Episode 100: Mastering What Matters and Curating Your Own Path | Noah Bernard | Athlete, Entrepreneur, Brand Marketer
Noah Bernard has lived many lives - professional athlete, footwear creator, brand marketer, and entrepreneur - each chapter shaped by his drive to work hard, compete, and follow his passions. From swimming at the Junior Olympics to competing in Ultraman races, from building brands at Puma and Saucony to creating his own ventures, Noah’s career is proof that success comes from aligning your skills with what matters most to you. In this milestone 100th episode of the Powerful Ladies Podcast, Noah shares his journey across sports, marketing, and entrepreneurship. He talks about the lessons he learned as an athlete, why asking “why” is a game-changer, and how curating your life with intention can lead to extraordinary opportunities. Along the way, he reflects on the people, books, and experiences that shaped his values and continues to fuel his curiosity.
“Kick your vales around. Spend time on them. Then when you start to question your Why, you have something to go back to.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Meet Noah Bernard
04:15 Growing Up as a Competitive Swimmer
08:40 From Junior Olympics to College Athletics
13:00 Transitioning from Athlete to Brand Marketer
17:20 Building Footwear Brands at Puma and Saucony
21:45 Lessons Learned from Global Sports Marketing
26:10 The Leap into Entrepreneurship
30:30 Ultraman, Tough Mudders, and Pushing Physical Limits
35:20 How ADHD Shaped His Drive and Creativity
39:00 The Power of Asking “Why” and Knowing Your Values
43:10 Influences: Wim Hof, David Goggins, and More
46:50 Favorite Books on Sports, Business, and Life
50:20 Advice for Designing a Career Around Your Passions
54:00 What’s Next for Noah Bernard
Being in water or being doing that or that, whatever that does for me, I've realized is much more important and impactful than I think I realized. And it is part of my value system and I wish I would've, you know, thought about that more. 'cause I think in our values potentially changed throughout life, but there's a few core values that are probably gonna stick around for most of it.
That's Noah Bernard, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and on this episode, our 100th episode of The Powerful Ladies Podcast. Can you believe it? I am so excited to introduce you to Noah Bernard. He's on my favorite Humans list and he's a great example. I've how to curate life based upon working hard, leaning in on your competitive spirit and to always be following your own personal passions.
I can't wait to hear what you get out of listening to his story. Before we jump into this episode, I want to remind you to come and join the Powerful Ladies Thrive Membership. The best way to ensure you live your dream life is to have a community and a coach that will help you get there, and that's exactly what Thrive is for.
Join me and fellow powerful ladies right now. Go to powerful ladies.mn.co. Jump into my twice weekly group coaching sessions to kickstart everything that matters to you. I can't wait for you to see what you can transform.
Well, Noah, welcome to The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hi, Kara. How are you? Thank you for having me.
Well, I am really excited you're here. We haven't had a proper catch up in about a hundred years, and you're also one of the most interesting humans I know. So I got lots of things that I wanna ask and talk about.
Um, but let's tell everybody who you are, where you up to, and where you are in the world.
Well, that is a full on setup. Now I've gotta go through all the past history that we have, and now I've gotta really step up and I'm super interesting. So, uh, that's, that's a little bit of pressure, but I think I'll do my, I'll do it.
Try my hardest. Uh, who am I? I am Noah, Bernard. Um, where am I? I'm in London, England. Uh, I've been here, uh, I'm American by trade, but, uh, I've, I've been here in, uh, London for about, uh, 12 years now. Um, who am I? I am, um, I'm originally from Texas, as I said, an American, um, former, uh, professional athlete, uh, that turned into somewhat of a marketer, uh, that turned into somewhat of a little bit of an entrepreneur that's turned into, uh, somebody who's trying to navigate my way through, uh, some crazy times and, and, and do my best at it as, as best I possibly can, uh, is who I am as a person, I would say.
Um, but yeah, that's, that's, I mean, a shortened a bridge version of who I am, but that's exactly who I am right now.
I figured we could start by talking about the first time I met you, which was the day that I went into the Puma Boston offices for an interview, and you were one of the people that interviewed me when the first three, and I'm waiting in this room and I'm nervous.
I'm like, I don't know, 25 or 26 at the time. And everyone had kind of gone through being kind of routine. And then you come in with some crazy outfit on like striped pants and this floor printed jacket and a cane and these crazy glasses and probably a hat. And you walk in, you lean back in the chair, you put your feet up on the desk and your first question is.
Are you cool enough to work here?
Oh, wow. That does sound like a very, very different version of me from many years ago. Yes, that, uh, but see, the cane would've been because I had just broken my back, uh, which has been something I've been dealing with, uh, for a long time and still dealing with to this day, I'd just broken my back in a bicycle accident.
Uh, the striped pants and the valor jacket would've definitely been my skis at that time. It probably hasn't changed too terribly much, uh, in the pro 15 years. It's been since, uh, probably more than 15 years that that's happened. And, uh, the hat, uh, to this day, um, I just did a thing a couple of weeks ago and everybody.
Talked about different components and what you would associate or assimilate somebody with and to a person as soon as it came to me, everybody said hat. Well, and there's like
all these hats I can see in your background right now too.
Yeah, there's hats everywhere, but I was a bit, I was a bit kind of, I was happy with that, but then I also thought, wow, the only thing you can associate me with is an accessory.
I feel like I need to do a little bit more in my life to, uh, to get more than just hats. But yeah, there's a hat through, um, are, are still a part of it, uh, to this day. And if, if, if, uh, if our friend Mark McGarry was listening to this, he would have a, a big chocolate about that because at the same time I interviewed you, I interviewed Mark McGarry and he wore a hat to the interview and we walked outta the interview and our good friend Louis Joseph said.
What do you think of the guy? And I went, guy wore a hat to the interview. You can't wear a hat to the interview. And I took, I gave him a proper run for wearing a hat. And now this guy's running an incredible business. He's an, an incredible guy. Uh, one of the coolest persons I ever got to work with. So, uh, yeah, the hat team continues on throughout our lives.
I love that. Um, and to go back to your, your cycling, so you have a lot of athletic ac accolades, so let's go. Tell me a little bit about your athletic history and some of your bigger achievements, which I'll remind you of if you don't remember.
Yeah. Um, gosh. I mean, I, I started, um, my, well, my, my career in sports is just really a, it's, it's about my dad, essentially.
My dad was, um. A huge sportsman. He, he, um, went to Texas a and m University. Uh, he, in high school, he was, he tried out for the Dallas Cowboys and the St. Louis Cardinals. Uh, I think he got a shot at both of those guys, um, but decided to go in another direction in his life. And, and from a very young age, like sport was, it was the thing.
I mean, it was the one thing that, that, that bonded my dad and I together my mm-hmm. You know, I said this to a friend of mine a couple weeks ago. Um, my, uh, my parents or my mother used to joke if, if they said flies fucking was a sport, my dad and I would watch it. We just, any kind of sport we consumed any and every type of sport.
And so I, I grew up in that world and, you know, I, as a kid, I played soccer or football and, you know, I tried track and field and I tried all these different things, but, um. I landed on the sport of swimming quite early on. Um, and part of it was because, um, if you haven't known, uh, I've got a little bit of a DHD and a little bit of, uh, some other things going on.
And I was a pretty hyper kid and the only thing that could chill me out is if they threw me in the water for hours and it just tired me out. Uh, so that was where my parents were like, okay, if we want this kid to be manageable at home, let's just put him in the pool for a while, let him swim for hours.
And, uh, so that's kind of where it came from. But yeah, I started swimming competitively when I was eight years old. Um, you know, had a, what? Stroke had a, I was a, I was a backstroker. My, my whole, my whole life essentially. Um, you know, when I was super young, I was, you know, nationally ranked and. Uh, you know, was on a couple of regional teams and a couple of national teams and stuff like that.
Um, you know, made it to the, you know, uh, the Junior Olympics and Senior Olympics and all that kind of stuff that you do. I went on a swimming scholarship, uh, to Ohio State. Uh, swam there for a year and then transferred to, uh, the University of Arizona. Um, and when I got to University of Arizona, I, one of the assistant swim coaches at University of Arizona was a triathlete.
And, uh, I was a good swimmer and I'd run a bunch at school as well in, in high school and stuff like that. I was a, I was, uh, uh, ran a whole lot in high school and was a pretty good runner, and they used to do this kind of swim run in Tucson. Every year. And I always wound up doing pretty well finishing in the, in the, in the higher rankings of it.
And this, uh, assistant coach said to me, you know, you're a pretty good swimmer and you're a pretty good runner. If you can just learn how to bike, uh, we could turn you into a triathlete. And I was like, all right. Uh, and so, yeah, I, I, I met this guy who ran a bike shop and he started training me for cycling.
And then I started kind of doing a career in triathlon. And, uh, yeah, spent a few years, um, trying my hardest to make it as a professional triathlete, um, which back then. You know, this is, this is the late eighties, early nineties. Um, it was just, um, a brand new sport. There wasn't a whole lot of, you know, people doing it, but if you could, you know, if you could make it as a professional trap that you could make a bit of Bob doing it.
And I tried and tried and tried and tried, and I got a couple of deals. I gotta deal with PowerBar and a few other kind of cool companies and things like that, but not, you know, not enough to, you know, to pay my rent essentially. Um, and I did that for a few years and, um, you know, did an Ironman or did a couple Ironman, did you know, well, hold on.
Just
did a couple Ironmans just like to skip over that. Like to go from Oh yeah. I started doing a triathlete and then I did a couple of Ironmans. No big deal. How did you make that transition from triathlete to Ironman and. Did you think you were insane when you were preparing for it? Or was it just like after you achieved it you're like, oh, no big deal.
So my entry into the Ironman is, is, um, very indicative of me as a person, I would say in the sense that, um, I was doing triathlons. Um, I did my first triathlon with my friend Brian in Phoenix. We did a relay and I did the swim. He did the bike, and his brother did the run. And afterwards I was like, okay, this is cool.
I wanna do this. Um, I'm really into it. Um, so I did my first one and I think of my first one I finished either second or third. Overall, I finished quite high up in, in the rankings and I thought, okay, this is it. Like this is my, this is my new obsession. This is my, because I'm that kind of person, I'm like, this is the thing I'm gonna focus on.
And um, and I was trying to find races to go and do, and I found this race in Montreal. Uh, and it was called a long distance triathlon, which it wasn't an Ironman because it had to have the official mm-hmm. Moniker and the patent of Ironman, but it was a long distance one. And me being the person I am, I was like, long distance.
I'm a good distance swimmer, I'm a good long distance runner. Easy peasy mate. I'm signing up for that one. Like, that was the one I'm gonna sign up for. So I signed up for this, uh, and then realized that it was, uh, you know, 2.4 miles of swimming, 118 miles of biking in a marathon at the end.
Yeah, I
went to Montreal.
The best part about this one was I went to Montreal and the race was on the swim was in a, um. Uh, a rowing venue. Mm-hmm. So it was just a concrete straight line venue that was a mile down, turn around, come back, and then half a mile. And then the bike ride was on a motorsport track that went in the circle.
Whoa. And so it was 118 miles going around a circle on the, on the, on the, on the racetrack.
Do you get dizzy? My goodness.
Exactly. And then the marathon run was on the inside of the racetrack, just going around in circles on that. And that was my first one I ever did. And I was like, I came back from, I remember telling Brian like, bro, I, I just, I don't think this is for me.
Like, this is just like, that's the worst. I was bored ever. Uh, yeah. I was so bored. I did well, I, I think I finished the top, you know, whatever, 20%, 20 or something like that. But I remember I did well and I was like, yeah, but this isn't for me. And Brian was like, yeah, but you know, that's not like. A normal Iron Man mate.
Like the real ones are, you know, you go to Kona and you ride and you swim and it's in beautiful places and stuff like that. And that's where I was like, oh really? I mean there's, that's not the, the format. I thought that was the format. And he was like, no. So yeah, so I did that one the first time and then I just started doing shorter ones and then I went, uh, I went to Canada a couple times, did a couple Ironman in Canada, went to Kona once, did one in Kona.
Um, yeah, it just kind of, you know, I fell into it and just started doing that. Um. Yeah, that was my life for God, six or seven years. Just nonstop, just Ironmans triathlons. Mm-hmm. Running races, all that kind of stuff. It just, yeah, I kind of fell into it serendipitously. Uh, and Unintelligently as well is pretty much the way it works for me
is the community of the Iron Man and the long distance triathlon world.
As cool as it sounds like, like I've never done either of those things, but the community seems rad.
Yeah. I mean, I, it's, it's, it's, when I started off, it was really small. I mean, it's, it was, it was, it was, we were kind of the, um, land of the misfit toys in sports. You know, we weren't the, you, you weren't the fastest swimmer.
You weren't the fastest biker, and you weren't the fastest runner, but you could put all three together and you could make it really, so, so the swimmers kind of. Looked at us with the weird eye and the runners kind of looked at us with the weird eye and the bicyclist kinda looked at us with a weird eye.
But I think over time, because the sports popularity has grown, and I think because of you've got just people that are, you know, going from the couch to doing Ironman and you, you know, there's such a proliferation of books and, you know, even races that have spun off like Spartan races and mm-hmm. Uh, tough Mudders and all this other kind of thing.
Um, this kind of community of endurance people has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. It's become much more inclusive.
Mm-hmm.
I think, and it's also just become, you know, I think it's a lot more, um, yeah, it's a lot more cool cooler, as you said, than it was back then. I mean, back then it, it was very much kind of a, you know, an oddball group of people that did it.
You know, these were guys that I, I had a training partner. Who used to, um, drain his cottage cheese, which I always thought was the weirdest thing ever, he would put it in a strainer and run water over it because he wanted to get the right amount of like nutrients or less fat or more fat. And it was that kind of world where it would just mm-hmm.
Random dudes who had just, you know, that went in like me that just, you know, really thought about it. Yeah. And really, like, were into it, where now I feel like it's a little bit more, it's a little bit more fun. It's a little bit more joyous. It's a little bit more cool than it was back then, but mm-hmm. You know, some of the, some of the coolest people I, you know, and some of the biggest opportunities I have to this day are because of the people that I met back then, you know?
Mm-hmm. I, there's, there's people that I still have, uh, in my life to this day that, um, I met back doing those races and, you know, I still rely on for. Mentorship or, you know, conversations or inspiration and stuff like that. So yeah, it's, it was, it was definitely a big, a big part of my life, uh, and still is to this day, even though I'm not racing a lot anymore, it's still a big part of it.
Yeah. I've seen that you've been getting in the pool again, at least posting about it, and it looks like it's freezing.
Yeah. I've, um, I've caught out of this, um, this guy Vim Hoff. I don't know if you've heard of him. Oh,
yeah. Oh, I do. Jesse's obsessed. Mm-hmm.
Is he, yeah, I, yeah. Vim
Hoff, David Goggins. Um, there's like this whole crew of like, uh, Troy Casey, he's been to one of Troy Casey's man camps.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. There's these guys, I mean, I, I, I found them through a friend of a friend. Of a friend. Um. And it was, again, very much of my life. Serendipitous, I found him. And then about a, a kilometer from where we live, there's a pool here called the, the Tooting back Lido, which is over a hundred years old.
It's the only pool, uh, that's open year round, uh, in south of London. But it's also the only pool that is, well, not the only pool, but it's one of the pools that's not heated. So in the summer you get in and the water temperatures, you know, 23, which is, you know mm-hmm. In the seventies, back home. And then in the winter, it's like, I went, the day before we got locked down, it was two degrees,
which is Celsius.
30, 38. Yeah. 38. 38. Yeah. So, so yeah, I've been getting back into that. And, um, I've, I've, I was, I was ill for a couple years. I recently with, uh, some, some different things and one of the, uh. Physicians and the, the therapist guy said, you know, you gotta get back into doing something. And swimming's always been there for me.
Mm-hmm. It's always been for, for whatever reason, it's always been my home. And he was like, dude, get back in the water and see if, see if that'll work. And, and to touch wood, uh, it's been working so far, so I'm back in the water. Yeah.
I like it. Yeah. I miss swimming. Yeah. One of my favorite things about um, Herzo was the pool by the office where I like swimming outdoors versus like in a enclosed, um, pool.
But I used to love, they had both, we had the indoor pool and we had the outdoor pool, but in the summer, the outdoor pool, it's like, I love swimming and like seeing your shadow on the bottom, like to, that's, you know, I don't know, the sun rising and swimming is, it's nice. I miss that. Yeah.
That pool, that pools and hurts though, with the indoor outdoor was
mm-hmm.
It's one of those things like. I was just actually talking to my partner about this a while ago, talking about like, when you are, when you're in situations and you don't really appreciate the situations that you're in until you're out of it and you go, oh man, you know, that pool, her so was, you know, that was such a cool pool or, you know, oh, or how clean that town was, or how Yeah, like fun.
That place was. You just, I think you forget about those things. And, and I was saying to her, I was like, you know, um, 'cause we're thinking about moving and we're looking for places, and I, she said, what, what are our requirements? And I said, it's gotta be near a pool. It's gotta be near a train station to get into London.
She's like, I this pool thing. But anyways, we're, we were talking about pools and I was like, yeah, the pool in Herzo was, uh. It was definitely the one, it was really, really nice there. The hardest part
was that you only had like an hour with your token if you went to the indoor pool. Yeah. So like you wanted to get your workout in and then you had to get changed.
And I wish they had, like, some of the, um, gyms here have, like those fans you can stand in like out of the shower, so you dry off faster and then you, but it was so hard to like, get outta the pool, shower, dry off enough to put your clothes on so that they looked normal and then get out. Like, there were so many days where it's like, it's been 30 seconds, let me out.
Please.
You know, the funny thing about the tokens just kills me is like, again, me as a person, like the obvious, I just remember going into the place with a bag, one of the Ziploc bags filled with change. Yeah. And like putting it in the thing like for a, it was a, it was a Euro 20 or something like that.
Yeah. And just put it in the thing and then. Doing that for six months. The same guy working behind the counter like almost every day. And then finally the guy coming around and going, you know, you can buy a card and you don't have to do the change every time. And I was like, oh dude.
Yeah.
Why didn't you tell me that six months ago?
And so you watch me every day, stand here with my coins going 10, 20, 30, 40. That's so German. Yeah. Yeah. It was very, very German. Many stories about that town in that. Think about
how entertained he was by you for all those weeks.
Oh, loved it. Absolutely loved it. Absolutely. Absolutely loved it. And you know, there's me with like all my old former US national team jerseys and stuff like that on, so he's going American.
Yeah. We're have some fun with this for a little while. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good time. Meanwhile,
there's like kids running by with their cards and you're like, think.
Yeah, exactly. How's he getting in? What's going on there? Yeah, it was good time.
So you made your transition from, you know, professional iron man, long distance triathlete, and then one day you were interviewing me at Puma.
So how did you make that jump from athlete to creating products for athletes?
Yeah. Um, so I, I, I moved to Austin after I left. Well, I moved to Orlando, Florida first, uh, after I graduated from university to go work for Walt Disney.
Very cool. Which is,
which is, uh, uh, anybody who knows me knows that I have a huge, uh, huge, huge, um, obsession with Mickey Mouse.
I've had it, uh, in my entire life actually. Uh, it, it goes back to my childhood, but, uh, and I always, in school, I always wanted to work. For Disney. Uh, in, in middle school and high school, if anybody asked me what I wanted to do, it was go work for Disney. And at a younger age it was to go be a, uh, you know, an, an illustrator or work in the Imaginarium or something like that, but better in life.
So when I, one year after I finished swimming, uh, university, I had a year, a summer, and I went and worked for Walt Disney in the college program, which is an amazing mm-hmm. An amazing program. I, I, I, I've got a nephew and I keep pressuring him to like, sign up for it. I'm like, mm-hmm bro, this, this is, it's such a cool thing.
It is, uh, you know, you live on Disney property, it's college kids from all over the world. Uh, you take courses, you work in different places, you know, from a learning experience and just from a fun aspect. It's just a brilliant thing. But anyways, I. I did that for a summer. And then after when I was there, I met a couple of people who worked in like the marketing departments and different things like that and said, you know, when I graduate, I'm coming back.
And they were like, we, you come back, we'll sort you out with a gig, you know, come back, no problem. So I moved, I moved to Disney, uh, to Orlando for, uh, a year, uh, working in the, um, uh, Disney, um, timeshare condominium business, which was a whole nother story I could tell for hours about, uh, lots of stories there.
Um, yeah. And then, um, still trying to do some cycling stuff. Uh, still trying to do some run or triathlon cycling, running, swimming stuff. Um, and then. Didn't really work out with Disney, uh, 'cause I couldn't really find like my, my, my thing at Disney. So I moved back to Texas. Um, and when I moved back to Texas, I moved to Austin because at the time, and still to this day, Austin was a mecca for running and for cycling and swimming and triathlete triathletes and things like that.
So I moved to Austin and when I got to Austin, I went back to school, uh, to get my master's in exercise physiology. Um, and was going to school, was training pretty much full-time, was still trying to make the, the professional gig work. And it, and to be honest, dead dead, honest with you, it wasn't, I was, I was doing well in races but not well enough to, for somebody to sign me on a contract.
Um, and. Went into a running shoe store in Austin, Texas, a place called Runt, uh, guy by the name of Paul Osa, who is still one of my best mates and still my, you know, my main mentor to this day.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, walked into the store and was in there to buy a, uh, hydration system. Mm-hmm. Because I was gonna go do an Iron Man and I was there at the wall trying on different hydration systems of being who I am, laying 'em down and, you know, this one weighs this much and that one's this and that one's that, and da, da da da, da.
And all the pros and cons.
Totally nerd out about hydration systems. Totally nerd, like, totally nerding
out, like way too much information. And, uh, a woman that stood beside me asked me, uh, thinking I worked there, I think said, you know. You know, which is the best hydration system.
Mm-hmm.
And I went full nerd on her.
Like went in, I was like, well, you know, if you're gonna run this much, you know, da, da da, da da. And the sales associate stood there, guy who worked there, stood there and was listening to him. At the end of it, she goes, you know, okay, I'll buy that one. Turned around and walked away and I picked mine up and was walking to the counter and the sales guy, uh, said, Hey man, like, are you involved in sports?
Are you? And I'm like, yeah, I'm doing exercise physiology at ut and I'm trying to be a pro triathlete. And he was like, how are you making money? And I was like, uh, right now. Not very well. Not very well at all. And he was like, um, you know, we, we need somebody here. I'll speak to the owner. I think you'd be great.
You know, I really like he, I'm sure he'll really like you, you know, he probably can get a job here. Come back a couple days later, walked in, met Paul and his wife, Sheila. Uh, I don't even think there was an interview. I think it was more like, Hey mate, you know, chat with us for a little bit. Let's talk about what you do and who you are.
Mm-hmm.
Yada, yada, yada. And then a week later I was working the sales floor and they, they were, you know, at the time, they were kind of a, a smallish operation, but you know, in the next like two to three years, they were one of the per premier running shoe stores in the country. And then all the shoe companies used to come visit them because Paul, the owner is this, uh, I don't even know how to describe him.
Like, he's amazing with feet and shoes. He is an incredible coach. He's still coaching kids to this day. All the shoe companies would come in and they would sit with Paul and they would talk to 'em about things. And Paul and I became close friends and he'd just invite me in to different things and I'd sit down with him and meet all the different people and
mm-hmm.
You know, guys we worked with at, you know, at Puma I knew, and people I've worked with later on at Adidas I met and people I worked with Nike. Later on I met, um, and yeah, I just started doing that. And then Paul got the Runner's World Shoe Review.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, so he started doing, all the shoe companies were sending the shoes to him and he started doing all the shoe reviews for him, and I started helping him out with that.
And then we started traveling to Boston Marathon, New York Marathon, Honolulu Marathon, you know, and then when you do that, all the shoe companies are, you know, they're, they're being nice to you 'cause they, you know, they think you're gonna give 'em a good review and stuff like that. And I was in, in a, in, um.
A bar in New York City, uh, when Nike used to sponsor the New York City Marathon.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, and some of the big guys at Nike were there, and some of their athletes are there. I think it was the night after one of the, after the marathon when everybody was having a good time and one of the top guys at Nike in the running division turned to me and said, Hey, if, uh, what are you gonna do once this, uh, triathlon thing ends?
And I went, oh shit. I have no idea. I have zero idea, man.
So does that mean that you worked with Tom Archie?
I worked with Tom Archie and I worked with Tim Slingsby. Yeah. And I worked with Kirk Richardson and Fritz Taylor. And
because Tom was my last boss at, uh, DC and now like we're Oh, really? Yeah. We're buddies.
When I go to Portland, I, we always grab a coffee or a lunch or something.
But is, it was, didn't he go to Sy for a little while or something like that? Yeah.
After, after he was at Quicksilver World Board writers, he went over there. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
He's a fascinating guy with tons of stories too.
Yeah. I mean, all those guys from the East coast, um, that, you know, 'cause that whole, I think what people don't realize about the shoe industry is Yes.
You know, a lot of it's in Portland now, but for a long, long time, Boston.
Mm-hmm. You know,
there was a factory in a Nike factory in Boston and Reebok was there and Sy was there and Spot Built was the, I mean, yeah, there were so many New Balance. Everybody was there. So all those kind of East Coast guys, like Archie and um
mm-hmm.
I guy's name all those dudes that were up there, they kind of like built the industry. Like they, yeah. They were there. And then. Nike and Adi did their thing in Portland, but that was,
yeah. So
all those guys like
straw and the only reason Adi went to Portland was because of Nike.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. But all those guys there, like, I, I mean, if you've ever read the, everybody's onto the book, um, shoe Dog, and I keep telling 'em it's a good book, but if you wanna read the real book, read Swoosh, it's impossible to find.
But that book talks about how like Strausser and Phil Knight and Hollister and all those guys, like how they built those businesses mm-hmm. Across the board. And it tells like the, the, the real. The real poop about the industry from like, that book is amazing. And I keep telling all my shoe friends that are guys who are trying to get into, I'm like, read this book.
'cause that was East Coast.
Mm-hmm.
Those guys started all, but yeah, like all those Dude, I like sneaker wars
too.
Yeah. Sneaker Wars is amazing one as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But Swoosh is the one if you could find, it's really hard to find. 'cause I don't think they print it anymore. 'cause I think there was a bit of a legal thing about, it
might have been too honest.
Hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. I think there was a, I think it's, it's a tough one to find, but it's an amazing book. But yeah. Yeah. So I was, I was, yeah, I was doing that. And then, um, yeah, one of the guys at Nike said, you know, what about coming and working for us?
Mm-hmm.
And it wasn't like. Come work for us. It was like, Hey, we, you know, if something comes up, we'll put your name forward for it and whatever.
And I, you know, I did the whole, the Nike interview thing, which is to this day, probably one of the craziest interview processes. Like you, you had a phone interview and then I flew to Portland and I had a round of like, interviews with a couple of different people in the department.
Mm-hmm. Flew
home. Then they flew me back again and I had to give a presentation, and then I came back again and I had to give a presentation on something that I made.
I mean, it was, it was mad.
That's how my P one was.
Yeah. Back in the day, like, I keep hearing about these guys, getting these jobs and I'm like. Not sounding like the old man that talks about, you know, walking two miles up the uphill in the snow. But yeah, back in the day, those, those interviews were, were a bitch man.
Mm-hmm. Like they, they really grilled you. Yeah. Like you had to present and you had to do multiple presentations. You had to do like five of them in the day. You had to present to one guy, and then the next guy. And then the next guy.
Yeah. They weren't easy
man.
They were hard on you. Yeah. I, and I remember, so the, the presentation I did for Puma was for like, what I would do with the kids department, and I remember Adrian being like.
That's cute. Great presentation. I'm not sure if you'll achieve any of that here, but we'd love to have you. And so I made it my mission to check off as much as possible in that presentation, just to prove him wrong.
Come on. Kay Duff, the Kara Duffy. The Kara Duffy kids presentations. I will go, we'll go down in history as some of the greatest presentations of all time.
I remember prior to you getting there mm-hmm. When the kids' presentation came up. I, I don't remember. I'm not gonna slay anybody. But before you got there, when the kids' presentation came up, none of us were like, yeah, whatever. Kids' presentation, let's hit the pub. It's over.
That's what everybody said. Even the, even the sales reps.
When you, when you got there and you started giving presentation, it was like, dude, what, what time's it shit, uh, kids' presentation's on, we gotta go make the kids' presentation 'cause there's gonna be. Some Cinderella story or there's gonna be some other story or something like that. Those presentations were,
well, I had a lot of pressure because Thomas Snick was doing some really hilarious presentations.
They're like, so everyone told me they had to be funny. I'm like, I am the least funny person I've ever met. What are you talking about? So it was so stressful to have to build a presentation that wasn't my style at first, but then it kind of like slowly got built in. 'cause I didn't know the inside jokes or things to include at first.
So I'm like literally making it with other people like, all right, I'll present. And to go from presenting to like a table of people to suddenly there's like, I don't know, three, 500 people in a room looking at you but not looking at you. 'cause they're on their phones. 'cause English is their second language and they don't care.
Yeah. It was a crazy experience. But
in those, in those, in that, in that what Warehouse slash showroom slash auditorium you used to present in
Yeah, yeah. In the
middle of nowhere, in Hertz Rock.
Middle of nowhere.
Nowhere,
nowhere.
Yeah.
Uh, the first time I ever went on stage, uh, Tammy had just presented something, probably the marketing for kids.
And she, we had done a shot in the back of like, tequila just coming off. I was nervous. She said something where I laughed so hard walking upstairs to go onto the stage that I was like, I'll be fine. Like she, she saved that presentation for me. 'cause I just relaxed in a second
T Rock. The good old Tammy.
Tammy,
right?
Yeah. Those were the days, man. Yeah, those were the days.
So, so to summarize for people, you, you were at Nike, then you had the Bauma, then you. You were at Puma Boston where we started working together and then you've moved to Germany where I was at the time, but to work for Adi. Yeah. And then from Adi, you went on to work, uh, you moved to London and you've been mm-hmm.
In London ever since.
Yeah. So I went from Nike. I went from Nike, I worked for those guys for a while. Then I left Nike and I went to go work for Cliff Bar. And when Cliff Bar was starting off their Luna Bar stuff, which is our women's specific bar, and started helping them do like the Luna Chick teams and stuff like that in the south.
And then, um, did that for a bit and I started my own company, uh, doing kind of marketing and sales for a lot of brands like Dolphin Swim and Castrel Bikes and all these different kind of like sportswear brands. And I picked up Pearl LaMi and then I. I built this business and then I killed the business, uh, where I, I built a business, um, selling to accounts in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
And then, um, you know, some of the companies would be like, Hey, you got Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma? Can you pick up New Mexico? And I was like, yeah, sure, I'll take New Mexico. And then they go, can you pick up Colorado? Can you pick up Utah? Can you pick up Wyoming? And so I was doing all this area, uh, and more accounts, but the business wasn't growing exponentially in relation to the geographics and the costs.
And so I kept taking things on and then finally woke up one day and went, wow, I'm, you know, I'm really upside down in this thing. Mm-hmm. And then, um, one of my, one of my brands was Per LaMi and Per LaMi, Tom Adams is an old Nike guy, and he was working at Per Zumi and basically said. Hey, we're looking for somebody who has a sports background, somebody who has some design background.
'cause I did. And then somebody who has a little bit of biomechanics 'cause of what I did at ut, uh, to come in and start our footwear division 'cause we wanna start doing cycling shoes and running shoes and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. And they'd already started doing cycling shoes, um, with some really like, really cool people that I'm still friends with today.
They said, can you come in and do the running stuff for us? And so I started doing the running stuff and went from. Snow shoes to actually making shoes to working designs to actually producing them.
Mm-hmm.
To actually going, selling 'em in. So it wasn't just like Yeah. Product line management. It was like actually going to the accounts and sitting across from, you know, the head of Foot Locker and going, please buy these shoes.
You know, the, you know mm-hmm. Trying to get orders done. So we did, I did that and then I took a year off, couple years off and drove across the US for a little while. And then, um, yeah. And then Puma, I mean mm-hmm. Started off in Boston, um, in the running division with the, you know, uh, some of our old mates.
Mm-hmm.
Did that for a few years and then, uh, left to go work for Adidas and moved to Germany in our old home of her rock. You Yeah. You got there before me.
Mm-hmm.
Um, worked for those guys for, uh, three years, probably some of the best years ever. Just amazing. Place and great brand and stuff like that.
Then I moved to London, uh, 12 years ago. Uh, at first I started off working for Wolverine.
Mm-hmm.
Which is Saucony Ked Sperry,
my old life of Stride. Right. And Yep.
Stride, right? Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, started off with them doing Hush Puppies was called, was told was, was brought in, uh, with the notion of re bringing Hush puppies back to life, you know, an old classic American comfort brand and, uh, and did that with them and then took on kids and took on Sperry and took on pro kids for those guys.
And then, um, did that for a few years. And then, um, yeah, I got, I got, um, met a guy from Samsung at a thing. Um, again, serendipitous and just kind of having chats with somebody and. Stuck up, struck up a conversation with him, chat with him about some stuff, and he was like, uh, you ever thought of getting into tech?
And I was like, oh, bro. Like, I seriously, like, I, I don't even, I barely know how to turn on the tv. Like, I'm not your guy for that. Like, I, this would not be me. And he was like, no, you know, we need somebody who doesn't have that background. We need somebody who is completely, you know, that will look at it from
a real customer, a different
perspective, you know?
Mm-hmm. From a customer's perspective and will look at it a completely different way. And, you know, think about it. And it was like a long kind of back and forth where it would be like, yeah, maybe. And then I'd go, nah. You know, like I'm a, I'm a sports guy, I'm a sneaker guy. Mm-hmm. Like, and then finally I met, um, the guy who was their CMO, who was just a brilliant man.
Just an awesome, awesome guy. Uh, and then I met the, the CMO woman in, in Samsung, Korea.
Mm-hmm. Met
both of them and were like, okay, like these people are legit. These, these people are for real. And moved over to them and worked for them for three years. And yeah, learned had learned an enormous amount. And, and we, we used to think that our lives were fast paced in sports and shoes.
Like, it's nothing like technology. It's just, it's next level, man. It's absolutely next level.
Yeah. You're, we were already getting bored with our own products and they'd come to market 'cause we were already onto the next thing. And I think about how fast technology's going. Like what you, what do you have like two weeks from when the idea comes out to when you wanna sell it before you're over it and the customer's over it.
Like it's, it gives me anxiety to think about that speed.
But you're even like, even in, even in our world shoes and stuff like that, like. You know, you're, you're pitching a collection for, you know, 12 months, 16 months in advance, and you don't see it come out, but you're still pitching that. 'cause there's the sell in and there's the this mm-hmm.
And there's the that and the this and that. We're in technology like a month before the phone's supposed to be, you know, a guy's supposed to stand on stage in, you know, the, the Brooklyn Nets arena to talk about the phone. They're still deciding whether or not it's gonna have an ADE screen or how big it's gonna be, or what the processor's gonna be like.
They're, they're still figuring that kind of stuff out. And from a marketer or from a creative perspective, you are. At the ready going, okay, it could be this big, or it could be that big, or it could, mm-hmm. The colors could be these colors, or it could be those colors, or it could be, you know, this much processor, that much processor and it's just, they're just moving at such a pace and mm-hmm.
It's, it's quite, I mean, it's really cool, but it is, it's massively stressful for a lot of different people because mm-hmm. Everyone just kind of like, you know, they're making, you're making multimillion dollar decisions based on what you think it's gonna be, and then it might be something different. And then there's the whole, the other thing, which was kind of similar to what we did before, but I think quite different is just the secrecy factor.
Like, if a phone gets leaked before it gets launched, like it's a major issue mm-hmm. Because all the Chinese competitors can knock it off in a month or a week or two weeks. Mm-hmm. So you can't, you can't say anything. You can't talk about anything until that moment. So it's all. Cloak and dagger until the weeks before the whole thing happens, and then you've gotta launch it.
So there was just, it was quite a learning curve mean It was, it was, it was fun and it was, it was mad, but it was definitely very different from where I was before, where we've been before actually. Mm-hmm. Very different. But yeah. Mm-hmm. That's, that's, that's me. That's where I've been, that's what I've been doing, man.
It's so, you know, you've been in London for 12 years now, which is, I've been in California for 11 now. Um, how has it been being in London during a pandemic when London is not where you're from?
Um, I think the thing about this whole pandemic thing for me is, um, it's really interesting because I have, I have, I have.
Friends that are, you know, in the entertainment industry or own restaurants
mm-hmm.
Or things like that where you see the actual impact that
Yeah. The
lockdown has had like face to face. You see like how devastating that is for mm-hmm. People's, their financial livelihood, but also just their wellbeing and, you know, the interactions that they have with, with people.
For me, because I'm used to kind of doing work on my own or because I've, you know, either, you know, worked in, in kind of autonomous ways, kind of entrepreneurial ways before or on an airplane
and a hotel room and
Yeah. Backstage or, you know, you know, it, the, the, the freedoms of our, kind of our lives and the, and the industries that we've worked with, you know, we've never been kind of.
Punch a clock at 8:00 AM Mm. And leave at six o'clock. You know, we're, you know, we're traditionally always on. Mm-hmm. Know we're, we're working all the time. You know, even, you know, in the shoe industry, you're walking down the street and you're, you know, you're checking people's sneakers out. Like you can't not look at people's sneakers or in the phone industry, I go into a pub and I look at how many people are pulling out iPhones versus Samsungs versus Huawei, you know?
Mm-hmm. You're always on that. And I think, so for me, in that instance, it's been, it hasn't been that different for me because mm-hmm. I am used to working in that way.
Yeah.
And used to working with people, living in Herzo and working with people in Portland or working with people. So this whole kind of Zoom thing is not that different for me as well.
Yeah. Same. Mm-hmm.
So it hasn't really, from a, from a working perspective, I don't think it's really. Impacted me that much. Now, from a personal perspective, not being able to get home has been devastating. Like yeah, you know, my, my, you know, my family's still in Texas and, uh, you know, I haven't seen them coming up a year, almost a year and a half now.
That part of it has been really, really challenging. Yeah. And also kind of the different perspectives on, you know, the perception of a lockdown in London versus the perception of a lockdown in, let's say spring, Texas.
Mm-hmm. Very
different. So that's been a bit of a challenge. But, you know, the, I, I think the, the main thing about it is it's just, I think it's, it's kind of what I see a lot of what's happening in London is, I think it's, uh, it's forcing London.
To slow down a bit, which
yep,
some people think is a bad thing, but I actually think it might wind up being a bit of a good thing, um, for the world. But it, I really, it hasn't been that it, I'm, I'm remiss in saying that it hasn't been that bad for me. 'cause I know it's devastated many people's lives. But for me personally, I can't say that it's been a horrible experience for me.
Yeah, no, same. I mean, the biggest thing I realized is how antisocial I had been and didn't realize it because like, lockdown happened and I was like, whatever my day, I still, I work from home. I live at home. Like, just keep going. Um, so I have, it's being like a 50 50 introvert extrovert. Yeah. It took me a long time before I was like, okay, I'm done.
Like, get me outta here. Plus I'm on Zoom calls all the time, like I still had interaction. Um. Yeah, the first part, I think that's an,
I think that's an interesting thing because I think that's where I've seen it with the different types of friends that I have. So having friends that are in entertainment, you know, dancers, actors, people like that, um, the, the, um, having the personal interaction taken away from them has been devastating for these guys.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's not just the, it's not just the career that's been impacting, but that kind of like feedback that they traditionally get between the, between, you know, audience member and performer or this and that. Mm-hmm. Like, I've seen that quite, you know, yeah. Very much in my face a lot because of the friends that I have.
Mm-hmm. Then
there's the, you know, the, the, the kind of the, the engineers and the scientist guys that I know that are just like. What life's changed, you know? Like this is, you know, you know, like, yes. What's, it's, what do you mean? You know, nothing's like mm-hmm. This is, I put my head down, I do this, I do that, I do this.
Mm-hmm. And that's my thing. And then there's kind of like what you're saying, the people in the middle that like, I get up some days and I kind of go, okay, this is what we're doing. Mm-hmm. I'm fine with it. Head down. And then you raise your head up and you go, oh wait. You know, like,
yeah,
I kind of want to go do some of these things, these human interaction things, and they're just not there.
Yeah. The hardest thing for me has been that my, my dad retired and they were in Louisville, Kentucky for a couple years for his last job. They sold their house. They're, um, at the time just moved in with my brother and sister who happened to be in Burbank. And so they're an hour away from me. We haven't lived in the same state or the same country for like over.
Oh my gosh, like so many years now. And it must be 20, I keep saying 10, but I think it's actually 20. 'cause I have to remember to add on, uh, Germany stuff. But I was so excited to like, think that they'd be out here and we can like, go for lunch or go hikes together or just do things and I can't, I can't see 'em.
So it's like, it's almost no different if how you are with your family, where it's like, you know, mine are down the street and I, I can't see 'em. They have some, you know, underlying conditions, so it's risky. And then for Christmas Eve, Jesse and I got COVID, which was awesome. So like, we're, we're just kind of coming outta that now, but it's like, um.
I'm, I agree with you in that I'm excited about how this experience has caused us to re-look at everything and really decide what we need or don't need to function as businesses and, and companies and ourselves, and like having it just like chill out a little bit. Like I think about all the people who commute in LA and London like to be on the train for two hours a day each way.
Think about how those lives have changed because they didn't have to do that.
But I'm, I've been doing some work with some different companies, some big corporations and some small stuff. And the bigger corporations are the ones that are the most like, oh wait a second. You mean we can work this way and, you know, yeah.
The smaller places I've worked with are, you know, they're kind of like going, yeah, of course you can work this way, because that's, you know. Mm-hmm. That's, they, they almost have to work that way because of, you know, investment and capital and stuff like that, where these big corporations haven't been forced to think about that.
I think that's, to me, that's been really interesting is listening to some of these corporations, people being quite shocked at the fact that
mm-hmm.
You know, that, that they can work in this manner and that the wheels of commerce haven't slowed down for them. Now, for the smaller people and you know, the restaurants, I understand it's really impacted them, but these bigger corporations realizing that, you know, this mythological 40 hour work week hasn't existed.
For most people, for no 25, 30 years, like it, it hasn't existed. It's, it's, it's, it's ridiculous. Mm-hmm. And, you know, you've got companies like Patagonia and CL Bar and stuff like that, that have kind of these, you know, kind of open-ended ways of working, get your work done. But if you want to go surf, you want to go do this.
Mm-hmm. You know, the, the joy of the, of the, the employee being greater than kind of this mandated kind of mythological thing. Yeah. They're realizing this and they're kind of seeing like, okay, this is a, this is a possibility. Mm-hmm. What I'm most curious about is when, you know, hopefully everything starts to mellow out.
Are these companies going to maintain that mentality mm-hmm. Or are they going to fall back on, you know, a bad, not bad habits, previous habits of Okay. Archaic
habits. Mm-hmm.
You've gotta do this, you've gotta do that. I, I work with, uh, a couple of young guys. Uh, on a, on a project right now, and one of the guys the other day was telling me about, um, a contract that he had, uh, with one company where if he decided he didn't wanna work with it anymore, he just didn't show up, that was it.
You know, he, he didn't, he, he, you know, he in person and say, Hey, listen, it's not working for me. I'm out. There wasn't a, you know, a two week notice period or a month notice period. It was just like, I'm stopping working, so you should stop paying me. And the guy was, that was it. And I, and I, he, he was telling me about this and my old kind of, you know, old man way of thinking thing went Well, that sounds a bit, and then I started thinking about it and I was like, but.
That kind of makes sense. Like if you're just done, you're, you're, you're, you're done. You know? And I get that there's a gap between people coming in and people coming out, but he, he was just like, yeah, that's just kind of the way. Mm-hmm. A lot of the contracts I have right now that I'm working on are, you know, it's just zero hour.
That's it. It, I'm done. And I was like, wow, this is really interesting. And then in listening to the way he's, these guys are talking about all these different things, I'm just going, I'm hoping that some of this changes are making people think about the way they approach this and the way that we work and the way that we think that work is, or what its value is, or all these other kinds of things.
So it, I mean, that's been the most, I dunno, fascinating thing to me or interesting to me about it as well as social media because I'm, I have, I haven't quite formalized it yet in my head, but we have this kind of like social media thing where we were living apart from each other through social media.
And then when we were forced to live apart from each other, we were upset that we now are living apart from each other.
Yeah. And
I, I kind of want to go, but that's, there's something about social media in there that's gotta work out. Like it's mm-hmm. Hopefully it's gonna make people want to be face to face more.
Yeah.
Like I, some of the guys I work with, one of my biggest frustrations with them is this email thing where like, there's 50 emails that comes off of one question. I keep turning the guys and going, dude, just pick up the phone and call 'em.
Right. Call 'em. Just call first and then Slack second. Do not write the email.
And the faces on some of these dudes are like. What do you mean call it? I'm like, mate, just call 'em. Yeah. It's like, can I WhatsApp? I'm like, no, no, no, because you're gonna, and then they, and I'm in the group. Mm-hmm. And then I'm gonna get 10 messages about, Hey, thanks for sending me, thank. Hey, thank you. No, thank you.
Yeah, thank you. No thank you. Just call and go. Hey, thanks man. We we're, we've done this X, Y, and Z. Right? But anyways, that's, I have, have a whole
thing for my own companies, but also within the group coaching I do about how do we just like never use email. And they're like, what? I'm like, I, no, I like, email takes up time.
I have to either delete it or answer it. 90% of my emails I just delete. 'cause no one needs an answer. Like I'm, I'm over CYA stuff. Unless it's super critical. Yeah. But like,
no, it's like, yeah, my mm. My favorite one is the thanks. Email reply. Mm. That's especially reply
all. Thanks. Thanks.
Yeah. Anyways, it's all like an old man right now, but anyways.
Yeah,
no, I used, I had a sign on my last office that said, don't be an asshole. And it was very similar of like, why are you coming to ask me? Because you don't wanna go like Google it yourself or you don't wanna go find it in the directory or ask your neighbor like, I do not need to answer your question.
Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I'm hoping it does something for us. I don't know what it'll do, but I hope it does something
well, I think there's so many, we already had the transition, right? Of a lot of people going like, um, independent or contractor or freelance kind of happening. Um, so there was already that momentum, but to me it's like, I don't understand why more conservatives in the US aren't for a public healthcare system because it actually allows more people to be independent and not do work they don't wanna do.
Mm-hmm. Like the biggest reason people are nervous to be an entrepreneur in the US is like, how do I make sure I have health insurance,
but also how am I gonna pay for my student loan?
Yes. Yes. And so even just like at, at least in California, like I can buy, um, relatively affordable health insurance. It's still more expensive than it probably should be.
Um, but it's like, why, why are we making that, why someone stays trapped in a job they don't like, that's not good for anybody.
Yeah. Uh, those, those, those kind of old traditions are, I mean, I think that, um, speaking to a friend of mine the other day, he's got two young girls, uh, she was talking about a few different things that are happening in the world.
And I keep saying this. I, I keep saying to people of that have children and people that are, are of certain ages, I just think those guys are gonna save us all because they're gonna bring a different perspective than my generation, our generation has. And they, they're looking at things and they're. You know, I, I think that question of why mm-hmm.
Has been lost for a long time. Like just, it's not, I'm saying it's good or it's bad, I just wanna understand why, why it's this way. Why, yes. Just please explain to me the why. And if we can uncork the why and the why becomes a reason to believe, then mm-hmm. Let's go that pathway. But if you don't ask the why first.
Mm-hmm.
And I think there's, you know, people call 'em a snowflake or call 'em whatever you wanna call 'em, but these guys that are asking the question of why
Yeah.
Are the ones that are really kind of pushing the boundaries and hopefully are gonna be the ones that kind of, again, I think save us on multiple levels, environmentally, politically, you know, socially, all these other kinds of things to continue to ask that question.
Why. And, and a lot of those, you know, a lot of those questions are stemming from, I think what is hopefully coming out of this, uh. Fourth turning that we're in right now where people are. You know, uh, things are degrading so poorly Yeah. That the, the winter must, the spring must follow somehow. And, and, and the way the spring follows is people kind of asking that question of why Yeah.
Quite consistently.
I agree. It's also why I am pro, like skipping, I don't care if 18 year olds vote, but I think we should just probably let only people between ages five and eight vote, because they probably would do a better job at choosing for all of us. Right. They're, they're gonna ask why, and then they're gonna be like, I don't know.
Is this fun? Is this good for people?
Is this fun? This isn't fun? Would probably be a lot of what people are saying. Right? Yeah. Right.
Um, well, so I, I'm a big believer in asking why a lot, like the clarity workshop I do is asking people why about everything. Like, why do you live in that apartment? Why do you have these things?
Like almost having an existential why to kind of break through some things. Mm-hmm. How much do you ask yourself why in your life, and how has it kind of led to the different. Journeys that you've had so far?
Yeah, I mean, for me, I, I'm a bit, um, uh, reminiscent about why, because I think I, I, especially right now, I wish I would've asked why a lot more.
Mm-hmm.
Um, uh, more often, not of others so much, but of myself. Yeah. Um, uh, probably, you know, 15, 20, 30 years ago, I wish I would've, I wish I would've question, made that question come to life a lot more than it, than it has, and I think over, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why, but I think over the past, like five or six years, that question of why has become, you know, super, super important to me.
Um, they, I don't know if you've, there's a book called The Hundred Year Life. I don't know if you've read it yet. You have No, it sounds
awesome.
It's a, it's an incredible book, but I mean, uh, uh, for anyone listening and for you, I won't ruin it, but essentially the, the premises is, you know, we're getting older in our life.
Expectancy is growing and growing and growing. And when our life expectancy was something in the fifth, you know, 50 year to 60 year range, um, things were quite linear, you know? Mm-hmm. You went from manager to this, to that, to this, to that. You got this car, then you got the bigger car and da, da, da, da, da.
As, as our life expectancy grows, um, things have less of an opportunity to be, to be linear.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you, you know, you, you, and, and the question of why, why would I have to go from being a marketing director
Yeah.
Uh, at X company to being, uh, a vp, to being a CMO. Why can't I be a marketing director at X company?
And then. Find my passion in, I don't know, sustainability.
Mm-hmm.
And go become a, a, potentially a lower level than I was before and find that and build that. And then I become more multiplicity. Yeah. I become more intelligent. Mm-hmm. I become a, a more rounded person. I, you know, bigger contributor, interact better.
Mm-hmm. Bigger contributor, you know, all these different kinds of things. And my old C-M-C-M-O at Samsung, before he left, he, he gave a few of us that book
mm-hmm. As a
recommendation. 'cause he was the CMO of Samsung and didn't tell us, he did, he told us he was leaving, but didn't tell us where he was going.
And of course everybody in the building's going, okay, you know, he is CMO of Samsung, he's gonna become CMO of Coca-Cola now. Right. Or he is gonna become CMO of, you know, what have you. And he became. The general manager of a third tier football club on the, on Awesome. The east, east coast of, of the uk because it was near his hometown and because he loves football and, you know, and everybody, not everybody, a lot of people were like quite shocked by that.
And I was like, fuck yeah, dude. Like that's Yeah, me
too. I'm like, that sounds awesome.
I'm like, that is awesome. And yes, he's probably built up enough of a substantial financial backing to be able to do that. Mm-hmm. But then there's other people I know that, you know, um, are doing the same things. And I think that for me is this question of why.
Mm-hmm. Why does the path have to be linear?
Yep.
And why, why, why do, um, things have to be done a certain way? Like even like, I've been ill for a few years now and. You know, meeting some new and different people that think in medicine in a different way. And, and they're not alternative medicine, they're not holistic medicine.
They just have different mindsets and
mm-hmm.
You know, people like Rich Roll or, you know, the McGonigal or any of these different people have kind of these different mindsets of just kind of challenging things of like, why is it that way? And I've really, over the past five years, I've found myself going deeper into that Why?
Mm-hmm. And sometimes I go into the deep why, and I come out and I go, okay, that didn't answer the why. So I'm gonna keep exploring for a different thing. And then sometimes I come out of the deep why and I go, okay, that's why. And that gives me a new perspective. I may not mm-hmm. Buy into that new perspective, but I feel like I have a better pers a better understanding of, of, of something.
And I think that's, mm-hmm. That, that question of why has become so much greater for me. And I, and I also think, and going back the, you know, the previous thing I wish I would've asked myself questions about. Why things are a certain way or ultimately why I reacted to things in a certain way, or why I did things in a certain way.
Mm-hmm. Because I think I, that's where, um, I probably could have had more understanding of decisions made or choices or things like that. And that's become a much bigger, much, much bigger component of my thinking recently.
Well, and it's, it's to me, the asking why is always allowing us to come back to like what we actually care about.
Like what matters to us and how to, how to just live a more intentional and curated life that's for us, custom design versus whatever we're supposed to do. Like I talk a lot in the powerful ladies, uh, group about just 'cause you should, like, you could or you should. So are you doing, are you living a life of shoulds or are you living a life of could?
It's like that guy was like, I could go be a general manager at my hometown for football, which I never thought might have happened. Or everyone's like saying I should go become president somewhere else now. 'cause I've been this, like, what's, what sounds more fun and what sounds more, what's exciting versus, and what expected
and what's also, um, I think the why question for me at least, and this is just is, is also the value systems.
Like what
mm-hmm.
What are the things that you value the most? And I, again, like thinking retrospectively, like I wish I would've kicked around my values a little bit more when I was in different opportunities or different places. Mm-hmm. Like, I wish I would've kicked around like, you know, like this, going back to the start of this, like the, the wa the swimming thing.
Like
Yep.
That being in water or being doing that or that, whatever that does for me, I've realized is much more important and impactful than I think I realized.
Mm-hmm.
And, and it's part of my value system and I wish I would've. Um, you know, thought about that more. 'cause I think, um, you know, our values potentially change throughout life, but there's a few core values that are probably gonna stick around for most of it.
Yep.
And not, and not, not really sitting down with myself and not, you know, not, you know, uh, hiking up the top of a mountain and spending a month or a year up there thinking about it, but just spending some time thinking about, mm-hmm. What are those values, I think potentially could have shaped decisions and pathways.
Not that I've had some bad pathways in my life or career. I'm quite fortunate and, um, even more so lucky than I would say fortunate, uh, who anybody who knows me well knows that, um, it, you know, it's, it's, it's, I wish I would've spent a little bit more time kicking around those values. Mm-hmm. Um, and then once you, I think once you have those kind of values kicked around, then when you start to question the why, it gives you something to go back to.
Yeah. On the whys where. Maybe for me, I haven't really kind of had the why's and the values line organized up and clear. Yeah. Organ. Yeah. Organized and clear and, you know, it's, um, you know, you know, le like leaving Adidas, you know, why did I leave Adidas? You know, it was, it was a brilliant job. It was an incredible place to work.
Uh, I was surrounded by insane creativity sport athletes. You know, herzo is a thing, but Herzo is a thing, you know? Yeah. Like, you know what Herzo is like, you get it. It's
like the crazy uncle in the corner. Herzo. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. You know, so, you know, like question those things I think would've been, uh, you know, that I keep, that's, that's been a big thing and I think.
This COVID thing has, um, intensifies, intensified mm-hmm. Or exacerbated that why questioning for, not just for me, but I think for a lot of different people, like specifically here in London, like
mm-hmm. The amount
of people that are getting out of London right now
Right.
That can, that are moving out of London, like moving from the city, um, is pretty spectacular.
Mm-hmm. Like I, I've got friends that, you know, have lived in London for 18, 20, 25 years that I'm, you know, on calls or on chats with going, yeah, we're actually thinking of moving outta London. And I'm like, wow. Like, that's insane. Like you're, yeah, you work in the theater district, why would you, you know?
Mm-hmm. The West End is right there for you. And they're like, I just, what is it providing, you know, what's mm-hmm. All these kinds of things. So I, I think it's a big, big thing that's happening for a lot of people.
Yeah. Like I obviously, I think the word pivot was like the word for 2020, but. My coaching was like, okay, we're pausing.
We have to prioritize, we have to prune, and then we can pivot. And so I think people are being forced into that pause, prioritize, and prune element of looking at life. Because when you're stuck in the same four walls for days on end, like you go through that whole phase of like, I hate everything I own. I hate our house.
Like, you're like, I don't want any of this stuff. Like get rid of it. So just that alone, and those are things, that's not even the, the bigger picture stuff. Um, but I, I think it's really interesting. You know, one of the things that I've always really admired about you is that from the outside looking at your path, it seems like you've been really intentional about what you've curated.
Like who's in your life, what you're working on, you know, what's on your bookshelf like you've made. I think you're good at making vignettes right, of like your life and, and making them intentionally. Do you feel like you're curating your path and or is that just a happy accident?
I'm definitely curating my path.
Yeah. I definitely am. I mean, I, I, I, um, I don't, I don't, I mean, I think events in my life have been happy accidents and, but you know, my, my dad used to say that, you know, you know, fortune is the, is the perfect intersection of luck and hard work. Um, and, um, I've definitely put in a lot of, even in sport and in work, I've put in a lot.
I mean, you know, those days at Puma, those, this is, there's some graft in that, in that place. And those places, those days at, at Adi, there's some graft, but the reason why you get to graft it, ADI and Puma and Nike is 'cause they know you'll graft.
Mm-hmm. That,
that's, that's, that's why you get there. It's not, it's, it's kind of chicken and egg who became first, whatever.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and, and I've been lucky in my career, but I don't think it's been, I've just kind of stumbled into things. It's because, you know, I, I worked really hard for Paul. At that running shoe store. Mm-hmm. And because I worked really hard for him, he allowed for me to go do things with him, which allowed for me to meet a guy at Nike, which allowed for me to
mm-hmm.
You know, get that career started at Nike. Um,
and the whole whole thing starts to open up
and the whole whole thing starts to, to go and the whole thing starts to, to move. I think the curation part of it for me has always been, um, I haven't, as I said, I don't think I've ever sat down and kind of kicked around what my values are
mm-hmm.
Uh,
until recently. But I know what, I know what the things are that, that, that push my buttons, you know, I know the things that flip my switch. I, I know the things that I love and when I love something, I, I mean, I love it. I mean, simple things. Mickey Mouse, I mean, I love Mickey Mouse. He,
mm-hmm.
I want, wanted to work for him.
So I went to work for him when I graduated high school. He. Mysteriously walk me across the stage. I've got Mickey Mouse tattoos. Like I, when I love something or stickers, I'm into it. Yeah, yeah. Stickers. Yeah. More stickers. Um, you know, swimming, sport, you know, all those kinds of things. So I've curated those things because those are central mm-hmm.
To who I am. And then also just, you know, the quest for my dad was an educator. Um, you know, and so that quest for knowledge has always been part of it. So I've curated that kind of
mm-hmm.
Consistent quest for learning things. Um, and even my career working at Adidas until recently, my career has always been having a job that got me to go.
To Vietnam or to Taiwan. Mm-hmm. They don't sound like sexy, fun places, but the experiences and the things,
they haven't gone with us. No. That's why typically
the experiences, I mean, those were some of the coolest things ever. Mm-hmm. And, and you know, my, my friends that are in entertainment, um, you know, I, I talked to 'em about, you know, you stood on stage, uh, you know, doing the Spice Girls tour and there's 50,000 people in front of you and that experience that you have.
Mm-hmm.
And not that it's the same, but for me, some of the experiences where they have we're, we're kinda like my Spice Girls, you know, moment being on stage with the Spice Girls, like doing those kinds of things, standing in front of all those people, giving those presentations for the Olympics, or being at the Olympics, being at the Olympics or things like that.
So
how about being at the Olympics with athletes winning with shit you made?
Hey, I mean, I, uh, I, again, going through some things I'm going through right now, I've been writing down like key like moments in my life and things that are super, like pivotal moments. But like being in Beijing Stadium in 2008, uh, six rows up from the track, uh, on one side I've got Tommy Smith, 1968, uh, Mexico Gold Medal winner famous for the black glove.
On the other side I've got Dick Fosbury, you know, inventor of the fosbury flop first man to go over backwards and the high jump and on the track is Usay Bolt wearing the gold shoe that Dave Dumb bro. Um, just, um, Justin Howe and I worked on for, for, for months and months and months. Mm-hmm. And then having the PR lady on the other side and me calling her on the phone going.
I've got Tommy Smith sat beside me, and he just, and he won the a hundred meters, 40 years ago to the day
mm-hmm.
To the guy that we've got, get him over here now. Let's get that picture, let's get that picture. And I've got that picture on my desk. You know, those, I think there's luck involved in that.
There's hard work in that. But you, I'm, again, you're curating things Yeah. To get to that point, to, to, to kind of drive those moments where it's like
the moments that you were meant to be there for.
Yeah. I'm, I'm lucky that I'm enjoying it, but don't get me wrong. I mean, we all, I mean, all of us that can go through, people at Nike, Puma, ADI, Puma, ADI, all those companies, you know, those, those, those people work, they graft, they work their asses off.
You don't get those jobs if you're not gonna work, bust your butt.
No. But yeah,
I would, yeah, I would say curation is, um. Curation is definitely a, uh, yeah, but I think curation is thinking about things. I don't think it's just mm-hmm. You know, I think curation is, is is there is some, um, cerebral process that goes into that to get, you know mm-hmm.
To make things that way. I think it's, um, maybe it's more, maybe I'm more obvious with it than others, but I do think it's, uh, yeah, it's definitely a part of me, I would say for sure.
Well, and I think it's a little bit of like PL Ming, your own life, you know, like there's, you get put into this track of like, okay, research what's happening, what's the problem?
How do we solve it? What are other people doing? Um, like, okay, what could be cool for us to do? How do we do it differently? And then you put together the plan and you execute on it, and then you like keep doing that process over and over again. You know, like just the. I taught people how to make a line plan a few months ago, as in as we did a whole month on product creation stuff.
You would've thought, I gave people the Bible because people who haven't been trained in product creation and are running businesses, like, they're like, oh my God. Like if I track my margins, I can do this, this, this. And I'm like, yes. How are you not doing this already? And there's so many people who don't have that like PLM built-in system, which I never realized would be so powerful to how I live life.
But it, it really has, like, it's, it sounds so crazy, but it is that process of the discovery and research and implementation and how's, here's the plan, let's evaluate. Okay, what's next? You know, we did that, uh, for 2000 SKUs, four times a year for, yeah.
You know, the thing about the PLM thing I find super interesting, i, I chatting with somebody about this a few months ago, was that we were talking about different things that you learned at different stages of your career or different kind of, like, what would be the thing that you would take away from, you know, working at Samsung or PU or, and stuff like that.
And, you know, yes. Each of those places, at least for me, has a certain culture about it. So I could talk days about culture and stuff like that.
Mm-hmm.
But I was trying to relate it back to the actual position, just similar to what you were just saying, is. And, um, I just did something for another friend of mine, um, talking to them about this idea of like an archeological dig.
Mm-hmm.
And, and I really think that comes from that, kind of that product line management world where you dug Yeah. I mean, you really win in, like you, you know, not just from a business structuring standpoint, but also the types of products that you would go for, what the trends were or what the, you know, when we were doing originals or we were doing shoes at, you know, the, the, the archival shoes at Puma, the backstories of mm-hmm.
Why we would do a Clyde, or why we would do a Stan Smith, or why we, and digging into those kind of stories. And I, and ever since, in all the positions I've had since then. Uh, people are quite shocked at the fact that I spend so much time doing, quote unquote, my friend called an archeological dig, where you're just like going in and you're just dusting for the littlest detail or for that nugget, and you're trying to find, find it.
That's what matters. That little nugget changes everything.
Yeah. And I mean, and I think that was quite interesting for me of like going from that world into other companies or other businesses. Mm-hmm. Or when, when people, when you talk to 'em about it, it was like, you know, how did you come to this? And, and, and I was like, well, I just, you know, I, I dug for it, you know?
I, I mm-hmm. I went for it. I, I, I dug, I got in and I, I found this, and this is interesting, and, and this led me to this and this led me to this. And
now we've got 10, yeah. 10 things we roll out. My hunts killer map I just made for this one product.
We've got 10 different things to look at. Let's pick two or one or three, and let's.
Magnify, intensify, not magnify, intensify that. Mm-hmm. And I think that was, that, was that kind of like archeological dig thing. I think for me, when I was doing product line management was like mm-hmm.
One of
the major things that I pulled from, I, speaking to, I speaking to somebody the other day that was say, talking about my cv, about this kind of, its creative director at Samsung, to this, to that, to this, to that, to this, to that.
And that's what I was saying is, you know, the funny thing is, is I've taken, yep. Yes. Everyone latches onto, oh my God, you worked at Nike or oh my god, you worked at, at Puma or Adidas.
Right.
Which is great because they're amazing brands, but it's not so much the brand, it's the things that you learn at those places.
Yes. That, that are ridiculous. They're just like, you know, and you bring that to a, you take that to another company and people are like. Wow. You know? Where did you, I'm like, so this is normal over there. Nothing. This is a Monday
be before 9:00 AM What? What, what? Yeah. This,
this is nothing, man.
Yeah. That's the, that was my biggest, um, I felt like going up when I left Puma, I was shocked at how unfunctional and unstructured every other business was.
I'm like, okay, they're making hundreds of millions of dollars and they're not doing any of the basics that I wouldn't have been allowed to pitch something for if I didn't have. And so I think that's why I ended up getting moved into more and more like product operation stuff. 'cause they're like, oh, you know how to make all this stuff happen, like, teach us.
And I'd be like, ah, I don't wanna teach you. I'd rather just do it. But it's also what opened up like a lot of my, um, consulting work I'm doing now because. So many people who have a business have never had any corporate like experience, they've never had an MBA, they've never done entrepreneurship school, and they've never worked at a place that changes the market and is the true leader or innovator in their space in any capacity.
And I think all those brands you mentioned, they're leading not just in the products they're creating, but also in the marketing and the sales approach and the boring stuff behind the scenes, and also how they develop people. So, um, I, I was shocked that, that more of the world wasn't operating in those systems when I left.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's, I think it's, um, because there's such a proliferation of, of companies and brands coming up
mm-hmm.
Um, and the people that are creating those brands have a certain, a certain amount of expertise or a certain amount of PO passion mm-hmm. In that space. That there is, you know, I'm working on a couple things on my own right now where there's like talking to a guy that working with some stuff on, I was saying to him, you know, the first year and two years I'm not worried about mm-hmm.
It's year three, four, and five that I'm worried about. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, getting it going and getting it up and starting to do this and starting to get, you know, that kind of stuff is we can do that and we can make this happen. It's what do we do once we get it up and how do we sustain it? Yep.
Because getting it up and getting it going is, you know, there's multiple examples from my previous lives as well of seeing something that goes like this and then goes like that quite quickly.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
And, and I think that the skillset of maintaining those things, um. Is what you get from some of those companies that, that, you know, it's how do you, how do you, your, your second album is harder than your first album, you know?
And that, that's to me is the main thing. Like the sophomore album is a bitch, so we gotta invest some time in this and figure that thing out because that's where it's gonna take us to the next level.
That's why you really gotta know your why Exactly. If you don't remember why you're doing it, you are already screwed.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, so as we're wrapping up today, I would love to know, like, when you think about being powerful, what is, what is the word powerful mean to you? Like, how do you see yourself as powerful and, and does it matter?
Yeah, I mean, I think power for me, um, you know, again, it kind of goes back to this conversation of, of, um.
Being empowered by your values, like mm-hmm. What are the things that are important to you that are core to you? Um, and imparting those upon family, friends, the earth, the world, and stuff like that. I think that's where power comes from and what, what it means to be powerful is understanding, you know, where, um, your values are, what you want to do, and how you can take those into the world.
And, um, you know, uh. Listen a lot to my friend Matthew McConaughey about selfish, self selfless, selfless and selfish.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know, sometimes by being selfish about figuring out what your values are, it allows for you to be selfless.
Mm-hmm.
And that really resonates to me, and I think that's quite powerful.
And I, I think, as I said before, I wish I would've spent more time thinking about that a long time ago. 'cause I think I would have, you know, a different pet of set of perspective. And I think that's, to me is what I'm, um, what I think is powerful in my life right now and who I am right now. And, and hopefully building on that kind of, uh, you know, building on your values and making them stronger and, and more meaningful.
Because I think once you do that, then it allows for me to potentially, um. Create that space around me that's better for not just myself, but for my partner and my friends and my family and
mm-hmm.
Potentially some stranger, I don't know yet. Yeah. So, yeah, that's, that's, that's kind of where my mind is. I'm, I'm being powerful.
That makes me really excited. 'cause what I hear is it's like, not Noah 2.0, it's like Noah squared, because we just get more Noah in more places and more people knowing about you, which I'm like, yes. Yes.
Yeah. I mean, I, I, um, I, uh, I, I think this, uh, Eva, I think, again, kind of going back to this notion of like, um, how people are taking these moments and these opportunities that are being presented to us, and, um, it's a horrible situation that we're in, don't get me wrong.
Yeah. And I really want it to not be this way, but also it's an opportunity for us to do something.
Mm-hmm.
It's an opportunity for us to look at. So many different things that need to be looked at. And it is not just political or financial and all these other kind of things, because I think those are the bigger sense of things.
It's more like the individual and the people that are around you. And if, if, if everybody, or just to take that kind of time to think about this, I think something great can become, you know, this idea of the fourth turning, you know, things changing
mm-hmm.
And coming something new. Uh, it's, it's, it feels like it's in front of us and we're all holding onto it.
I just hope we don't fucking drop it, you know, like, just, just hold onto it, look at it for a little while, caress a little bit, you know, smell it, taste it, spend some time with it, and then do something with it. And I just don't want people just to try and move on too quickly because something's telling us to pause.
Mm-hmm. Something's telling us to slow down. I believe it's Mother Nature because you can't beat that woman. She's amazing.
Nope.
So just pause and slow down and do something with it. And I think that, uh, this kind of evolution, you know, moving forward, whatever you want to call it, is where we are all right now.
Not just in work, but in life. Mm-hmm. And in love and everything else. So Great. Yeah. I'm hoping to, I'm hoping it works. I'm hoping we do something with it.
Well, when you're in doubt, just gimme a call 'cause I'm on that team with you.
As always, as always as you've always, you've always been on that team, man,
Uhhuh.
I know. I can't, I love the fact that I can't even like, think about you and not think of like being in downtown or being in the karaoke bar or like being, doing something ridiculous on a trip in downtown Asia. Like, I really don't know why. Downtown
man. Downtown man. Whoa. Is that place still open?
I think so.
It was, it was last time I was in Nuremberg. Um, I'm not sure if it's the, the hip spot that we made it when we, when we were all there. Um, man,
that that place was. That place was a joint. I'm telling you, the velvet, was it carpeted walls and the Oh yeah.
Cheetah print. Cheetah print, velvet walls, Chee print.
If I, you know, when I think about the type of bar that I would want at my house, it's kind of that bar like
hun. Hundred percent.
Yeah,
a hundred percent. Like if I was gonna make some kind of silly
Yeah.
Shed bar or basement bar or something like that, it would be. That. I mean, it would be carpeted walls. It would be lots of funky mirrors.
Mm-hmm. Or that bar that had the funky mirror bar. I mean, it was
the little baby stage. The poles.
Yeah. Yeah. I probably changed the bathroom. But other than that, I'd go, I'd go with the, uh, I'd go with the, uh, that look and feel definitely would be my, my, my home bar. If I made one. If I had that kind of money and that kind of space,
I would probably also have it be a little less humid.
It was always really humid in there. I, I'll never understand why
until, until it was like negative five outside and somebody would open that door and it would just freeze everybody out. 'cause you'd be sweating so much and you'd be like, okay, yes, somebody's opened the door.
Yeah.
Yeah. That was there. There was some, uh.
That's a crazy place, man. It's definitely a crazy place.
It was, it was a, a huge part of my adventure and I'm just excited that there's so many people from that time that are still, still on the team still. You know, we're not getting to as many adventures together, but I do feel like we're in this like, parallel corkscrews of like, what's happening next.
So for everyone who now loves you as much as I do, how can they follow you, support you? Where can they go to be on team Noah?
Uh, I mean, I'm, I'm, uh, LinkedIn is, you know, Noah, Bernard and on LinkedIn is an easy one. Uh, my Instagram is Noah versus underscore, no. Uh, Noah versus No is uh, uh, kind of a good indication of me trying to figure out how I push myself to, uh, question things and things like that.
Um, yeah. And. Yeah, that's probably the two best places to find me. I'm, I'm on Instagram a lot. Uh, and then if you follow me on Instagram, like it'll lead you to some other things I'm doing. I've got a, uh, a running team thing that I'm working on and a few other things that we will, hopefully we will get to see in the next few months.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being asked to, coming on the podcast. Um, the one thing I have to ask you, um, we ask everyone is where you put yourself on the powerful Lady scale, zero being average, everyday human, and 10 being the most powerful lady or gentleman possible. So where would you score yourself today and where do you think you would score yourself on average?
Uh, so today, on average, I'm gonna say I'm, I'm about a seven. Uh, today I'm probably about a six 'cause I haven't gotten to swim in yet and or I haven't gotten, get to swim in today 'cause the pools are closed. But, uh, give me about three or four months and I'll definitely be nine or 10.
I like it. Definitely
nine or 10.
Yeah, I'm going, I'm going for 10. I'm always aiming for 10.
Well, Noah, thank you so much. This means the world to me, and I can't wait to see you in real life sometime soon.
Thanks, Kara. I appreciate you having me on. This has been, uh, it's been a joy to be honest. I really, really love this. It's been awesome.
Thank you for listening to today's episode. All the links to connect with Noah are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com slash podcast. There you can also leave comments and ask questions about this episode. What more powerful ladies, come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies. You can also find some free downloads to start being powerful today.
Subscribe to this podcast and help us connect with more listeners by leaving us a five star rating. End of review. If you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com. I'd like to thank our producer, composer, and audio engineer Jordan Duffy. Without her, this wouldn't be possible. You can follow her on Instagram at Jordan K.
Duffy. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
