Everything is Personal

Josh Feldstein Verve Jazz Ensemble leader Josh Feldstein has been a jazz drummer for more than 30 years. A native New Yorker who grew up on the NYC jazz scene, Josh formed the VJE in 2006 as a local performing group in the Danbury, CT area. The straight-ahead jazz unit – which paid homage to the legendary music of the famed Verve record label – soon took off with a large local following. After many years, at the prompting of its fans, Josh agreed to record the VJE's first album, aptly titled “It’s About Time,” which unexpectedly hit #5 on the national JazzWeek radio chart in 2013. Fans and radio alike asked for more, and so, as an encore, Josh guided the band through the recording of its second album, “East End Sojourn” (2014) with guest guitarist Peter Bernstein joining the studio date. To the band’s surprise, this album also achieved significant status with jazz radio, reaching #8 on the national JazzWeek chart and propelling the VJE to its second consecutive top 10 radio album. From there, Josh happily embraced the band’s emerging studio recording pathway, initiating the group's third and fourth albums, “Perimeter” (2016) and “Swing-A-Nova” (2017), which resulted in another top 10 JazzWeek chart performance as well as a top 100 Album of the year placement. Looking to advance the band’s sound and approach, in 2018 Josh expanded the VJE from its original 5 pieces — headed up by Jon Blanck on tenor and Tatum Greenblatt on trumpet — to 7 instruments, adding Alexa Tarantino on alto / flute and Willie Applewhite on trombone, which served to round out the rhythm section of Steve Einerson on piano and Elias Bailey on bass. Its septet album "Connect The Dots” proved to be a turning point for the VJE, the album hitting #1 on the JazzWeek chart in September 2018 for two consecutive weeks, and staying in the JazzWeek top 10 nearly 3 months. "Night Mode" (2019) expanded the VJE’s wide US and European footprint further, again placing top 10 on the JazzWeek charts to much critical acclaim. And in January 2021, Josh and the VJE released its latest offering, “The VJE: Very Live!” — the Verve Jazz Ensemble’s first live album, recorded at a benefit concert in Hadley, MA just prior to the pandemic lockdown. As VJE leader, drummer and occasional writer and arranger, Josh selects the band’s music. He works closely with Jon Blanck, Tatum Greenblatt and other VJE musicians to craft the group's broad portfolio of arrangements, and oversees the band’s steady recording and production schedule. A jazz musician through and through, Josh has studied extensively with drumming legends John Riley and Joe Morello. Josh was born in Manhattan and received his degree from Queens College, City University of New York. In addition to working on the VJE’s next recording already, Josh is also diligently pursuing new musical and percussive challenges on his never-ending road to better understanding and performing the musical art form he loves called Jazz.

The co-founders of the Quantic Hub and Quantic Herbs Sadao Oshiri and Andre Steiner join me to discuss their personal and business experiences, childhoods and what it takes to create a highly regulated business with a global reach that combines genetic testing technology and the ancient wisdom of medical cannabis to create personalized health and wellness journeys.

Kevin Roth is a man whose world was changed by a medical diagnosis. Told that he had stage 3 melanoma and only a couple of years left to live, he had a choice: get busy living or accept dying. He decided to live! Somehow, despite an amazing music career, Kevin had always found it difficult to simply be happy. He’d had a wake-up call, and he decided to do something about it. He envisioned a new, fun, and fulfilling life and set about making the necessary changes. Now, he wants to help you do the same. A world renowned Dulcimer player with over 40 recordings, published author and coach.

As a second-generation cultivator, Yarrow inherited his passion for the plant. After having some personal challenges surrounding cultivation, Yarrow overcame those challenges and channel them into supporting others. From Real Estate, where he is a land use and zoning expert, to agricultural and business consulting, Yarrow has the unique ability to go from the field into the board room. Check out this episode.

Dan wants to live to 130. It’s his dad’s age of death added to his mom’s age of death and is more than achievable with our current knowledge of the human body. On his last day, he will be scuba diving with his great grandchildren. Dan will not be living in diapers, he will not be living in a nursing home, and he will probably still be riding his motorcycle. From executives to professional fighters and everyone in between, Dan’s flexibility is paramount for him to push the discussion of dieting to one of vibrant longevity without disease or disorder. He has presented his strategies to thousands of executives world-wide; helping them to live longer and healthier lives, reduce healthcare costs, and achieve greater personal and workplace productivity. Dan’s engaging, interactive style has inspired thousands to achieve permanent, life-changing results. In 2015, Dan was featured at the Vistage International Speaker Showcase and in 2018 he was awarded Vistage International Speaker of the Year. As a Certified Nutrition Coach through the International Board of Nutrition & Fitness Coaching (IBNFC), Dan is a member of the Venice Nutrition Coaches Network. His programs, based on modern medical science and our evolutionary past, are designed to permanently end dieting and allow the body to heal as nature intended. In addition to being a world leader in nutrition and fitness, he is a 30-year veteran of the martial arts. He has practiced, coached, and studied many disciplines including Jiu Jitsu, kickboxing, and Tae Kwon Do. Physical feats are no stranger to Dan as he is also a former Guinness World Endurance Record holder for the 48 hour treadmill marathon event.

We get really, really personal on this one. Michael Johnson is the CEO of Metrc, the most trusted and experienced provider of cannabis regulatory tech in the United States. The company's solution combines advanced software, radio-frequency identification (RFID), a dedicated customer-support team, and a secure database to track cannabis from growth, harvest, and processing to testing, transport, and sale. Metrc is engaged in 23 government contracts and serves more than 300,000 users, including growers, testing facilities, dispensaries, state regulators, and law enforcement officials. Johnson’s experience managing highly effective teams, integrating business units, and building out enterprise-wide processes has consistently led to the harmonization of customer experience and profitability. During his time as Metrc’s president and CFO, he transformed its organizational infrastructure, hired top leadership across all phases, and led year-over-year growth of nearly 50%. Prior to joining Metrc, Johnson spent his career scaling hyper-growth tech businesses, working with investors and overseeing financial operations. Most recently, he served as the CFO of InformedDNA, the largest provider of genetics services, where he led the company to consecutive years of high growth, eventually selling the company to private equity investors. Prior to InformedDNA, Johnson served as the CFO of CM Group, a family of global marketing technology brands, where he drove cost efficiencies and increased margins through corporate acquisitions, financing, and restructuring. He is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Jason Vegotsky founded Petalfast in August 2020. He was previously President at KushCo, after the company he co-founded, Summit Innovations, a leading distributor of hydrocarbons to the legal cannabis industry, was acquired by KushCo ($3.2M cash, up to 2,560,000 in shares) in April 2018. Plus, he's an ex-basketball player who moved to California and had to learn the business on the fly, the hard way. Petalfast is a Cannabis Growth Agency (sales, marketing) helping cannabis brands scale in California, Arizona and Massachusetts with plans to expand to additional markets. The platform is focused on Field Marketing, Distribution, Delivery and Market Research.

• Robert joined Fluent as an advisor to the board in January 2020, shortly before the CEO at the time stepped down
• Robert helped guide the company for a few months, urging the board to find a new CEO, but after multiple candidates didn’t fit the board offered him the position as he was essentially running the company already
• At that time the board wanted to sell the company, but Robert was making adjustments and the company was becoming increasingly better. Robert continued to make tough business decisions for the future:
  • Closing outdoor cultivation facility in Michigan
  • Closing operations in Puerto Rico, and Brazil
  • Putting Columbia operations on ice
  • Nixed Australia and Estonia plans
  • Improving vertical operations in Florida
    • Retail shops were previously running out of inventory before noon
• Prior management stuck in Green Rush days
  • Fluent became asset heavy, but revenue depleted

Matt Hawkins Founder & Managing Principal of Entourage Effect Capital (EEC) Matt Hawkins is the founder and managing principal of Entourage Effect Capital (EEC), formerly known as Cresco Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused specifically on investing in the legalized cannabis industry. Since 2014, the firm has made close to 70 investments out of three funds, co-investment vehicles and special purpose entities. Matt is known and respected in the cannabis industry as having the vision to become one of the first investors in the industry. He brings long standing relationships in the industry that compare to very few others in cannabis. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Harborside Inc. (CSE:HBOR) and a board member of Sunderstorm. He has helped orchestrate numerous exits for the firm’s investments. He has spoken on countless industry panels and has appeared on CNBC, Fox News, Cheddar, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg among others discussing the industry. As a result, he is widely considered to be a thought leader in the legalized cannabis industry. Prior to the founding of EEC, he was a partner and President of a private real estate investment company which acquired REO and NPL from banks and financial institutions across the country, with particular interest in multifamily residential and self-storage assets. The company completed more than 55 bank-direct acquisitions, deploying over $500MM of capital since Q4 2008. In 2013 alone, the company bought close to 10,000 Class B and Class C value-add multifamily units across the Sunbelt of the United States. At the end of 2013, Matt and his partners sold their interest. Prior to this, Matt was a Principal/ Co-founder of San Jacinto Partners, a fund focused on the bulk acquisition of single family residential assets and the Managing General Partner of Adjacent Capital, L.P., a private equity/specialty lending fund. He was earlier affiliated with Treadstone Partners, L.L.C., a distressed debt and equity fund. He has an extensive background in both turnaround management and private equity. Prior to joining Treadstone and forming Adjacent Capital and San Jacinto Partners, was associated with Hull & Associates, a regional turnaround management firm. Matt is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.

Don, CEO of PurePower is a father of three, author, wellness advocate and ultra endurance athlete. A former trial lawyer of nearly 20 years, Don’s legal career included service as an Assistant District Attorney, litigator at a prominent Colorado law firm, and in-house corporate lawyer at a Fortune 500. As a corporate lawyer, Don became a nationally recognized expert in the areas of electronic data retrieval, analysis and management. Subsequently Don founded and served as CEO of Falcon Discovery, a legal consulting and tech services firm serving the Fortune 500. As CEO of a rapidly growing, multi-million dollar firm that handled some of the highest profile legal cases in the country, he experienced intense pressure and stress 24/7. Following years of prolonged burnout, Don finally hit the wall in 2012. After what he can only describe as divine intervention and a newfound inspiration to become a better father and leader, Don overhauled his diet and began running ultra endurance trail races in the Colorado Rockies. He incorporated hemp and other plant extracts into his new health regime, and developed a series of performance practices to advance his recovery, regain balance and sustain high performance. With these changes nearly everything in his life turned around, and Don’s business and personal life flourished. Within months his running distances doubled and tripled, and he completed his first 36 hour, 100 mile race on the Continental Divide in Colorado in 2016. Likewise his business blossomed like never before, and he subsequently sold Falcon Discovery and stepped down in 2017 to inspire and support others with the lessons that he learned. To this end Don is finishing work on his first book, which will be published in early 2019.