Creating Conscious Serendipity

Summary In this episode of the Creating Conscious Serendipity podcast, host Benny Mathew engages in a transformative conversation with Dr. Dina Pavilonis, a functional medicine physician. They explore the principles of functional medicine, emphasizing the importance of understanding root causes of health issues rather than merely treating symptoms. Dr. Pavilonis shares her personal health journey,...

In this episode, host Benny Mathew sits down with Melissa O'Dell to explore her remarkable journey in the field of criminal justice reform. Defy Ventures is a transformative program that empowers incarcerated individuals through career readiness, personal development, and entrepreneurship training. By providing access to education, Defy Ventures helps participants redefine their futures and succes...

Some conversations hit differently. This one? It’s raw, real, and deeply personal. This is a story about loss, choice, gratitude and resilience. This is the story of my good friend and one of the Founding Members of Orion3, Gregg MellingerThis episode was filmed in the studio of Aliyah Kizilbash for a collab. Aliyah is an Associate Member of Orion3 and the Founder of TaxBack Some stories don’t jus...

In this episode of the Creating Conscious Serendipity podcast, host Benny Mathew and guest Rob Krecak delve into the concept of technology mindfulness. Rob shares his personal journey with technology, discussing how early experiences with technology shaped his understanding of its impact on mental health, relationships, and productivity. The conversation explores the addictive nature of technology...

In this episode of the Creating Conscious Serendipity podcast, host Benny Mathew welcomes Cliff Goins IV, who shares his journey from the South Side of Chicago to becoming a passionate advocate for personal finance and addressing the wealth gap. The conversation explores Cliff's background, his family's influence, the impact of women's sports on his daughters, and his unique career path. Cliff emp...

Summary In this episode of the Creating Conscious Serendipity podcast, host Benny Mathew shares a deeply personal story about a life-altering car accident that occurred 24 years ago. He reflects on the physical and emotional challenges he faced during recovery, the importance of relationships, and his journey towards self-discovery and spiritual awakening. Benny emphasizes the power of choice in h...

Jen Guzman is an entrepreneur, a change maker, an OrionCore Member, and someone who’s been through some of the worst aspects of Endometriosis This episode is a conversation about how her life experiences have affected her perception, choices and dreams. It’s about embracing the good, the bad, the ugly and the sad, and not give up on what is most important to you. For her, EVERYTHING she does is fo...

Lee Leiderman is a Jewish man who was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. He severed in the Soviet Military as soon as he was able to. He came to the US in 1988 with his parents and built a great life for himself while building his own family. He has been leading Corporate Finance teams for Global companies as a CFO. In 2020 his world turned upside down when he was diagnosed with...

Tony is a Senior Vice President of CBRE in Chicago. This is a conversation about his life: family, loyalty, resilience, and love for the City of Chicago. In this heartfelt episode, we talk about his life and inspiring journey. From deeply personal stories about his family and values to overcoming adversity during Covid, Tony's passion shines through. He shares his unwavering belief in Chicago's br...

Ken Clay is a serial Tech Entrepreneur who's now using AI to change the way human beings experience food and dining with his company Foode This episode is all about Ken's story and passion for Entrepreneurship and the sacrifices he made to get to where he's at now. He talks about going to college, doing an unpaid internship for a person with influence while working as a janitor, on the night shift...

Claude Cimeus is one of the most well known and well recognized leaders in the Chicago StartUp and Tech Space This episode is the most that he’s ever shared publicly about his life, his perspectives, and his beliefs. Claude talks about coming to the US from Haiti as an immigrant, the impact that his parents had on him, his vision and mission to make the tech echo system in Chicago #1 in the countr...

Spann is a serial entrepreneur who's already built multiple companies in different industries. He dropped out of college because all he wanted was to build his own company and have full responsibility for his choices. He co-founded a startup, was accepted into Y Combinator, and after they built the company, they were able to sell it for a great exit. After that he dove into different industries, t...

Sunny was born in a poor village in Nigeria and was considered a "second class' human because he was born out of wedlock. After he was born, his mother was on the run, so throughout his childhood he lived in different villages with different family members. He got the opportunity to come to America 20 years ago and he came here, went to college in the US, worked for corporate america, but then dec...

Angela Allen is currently an Executive Coach who was a C Level executive for several organizations, currently sits on the board of two different companies, is an Angel Investor, an OrionCore Member, and mentors others (especially women). Angela talks openly about her career, including being on the leadership team of a start up that grew from 100 - 2000 employees in 5 years with a great exit! Most...

Craig Levy is an entrepreneur, a CFO, a Father, and an OrionCore Member. His career path is not like a traditional CFO and his mindset on career development more entrepreneural than normal. In this pisode, we discussed his career path and his mindset which lead him to where he's at right now. Craig was very transparent and open about the ups and downs of his choices. Craig is also a Jewish Father...

Kristi Zuhlke is an OrionCore Member who is a serial tech entrepreneur. She's already had 2 different exits with 2 companies that she founded and is currently the CEO/Founder of Dott Technologies, a Generative Ai B2C company. In this episode we discuss the mindset of entrepreneurship, the value of learning at big companies, raising money, being a women entrepreneur and so much more. Kristi was...

Amy Preston is the Founder and CEO of Preston Design and Consulting and a Corporate Member of Orion3. She built her success and career in the most male dominated industry in Chicago; Commercial Real Estate. This is Amy's story and we talked about everything! The mindset it takes to WIN in an industry where all the winners seem like they're men. We talk about excuses versus execution. She a...

Apurva Desai is a C Suite exec/investor and an OrionCore Member, who grew up in the Midwest and then headed to Silicon Valley to work for multiple big tech companies. During that time, he built a successful career as a CFO and investor. In 2020 he moved back to Chicago where he currently helps startups to companies that are getting ready to go IPO build their Finance Functions. He's also an an...

From 2020 till now, Arjuna Reddy had a lot of life changes: - Left his Tech CFO role after 15 years to start his own company - Proposed to his girlfriend - 1 month after the proposal, she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer - After the surgery to remove the cancer, they found out she was already pregnant - He became father to a healthy baby in early 2023! This episode is about someone who faced a lot...

Don Bora is the co founder of Eight Bit Studios, a serial entrepreneur, and an OrionCore Member, who's built over 100 Apps, someone who's very passionate about DEI, who's actions have given back to help many others. In this conversation we talk about the impact of Ai and the potential for it in Human Resources/Accounting/Finance, a brief history of ChicagoTech, and what the future can...

Aimee Schuster is an expert at marketing the invisible, having spent the last twenty-five years helping B2B organizations like Miller Heiman Group, DLA Piper and Homefinder.com build, advance and energize their lead generation programs.  Aimee founded Bandwidth Strategy, a fractional CMO and COO consultancy, to help growth-stage organizations drive the right leads into the funnel that result in cl...

In Part 2 of Episode 2, Robert and I talk about his perspectives and beliefs. In order to fully understand this, it's important to understand Robert's background and his life experiences. I highly recommend listening to Part 1 with Robert either before or after listening to this one. In this episode, we talk about: - How to create a better America for Black Americans - His thoughts on the...

Robert Blackwell Jr is an African American Man who lives in Chicago and has built several companies in multiple industries throughout his life. He is currently the CEO/Founder of Killerspin, Chairman of EKI Digital, Chairman of Quant16 and Founder of The Alpha Mission. Robert is an OrionCore Member and one of the 3 people who are on the Orion3 Advisory Board. This is a two part episode Part 1 is a...

Brad Serot is a Corporate a father of four young kids, a Corporate Member of Orion3, and the Vice Chairman for CBRE. His daughter Ava has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. This episode is about Brad's experiences as a father and all of the different things that go into being a parent to a child that has these needs. He talks about how the system does NOT help the average parent who has children wit...