Made Of

Made Of

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Self-Improvement

We believe inspiration is the most valuable currency in existence. Not the kind that fades after a quote or a highlight reel, but the kind that gives people something to carry. Courage. Perspective. Discipline. Belief. Made Of exists to study the lives of remarkable people and distribute the inspiration found in what they endured, what shaped them, and what they became.

Oct 10

Colin Kaepernick, Part 2: What the Decision Cost, and What It Bought

In 2016, a backup quarterback knelt during the national anthem. Within a year he was out of the NFL, and he has not taken a snap since. A decade later, the question remains whether that was a loss. In the second installment of Made Of, a former player who now works in human resources examines the aftermath from two vantage points: the locker room, where principle and focus often pull in opposite directions, and the front office, where a league weighs owners, sponsors and a politically divided audience. The episode traces the protest’s spread after President Trump’s 2017 remarks, Kaepernick’s collusion grievance and confidential settlement, the leaked owners’ meeting, and Jay-Z’s contested partnership with the league. It sets those against what followed for Kaepernick: the Nike campaign, the media deals, and a memoir that debuted at No. 1. The conclusion is not a tidy one. Kaepernick gained a platform few athletes ever hold, and he lost the game he loved. Ten years later, did kneeling cost Colin Kaepernick, or did it make him? Tell us in the comments. Made Of goes inside the moment everything changed: what the decision cost, and where it led.
Oct 10

Colin Kaepernick, Part 2: What the Decision Cost, and What It Bought

In 2016, a backup quarterback knelt during the national anthem. Within a year he was out of the NFL, and he has not taken a snap since. A decade later, the question remains whether that was a loss. In the second installment of Made Of, a former player who now works in human resources examines the aftermath from two vantage points: the locker room, where principle and focus often pull in opposite directions, and the front office, where a league weighs owners, sponsors and a politically divided audience. The episode traces the protest’s spread after President Trump’s 2017 remarks, Kaepernick’s collusion grievance and confidential settlement, the leaked owners’ meeting, and Jay-Z’s contested partnership with the league. It sets those against what followed for Kaepernick: the Nike campaign, the media deals, and a memoir that debuted at No. 1. The conclusion is not a tidy one. Kaepernick gained a platform few athletes ever hold, and he lost the game he loved. Ten years later, did kneeling cost Colin Kaepernick, or did it make him? Tell us in the comments. Made Of goes inside the moment everything changed: what the decision cost, and where it led.
Oct 2

Colin Kaepernick: The 16.9 Million Dollar Decision (Part 1)

In 2017, Colin Kaepernick was due $16.9 million on his contract. He never saw that money or played another down of football. 10 years after he first took a knee during the national anthem, we go back to where it all started. Who was Kap before the knee? A Black baby adopted by a white family at 5 weeks old. A Super Bowl quarterback at 25. A backup coming off 3 surgeries at 28. And a conversation with a Green Beret that changed everything. In Part 1 of The Colin Kaepernick Decision, we cover: His upbringing in Turlock and the road to the 49ersThe Super Bowl run and the $126 million extensionThe summer of 2016, and why he sat before he kneltWhat the decision really cost him CHAPTERS 0:00 $16.9 million1:46 Who was Kap before the knee?2:53 The rise: first start, playoff record, Super Bowl5:02 The $126 million contract5:49 Benched and hurt7:22 The summer of 20168:44 Sitting, then the Green Beret12:30 The decision: Sept. 1, 201613:51 What it cost him15:11 Braver, or less to lose? Part 2 drops next Friday, Oct. 9: the locker room, the NFL, Jay-Z, and whether it was all worth it. So let me ask you: benched and coming off 3 surgeries, did that make him more courage, or did he have less to lose? Let me know in the comments.
Oct 2

Colin Kaepernick: The 16.9 Million Dollar Decision (Part 1)

In 2017, Colin Kaepernick was due $16.9 million on his contract. He never saw that money or played another down of football. 10 years after he first took a knee during the national anthem, we go back to where it all started. Who was Kap before the knee? A Black baby adopted by a white family at 5 weeks old. A Super Bowl quarterback at 25. A backup coming off 3 surgeries at 28. And a conversation with a Green Beret that changed everything. In Part 1 of The Colin Kaepernick Decision, we cover: His upbringing in Turlock and the road to the 49ersThe Super Bowl run and the $126 million extensionThe summer of 2016, and why he sat before he kneltWhat the decision really cost him CHAPTERS 0:00 $16.9 million1:46 Who was Kap before the knee?2:53 The rise: first start, playoff record, Super Bowl5:02 The $126 million contract5:49 Benched and hurt7:22 The summer of 20168:44 Sitting, then the Green Beret12:30 The decision: Sept. 1, 201613:51 What it cost him15:11 Braver, or less to lose? Part 2 drops next Friday, Oct. 9: the locker room, the NFL, Jay-Z, and whether it was all worth it. So let me ask you: benched and coming off 3 surgeries, did that make him more courage, or did he have less to lose? Let me know in the comments. Made Of goes inside the moment everything changed: what the decision cost and where it led. We believe inspiration is the most valuable currency in existence, and Made Of is where decisions become inspiration. If you believe that too, subscribe and join us on this journey. New reels every weekday. Full episodes every Friday. #ColinKaepernick #NFL #
Sep 25

London Fletcher: The Man Who Made a Deal With The Work

Nobody drafted him. Not one team.And London Fletcher played 256 games in the NFL — which happens to be every single game of his sixteen-year career. He never missed one. Not for a hamstring, not for a bad week, not once.Here's the part that got me though. He left a Division One basketball scholarship to go play at a Division Three school, where nobody gets a scholarship at all. He went down a level on purpose. And that's the move that ends with him starting in a Super Bowl.So this one isn't really about being tough, man. It's about what happens when you make a deal with the work and you actually keep it. For sixteen years. When nobody's counting.In this episode: the couple in Cleveland who promised seventy-one kids they'd help pay for college, and what London did with that door. Why playing for free might build a better relationship with the work than playing for money. What the streak actually cost him — in his own words, and he's honest about it. How the guy who's always there quietly becomes the standard. And why he's still not in Canton, even though the players themselves voted him their award for character and leadership.If you're out here doing the work in a season where nobody's clapping for you, this one's for you.Made Of is a show that brings light to people's relationship with their work. The deepest inspiration is always derived from work product; London shows us why. New episode every Friday. Subscribe so you catch the next one.
Sep 25

London Fletcher: The Man Who Made a Deal With The Work

Nobody drafted him. Not one team.And London Fletcher played 256 games in the NFL — which happens to be every single game of his sixteen-year career. He never missed one. Not for a hamstring, not for a bad week, not once.Here's the part that got me though. He left a Division One basketball scholarship to go play at a Division Three school, where nobody gets a scholarship at all. He went down a level on purpose. And that's the move that ends with him starting in a Super Bowl.So this one isn't really about being tough, man. It's about what happens when you make a deal with the work and you actually keep it. For sixteen years. When nobody's counting.In this episode: the couple in Cleveland who promised seventy-one kids they'd help pay for college, and what London did with that door. Why playing for free might build a better relationship with the work than playing for money. What the streak actually cost him — in his own words, and he's honest about it. How the guy who's always there quietly becomes the standard. And why he's still not in Canton, even though the players themselves voted him their award for character and leadership.If you're out here doing the work in a season where nobody's clapping for you, this one's for you.Made Of is a show that brings light to people's relationship with their work. The deepest inspiration is always derived from work product; London shows us why. New episode every Friday. Subscribe so you catch the next one.
Sep 19

Daniel Lubetzky: How KIND's Founder Built $5 Billion on Kindness

A Billionaire's Warning: Stop Chasing Money What if chasing money is the very thing keeping you from having enough? Daniel Lubetzky built KIND into a $5 billion company, sold it to Mars, and became a Shark Tank investor. His whole life, though, has been a warning against making money the goal. His story starts in Dachau, where a German soldier threw his starving teenage father a rotten potato. That one small act of kindness kept him alive, and it became the foundation of everything his son would build. In this episode: The parable of the 50th coin, and why comparison culture keeps us from ever feeling satisfiedThe rotten potato that saved a family and inspired a brandWhy Daniel turned down Sullivan & Cromwell and McKinsey for a $10K fellowship in IsraelPeaceWorks: a decade of rejection, duct-taped trunks, and door-to-door salesThe hungry marathon run that led to KINDThe "AND" philosophy: you don't have to choose between profit and purposeWhat the $5 billion Mars deal actually means, and what it doesn'tYou might already have 49 coins. Don't let the 50th one steal your peace. If this episode hit home, follow the show, leave a rating, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open 0:22 The parable of the 50th coin 4:28 A rotten potato in Dachau 8:00 The mall chase 10:50 Walking away from McKinsey 13:50 PeaceWorks and the grind 19:56 The birth of KIND 22:16 The AND philosophy 24:05 $5 billion, and what actually matters 26:27 Integrity, kindness & hustle: Daniel Lubetzky's success lessons
Sep 11

Serena Williams: Stop Letting Timelines Decide What You're Allowed To Become.

YOUR AGE KNOWS YOUR DATE. NOT YOUR LIMIT. Serena Williams doesn't need to win. She said so herself. At 44 years old, with 23 Grand Slam titles and nothing left to prove, she's stepping back onto the court after nearly four years away — and the internet's only question is "why?" In this episode of Made Of, we trace Serena's arc from her first Grand Slam win at 17, to winning a title eight weeks pregnant, to calling her 2022 retirement an "evolution" instead of an ending — and use her story to ask a harder question: who actually gave you your deadlines? The age you think you should've "figured it out" by. The timeline you're quietly measuring yourself against. The thing you stopped trying because you were scared of the wrong question — not "will I fail," but "will they ask why I started so late." This isn't a tennis episode. It's for anyone who's ever felt too old, too late, or too far behind a clock they never actually agreed to. New episodes weekly. Subscribe, rate, and share if inspiration deserves better storytelling.

We believe inspiration is the most valuable currency in existence. Not the kind that fades after a quote or a highlight reel, but the kind that gives people something to carry. Courage. Perspective. Discipline. Belief. Made Of exists to study the lives of remarkable people and distribute the inspiration found in what they endured, what shaped them, and what they became.

Creator

Made Of
Years Active

2026
Episodes

14
Rating

Clean
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© Made Of
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Made Of