This is our Future: Saving the Planet . . . with Bas den Braber and Jenna Seiden

This is our Future: Saving the Planet . . . with Bas den Braber and Jenna Seiden

by | Dec 10, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

Bas and Jenna - Zambezi

In this episode, we hear how Bas den Braber and Jenna Seiden are following their purpose with Zambezi Partners, a benefits corporation with a mission to eradicate African wildlife poaching during our lifetime.  They both worked in large company business-to-business strategy, consulting, and brand leadership, and have found their purposes after their mid-career reality checks.  Their careers in their subsequent order built toward new opportunities . . . that led to their using tech tools to advance anti-poaching solutions.  They “grok” larger organizations and see the barriers to change — and share that experience as interpreters between tech and technology to create forward momentum and innovation with saving species of animals.  On Dec. 13, 2020, at EndangeredRangers.com, they are having a fundraiser to support fundraising around people on the ground, as well as the technologies being used to complement what they do . . . staying on track to save these animals . . . and on KNECT TV app on your Roku Player and other devices.

Guests: Bastiaan den Braber and Jenna Seiden, General Partners, Zambezi Ventures

Each has previously launched their own startups receiving venture funding, Swagtime.com and Boost VC-backed SAMO VR, respectively. They started working together in Global Director positions for the SDG-centric Dutch $30M venture fund, LUMO Labs. Bas introduced Jenna, a second-generation wildlife conservationist, to his vision to use their venture capital acumen and Silicon Valley best practice models to combat poaching, an issue he committing to solving when he first began doing safaris in Africa in 2003, subsequently becoming an FGASA Level 1 trained Field Guide. The two have formally devoted their lives to bring their technology and investor networks together with their experience in investments to have the impact they’ve believed in their whole lives.

They spend their time between Los Angeles and Zimbabwe where they have already partnered with a team on the ground in Harare and Panda Masuie overseeing investment opportunities and the deployment of the tech stack respectively. They will be on-site in Zimbabwe full-time upon securing the first 20% of the fund in addition to their own GP commit. An international, multi-disciplinary advisory board of industry sector experts, founders, asset managers, and executives is being established. 

Jenna Seiden

Jenna lives professionally at the intersection of technology and media, having worked for, with, or advised some of the biggest names in sports, entertainment, and technology. 

She helps engineers and executives with business development, project financing, and corporate strategy. She has evolved or created new business models to adapt to changing technology platforms. She excels at identifying and negotiating strategic partnerships, which have led to some of the largest digital, video game, and virtual reality deals to date. She went to UPENN and holds an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Jenna’s extended family managed the largest animal sanctuary in the Northeast and has been a fervent animal advocate since her youth. She even predicted her current duty to stop poaching when she was 12 emphatically identifying Zimbabwe, of all the places in the world, where she would someday live and save rhinos and elephants.

Bastiaan den Braber

Bastiaan spent 15-years with Capgemini Consulting, helping executives with digital strategy, innovation, redefining operating models, institutionalizing consumer-centric design, and improving commercial performance. Most recently he helped South African clients find multi-billion USD market opportunities. 

Using these tools he built SAMO VR, a venture capital-backed start-up that drives revenue in virtual and augmented reality by helping music industry companies define, finance, and deliver their emerging tech strategy. He recently served as Global Managing Director for SDG-centric Dutch fund, LUMO Labs, based in Los Angeles. In addition, he is an advisor to other start-ups, a frequent speaker, panel member, and moderator at industry events, and judges events like hackathons. He studied engineering and received his Master’s in business from Nyenrode University in The Netherlands. 

Bastiaan had the vision to use the best of the world’s venture capital acumen and models to combat African wildlife poaching when he first began doing safaris in Africa in 2003. He became an FGASA Level 1 trained Field Guide as part of his journey and formally devoted his life to bringing together the technology partners from his past in the Zambezi Project, with his present passion for venture capital to create Zambezi Ventures that can have the impact he’s believed in for nearly two decades.

Mentioned Links

Bas:

Jenna:

Wearing a Cape This Whole Time . . . with Tania Katan

Wearing a Cape This Whole Time . . . with Tania Katan

by | Nov 26, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

Tania Katan

Gigi played fangirl in this episode! Tania Katan shares her wit and wisdom about how to use creativity to challenge with playfulness our rigid organizational cultures. She works with large and small companies, helping them find new alignment around their daily contradictions through “small c” creative work, facing everyday practical problems with imagination. She shares the tales of #itwasneveradress (re-seeing the ladies’ room logo into a cape) and challenging the community to arm wrestle for art at the Scottsdale Museum of Art. She speaks and challenges how we connect virtually in her keynotes and works with organizational leaders through her “Creative Trespassing” classes and new membership organization.

Guest: Tania Katan, CEO, Creative Trespassing

Tania is a transformational speaker, innovation coach, and co-creator of the globally viral women’s empowerment campaign #ItWasNeverADress. Her unique way of formulating ideas led to the groundbreaking bestselling book, “Creative Trespassing: How to Put the Spark and Joy Back into Your Work and Life” (Penguin Random House, February 2019).

For over a decade, Tania has been successfully sneaking creativity into Fortune 500 companies, leading tech companies, arts organizations, marketing conventions, and innovation summits to teach people and companies the skill of generating creative breakthroughs. Some of the organizations and major conferences impacted by her work include: CiscoLive!, Expedia, Amazon, Google, Humana, Etsy, TED, World Domination Summit, Uber, and Comedy Central Stage.

Katan’s status-quo-busting work has also appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, HuffPost, Time, BuzzFeed, CNN, Adweek, Mashable, Forbes, ReadWrite and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, among others.

If you long to leap from fear to freedom and just need a map… Here You Are: https://taniakatan.com

 

Interesting Mentions:

 

 

    Pirates, Magicians, and Wizards . . . with Megan Elliott

    Pirates, Magicians, and Wizards . . . with Megan Elliott

    by | Nov 17, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

    Megan Elliott

    Megan Elliott shares her journey from Australia and indigenous cultural media to trade union representation in Ireland to traveling across Asia connecting leaders and cultures . . before she was found on LinkedIn to bring her superpowers to Nebraska. She tells of the shared collaborative creation of the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, which works to create “pirates, magicians, and wizards” who can reach their dream job or create their dream company right out of school.

    Guest: Megan Elliott, Founding Director, Johnny Carson Center For Emerging Media Arts, University Of Nebraska, Lincoln

    Megan Elliott is the founding director of the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. She was previously the manager of leadership and community connections at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia and former director and CEO of digital media think-tank X Media Lab.

    From 2015-2016, Elliott served as the manager of Leadership and Community Connections at the University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, Australia’s number-one young university, where she led an international program for students to develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills, as well as instilling a commitment to innovation, social justice, community building, and sustainability.

    Elliott has deep ties to emerging media industries across Asia, Europe, and the world. She served as co-founder and director of China Creative Industries Exchange in Beijing and Shanghai, China, from 2007-2015.

    From 2005 to 2015, Elliott was the director/chief executive officer for X Media Lab (XML), an internationally acclaimed digital media think-tank and creative workshop for the creative industries that she co-founded with Brendan Harkin. XML created a meeting place uniquely designed to assist companies and people to get their own creative ideas successfully to market. Some of XML’s partners included the Sydney Film Festival, Beijing Film Academy, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India, the national broadcaster (NPO) in Amsterdam, the American Film Institute, Digital Hollywood and 5D Global in Hollywood, the British Council, and the Federal Office of Culture in Switzerland.

    Elliott and Harkin were recently chosen as two of five people to have their oral histories recorded for the National Film and Sound Archive in Australia, as two people pivotal to the development of the interactive media arts industries.

    She also served from 2002-2006 as the executive director of the Australian Writers’ Guild.

    Originally from Australia, Elliott received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Canberra in Bruce, Australia.

    She began her career in theatre with the Splinters Theatre of Spectacle and has also served as a performer/artist in residence/assistant project manager for The Performance Space, Australia’s leading performance space and gallery for the research and development of interdisciplinary arts.

     

    The Center: The Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts is an investment by the University made possible by a recent $20 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation from the Johnny Carson Foundation in November 2015. The Johnny Carson Center will be an internationally distinct program focusing on virtual production, film, design, technology, and commerce. It will explore the boundaries of where cinematic narrative and storytelling intersects with artificial intelligence, science, the humanities, computer science, engineering, music, fine arts, and other disciplines. Students will learn, among other things, how to create content for film and television, game design, interactive media, internet media, and augmented and virtual reality.

     

    Mentioned Links

    Megan

    Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln

     

      MONDO.NYC

      MONDO.NYC

      by | Oct 11, 2020 | Events and Projects, Future Events

      Upcoming Events

      MONDO.NYC

      October 13-16, 2020 – ONLINE

      Mondo.nyc

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      Registration / INFO

      Celebrating its fifth Anniversary, #MondoNYC is a four-day global interactive meeting and livestream conference and showcase festival, a vital pipeline of information, connectivity, and curation of great new music, cutting edge technology and innovators in the music, tech and academic world.

      Gigi Johnson, our Managing Partner, is thrilled to be a Mondo 2020 partner and speaker on Tuesday, Oct. 13th at 2 pm EDT and to offer our friends 20% off registration price for the day, or entire four-day event, using code “mondo202020“.

      For more info:  https://www.mondo.nyc/speakers

      Social Proof and Pushing Forward . . . with Ty Frankel

      Social Proof and Pushing Forward . . . with Ty Frankel

      by | Sep 21, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

      Ty Frankel

      In this episode, Ty Frankel shares how as a young music creator and entrepreneur he pushed to create relationships to build Shut Down Media. His multi-country company creates hip hop music for integration into film and television. He talks about how he overcame obstacles, how he got distracted, and how he returned to his core business.  He talked about being inspired by Rich Dad, Poor Dad and other books on how to build his career.  Ty shares how his company has pivoted with film and television during this crisis, and how it has spurred him to launch even more adventures.  

      Guest: Ty Frankel, Founder and CEO, Shut Down Media

      Ty Frankel started making rap beats from his home in Israel at just 14 years old. Since inception in 2017, Shut Down Media has grown with divisions like Shut Down Production Music, Shut Down Art, and Shut Down Sync. In only three years, Shut Down Media has worked with clients such as UMPG, Warner, NBA 2K, Fortnite, The Ellen Show, Mercedes-Benz, and many more. 

      Ty is a writer for UPMG and Warner and has secured placements on shows like Saturday Night Live. Not only has he built multiple companies at the age of 22, but he’s also created new in-house record labels with the likes of FirstCom and No Sheet Music.

      Mentioned Links: