The ManuScript with Manu Edakkara

The link between discipline, motivation, and goals, and how to utilize them all.

Jake Kinsey is Senior Director at Illinois VENTURES, the public-private venture capital arm of the University of Illinois System. Kinsey spent over 10 years in industry working for an electronics manufacturing company before becoming a management consulting and technology mentor. In his role, Kinsey connects private industry with public institutions to provide experiential learning opportunities f...

Brylan is the Associate Director for The Garage, the entrepreneurship center for Northwestern University. He is focused on making complex ideas click so builders can think a little bit differently — and a little more clearly. Brylan inspires others to dream bigger and build bolder. He brings firsthand experience from scaling growth at Blavity, driving revenue at Affirm, and founding the creator-fo...

Matt is Founder + Wizard at Respell : automating boring work with AI agentic workflows. They're backed by Zapier & Craft Ventures and just were acquired by Salesforce. At Atmos he was Cofounder + Head of Eng, raising $20M to allow every American to build their dream home. Backed by YC (S20), Sam Altman, Khosla Ventures, and featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Prior to this he had experien...

Rohan Gupta is the CEO of QuillBot, an AI-powered writing companion with over 30 million monthly active users. Rohan combined his passion for technology and artificial intelligence with his entrepreneurial drive to form QuillBot in 2017, and was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list. In September 2021, QuillBot was acquired by Learneo (formerly Course Hero, Inc.) and Rohan leads Learneo's writing v...

How much do you need?

Dr. Ananya Tiwari is an assistant professor in Educational Psychology at Texas A & M. Her research interests lie at the nexus of educational psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and evaluation. She was named one of Google's Leaders to Watch and serves as Co-Chair at the Gender and Education Committee at CIES - Comparative & International Education Society. reating thriving school communi...

Andrew Taylor is a nuclear engineer and commissioned officer of the United States Navy who serves on nuclear submarines. The opinions and views expressed here belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense (DoD) or its components.

Jack is the CEO and co-founder of SWIDIA, an expert growth marketing team trusted by some of the fastest-growing startups. He has worked with some of the biggest influencers in the world such as the Paul Brothers and Amanda Cerny and has deep insight into the world of social media marketing.

Seun is a former D1 football player from Nigeria who played as a safety for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his Masters, he started working on hardware startups. Post graduation, he had a successful career in trading, venture, and product management. Currently he is building TentMakers, a software focused venture studio that helps athletes bring their ideas to life. He also...

Erik is an Army veteran and founder of the supplement brand, WheyUp, which focuses on pre-workout nutrition and trains from the Lift N Box Gym in Mesa, Arizona, which he owns, focused on both weight-lifting and boxing. https://wefunder.com/wheyup At the age of 54 he finished 2nd in the Western Regionals NPC Body Building Show and is currently ranked 9th in the US and 42nd in the World in the 60-me...

Danny is a graduate of Kinesiology at the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois, a competitive men's physique bodybuilder, and a premier male adult film star based in Las Vegas. He lays out his thoughts on sex, relationships, the adult industry, bodybuilding, the service and alcohol industry, and performance enhancing drugs. https://dannysteele.com/

Mayank Mehta is the Assistant Director for Entrepreneurial Education at iVenture Accelerator, the educational program for top student startups at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He shares his thoughts on: Love The universal soul Discriminatory empathy in social media Strategic brand communication

Ashley is the CEO and co-founder of Cast21.com, which creates waterproof cast and brace alternatives for patients with broken bones. Without heat, water, tools, or 3D printing, Cast21 is able to provide waterproof, lightweight, and comfortable devices for patients that are more efficient and safer for doctors to use. She has been named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list and Chicago's 20 in their 20s a...

If you've made it this far.

Fa is the co-founder of Jam.dev. Jam has raised $8.9M Series A, led by GGV Capital U.S., with participation from Figma Ventures and some of the world’s most prominent leaders in software development, including the founders of Vercel and Mixpanel.  Jam enables everyone – no matter their technical expertise – to send deeply technical troubleshooting information to engineers instantly. With Jam, engi...

Going into detail about the New Age thinking style known as the Law of Attraction - essentially you attract what you think.

Avani runs a 7-figure design agency from Austin, Texas. They're a full-stack product design & UX agency specializing in the design of Web2 Consumer-Facing Apps & Web3 Products. They've crafted a proven design process after 11+ years of design & working with 60+ clients in various industries. 🍵 🧪 https://www.avanimiriyala.com/ https://www.matchadesignlabs.com/

Become obsessed with your why and your dream.

From center stage to the cutting edge of tech, Stefan Djordjevic is a creative maverick who refuses to stay in any lane. He's the rare breed who can electrify a crowd with explosive dance moves at midnight and push viral products by sunrise. As the mastermind behind The Martian Company, he's built a studio that turns "impossible" into "done by Thursday." While others talk about thinking outside th...

Some reconstructed Proto-Indo-European words: Family terms: méh₂tēr ("mother"), ph₂tḗr ("father"), dhugh₂tḗr ("daughter"), suHnús ("son"). Animals: gwóus ("cow"), éḱwos ("horse"), h₃rḗḱs ("king" or "ruler," originally "he who rules over cattle"). Natural world: dyḗws ("sky" or "daylight"), h₂éwsōs ("dawn"). Tools and weapons: h₁nómn̥ ("name"), peḱu ("livestock, wealth"). PIE Root: dwo ("two") Sans...

Watch his story here: https://youtu.be/WJ2s29wchVg?si=lVlEFLS9Dee3OT7q Learn more about John here: https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Kingdoms-Improbable-Journey-East/dp/1737450208 Learn about his family here: https://www.manuedakara.com/edakara

A quick reflection on the year. Check out How to Plan Your Life at manuedakara.com .

Dr. Darnell Leatherwood is an educator and community servant based in the south side of Chicago currently serving as faculty at the University of Chicago. He is one of the nation's leading experts on educating young black men. Community service, mentoring, and initiative are hallmarks that have shaped his vision for civic leadership and public action. He talks about: Congress Struggles in America...

Why the ManuScript? https://www.manuedakara.com/