhouse. He has also owned the widely popular nightclubs: Jimmy’z, Cuba Club, Glass and Café Nostalgia.  By day, Malnik is the Chairman of Nextwave Funding, which provides funding to thousands of small and mid-sized companies across the nation. “I work with a cross-section of businesses across the country and feel rewarded when I see our capital help their companies thrive and grow" says Malnik. Shareef has also added Executive Producer to his oeuvre with the documentary film "Sexology", which was directed by his wife Gabrielle Anwar. They are presently working on a subscription website and spinoff series of the film. As a prominent philanthropist, Malnik has held the prestigious title of Chairman of the InterContinental Make-A-Wish Ball for 11 years, helping to raise more than $14 million for the organization. Under his leadership, the gala has become the most coveted event in South Florida with celebrity guests and entertainers spanning Diana Ross, Marc Anthony, Gabrielle Anwar, Wayne Newton, Paula Abdul, Macy Gray, Adam Lambert and Sharon Stone. In 2017 Malnik will become Chairman of the Board of Make-A-Wish South Florida. As a University of Miami School of Business graduate, Malnik also earned a J.D. degree from UM Law School. He sits on UM’s Medical School’s Advisory Board of the Psychiatry Department and is a board member of the PAL. Shareef is also a regular speaker at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality. In his personal time, Malnik is an extreme skier, Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast, licensed helicopter pilot, former race car driver and offshore powerboat racer, and “tech” diver, having tested his steel at depths greater than 500 feet. He has run with the bulls in Pamplona and ice climbed the Cascades. Malnik resides in Miami Beach with his wife, children and assorted pets.

Dylan Seff is the Co-Head of Trading in America’s for Vitol Inc. - one of the world’s largest energy trading firms. Dylan’s a Harvard grad, former wrestler, current boxer, husband, father and has even dabbled in some standup comedy along the way. He’s a big time philanthropist being heavily involved with Epilepsy.org and recently stepped back into the ring going toe to toe with other energy industry executives to fight against child abuse raising over $1 million for the cause. Along with his wife Jordan they’re the Co-Owners of Savarese Fight Fit, Houston’s newest, and best Boxing themed fitness studio in West U along with my close friend and Heavyweight Boxing legend Lou Savarese.

Ever go to work out, go for a run, a walk, any type of activity and there’s just no good place for your keys, your phone, maybe even a credit card or a few bucks….Yeah, been there…constantly. It’s frustrating…Terry White had the same frustration. With his keys in his sock and a phone bouncing in his shorts, he couldn’t focus. That frustration sparked an idea. From day 1, Terry’s vision has been to empower people to pursue an active way of life. Thus, WOLACO – Way of Life Athletic Company. Terry spent 1.5 years designing, developing, and perfecting the North Moore Short. With sweat-proof pockets, this patented compression system changed the game. Finally, there was a functional, stylish, quality product out there that was also able to secure your phone and keys! Terry was raised in motion. He grew up playing every sport under the sun, and went on to become a collegiate Lacrosse player. Throughout his life, he put every type of gear to the test – not even realizing he was training for his own moment to make something better. Now he puts that intimate knowledge to use creating performance wear that is intuitively designed for the modern athlete’s active way of life.

Daniel Nicholson, CEO of Nadamoo Ice Cream, discusses his journey from joining the company to becoming its CEO. He talks about the rapid growth of the brand and its availability in major stores. They also touch on the challenges of scaling while maintaining product quality and the transition from a startup to a larger brand. The podcast ends with a discussion on future plans, including expansion into Canada.

An entrepreneur and competitor, Adam Greenfeld found himself looking for a safe tool that made him feel unstoppable at the office and in life. He and his friend and partner, Alex Cesaria had for years, been obsessed with finding a way to maximize their performance as people. Like most entrepreneurs they started THE GO LIFE because of a need to find something that would make them perform that was also clean, safe and pure. Having tried many of the alternatives at the time, they determined that “we can do better”. With that, the GO Life was launched. Adam joins me the podcast to talk to us about his entrepreneurial journey and how The GO Life can help guy’s out there live better and perform better.

Creative, entrepreneurial, family oriented, philanthropic, ambitious and grounded. These are words I’d use to describe Aly Valiani. In 2006, Aly left the corporate world to found New Horizons Hospitality and has since successfully developed five properties, bringing the total portfolio to eight properties owned, and managed by New Horizons. Aly has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Management. Since the formation of New Horizons, Aly's main focus has been expanding the portfolio through development and enhancing the guest experience across all New Horizons’ brands and properties. Today, many of New Horizons’ hotels are top RevPAR producing, brand award winners in customer service, and leaders in their respective markets. Aly is currently leading the development team on New Horizon’s eighth property, a 125 all-suite Homewood Suites by Hilton, due to open in summer of 2018. He’s the Vice Chairman of The Aga Khan Foundation a proud husband and father. Enjoy Aly Valiani on this episode of The Midlife Male Podcast.

Darryl Lyons knows what it means to be a Midlife Male, trying to balance finances, family and business. I was nervous for this interview because I know I need help with money, managing finances and Darryl’s the real deal. His book, 18 to 80 cuts right to it with great advice and insight into such areas as The Money Side of Marriage, Budgeting For Those Not Good At Budgeting and Adult Peer Pressure.  Darryl’s San Antonio, Texas company PAX Financial Group is an Inc 5000 “Fastest Growing Company” and a “Best Place to Work.” His work and his passion have allowed Darryl to also give back to his community, earning him the praise of the likes of Dave Ramsey and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. Darryl also helped establish a Eurasia award called “The David Robinson Award” that recognizes an athlete in Eurasia who shows character and athletic excellence. Darryl’s latest mission is to help redefine retirement where we no longer think of retiring but rather PIVOT into the next chapter of life with purpose. This idea is rooted in thousands of one on one conversations with people about money and a relatively new study called behavioral finance.

On this week’s Midlife Male Podcast my guest is Steven Kaufman; an accomplished investor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He measures his success by how much the people around him prosper. Steven manages his family assets with a focus on thesis-driven opportunistic investments in three asset classes which include real estate financing, real estate investment, and private equity in small growth-companies. Steven has held C-Level positions in various financing enterprises for 18 years and has been investing in real estate for 20 years. During that time he coordinated over $1 billion in real estate financing for companies like American Express, Hewlett Packard, and Exxon Mobil and founded ZeusLending.com which is the leading online provider of real estate financing and the fastest real estate lender in the United States.At Zeus, Steven manages a team that is responsible for more than $2 billion of retail mortgage loan originations. According to Inc. Magazine, Zeus is the 37th fastest growing private financial service firm in the United States. National Mortgage Professional Magazine has repeatedly ranked Steven as one of the “Top 40 Most Influential Mortgage Professionals in the United States”, and the Houston Business Journal ranked him as one of the “Top CEO’s in Houston”. Steven is the founder of The Fanatical Change Foundation. His philanthropic recognition includes the Houston Astros “Hometown Hero”, the City of Houston “Humanitarian Award”, the Lululemon “Modern Day Man”, and the United States Presidential “Life-Time Achievement Award”.Steven is a four time world champion power-lifter and 2015 world record holder. He has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, completed the Houston Marathon, ran with the bulls in Spain, and finished second in the Houston Amateur Arm-wrestling Championship. Steven resides in Houston with his wife and two children.

Matt D’Amour is the Chief Wellness Carrier at Tribe 9 Foods. Tribe 9 creates delicious, nourishing, and functional food to improve the lives of others. Tribe 9 Foods is comprised of Ona, RP’s Pasta Co., Taste Republic and YumButter. Prior to merging these brands together to form Tribe 9 Matt was the Co-Founder of YumButter, a world changing brand of nut butters. This stuff is seriously super good! On this episode of The Midlife Male Podcast Matt talks about starting YumButter and the challenges of scaling the business, his relationship with his partner, the lifestyle and social impact that is so important to their mission and how he remains focused throughout. As a holistic health expert, Matt is living proof that high quality, nutrient dense foods can lead to better health and longevity.