NXTLVL Experience Design

ABOUT Lisa Sun:Lisa's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-sun-793777/Websites:To learn more about Lisa’s book:  https://gravitasnewyork.com/pages/gravitas-book-the-8-strengths-that-redefine-confidenceLearn more about our forthcoming book, GRAVITAS: The 8 Strengths That Redefine ConfidenceTo discover your superpowers: www.MyConfidenceLanguage.comwww.GravitasNewYork.comBIO:Lisa Sun is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company on a mission to catalyze confidence. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to make over women from the inside out. Prior to founding GRAVITAS, Sun spent 11 years at McKinsey & Company, where she advised leading luxury fashion and beauty brands and retailers in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America on strategic and operational issues. Her first collection was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, People, and the Todays how in the same month.Sun and GRAVITAS have been featured on CNN and in Forbes, Fast Company, New York magazine, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, and more. GRAVITAS includes among its activities a commitment to AAPI causes and New York City’s Garment District. Often called the “dress whisperer,” Lisa is also a highly sought-after public speaker who likes to impart her hard-won knowledge on gravitas and how to best harness it to other women.SHOW INTRO: Welcome to the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast.These dynamic dialogues based on our acronym DATA - design, architecture, technology, and the arts crosses over disciplines but maintains a common thread of people who are passionate about the world we live in and human’s influence on it, the ways we craft the built environment to maximize human experience, increasing our understanding of human behavior and searching for the New Possible.The NXTLVL Experience Design podcast is presented by VMSD. VMSD is the publisher of VMSD magazine and brings us, in the brand experience world, the International Retail Design Conference. The IRDC is one of the best retail design conferences that there is bringing together the world of retailers, brands and experience placemakers every year for two days of engaging conversations and pushing the discourse forward on what makes retailing relevant.You will find the archive of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast on VMSD.com.Thanks also goes to Shop Association the only global retail trade association dedicated to elevating the in-store experience. SHOP Association represents companies and affiliates from 25 countries and brings value to their members through research, networking, education, events and awards. Check then out on SHOPAssociation.orgIn this episode I talk with Lisa Sun the Founder and CEO of the apparel brand Gravitas and the author of the recently published, runaway best seller titled - “Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence.”But first a few thoughts.****************In the spring of 2022, I was in New York for the annual Vision Monday Leadership Summit. This event was being called “Discover & Recalibrate! Trends, Ideas and Tactics for Confronting Radical Change.” This 13th Annual gatherings brought into sharp focus the megatrends shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.A lot of change has occurred in the world from the spring of 2020 up to this event. The COVID pandemic had shifted our worlds. The uncertainty and ambiguity brought about by the evolving circumstance of a global pandemic was a cause for pause. A time to re-evaluate and find strategies to address new challenges that faced us all.My talk focused on navigating the fluid world of exponential change, facing down the unknown and looking for ways to remain buoyant in the sea of change all around us. I suggested that cultural mindsets had been shifting over the past few years and that they had been hastened in the context of the global pandemic. When brands, their goods, services and experiences, are at odds with evolving culture, they can lose their value even if their legacy stays strong. As cultural transformation happens, brands need to learn how to navigate cultural complexity and create a different future that is aligned with the pace of change. In a post-pandemic, experience-seeking economy, health, safety and welfare are a baseline in the guest expectation set. But addressing evolving customer needs was now well beyond making sure customers were safe while shopping, visiting a hotel or simply being out in the community. How do we keep up with the pace of change? As the pace of change speeds along how can we finding meaning in the in-between of the last and the next big thing? I focused on how can changing your mindset about change allow us to see the ‘now’ as an emergent space of creative possibility?Changing your mindset – reframing the context – seeing the interdependency of things – looking for opportunity in upheaval… these all seemed to be front-row-center how we needed to adjust to a new world order.As I was in the speaker’s green room waiting for my time slot to come up, in bounds a woman with an air of openness, humility and eagerness to connect. There was an energy of confidence that emanated from her. She seemed to stand her ground, command her conversations and did so while not imposing on you but welcoming you into a shared space of empathic connection. I thought to my self, that I had to make sure that is saw that presentation.When Lisa Sun hit the stage, she was direct and vulnerable. She was hilarious with her impressions of her Taiwanese mother who she says was a Tiger Mom before it became a thing with publishing of Amy Chua’s book that popularized the term. She shared her personal journey, living with her immigrant parents in Rancho Cucamonga who ran the only Chinese restaurant withing 40 miles of her home. Her first job out of college was working in a scrap metal yard, then worked for 11 years at McKinsey and Company where she spent on average 250 days a year on the road. She decided to take an 11 month sojourn to travel the world ending her trip with passing through Taiwan where her parents had retired. Her mother tried convinced her to spend half of her life’s saving to create her own business rather than going back to the corporate consulting world. A fateful yearly performance review led to an epiphany and that in turn led her to her company Gravitas being born.Today Lisa Sun is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company on a mission to catalyze confidence. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to make over women from the inside out.Her first collection was featured inO, The Oprah Magazine, People,and theToday show in the same month.Lisa Sun and GRAVITAS have been featured on CNN and inForbes, Fast Company,New York magazine, Elle, Marie Claire,InStyle, and more. Often called the “dress whisperer,” Lisa is also a highly sought-after public speaker who likes to impart her hard-won knowledge on having gravitas and how to best harness it in other people.10 + years after starting Gravitas the company, “Gravitas: the book, subtitled “The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence” has been published. In her book Lisa Sun shares her journey of self-discovery and combines it with proprietary research, real-world examples, and anecdotes from other successful women who have championed their own definition of self-worth.When I think back to the Vision Monday Leadership Summit and it being called “Discover & Recalibrate! Trends, Ideas and Tactics for Confronting Radical Change” I was talking about the radical environmental contextual change all around us and how that would influence change in the way we re-thought the design of our companies, brand experience places and re-writing long-held narratives that were no longer suited to a world of rapid change.I think Lisa’s talk was signaling the need for personal radical change. Seeking for a view of oneself that required a mindset shift to believing in a sense of self-empowerment - welcoming change as a vehicle for personal growth. Gravitas, both the apparel company and the book, seek to “catalyze confidence.” ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

ABOUT Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross:Susan's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-magsamen-6345918/Ivy’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/rossivyWebsites:Website: www.yourbrainonart.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourbrainonartbook/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/your-brain-on-art/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089357061217&mibextid=LQQJ4d BIO - Susan Magsamen:Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab), Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics, a pioneering initiative from the Pedersen Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her body of work lies at the intersection of brain sciences and the arts—and how our unique response to aesthetic experiences can amplify human potential. Magsamen is the author of the Impact Thinking model, an evidence-based research approach to accelerate how we use the arts to solve problems in health, well-being, and learning. In addition to her role at IAM Lab, she is an assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins and serves as co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint project in partnership with the Aspen Institute.Prior to founding IAM Lab, Magsamen worked in both the private and public sector, developing social impact programs and products addressing all stages of life—from early childhood to the senior years.  Magsamen created Curiosityville, an online personalized learning world, acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2014 and Curiosity Kits, a hands-on multi-sensory company, acquired by Torstar in 1995.An award-winning author, Magsamen has published eight books including The Classic Treasury of Childhood Wonder, The 10 Best of Everything Families, and Family Stories.Magsamen is a Fellow at the Royal Society of the Arts and a strategic advisor to several innovative organizations and initiatives, including the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, the American Psychological Association, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Brain Futures, Learning Landscapes, and Creating Healthy Communities:  Arts + Public Health in America. BIO - Ivy Ross:Ivy Ross is the Vice President of Design for the Hardware organization at Google. Over the past six years, she and her team have launched 50+ products winning over 240 global design awards. This collection of hardware established a new Google design aesthetic that is tactile, colorful, and bold. A winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Ivy’s innovative metal work in jewelry is in the permanent collections of 12 international museums. Ivy has held executive positions ranging from head of product design and development to CMO and presidencies of several companies, including Calvin Klein, Swatch, Coach, Mattel, Bausch & Lomb, and Gap. Ninth on Fast Company’s list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business 2019, Ivy believes the intersection of arts and science is where the most engaging and creative ideas are found. SHOW INTRO: Welcome to season five of the next level experience design podcast. It's kind of amazing when I think of it… now five seasons… wow.This season will be no different than the previous ones where we continue to have great discussions with visionary leaders from various industries and professions. These dynamic dialogues based on our acronym DATA - design, architecture, technology, and the arts crosses over disciplines but maintains a common thread of people who are passionate about the world we live in and human’s influence on it, the ways we craft the built environment to maximize human experience, increasing our understanding of human behavior and searching for the New Possible.As we jump into this new season thanks go to VMSD magazine. You will find the archive of the NXTLVL experience design podcast on VMSD.com. VMSD is the publisher of VMSD magazine and brings us, in the brand experience world, the International Retail Design Conference. The IRDC is one of the best retail design conferences that there is bringing together the world of retailers, brands and experience placemakers every year for two days of engaging conversations and pushing the discourse forward on what makes retailing relevant.Thanks also goes to Shop Association the only global retail trade association dedicated to elevating the in-store experience. SHOP Association represents companies and affiliates from 25 countries and brings value to their members through research, networking, education, events and awards. Check then out on SHOPAssociation.orgOK, let's dig in... With our first interview of the season with two remarkable women Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross whose recent book “Your Brain on Art has garnered huge attention since its recent release. But first a few thoughts on art and making...****************When I was about 9 years old and my mom had me in an after school art program at a local painting studio near my childhood home. Thursdays, as it would turn out, became the single time of the week where the outside world disappeared and I entered into a place of pure creativity and innovation which many years later I would discover was called “flow.”Even to this day Thursdays seemed to hold a special body memory for me of calm and an internal sense of both peace and joy. Thursdays somehow carry a different energy from me that I think was implanted in my body all those years ago where my creative passion was fully expressed.For years I would paint on Thursdays and that turned into a passion that became a profession as an architect. I wasn't great at math or physics but I was pretty confident about my skills in art and I knew that there was something specific about the feeling that I had in going to this small art studio that was because of the things I was doing as well as the place that I was doing it in. So studying architecture was always grounded in this idea for me of creating places that moved people emotionally. It didn't matter to me too much whether you loved it or hated it, although I would have preferred you loved it. But my goal was always to connect to people on an emotional level to find the right combination of materials and finishes space volumes and textures and all those other things that we have in our architects toolbox and how we moved through and experience space from a mind – body emotional perspective.I think early on I developed an aesthetic mindset. I seemed to have a high level of curiosity, a love of play and open-ended exploration, a keen sensory awareness and a drive to engage in activities as a maker or beholder. Through my architecture studies at McGill University I discovered principles of experience rooted in ritual and that there was a very different physical and emotional feeling connected to participating in ritual versus simply watching them. I was always very interested in how people participated in space. How they participated in the making of their experiences because I always believed that in making we brought something unique to the world that humans were capable of doing better than any other creatures on the planet. I developed a keen interest in ontological design - basically put - that the things we make return the favor by in part making us who we are. Our neurobiology reacts to the environment around us and so our mind body state is directly influenced by what we experience in the built environment. Our brains are in a feedback loop of making and being made by experience.The Irish poet John O'Donoghue once said “art is the essence of awareness” and I find that particularly relevant to how we experience the places that we build and how we interact with them. What I learned as a young artist on Thursday afternoons was that somehow in the making of things I became acutely aware of my mind body state as well as my surroundings.As I started to create and design retail places it seemed that everywhere I walked the world around me became more relevant I was tuning in to everything that I could see and hear. When in the middle of trying to solve a design challenge, I seemed to tune into things that might not have otherwise been apparent to me.What I found interesting was that this attunement to the environment around me also grew a connection between my sensory experiences and my appreciation of art. As I engaged more fully in the environment around me and the various kinds of arts I also learned more about myself. During the recent pandemic I turned to painting to help navigate the uncertainty and ambiguity of a global crisis that had left everything that I had believed to be true and a path that I had created for myself professionally in flux. Art it seemed became the grounding mechanism that calmed my nervous system that brought joy amidst uncertainty.Over the past few decades as a creative architect I've become acutely aware that the environment around us has a profound effect on our mind body state, our sense of well-being, our feelings of joy, community, connection, belonging, relevance. Being exposed to the arts provided context and meaning, a way for me to understand where I stood in the grand scheme of things. And art also gave me a sense of agency of being able to have a sense of control and to bring things into the world that had never been there before.And so, because of all of these understandings I have a deep appreciation for the book recently published by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross called “Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.”This book is wildly successful because I believe it is a writing whose time has come. It brings forward the ideas that the arts are fundamental to who we are as people and that long before we had written language we danced around fires sang songs, made drawings on walls and shared the meaning of our lives with each other by being in community, in relationships, participating in rituals and making. And so, it's not surprising that the arts in all of its forms visual,  literary, dance, sculpture and others are part of who we are as individuals and as members of a broader human whole.When I bought this book I thought that it would help me understand the neuroscience of what was happening in my brain as I stood in front of a painting. But it did more than that. It helped to unpack why I was led to feel certain ways about my experience of art in general including paintings, dance, musical theater, poetry, a good movie and a great book.It was chock full of examples and great research on how the arts are used in healing practices and health care industry to augment patient recovery. It looked at how the arts are being used in education, though not nearly enough, to enhance learning.Your brain on Art also brought me greater understanding about making music and how memories are tied to our experiences of hearing music. That's why it's likely you can clearly remember tunes from your childhood and tag them to early childhood experiences. Or why your playlists from your high school years probably are still able to be recalled with ease. And why I can remember the high school dance and my girlfriend at the time and the song Lucky Man by Emerson Lake and Palmer and that kiss.The book dives into understanding arts and the neurodivergent brain and play and how these are critical to our development.And if all of that wasn't quite enough it digs into the idea of how the arts support flourishing and asks the question - What constitutes a good life? I did not know that there is a burgeoning subfield of neuroscience and psychology now dedicated to identifying and understanding the neural mechanisms that contribute to a state of flourishing. And Your Brain on Art brings to light some of the neuroscience related to creativity, awe and wonder.Your Brain on Art is a collaborative effort between two remarkable women who together combine neuroscience and creative vision into a must-read book.Susan Magsamen has over 35 years of experience in developing effective learning programs rooted in the science of learning and is an active member of the brain sciences research, arts, education and social impact communities. She currently serves as Executive Director of the International Arts and Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at the Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University where she is also a faculty member. She is also the senior advisor to the Science of Learning Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She works with both the public and private sectors using arts and culture evidence based approaches in areas including health, child development, workforce innovation, rehabilitation and social equity.Ivy Ross is the Vice President of Design for the Hardware organization at Google. Over the past six years, she and her team have launched 50+ products winning over 240 global design awards. This collection of hardware established a new Google design aesthetic that is tactile, colorful, and bold. She is a winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and her innovative metal work in jewelry is in the permanent collections of 12 international museums. Ivy has held executive positions ranging from head of product design and development to CMO and presidencies of several companies, including Calvin Klein, Swatch, Coach, Mattel, Bausch & Lomb, and Gap. Ninth on Fast Company’s list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business 2019, Ivy believes the intersection of arts and science is where the most engaging and creative ideas are found. ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

ABOUT MARTIN KINGDON:Martin’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/martin-kingdon-121b693Websites:popai.co.uk/sustainability/ (Company)popai.co.uk (Company)Email: martin@popai.co.ukBIO:Martin has been involved with the display industry for twenty five years as a volunteer, board member and for twenty years Director geneneralHe has been responsible for Insight since 2010, Sustainability since 2019 and has defined POPAI’s offer including setting up the Sustainability council representing all sectors of the industry, the POPAI Sustainability Standard for corporate accreditation and the Sustain® global eco-design indicator tool now widely used in the UK and overseas.He has spoken extensively around the world on many aspects of the display market, sustainability and shopper insight. SHOW INTRO: Welcome to the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast. Over our 4 seasons we have focused on “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture, Technology and the Arts”. NXTLVL features provocateurs for whom disruption and transformation are a way of engaging in work and play every day.They include leading scientists, artists, musicians, architects, entertainers and story tellers whose research, exploration and built work brings new understanding of the impact and relevance of place-making to the world. On the show, we focus on what’s now and what’s next.On this episode we talk with Martin Kingdon Insight and Sustainability Director of POPAI UK and Ireland about the impact that retail stores, and all of their merchandising units and displays, have of on the environment.First though, a few thoughts on retail, building sustainably and the carbon footprint of stores… *         *         *         *         *         *         *On your last shopping trip, to any retailer, what do you remember most?Was it the crowd or the sales associates?That you could, or couldn’t, find what you were looking for?If you were walking the aisle of your favorite grocer, you might recall the product displays, how fantastically the apples were built into a pyramid, the water being misted across the fresh produce crisp keeping it crisp.  The meat counters or the smell of bread being baked.You might have even thought, why on earth they keep putting the milk at the far back corner, but then you’d probably be savvy enough to know that’s a ploy to exposed you to as much merchandise as they can as you go on your dairy search and rescue mission.If you were shopping your favorite apparel store you might noticed that the mannequins were decked out in new outfits, that some new colorful tops were on the table just after you entered or that those big tables always seemed to be a constant state of disarray with sales associates busying over them putting things in neat stacks to be upended by customers a moment later.You might notice signage, or the lack of it, when you are trying to find something. You might remark about the lighting, paint colors, a pattern on the floor and perhaps some architectural element.Chances are, that you probably don’t recall, in any detail, the things the stuff was sitting on, hanging from or enclosed in. Those things often slip into the background, receding away from your conscious awareness. And that would also be by design.My first boss in the retail world at New Vision Studios in New York, the late Joe Weishar, would remind be that the merchandise was the star of the show and all the rest of what was in the store were merely supporting actors or scenery. Merchandise was king, or queen, or maybe prince or princess. And, all of that scenery, all of those supporting actors come at a cost. The architecture, store fixtures hanging racks, shelving, displays, refrigerated cases, signage, coat hooks in fitting rooms along with the chairs or benches, floor tiles, wallcoverings, lighting, checkout counters and cash registers…all of it…comes at a cost.Not just the cost of designing, prototyping, manufacturing, shipping, installing, repairing or replacing in terms of dollars, but the cost of what all of it adds to our world in terms of carbon.The amount of carbon generated and released into the environment from the making of that store you love to shop in, is staggering. The built environment in general is a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions and therefore a major contributor to the global climate crisis. By some reports, the built environment generates 40% of annual global CO2 emissions. Of those total emissions, building operations are responsible for 27% annually, while building and infrastructure materials and construction (typically referred to as embodied carbon) are responsible for an additional 13% annually.So, when you amble around in your favorite retailer, look again, beyond the stuff, at the environment, and all of those supporting actors, and try to imagine how much embodied carbon is in that one store. Every element that allows you to shop for all the stuff you remove from the store, stays in the store and has contributed to the global climate crises.According to Architecture2030.org, the global building stock is set to double by 2060.And they say, “To accommodate the largest wave of building growth in human history, from 2020 to 2060, we expect to add about 2.6 trillion ft2(240 billion m2) of new floor area to the global building stock,the equivalent of adding an entire New York City to the world, every month, for 40 years.”Now… if you have ever been to New York, think about how many stores are in that city. Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs of Staten Island, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn have a combined area of approximately 370 million square feet of retail stores. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1011185/total-retail-space-nyc-by-borough/)According to the New York State Comptroller - “Before the pandemic, the retail sector in New York City accounted for32,600 establishments, 344,600 private sector jobs and $16 billion in total wages in 2019. Dec 31, 2020”I’m not sure if you apply the “adding the equivalent of a New York City to the world every month for 40 years…” in terms of buildings, that it follows thatyou are also adding 370 million square feet of retail space to the world every month. I’d like someone to do that math…but …See the thing here? Retail is a huge component of the global building footprint and major contributor to the climate issue. And your favorite retailer doesn’t, in most case, have one store. They may have hundreds or maybe even thousands. Where does all the stuff in stores come from? Does it arrive in your local grocer or fashion store, sustainably sourced, manufactured and shipped?How is all of it packaged?What happens to all of those displays, shelving units, hanging racks and refrigerated cases when the retailer goes out of business or renovates every handful of years?And what about all of the product that fills the shelves of retail stores? What is their impact on the environment in the total amount of CO2 that the store is responsible for producing every year?Now… to be fair, according to Barron’s, of the top 100 most sustainable companies in the US right now, there are some retailers who have found themselves on the list. Namely, # 7 Best Buy (Richfield, Minn.), # 21 Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.), # 27 Kroger (Cincinnati), # 30 Lowe’s (Mooresville, N.C.), # 49 Williams-Sonoma (San Francisco), # 67 Target (Minneapolis).And… we can’t forget about companies like Patagonia whose commitment to saving the planet has been going on for years before it became either cool or politically correct to do so. They just do it because, well… it’s the right thing to do and designing something, manufacturing it and putting it out there into the world in the thousands should be done with some accountability for its long-range impact on the global ecology. And this is where my guest Martin Kingdon comes into retail’s sustainability story.Martin has been involved with the display industry for twenty-five years as a volunteer and board member. He is an expert in Shopper Behaviour research, particularly shopper engagement with retail store displays or layouts. Martins has been the Director General of POPAI leading the UK division of the global trade association for companies involved in the Point of Purchase advertising market. POPAI’s members are drawn from retailers, brands, agencies, POP suppliers, installation companies and other support services.Today he is the Insights and Sustainability Director for POPAI UK and Ireland. He has been responsible for Insight since 2010, Sustainability since 2019 and has defined POPAI’s offer including setting up the Sustainability council representing all sectors of the industry, the POPAI Sustainability Standard for corporate accreditation and something called Sustain® a global eco-design indicator tool now widely used in the UK and overseas.I was able to speak with Martin Kingdon at the SHOP Marketplace event in Austin Texas about the impact of building store environments and somethings to consider curtailing retail’s effect on the global climate crisis. ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

ABOUT MIRELLE PHILLIPS:Mirelle’s LinkedIn Profile:linkedin.com/in/mirelle-phillips-52077b29Company Website:  https://www.studioelsewhere.co  BIO:Mirelle Phillips is the Founder and CEO of Studio Elsewhere, a design and technology company developing bio-experiential technology to promote behavioural, cognitive, and social health. Studio Elsewhere uses evidence-based and data-driven practices to develop virtual and physical interventions that promote brain health. We are pioneers of bio-experiential design - interactive, immersive environmental design using technology and physical design toward a healthier brain-body connection. Our embedded emerging technology solutions support the needs of healthcare professionals, researchers, patients and caregivers.​We use software and hardware development, emerging technology, immersive game design, and biophilic design to reimagine the experience of health, wellness, and care. ​Our model allows us to develop a first-of-its-kind technology and design practice that leads with compassion, imagination, and inclusivity.Studio Elsewhere was selected to represent the first ever New York City pavilion at the 2021 London Design Biennale and selected to design the United Nations Pavilion for the World Expo 2021. As a Latina Founder and innovator, Phillips is a passionate advocate for women in colour in STEM. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and previously led Experiential Design in the video game industry.SHOW INTRO:Welcome to the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast. Over our 4 seasons we have focused on “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture, Technology and the Arts”. NXTLVL features provocateurs for whom disruption and transformation are a way of engaging in work and play every day.They include leading scientists, artists, musicians, architects, entertainers and story tellers whose research, exploration and built work brings new understanding of the impact and relevance of place-making to the world. On the show, we focus on what’s now and what’s next.*         *         *         *         *         *         *In this episode we talk about the power of design and its influence on well-being with the Founder and CEO of Studio Elsewhere, Mirelle Phillips. Mirelle and her team collaborate with various medical institutions to create environments that support patients, their families and healthcare workers in the journey to recovery and well-being.Most of us have had the experience of going to a doctor's office or dentist or hospital or some sort of medical facility and having to wait. Some of us may even have spent a night in a temporary bed hooked up to a machine reading out our vital statistics and a team of nurses, doctors and specialists busying around us trying to understand what was wrong and how to make it right. Some of us might have even spent time lying on that bed in a hallway before a room was available, staring up at a ceiling at a large rectangular fluorescent light, an acoustic tile ceiling and a rather drab overall interior.Some of us might have even been a patient with a long term stay in a medical facility or had to return regularly for treatments for our particular condition.Or some of us may have been caregivers or family members who accompanied our loved ones to the medical facility or care for them daily at home. And then there are the health care workers themselves who over the past few years have caried an extraordinary burden as frontline workers during the COVID pandemic that, during the early phases, put crushing pressure on the medical system worldwide. Whether we are a patient, a caregiver or healthcare worker, environments designed for supporting the care and recovery journey affect the experience along the path. The design of healthcare environments influence things like recovery time, they can mitigate stress, anxiety and fear and provide a sense of agency for those who feel like their bodies, and lives, are no longer in their control.Our minds and bodies can be deeply affected by buildings. Well maybe I need to refine that, not putting all the pressure on the built places. The environments we inhabit, natural or human made, affect us. A whole field of cognitive science has emerged that recognizes the influence hat the environment has on our mind-body state call neuroaesthetics.Neuroesthetics is a term coined by Semir Zeki in 1999[3]. A more formal definition was arrived at in the early 2000’s as the scientific study of the neural bases for the contemplation and creation of a work of art.[4]It doesn’t just apply to what is happening in the brain while looking at a piece of art. Among other things, it finds applications to music, dance, poetry, music, places and buildings. What neuroesthetics does is it uses neuroscience to explain and understand the aesthetic experiences at the neurological level and helps us understand the relationship to how we feel and what we experience through the arts and architecture.  Books like “Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives” by Sarah Williams Goldhagen and “Your Brain on Art” by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross are great examples of recent publications that help unpack how the environments we live in, and the art, music, dances, literature influences us.On the show I have talked about ontological design – the idea that what we design designs us back. Neural connections in our brains are formed, reinforced or dismantled through a process of neuroplasticity by the experiences we have. Our environments shape us on a neurological level. Research is quite definitive about the idea that the environment has the capacity to help us recover from illness faster or make us perhaps diminish well-being.And so the question arises…if we know that the environment has this profound effect on our minds and bodies, why is so much of what is built around us so banal?This question goes beyond thinking about sustainability in design and building practice – though this is a critical consideration of addressing issues of global warming. Sustainable design practice should be a baseline for anything we build or manufacture.What if places we built engaged the mind-body with a profound understanding of the impact of art, music, nature, and design, the study of neuroaesthetics?If we did, we would have many more of the projects that Mirelle Phillips and Studio Elsewhere have created over the past few years.Studio Elsewhere uses evidence-based and data-driven practices to develop virtual and physical interventions that promote brain health. They are pioneers of bio-experiential design - interactive, immersive environmental design using technology and physical design toward a healthier brain-body connection. Their embedded emerging technology solutions support the needs of healthcare professionals, researchers, patients and caregivers using software and hardware development, emerging technology, immersive game design, and biophilic design to reimagine the experience of health, wellness, and care. ​They have developed a model that allows for the development of a first-of-its-kind technology and design practice that leads with compassion, imagination, and inclusivity.Mirelle Phillips is the Founder and CEO of Studio Elsewhere. She leads a team of designers and digital technology mavens developing bio-experiential technology to promote behavioural, cognitive, and social health. While many of the application of Studio Elswhere’s work supports the well-being of patients, caregivers and healthcare workers, I can imagine a day when these big ideas find enormously impactful applications in the built environment across education, corporate interiors, retail, hospitality and almost every other place where brains and buildings connect. ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

ABOUT JOE LANZISERO: Joe’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/joelanziseroEmail: jlmonkeyfez@gmail.comTwitter: joe_lanzisero Website: lanziserocreative.comInstagram: @joelanziseroBIO:JOE LANZISERO Former Creative Executive, Senior Vice President, Hong Kong Disneyland & Disney Cruise Line Portfolios Walt Disney Imagineering, Current Creative and UX Consultant, and Executive Vice President & Creative Director Zeitgeist Design and Production Joe Lanzisero served as the senior creative executive in charge of projects for Walt Disney Imagineering across multiple platforms in the company’s cruise, theme park, hotel & resort, restaurant and retail business lines. With more than three decades of Disney experience, Joe worked with teams of artists, writers, architects and engineers, he serves as the eyes and artistic conscience of a project from conception through completion. Joe was responsible for the creative development of the two newest ships for the Disney Cruise Line, and oversaw the teams that designed these new state-of-the-art ships (Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy) which launched in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Many features such as the innovative dinner show “Animation Magic” and the inclusion of an onboard water coaster (the AquaDuck) are cruise industry firsts. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Joe oversaw the expansion of the park by more than 20 percent over a three-year period. The additions of three new lands – Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch and most recently, Mystic Point, adds more excitement and fun for guests of all ages. Lanzisero began his Disney career in 1979 in Feature Animation (now Walt Disney Animation Studios), working on the animation, special effects, storyboarding and story development of numerous features, shorts and special project. He came to Imagineering in 1987 as a concept designer and was on the design teams for Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park at Walt Disney World, Critter Country at Disneyland, and Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris. In 1991, Lanzisero was promoted to senior concept designer and immediately plunged into the development of Mickey’s Toontown, the wacky cartoon “community” that opened at Disneyland Park in 1993. He also developed the concept for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, a wild and funny dark ride that opened in Mickey’s Toontown the following year. Lanzisero also supervised the concept design for the Tokyo Disneyland version of Toontown that opened in 1996. Before joining the Tokyo Disneyland project team in 1999, he developed the concept for Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland, a pair of unique miniature golf courses at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Another new venture, Disney Cruise Line, benefited from his work on children’s spaces and activities. And he was behind the 12/10/2013 conceptual design and development of DisneyFest, a unique Disney entertainment venue that traveled throughout the Far East and South America. In 2001 Joe was promoted to creative vice president for Tokyo Disney Resort, charged with overseeing all design in Tokyo. For Tokyo Disney Resort, he worked on such attractions as Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Toontown, Critter Country and Splash Mountain. He did the concept development for Mermaid Lagoon and Arabian Coast in Tokyo DisneySea as well as many other projects. He directed the creative development of Tower of Terror attraction and Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek.In March 2007, Joe was promoted to creative senior vice president with the added responsibilities of overseeing all design for Hong Kong Disneyland, including leading the design of a major three-land expansion of the park. A member of the first graduating class of the Walt Disney Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts in 1979, Lanzisero developed his artistic talents with old-time Disney professionals. He applied his education as a teacher at the Otis Art Institute and in the animation industry before joining The Walt Disney Company. Currently Joe is a consultant to the Themed Entertainment, Cruise, Museum and Hospitality industries with a portfolio of ongoing international and domestic projects in various stages of design and production. Joe is also actively involved in the UX world and is a sought after speaker in this sector. He has been the Keynote Speaker at the World Usability Congress in Graz Austria and has spoken and consulted on UX to major companies like Macys and Silicon Valley startups. He is also currently Executive Vice President and Creative Director for Zeitgeist Design and Production. Zeitgeist currently has a roster of international and domestic projects. Domestically they are working on high profile museum projects. Internationally they are the creative development team exclusive to Chimelong Resorts in Guangzhou China. Joe is full-time consultant working for visionary clients all over the world. He welcomes the chance to learn more about your big idea and explore ways he might serve you.  SHOW INTRO:Welcome to the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast. Over our 4 seasons we have focused on “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture, Technology and the Arts”. NXTLVL features provocateurs for whom disruption and transformation are a way of engaging in work and play every day.Theyinclude thought leaders who are driven by curiosity, a passion to create the ‘New Possible’ and a mindset of promoting new paradigms of experiences.  They include leading scientists, artists, musicians, architects, entertainers and story tellers whose research, exploration and built work brings new understanding of the impact and relevance of place-making to the world. On the show, we focus on what’s now and what’s next.*          *          *          *          *          *          *In this episode we talk about storytelling with a master, Joe Lanzisero former SVP at Walt Disney Imagineering.We’ll get to our conversation in a minute but first a few thoughts on why I love this topic:*          *          *          *          *          *          *Stories are powerful. They are among the engines of culture and we have relied on sharing them for millennia as part of our human socio-cultural and spiritual development. We stamped out narratives around tribal fires, shared them on trade routes and built public squares combining commerce and culture through the need to share life experiences with storytelling.Stories are also crucial to our empathic development, as well as providing context to our lives. And stories can also act as path to follow for designers that provides a reference point for design decisions guiding massing or volumes, layouts, use of materials, geometries and other aesthetic choices. Story can be used as a tool to determine the sequence of a brand’s signature moments and experiences along a customer journey. The best stories are easy to remember because they paint pictures in our minds that tap into our deep feelings. Because they often create emotional responses and evoke strong visualizations, they play into our long history of communicating through pictures. In many ways, stories are the framework by which we remember things.While the core components of good storytelling may be the same as they have been for years. In fact Joseph Campbell asserted in his book “A hero With A Thousand Faces,” that there was really only one story, a structure that was reinterpreted across time and cultures. The super interesting feature of our brains and stories is that while reading, listening to or watching stories unfold on screen, we develop elaborate mental representations of the situations described in the text, lyrics or scenes. Researchers have gathered evidence through fMRI scans of individuals reading narratives that “the neural responses to particular types of changes in the stories occurred in the vicinity of regions that increase in activity when viewing similar changes, or when carrying out similar activities in the real world.” (see: Reading Stories Activates Neural Representations of Visual and Motor Experiences, Nicole K. Speer, Jeremy R. Reynolds, Khena M. Swallow and M. Zacks, Psychological Science, Volume 20 – No.8, 2009). In other words, as subjects read about characters in a story, their brains react in a manner that is similar to them personally experiencing those characters’ situations. Studies by Brian Pulvermüller (see: Pulvermüller F. Brain Mechanisms Linking Language and Action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2005;6:576–582) have demonstrated that brain regions involved in reading action words (verbs) are some of the same regions involved in performing analogous actions in the real world. So, if you read the word “throw” or “catch”, brain regions light up in fMRI scans that are activated when moving one’s arm or hands.When engaging with story, our brains react to words as if we’re experiencing the story in the real world. Cognitive scientist Roger C. Schank explains that - “Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they’re ideally set up to understand stories.” I’ve been fascinated with story for years. Stories were a crucial part of bedtime rituals with my sons when they were young. We were deeply connected to the value of story and their ability to communicate ideas, morals and values. When my older son was very young, he loved stories and asked my wife to read two stories at the same time so that he could introduce the characters from one narrative to those in another book. “no mommy,” he explained “turn dis book towards de other so the characters can see each other too…”So this is where my guest comes into the narrative…JOE LANZISERO is the Former Creative Executive, Senior Vice President, Hong Kong Disneyland & Disney Cruise Line Portfolios Walt Disney Imagineering. He is currently the Creative and UX Consultant, and Executive Vice President & Creative Director Zeitgeist Design and Production.Joe Lanzisero served as the senior creative executive in charge of projects for Walt Disney Imagineering across multiple platforms in the company’s cruise, theme park, hotel & resort, restaurant and retail business lines. With more than three decades of Disney experience, Joe worked with teams of artists, writers, architects and engineers, he serves as the eyes and artistic conscience of a project from conception through completion.     Lanzisero began his Disney career in 1979 in Feature Animation (now Walt Disney Animation Studios), working on the animation, special effects, storyboarding and story development of numerous features, shorts and special project. After a number of years and promotions with in the Walt Disney organization Joe was promoted to creative vice president for Tokyo Disney Resort, charged with overseeing all design in Tokyo in 2001 and then again in March 2007 to creative senior vice president with the added responsibilities of overseeing all design for Hong Kong Disneyland, including leading the design of a major three-land expansion of the park. Joe is currently Executive Vice President and Creative Director for Zeitgeist Design and Production and a consultant to the Themed Entertainment, Cruise, Museum and Hospitality industries with a portfolio of ongoing international and domestic projects in various stages of design and production. As a note to the listener, I caught up with Joe Lanzisero, at the SHOP Marketplace event in Austin Texas. So, you going to hear the din of the tradeshow floor but the conversation is nonetheless engaging…       ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

ABOUT BERT MARTIN OHNEMULLER: Bert Martin’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/bert-martin-ohnemüller-bmoWebsites:Personal: bmo.de Company Website:  www.neuromerchandising.comPhone: +4915158780680 (Mobile)Address: Kaiserstrasse 61 60329 FrankfurtEmail: bmo@bmo.deTwitter: BertMartin SHOW INTRO:In 2015 I had finished writing my book Retail (r)Evolution and was the world of speaking engagements where I was out spreading the message. Anyone who has written a book will tell you that getting the text published it's just the beginning. The next exciting, though occasionally somewhat tiring, step is to be out on the road speaking at conferences and engaging audiences in the ideas that you had spent the previous two or more years developing and putting to paper.I had the good fortune to be invited to speak at the Shopper Brain Conference in Amsterdam presented by the Neuromarketing Science and Business Association.Speaking at the Shopper Brain Conference was somewhat of a an acid test, a way to be able to gauge whether me - the non-neuroscientist but but the artist, architect, educator and now author, who happened to spend the last four years or so deep diving into the world of neuroscience and its interrelationship with customer behavior and emerging digital technologies, would survive in front of an audience full of scientists and neuromarketing practitioners. My son who I had offered the opportunity to come along on the trip with me would be busy working on homework in the hotel lobby while he was dad was out in front of a few 100 conference attendees talking about the brain, the things you might just want to know about how it works if you're proposing to make engaging customer experiences and the influence that digital technologies was having on both the three pound organ inside your skull and the behavior of shoppers around the globe.I had studied psychology before ente ring the school of architecture at McGill University in Montreal but digging into the world of neuroscience had totally captivated me. I knew that at a base level there was more than just psychology at play in what people did when on a shopping trip. My original intuition was there had to be something, at a base level, that was driving behavior that was maybe crossed generationally, cross culturally, cross ethnically etc similar for all humans. And so, studying neuroscience, brain structures and how things worked inside our head became an area of deep study.That fascination his not left me but only become deeper. Seemed like the more I studied the more I felt I didn't fully understand. But then again that probably made some sense because the pace at which discoveries were being made in the neuroscience world were unfolding at a rapid pace where imaging technologies we're now allowing us to see into the brain in ways that we've never seen before.And so there I was digging into subjects like the mind body connection, the power of stories and the release of neurochemicals, mirror neurons and understanding the brain as a pattern recognizing machine. Understanding the brain began to suggest that what I might have understood as intuition based on experience and careful observation of how people reacted in places could be augmented with the heft of science that was quite definitive about what people might likely do or feel in spaces based on how the environment around them was designed and the interactions they were having with other people.While at the conference I sat and watched scientists, marketing and advertising executives, thought leaders and design practitioners all talk about the power of understanding the brain.One of the other speakers and I struck up a conversation while there and it seemed as though we both we're coming to this world with deep fascination about how the understanding of neuroscience would shape the interactions between people in the brand experience place. Bert Ohnemuller and I seemed to connect immediately. Bert seemed to have an air of approachable and transparent authenticity. He seems genuine and curious in his willingness to discover new ideas and to hear new insights and different points of views that challenged his preconceptions. He was candid and attentive in our conversations sharing some of the challenges in understanding science behind the brain and other subjects such as creating places for relevant customer engagement and leadership.In the past few years Bert and I both chased different professional paths and until recently Bert and I reconnected. His enthusiasm to learn and compassionate approaches to understanding how we as humans might optimize our lived experience had not left him. In fact to the contrary, it seemed like it had only become more profound. He’s a man on a mission.Talking to Bert Ohnemuller is like opening a compendium of thought leadership seminars, that are founded in neuroscience and evolutionary biology. Despite his deep understanding of neuroscience, he is someone that very much has decided to leave his head and lead with his heart. It is perhaps because he is so deeply studied the science that he is able to look inward and understand his own behavior as being a function of where we have come as a species and how the mind body connection of our individual systems is just part of a larger more complex system where individuals resonate and influence the emotional states and behaviors of others.Bert believes that leadership style starts with understanding the self, that leadership is first and foremost about self leadership. In fact he takes this a step further and suggests that leaders should be required to deeply understand and lead themselves before they be put in positions of leading others. He often talks about the EPS - Emotional Positioning System not a Global Positioning System. However his emotional positioning system, that inner sense of who we are and what drives us in making our decisions and creating empathic and relevant relationships to others, is in fact a Global Positioning System of me within the context of the larger human whole.He believes that in understanding ourselves we might then extend that self knowledge outwards towards others deepening our relationships through empathic extension. Bert believes that we are in what he refers to as the Decade of Humanity. And unpacks these ideas in his book “Lead- Speak- Inspire” which has now been translated into five languages. Ohnemuller’s principle key performance indicator for the decade of humanity is what he calls “ROK - Return on kindness.”A core component of this premise his based on the idea of personal responsibility. That we have to develop response – ability; our ability to respond appropriately in circumstances that challenge our existing narratives.After working for years in the fast-paced and high-pressured Consumer Packaged Goods industry with companies like Nestle, Bert now is a high performance business coach and the founder of the neuromerchandising group. His mission he says is spreading knowledge and leadership philosophies in the decade of humanity - a world where people do what they do with passion, a world where companies are role models for the society. A truly value based world.Bert Ohnemuller is a sought-after keynote speaker, author of several books   positive psychology with more than three decades of entrepreneurial experiences. For Ohnemueller says that “humanity is not a soft or romantic quality but the precondition for long term success and profitability. We need to have a much better understanding about human beings and about oneself in order to unlock the full potential of individual and corporations.” ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.Show Less The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

ABOUT REFIK ANADOL:LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/refikanadol/LinkedIn page for Refik Anadol Studio: https://www.linkedin.com/company/refik-anadol-studio/Website: https://refikanadol.comYoutube Videos:Disney Concert Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKfCrChDWpYMelting Memories: https://refikanadol.com/works/melting-memories/Machine Halucinations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OviC5RwpnvATED TALK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxQDG6WQT5sSHOW INTRO:Number of years ago, in 2014, when I was writing my book Retail (r)Evolution, I was looking at the interrelationship between brands, they're physical expression, cognitive science neuroscience and emerging digital technologies.I was thinking a lot about the emergence of a new cohort of experience seeking consumers and their proclivity to use their digital devices not just us communication devices but as vehicles for self-expression through the use of media making. Going out and capturing images and posting to Instagram or social media platforms wasn't just about pushing visual content into the world it was about storytelling, media making and creating narratives of one's life experience in a very different and hugely impactful way.I was beginning to see that young emerging consumers would be extremely savvy in terms of marketing because pushing content into the digisphere required them to understand what their individual markets were interested in, in terms of contenttheir ability to stay in front of their viewers was a large part of their success. True, I also felt that a lot of this was an otherated sense of validation that was driving a deep emotional connection to a sense of well-being and a sense of self in community but it nevertheless suggested that making stories and rewriting narratives of experience was becoming common place and was influencing expectations about how brand engagements should unfold. Brands could no longer just assume that they would give their customers certain services or products and that they would be acceptable and if they didn't like them this season, well, they could come back and next season. But that the ability to remain relevant was tied to the idea of engaging guests in the creation of part of the narrative, something that they could own, something that gave them a sense of agency and connection to the brand in a very different way. I also began to think that what this likely meant was that, as we moved to a world of artificial intelligence and using data to help us understand decision making in in the shopping aisle or online, that it would likely also mean that places that we inhabited might also change based on the interchange of data between my personal devices and a set of algorithms that drove brand experience.I then began to think about the opportunities here of a space that could change in real time to accommodate my individual needs perhaps even from data that was pulled from my smart devices that were reading body temperature, skin conductance, heart rate, breathing rate and even neural activity that was indicating maybe what parts of my brain were being more activated than others and how that might change the environment to align the physical space with my mind body space.This then became a platform for me thinking about a future state where brand experience places were more like brand performance places where the interaction between the performer in this narrative and the stage set on which the story unfolded were intimately tied together and transformed in ways that adapted to different need-states and expectations driven from both personal digital footprints, the places and manner that we used our digital devices and our bio data pulled from our personal digital device connected to our person.There were certainly at certain some points where I believed that all I might need as an architect was it data set, an algorithm, a projection system and a white box. And into that white box we could project data images that were representation of my inner desires or inner mind body state.Then along comes an exposure to something that was called a data sculpture in the Sales Force headquarters in San Francisco. The extraordinary digital image moved across a large part of a wall surface was pulling data from the environment and changing in response to the weather, traffic flows to public sentiment about certain things.This became my first exposure to the fact that someone out there was actually doing this thing I had imagined would be possible. Subsequent to that, I stumbled across an exhibit called “Melting Memories” where Refik Anadol ,a Turkish data visualization artist, had been able to capture brain data of people's memories and made the invisible visible. Refik Anadol’s data paintings, or data sculptures, were enormous high-definition fluid moving images that were like watching a campfire - ever changing and captivating. I found them captivating more so because they were a physicalization of somebody’s most private moments - a memory. This for me was a complete game changer. Finally, the ideas that I had begun to think about but knew I was incapable of actually creating on my own were being done. An artist in our midst who was tying together artificial intelligence, art and neuroscience was beginning to reshape the way we would come to experience public spaces and art itself. Refik Anadol is an extraordinary example of a game changing artist who brings together these three core components in reshaping the world we live in.Using architecture as a canvas, his data sculptures recontextualize the built work, or the inner life of significant cultural buildings, and externalizes them as a painting on the exterior skin giving these public buildings a new level of appreciation, perhaps, for an emerging cohort of digitally oriented consumers.One of the main premises of my book Retail (r)Evolution was to try to get people who were creating brand experience places a little more connected to what happens at a brain-body level in terms of their experience of environments. My whole premise was that if you knew a little bit more about how your brain actually worked you might not create some of the things that you believe are relevant which are completely off of the awareness radar and probably don't have the impact that you hope to have with people who are experience the place.If we only understood a little bit what goes on inside your head we might be able to create more relevant and meaningful experiences for people because so much of what we experience is driven by our neurophysiology and our interpersonal neurobiology.As I learned more about the work of Refik Anadol, I was intrigued and delighted by his thinking of what he's doing today and his relationship to early Renaissance art where, at that time artists were afforded materials by their patrons and they would use technologies to create advances in artistic expression. In Anadol's world, his connection to massive data sets were akin to having the raw materials for creating great new digital pieces of artwork. I once heard him explain that what he was effectively doing was taking his paintbrush and plunging it into the consciousness of the machine and painting with those algorithms and data sets. What is even more fascinating about his work is the use of light as a building material, or maybe as a pigment, which he wields to create both paintings that may hung in a gallery as well as wrapping significant pieces of architecture like the Frank Gehry Disney Concert Hall for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the center of downtown LA.The interesting thing about using existing architecture as a canvas onto which light as a substance is painted and moving pictures generated from massive data sets that are the memory of the building is that in a way it recontextualizes these buildings that are, generally speaking, time stamped,meaning they're built in a period of time and represent a certain period of culture into which they were born. This work brings those buildings forward into a contemporary world of fluid experience where time and space seemed to collapse as we move rapidly from one significant change in our digitally mediated environment to the next.Refik Anadol (b. 1985, Istanbul, Turkey) is now an internationally renowned media artist, director, and pioneer in the aesthetics of machine intelligence. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where he owns and operates Refik Anadol Studio and RAS LAB, the Studio’s research practice centered around discovering and developing trailblazing approaches to data narratives. Anadol also teaches at UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts from which he obtained his Master of Fine Arts.Anadol’s body of work addresses the challenges, and the possibilities, that ubiquitous computing has imposed on humanity, and what it means to be a human in the age of AI. He explores how the perception and experience of time and space are radically changing now that machines dominate our everyday lives. Anadol is intrigued by the ways in which the digital age and machine intelligence allow for a new aesthetic technique to create enriched immersive environments that offer a dynamic perception of space.  In some cases, entire buildings come to life, floors, walls, ceilings disappear into Infinity, breathtaking aesthetics take shape from large swaths of data, and what was once invisible to the human eye becomes visible, offering the audience a new perspective on and narrative of their worlds.Refik anadol global projects have received a number of awards and prizes.His studio comprises designers, architects, data scientists and researchers from diverse professional and personal backgrounds, embracing principles of inclusion and equity throughout every stage of the production. Studio members originate from 10 different countries and are collectively fluent in 14 different languages. I don't often gush over having an opportunity to speak to a guest but in this case my enthusiasm for the work of Refik Anadol is unbounded. I truly believe that he is doing something extraordinarily in the world of art, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, urban planning and architecture.And so I confess a certain fandom for Refik and was grateful to have him offer up time so that we could have this discussion. To some degree, it is unfortunate that this podcast is a non-visual medium and so I encourage all who listen to visit refikanadol.com – R E F I K A N A D O l.comThere you will have an in-depth look at his work that is shifting the nature and our understanding of how art artificial intelligence, neuroscience and architecture are all merging in a way that is a paradigm shift for how we experience place.        ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Ruth Zukerman:LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-zukerman-83678b3b/ Book: https://www.amazon.com/Riding-High-Ruth-Zukerman-audiobook/dp/B07HHC7HMM/ref=sr_1_5?crid=RV1R0WVHKRQA&keywords=riding+high+book&qid=1677367136&sprefix=riding+high%2Caps%2C735&sr=8-5 Bio:Ruth Zukerman is the co-founder of Soul Cycle and Flywheel, both wildly successful companies that innovated the studio cycling movement.   Ruth pioneered the boutique fitness industry by creating the “studio” with a pay per class structure, modeling them after the dance studios she would frequent when she was pursuing her dance career.  Over the last decade with these companies, she has come to realize that her passion is greater than simply cycling or fitness. Her mission is to connect people to each other as well as to their own inner strength, and empower them to carry the positive, powerful attitude they have on the bike on into their lives and their careers. She speaks around the country, inspiring people to get unstuck and find new paths and new passion for a successful second, third or even fourth act in their careers. Ruth is following her own advice and left Flywheel at the end of 2018 to pursue her next great adventure. She lives in New York and is very close with her grown daughters. Her memoir RIDING HIGH: How I Kissed SoulCycle Goodbye, Co-Founded Flywheel and Built the Life I Always Wanted, was published in October 2018. SHOW INTRO:I like riding a bike.I think it’s a bit if a holdover from doing triathlons many years ago.I didn’t like swimming too much – I tended to sink, and so I relied on the wet suit to give me some buoyancy. Still though, it didn’t make the swim that much more enjoyable.Ah… but the bike… you could go fast and go far. You had something you could tinker with, a piece of equipment, something technical.That was, and still is, cool…These days, I get out on the road at the end of a long workday and ride through the Maryland countryside. A few miles from my home, the rolling hills and corn fields are a landscape that helps me unwind, breathe deeply and think.A few years ago I took to the Peloton bike with a passion. I road the bike religiously having my favorite instructors call me out, inspire me like I was at church, and I found that they were connecting with meaningful messages while they also kicked my butt. I also liked to competitiveness of the leaderboard. Always wanting to ride in the top 10% of riders in the class. The goal kept me on it, in pursuit of fitness for sure, but it was more than that, it was a community.And the instructors, Alex, Ally, and Jess became, unbeknownst to them, my friends and motivational mentors.I remember that back in about 2014, or something, I took a spin class at the local Y. I was riding with a cycling team called Team Evesham, a group of sometimes a 100 or more weekend road warriors, who peddled through the pinelands of South Jersey.They somehow got a deal to get a few free classes for each of us, if we were interested. I wasn’t totally convinced back then, I preferred to be outside, you know on a real bike, with the wind on my face and all that jazz.…boy did that change in later years with my love affair with Peloton.What I didn’t know then was there had been a growing spin cycling thing happening in New York for a few years. A place called SoulCycle had been attracting customers to in-door spin classes and it had been really catching on. And it had grown into a brand with locations all over the place. Still though, I was riding outside. The purist in me was still winning out.Leap forward a few years and I buy my Peloton bike in the fall of 2018. Spinning had finally captured my interest and I was hooked. I was fully on board with team Peloton but friends and colleagues who were into spinning swore by SoulCycle and this other brand called Flywheel who had figured out the leaderboard and ride metrics, so the story goes, before Peloton became a player.Leap forward again to fall 2022. My Peloton ball cap, that had become a standard fashion accessory, was well worn and I am more familiar with SoulCycle, I can imagine the logo in my mind’s eye and picture the color yellow but still … I have never been.I am at the International Retail Design Conference and the stories of spinning, SoulCycle, Flywheel and Peloton are about to all converge. I arrive late to the closing keynote being giving by Ruth Zukerman.Now I don’t now Ruth Zukerman from Adam, but then… I actually do. As I listen to a candid, heartfelt and inspiring presentation about leadership, resilience in the face of adversity and creating nationally recognized brands, I look at the session summary in the brochure and it turns out the Ruth Zukerman founded SoulCycle, left her brainchild and created Flywheel and was principally responsible for starting the spinning craze in a studio on the Upper West Side in New York.It also turns out that, though this interview, I learn that Ruth turned down an opportunity to join John Foley the creator of Peloton to take what they had created at Flywheel and evolve it into the home cycling juggernaut that is Peloton. They, Flywheel and their investors figured they could do their own at-home bike, but that never happened and Ruth Left Flywheel in 2018. Flywheel, like many other companies under the extraordinary pressure of the global COVID pandemic, filed for bankruptcy and closed in September of 2020.So there I am listening, slightly dumbfounded, to Ruth Zukerman and thinking this is one remarkable woman. What a life story.What an approach to leading in the face of adversity.So, as serendipity would have it, I connect with Ruth after her inspiring talk and invite her to share her professional path and story on the podcast.Soul Cycle and Flywheel, were both wildly successful companies that innovated the studio cycling movement.  Ruth pioneered the boutique fitness industry by creating the “studio” with a pay per class structure, modeling them after the dance studios she would frequent when she was pursuing her dance career.  Over the last decade with these companies, she came to realize that her passion is greater than simply cycling or fitness. Her mission is to connect people to each other as well as to their own inner strength, and empower them to carry the positive, powerful attitude they have on the bike into their lives and their careers. She speaks around the country, inspiring people to get unstuck and find new paths and new passion for a successful second, third or even fourth act in their careers. As I explained earlier, Ruth followed her own advice and left Flywheel at the end of 2018 to pursue her next great adventure. In 2018 Ruth also published a memoir called “RIDING HIGH: How I Kissed SoulCycle Goodbye, Co-Founded Flywheel and Built the Life I Always Wanted.”Ruth Zukerman still lives in New York, and she has taken what she learned from years as an aspiring professional dancer to build a life of resilience, business innovation and inspiration both on and off the bike. ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

About Toni Roeller:Toni’s LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/toni-roeller-3624676Bio:Toni Roeller currently serves as Senior Vice President, In-Store Environment, Visual Merchandising and House of Sport at DICK'S Sporting Goods. In this role, Toni is responsible for bringing the brand to life through the overall in-store experience, while ensuring the athlete is at the center of all merchandising strategies.Toni joined the company in May 2014 as Vice President of Visual Merchandising. In 2019, she was named Vice President of In-Store environment and Visual Merchandising, overseeing all aspects of evolving the in-store environment and visual storytelling. Prior to joining DICK's, she served as Vice President of In-Store Environment at The Home Depot. Throughout her career, she also has held increasing roles of responsibility at Best Buy, Levis Strauss and Maurices.Toni earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Concord University.SHOW INTRO:I grew up one of five boys. No sisters… just 5 rambunctious, energetic, physically active, sometime mischievous, food consuming boys. Oh, and we had dogs and cats, birds, gerbils, Guinea pigs, turtles and I think at one point we even had a parrot… or was it a cockateel.My mother, God bless your soul, somehow held this sometimes-unwieldy lot together and made sure, along with my father, that we were exposed to the great outdoors.This, or course, was a time where there was no such thing as a home computer or a cell phone. There was a TV, but for many years it was black and white with something like 3 or 4 channels and so outside we were most of the day at the park, the swimming pool, or playing in the street while the summertime the sun went down and the last round of kick the can was played before we were all called in for a bath. Summer trips from Montreal to Winnipeg, where my father side of the family lived, brought us through Toronto and most of northern Ontario. We camped the entire way which was always a lot of fun. 5 boys in a station wagon, with the dog and a camper in tow. For days…My father made sure that we were also well versed in the world of fishing which I can imagine must have tested his patience as toddlers undoubtedly got hooks stuck in themselves and each other more than they likely caught any fish.Throughout high school there was no music or theater program at my high school. And so, my friends and I played every sport that there was able to be played starting in the fall with football, leading to volleyball and then basketball and then track and field and then rugby. There never was a time in school where I wasn't playing sports and I loved it. My high school football coach Chuck Poirier still stands as a significant and memorable figure through those years.All of my brothers and I became ski school instructors which was one of the only ways to survive Montreal winters which could naturally get as cold as minus 20 or 30 below zero. No big deal really. My parents had us on skis as soon as we could stand, somewhere around the age of two or three. And so, we were used to being out in the cold.In any case, my parents made sure that we played sports all the time and that we were always physically active.In college, my mother would show up at all of my football games sitting in the stands, rain or shine, cheering me and the team on. She showed up at my baseball games too. And she was always there reminding me that playing team sports was important because it taught you cooperation, collaborating towards a common goal and teamwork and that you had to rely on others at times to reach your objectives. The ‘all for one and one for all’ mantra of The Three Musketeers was something that she truly believed in. My mother had no problem with us being team players, but she believed in leadership in fact she always encouraged her sons to lead the charge in whatever team they were playing.As for sports stores to meet our needs, well, growing up in Montreal there was Canadian Tire and a store I remember called Le Baron. There was nothing like Eddie Bauer with indoor fishponds and taxidermy statues of giant bears or elk with enormous antlers. There wasn't anything like REI with rock climbing walls and there certainly wasn't anything like a two-story 100,000 square foot Dick's Sporting Goods that seemed to have merchandise for any sport you could possibly imagine.My uncle Roy, one of my dad's older brothers, was the Wilson sporting goods distributor for Western Canada so we occasionally got a good set of golf clubs a few flats of balls and some tennis rackets. But again, nothing like you find at a Dick's Sporting Goods.DICK'S Sporting Goods is an amazing story of a young man, Dick Stack, who worked in an Army Surplus shop who, when asked to come up with some ideas about what other products could be sold, was dismissed by his boss, the shop owner.Upset about the interaction, he goes to his grandmother’s house and shares the story of the interaction with his boss. His grandmother literally took money out of a cookie jar on the kitchen shelf and gives him $300 to start his own company instead of staying an employee in someone else's store.  Dick Stack later on passes on a legacy to his son Ed Stack who turns Dick's Sporting Goods into a mega brand in the sporting goods industry with about 800 stores and a number of different brands.DICK'S Sporting Goods also recognizes the profound impact that sports have on youth, community and culture. With their “Sports Matter” program they support little league teams as well as aspiring professional athletes. In fact they don't call people who shop at their stores customers or guests. To DICK'S Sporting Goods, their customers are all “Athletes.” And their sales associates are “Teammates.”Enter Toni Roeller to the sporting goods story.Toni Roeller is an ardent hockey fan, which is always strange for me because I grew up in Montreal during the reign of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, but it never seemed to catch with me because I was a skier. In any case, Toni is also the Senior Vice President of In-Store Environment for DICK'S Sporting Goods.In the past couple of years Toni Roeller and the DICK'S team has launched a couple of extraordinary sporting goods store concepts including House of Sport and Public Lands. House of Sport is truly one of the most interactive sporting goods stores that there is today. Complete with batting cages, golf simulators and an outdoors practice field, the environment invites athletes to ‘try before they buy’ and to experience the feeling of sports while in the store. Public Lands is capitalizing on an emerging trend towards hiking and climbing and boasts two to three story rock walls in the center of the store.When Ed Stack was interested in creating the next evolution of a sporting goods store concept, he told his team that he wanted something that if it was built across the street from a DICK'S Sporting Goods store it would put them out of business. That was a challenge for any store designer who is sports oriented and has competitive mindset that couldn't be left unanswered.Toni Roeller and  the DICK'S team delivered the House of Sport concept.Toni joined the DICK'S Sporting Goods in May 2014 as the Vice President of Visual Merchandising and in 2019 she was named SVP of In-Store Environment, Visual Merchandising and House of Sport. She is responsible for bringing the brand to life through the overall in store experience while ensuring that the athlete is at the center of all merchandising strategies. Tony has a deep history in retail design and store planning and prior to Dick’s she served as the VP of in-store environments at the Home Depot. She is also held leadership roles at Best Buy, Levi Strauss and Maurice's. While at the International Retail Design Conference in November of 2022, Toni was gracious in accepting an early morning conversation about sports as a cultural phenomenon, the growth of DICK'S Sporting Goods as a business and a brand, the evolution of the sporting goods store concept and why sports matter.ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

ABOUT AMBER BAZDAR;Amber’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/amberbazdarAMBER'S BIO:As a seasoned retail executive, Amber Bazdar’s sharp foresight, expertise, and ability to guide a traditional retailer into a new phygital generation has made her stand out in the competitive world of retail.Amber’s diverse professional background includes retail design, visual merchandising, brand experience and fixture and lighting design.  Throughout her career, Amber has excelled at developing and growing retail locations through innovative design and visual merchandising strategies, solving complex “back of house” problems with advanced solutions and attracting and developing high performing talent.  A vibrant and proactive leader, Amber excels at propelling corporate visual standards and creative direction while developing innovative concepts to engage customers.A life-long learner, Amber was recently an Adjunct Professor of Visual Merchandising at Lasell University, where she taught at the undergraduate level.  She has been involved with curriculum development, student/industry design projects and design competitions.Amber currently resides in the Seacoast of New Hampshire with her husband, three children and their GSP, Luna.  She enjoys living near the mountains and sea, where she can enjoy nature frequently with her family.Amber is also the recipient of the "2022 Retailer Innovator Award" SHOW INTRO: A of lot of brands have a story. A narrative that underpins the entire enterprise.These stories are crucial since they establish a framework helps define the customer, their needs and how the brand’s products or services is going to satisfy them.The brand story isn’t just about what the brand sells though, or who buys their stuff, it’s more a statement of what the brand is about, its essence, its raison d’etre.It is what it means to be in business in the first place, why they do what they do and how they do it. It sets out a series of promises, that sort of act like a contract for engagement between the brand and its customers. Let’s say you were single, you already felt pretty confident about who you were, you knew what you liked and knew what you needed in a relationship.Let’s say there was a dating service… but it matched people like you with brands in an effort to create that special relationship. And let’s say that you thought that a relationship with a brand would make a great compliment to who you already were. It's not that you need something, or someone, to make you whole but that a good brand relationship would just make experience better, more fulfilling.Well, if there was such a service existed then you’d probably also want to check out the brand’s online profile. You know…do some research. If you did, you might find that the story they’d likely tell may be a little aspirational - for example a friend who is out on the dating circuit, tells me that everyone’s profile says that they are into hiking… and dogs… they may only climb up and own the stairs at home and have a dog calendar hanging on the wall, but for some that may qualify.In any case, you’d hope that the narrative is authentic and is genuine.You’re a little bit of a dreamer, you might even like the idea of hiking too, or maybe you area just optimistic, always looking for the thing that could augment your everyday.If you moved along and you liked eachother then you maybe you’d accept an offer to get together. What you hope is that on the first date, and everyone after that, that it delivered what you were expecting. It held the relationship in the highest regard. And the act of doing life together, yes, made it your personal experience better. But more than that, you feel that you and this new brand relationship became connected. You felt that on some level you didn’t become one, enmeshed, indistinguishable from each other, but became better, interdependent, and that the relationship was generative. It grew you.Some brands make up that foundational, ‘who we are‘story. They see a market opportunity. Build a customer profile, brand platform, product or service assortment and go to market. Others have an authentic origin story, a real life narrative, that lays the foundation for how they show up, every day, everywhere with everything they do.Timberland is one of those brands.A Russian immigrant buys a shoe company, dedicates his ingenuity and craft of making quality boots to growing a company. He creates a boot that is built for the harsh New England climate and it catches on becoming a pop cultural icon whose name has become part of the lexicon of a generation of musicians with rappers like Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z and DMZ calling them out in lyrics.My sons call them Timbs and the signature yellow leather boot is as much a recognizable brand character as a blue box is for Tiffany.This dating service I was imagining earlier, well it exisits, it’s pretty much anywhere you might come in contact with a brand. And the place for the first date also exists. It’s called the store. The store is like the physical manifestation of the brand story. It’s where the narrative comes to life surrounding customers in all that the brand is.And this is where Amber Bazdar comes into the brand dating game metaphor. Amber is the Director of Global Retail Design at Ztimberland. She is a seasoned retail executive with sharp foresight and expertise built on a professional life working in and understanding retail. Her ability to guide a traditional retailer into a new phygital generation has made her stand out in the competitive world of retail. In fact, this past year she was awarded the 2022 Retail Innovator Award.Amber’s diverse professional background includes retail design, visual merchandising, brand experience, store fixture and lighting design. Throughout her career, Amber has excelled at developing and growing retail locations through innovative design and visual merchandising strategies, solving complex “back of house” problems with advanced solutions and attracting and developing high performing talent.  Amber excels at propelling corporate visual standards and creative direction while developing innovative concepts to engage customers.I was able to catch up with Amber at the International Retail Design Conference where we had an early morning talk, well before my second cup of morning coffee.To use some Timberland parlance, it was a ‘bold’ move to meet e breakfast and we got some ‘shit done’… ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.  The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.