Kerem Ozmen on How He Maximized His Success as a Young Venture Capitalist and Established 8090 Partners

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

Kerem Ozmen knows that success can be achieved without following the traditional path—the one that says success is dependent on spending the early years studying and then working toward a career. Young entrepreneurs like Ozmen are proving that isn’t always the case. 

Kerem Ozmen is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 8090 Partners, a private partnership of industry-leading families and entrepreneurs focused on direct investments and other opportunistic transactions. Ozmen found success at a young age as a venture capitalist. At 25, he was the founding partner and sole managing director of K50 Ventures, a VC fund that gained national recognition for Ozmen’s role in raising a full fund, sourcing over 4,000 global opportunities, and investing in leading seed-stage startups from around the world.

Kerem Ozmen’s notable accomplishments at such a young age can be attributed to his early experience managing his family’s investments. The Ozmen’s put significant focus on building the local entrepreneurial community in Reno, Nevada, dedicating capital to building the Ozmen Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“I worked closely to build out the Center, helped put the programs in place, participated in local pitch events, and more,” Kerem Ozmen said. “Then I started the first institutional venture fund in Reno, Ozmen Ventures, to invest in both local founders and other opportunistic companies.”

After building a local community and making a handful of investments, Kerem Ozmen secured an internship at Kairos, a venture capital firm based in New York. Within a few months, he became a junior partner at their VC fund. Ozmen’s rise earned him more responsibilities. Within his first year, he was tasked with creating and leading their first early-stage venture fund called K50. The young professional raised the capital, built the team, sourced and selected the deals, and hosted a global summit event atop the World Trade Center to showcase the companies. 

With K50, Kerem Ozmen helped several young founders jumpstart their own companies, helping them create materials, find the right hires, strategize, and raise capital. “This was a very influential point in the founders’ lives where I was fortunate enough to have played a small role in their successes, both personally and professionally,” Ozmen said. As he met more large family office investors in New York, Ozmen grew inspired to follow his own path. Eventually, he left his role at Kairos and K50 to build his own investment firm, 8090 Partners.

Since setting out to build his brand, Kerem Ozmen has daily found himself handling increasingly larger responsibilities. Today, he manages the institutional firm and works with industry-leading family offices worldwide, helping them plan for multi-generational wealth and maintain successful family offices. 

“I had noticed a statistic stating that nearly 70% of high-net-worth families lose their wealth by the 2nd or 3rd generation; so, I knew that there was a very big problem that needed to be addressed,” Ozmen said. “I saw that guiding the focus of those influential families to more impact-oriented and successful investments could collectively make an exponentially larger impact than I ever could alone.”

Furthering the success that 8090 Partners has already achieved, Kerem Ozmen intends to grow his firm to an even larger scale, moving billions of dollars in capital to the best investment opportunities, ones that can create high financial returns while having a positive impact on the world. “Today we have investment initiatives around clean energy, and we have a philanthropic donor-advised fund to help families donate to the most appropriate organizations that align with their values. “

Learn more about Kerem Ozmen by connecting with him through LinkedIn and following him on Instagram.

The One Step You Should Never Avoid When Starting a Business According to James William Awad

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

Few things in the life of an entrepreneur are as exciting as launching their first startup. The thrill of finally getting to work on bringing a product or service to the consumers, and then seeing it fulfill a need and turn a profit—those are the things innovation-oriented entrepreneurs live for. It’s no wonder, then, that so many of them rush head-first into launching a startup, without doing all of the necessary steps.

As a successful entrepreneur and the founder of TripleOne, James William Awad had many opportunities to see his fellow entrepreneurs jump the gun and launch startups that were doomed to fail. Even though experienced entrepreneurs often say that it’s better to fail early than drag along, avoiding failure altogether is generally a better idea. Especially if it can be avoided by performing one crucial step: market research.

Why So Many Startups Fail

There are plenty of different reasons why a startup could fail. The inability to secure cash flow is one of the big ones, as is being drowned out by competitors. There’s always the human element, too; a startup can fail because of the incompetence of the people who work at it. It can also be a combination of any of these reasons.

Still, the main reason why a startup might fail to develop into a successful business is often simpler than that. So simple, in fact, that it’s easy to completely overlook it. Startups fail because no one wants what they’re selling. Disruption for the sake of disruption is a concept even the most hardcore disruptors wouldn’t endorse, as even they know that disruption needs to benefit the consumer, causing the demand. When startups fail, it’s often because there’s no demand.

This is why James William Awad always advises entrepreneurs to carefully research the market before they decide to pour money, especially their own money, into a new venture. Even though it has a price tag of its own and can take quite some time to get it done, market research might end up saving an entrepreneur from plenty of financial trouble.

Making the Most of Market Research

Market research is the very process during which an entrepreneur or a company can find out whether there’s a market demand for their product or not. Sometimes, it’s the company itself that conducts the research. There are also businesses specialized in doing market research for hire, which can really come in handy for small operations and startups.

While market research has the aim of providing solid information on the demand for a product or service, James William Awad also advises businesses to make the most out of the research once they decide to do it. Market research can be the source of invaluable feedback that can be used to fine-tune the product or service to better meet the consumers’ demands.

Better yet, market research can tell the business, be it a startup or an established company, what the best way to approach the customers with advertising and other types of messaging is. While at it, it’s also possible to throw in at least some competition research in there. It might not be what’s offered usually, but it can make a world of difference if the business decides to enter the market and release their product or service. It’s better to have more information than needed than be short of critical insights.

How These Beverage Brands Leveraged Their Sponsorship of SFWRUNWAY New York Fashion Week Streetstyle Show

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

SFWRUNWAY elevated its NYFW partnerships to new levels this season. 

Now that New York Fashion Week shows are back in person, when you think New York Fashion Week, you obviously think of fashion brands, and maybe makeup and hair care brands too. Beverage products don’t tend to top the list, but Essentia, Baretenura, and LVOV have been working with SFWRUNWAY to change that. Street Fashion Week (now SFWRUNWAY) is taking a more experiential approach to curating an experience that Fashion Week attendees as well as designers would love. SFWRUNWAY is a direct to consumer fashion show production initially created to give high-end luxury streetwear brands a platform to showcase directly to buyers, press, and other fashion industry tastemakers. This season, they partnered with beverage sponsors Essentia Water, Bartenura, and LVOV Vodka to elevate the experience for attendees.

A Roundup Of Chic Moments Presented by SFWRUNWAY Drink Sponsors

There are few events on the New York Fashion Week calendar quite like SFWRUNWAY New York Fashion Week- Streetstyle show. The hype for the return of in-person shows was intensified with SFWRUNWAY announcement of a series of partnerships with beverage sponsors, with Essentia being the official water sponsor of New York Fashion Week along Bartenura and LVOV Vodka providing complimentary beverages to VIP attendees. Following that narrative, a fashion week sponsorship is a brand hack to influencer marketing.  Essentia, Bartenura, and LVOV Vodka were able to establish a successful brand presence among Gen Z consumers who are a huge segment of VIP attendees at fashion week. 

SFWRUNWAY Is Turning a Sponsorship into a Relationship

SFWRUNWAY does not rely on gimmicks to ensure their fashion brands gain valuable customer insight through brand partnerships. The feedback gathered from attending guests can help sponsored brands base their marketing decisions around consumer preferences. For these beverage sponsors, fashion month exposure involves more than slapping a logo on a step-and-repeat that consumers might see on Instagram. A strategic alliance with SFWRUNWAY fashion show gets sponsors in front of a valuable audience of potential B2B customers and investors.

Drink Sponsors’ Seamless Integrated into the SFWRUNWAY Programming

SFWRUNWAY’s focus for this season was to curate an experience that highlights each participating designer and sponsor. This season, they showcased a total of 8 designers with very different perspectives and from very different backgrounds. The first designer, German-based Pia Bolte, and her army of models took the stage. Pia Bolte is a German-based designer who displayed a collection of her niche style: a mix-mosh combination of leather, symbolic patches, textures, and fabrics, including denim and lace combined, gives one the idea of how total chaos came together to form a perfect universe.  The next designer to showcase was Friskmegood by Cierra Boyd. One by one, models walked out with pieces from her collection that featured hand-made garments from reworked sneakers. The creativity behind her brand sparked positive reaction from the audience based on endless applause. Next came Akobi, designed by Hotmomma. Akobi is usually a male designer but chose to present unisex pieces to display the versitility of her brand. After that came designer Ron Dyce, who displayed his first women’s wear collection, including a complete line of exquisite, elegant gold-encrusted heels. Finally to close the 1 p.m. show was New York-based Llessur designed by Russel. Russel debuted his Runway collection titled “Volume II – Elemental” during February 2021 NYFW. SFWRUNWAY founcer Naomi Alabi credits this collection for securing LLessur as a modern lifestyle brand pushing gender boundaries through non-binary and empowering fashion for the everyday metropolitan.

Hours later, the 6 p.m. show was a continuation of a series of runway shows under the SFWRUNWAY brand. Again the 6 p.m. show was opened with a greeting from owner, Naomi Alabi. One by one, designers showcased their collections to any excited, packed house in the following order: Akobi, Black Merchants, LLessur, Ron Dyce, and BGoldNYC. 

Guests in attendance were able to enjoy complimentary drinks sponsored by Essentia, Bartenura, and LVOV Vodka. 

We asked founder Naomi Alabi what we can expect from future fashion week seasons.

We plan to improve our shows creating an elevated experience for our showcasing designers as well as attendees. We hope to work with more sponsors and brands that align with our company’s mission. SFWRUNWAY would like to resume shows in LA and possibly Paris and Tokyo in future fashion week seasons.

Sachin Patel Brings Hope for the Future of American Business

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

         America, long regarded as the home of the American dream, has shown its age as of the most recent decades. What used to be a land full of bright, new ideas for innovation, productivity, and development has faltered into an age of unwarranted contentment in life. It seems more and more that the youth are falling into the 9-to-5 trap of a life, and Sachin Patel is here to advocate for otherwise.

         Patel is a first-generation Indian-American, born and raised in suburban Houston, Texas, has seen much of the industrial age’s gifts to society. The Houston skyline is not one to forget, and neither are its many strips of office buildings housing the future of business. Patel tells us that high school is where he began to notice the stark disparities in the mindset of his and those of his classmates’. While he was discussing creations or start-ups, his friends talked of corporate cubicles and cash registers. This was very different from what Patel had been raised by—two entrepreneurs who built widespread Houstonian business from nothing. As of now, Sachin’s mother owns five check-cashing locations all across Houston and the greater-Houston areas, while his father and idol Rajendra Patel runs one of the largest automobile service centers in Houston-Texas Auto Trim. To be raised around such prosperous, innovative people as his parents served to show Sachin how there is always a way to the top; it’s just a matter of how hard one is willing to work to get there.

         Now as a recent University of San Antonio graduate, Sachin has chosen to put his heart and soul into building upon the industries of his parents. He has taken over most daily operations for them in hopes of expanding them beyond Houston’s city limits. Sachin states that besides the drive to do well for his parents and himself, his biggest driving factor is to “set an example for confused kids, because [he] sees [himself] in them.” As every child does, Sachin started out very unsure of where to go in life. Thanks to the great examples set by his parents, Sachin knew to strive for the top rather than settle as so many around him did. Now, he wishes to be the role model for others just as his parents were to him. In the future, Sachin tells us that he would ideally create a non-profit organization dedicated to giving the youth the instruments and opportunities necessary to become entrepreneurs themselves. “To be able to teach the next generation of investors, business owners, and millionaires would be a dream come true,” says Sachin.

         To keep up with where Sachin goes next, he can be found on his Instagram: @ptp_sachin

Professional Gamer AbsorberYT Is Rousing the Gaming Industry

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

         The gaming community has been frequently saturated with upcoming gamers, or those who desire to acquire fame through mainstream games such as Fortnite. In the endless realm of content creators and gaming, your time and attention is pulled in many different directions. Which of these content creators is worth your time, and how can you funnel through the hundreds of different creators to find one that is actually entertaining? The most common method is to look for gamers with an already established audience, as they foster communities and are already well known for their entertaining clips.

         Hamzah Saadah, born on March 17, 2003, in a small town in New Jersey is a well-known and established gamer. Known widely by his stage name, AbsorberYT, Hamzah is a widespread sensation who has roused attention across every single social media platform.

Consider just the subscribers on his YouTube channel alone—he is standing at over 3 million subscribers… That does not include his massive audience on TikTok, which accumulates to well over 5 million subscribers as well. On top of this, he has 300,000+ Instagram followers; AbsorberYT is sitting at an audience close to 10 million. This type of reach is absolutely insane for a young boy who is only eighteen years old.

         How did Hamzah become so successful? As Palestinian-Ameircan born young man, Hamzah always had pressure to become successful by his parents. He had a passion for acting and wanted to become the main feature on screen television or movie features. As we can tell, Hamzah clearly has a talent for being in front of crowds. This is evident in the fact that multiple of his videos have accumulated over 5 million views…on just a single video alone. Hamzah obviously knows how to entertain, and he has a community to prove that, and support that extends well beyond his gaming and entertainment roots.

         Hamzah, AbsorberYT, actually has been so involved with gaming, that he made it to the FaZe20. FaZe hosts an annual tournament where content creators and gamers have the opportunity to join their team. Millions of creators and gamers join this competition annually, and of all these applicants, 100 are selected. Being in the top 100 alone is a feat to reckon with…but AbsorberYT took this a step further and ended up making it to the Top 20! Although ultimately falling short of being #1, Absorber is recognized by the FaZe clan as one of the top 20 gaming content creators that are not currently signed to the organization. As a professional gamer, he understands the stress and the competition present in the industry, but he has blown this out of the water by setting a new standard for what it means to be a successful content creator and professional gamer. To follow up with AbsorberYT, you can check him out on a variety of different outlets, including….

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbsorberYT

Instagram: https://instagram.com/AbsorberYT

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/absorber

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@absorber

            

How Donzel Dubel, Owner Of Storm Solutions, Helped Shape a No.1 U.S. Automotive Company

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

Donzel Dubel brings a refreshingly bohemian edge into the art of business. His no-limits, no-fear attitude has proved dividends in his ability to create a life where play and work hold equal importance. His success in abundance, as the operator and founder of Storm Solutions, the number one largest retail automotive hail repair company in the U.S. is unsurprising. 

Given his grounded “not afraid to get dirty” approach of sheer graft, patience, and hunger for continuous growth and learning, Dubel’s realization that “the essence of all motivation and intention in anybody is faith” birthed the creation of The DreamWeaving Foundation in 2019. 

The foundation is a series of programmes that helps reinstate individuals’ self-belief through educational principles within a faith-based curriculum. The foundation rings true to his core value of giving back to the community and brings the concepts of a forgotten history of religion, back into the twenty-first century.

On first glance, Dubel—sat behind the beams of the Salt Lake City sun, nonchalantly reclining in his technicolor hoodie and cap—appears as the ultimate extrovert. “I was raised super Christian,” Dubel explains, describing his hesitancy in the past and natural introverted nature when it came to voicing his vision. Labeling his former self as “the ultimate no-show of social media,” as a means of peace-making in his faith-based home upbringing, he held the notion that posting anything caused too much friction in the family structure. “It was time to break that angle, I had to get a presence on social media,” he added. Emphasizing the importance in “taking accountability of my own actions, my own destiny” when building his company, Dubel acknowledged the value of social media to create a following and recruit the people he needed to make his vision a reality. 

So how did Dubel fall into such a unique industry as automotive hail repair? Having first ventured into studying law, and having already gained his Degree in Political Science and Economics, and passing the LSAT, Dubel took a left turn to do a “couple months of soul searching.” He admits that the energy and the culture surrounding the legal industry didn’t resonate, saying “I didn’t want to be like them.” Traveling unveiled Dubel’s love of adventure and helped him discover the three mantras that would help him shape his future: 

i) Taking time off, 

ii) Traveling, and

iii) Wealth

Falling into the automotive industry, Dubel found himself in a position that allowed him to work March through November and take the other half of the year off. Gaining the skills to excel in his new career, however, “was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, not just because it’s so physically demanding, but because the technicality is crazy.” Paintless dent removal (PDR) is the most affordable, least intrusive process for vehicle dent repair. Specialists use tools to press and massage the damage from behind, and “mold the metal back with our hands” to restore the vehicle, while keeping the paintwork intact. “There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” Dubel says. “To get a dent flat to look like it’s never been dented took three years to perfect. But I’ve got a dream and nothing’s going to take me away from that.”

It’s clear Dubel is a man of action given that pure persistence and excruciating patience seem to be the running themes of developing such uniquely elite skills and craftsmanship. Fine-tuned with years of daily repetition and refinement that sets his services apart from any capabilities of your average body shop, Dubel explains his path to greatness. “I got really good at a particular trade,” he says. He acknowledges his years of artistry in music and painting enabled him to grasp the concept of PDR and describes how months of “old school education” and patience helped him overcome adversity. “I slept on my mentor’s floor, watching and learning from him.” 

“The only way is up!” He laughs, when describing his aspirations for “Storm Solutions to corner the market of automotive hail damage restoration” and reinvent the wheel with a systemised, door-to-door, professional approach that’s never been seen in the industry. “The automotive hail repair industry only started in the early 1990s but has already grown into a US$15-20 billion a year market.”

Usually paintless dent repair jobs are subcontracted by insurance companies that body shops have an agreement with. Dubel’s systemized approach lowers the all-round cost and radically simplifies the process by “removing the middleman that normally takes fifty percent of the total cost.”

Dubels action-based, sky’s-the-limit outlook greatly serves his commitment to give back. His repair for purpose program selects local nonprofit organizations that will receive 1% of Storm Solutions total revenue as a charitable donation of their choosing. More recently, Dubel answered his calling to fill the void of faith-based institutions and “use certain psychological classes to talk to people and give them the right to dream.” 

It’s early days for Dubel’s DreamWeaving Foundation, but his intentions for its growth are far from small. Upon the curriculum’s development, it intends to provide programs with an educational base to uplift people’s belief and instill faith-based actions to walk towards their purpose in their own lives. “It gets super emotional when I think back to the journey of collecting government food stamps for my family while always knowing I was destined for more,” he says. 

Dubel opens up about the adversity he met along a drawn-out journey, coming from a family of five siblings and working countless hours to keep a roof over their head. Faith seems to always have been at the core of Dubel’s confidence in his capabilities and proves to be an underlying theme in fulfilling his mission to be as “successful as possible both, spiritually, mentally, and physically.” 

An acknowledgment that we all have dreams to fulfill to feel satisfied in life is infectious and clearly deeply embedded in Dubel’s never-ending drive to make a positive impact. At the helm of his number one company and with a foundation of the highest potential in the making, Dubel proves the sky’s the limit when it comes to weaving your dreams if you just have faith. “It’s been a long time, but I can say my actions are now speaking louder than my words, which is pretty cool.”

Donzel Dubel is the owner and operator of Storm Solutions, the number one retail automotive hail repair company in the U.S. To find out more about their world class services, check out https://mystormsolutions.com/.

Georgie Lawlor                                                                                                                       

Staff Writer: Mindful Media PR

How Mike Zeller, Author of The Genius Within, Is Using Aligned Abundance to Push Others to Being the Best Version of Themselves

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

Mike Zeller, mentor, business founder, coach, mentor and now author, published a book in 2021, The Genius Within, to give those their best life, while remaining humble and kind. There are few people in the world who can do what Mike Zeller does. At least, few people can access the power to do so. Zeller is a man who depended on his own power when he lost almost one million dollars, and wants to show others how they can do the same. 

As an undergraduate, he was nicknamed “Socrates” by his fraternity peers, in reference to the philosopher Socrates, as Zeller was always talking about something deep. He’s always been fascinated with ancient scholars and modern-day speakers, like Tony Robbins—one of many iconic figures he learned from, and who gave him a heightened sense of clarity, while raising his vibration and energy to what it is today.

Zeller describes our current employment state as “The Great Resignation,” and he reflects on “humanity’s desire to figure out their unique pathway to impact and how they are meant to show up in the world.” People are, more than ever, looking for a career or lifeshift. We often find ourselves reflecting, we can’t find our calling, but we know our current status isn’t it. 

This is where Mike Zeller steps in.

Creating the ultimate legend on how to live your life—your way. Detailing what your unique genius, unique purpose, and your unique path is and discovering what’s always been there. What he calls “Aligned Abundance” is an amalgamation of unique interests, pivotal relationships, values, and the moments that forever changed your life to foundation your prowess. All of it pieces together, like a puzzle. It’s his job to help you how to get there. Sara Blakely’s (founder of Spanx) father asked her in her youth, “Hey, what did you fail at today?” Having a healthy relationship with failure brought Sara to where she is today. “Failure is feedback,” Zeller affirms.

How do you know if you’ve succeeded if you don’t have anything to compare it to? Zeller believes risk & failure go hand-in-hand with your success. “I lost a million dollars, but gained $100 million worth of lessons,” he says. “Life’s greatest setbacks are life’s greatest lessons.” He then adds, with a quote by Napoleon Hill, which he believes to be eminently true, “Behind every setback is the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” He digresses, “[…] you have to crack that seed, bust it open, bury it, give it water, in order for it to flourish.”

“If you want to do in two years what most people do in ten years, you need to have a great mentor,” he establishes. Who better to mentor you than someone like Zeller—who helps high achievers find their deepest zone of genius like no other.

Zeller eradicates subconscious belief barriers. Instead of letting the old wounds and traumas you have shackle you to the past, he releases the handcuffs for you to run to your future. He has a unique talent and understanding in finding human potential, human genius, and will give you the running shoes that get you moving as fast as you want to go to reach your destiny.

While he offers workshops, this book is far more scalable and infinitely more diplomatic. Reading this book gives you the insight on the five C’s: the clarity you need to move with greater confidence, courage, conviction, and commitment that attracts success. This book also helps you move deeply into your vibration, your energy, your zone—so that you can start experiencing “Aligned Abundance”—something most people only dream of. He makes you question your environment, and what it needs to look like for success to be inevitable. 

From his work, he’s changed so many lives. Women who start off with nothing. Money-blocks and handcuffs. Loss of identity and horrific challenges. But meet him, and their problems are in a whole different ballpark. It’s unimaginable to scale how impactful his words are suddenly making. It all starts with someone developing, finding, clarifying their genius, and appreciating it and being it. 

Whether you need an occupational change in your life or not, The Genius Within is a brilliant read that everyone can learn something from. 

Visit https://mikezeller.com/ for updates on Mike Zeller’s next publication, along with his rise to prominence helping high achievers align their purpose with their business and the life they dream for. 

Jada O’Connor

Mindful Media PR 

www.mindfulmediapr.com

Rise to the top of the corporate ladder with James Edwards’s coaching services

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

Having a proper mindset at the workplace is one of the basics that is taught to survive in a corporate environment. Characteristics such as leadership and teamwork are extremely important to be able to cooperate and give your 100% at any task you have been set. However, having a positive outlook and a stable mindset goes much beyond simply performing your best. It is also a means of improving your worth both as a professional as well as an individual. Unfortunately, there are several who struggle in this aspect and can often be seen self-sabotaging their career chart even without noticing it. On the other hand, there is no shame in asking for help which is exactly what James Edwards is offering.

During his 25 years of experience in the corporate world across large financial institutions and recently in FinTech, James Edwards has seen many a lost soul self-sabotage their careers and restrict their ability to climb the corporate ladder because of a wrong mindset. It has since become his personal goal to help as many people as possible and create a world where one can be a much more confident version of themselves. With multiple years of experience mentoring and coaching staff in the workplace. James has in the past 18 months expanded his coaching business and often finds there are two major types of clients who are looking for support. The first is those who have recently entered the job market and are finding it difficult to scale up, and then those who have been in their careers for over 10 years but are unsatisfied with the position they have reached and are extremely frustrated but are paralysed by inaction. Both these client segments have something in common—it is self-doubt and often imposter syndrome that stops them from achieving their personal dreams and ambitions.

With James Edwards’s help, however, it is possible to unlock your hidden capacity and coach yourself to a better mindset both within and outside of the workplace. James Edwards offers his signature MAXX MINDSET program which is a structured program over 12 weeks to put a stop to any pitfalls which could be preventing a client from reaching their true potential. He also has other bespoke courses to improve mental health and psychological capacity. In the past two years, James Edwards has helped multiple clients transform their lives and his testimonials bear this out.  He is also working with one of the top business schools of the UK to mentor MBA students and support them in transitioning into new careers

So, what are you waiting for? If you or a close friend are ready to improve your professional performance, sign up with James Edwards today.

Learn more about Mindset Coach James by visiting his website. Follow him on Instagram and find out what makes him such an effective and sought after mindset and career coach.

RENAISSANCE WOMAN: BEVERLY SADE

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

Beverly Sade set her foot in the entertainment industry when she was only eighteen. She is well known for her appearances in ‘Sinners Wanted’ and ‘Power’ and is a brilliant author and entrepreneur. She has already captured the hearts of many people with her acting skills in her recent releases, and if she continues to perform in the same manner, she can become an even more excellent star in the entertainment business.

EARLY CAREER

Persistence and dreams of making it into the industry led Beverly to land her first modeling gig. Sade began reaching out to several modeling agencies for auditions. However, her vision to work with the top modeling agencies was not easily met, as they all told her the same thing— that she was too curvy for the job.

Unfazed, she was determined to prove the naysayers wrong. She discovered urban modeling and much needed acceptance as a professional. The attributes that were viewed negatively in the mainstream modeling industry were being viewed positively. She was now embraced for her curves. She began booking magazine features, commercials, and music video lead roles.

Later, after some time working as a model, she wanted to transition. Still, many people discouraged her and told her she was only considered eye candy, and it would be difficult for her to transition, but that soon changed. Beverly Sade has always been the type of woman who refuses to give weight to people’s words. This alone helped her achieve numerous things.

FROM FORMER MODEL TO A RISING ACTRESS

She made her entertainment debut in 2015, co-starring in Starz’s popular series ‘Power.’ She also appeared in Guy Code on MTV and HBO’s How to Make It in America. She turned heads in her  role as Candy in the Television Movie called ‘Sinners Wanted,’ where she starred in 2018, and followed up with the role of  Angel on TBS’s drama The Last OG.

NEXT STRIDE: BESTSELLING AUTHOR

Sade didn’t stop there; she kept broadening her horizons and never lost sight of her writing. Sade, of all people, is quite familiar with the harsh realities of stepping into the entertainment industry and is well aware of what women have to go through on a daily.

She has released a new book titled ‘Through Her Eyes, Behind Her Smile, which essentially is dedicated to women all around the globe. “As women, we go through a lot,” Beverly explains. We bear the weight of the world on our shoulders. They must understand they’re not alone.” Her book gives us a different angle on her life and how the struggles of every woman are universal.

Beverly also happens to be an avid writer—she has contributed to the works of other authors throughout her career.

SADE’S WRITING AND HER MESSAGE TO WOMEN

Sade’s new book is an inspirational and uplifting poetry book dedicated to women. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.

She is thrilled that her new book ‘Through Her Eyes Behind Her Smile’ has witnessed tremendous popularity, allowing readers to look into a part of her that she doesn’t often show to the world.

She’s poured her whole heart into this book in hopes that she could make a difference in women’s lives. Her goal is to heal broken hearts and spirits through her writings by promoting self-love and self-empowerment. Beverly explains that “Through Her Eyes Behind Her Smile” will make you gaze in the mirror, discover your true self, and shower yourself with love.

Entrepreneur

It’s rare to come across individuals who manage to juggle so many things at once; Sade leaves us in awe with her life journey and future plans. She’s taking over and shows no signs of stopping.

Beverly’s first book was released in 2009. She’s written two best-sellers since then. She is the owner of Beverly Sade Publications and The Beverly Company, an established production company that encourages diversity in literature, television and film. When Beverly isn’t lighting up screens, she’s setting the publishing world ablaze. Her newest novel is being well received and ranked on Amazon’s top 100 best-selling list. In addition, she currently has her next novel in production. She is a Philly native with an unbounded desire to learn and grow. Beverly is interested in writing, producing and starring in a feature film. Her transformation from a former model to actor and successful writer has left us all awestruck. This talented and rising actress is one to watch.

Filling a Need: Revolutionizing Cloud Architecture Education and Training

NY Weekly Staff on March 8, 2022

Mike Gibbs had been working in the technology sector for half a decade when he discovered that he loved helping others to find and to excel at tech careers.

“I found that I really loved teaching and coaching others, helping them get their first tech job, helping them learn new skills, teaching them how to get promoted,” Mike says. “It was something that I did just as a hobby, just to help others.”

But after a decade of helping people as a hobby, something happened that led Mike to convert the hobby into a full-time pursuit; he was in a life-changing accident that forced him to push pause on his tech career.

“I was injured in a martial arts accident that left me unable to walk,” Mike explains. “I used to travel 200,000 to 300,000 miles a year consulting with clients, but the accident left me in no condition to travel the world. I was actually in a physical therapy clinic for six to eight hours a day every day for about six years straight.”

During Mike’s recovery, he started to dream about his coaching hobby becoming something more.

“While I was doing physical therapy, I continued to coach people in my spare time. And I thought, if I am ever able to walk again, if I am ever able to sit in a chair again, then I am going to develop a program to help others,” Mike remembers. “I wanted to do my coaching on a larger scale. I started gearing up for it.”

The catalytic moment came when Mike was asked to guide a friend’s son in finding the best tech sector career. Mike recommended cloud computing, then set up the young man with several cloud computing training courses that he purchased online.

During the first week of the training, Mike quickly discovered that the training courses, which were the top three courses on the market at the time, had serious problems.

“I watched these videos in horror,” Mike says. “All they did was mention the name of the service and how to configure it. These courses were sold as training for solutions architects or cloud architects, which are systems designers. Systems designers don’t configure anything. What they do is design systems. And in order to design systems, you must know how they work. If an architect’s job is to design, they need to learn how the technology works, why the organizations use it, and how to design it.”

After sitting through the training, Mike decided he needed to do something. “I said to myself that nobody would potentially teach training in technology without talking about what the technology is and how it works and why you would use it. Without that, you are only creating technicians whose skills are limited to typing in a few keys. You’re not creating architects.”

Mike confirmed his suspicions about the effectiveness of the training courses by doing extensive research. He interviewed 1,000 Amazon certified professionals who had received Amazon Web Services certification as a solution architect.

“I wanted to see if I could hire any of them to work as a cloud architect,” Mike explains. “And none were capable. All knew the names of the services and how to configure them. But none knew how they worked or how to design them. None of them knew about digital transformation or any parts of the cloud architect job.”

Mike responded by producing a YouTube video that explained how to get a cloud architect job. Within hours, he received so many emails requesting more help that he knew it was time to launch Go Cloud Careers.

“It was the same work that I had been doing; it was coaching,” Mike says. “But now I was going to do something different. I was going to create a coaching program that would give people the elite career guidance that I had been sharing for years. But I was going to do it at a price that everybody can afford.”

Mike launched Go Cloud Careers and offered an elite training program for the cloud architect that includes everything necessary to get someone started in a great technology career.

“It is training that would normally cost $25,000 to $50,000 because it teaches all the critical skills for the cloud architect who is also a business leader,” Mike explains. “We teach cloud computing. We teach architecture. We teach business acumen. We teach CXO relevancy. We teach people how to have executive presence and how to deliver presentations. We teach the student how to do an ROI model. We teach the student how to sell. We teach the student how to write, how to present, and of course how to negotiate.”

And the results of the training are remarkable. “We’re able to take people with limited experience and get them hired every single day at major cloud providers, major banks, major data centers, and all kinds of wonderful technology companies,” 

One year after launching, the program has attracted students from around the world. In addition to giving students a deep knowledge of the technology with which they will be working, it provides leadership training, emotional intelligence training, soft skills training, and communications training.

“Our competitors have a 20 or so hour program. Our program is approximately 500 hours,” Mike explains. “We charge a single day’s pay for the average cloud architect for this training, because our whole goal is one thing: help people get hired. All of the other training courses focus on helping people get certified. We help people get hired. We give them all the tools necessary to do it. It’s a certifications ‘plus’ approach.”

Building on the success of its initial program, Go Cloud Careers is expanding beyond the cloud architecture space to launch a cloud engineering program that will provide training on everything necessary to go from beginner to being hired as a cloud engineer.

Go Cloud Careers is also developing a program to be released before the end of 2022 that will train those leaving military service on how to get high paying technology careers.

“We believe that no veteran should ever leave the US military without a six figure job and we’re going to do everything we can to help veterans to secure a high paying tech career,” Mike says. “That’s a program we’re very excited about and launching this year.”

During 2022 Go Cloud Careers also will continue to offer free programs to assist people in obtaining certification for the AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate, the AWS Advanced Networking Course, and the Cisco Certified Network Associate. Presently, the company sponsors a group of 50 volunteers in Sub Saharan Africa who are teaching cloud computing to those looking to get their first technology job.

For those looking to break into the technology field, Go Cloud Careers offers a revolutionary approach that delivers outstanding results. For those already in the field who are looking to advance, Go Cloud Careers offers a Tech Career Accelerator Program that will help them to take the next step. Regardless of your dream, Go Cloud Careers will make sure that you have the skills that you need to achieve it.

As Mike says: “Our focus is 100 percent optimizing the careers of our clients.” 

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