What's Your Story?

Rendel Solomon, Strategic Advisor to Goalsetter , knew that his studies would be the key to opening doors throughout his life. Through pivotal moments in his journey, he also realized that his full potential could not be measured through individual success and set out to support his family and community to reach their potential as well. Our discussion is filled with so many stories from his beggin...

Fellow podcasters and friends, Sharon Lee Thony & Raman Sehgal, return to the show to help examine what we all can do to come together as different communities that continue to feel the pain of systemic racism and social injustices. The hosts of Modern Minorities Podcast break down how we can take the pain(s) that we are collectively feeling and turn them into something that drives systemic ch...

Homies of the pod, Dr. Johnathan Goree & Dr. Brandon Roberts, return to lend their experiences and solutions for combatting bias in healthcare and beyond. Listen to hear their advice for what you can do to address bias in medicine that you may knowingly (or unknowingly) face. They also share what each of us can do to identify our own biases and proactively address them. Episode References: - W...

Garrett Jackson, recording artist mixed with a side of thinker, motivator and doer, recognizes that nothing in this world is a given and chooses to live his life accordingly. His story is one that recognizes your dreams do not happen overnight but require intentional effort and working on your craft. He has spent his life preparing to be ready for this moment that the world would need to hear his...

Yusef Freeman, Managing Director, California at Jonathan Roses Companies, had an early dream of going to space thanks to the inspiration of Guy Bluford. We are lucky that Yusef kept his two feet on the ground though as he has been able to make a big impact in the revitalization of communities across the country. In this pod, he shares his story of growing up with two parents that instilled in him...

Joe Oh, marketing executive, came to the US at the age of 3 but shares that he had his first original thought much later when he realized he didn't want to follow the successful upward mobile path his family had created. Joe stumbled into a career in advertising and marketing that would ultimately help him find his personal brief of "Shared Creative Joy". In our conversation, Joe al...

Michael Craig comes back on the pod to help dive into why representation plays a key role in not only marketing but how organizations structure themselves. We discuss the strategies needed to ensure representation has the appropriate depth and authenticity along with some watch-outs that can be encountered when looking to improve representation. He shares his personal experience with the ramificat...

Marissa Matusiak, founder of Raise Black Voices and founding member of Level, grew up being called the UN given the number of countries represented in her family. This perspective helped inform her childhood goal of becoming a news reporter to help tackle important issues that people were facing. She took that goal and set out on her unique path where she has been able to combine her set of superp...

This is a discussion on what has been (and continues to be) the legacy of Black History that our host, Matt Story, participated in last month on the Modern Minorities Podcast ( https://www.modmypod.com/ ) along with Tess Thomas. The conversation, led by Modern Minorities Pod hosts Sharon Lee Thony and Raman Sehgal, starts by exploring what it is like growing up in predominantly white environments...

Ryan Robertson, Global Head of Brand Marketing at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, puts on for his city of Memphis because he wouldn't be where he is today without the foundation that it provided him. As seen through his accolades (e.g., Ad Age's 40 under 40), he has built a career with countless examples of combining culture and innovation for major brands. He credits this to the curiosity th...

Dhane Scotti, Head of Global Consumer Marketing for Google Hardware, knew from a very early age that he wanted to make commercials but he still felt like a fish out of water when he entered the advertising industry. So he decided early in his career that he had to leverage his sense of culture and uniqueness to have a seat at the table. His story is purely fascinating with so many lessons shared a...

Joy Fennell, Founder & CEO of The Joy in Beauty and Founder of All Black Everything Summit, has combined her natural curiosity with relentless persistence to create a path where many would not have seen one. From leaving school right before graduation to taking the bus into NYC after work so she could find her spot in the beauty industry, she has applied a non-traditional approach to reaching...

Andrew Colom, Co-Founder of Century Partners & Founder of Story ARC, is actually a chemist. He's developed the rare ability to combine differentiated skillsets to yield even better results than they would have individually. He's literally the walking manifestation of "1+1=3". From growing up in Columbus, Mississippi to attending NYU on a full ride scholarship courtesy of th...

Welcome to Season 2! What better way to start than with the person that was there for the beginning of Matt's Story, his mom. In this episode, Connie Story shares how she navigated growing up on the east side of Detroit during the late 50s/early 60s. She gives her perspective on how segregated neighborhoods prepared her for the real world and when she realized that life would not be fair. Con...

In the season one finale, Matt shares his thoughts on the first season of What's Your Story? podcast and his top takeaways from the time spent with the amazing guests. He also shares some of the plans for season two (coming in early 2021).   Make sure you are subscribed to the podcast and Matt's newsletter on mattestory.com to be the first to know when the next season starts! Follow the...

Nash Ahmed, CEO & Founder of Undock, has his eyes set on creating a once in a generation company. Based on his story, you'll learn why he's going to make it happen. In this discussion, he recalls the sacrifices his mother made for to ensure he and his siblings were in positions to be successful. He also touches on the improvements he would make to the education system and his advice...

Tiana Conley, VP of Global Cereal at the Kellogg Company, has built breakthrough, award winning marketing campaigns for many brands that are in your cabinets right now. There are two things she shares that she has learned through those experiences: 1) Facts are the foundation of being a great marketer and truth-teller; 2) You have to find organizations and teams were you can be your full self or i...

Amal Yamusah, founder at Make A Play Foundation, believes you can reduce your dependency on luck by being intentional on where you are looking to make an impact. His story is definitely a great example of this. As a former collegiate athlete, he saw first hand the difficulties of competing on both the field of play and the field of job. However, it was a pivot in law school that helped him realize...

Charles Moore, Principal at Thrive Street Advisors, recognized through personal experiences that waiting for some payoff many years down the line was not the way he wanted to live his life as nothing about tomorrow is promised. This led him to focus on not having a job but instead to control his time and use it as an investment in the areas he felt most passionate. His story is a great example of...

Yolanda Owens, founder of iwi fresh, believes that fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and essential oils are the only ingredients suitable for a healthy, beautiful body because it is what it is ('iwi'). Despite being pushed into engineering given her skills in math and science in school, she was always drawn to her creative side that led her to start making beauty products and treatments w...

Ebony Wyatt, Director of Sales at General Mills, has one goal...be bad ass everyday. She is able to achieve this thanks to her ancestors, husband, children and colleagues. In our discussion, she shares the path she took to find her voice AND confidence in sharing it. She also talks about the importance of everyone from individuals to organizations being on the journey to helping others feel like t...

C.J. Gunn, Creator of The Money Whys Guy, says he is still in search of his why. However, our conversations covers many topics that give strong indicators that he is very close to uncovering it. C.J. shares how he navigated the elimination of his role as a co-founder at a startup due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also take a trip down memory lane (we both interned together at Procter & Gamble a...

Minda Harts, CEO & Founder of The Memo, was the first in her family to graduate college and enter "Corporate America", which was a great achievement. However, she entered a world that at times didn't see, hear or value her as a women of color. There was a pivotal moment in her career where she decided that she would no longer let her environment continue to negatively impact her...

Anjuan Simmons, Engineering Coach at Help Scout, was drawn to his career path as an engineer thanks to seeing himself in Geordi La Forge, Starship Engineer from the TV Series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Through collecting a wealth of experiences throughout his career as an engineer, he realized the need to lend the privileges he had acquired to others. In our discussion, he touches on his beli...

Tina Wells, Founder of RLVNT Media, describes herself as an accidental entrepreneur but you quickly realize nothing in her journey has been an accident when you hear her story. She was a brand influencer in high school even though the term didn't exist yet. From there, she went on to start her own agency that helped brands reach the coveted tween audience while she was still in school. If tha...