Masters of Craft

5 years ago, Chris Redlitz walked into San Quentin prison for the first time. He came out a changed man... luckily only 3 hours later. The serial entrepreneur and technology visionary had reluctantly visited to speak to inmates about entrepreneurship, but the passion he witnessed in that room convinced him to start The Last Mile, a business and technology incubator inside San Quentin, the oldest p...

When it comes to multi-hyphenates, Ben Parr is one of the best. Among many things, he is the multi-award winning former Editor-at-Large of Mashable, a columnist at Inc Magazine, a regular CNET pundint, Founder of Dominate Ventures, and author of CAPTIVOLOGY, the quintessential book on the science of attention. On this installment of 'Crush, Ben walks through how attention works in the age of infor...

Among many things, Dennis Hong is an award-winning roboticist, a magician, a best selling author, and a master chef. Robotics (his "day job," as he puts it) has won him spots on Popular Science's "Brilliant 10" list, Purdue University's "40 under 40," a place on the TED main stage, and get this - the coveted Louis Vuitton Cup Best Humanoid Award. The all-star roboticist stops by Innovation Crush t...

Early in his Grammy award winning career, rapper, Chamillionaire learned some valuable lessons about business. Whether bootstrapping his own sales of mixtapes, negotiating higher payouts from his label, developing off the wall promotional marketing schemes, or reinvesting his money into multiple ventures, he always looked for smarter and better ways to achieve success. Fast forward to almost 10 ye...

2015 marks the 30th anniversary of MacGyver, an action-packed, hit TV series focused high-pressure problem solving and ingenuity. No weapons, few resources, and no way out. Ironically, this is a place we all find ourselves in often. Enter Lee Zlotoff, award winning filmmaker, writer, producer, and MacGyver creator...and now the mind behind The MacGyver Method - systemized tactics for finding and c...

How do you win TIME Magazine's invention of the year? Build a device that helps a fully paralyzed graffiti artist create art with only his eyes. This is how Elliot Kotek and his business partner, Mick Ebeling began Not Impossible, an organization that exploits the possibilities of technology for- as they put it - "the sake of humanity." In the past 7 years since the Eyewriter, Not Impossible has g...

Jon Werner has mastered the true artistry of innovation; exploring every endeavor with a sense of childlike wonder. Quite literally, he is adidas Innovation Explorer (real title), and has led the company's effort to create and/or apply trends in technology and fashion for the past 8 years. On Innovation Crush, Jon explains his role, his successes (including winning a CES Innovation Award for adida...

Cenk Uygur has mastered the art of news and storytelling for the digital generation. As co-founder and CEO of The Young Turks, his news platform amasses BILLIONS of impressions each month through content deals with the likes of Hulu, Facebook, and YouTube (TYT has 2 Million subscribers on YouTube alone) and even broadcasts live, daily. Numbers like these - especially for millienial audiences - put...

Steve Streit is credited (pun intended) as the inventor of the prepaid credit card. In the beginning, he figured Ivy League college kids would flock to his invention, but quickly realized that his target audience was far more vast; catering to both millenials and underserved communities alike. Fast forward to 2015, and Steve's company, Green Dot Corporation has revolutionized banking through tens...

At age 5, Jason Mayden almost died due to an infection in his blood. On his near-death bed, he had visions of what he wanted his future to look like, and after surviving the experience, he held on to that vision. Fast forward to age 19, when Jason becomes the youngest design hire at the Jordan brand. Over the next 13 years, he would become Head of Global Design, launching everything from special e...

What's the best way to change perceptions? Tell jokes about the very thing you want to change. Maz Jobrani is an entrepreneur, comedian, actor, and now author whose Iranian roots are deeply embedded in everything he touches. Like George Lopez, or Chris Rock, his comedy and his heritage are intertwined with hilarious, thought provoking socio-political views. The former PhD candidate has broken come...

When it comes to innovation, Bob Safian sits high above the fray, with a panoramic view of the world filled with inspiring ideas. As the leader of the leading publication about leading innovations in leading businesses, the Editor-In-Chief curates some of the most compelling moments in business and creativity. Stocked full of live events, print magazines, online editorial, social media chatter, th...

Jess Weiner (yes, pronounced like the hot dog), grew up consuming media cascaded with women who looked nothing like her. Even at a young age, the bullied performing arts enthusiast knew her life's work would be focused on image consciousness and empowerment. Fast forward to 2015 and that young girl has become a highly sought after media maven, consulting with the world's top brands on creatomg emp...

When it comes to design thinking, few do it better than Tristan Walker. Early in his career, the award winning, 30-year-old entrepreneur served as an intern at then fledgling "microblogging" site, Twitter. Later, he moved on to become the golden child of Foursquare, helping build it to the point of cultural critical mass. And now in addition to co-founding Code 2040, an organization designed to di...

We've heard many times before that "Content is King." But how do you lead people to that content? How do you keep them there when choices are vast and attention spans are low? How do you keep them coming back again and again? This round table installment of Innovation Crush brings together top executives from Disney Online Originals, Defy Media, and Engage LA to uncover the strategies behind highl...

For 8 years, Dr. Andy Walshe has served as Red Bull's High Performance Director. As such, the good doctor helps the athletes, musicians, artists, and performers Red Bull supports, push far beyond their physical, mental, and spiritual limitations. Part mad scientist, part genius, and part life coach, Andy creates scientifically rooted experiments and experiences designed to "give wings" to both the...

Peter McGraw is a marketing professor, author, behavioral economist, and extremely humor curious. So much in fact, that he and his co-author, Joel Warner, of The Humor Code, set off on a global trek to uncover the science behind what makes things funny. In the process he created the Humor Research Lab (HuRL), both uncovering a plethora of universal truths and hyper localized cultural nuances. Pete...

A self-proclaimed "mustache farmer," Adam Garone is the CEO and co-founder of Movember, a globally celebrated movement that pits mustaches against men's health issues; particularly prostate cancer. Adam comes from a long line of military, was a digital web and marketing exec, and now for the past 10 years, has brought 10's of millions of men and women together across more than 20 countries; raisin...

Jeff Jenkins has many labels, from Taco Hack to Resident Disruptor to the Taco Whisperer. For the past 6 years the former NASA and Viacom exec has been creating new and innovative ways to engage the Taco Bell consumer. On Innovation Crush, Jeff breaks down his own personal path to innovation (which also includes a successful stint as an actor), how the fast food chain overcomes negative perception...

Skip Bedell was birthed in excellence and professional integrity. The master carpenter comes from a long line of successful builders. While Skip once abandoned the family business to pursue other endeavors, he returned to the trade and now is the star - alongside his wife, Alison and comedian, Adam Carolla - of Spike TV's record breaking series, Catch a Contractor. On Innovation Crush, he and Alis...

Jeff Sparr is passionate about mental wellness. The CEO, hyphen artist, hyphen philanthropist, also happens to suffer from severe obsessive compulsive disorder. Early in his executive career, he learned to curb his medical condition through art - going from therapeutic hobbyist to one of the country's celebrated artists. Along the way, he created Peace Love Studios, an organization dedicated to co...

Erica Williams Simon is an award-winning transformational speaker, storytelling trainer, media maker. With an early career inside the nation's capital, Erica quickly learned to recognize that real social change begins with people, not politics. The social disruptor has been named in the NAACP's 40 under 40, listed as one of the nation's top 50 politcos, consults with companies large and small on h...

Jordan Brady is a comedy legend turned commercial director, producer, podcaster, and documentarian. His passion projects include two films entitled I AM COMIC, and I AM ROAD COMIC which showcase the life of his fellow comedians on and off the road. On Innovation Crush, Jordan breaks down the power of storytelling, the myths behind advertising, and the power of long term industry relationships. www...

By the age of 14, Rebecca Kantar had started her own non profit organization focused on the prevention of sex trafficking. By 16 she and her cohorts began a speaking tour to ignite youth entrepreneurship. Now a 22 year-old Harvard dropout and serial entrepreneur, Rebecca has spoken all over the world, steered the future of fortune 500 companies, and runs a network of 1000's of alpha millenial entr...

Guive Balooch is a scientist turned cosmetics genius who currently helms L'Oreal's Connected Beauty Incubator, a lab focused on creating forward-thinking products and services that disrupt the cosmetics industry. On Innovation Crush, Guive breaks down the processes behind creating globally impactful ideas and products, the passion it takes to make innovation happen, and how his team of brilliant-...