Skyler Stein Of Gladskin USA: “We need to create a system of preventive health care using safe science that addresses the root cause of issues”
…The existing healthcare system is reactive. I want to bring wellness, self care and preventive care to people using safe science that works at the root cause of health issues.
As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Skyler Stein.
Skyler Stein leads Gladskin USA, a biotechnology-driven skincare brand. Gladskin is a leader in global endolysin technology using science to improve inflammatory skin conditions by rebalancing the skin microbiome.
Throughout his career, Skyler has advised, invested in and developed businesses across technology-driven sectors. Before Gladskin, Skyler worked at Obvious Ventures, a venture capital firm dedicated to startups that combine profit and purpose; his focus was on companies commercializing microbiome science to improve human health. Previously, Skyler was a Principal at Bregal Investments, a global private equity firm where he was on the board of various high growth portfolio companies. Skyler has served as an Advisor to Clarity Genomics, which develops computational platforms to elucidate mechanisms of action for human — microbiome interactions.
Skyler holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Duke University.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I spent the first seven years of my career investing in clean energy, working in private equity and venture capital. I then pursued my MBA at Harvard Business School. Three weeks into my first semester, a Lyme diagnosis caused me to take a two-year medical leave. Along with following my doctor’s orders, I researched nutrition, supplements, exercise regimes, and other healing modalities.
My experience with Lyme disease, and my path to recovery, sparked my curiosity about what and how we consume affect the composition of the types of bacteria in our guts,(our microbiome) and in turn, how this composition in turn affects our health. On a weekly basis, I tracked the correlation of different diets, medicines, and supplements against changes to my microbiome for a year. This experience transformed my health, and changed the trajectory of my career path. I decided to say goodbye to clean energy finance and focus the next chapter of my career on health, with a special interest in the microbiome.
Once healed, I finished my MBA program at Harvard and joined Obvious Ventures, a Venture Capital firm that invested in “World Positive ‘’ companies. Focused on finding companies in the microbiome space, I met the European-based Gladskin team. Gladskin’s endolysin technology was an impressive application of the science, with real results supporting their approach. Their traction, science and purpose inspired me to join the team to bring the products and technology to the tens of millions of Americans with inflammatory skin conditions.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
My tipping point was when I followed my gut (literally) to pursue a path that aligned my health, personal interests, and professional ambitions, deciding to join Gladskin full-time. After my personal experience with the collateral damage of antibiotic treatment on my microbiome, I wanted to pursue a career in using microbiome technology to help people improve the quality of their lives.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
John Heffner, the CEO of DryBar, has been a mentor and inspiration to me for many years. Among many other lessons, he has instilled in me the most simple but powerful principles to live by: be positive, be nice, and presume positive intent.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
Gladskin is a new category of non-prescription eczema treatment that works differently than most OTC products. We like to say that Gladskin Eczema Cream is “smarter, not stronger” because it uses breakthrough endolysin science to relieve eczema.
Healthy skin needs a healthy balance of bacteria, just like your gut does. Scientists are just realizing that an imbalance in the good and bad bacteria that naturally live on your skin (a.ka. the microbiome) causes eczema flares in 4 out of 5 eczema-prone people.
Gladskin’s patented endolysin science was developed by Swiss researchers at ETH Zurich University. Endolysins are proteins present everywhere in nature, including on our skin. Endolysins can rebalance bacteria that are known to be at the root of most eczema flares, while at the same time, protecting the good bacteria that we now know are essential for healthy skin. Also, based on lab research we’ve conducted, we don’t see any bacterial resistance developing with the use of endolysins.
It’s a true game changer for people with eczema and Gladskin is a global technology leader spearheading this exciting new science. The Gladskin launch in January, represented the first time endolysin science became available to consumers in the United States.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
The Gladskin technology is specifically targeted, so it will only work if a specific type of bacteria is at the root of the problem. This is well suited for our product, because we know that one specific bacteria is at the root of 80% of eczema flares. However, if a different type of bacteria is at the root of the problem, then our product will not be as effective.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
I’m excited about the trend of product development becoming increasingly focused on working with the nature of skin, respecting the fact that our skin is an ecologically diverse environment.
As a society, we are feeling the consequences of the overuse of antibiotics over the past 50 years — like superbugs, record high gut health issues. In skincare, we have always been taught that we need to disinfect and scrub our skin clean all the time. We know now, like antibiotics, this can work in the short term, but can cause problems over the long term.
Beauty is often a window into what’s going on inside of us — from our mind to our microbiome. I’m excited that beauty and skincare can spark curiosity into deeper health and wellness pursuits.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
Safety — Right now, any company can create their own new cosmetic formulation, and with no testing, they can launch the product into the market. All new products are considered safe until proven dangerous. A level of safety testing should be required to protect consumers.
Efficacy — With all of the activity in the “natural” healthcare space, it is important to note that there is a difference between products that are ‘all-natural’ and products that are proven safe and effective. Consumers need to be properly educated on the difference.
Transparency — Consumers should have the right to understand the quality of the ingredients used in their products, and the quality of the manufacturing processes and facilities used.
You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)
To me, it’s all about feeling good, and that feeling is created by a healthy lifestyle. By focusing on health, you’re playing the long game, and the rest takes care of itself. The importance of being conscious of managing the following aspects of health is indisputable in research:
Diet
Sleep
Exercise
Mindfulness
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
The existing healthcare system is reactive. I want to bring wellness, self care and preventive care to people using safe science that works at the root cause of health issues.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My family has had a statistically impossible number of off-chance medical scares. These have enforced the idea of being modest in desire and appreciative of the moment. We’re all on this crazy journey together, let’s treat each other right and make the most of it.
…Add a short meditation into your daily routine. I have worked with so many brilliant experts in this field and there is proof that it positively affects your overall health, your mind and mood, your daily performance and so much more. I used to think meditation was such a woo-woo practice until I was shown the proof! There are new technology aids like the Muse that have helped a novice mediator like me gain confidence in the daily practice.
As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jill Gilbert of Wicked Awesome You and Beauty Tech Expert.
Jill Gilbert is a catalyzer of people, events, and ideas. Her experience ranges from speaker, publisher, and Silicon Valley entrepreneur to Hollywood producer to breakthrough industry conference curator. Over the last decade Jill has produced the wildly successful and touted Digital Health Summit at CES, as well as the booming Sleep Tech, Baby Tech and Beauty Tech Summits. Jill’s newest personal venture, Wicked Awesome You harnesses the power of information, technology and community to create breakthroughs in the personal health and wellness of women over 40. When she’s not mixing people and ideas, Jill enjoys a divine glass of wine, a loud USC Trojans football game and snuggles from her adorable son, Brody.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Thank you for inviting me to participate. My career path has been quite the eclectic one, to say the least. And I can safely say I had no foresight to aspire to do what I do now…somehow the path kept changing and I jumped on board for the ride.
I began an internship during my senior year of college at Walt Disney/Touchstone Pictures and then immediately after graduation I got my first ‘paying’ job in their Feature Film department working entry-level for an amazing producer, Mario Iscovich, who really set the foundation for my work ethic and for how I work with others―still to this day. Working for a film’s producer puts you right at the center of everything and also allows you to follow the making of a film from greenlight to being released in theaters. He said that our office always needed to be the “nerve center” and we had to be the ones that anyone involved with the film (cast, studio, director, crew, etc.) could turn to.
I learned such an important practice from him that I use almost daily. “You don’t have to know how to do everything; You just need to know how to ask the right questions.” That is the best advice I’ve ever received―because there is no way I’d ever be able to do everyone’s job, but it was critical we understand the parameters, needs, etc. This applied to every single job I had from there on out.
I worked with Mario for 7 years on such films as The Rocketeer, Sister Act, Mulholland Falls, and What’s Love Got to Do With It? And during that time, I had the good fortune to meet a very smart young actress while producing Sister Ave 2. Years later, I was asked to run her production company at Sony Pictures where we developed a number of projects and produced a beautiful little film in London.
The burnout set-in right after that and I realized I didn’t want to live in Los Angeles anymore. I was so consumed with my work that I didn’t really have a life of my own and that situation wasn’t going to change anytime soon. I ended up moving to San Francisco and founded a company called Gilbert Guide. You see, my father was an oncologist and he said so many of his patients couldn’t find resources on where they can turn for help in the home, in an assisted living facility, respite care. They were lost. And while senior care wasn’t my ‘thing,’ I scoured far and wide where they could turn to find what they needed. This soon turned into a family business―the first national online senior care directory with robust content that helped define how families get answers to the maze that is caregiving. My brother had joined the company and we were acquired six years later. The transition to the new company didn’t go as I had hoped, and I left feeling pretty defeated. But when one door closes, another opens. The day after I left, I received an invitation to help build and produce the Digital Health Summit at CES, and later to also produce Beauty Tech Summit. Little did I know, this was the job I had been preparing for all those years.
I loved this work. My role had a strong sales element which was quite new to me, but my favorite part was building new relationships and telling the stories that could hugely impact the healthcare industry. Ironically, no one in healthcare or health tech wanted to come to CES that first year so I had a major uphill battle. I used every skill I had ever learned to shape a great show, convene brilliant minds and pivotal companies, all while remaining a strong advocate for the stories we were telling. After finding my groove in building the first year’s Summit, we grew tremendously over the next decade while always striving to up our game.
During the past two years of producing the Summit, I let my own health needs fall by the wayside. I had a son, who is now 5, and I threw 100% of my energies into caring for him and my job. Then, to add fuel to the fire, all those unfortunate things that happen to us as we get older started to rear their ugly heads! You know, when our metabolism abandons ship and we are too “busy” to exert ourselves anymore. I became complacent and was no longer taking proper care of myself. It was just easier not to do the work and things fell into a death spiral. I knew I wasn’t alone.
So many companies, products and services target a younger demographic and I was tired of being lumped in and spoken to like I was still in my 20s and 30s. What was happening with my body during this stage of my life wasn’t happening to theirs. That led me on the long journey to building what today is Wicked Awesome You. WAY helps women over 40 who’ve done big things in their lives and given so much to so many, discover how to take back some of that healthy goodness for themselves and embark on these next amazing years with the strength, solutions, and kick-ass community they not only want but deserve.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Well, I have a ton of them―some hilarious stories, setbacks as well as big wins so it’s hard to pick. I’ll go with one that definitely taught me a big lesson. For most of my working life, I have supported others to shine in the spotlight. During my earlier working years I used to stay late — sometimes into the middle of the night to get all things done that were expected of me. I wanted them to be able to rely on me for anything and everything. While we were in pre-production for Sister Act, I asked my boss if I could attend meetings with him. There was this one meeting that was happening on the weekend with all the key players in the movie: Director, Music Supervisor, Other Producers, Director of Photography, you get the picture. We were working on the Disney lot and had reserved a meeting room in the old Animation building (where Michael Eisener’s office was and the rest of the C-suites). It was a Saturday so the lot was quiet. Now to set this story up, everyone in this meeting was male, including the young assistant to the director. Someone yelled out that we needed coffee. Well, within seconds the entire room turned to me. Even the assistant to the director. No one even said a word…they just looked and inferred what my marching orders were. Needless to say, no one was in the building and there wasn’t Postmates in 1991. I scoured the building (practically breaking into office kitchens to find coffee). I was sweating and stressing big time, while quietly cursing that I was missing this meeting. And by the time I found somewhere to make it and returned with the goods, the meeting was almost over. I went home so bummed out. Not because they naturally turned to me because I was female, but because I hadn’t prepared for this. I learned my lesson… there was never another meeting I was in charge of that didn’t have the necessary refreshments, office supplies, etc. I also quickly learned and adopted that no matter what job you have or what level you are at, you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. No excuses.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
Every job had tipping points and moved me up (not necessarily vertically in job title, but in building my capacity for greater things. I think as I grew older, I grew stronger and more confidant. I remember someone said to me when I was working in the film industry that ‘I could one day be a good producer if I grew thicker skin.’ They were right. And at that time I wasn’t as strong. I was learning and had insecurities that held me back. And yet I often postured that I knew it all. It just doesn’t work. It’s the process of going through different careers and working with a lot of different personalities that strengthen your core.
So I attribute so much of how strong I feel today to my age. I needed to be a sponge when I was younger. I constantly put myself in direct proximity to learn from the best and wasn’t only trying to work my way up the ladder. Now I have the confidence built from real experience. I learned that being a know-it-all and self-serving gets us nowhere. It’s serving others that make us shine every time.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
The film producer I worked with for 7 years after college was pivotal in modeling something so critical for success. I bet he doesn’t know this, but in an industry of insanely strong personalities (from big-name actors and producers to the incredible demands from the studios), he taught me the importance of being kind. Not a push-over, but kind. You see, we interacted with so many people that weren’t always the nicest (or easiest) to work with. I’m convinced that someone told them that they needed to act that way to get what they wanted. Thankfully I learned otherwise early-on, and while I’m definitely not always perfect and have my moments, I always hold that true to my core which has enabled me to build great relationships with the people I work with and come in contact with. I believe this virtue has enabled me more success than I ever could’ve imagined.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
There are multiple categories of beauty innovation currently flourishing right now.
The first category I call Smart DIY Beauty. These are the tools and treatments you used to only receive from a professional like a dermatologist, plastic surgeon or trained esthetician. We’re seeing loads of new devices being released like laser hair removal, sonic micro planing, LED teeth whitening tools, smart toothbrushes, and skin lasers for wrinkles, texture, and discoloration. The door has been opened for women to create big changes from the comforts of their own home.
This category also includes innovative products like La Roche-Posay’s new wearable UV sensors that measure and track your personal UV exposure as well as new smart sunscreens in development which turn colors to let you know it’s no longer protecting you.
The second category is what I call Personalized Beauty: Diagnostics, Tracking, and Recommendation. These are the products and tools that utilize some combination of augmented reality, artificial intelligence and sophisticated sensors to diagnose skin conditions such as hyperpigmentation, dark circles, moisture levels, pore size, and wrinkles. Then many will recommend appropriate products to treat whatever was “diagnosed.” And to complete the circle, some will actually track the progress to see how well the products are working. It’s definitely the era of smart beauty.
The progress side of this category are the tools that are allowing us to track how products are working. If a smart mirror is taking images of your skin, and continues to do so as you implement a new treatment routine, over time, you can see the progress, or lack of progress, the treatment has on achieving the results you want.
Also part of this category are sophisticated AR- and AI-enabled app companies working directly with many of the biggest beauty brands to enable you to “try before you buy.” So picture a phone “selfie” app that uses facial mapping which allows you to try on multiple lipstick colors and makeup shades or give yourself a total makeover. Then when you find the one you want, you can purchase the products directly from the app. Not only is this convenient, it allows the brands to create better relationships with their customers.
And lastly is just an Emerging Beauty Tech Catch-All category which includes things like a DIY home soap making machine, websites that are using AI to assess beauty products to inform consumers of a product’s clean beauty score, new skin scanning camouflage devices and 3d printing at-home makeup machines.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Well if we draw the parallel with what’s happening within the digital health industry, the privacy of our data is an issue of paramount proportions. The consumer needs to be able to trust their data is not only secure but being used ethically. Now our “beauty data” might not feel as sensitive to consumers but we are moving into an age where so much of beauty tech is falling under the umbrella of self-care or personal care.
Some of the real powers of collecting all this data across a vast array of people is that it will help us see important trends as well as make the diagnostics and recommendations much more accurate and efficacious.
I personally don’t immediately see the downside of physically using these technologies (sans improper use), but I think just like in health, consumers need to be made aware of how their data is being used.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
Oh my! Where do I begin? Everything excites me. As I enter my self-declared personal age of transformation, beauty tech will be right by my side. I work a lot and don’t always take the time to get facials and other “self-improvement” treatments. Now I don’t have to! I can perform diagnostics and treat from my own bathroom! Hell, I could do it from my bed if I wanted to 😉 I have no doubt these tech tools will just continue to improve year after year.
One “not quite ready for primetime” concept that gets me the most excited is the connected bathroom which I’ve had the opportunity to see demos of. I love the idea of a fully integrated build-in smart mirror that speaks to my personal care devices and tracks my routine as well as reminds me when I missed keeping up with necessary treatments. No doubt we are this close to seeing this come to fruition.
Something I haven’t mentioned much is the oral care industry that grew tremendously this past January at CES 2020. Connected toothbrushes were everywhere and loads of new smart ones! How often do we rush through our brushing routines not knowing if we covered all the basis? What we are seeing now are game-changers for a rushed brusher like me (and my son!). There are sensors built-in that communicate directly with an app to show you in realtime where you brushed and where you missed! No more guessing. This is brilliant for the little ones since their interface lives in a fun game. I’ve been using Philips DiamondClean for the past two years and am itching for one of these new smart ones.
In addition, Philips launched an app for teledentistry which connects you directly to a
Licensed dentist to assess your oral care needs remotely.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
There aren’t many things I’m concerned about except for misinformation provided to the consumer or product claims that don’t fulfill. I’m still not convinced about how skincare recommendations can be derived from a DNA test. I do have more to learn on this, so I don’t want to speak out of turn. And the FDA has yet to weigh in.
However, over the past decade, more and more specialized DNA testing products have hit the market. Things like buying a customized knitted scarf to match your DNA traits or tests to let you know how your skin will age based on your DNA.
I am a big fan of diagnostic tests, but these feel like they don’t have a valuable purpose. We have so much power to affect our bodies, skin and overall health with diet, fitness, lifestyle and the use of quality products that relying on what our DNA says around our beauty routines seems unnecessary.
You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.) feel in control…control to say no, structure
Build a morning and evening routine. Consistency is the key to see improvement and building these routines will not only help you accomplish this but will help you gain the freedom of struggling to figure. I wrote an entire eBook about just this thing that just got released and is available free to download. Wicked Wellness: Your Blueprint for Building Rituals & Routines That Lead to Big Breakthroughs
Add a short meditation into your daily routine. I have worked with so many brilliant experts in this field and there is proof that it positively affects your overall health, your mind and mood, your daily performance and so much more. I used to think meditation was such a woo-woo practice until I was shown the proof! There are new technology aids like the Muse that have helped a novice mediator like me gain confidence in the daily practice.
Find skincare products that work for your skin and use them consistently. I lived with skin that was dry on top and oily underneath for years. When my skin broke out, I used harsh products to dry it out. Let’s just say, my skin kinda sucked. Ironically, for the past two years, I was invited to produce a beauty tech panel at Cosmoprof Bologna, one of the biggest beauty shows in the world. While I was there I visited the Korea pavilion where so much beauty innovation is happening and took home a kit of products that kicked off my interest in improving my skin. When I returned home, I was introduced to a night oil by Sunday Reilly. I couldn’t’ believe that sleeping with oil on my face wouldn’t cause breakouts but it didn’t. In fact, it did quite the opposite. I woke up and my skin was plump and beautiful. I then purchased a few more of their “cult favorites” and my skin has transformed. Every morning I touch it and love how healthy it feels.
Integrate fitness into your daily routine. Even if only for 20 minutes. Last year, as I struggled to develop a healthier self, I decided to bring my Peloton out from retirement and committed to getting on the bike for just 5 minutes a day. Yep, only 5 minutes to start. I built that up to 20–30 minutes and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself. What I quickly learned was that even when I had a rough day or felt like I didn’t accomplish enough, I DID THAT! I treated my heart, body, and mind to something so special and important. This is immensely fulfilling and you can safely go to bed high-fiving yourself for what you achieved. And there is nothing more beautiful and empowering than taking pride in ourselves.
Revive your makeup routine! There are so many amazing products on the market and I recently did an overhaul of most of my products. I cleaned up my makeup space and organized it in a way that I could see everything clearly. Makeup had become such a chore and I lost the play and the joy of putting it on. And while this revival is still new for me, I’m finding that some of the newer product brands go on so much better. And after taking such great care of my skin, the makeup goes on and really do feel beautiful!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I founded Wicked Awesome You to build a movement of incredible women in their 40’s and 50s+ on a forever quest to grow, learn, transform and live vibrantly despite the fact that our bodies are working against us. It’s in our nature to keep striving for more, and just because we have hit a certain age does not mean we have lost our craving to be beautiful, to feel sexy, to be strong and in control. Life happens to everyone, but WAY and its community of impassioned women will be here to help lift each other up every step of the way.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I got reacquainted with this quote and it hit home for so many reasons. “You had the power all along my dear.” Glenda the Good Witch from Wizard of Oz.
I think this is so powerful and resonates so much with me. I wish I knew that all my insecurities and growing pains were just part of the process. Sometimes we think we’re the only ones struggling, but alas it’s just a rite of passage.
If it turns out to fail, don’t let it discourage you, instead allow it to teach you something and make the best of it. The process of elimination will get you there and… now you know not to repeat the mistake.
As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible,’’ I had the pleasure of interviewing Alex Lacroix.
Not quite ten years ago, Alex Lacroix was on bail for felony charges, and his future seemed anything but spirited. At that time, Alex’s best friend had just been murdered, and his Ottawa, Canada recording studio had just been raided by police.
Alex had a choice to make — continue down this path or prevail. Leaving his negative environment behind, he left for Toronto to pursue a career in Advertising. In two short years, Alex graduated with honours from the Creative Advertising Program at Seneca College where he earned bursaries and awards recognizing his talent and academic achievement. He was quickly hired by one of Canada’s top creative shops and continued to win awards for brands including Corona, Audi, Molson Coors and others. He and his life partner, Monica Sanita, grew tired of building others’ dreams in their Advertising careers and decided to risk it all and build a dream of their own — they created Siempre Tequila. Today, their brand has won multiple awards, is sold across the country and is one of the world’s fastest growing craft tequilas.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?
Growing up in a single parent home left me figuring things out on my own at a very young age. My mother did what she could to provide a life for me and my sister. With her working long hours, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents — my grandfather was a food broker. Business was in my blood and I guess my training began long before I even knew it was happening.
My life as a young adult was something out of the movies. Many of the friends I grew up with were headed to jail or prison for various offenses, and almost immediately after my best friend was murdered, I was involved in a series of searches and arrests. Throughout, an unregistered gun was found. I got charged with a felony. With a young daughter, I knew I needed to turn my life around and so, while on bail, I went on to pursue a career in advertising. I graduated college and began working for some of Canada’s top agencies developing ads campaigns for big brands like Coca-Cola, Corona, Cineplex, Audi and Molson-Coors.
It was during this time that I met Monica and we fell in love.
Traveling 8 hours every weekend to spend time with my daughter who lived in another city and the growing ambition to start a family with Monica, led us to begin thinking about creating something on our own terms and turning the tables around. With our own company we could travel, be with my daughter more often and create something we could leave behind as a legacy.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Every single day in the tequila industry is new and exciting. As a multiple award winning art director and advertising strategist team — we’re looking forward to being able to truly show the world what we’re capable of. We have many creative product ideas and projects that we’re excited to execute in the near future. And with our Advertising background, we’re no strangers to the impression a brand can make on consumers and the world as a whole. Using this platform to inspire, spread beauty and positive initiatives is something we strive to do daily.
In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?
We often summarize our story in three short lines. We fell in love, quit our jobs and risked it all. And while there is so much more in between, that’s really what it was. That’s what our company was founded on — love, hope and stubborn ambition to make a better life for ourselves and those around us. And that’s what we believe makes a company stand out. Being in love with what you’re doing, staying hopeful throughout the journey and having the guts to put everything on the line for it.
Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?
You could say a few people laughed when I said that we’d be one of the next great liquor business success stories. Understandably so — being a Canadian, on bail for gun possession and 26 other charges, awaiting trial, possibly facing 2+ years in prison, working over 60 hours a week as a Jr. Art Director and traveling 8 hours every weekend to help raise my daughter, the odds were not in my favor
Rewind to 2011, my best friend had recently been murdered, many of my peers were disappearing into the prison system or furthering themselves down a dark path masked by money, cars and jewelry. Long story short, in February of 2011, I was arrested for possession of a firearm. I was sitting in a jail cell and all I could think about was my young daughter. I grew up without a father and my worst nightmare was to have a child that grew up without me in her life — it struck me pretty hard. The issue now was, it seemed to be a little too late. I was facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison, strict bail conditions awaiting trial, well over $100k in legal fees and all the uncertainties that lay ahead. How could I overcome this, turn things around and become a positive role model?
You could imagine how many times I heard the word “impossible” throughout the process of simply wanting to turn things around somehow and have a positive impact on the world. Truth is, hearing the word impossible was my fuel, and continues to be. The only thing that’s truly impossible is knowing there will be a negative end result from something you’ve never even tried to accomplish. I figured I’d give freedom and success my best shot rather than give up.
While on bail, throughout the court proceedings and serving a house arrest sentence; I enrolled in college, worked as a teacher’s assistant for two teachers, worked an internship while keeping up with class, graduated with bursaries, won multiple advertising awards, got hired by a top ad agency, quit then co-founded one of the fastest-growing tequila brands in the world — seeding the business with nothing but $9000.00 and a credit card. (Can I point out here that even celebrity, George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila required over $30M to go the distance?)
In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂
Well, Siempre Tequila is in well over 2000 retail locations, has won multiple spirit awards and has expanded Globally. So far so good. But there’s still a chance that the joke’s on me ;).
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My partners. Chris Matte, our third and late co-founder shared many similar life experiences as I did and has overcome the unimaginable too. He caught wind of what Monica and I were creating and really jumped right in.
Monica Sanita, our voice of reason. Her admirable work ethic continues to motivate and is so inspiring as well.
I’d also like to give a special shout out to the little voice inside all of us. Go with your gut and trust your instincts. It’s easy to listen to others and become discouraged from that thing you’re pursuing.
It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?
Like many artists and entrepreneurs, traditional methods of schooling simply did not mesh with my out-of-the-box thinking and desire to walk down the unbeaten path. After dropping out of high school, I went on to start a rap group, touring Canada and performing at festivals and concerts and selling cd’s on the streets to pay for food and lodgings along the way.
The band could not afford expensive recording studios and designers, so I did it on my own. That’s how I developed a lot of my experience in design, tech and management. Whenever I was told that it could not be done or I didn’t have the means to outsource a task, I learnt the skills on my own and just figured it out.
Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)
Make a really solid plan knowing it will completely change. There’s always a few delays and detours on a long road trip no matter how well mapped out. Being prepared makes it easier for you to make it through the hiccups.
Forget rules and boundaries while brainstorming for a path to success, cast far out with the ideas then slowly reel it in. Doing that will eventually lead you to some out-of-the-box answers. No idea is a bad idea when brainstorming — just keep the creative flowing.
It is not yours until it is in your pocket. Don’t count your eggs until they’re hatched. Pursue many other avenues and have a back up plan for the back up plan. Even if you feel like it’s a done deal or a sure thing, if it doesn’t pan out you’ll have something to fall back on.
If it turns out to fail, don’t let it discourage you, instead allow it to teach you something and make the best of it. The process of elimination will get you there and… now you know not to repeat the mistake.
Any decision is better than no decision. If you do nothing, nothing will happen. Staying the course is key.
What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?
The Blue Agave used in tequila production is an exceptional plant. It’s resilience deemed it god’s gift to the people in the region in which it grows — being that not much else will grow in that region. They say that the Agave tends to itself and trying to feed it nutrients and nurture it sometimes kills it altogether. Agave farmers will occasionally do the contrary, leave it to suffer through drought and be self sufficient even cut it’s branches, all this to make it stronger in the end.
All the pain, struggle, bruises and scars in your life make you stronger and far more resilient. Embrace your misfortunes and allow them to empower you.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Often young criminals are bred by lack of opportunity, role models and resources. The world needs a stronger big brother/sister program. Financing for underprivileged entrepreneurs would go a long way also. There are brilliant minds out there that just need a push in a positive direction.
Dr. Rian A. Maercks: “Regarding beauty, the most important thing everyone can do in the morning is look in the mirror, smile and express gratitude for the day; There is no replacement for this!”
Often the best things to make oneself feel beautiful are in the “mind over matter” category. For example, the most important thing everyone can do in the morning is look in the mirror, smile and express gratitude for the day. There is no replacement for this! Also, do something thoughtful and loving for yourself and at least one other person before you head to work. Then there are certain basics, namely using an exfoliating facial wash to make yourself feel fresh and clean and help skin turnover. It’s also extremely important to use a quality, low weight sun protection with antioxidants before leaving the house.
As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years. I had the pleasure of interviewing Rian A. Maercks, M.D. of The Maercks Institute.
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon Rian A. Maercks, M.D., P.A., founder and medical director of the Maercks Institute in Miami, FL, is an artist and leading aesthetic, craniofacial, and reconstructive plastic surgeon. His revolutionary approaches to both surgical and noninvasive aesthetic interventions of the face and body have garnered him international recognition by surgeons and patients alike.
Dr. Maercks earned his degrees from the Duke University School of Medicine with undergraduate training in fine arts and philosophy. Following an integrated plastic and reconstructive surgical residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a top-ranked U.S. craniofacial pediatric center, and the University of Cincinnati Hospital, Dr. Maercks completed fellowship training in Europe, Central and South America with the most prominent figures in plastic surgery. Dr. Maercks travels worldwide to explore innovations such as sex reassignment surgical training at Helsinki Hospital in Finland and at Vu Medical Center in Amsterdam.
Thank you for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I started out studying fine arts and ended up earning an undergraduate degree in philosophy while also studying premedical sciences. At a young age I was inspired by surgical mission work and hearing of the experiences of surgeons in Africa. While attending Duke University School of Medicine, I was captivated by the breadth of plastic surgery and the complexity of reconstructive problem solving. As a bonus, this fit perfectly with my artistic side and love for problem solving. I was also attracted by the challenge, since plastic surgery requires developing high level skill sets in virtually every surgical subspecialty.
I followed my passion for craniofacial surgery aesthetics and reconstruction to complete advanced fellowship training in Europe, Central and South America. Through the mastery of craniofacial surgery, I developed a deeper understanding of facial aesthetics and harmonizing facial features. This led to the development of some of my signature facial aesthetic procedures that allow me to unlock an individual patient’s beauty.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Early in my private practice career, transgender patients were extremely marginalized. One day I took a call from a desperate patient who had surgery done out of the country and had been turned away by five plastic surgeons in Miami. The patient had pain after gluteal implants and I agreed to evaluate the patient. Upon arrival, the patient was clammy with faint pulses and near septic shock. I had to emergently take the patient to the hospital and remove the implants — the patient would have likely died within hours without intervention. This made me realize the importance of not only providing sound care to the transgender community, but validated the importance of my career choice. Since then, my transgender offerings have expanded to a full range of services, including unique approaches to gender reassignment surgery and facial feminization surgery.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
Building a private practice is not easy and everyone should recognize there tend to be rollercoaster peaks and valleys on the way up. Sometimes it feels as if no progress is being made, but I found it’s very important to step back and look at the big picture. Usually you will realize that you have, in fact, come a long way! As my practice continued to grow, I came to embrace the most important thing as constantly analyzing your own strengths and weaknesses. The end goal is to continue to find ways to better leverage those strengths while correcting any weaknesses. It takes a long time for the public to recognize value with new and different offerings, so one has to be extremely patient and stick to your core beliefs to succeed — especially when innovating in a field.
None of us is able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I didn’t have to look further than my own family. My mother taught me many things, always teaching me to look at any problem as an opportunity and to examine it from many different perspectives. As a result, instead of being reactive, I learned to stop and become curious when challenges present themselves. Fortunately, having a childhood where creativity and outside the box thinking were highly valued allowed me to bring fresh perspective to my studies.
As a result, much of what I do today that distinguishes my practice stems from the ability to look at procedures and treatments in a new way — importantly, finding ways to improve upon what appears to be limitations. It’s simple, really. When things are not quite right, often all it takes is to accept that fact to move forward, identify the specific issues and work to dramatically improve.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
There are some genuinely exciting current developments happening in how we are leveraging stem cells, biologics, growth factors and even exosomes. We are learning more and more how to leverage amniotic materials, allografts, hyaluronic acids and other materials to boost the body’s ability to create tissue, heal and rejuvenate. I am working on developing protocols to use amniotic tissue and other biologics in facial aesthetics and other plastic surgery applications. Fortunately, we are getting better at creating long-term solutions for tissue repair and volume replacement that create a healthy and natural look. This will ultimately lead to safer and more effective interventions to keep people looking and feeling young and healthy.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
The biggest problem with newer technology, substances, biologics and modulators is not the technology itself. The dangers are the outsized or even outright untruthful claims fed by eager profiteering regarding new untested, potentially harmful applications. We have to be very careful with leveraging gene therapies, customized exosomes and telomere modifications since there are unintended consequences with some of the more powerful interventions in the pipeline — including the activation of cancer genes.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
First,I love being able to help people see a healthy and refreshed image when they look in the mirror. It can help people start their day, every day, with more energy and achieve more!
Next, I fully realize there are always ways to improve the process, and each step forward opens the door to more innovation — and, therefore, the opportunity to help people feel more confident and better about themselves.
Finally, the skill and decision making of the practitioner becomes more and more important in guiding a patient’s experience as options and modalities multiply. Practitioners are challenged to be at the top of their game and zealously guard their reputations.
Can you share things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
By far the most concerning aspect of the beauty-tech industry is the lack of transparency and the raw amount of misinformation. This leads to confusion among patients who are often very misguided and can make poor decisions based on information intended to sell technology and particular services. Reform is difficult because there is little regulation. There needs to be diligence on the part of the public to recognize there are risks with invasive procedures and to investigate. Amidst all this “noise,” patients need more education and credible resources to better discern who is qualified to advise and treat them. In the hands of less skilled practitioners, certain procedures that should be “age defying” for patients sadly look simply “ageing.”
You are an expert about beauty. Can you share ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Often the best things to make oneself feel beautiful are in the “mind over matter” category. For example, the most important thing everyone can do in the morning is look in the mirror, smile and express gratitude for the day. There is no replacement for this! Also, do something thoughtful and loving for yourself and at least one other person before you head to work. Then there are certain basics, namely using an exfoliating facial wash to make yourself feel fresh and clean and help skin turnover. It’s also extremely important to use a quality, low weight sun protection with antioxidants before leaving the house.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would like to help more people find centering and peace through meditation and greater connection to the world. Modern times have led to individual isolation, which can cause a lot of social and psychological problems. I truly believe that helping more people connect to inner peace through meditation and connectedness can transform the world in countless untold ways. Teaching people to lead with love and thoughtfulness can ignite greater success, happiness and beauty.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
The difference between fortune and misfortune is often simply perspective. I’ve found over time that we owe it to ourselves to find value in every perceived loss. In this way, not only do we release the loss, but we shape it into an opportunity for growth.
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
I have spent time in life being both the reasonable man and the unreasonable man. I think there is an art to blending both sides — adapting to the world on one side and following one’s passions to change and challenge on the other. Life has taught me to be inclusive and adaptable, especially when I want the world to adapt. In this way, an open mind is preserved and chances of collaboration and growth are increased. It is very easy to isolate oneself when following big dreams, it’s important to find aligned thinkers to join the march. Without allowing for your internal flexibility, this can be very difficult. We also have to continually reflect and assure that our motivations are of love and mission is for the benefit of all. This is the only way to move forward.
Smile every chance to get. Being happy and smiling exudes beauty. People want to be around smiley happy people and people tend to avoid those that aren’t happy and don’t smile.
As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Nathan S. Bryan
As a pioneering figure in the field of nitric oxide research, Dr. Nathan Bryan Ph.D., has teamed up with Pneuma Nitric Oxide, LLC to create a category of beauty products known as Nitriceuticals. Dr. Bryan’s research has led to the development of Nitric Oxide based skincare and wellness products that promote beauty and anti-aging on the molecular level. He holds more than a dozen issued U.S. and international patents for his breakthrough techniques in human physiology and disease management.
Dr. Nathan Bryan, Ph.D. earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He went on to receive his doctoral degree from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine. Devoted to research, Dr. Bryan pursued his post-doctoral training as a Kirschstein Fellow at Boston University School of Medicine and held a faculty position at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He was the first to describe nitrite and nitrate as indispensable nutrients required for optimal cardiovascular health and has since made many seminal discoveries. He is an international leader in molecular medicine and nitric oxide biochemistry.
As a highly sought-after doctor, researcher, and speaker, Dr. Nathan Bryan Ph.D. has written numerous research papers and books. He travels the globe to educate and create awareness regarding the essential nature of nitric oxide production in the body and what happens when one becomes deficient as we age. One of those books, Functional Nitric Oxide Nutrition, was designed to help the everyday person understand this “miracle molecule” and how it affects everything from cardiovascular health and the immune system to the aging process of the skin.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have always had an interest in science and medicine even in high school. I pursued a degree in Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. During that time, I was involved in undergraduate research and fell in love with the feeling of discovery. I then went on the LSU School of Medicine to continue my pursuit of knowledge of how the human body works. It was during my time and research at LSU that I was introduced to nitric oxide. A Nobel Prize had just been awarded for the discovery of nitric oxide so it was an exciting time in research to learn more about how this molecule worked in the human body. From that point on and now for twenty years, I have devoted my entire life’s work to trying to answer four important questions:
How does the human body make nitric oxide?
What goes wrong in people that cannot naturally produce it?
What are the clinical consequences of insufficient nitric oxide production?
How can we restore and recapitulate nitric oxide based signaling in humans?
I’m happy to report that we now have answers to these four critical questions that have and will continue to have a profound impact on the aging process as well as health and disease.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. I have actually lived and experienced this quote by Schopenhauer. When I first made my discoveries on nitric oxide and developed product technology, I was ridiculed by my academic colleagues for trying to commercialize my discoveries. After several years, the ridicule turned to violent opposition. My technology was opposed by several big pharmaceutical companies, opposed by competing companies and even opposed by my colleagues in the nitric oxide field. Now almost 20 years later, it is becoming self-evident. Now many people and many companies are talking about nitric oxide and how important it is for health, wellness and beauty. It is evident how important it is, and I am not the only one speaking on its importance. It would have been easy to quit and cave into the ridicule and opposition but I persisted because I knew it was important and it would change the world.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
Just like any scientist, you hope for a “Eureka” moment. That moment for me came the day that I was able to detect and quantify nitric oxide gas being generated when I combined certain components and conditions that mimicked what may happen in the human body. I knew then that I had a way to generate nitric oxide safely and effectively in humans and I knew that my discovery had the potential to change the world. At that point, I knew that I had to educate the masses on the importance of nitric oxide and create a market for my discoveries. From the time I started researching nitric oxide until I filed my first patent was nearly 7 years. The lesson is to maintain focus and persistence and to never give up. Things do not happen overnight. Through the many failures and unsuccessful experiments, I took my learnings and then redesigned new experiments that would eventually get me to the important answers.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
C. Thomas Caskey, M.D. was the Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center at the time of my discoveries. Dr. Caskey is a prominent medical geneticist and biomedical entrepreneur who has made many seminal discoveries in genetics and has been successful at translating these discoveries into successful business enterprises. As a young scientist not trained in business or entrepreneurship, Dr. Caskey encouraged me and guided me on how to proceed. He became one of my biggest fans and supporters. However, at first, he was a major critic and asked the really hard and tough questions to make sure that I could meet the scientific rigor with my discoveries and product technology. This prepared me to go above and beyond what was required to bring my technology to market and be able to anticipate criticism and potential objections to what I was doing. Today Dr. Caskey remains a close friend and colleague and for that I am forever grateful.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
I have developed a nitric oxide producing skin serum. We know that aging results from loss of nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide is what controls and regulates blood flow, oxygen and nutrient delivery to every cell in our body. Without nitric oxide, circulation is compromised, cells do not get what they need to do their job and they eventually fail. On the skin, this results in appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, loss of hydration and collagen and increased inflammation. These are all outward signs of aging. There are many reasons people lose the ability to generate nitric oxide including poor diet, smoking, exposure to harsh chemicals and toxins, etc. My technology restores the production of nitric oxide which then floods the cells of the skin with oxygen and nutrients so they can do their job and regenerate healthy cells that work properly. The beauty of the nitric oxide technology is that you can actually see it working within seconds. Once you apply the nitric oxide serum, you can see the skin turn a shade of pink demonstrating the product is working to restore tone, texture and complexion. This is the only product on the market that gets to the root cause of aging. All other products are designed to “mask” or hide the signs of aging. Our product technology will help people fix the reason their skin is aging by providing a missing component to what their body needs to heal and fix itself. Nitric oxide is the key to healthy aging and our product is the only product in the world that generates nitric oxide to restore what the body is missing.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Dose dictates poison. Too little nitric oxide is bad and too much can be bad. So we have to deliver the right amount of nitric oxide in the right place at the right time. In my 20 years of nitric oxide research, we know how much nitric oxide the body normally produces. Our objective is to give back what is missing, not more and not less. We know how to do that and this is what our product delivers. When used as directed there should not be any unintended consequences with our product technology
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
It is exciting when we can translate new and important scientific discoveries into consumer products that will transform their appearance and confidence.
The beauty-tech industry is focused on constant innovation and discovery. This is much different that the world of skin care and beauty where there are many “me too” products
Utilizing science, we can begin to understand the root cause of many signs of aging and then create products that fix the underlying issue rather than hiding or masking the signs of aging.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
I think in general the industry does a great job at reaching and educating consumers. However, the only suggestion that I would make is that there should be more scientific evidence behind beauty products so that consumers could make an informed decision about what product may be best for them and their individual skin type and needs.
You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Smile every chance to get. Being happy and smiling exudes beauty. People want to be around smiley happy people and people tend to avoid those that aren’t happy and don’t smile.
Drink plenty of pure, clean water. We need hydration for our body to work. However, municipal water is toxic with fluoride, chlorine, drug metabolites and toxic chemicals. Drink 2–4 liters of filtered clean water every day.
Sweat every day. Part of the way our body detoxifies itself is through sweating. However, hardly anyone sweats anymore. We need to sweat to rid the toxins from our body and from our skin. I recommend using an infrared sauna. It provides energy and heat, so the body gets the energy it needs and the heat allows us to sweat to eliminate toxins.
Walk barefoot on the ground for at least 10 minutes every day. The Earth is a big magnet that gives off electrons as energy. Our body needs energy for the cells to do their job.
Get at least 20 minutes of exercise daily. We need to keep moving. Exercise helps stimulate nitric oxide production, protects the cardiovascular system, helps us lose weight and it allows us to sweat, all of which are important.
These five things will not only make you “feel” beautiful, but scientific evidence reveals it will make you healthy on the inside and outside.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My movement would be an education campaign on nitric oxide. Most people do not even know what nitric oxide is or how it affects their health and beauty. We know that loss of nitric oxide is the earliest event in the onset and progression of most if not all age-related chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, the number one killer of men and women worldwide. However, most people have no idea on whether their body is producing enough nitric oxide or even how to implement simple lifestyle changes that could improve their nitric oxide production. There are over 170,000 published scientific papers on nitric oxide and the science is clear. Your body cannot and will not heal until to restore the production of nitric oxide. It may be the most important molecule produced in the human body. Whether it is outward beauty or the function of the heart and blood vessels, nitric oxide is necessary for optimal health and beauty.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Do today what others won’t so you can do tomorrow what others can’t”. For me success is about going above and beyond and making sacrifices. Many people are unwilling to make this sacrifice for success and as a consequence have to sacrifice later in life by continuing to have to work after retirement age or their health suffers from not doing the things they needed to do early on in life.
I tend not to listen to or surround myself with people who say something is impossible. Pessimism is like an ocean oil spill. It robs an ecosystem of the energy it needs to flourish. This is why great leaders create cultures of transparency. They let the light in. They embrace change. They recognize that a healthy ecosystem is dynamic, always evolving. They live in the future and thus reject the impossible. Which is why they’re usually anti-pipeline
As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Murchison.
Mike Murchsion, one of Forbes’ Top 30 under 30, is the CEO and Cofounder of Ada, a venture-back AI-powered platform that is transforming how businesses around the world, including TELUS, Medium and AirAsia, provide customer service. Before Ada, Mike answered tens of thousands of customer service inquiries manually firsthand. Using this experience, he set out to build Ada’s platform that puts the benefits of AI into the hands of non-technical support teams to build, manage, and track ROI-driving automated customer experiences.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?
Before building Ada, I was working on another initiative with my co-founder, David Hariri, and we realized through that project there were considerable gaps in how customers today are serviced. We wanted to understand those problems better, so together we joined multiple support teams to identify the barriers that were keeping businesses from delivering incredible customer experiences. We answered tens of thousands of inquiries, painstakingly and manually addressing each one, to arm ourselves with broad-based insight of what it would take to improve. And it was really through those experiences that Ada was born — with the understanding that live agents have more to contribute than responses to frequently asked questions; with an appreciation for customers’ preference for on-demand, self-service support; and with the knowledge that we could deliver a product that would offer a highly personalized and engaging opportunity for automation across the customer journey.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We’re always building new things at Ada, and we talk regularly with our customers, industry analysts and thought leaders, to understand the market challenges and how we are uniquely positioned to solve them. What I’m really excited about for the coming year is an increased focus on personalization and segmentation capabilities within our platform. With Ada, you can easily tailor automated customer experiences based on predefined variables. So for instance, Tony from California, who is female, 32 years old, who recently clicked on one of your Facebook ads, and is an elite subscriber to your service, can be offered an automated experience radically different than Phillip, male, 63 years old, who is visiting your website for the first time. Obviously this helps businesses deliver a more meaningful, engaging customer experience in a manner that is aligned with their business goals, but more importantly, it lets customers self serve in a way that makes them feel special. What’s magical about Ada is just how easy we make it for non-technical business leaders to create with our platform.
We will also extend our features to automate conversations across more of the customer journey, from the very first website visit through ongoing support beyond the point of sale. Ada automates more than 100,000 conversations every single day, so we are also making considerable investments for our customers relative to their data and how our machine learning is applied in more sophisticated ways.
In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?
Great question, because Ada is indeed in a crowded space and we’re really proud of our reputation and how we stand out. What we hear from our customers and employees is that 1. Ada is special because of the people. It sounds cliche, but I really believe it to be true. Our customers regularly send unsolicited messages about the great service they’ve received, and how they appreciate us as a trusted partner — and that’s a testament to the people at Ada, across all departments, who take our customer relationships to heart. Another reason I believe Ada stands out is because in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence), there is a lot of confusion and fatigue. Companies are making massive investments of time, effort and money, and it is an excruciatingly slow process before they realize meaningful value. Companies typically endure a debilitating dependence on IT resources to bring AI to life, and business stakeholders are left in the dust, their needs unmet. With Ada, companies are able to deploy AI and realize value very, very swiftly — inside of 30 days. What’s more, because of the way our platform is architected, business stakeholders can own and manage the platform with little-to-no dependence on IT. So the complexities of AI are very much behind the scenes, and companies can focus on driving business results — cost savings, improved customer satisfaction and new revenue.
Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?
I tend not to listen to or surround myself with people who say something is impossible. Pessimism is like an ocean oil spill. It robs an ecosystem of the energy it needs to flourish. This is why great leaders create cultures of transparency. They let the light in. They embrace change. They recognize that a healthy ecosystem is dynamic, always evolving. They live in the future and thus reject the impossible. Which is why they’re usually anti-pipeline 😉
Impossible is a euphemism for hard. What I mean by this is if you ask someone why something is impossible, it often becomes clear that what they really mean is that the thing is very hard.
One of the keys to Ada’s success has been that we’ve built a team of people who are energized by hard things. Hard things are learning opportunities. Learning opportunities are gifts of self-improvement. When viewed this way, the pursuit of the “impossible” is an exercise in improving oneself.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I had the privilege of working on a company with my mentor, Vicki Saunders, who now runs SheEO the world’s largest community of women-lead ventures.
Vicki taught me the power of learning by doing and the magic of believing in someone even if they don’t believe in themselves.
Vicki regularly threw me into the deep-end, expecting me to accomplish things I thought I required decades more experience to execute effectively. At times her expectations seemed crazy to me. But she’d tell me she was confident I could do it with a stare and a smile.
Accomplishing these goals became a cycle of proving myself wrong, and Vicki right. She gave me the gift of confidence by creating an environment where I was able to prove it to myself.
And that’s one way I try to lead others today.
It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?
When I was 19 I sustained a serious head injury, and was told by physicians that I wouldn’t realize what a bunch of tests said was my potential.
This experience fostered a deep, competitive drive to prove them wrong, a thirst for self-improvement, and a desire to do really hard things.
Temporarily losing some of my cognitive abilities forced me to develop a closer relationship with my own cognition. I became very attuned to how I think and how I learn. I developed a coaching-like relationship with myself.
It’s this relationship that taught me about resilience, and continues to teach me today.
As a coach, I push myself hard. I want to get better every day. But as with professional athletic coaches, a coach that drives their players too hard, doesn’t get the best out of them on gameday. So learning I’m to be compassionate with myself, and to toe the line between intensity and kindness.
Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)
The single most important thing you can do to harness a sense of tenacity is to learn to listen to yourself.
Listening to yourself is very hard.
It often requires rejecting what many smart, more experienced, people think. It means carving your own path. Tenacity can’t be bred on someone else’s path. It must be your own.
One way to know if you’re on your own path is if everyone around you says that you’re wrong.
For this reason developing tenacity can feel lonely.
But there’s a quiet comfort and satisfaction with being on your own path. With a decision truly being your’s. It means that you own the outcome. And if you own the outcome you can’t lose.
You’ll either have accomplished what you set out to, or you’ll have learned a lot along the way. You win no matter what. And that’s why tenacity is such a powerful fuel.
What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?
“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”
― Joseph Campbell
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
The next time a friend shares an aspiration with you, I challenge you to respond by saying “how can I help?”
Too often, our ideas and dreams are subtly undermined by our peers. We pretend that scrutiny is helpful as we seek to explain to our friends why something won’t work.
But there’s very little virtue in negativity. And ideas in their infancy, while bright and full of energy, are very fragile.
So they need to be nurtured and protected. And we need to do a better job of doing that.
Credits: MASSIVART_PRMIA and Bruno Destombes and PRIMIA 2019
Build the right team. Everything of significance requires a team. From a tenacity perspective, a great team will create a support network when any individual’s tenacity is waning. A great team will also bring the best out of you and help steer towards the vision. Nothing is stronger than a shared sense of tenacity.
As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Per Nyberg.
Per Nyberg is the chief commercial officer at Stradigi AI where he oversees the company’s strategic growth initiatives including marketing, customer success and business development — helping to close a $40.3 million Series A funding round led by two of the most well-known institutional funds in Canada, Fonds de solidarité FTQ (the Fonds) and Investissement Québec (IQ). Prior to joining Stradigi AI, Per served as the vice president of market development at global supercomputing company Cray where he was responsible for driving Cray’s AI roadmap and market development.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?
I am the Chief Commercial Officer at Stradigi AI, a Montreal-based AI company, where I lead the company’s strategic growth initiatives including marketing, customer success and business development. Before I joined Stradigi AI, I was a part of Cray, the global leader in supercomputing, as their vice president of market development where I most recently drove their entrance into artificial intelligence. I spent most of my career in the supercomputing market where I was fortunate to work with industry leaders in verticals ranging from weather and automotive to energy and life sciences in almost every region of the world.
I received my college degree in computer science from Concordia University in Montreal as part of their co-operative education program which integrates work terms into the degree. I am a big supporter of this approach as it provides real-world experience to students as they are studying and considering their careers. In my case, I actually began working in the supercomputing industry before I graduated.
I decided to transition into a CCO role at Stradigi AI as it provided my next opportunity to help build something unique. The role itself combines everything I have done throughout my career across the go-to-market spectrum from product to marketing and channels. The challenge of bringing all of this together at a startup and working with a special team of people was impossible to pass up.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
As you can imagine, we are almost entirely focused on continued development of our Kepler AI platform. This year we will be releasing our next version which we believe will change how organizations can benefit from machine learning and, to some degree more importantly, who will be able to drive this adoption. AI implementation to date has required a highly specialized skill set, which is in high demand but very hard to find. With the right AI tools at their disposal, the ability for a broader set of analysts to explore insights from more diverse and richer data sets will expand. Data is everywhere and getting AI capabilities into the hands of more people would be an inflection point for both the industry and society.
In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?
There are two things that make Stradigi AI standout. First and foremost are the people and culture. While our product and technology are great, I can say that the founders who created Stradigi AI are key to contributing to what makes us unique.
Second is the company’s clarity on purpose. The AI market is filled with noise and hype, but despite all that, we believe we have a clear vision of what the AI-enabled business user will become and what is needed for organizations to easily derive benefit from AI. What makes us different and the starting point for this vision is that we ourselves are these users. Our approach and platform originally came from our own business needs, and we continue to evolve our vision as we expand our work with customers.
Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?
This was more a matter of facing and overcoming the persistent challenges when pursuing something new or different; be it on a daily basis or over extended periods of time where success was years away. For most of my career I have been focused on building new industry verticals or building new markets, or enabling internal change. The challenge was often overcoming unhealthy skepticism and doubt which would distract from dealing with the real questions at hand and block progress.
Unhealthy skepticism and doubt are easy to sow and can kill initiatives before they even start. Doing anything new implies some degree of the unknown and dealing with ambiguity in an environment of imperfect information. It also means change to the status quo. The pace and complexity of today’s business and technology environments mean that we are doing something “new” and “changing” almost every day. This has only emphasized the importance for leaders to regularly learn and adjust and help teams be comfortable with ambiguity and change.
Perhaps it is my Swedish-Canadian upbringing, but I try to approach every day with authenticity, humility and transparency. Organizations are all about people. Communication and trust-building are critical, and when combined with a compelling vision, strong determination and an “eyes wide open” approach, pretty much anything is possible. The goal is not to overcome every nay-sayer, but bring on board those who are key to success. Ignore the rest.
In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂
In some cases they were proven wrong through business results but naysaying is a state of mind so those results may only have had a temporary impact. More importantly, I hope that they reflected on the authenticity of the desire and approach to change the organization for the better.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My father. He has always provided me with a compass on how to approach life, work and people. While he had a successful career rising to a very senior executive position in a large Swedish multinational company, it was his approach to each day against which I have always measured myself: humble, honest, respectful and hardworking with high standards.
It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?
One example from very early on in my career comes to mind that had quite an impact on me. As I mentioned, I spent most of my career in the supercomputing market. Two of the very exciting aspects of this market are that the wins can take years to develop and the contract values can be in the many tens of millions. The feeling of winning these massive deals is euphoric. Losses are very tough to take after having invested so much intellectual, emotional and physical energy. In the mid-90’s I was working for a Japanese company. Following a major contract win that we had at a high-profile customer in the U.S., the decision was reversed following an anti-dumping dispute. It took several years of work to win and then to have the decision reversed was devastating. I was in my mid-twenties and gained first-hand knowledge of business and political realities which taught me to refocus, compartmentalize, adapt and learn from the experience — from both business and personal perspectives. As it turned out, the U.S. market access restriction closed one door, and another opened which moved my wife and I to Australia. Looking back, that period of time was an incredible and life-changing experience in every sense.
Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)
I would strongly recommend the “Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve” article by Jim Collins. I regularly read this as a refresher. Drawing on some of the elements outlined in the article and combined with my personal experience, here are five strategies that can help
Achieve breakthrough leadership by combining deep, personal humility with intense professional will.
Set the vision and set the standards required for success. While tenacity needs to be practiced on a daily basis, it should be treated as a marathon. A long-term view is needed to keep your focus through highs and lows, and the inspired standards will not only ensure sustained progress but also inform when your strategies need adjustment.
Demonstrate the standards every day and hold yourself accountable. As a leader, you are the first person your team will look to. But this is not about some hero-like work ethic, it is about demonstrating self-awareness and humility along with exceptional work standards.
Realize that the organizational aspect of tenacity is just as important as personal tenacity. We are only as good as our team. Organizational tenacity and personal tenacity are two foundational elements to taking on the impossible.
Build the right team. Everything of significance requires a team. From a tenacity perspective, a great team will create a support network when any individual’s tenacity is waning. A great team will also bring the best out of you and help steer towards the vision. Nothing is stronger than a shared sense of tenacity.
What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?
The former CEO of Cray, Peter Ungaro, was quite an inspirational leader who loved a good quote. During our leadership offsite in 2014 he talked about something that Russell Wilson, quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, said to his team earlier in the year which culminated in winning the Super Bowl. Growing up, Wilson’s father had asked him, “‘Why not you, Russ?” He then similarly challenged his teammates, “Why not us?” I love this quote not only because it directly challenges unhealthy skepticism and doubt, but also forces some critical thinking on preparedness for success.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
That’s a tough question. I’m sure that there are already movements out there, but a broader contribution by companies to leverage technology for good could have an immense impact on societies around the world. One of Stradigi AI’s unique avenues to AI includes our ongoing AI for Good programs. From community engagement to practical applications of machine learning to help improve key issues around health and accessibility, it’s an initiative that is deeply connected to our core belief in building technology that empowers people.
Can our readers follow you on social media?
Yes! Readers can follow me on Twitter at @_PerNyberg.
Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!
Sophia Hutchins: “Don’t be afraid of the word no; Successful people, entrepreneurs, and women more than anyone else are told no all the time”
Don’t be afraid of the word no. Successful people, entrepreneurs, and women more than anyone else are told no all the time. If we allowed “no” to deter us we wouldn’t be where we are today. I’m ready to continue to grow and surround myself with positive uplifting people that believe in me, my ability to execute, and my vision for the future.
As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years. I had the pleasure of interviewing Sophia Hutchins, CEO and founder of LUMASOL, a health technology company aimed at bringing sustainable and innovative health and technology products to market. Hutchin’s prominent leadership and vision have gained the trust of many high-profile investors, including Founders Fund and Greycroft Ventures. Hutchins started her career in venture capital prior to identifying a 12 billion dollar untapped opportunity in the health tech space. Hutchins is passionate about supporting organizations and programs which advance the status of women, particularly as it relates to entrepreneurship.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have experienced people in my personal life who have battled with skin cancer and I always thought it was crazy that we didn’t have better tools and products available to us to better protect ourselves.
One night, over a glass of wine with a close friend, I was talking about how outdated the sunscreen that we have available to us is, it is usually a thick goop of white lotion that smells and causes the skin to break out or be oily. So forget being able to wear make-up on top of that. It was during this conversation that I realized I needed to be the person to make this product available so we no longer have to choose between a flawless make-up application or applying an SPF to protect ourselves.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I never in a million years I thought I would meet my favorite childhood actor, until I did at an industry party, the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in fact, Dick Van Dyke. I was in attendance networking for lumasol, which is a must for every entrepreneur — networking! As many of you know, in LA it’s super normal to see celebs everywhere, and I am not one to be star struck. But with Van Dyke I was in shock. It was like learning Santa Claus really does exist, and better yet, we were on the dance floor together.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
The day I closed my seed round of funding from Founders Fund and Greycroft was two days before my 23rd birthday. My birthday was a celebration of closing the seed round, and of course my birthday, and it was such a major accomplishment and milestone in my life. There was a level of validation at play that reassured me anything is possible.
I learned a lot from the process of fundraising, it is like dating and you want to make sure the investor is the right partner for you. It is key to have the right people on your team that has your back and wants to see you succeed. They also need to believe in what you are doing and your mission. So I would say, take your time, talk to as many people as you can until you find the right “fit”.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I would thank my grandfather, first and foremost. He passed away when I was a junior in high school. He motivated me from a very young age to be aggressive in going after what I want. He sent me to a prominent high school, and made sure I was taken care of during college. With his selfless support, I had many opportunities that I certainly didn’t waste, and I made the most of them.
The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
Our technology will change the way people interact with SPF on a daily basis. Our SPF comes in a sleek container that can easily be carried around in your purse or bag when, and when it is exposed to UV rays, the container actually changes color reminding you it is time for another spritz. The average consumer applies SPF at most once a day if even at all, and after just a few hours that morning application is useless and you are no longer protected. Most consumers also don’t realize just how exposed they are at their desks, in the car or even at a cafe — the technology in this container will change that. As our product evolves the tech integration will be even heavier, enabling consumers to view their interaction with SPF and the sun in a way they never have before.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
No. We need to protect our bodies from the most common type of cancer in the world, skin cancer. The more information, data, and access to that information we have, the better we can protect ourselves from the sun‘s harmful UVA and UVB rays.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
The innovation, the people, and the passion for ‘newness’. We are at the precipice of an era that incorporates technology into so many aspects of our lives. I am so excited to be a part of this journey at such a young age especially.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
I would like entrepreneurs to innovate more. Developing an SPF with all of the FDA regulations that are hardly ever updated, has been one of the larger hurdles to the formulation. Making formulation easier, allowing entrepreneurs to innovate more, and allowing for best business practices, which should be legislated and enforced by entrepreneurs, as opposed to bureaucrats, would be the best way to improve innovation.
You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Smile, I think it is so important to smile because it can completely change the way you feel and how others view you. A smile is better than any other accessory.
Be yourself, I think it’s important to make sure that whatever your style, your clothes, your make-up, etc. is that you are your unique self and wear what you feel good in.
A good playlist, music really is a vibe and can change your whole mood so having a good playlist on while you get ready can really change the way you feel.
Lashes can completely transform your look in the most simple way, and there is a lash for literally every occasion.
Heels always complete your look and a good pair of heels can really make you feel like a boss. If you feel like a boss, your confidence will be beautiful regardless of what you are wearing.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I want every person in the world to know about the harmful effects of UVA and UVB rays. I want consumers everywhere to have access to lumasol. Skin cancer is the public health crisis of our lifetime. We have to put a stop to this. The more people I can reach with lumasol I truly believe the more we can save people’s lives, potentially, from skin cancer.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Don’t be afraid of the word no. Successful people, entrepreneurs, and women more than anyone else are told no all the time. If we allowed “no” to deter us we wouldn’t be where we are today. I’m ready to continue to grow and surround myself with positive uplifting people that believe in me, my ability to execute, and my vision for the future.
