Half the City 8B Media

Sean Dustin is the writer, producer, and host of the podcast "No Where To Go But Up".
In part 2 of this 2-part interview, Sean shares his wild story that begins with his time in prison for cocaine and check fraud and ends with finding himself and his path, a new man.
 

Show NotesFollow Sean on InstagramNo Where To Go But Up PodcastTheme music by: Ruel Morales

Audio Transcript
Brian Schoenborn: [00:00:00] Hello. Hello everybody. A guest today. He had a time where he hit rock bottom like many of us, and he has turned that around and become a huge success story. We’re gonna learn about all of that and more is coming up. We’ve got the host, creator and writer of the “No Where To Go But Up” podcast with Sean Dustin, give it up for my friend Sean Dustin,my name is Brian Schoenborn. I’m an Explorer of people, places and culture. In my travels, spending over 20 countries across four continents, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories on location and unfiltered presented by 8B media.This is half the city.Sean Dustin: [00:00:51] Where are we at, man? We were riding it.Brian Schoenborn: [00:00:54] Yeah. You wrapped it up right as, um, just before he went to prison.Sean Dustin: [00:00:59] So like,Brian Schoenborn: [00:01:00] yeah, so you were, um, so you went to jail for a couple of days, you know, brought in by the SWAT team and then you came back out and then you started, you switched from the drugs intoSean Dustin: [00:01:10] fraud. Oh yeah.That was going to kill that dude because, yeah, you’re going to kill the attack. He texted me, they showed up. It was already been planned. So what ended up happening is they, they, they stopped me, uh, throw me in the car. Uh, it was about a hundred degrees, like 110 degrees in the back of that damn car, uh, middle of summer.And, uh, I, all I can remember is like, dude, I just want to go to sleep. I do. The weight was off of my shoulders. I don’t have to run anymore. I know I’m going to go where I’m sleeping tonight. You know? Uh, well I knew where I was sleeping most of the nights anyway. Um, but it was just, it was just a relief actually, you know, it’s like, f**k, finally I can get this shit over with and I couldn’t stay awake, man.I couldn’t like, I was like this, I just kept falling asleep cause it was like, that’s all I wanted to do is just go to sleep. I’ve been up for like three daysBrian Schoenborn: [00:02:01] trying to run in the back of the cab or the back of a, or at.Sean Dustin: [00:02:05] No, in the back of a cop car like this one that’s like asleep, man. They didn’t even get even, they haven’t even gotten to the end of the car to go.And so the detective that came was the same one that had got me into the first time. Oh, sweet. Yeah,Brian Schoenborn: [00:02:25] I bet he was thrilled to see you.Sean Dustin: [00:02:27] Oh, he’s what? He’s like, he was waiting for it. I knew you’d show up sometime. You pop back up somewhere and uh, you know, I was like, he goes, he’s like, so you know, from what we got in your last house, he’s, I know you’ve already got a whole bunch of shit accumulated again.So he’s like, if you. You’re already going down because we have a ride along and that shotgun’s going to be a federal offense now. Uh, so we’ll not file charges on you if you take me to your house and give me all of your shit.Brian Schoenborn: [00:02:57] I ain’t kidding.Sean Dustin: [00:02:59] No, I’m serious. But IBrian Schoenborn: [00:03:00] mean, that sounds like a fucking trap, dude.Sean Dustin: [00:03:03] No, I did it. I was like, I didn’t care. I called my ex up, I call my checkup. I said, Hey man, uh, I’m, uh, I got arrested and I’m on my way there with the police right now cause I got give th

Sean Dustin is the writer, producer, and host of the podcast "No Where To Go But Up".In part 1 of this 2-part interview, Sean shares his wild story that begins with getting expelled from elementary school and ends with going to prison. 


Show Notes
Follow Sean on Instagram
No Where To Go But Up Podcast
Theme music by: Ruel Morales


Audio Transcript
Brian Schoenborn: [00:00:00] Hello. Hello everybody. A guest today. He had a time where he hit rock bottom like many of us, and he has turned that around and become a huge success story. We’re gonna learn about all of that and more, uh, is coming up.
We’ve got the host, creator and writer of the “No Where To Go But Up” podcasts with Sean Dustin. Give it up for my friend Sean Dustin. So what’s up man? How you doing?
Sean Dustin: [00:00:24] I’m doing well. You gave me a lot of credit. Uh, a little bit too much, cause, uh, I definitely don’t write a whole lot of anything
Brian Schoenborn: [00:00:32] in writing is, it’s proverbial, right? I mean, you know, I’d be, the way I see, I’m writing a book right now about my own story, right? But I actually record it. I’m actually making a podcast version of it first. So it’s more of a docudrama narrative kind of thing. And then I take that audio and I transcribe that, and then I turn that into book form. So I’ve actually got a book agent,
Sean Dustin: [00:00:52] uh,
Brian Schoenborn: [00:00:53] waiting for me as she’s collecting the chapters and we’re working on, you know, negotiating, uh,
Sean Dustin: [00:00:59] you
Brian Schoenborn: [00:00:59] know, distributor deals, publisher deals.
Sean Dustin: [00:01:01] Um, but I’m doing that basically by telling my story.
Brian Schoenborn: [00:01:04] So, I mean, I guess I’m a writer too,
Sean Dustin: [00:01:05] technically, but
Brian Schoenborn: [00:01:06] how much f*****g writing am I actually doing? You know, it’s all coming out of my mouth.
Sean Dustin: [00:01:11] I don’t know.
Shoot, shoot, shoot me your agent’s contact because that’s the key. That’s the kind of book I need to write. And I got about three of them within my, within my story itself. Right. Um, there’s offshoots to all the different, like smaller subs. Set of stories that came from that crazy ass life. Nice.
Brian Schoenborn: [00:01:32] So, um,
Sean Dustin: [00:01:33] so
Brian Schoenborn: [00:01:33] really quick, I mean, you know, we’re, we’re recording live in quarantine as, as the rest of the world. I’m in LA.
Where, where are you Sean?
Sean Dustin: [00:01:42] I’m in California, Northern California. In the Bay area.
Oh, okay. Right on.
Brian Schoenborn: [00:01:46] Yeah. So we’ve got buried LA. We’re just making it work, guys. Fuck it. We’re gonna live. Um, anyways, uh, so maybe you could tell, tell the listeners a little bit about your story.
Sean Dustin: [00:01:58] Um,
Brian Schoenborn: [00:01:59] I want to hear about, I’ve been dying to hear about it.
I’ll share mine with you as well once we’re, once we get through, here’s a little bit.
Sean Dustin: [00:02:04] All right.
Yeah, I was trying to, I’ve been trying to refine my story down cause you know how it goes when you’re trying to tell it you and you haven’t written a written it down like as in like pieces and you just, it sort of goes everywhere.
You know what I mean? You jumped from here to here to here and you’re like, Oh damn, I forgot I was the best part. Um, yeah. So basically, man, I, I grew up a middle class neighborhood. I look like I’m Hispanic, but I sound like I’m white. So I grew up kind of different than everybody else. You know, there was a black family in my, in my neighborhood, and there was also a, uh, Filipino family next door.
And then my best friend was Portuguese, but I was probably the darkest, uh, aside from, from the, the black dude that was down the street. Right. And so I got teased all the time, man. Uh, and I was smaller and so I got picked on and bullied

LostXpat Host Bert Diggs has been to over 50 countries.He dives deep into cultures, getting to know local customs, local cuisine, the people, and their drink. He is also the host of LostXpat, a YouTube channel dedicated to travel with tens of thousands of followers. 













Show NotesFollow Bert on InstagramLostXpat YouTube ChannelTheme music by: Ruel Morales






















Audio Transcript


Brian Schoenborn: Hello. Hello. Hey, everybody. Our guests today has been to over 50 countries. He’s dive deep into cultures, getting to know local culture, local cuisine, the people, and their drink is also the host of lost ex-pat, a YouTube channel dedicated to travel. He’s got tens of thousands of followers. We’re here to talk a little bit about that, uh, as well as a little bit about what’s going on with coronavirus.[00:00:26] Give it up for my friend Bert Diggs.[00:00:28] My name is Brian Schoenborn. I’m an explorer of people, places, and culture. In my travels, spending over 20 countries across four continents, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories, on location and unfiltered. Presented by 8B Media, this is Half the City.[00:00:56] First of all, let’s get that day drink, and then you gotta get a beer in while we’re having this, uh, corona lock down time.[00:01:04] Bert Diggs: It’s crazy, man. It’s makes sense that everybody’s talking about, it’s the only thing that anybody can talk about. But I think like, you know, it’s nice to get a little bit of a break and kind of talk about other things too.[00:01:14] Brian Schoenborn: Right. You know, like, so just, you know, so for the listeners at home, you know, I’m, I’m in LA. Uh, Burt’s currently in San Diego, although we met each other, uh, back in Beijing, oddly enough, during our times there. How did we meet? I’m just trying to, I’m just trying to remember that cause I remember it was a pretty funny story.[00:01:33] Bert Diggs: But, uh, the way we met was we were both sitting. I was sitting behind you on that. I was sitting behind you on the train in Beijing, going to the airport. We were both heading to the airport. Airport express. I was talking to this girl that was sitting next to me a pair of way that like, I was just kind of chatting and rough, you know, hitting on her and they kind of way then Chinese, you were, you were kind of like looking at me like, how’s he doing?[00:02:00] He’s going, he’s going good. And then after the girl got off the train, we started talking about how we like living in Beijing and how easy it is to make friends and you know, talk to girls. And it’s just. Good experience over there.[00:02:17] Brian Schoenborn: I remember that like, cause I was sitting there just kind of minding my own business.[00:02:21] I don’t remember where I was going. I was going somewhere, but uh, doesn’t matter. But, uh, I was sitting there minding my own business and I saw this girl being talked to and I saw her responding and stuff. I heard like. Western Chinese, right? Like non native Chinese speakers saying like how, and stuff like that.[00:02:38] I’m like, ah, this guy.[00:02:41] Bert Diggs: I was telling her, well, you have a boyfriend, you’re hateful. And that’s how I always talk to the girls, you know? And that’s how it works, man. You know? I mean, Chinese people are very, uh. At least in my experience. Like you said, they’re very, it’s very easy to make friends. You know, they’re very warm. Uh, they like to work hard, but they like to party too.[00:03:04] Brian Schoenborn: They’re

Bhavit Sheth is a co-founder and COO of one of the world’s newest unicorns, Dream11.com. This India-based tech startup, valued at over a billion dollars, has cornered the Indian market on fantasy sports, beginning with cricket’s Indian Premier League and has grown to include the NBA, NFL, EPL, La Liga, NHL, and many more to become India’s biggest fantasy sports platform. We're talking all of the plus the effect of COVID-19 on sports.



Show Notes
Follow Bhavit on LinkedIn
Dream11.com
Theme music by: Ruel Morales


Audio Transcript
Brian Schoenborn  0:01 
Hello, Hello Hey everybody. Our guest today is calling in from the other side of the world. We’re all staying at home and joining us quarantine COVID-19 Coronavirus. He’s calling in from Bombay, India. He’s actually one of the co founders, one of the two co founders of one of the world’s newest unicorns. So tech startup valued at over a billion dollars. Based in India, he’s got a pretty cool story behind that. And we’ve got some similar roots as well. So before, before we get into it, give it up my friend Bob sharp. My name is Brian Shin born. I’m an explorer people, places and culture. In my travels spanning over 20 countries across four continents, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging and authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories on location and unfiltered presented by 8B Media. This is have to see.
 
Brian Schoenborn  1:09 
What’s up, man. How you doing? I see you holding up over there.
 
Bhavit Sheth  1:13 
Hey, thanks, Ben for that intro. Yeah, it’s a tough time. It’s your time but holding up well,
 
Brian Schoenborn  1:20 
it’s crazy, right? I mean, I just I just, you know, I feel like I remember the beginning of the year when think when I started coming from China, I just you know, okay, who knows what it’s gonna be, but we knew it was gonna start spreading. But it feels like like it didn’t really hit at least in America until about a month ago. Like that’s when it really started taking off. And it went from like, life as usual to like every day as an eternity. Like a bit of lockdown for like a year. How’s it going over there, man? What’s going on in India with it?
 
Bhavit Sheth  1:54 
Yes, it is if it has affected a lot, but I was actually supposed to be in China. In January, I’ll ruin Yeah. All all bookings on everything. And then, you know, my brother being a doctor obviously had some early information on the entire Coronavirus situation and something that was developing in China. So he told me that it’s best not to go there. It’s best to avoid going to China.
 
Brian Schoenborn  2:22 
So you’re in Florida before they shut the country down then.
 
Bhavit Sheth  2:25 
Yes. And, and the best part about it is the person they’re supposed to meet in China. You know, I told him that Listen, you know, there’s this situation which is developing and it’s best avoid doing this meeting now. And the person was like, yeah, by that logic, I should never be coming to India.
 
Brian Schoenborn  2:46 
You just don’t know.
 
Bhavit Sheth  2:50 
But obviously, he didn’t. Well, obviously at that time, he didn’t know that it’s this bad. Boy, there’s a there’s a point 01 percent chance that something may happen right. But they came into 100% chance very soon.
 
Brian Schoenborn  3:02 
Well, I mean, that’s you know, it’s debatable, right. I mean, I don’t want to get into the politics. I’m excited want China to get mad at me because I love that country. But uh, I can tell you those numbers are probably debatable at best. They have a tendency of capping things off at a certain level, but Yeah, dude, it’s crazy that you caught that you were able to change that before, man like you. I mean, you could have you could have been a high risk man. Yes, like that’s crazy dude.
 
Bhavit Sheth  3:

Ken Vennera is a man of many hats.Wharton educated, corporate lawyer, and mentor, he is also involved with Warrior Rising as Chief of Staff — a veteran nonprofit that helps veteran entrepreneurs get off the ground and positioned for success.


Show Notes
For more:
LinkedIn | Warrior Rising | Operation Homefront | Vets2Industry
Theme music by: Ruel Morales


Audio Transcript
Brian Schoenborn  0:01  
Hello, hello. Hey everybody. Our guest today is a man of many hats. Wharton educated. He’s a lawyer, also involved with Warrior Rising as Chief of Staff, veteran nonprofit that helps veteran entrepreneurs get off the ground and get to where they need to be. Give it up for my friend, Ken Vennera.

Brian Schoenborn  0:25  
My name is Brian Schoenborn. I’m an explorer of people, places and culture. In my travels, spanning over 20 countries across four continents, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories, on location and unfiltered. Presented by 8B Media, this is Half the City.

Brian Schoenborn  0:52  
So what’s up, Ken, how’s it going? 

Ken Vennera  0:54  
Much Brian, thanks for having me on the show. 

Brian Schoenborn  0:56  
Yeah, no problem, man. So listeners where we’re sitting You’re on location in Philadelphia, beautiful Philadelphia

Ken Vennera  1:03  
City of Brotherly Love. 

Brian Schoenborn  1:04  
That’s right. And we are. We’re in the peak of the coronavirus madness, but we’re not going to talk about it. We’re going to give you guys something else to talk about.

Ken Vennera  1:14  
Thank you.

Brian Schoenborn  1:14  
Yes. So can tell me a little bit. Um, one of the things I like to do is kind of discuss origin stories a little bit. 

Ken Vennera  1:22  
Sure. 

Brian Schoenborn  1:22  
You know, how people that have been that have seen a lot of success and things like that, how they got to where they, where they got, so maybe you could maybe you could start with like, just a little, maybe a little bit more of an in depth intro than what I provided, what you’re up to. And then we can go back and like kind of dig in like how you got from point A to point B?

Ken Vennera  1:40  
Sure. Sounds good. So I as you mentioned, I have a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania, my undergrad, for that. I have a law degree, JD, from Widener University School of Law, which Used to be the Delaware School of Law, and also have a master’s degree in law in taxation from Villanova University. 

Brian Schoenborn  2:07  
Oh, wow, okay. Yeah, a lot, a lot of time in class.

Ken Vennera  2:10  
a lot of time in school for sure, for sure, much too much time as my grandmother would probably. I’ve been involved in a lot of veteran nonprofit space. You know, we could talk about that a little bit later, if you like, as well. But, you know, currently Chief of Staff with Warrior Rising. A super, super organization that, as you mentioned, you know, helps veterans who are looking to start businesses, you know, and accelerate them. You know, and earn, basically, you know, their future. And you know, a few others as well. I’m involved with Vets2Industry, sit on the foundation board for them, and others that I’ve been involved with along the way. You know, I can give you a little bit more background about that. I’m on the advisory board of Operation Homefront of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, for example,

Brian Schoenborn  2:13  
What is Operation Homefront?

Ken Vennera  2:58  
So Operation Homefront was founded probably about 15 years ago, roughly, I want to say, to provide sort of emergency assistance to active duty military while they were deployed

Nick Bedard embraces the journey.From using guerrilla journalism tactics to get his NBA credentials, to becoming a Chinese culture reporter and 6-time Beijing city boxing champion, to returning home and attempting a start-up, he shares his stories and lessons learned along the way.


Show Notes
Follow Nick on Instagram | LinkedIn
Basketball Buddha 
Theme music by: Ruel Morales


Audio Transcript
Brian Schoenborn  0:01  
Hello, hello. Hey everyone. Our guest today has embraced the journey. He’s man whose explored very many parts of the world and done some pretty incredible things, including his time since I’ve known him in Beijing as the six-time Beijing city boxing champion. He also got to start as an NBA journalist in Korea, I think he covered the Korean basketball league as well. Meanwhile, as boxing city champion six times, he moonlighted as a Chinese propagandist, or journalist or journalist with a white face. Give it up for my friend Nick the Quantum Beast Bedard.

Brian Schoenborn  0:51  
My name is Brian Schoenborn. I’m an explorer, people, places and culture. In my travels spreading over 20 countries across four continents, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories, on location and unfiltered. Presented by 8B Media. This is Half the City.

Nick Bedard  1:18  
Thanks for having me on Brian. I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to share I’m happy to share the journey. Like you said I do embrace the journey. The destination is important but the the mass emphasis of my you know, lifestyle and so on has been the journey time and time again and we’re going to talk about a few of those journeys today. So thank you very much. I hope this is going to be you know, entertaining. If not, you know, if you learn anything from it, that’s great. But I’m here to share my story because that’s what this podcast…right.

Brian Schoenborn  1:56  
I’m coming back off from a brief hiatus. I had to take a little bit of break due to some family emergencies. But I’m posting up in the studio right now in Hollywood. A nice little spot. And we’re doing this one remote baby. Nick’s hanging out. Where are you? Where are you at? Are you in Montreal? Or? 

Nick Bedard  2:14  
I’m in Toronto, Canada. 

Brian Schoenborn  2:15  
Toronto. Right? Okay. Right on man. So, what brings you to Toronto? What What do you mean? What are you doing back there now? 

Nick Bedard  2:22  
Well, this is home for me. So after almost a decade of you know, traveling and and, you know, fulfilling journeys that I’ve always wanted to fulfill, I finally come back to my home base and used all of the knowledge used all of the experience to establish the career that I’m doing now, which I’m super excited about. I don’t want to spoil it right away. I guess we could start with kind of what brought me to Asia in the first place, because that’s kind of where the journey all began. 

Brian Schoenborn  2:52  
And so you said you spent what, like 10 years in Asia roughly.

Nick Bedard  2:56  
In nearly a decade, yes.

Brian Schoenborn  2:58  
So how do you make a decision to go from Canada, you know, Western, Western culture, you know, Western lifestyle. How do you make that decision to go, you know, take that jump from that to something probably completely different to you. I mean, I know I lived in Asia as well, and I had my own reasons for it. But that can be a pretty big move for people coming from other parts of the world.

Nick Bedard  3:22  
It is and I didn’t grow up, you know, dreaming of going to Asia that wasn’t part of my, you know, plan after high school and, and going to journalism school and thinking, Well, you know, what, I’m gonna go cover some stuff in Asia that that was never part of the form