Finding Founders

In this emotional and inspiring episode, Theresa Bruno recounts her extraordinary journey from Juilliard-trained concert pianist to award-winning creative director and founder of a multi-million-dollar fine jewelry brand. After a career-ending injury, she pivoted into advertising, secured major clients like Regions Bank, and later launched a jewelry business that caught the attention of The New York Times and even First Lady Michelle Obama.Bruno shares the highs of building a seven-figure brand and the devastating lows of fraud, business collapse, and the tragic loss of her husband. Her story is a masterclass in reinvention and resilience — with powerful insights into grief, identity shifts, and how creativity can be a lifeline through life’s darkest chapters.She now channels her purpose into the Soul Talks podcast, her book He's Not Coming Back, and new AI video projects that blend storytelling with emotional healing.Notable Takeaways: Why Juilliard prepared her for both artistic and business risk-taking. How offering to work for free helped her pivot industries successfully. The hidden financial realities of luxury product businesses. Strategies for rebuilding identity and business after deep personal loss. How AI is transforming emotional storytelling in her latest projects. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we sit down with Kevin Surace, a legendary inventor, keynote speaker, and the man credited with creating the world’s first virtual assistant—technology that would eventually power Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. With 94 patents under his belt and a track record of turning vision into billion-dollar industries, Kevin walks us through his unconventional path from tinkering with radios at age 12 to co-founding Air Communications, revolutionizing enterprise AI at Appvance, and retrofitting the Empire State Building to save millions in energy costs.We cover: How he landed 12 job offers out of college through coding his own mail-merge system in 1985. Lessons from building the first data-capable cell phone used by the FBI and U.S. schools. The inside story of how General Magic's patents led to billions in licensing revenue from Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. Why most founders get fired from their own startups—and how he bounced back stronger. How to identify pain points, build intellectual moats, and lead with joy and integrity. And finally, his latest work combining AI and video to push boundaries in storytelling and tech. Packed with actionable insights, hard-won wisdom, and inspirational storytelling, this is a masterclass in curiosity-fueled innovation. Kevin’s journey will leave you rethinking how you build, lead, and live. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Only a year after joining social media, Joanne Molinaro would become a New York Times bestseller for “The Korean Vegan Cookbook”— but when she was crying in her car, stressed about her job, her divorce, and future, this eventual reality seemed like a fantasy. Now, Joanne is one of leading voices in the cooking world with 3 million followers on tiktok, nearly 1 million Youtube subscribers, and more than 600,000 instagram followers. Under her slogan ‘I veganize Korean Food. I koreanize everything else’, Joanne explains how to make vegan kimchi and un-fuck-up-able pho, all while sharing her intersectional identity as a Korean American woman and her family’s refugee experience. But let’s take this back… before she became a successful blogger, content creator, writer, and attorney.. Let’s start this story generations before in North Korea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all start somewhere…and for christian, that start was a best-selling, chart-topping, fart-themed ringtone. Now, with over 1.7 billion views on YouTube, 6 million subscribers, and 3 million monthly Spotify listeners, Christian-better known as TheFatRat- has outgrown this early legacy and made an extraordinary impact on the electronic music scene. But how did this German artist get his start? Before composing for Dota 2 and Rocket League and before producing the best selling CD in France, Christian surprisingly discovered music through classical piano training. To learn how his early interest in musical improv and Chopin turned into a love for glitch hop, let’s go back to his childhood…all the way to when he first earned his elementary school nickname…‘the rat’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Omar Alvarez, founder of Kinnect, shares his incredible journey from growing up amid gang violence in Chicago to breaking into Nike’s ultra-competitive hiring pipeline—beating a 0.5% acceptance rate. He dives into his experiences as a Division 1 athlete, surviving a Twitter mass layoff before even starting his job, and eventually launching Kinect, an AI-powered platform preserving human stories.Omar discusses: His early life in Chicago and the unique challenges of being a first-generation Latino navigating two worlds. How he broke into Nike despite having no elite school background or industry connections. The pivotal moment at NikeTown Chicago that changed his career trajectory. Why he left Nike for Twitter, only to be laid off before Day 1, and how he rebounded at Levi’s. The personal loss of his grandfather and close friend that shaped his vision for Kinect. The problem with modern social media and how AI can revolutionize memory preservation and deep connections. Packed with actionable insights on resilience, storytelling, and startup building, this conversation is a must-listen for entrepreneurs, creatives, and anyone interested in AI’s role in human connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hunter Williams witnessed his mother’s diagnosis, prognosis, decline, and passing in the span of only two months and two weeks. And at the end of the summer of 2016, he suddenly found himself stranded in the middle of his life, unable to move forward in any direction. Fast forward to today and Hunter Williams is a full time YouTuber known for his sharp, well edited video essays on the business of being a content creator. From hitting millions of views on his deep-dive analysis of Mr.Beast and Mark Rober to receiving a video response from Cody Ko himself, Hunter might be on the path to creating his very own YouTube empire. Yet before he converted his garage into a home studio and embarked on this creator journey, Hunter was just a young kid with a point and shoot camera. Miles deep into the rural countryside and 20 minutes from the nearest small town, there was a time when he didn’t even know YouTube existed…. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Yehuda Niv, founder of Spines and Niv Publishing, shares his entrepreneurial journey from a struggling musician to a publishing disruptor. Yehuda details how he built Israel’s largest publishing house, scaling it to over 1,200 books a year, and later transitioned into AI-powered publishing with Spines, securing $16M in Series A funding.Key takeaways include: Navigating failure: How Yehuda moved from an unsuccessful music career to engineering and eventually publishing. Scaling a business: Lessons from nearly going bankrupt twice and how he ultimately structured a self-sufficient management team. AI’s role in publishing: How Spines automates book formatting, cover design, metadata optimization, and distribution, allowing authors to bypass traditional publishing constraints. Fundraising strategy: Yehuda’s insights on securing venture capital, including his bold approach to pitching Oren Zeev (early investor in Audible). Leadership philosophy: The importance of mentors, data-driven decision-making, and empowering employees to create a scalable business. This episode is packed with actionable insights on growth, automation, and resilience, making it a must-listen for aspiring entrepreneurs, authors, and tech founders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we sit down with Chris Miles, CEO of Money Ripples, who shares his journey from financial advisor to financially free entrepreneur – twice. Chris opens up about how he built a successful career, lost it all in the 2008 financial crisis, and came back stronger by developing cashflow-based wealth strategies that break the traditional financial planning mold.Key discussion points include: The biggest myths in financial planning and why the 4% retirement rule is broken How he freed up $50,000 in taxes for a chiropractor and the cashflow formula he now teaches clients The worst money mistake he made – and how cutting off his income streams led to over $1M in debt His favorite passive income strategies (real estate syndications, infinite banking, and more) Why networking and value creation are the ultimate drivers of wealth Chris breaks down real, actionable steps for achieving financial freedom, scaling your wealth, and building a lifestyle where work is optional. If you want to rethink how money actually works and take control of your financial future, this episode is packed with golden nuggets of wisdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we dive deep into the mind of Remy Abode, the creator of Gemini Home Entertainment, a critically acclaimed YouTube horror anthology series with over 348,000 subscribers and 14.4 million views. We explore Remy's early inspirations, including his childhood fascination with horror soundtracks, his early experiments in filmmaking with his siblings, and the pivotal moment when he discovered Local 58, the series that defined the analog horror genre.We break down: How Remy leveraged nostalgia and lo-fi aesthetics to create a unique horror experience. The rise of analog horror on YouTube and how creators like Alex Kister (Mandela Catalog) fueled the genre’s explosion. The psychological power of mystery and ambiguity in storytelling—and how keeping the audience guessing keeps them engaged for years. The business and creative strategy behind growing a niche YouTube channel and building long-term audience loyalty. The transition from making short horror videos to crafting an expansive, interconnected narrative. The future of analog horror and AI-generated video, and how these tools might reshape storytelling. This episode is packed with actionable insights for creators looking to build a devoted audience and craft stories that stand the test of time. Whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker, a YouTuber looking for non-traditional growth strategies, or just a horror fan, you won’t want to miss this conversation with Remy Abode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek Ting began his entrepreneurial journey in high school, founding two companies: TorrentReactor, a torrent-sharing platform, and WoolNet, a web hosting service. He later earned a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo. In 2008, Derek launched TextNow to provide free texting, inspired by his own struggles to afford phone bills as a student. Despite early challenges Derek steadily grew TextNow into the first mobile provider offering free phone service with unlimited talk and text. Today, TextNow employs 200 people and generates $130 million in revenue, serving about 7 million users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices