Bizz Banter

Joe Hollier is the co-founder of the Light Phone: a phone with minimal features, taking out social media, emails, and pretty much everything that makes us live on our phone. This phone has gone viral on social media and has radically changed the lives of the people that use it.

Joe is a multi-disciplinary artist and entrepreneur. He studied design at the School of Visual Arts and graduated as the valedictorian. He was also selling and exhibiting painting, film and collage work. Some of Joe's clients include Nike, CNN, the Lincoln Center, Debbie Millman, and the Smithsonian. Print Magazine recognized Joe as one of the top 20 visual artists under the age of 30 in 2014.  In 2020, Joe was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 for consumer technology products.

So what inspired this budding artist to become an entrepreneur and revolutionize consumer technology? We’ll be hearing all about it from Joe himself in this episode! 

Bizz Banter Instagram: @bizzbanter

Bizz Banter Website: bizzbanter.com

Light Phone Instagram: @thelightphone

Light Phone Website: thelightphone.com

Music by Marc Wavy: https://www.youtube.com/c/MarcWavy/featured

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Kayla O’Leary is the Co-Founder and CMO of Budz Butter, a family-owned, small batch manufacturer located in Wisconsin that specializes in hemp-derived CBD infused products.

In 2017, 24 year old Kayla left corporate America to start up Budz Butter in Colorado. In this episode, you’ll hear about the many trials that Kayla faced as she entered into an unknown industry in a new city, and the growth she’s had from her experiences as an entrepreneur.

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Follow Budz Butter On Instagram: @budzbutter

Budz Butter Website: https://www.budzbutter.com

Music by Marc Wavy: https://www.youtube.com/c/MarcWavy/featured

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Kevin Ramsey is a serial entrepreneur based out of Koreatown, Los Angeles. His first taste of being an entrepreneur was in his junior year of high school when he founded Hungercraft. Hungercraft was a Minecraft development company that reached a milestone of 3 million monthly active players in 2011.  

By the end of his freshman year of college, Kevin had sold Hungercraft and founded the e-sports management company Denial eSports. Denial eSports went on to win a range of competitions and awards including the Call of Duty World Championships. Due to the rapid growth success of the e-sports company, Kevin left Savannah College of Art and Design and relocated to Columbus, Ohio where he went full-time at the company’s gaming house.  

After realizing relative success, Kevin took the leap to join a leading global toy manufacturer and rapidly ascended through the company. He eventually left his corporate career to found Warren James. With full-time staff in LA and China, the company manages everything from product design, product development , and logistics to white label website creation, fulfillment, and retail for a portfolio of successful creators and brands. 

Follow Bizz Banter on Instagram: @bizzbanter

Follow Kevin on Instagram: @kevjramsey

Warren James Website: https://warrenjames.org/

Music by Marc Wavy: https://www.youtube.com/c/MarcWavy/featured

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A long time beauty enthusiast and beauty editor, Mira Torres has made her passion for community and innovative design a full-fledged business. As the first employee of IPSY, she gained years of experience with beauty brands and media influencer relationships and helped grow their online beauty community from 25,000 to 2M in just four years.

As a young, single mom fresh out of college, determined to show her son that he could be anything and everything he wanted, she decided to take a retail position at Ulta to make ends meet. In less than a year, she was promoted to Administrative Manager and for the next four years, she learned everything and anything about makeup and beauty. This led to the experience she needed to get jobs as a beauty writer, then a beauty editor, and then launching a social media consulting company where she eventually found a connection that led to becoming the first employee of IPSY. At IPSY, she really honed in on her experience and skills in the Marketing and Beauty space, working alongside Stanford, Harvard, MIT and Duke grads on e-commerce, social voice and the influencer community.

From there, she decided to venture off on her own to carve out her spot in the beauty space. With JUNO & Co., Mira has created a DTC beauty brand that creates innovative beauty products alongside community-driven ideas. Launching in 2017, the JUNO Microfiber Sponge has taken the beauty world by storm, catching the eye of some of the most influential beauty influencers, selling more than 500,000 sponges in just three months. Dedicating her mission to creating makeup for makeup addicts at ridiculously affordable prices, JUNO has filled the whitespace between high quality and affordability in the makeup industry with a beauty line that offers game-changing products and prices that beauty lovers want and need.

Follow Bizz Banter on Instagram: @bizzbanter

Bizz Banter Website: www.bizzbanter.com

Follow Mira on Instagram: @thebeautybohemian

Music by Marc Wavy: https://www.youtube.com/c/MarcWavy/featured

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Fares Ksebati is the CEO of MySwimPro, a global technology and media company that creates fitness apps that help people improve their performance and health. Most recently, he was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for 2020 in Consumer Technology. Fares enjoys sharing his passion for entrepreneurship as a keynote speaker and startup mentor to founders around the world.

MySwimPro is a digital community with over one million members in 180+ countries. The app has received international accolades being named the Best App of the Year by Apple and featured in Sports Illustrated. The company has global partners and an international investor base that spans 36 countries.

Fares is also the Founder of World Swim Day, a global initiative that empowers people around the world to be more active through swimming and promote water safety. He competed on Wayne State University's Varsity swimming program and graduated summa cum laude from the Mike Ilitch School of Business. Fares continues to compete internationally and is a 3x U.S. Masters swimming individual national champion, certified USA Triathlon Coach and American Swim Coaches Association Fellow.

Before launching MySwimPro, Fares led digital marketing at multiple venture-backed technology startups. His analytic approach to driving growth and creative insight for engaging audiences and branding has been attributed to the success of numerous early-stage companies. Fares, a Syrian-American has been recognized by Arab America as one of 15 Arab Americans who stole the spotlight in 2017.

Follow Bizz Banter on Instagram: @bizzbanter

Bizz Banter Website: bizzbanter.com

Follow Fares on Instagram: @FaresKsebati

Follow MySwimPro on Instagram: @MySwimPro

MySwimPro Website: myswimpro.com

Music by Marc Wavy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwebNvOA4LrrTkTE40hFLA

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Civil Engineer, serial Entrepreneur, Fashion Editor, TV Presenter, and Reality TV Star, Amber Renae is a celebrated style icon who draws on her vast life experience to motivate, enlighten, and entertain her audiences.

A qualified Civil Engineer, Amber transitioned from constructing roads to constructing dresses when she started her own fashion label in 2002. The label earned industry acclaim and achieved retail success in high-end boutiques across Australia, Japan, France, New Zealand, and the United States. Closer to home, Amber’s collections were snapped up by Australian retail heavyweight Myer and its appeal among celebrities including Paris Hilton ensured the label’s editorial success in Madison, Shop till you Drop, and Cosmopolitan magazines.

A celebrated style icon, Amber has appeared on Project Runway Australia. Her success on the show led her to appointments as Fashion Editor for Australian Women’s Health and Fitness Magazine, the resident stylist for Australia’s largest media network, Southern Cross Austereo, and her role as the resident fashion presenter on Foxtel’s Fashion TV where she has interviewed leading international celebrities including Andie MacDowell, Melissa George, Mel B, Rose Byrne and Ruby Rose.

Amber now stars on the hottest new reality show on the FYI network, called Dream Life Los Angeles. In the show, Amber takes on Hollywood while building her revolutionary online business: The Love Academy. 

Follow Bizz Banter on Instagram: @bizzbanter

Bizz Banter website: bizzbanter.com

Follow Amber on Instagram: @theamberrenae

Music by Marc Wavy https://www.youtube.com/c/MarcWavy/

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bizz-banter/support

Welcome to Bizz Banter, a podcast about entrepreneurs, innovators, startups, and business! From interviewing your favorite founders to digesting the latest in business, we will be bantering about all things bizz! Check us out on Instagram @bizzbanter or at bizzbanter.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bizz-banter/support