People are the Answer

Jeffrey M. Zucker
People are the Answer

How innovators are responding to the world’s biggest challenges. — Serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Jeffrey M. Zucker talks weekly with innovators creating transformational social impact. They discuss their journeys in philanthropy, business, and life.

  1. 101: Cortney Woodruff on democratizing world class education

    11/20/2024

    101: Cortney Woodruff on democratizing world class education

    Show notes: In this episode, Cortney and Jeffrey discuss his learnings in his grandparents grocery store as a kid, his dedication to academics, how he sometimes spent years opening up opportunities, building and growing a business that helped fitness trainers build thriving businesses, living all over the world, changing education, and much more Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qknWDZeSCDw Learn more: Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker Producer: Kait Grey Editor: Nick Case Recording date: 10/31/24 Cortney Woodruff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cortney-woodruff-7182222b/ https://www.instagram.com/tvcort/ Assemble: https://www.linkedin.com/company/assembleftobegreat/ https://www.assemble.fyi/ https://www.instagram.com/assemble.fyi/ https://x.com/AssembleFYi Bio: Cortney Woodruff is the American tech investor, entrepreneur, and founder, CEO of Trainersvault as well as the Co-founder & CEO of the online education platform, Assemble. The international businessman and former Division 1 athlete integrates fitness, finance, tech, and entertainment to empower Black and brown youth through instruction. Woodruff’s mission merges worlds and creates opportunity by connecting Black thought leaders across industries to a broad learning community. The Jackson, Mississippi native has lived in over 10 cities across the United States, Europe, and Asia throughout a self-started career raising seed capital. Dedicated to normalizing success in the Black community, his work combines an expansive worldview with a thriving professional network. Woodruff lives in Los Angeles, California. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 3:36 - What motivates you? 4:35 - Early Life 9:01 - Success in Mississippi 11:59 - Education 17:10 - First Start Up 19:11 - Trainer's Vault 44:13 - Assemble 56:12 - How to Access Assemble 56:59 - How Does Assemble Recruit Experts? 59:54 - Future of Assemble 1:02:59 - Evolution of Education 1:09:16 - When Work Affected Change 1:12:39 - Ask Jeff a Question 1:16:30 - Snap Your Fingers 1:20:06 - How to Support

    1h 22m
  2. 100: Alex Hodara and Vin Vomero on first venture together, developing projects, and their wild trips

    11/13/2024

    100: Alex Hodara and Vin Vomero on first venture together, developing projects, and their wild trips

    Show notes: In this episode, Alex, Vin, and Jeffrey discuss their first venture together, developing projects, and their wild trips. They talk about the significance of the pod’s 100th episode, parenting philosophies, AI, the future, Gushers and more Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/w9y0lTmzEg8 Learn more: Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker Producer: Kait Grey Editor: Nick Case Recording date: 10/23/24 Alex Hodara https://www.instagram.com/alexhodara/ Rocket Club: https://www.instagram.com/rocketclub/ https://rocketclub.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabkWY7bqg2GBYavVf99cPo3zLLnd_wfcj90cKRwiTjmgUFLWUCazWamKAc_aem_8LsZ3B56poZ1JpCtd5PQbg Vin Vomero https://www.instagram.com/vinnyboombatzz/ FoxyAI: https://foxyai.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/foxy-ai/ Other resources: Jeff’s Episodes -  85.1 https://youtu.be/hC3BlY5QvKA?si=HVvA5exgEf5OEDq_ 85.2 https://youtu.be/eSGC8WB2ssI?si=n0v2hdgU1X-Wk4C5 https://www.instagram.com/dfwdisneydad/ https://dailydad.com/ Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 1:50 - Get to Know Vin 3:05 - What Motivates Vin 5:30 - FoxyAI 7:06 - Alex and Rocket Club 10:55 - HPM 19:07 - Vin, Snap Your Fingers 22:54 - Alex, Snap Your Fingers 25:22 - Vin's Note to Jeff's Sons 26:20 - Jeff's Parents Inspiring Jeff 30:55 - Others Inspiring Jeff 32:55 - HPM Accidental Super Bowl Trip 39:51 - Hockey in Jamaica 42:35 - Disney Adults 47:02 - Parenting 54:27 - Reflecting 58:11 - Future Predictions

    1h 5m
  3. 99: Bill Hughes on creating education-to-workforce models and removing barriers to jobs for those qualified but lacking degrees

    11/06/2024

    99: Bill Hughes on creating education-to-workforce models and removing barriers to jobs for those qualified but lacking degrees

    Show notes: In this episode, Bill and Jeffrey discuss his unique path from Harlem through prestigious educational institutions, ultimately leading him to degrees at Harvard and MIT and working in software. After spending 9 years helping an education business with their digital transformation, he created JobReady, developing career-aligned course collections, enabling job seekers to follow pathways that lead to jobs and promotions. We discuss the company’s exit, how he found Education Design Lab, the lives changed along the way, and much more! Learn more: Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/W2fW6ZpF_2o Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker Producer: Kait Grey Editor: Nick Case Recording date: 10/10/24 Bill Hughes https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhughes316/ Education Design Lab: https://www.linkedin.com/company/education-design-lab/ https://eddesignlab.org/ https://www.instagram.com/educationdesignlab/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6vgVHYOkJk6RIY6HJnyQBA Other resources: https://www.open4learning.com/ https://innovationlabs.harvard.edu/ https://www.edc.org/careers-edc?utm_source=edc&utm_medium=LN&utm_content=job&utm_campaign=smedcorg Bio: Software executive focused on new ventures, strategy, innovation, and product management. As CEO and Founder of JobReady, his goal is to deliver high-quality, affordable, relevant career pathways and credentials for the 21st century to a million job seekers and career shifters. JobReady is developing career-aligned course collections from the thousands of courses available, enabling job seekers to follow pathways that lead to jobs and promotions. Initial pathways will include cybersecurity, data science, project management, leadership, IT skills, business skills, and certification prep. Message Bill directly for more information about JobReady and how you can learn more. Expertise: Corporate strategy, business development, new ventures, win-win deals, software product management, new product development, venture capital, entrepreneurship, strategic consulting, project management, software development, financial analysis, analytical modeling, software patents.  Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 2:37 - New Majority Learner 4:51 - What Motivates You? 11:37 - Education 12:55 - Pearson 17:29 - Job Ready 21:59 - Education Design Lab 37:08 - Generative AI 49:54 - Why Can't We Get Re-Routed? 57:53 - EDL's Future 1:07:14 - When Work Affected Change 1:09:48 - Most Grateful for 1:12:53 - Snap Your Fingers 1:16:28 - How to Support

    1h 19m
  4. 98: Shireen Jaffer on her journey from Pakistan to the US at age 7, the duality she experienced growing up in Palo Alto, transforming education

    10/09/2024

    98: Shireen Jaffer on her journey from Pakistan to the US at age 7, the duality she experienced growing up in Palo Alto, transforming education

    Show notes: In this episode, Shireen and Jeffrey discuss her journey from Pakistan to the US at age 7 and the incredible sacrifices her parents made to make it possible. We also cover the duality she experienced growing up in Palo Alto, the variety of jobs she worked from ages 12-18, when she realized what’s valuable in life vs. in our educational system, transforming education, and much more Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/-y4xdKbGgSY Learn more: Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker Producer: Kait Grey Editor: Nick Case Recording date: 5/23/24   Shireen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shireenjaffer/ https://www.instagram.com/shireenjaffer_/ Skillify: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skillify/ https://www.skillifynow.com/ https://www.instagram.com/skillifynow/ https://www.facebook.com/Skillify/ https://twitter.com/skillify Other resources: https://cosmosinstitute.substack.com/ Bio:  I'm a people-obsessed product builder based in San Francisco. I was born in Pakistan, won the luck lottery at age 7 and immigrated to Palo Alto, where I was bred to solve real world problems and build my first business at 17. While attending USC full-time, I bootstrapped my first company Skillify to challenge our societal obsession with college and helped 150,000 high school students get real world exposure via internships and mentors. I focused on impact and profitability from day 1 and scaled Skillify programs to 220 schools by the time I graduated three years later. I'm so proud to have helped hundreds of thousands of students discover what they love, and be recognized as Forbes 30 under 30 for work I love doing. The longer story? I can tell you live - say hi at Shireen@skillifynow.com Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 1:42 - What Motivates you? 3:46 -  Immigrating 13:06 - Early Life in US 19:08 - Education 25:50 - Skillify 31:02 - Changing People's Lives 44:03 - Life After Skillify 1:10:20 - Education, Vocation 1:16:58 - Most Grateful for 1:18:02 - Snap Your Fingers

    59 min
  5. 96: Skippy Mesirow on Healing Our Politics, filming in Laos, love for Aspen, importance of self-awareness

    09/11/2024

    96: Skippy Mesirow on Healing Our Politics, filming in Laos, love for Aspen, importance of self-awareness

    In this episode, Skippy and Jeffrey discuss his upbringing, working in the Obama campaign and other political endeavors, his time filming a travel show in Laos, his love for Aspen and the effort he’s put toward that, the importance of self-awareness and vulnerability. Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/yLq9212ki2w Learn more: Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker Producer: Kait Grey Editor: Nick Case Recording date: 8/6/24 Skippy Mesirow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skippymesirow/ https://www.instagram.com/skippymesirow/ https://www.facebook.com/skippymesirow Business: https://www.instagram.com/electedleaderscollective/ Podcast - https://www.healingourpolitics.com/ Gone Gonzo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbyNgfPUJTM www.electedleaderscollective.com https://aspen.skyrun.com/ https://www.healingourpolitics.com/#newsletter Bio: Skippy Mesirow is a public to his core. He is the Founder of the Elected Leaders Collective, a Natural Medicine Advisory Board member, and a former Aspen City Councilperson. His life's mission is to heal our politics. In 2007 Skippy rose from unpaid intern to Deputy Director of home state and a 5-state region for Obama for America 08'. At 23, he ran a state-wide race as Campaign Manager for Jesse White 2010. Turned off by the toxicity of politics in Chicago, Skippy left a promising career and traveled the world, often solo with a backpack and a motorcycle. His perspective began to expand. Working on an ill-fated start-up, he moved back to his favorite place on Earth, Aspen, CO., where he had previously lived as a competitive skier and collegiate national champion. Here he began to do "the work," diving deeply into his soul, connecting and healing and re-contextualized years of childhood trauma and their resulting expression. As he did, he re-engaged politically. He co-founded and Chaired Aspen NextGen to give youth a voice. He organized a successful ballot initiative to change Aspen's election day, resulting in the highest-ever voter turnout by 26%. He Chaired the APCHA housing board and the P&Z Comission, going on to serve four years on Aspen’s City Council from 2019-2023. In his term, Aspen established a net-zero-waste goal and passed a housing strategic plan. Skippy advocated for innovation to improve government function, citizen involvement, and voter turnout and t psychedelic reform. He serves on the Aspen Psychedelic Resource Center board. During his service, he observed incredible heart-centered leaders try to make change, only to drop out as they faced public hate, misinformation, conflict, and the resulting stress, anxiety, overwhelm, and other mental health challenges of our toxic culture. Integrating his mental-health journey, he founded the Elected Leaders Collective to "heal our politics." The ELC works with elected officials and public servants to reduce mental health challenges, increase performance, and connect with other heart-centered leaders. ELC's coaching addresses all five parts of the human experience – mind, body, emotion, unconscious, and spirit. Leaders cultivate awareness, remove internal blocks, and achieve aligned external action to reach their highest self in life and leadership. Skippy lives with his partner Jamie in Aspen. They travel as much as possible, still on two wheels, to unconventional places. Skippy is an ultra-marathoner, burner, skier, biker, driver, & cook w/"Citizen" tattooed on his right arm. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 2:44 - Healing Our Politics Podcast 11:00 - What Motivates You? 17:32 - Where Did You Grow Up? 25:29 - What Drew You to Colorado? 33:44 - Growth at an Impressionable Age 35:47 - Electric Vehicle Start Up 38:02 - Gone Gonzo 45:29 - Political Origin 51:49 - Healing in Politics 1:04:28 - Public Service 1:14:08 - When Work Affected Change 1:19:49 - Ask Jeff a Question 1:22:52 - Most Grateful for 1:24:15 - Snap Your Fingers 1:27:43 -  How to Support

    1h 30m
5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

How innovators are responding to the world’s biggest challenges. — Serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Jeffrey M. Zucker talks weekly with innovators creating transformational social impact. They discuss their journeys in philanthropy, business, and life.

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