Just Go Grind

Catherine Castellanos is a speaker, writer, and internal crisis management consultant. She founded Sidestep Strategies not only to help clients manage external PR crises, but to apply the latest advances in both neuroplastic science and spirituality to mitigate the internal crises that jeopardize success.   Her ten years of research have covered traditional and emerging treatments, from intensive meditation to NAD+, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, neurofeedback and psychedelic therapies. Her expertise includes spirituality, nutrition, sleep, and various psychological therapies, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, and Neurolinguistic Programming.   At the age of 18, Catherine survived bacterial meningitis, an inflammation of the lining of the brain, a disease that can kill in fewer than four hours. Although fortunate to recover physically, she struggled for years with extreme fatigue and PTSD-like symptoms. Determined to heal, Catherine followed in the footsteps of chronically-ill patients everywhere, becoming her own researcher, ultimately leading to the discovery and successful treatment of a clandestine brain injury/trauma?   With a decade of study on the frontier of neuroplastic science, Catherine offers clients unmatched experience in finding alternative methods to address and improve cognitive functions like memory, focus, and stamina, as well as the emotional consequences of crisis. With Sidestep, she works with individuals and companies to advance their public image while preventing mistakes and optimizing performance.   She resides in Los Angeles, California, where crisis is an everyday occurrence.   In this episode we discuss Cat's experience interning at National Geographic, CNN, and The White House, how she's managing writing a book, growing a business, and training for a marathon, how individuals and companies can manage crisis, and much more!   Find the show notes at justgogrind.com/podcast

Dominique Mas has had quite the career journey. She's worked at schools in London, Manila, Hong Kong, Barcelona, and New York City teaching students and developing curriculum. Now, as the founder of Lead With a Twist, she's working with people one-on-one and in small groups to help them navigate life's challenges. In this episode we discuss Dominique's career journey, diving into her experience in international education and why she decided to start her own company.

Erin Halper is the founder and CEO of The Upside, a company that supports solopreneurs and connects them with businesses seeking best-in-class scalable, flexible and on-demand senior-level talent. She also ran her own consulting business for 7 years, started a handbag company while working full time in NYC, and generally knows how to make sh*t happen. In this episode we discuss how she built her own successful consulting company, why she's now focused on changing the world of work, and how people can navigate their careers to ultimately create a life and career they love.

Jes Osrow (TheRiseJourney and JOSROW) gets sh*t done, has the energy of four people, and only puts her name on things that represent her best. She contributes with enthusiasm and a “it’s not done until it’s done right" mentality. Her goal is talk transparently about HR, recruitment, and talent development (since these topics get a bad rap). She'd like to create and join conversations as a means of being part of a fundamental change in approaches and underlying assumptions in the People Ops realms. Jes is a Talent Development Specialist. Her skills include individualized coaching, creating and teaching professional development workshops at all levels, and as of late, the creator of a series of e-workbooks. Her areas of expertise include diversity & inclusion, transitions into/out of tech, strengthening of personal brand, identifying transferable skills, building a professional network, and exploring industries that are conducive to continual professional development. In this episode we talk about entrepreneurship, developing your personal brand, career transitions, reinventing and more!

Andrew Forero is an MBA candidate at the USC Marshall School of Business and an aspiring strategy consulting professional with a background in investment research and consumer product sales. As an effective communicator with C-suite executives, he has evaluated domestic and international public company management teams’ long-term corporate strategies and capital allocation policies. His investment recommendations have led to over $40 million of investments across the cement, payment processing, and private equity sectors. Andrew also has proven capabilities in leading cross-functional divisions within the consumer product sector and driving sales that outpaced industry revenue growth rates. In this episode we talk about a number of topics including search funds, internships, investing, getting an MBA, world travel, and what makes for a great career.

Zach Evans, my best friend since high school, is a kick-ass entrepreneur who turned his passion for piano into a six-figure business that allows him to live the life of his dreams. Zach now lives in Los Angeles and, with the extra time his lifestyle business gives him, is focusing his time and effort on breaking into the music industry - this time as an artist. In this episode we talk about how to build a business, accelerated learning techniques, developing a strong work ethic, how to break into the music business, why "riding the wave" is important in business, and how you can optimize your life one day at a time. 

Rob O'Reilly is a hilarious stand-up comedian (I loved his Brian Scalabrine joke) who has performed hundreds of shows, written jokes for Jimmy Fallon and MTV's Ridiculousness, and was named one of LA Weekly's Top 10 Comedy Acts to Watch in 2012. He's also a full-time MBA student at the USC Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles, California where he's looking to explore other career options in the entertainment industry. In this episode we talk about how he got his start in comedy, his experience writing jokes for a variety of big name acts, his creative process, and ultimately why he decided to get an MBA.

Christina Calabrese is a woman on a mission to make a difference in this world - while living life to the absolute fullest. She's worked with organizations like UNICEF, the Peace Corps, Save the Children, and more to help those in need. Along the way she's traveled to 47 countries, lived all around the world, and served as in inspiration to others to take advantage of all the opportunities life presents.  In this episode we talk about her experience working for a variety of organizations, how she pursues different work projects, how she became such a hard worker, why happiness is the foundation for success, and so much more!

Mike McElherne is the CEO of Next Gen Talent Strategies, a company that "enables organizations to attract, hire and align talent properly to achieve growth goals, eliminate risk, reduce turnover and create a culture of accountability." During his career Mike has interviewed over 25,000 people, hired more than 4,000 people, and reviewed around 100,000 resumes. He's an experienced and knowledgeable talent professional who possesses a wealth of insights on the job search process and talent acquisition. In this episode we talk about how job seekers can better navigate the job search process and how organizations can better attract top talent.

TJ Guttormsen is a communication and behavior expert from Norway who has been coaching and speaking at live events for a decade. He's one of the most highly profiled coaches in Norway and has published two books through publishers and three on his own. Throughout his career TJ has coached CEOs, award winning artists, professional athletes, entrepreneurs, students, and more to help them, as he puts it, get out of their own way. TJ also has a master's degree in pedagogy (The science of learning), a bachelor's degree in social sciences and psychology, and a teachers degree in psychology. He has clients all over the world and works in many fields, with an expertise in communication and psychology-based performance.