Monthly Archives: May 2024
Zenzi Gadson Crafts Elegant Spaces Through Collaboration
In this episode, I talk to Zenzi Gadson. She’s the co-founder of Maurice Gadson, an interior design firm based in Venice, CA. Interior design has become the subject of dining room conversations in my home ever since my eldest child entered the field, so it was such a treat to talk to someone who has been doing it so thoughtfully and at such a high level for more than 20 years. If you’ve ever wondered what skills and perspectives it takes to be an interior designer, or if like me, you’re parenting or mentoring someone who is pursuing that career, Zenzi’s story is a must-listen.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
The surprising skill that every aspiring interior design needs to refine
Her approach to producing delighted customers
The “Art of War”-like technique she uses to minimize the chances that her clients will make bad design choices
The travel destinations that inspire her design thinking
The three people she wants me to interview next
For more on Zenzi and her work, visit https://www.mauricegadson.com/
Rob Bernstein Tackles the Titans, From Wrestling Rings to AI Things
Rob Bernstein, like many in the Amherst College Class of 1994, graduated just as the internet became a consumer-facing proposition. But unlike yours truly, Rob hitched his career to the internet. As a result, over the last 30 years he has managed to stay ahead of the curve, navigating a pivot from print media to digital, and from the WWE to agency work at the highest levels.
As Chief Innovation Officer for Ketchum, a global communications firm, Rob spends his days peering around corners. The top question on his clients’ minds these days: what will be the impact of artificial intelligence on the way we work, live, and create? (Full disclosure: AI helped me write the title of this episode.)
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Rob is ambivalent about AI
How we can learn more about AI, and the ways in which it’s already changing the way many of us work
What the WWE was like from the inside, and what it was like to work with the likes of wrestling superstars John Cena and The Rock, as well as WWE founder Vince McMahon
The Amherst College classmates he’d like me to interview next
Here are links to the resources Rob recommends to learn about AI:
Newsletters: Neuron (https://join.theneurondaily.com/), TLDR (https://tldr.tech/)
AI tools: Claude (https://claude.ai), ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/), Gemini (https://gemini.google.com/)
To connect with Rob, visit his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbernstein/
Allen Hurlbert Wants You To Contribute To Citizen Science
In this episode, I catch up with one of the smartest guys I knew at Amherst College, Professor Allen Hurlbert.
Many of Allen’s college classmates will remember him for his fondness for birds. While that interest has flowered into a successful and prolific teaching career, birds provide just one input into the focal point of his research today: building an understanding of the processes that shape global patterns of biodiversity and how those patterns are being impacted by global change.
For the last several years, he also has spearheaded a citizen science project that invites all of us to track, record, and share information on the insects we find in our own backyards. It works a lot like birdwatching and can be just as fun and important for the advancement of our understanding of biodiversity.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
All about Allen’s citizen science project, Caterpillars Count, and just how easy and fun it can be to participate
The ways in which climate change may produce winners, losers, and species that are likely to adapt
Why overall bird populations have declined over the last several decades
What attracted him to the study of biodiversity in the first place
The Amherst College classmates he’d like me to interview next
To contact Allen, email him at ahhurlbert@gmail.com. You also can learn about Caterpillars Count at https://caterpillarscount.unc.edu/.
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