AR x Love of Lab . . . with Ippolito Caradonna

AR x Love of Lab . . . with Ippolito Caradonna

by | Mar 25, 2022 | Creative Innovators Podcast, Music

Ippolito Caradonna image

Question:  How can we use Augmented Reality to enhance the practice of collaborative biology?

Guest: Ippolito Imani Caradonna, Co-Founder/CEO, Aug Lab; Director, HoloPractice

Ippolito Caradonna mixes his love for biology with his background in film and passion for assisted research.  He is co-founding Aug Lab, an AR software interface for laboratory production that helps scientists traverse the complex topography of a lab.  He shares with us how he first fell in love with molecular biology through gene regulation.  His journey has not been a straight line.  After starting in film at Loyola Marymount, he became a social worker for 6 years in Santa Clara County, near where he grew up in Gilroy, CA.  He has had, what we call postcard moments in this show, where he dropped out of film school.  He went back to school, fascinated by “junk DNA,” the extra DNA not being used.  He melded theater, music, and other areas of art in parallel with lab studies.  He shares how he bugged his now-parter, Christian Lafayette, to work with him on an augmented reality solution.  He shares his plans for Aug Lab in designing with other lab professionals how do we augment the lab experience vs changing it or distracting from their work.  He ends with his own values of making lab work understandable and accessible for young professionals exploring STEM careers and hopes that Aug Lab will make training easier to explore.
Our Guest

Ippolito Caradonna is a passionate molecular biologist with over 10 years of experience in academic and industry labs. He co-founded Aug Lab, an AR software prototype that spatially projects a projected environment for lab and collaborative work.  He has over two years in the Medical XR (mixed reality) arena as a mentor via the Black Technology Mentorship Program. He is also the director of a HoloPractice – a private incubator of technologists and health & wellness professionals building experiential platforms.

Giving back to his community is one of his most important values and his commitment to authentic personal relationships is the cornerstone of his professional foundation.  He is passionate about shifting the paradigm in the laboratory from the 2D protocol-driven lab operation to a human-centered technology transfer that uses a digitally projected shared interactive environment.

Mentioned Links

Timecode

  • 00:00 Introduction
  • 01:03 HoloPractice – What is it?
  • 02:03 Molecular Biology
  • 02:47 Aug Lab – What is it?
  • 05:09 Falling in Love with the Lab and Biology
  • 06:12 Leaving Film for Social Work
  • 12:39 Liquid handling robot as a gateway to AR
  • 14:13 Pursuing his co-founder
  • 26:22 Envisioning science careers
Leaning Out Over His Skis . . . with Jeremy Sirota

Leaning Out Over His Skis . . . with Jeremy Sirota

by | Mar 15, 2022 | Creative Innovators Podcast, Music

Jeremy Sirota

Question:  How can a Creative Innovator make big jumps and leaps into new areas?

Guest: Jeremy Sirota, CEO, Merlin

Our first guest of Season 2 shares his tales of two loves: music and technology. His journey to Merlin includes early fandom in the Orange County punk rock scene, learning brand design in New York City while launching a mini fashion brand, and a road through technology law, Warner Music, and Facebook. He shares his adventures “leaning out over his skis” and growing outside of his comfort zone. He talks about relationships and “finding enough space that luck finds you.” Jeremy shares his learnings and beliefs in managing organizations and teams, as well as his challenges in managing as a new CEO into the heart of the Pandemic.

Our Guest

Jeremy Sirota is CEO of Merlin, the Independents’ digital music licensing partner that strikes premium deals for its members with services like Apple, Facebook, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. Sirota has been recognized four times by Billboard, including Indie Power Player, International Power Player, and the 2022 Power List. Last year, Merlin added 32 independent labels and distributors from 17 countries to its membership and represents over 15% of the global market share. Prior to Merlin, he was an executive on the Facebook Music team, where he helped shape its music strategy as well as licensed rights from independents worldwide. Sirota previously held a number of senior positions at Warner Music Group, culminating as Head of Business & Legal Affairs for WEA and ADA. Early in his career, he was a technology lawyer at Morrison & Forster. For more, visit https://merlinnetwork.org/

Mentioned Links

Timecode

  • 00:00 Introduction
  • 01:03 Merlin
  • 03:51 Growing Up: Punk Rock & CIA?
  • 06:42 College in Rhetoric?
  • 08:33 New York in Design
  • 14:03 Luck Finds You
  • 19:28 Managing in Large and Small Companies
  • 22:03 Merlin in 2020-22
  • 28:12 North Stars and Team Goals
  • 31:34 Big Ahas
  • 36:14 Personal Side
  • 39:19 Encouraging as a Parent
  • 41:05 Intersecting Music and Tech
That Was an Accident . . . with Martin Atkins

That Was an Accident . . . with Martin Atkins

by | Mar 18, 2021 | Creative Innovators Podcast

Martin Atkins

Question: How do you decide what adventures to take in your nonlinear career?  What are intentional plans vs. accidents?

Guest: Martin Atkins, Music Industries Coordinator, Millikin University; producer, drummer, documentary filmmaker, DJ, and teacher

Photo: Kara Hammond and NARAS

Martin Atkins talked with our host, Gigi Johnson, from his studio that also acts as a museum of all of the adventurous projects around his career.  Martin shared how he began drumming at age 9 and persistently getting into Public Image Ltd, waiting through 5 drummers.  He talked about believing early on that he had a job — “it’s being me.”  He diversified by accident and kept adding roles as blockages came his way, including launching bands and labels.  Each time, he picked the best option that arose and looked for both safety nets and for solutions IN the problem itself.

Our Guest

Martin Atkins is the definition of entrepreneurial activity in cultural arts endeavors, his 35+ years in the music business spans across genres, borders, and industries.

He was a member of Public Image Ltd and Killing Joke. He founded industrial supergroup Pigface, The Damage Manual, and Murder Inc., and has contributed to Nine Inch Nails (for which he has a Grammy) and Ministry. He is the owner of Invisible Records and Mattress Factory Recording Studios (est. 1988). He is the author of “Tour:Smart, Welcome To The Music Business….You’re F*cked!” and “Band:Smart.”  He is the Music Industries Coordinator at Millikin University in Decatur Illinois. Martin is a producer, drummer, documentary filmmaker, DJ, and father of four.

Whatever the future of entrepreneurial music business education is, you can pretty much bet that he’ll be in the middle of it.

Mentioned Links:

A Very Human Culture . . . with David Hernandez

A Very Human Culture . . . with David Hernandez

by | Feb 25, 2021 | Creative Innovators Podcast

David Hernandez

Question: What if you could build a company around your passions?

In this episode, David Hernandez shares how he is unlearning and relearning what he knows to create competition for his company . . . in his own company!  He runs Colonize Media, a multiplatform network music aggregator.  He has worked to create “a very human culture” with his team of 30+ people and now works to “break artists from nothing.”

Guest: David Hernandez, CEO, Colonize Media

David Hernandez is the CEO and co-founder of Colonize Media, a digital content distribution service created in 2015. Originally from Jalisco, Mexico, David Hernandez grew up in a family of performers and entertainers. David Hernandez has applied his love and passion for the music and entertainment industry to Colonize Media, which was first founded to help increase traction for Latin artists and their content. Colonize Media now serves over 10,000 independent artists and record labels across all genres with 600,000 tracks and videos and 3,000,000,000 monthly streams.

Colonize Media’s goal is to aid in maximizing creators’ content, through marketing, advertising, and promotions. Colonize Media also helps artists to develop content strategies by analyzing digital data to better understand the music community as a whole, including listener demographics and listening trends. By helping clients reach a larger audience and generate more revenue, Colonize Media helps artists keep creating content they love.

Links:

  • David Hernandez – davidh@colonizemedia.com
  • Colonize Media – https://colonizemedia.com/
  • The Book Gigi Mentioned: “Overcoming Underearning” by Barbara Stanny
Ceremony and Story . . . with Beatie Wolfe

Ceremony and Story . . . with Beatie Wolfe

by | Feb 18, 2021 | Creative Innovators Podcast

Beatie Wolfe

Question: What if you could pursue the creative projects that you already saw in the world?

Guest: Beatie Wolfe, Singer, Songwriter, Technologist

(Photo: Ross Harris)

In this episode, Beatie Wolfe takes us through her creative journey to become the technologist and artist she is today.  Back when she was 7 or 8, she began to imagine the “music books” (album covers) that she wanted over music and moved to reimagine the vinyl experience in her later work.  She shares her journey through projects like “Raw Space” (the anti-stream in the more quiet room in the world).  She also discussed “From Green to Red,” which she created for this year’s London Design Biennale, and “Postcards from Democracy” with Mark Mothersbough that will be a Featured Session at March 2021’s SXSW Online.  Enjoy Beatie’s journey to create and re-create our ceremonial experiences around music in the real world.

About Beatie:
“Musical weirdo and visionary” (Vice) Beatie Wolfe is an artist who has beamed her music into space, been appointed a UN role model for innovation, and held an acclaimed solo exhibition of her ‘world first’ album designs at the V&A Museum. Named by WIRED as one of “22 people changing the world,” Beatie Wolfe is at the forefront of pioneering new formats for music that bridge the physical and digital, which include: a 3D theatre for the palm of your hand; a wearable record jacket – cut by Bowie and Hendrix’s tailor out of fabric woven with Wolfe’s music – and most recently an ‘anti-stream’ from the quietest room on earth. Wolfe is also the co-founder of a “profound” (The Times) research project looking at the power of music for people living with dementia.

The Barbican recently commissioned a documentary about Beatie Wolfe’s pioneering work titled “Orange Juice for the Ears: From Space Beams to Anti-Streams” and Wolfe’s latest innovation is an environmental protest piece built using 800,000 of historic data that will be premiered at the London Design Biennale in 2021.

Mentioned Links:

Question: What if you could pursue the creative projects that you already saw in the world?

Guest: Beatie Wolfe, Singer, Songwriter, Technologist

In this episode, Beatie Wolfe takes us through her creative journey to become the technologist and artist she is today.  Back when she was 7 or 8, she began to imagine the “music books” (album covers) that she wanted over music and moved to reimagine the vinyl experience in her later work.  She shares her journey through projects like “Raw Space” (the anti-stream in the more quiet room in the world).  She also discussed “From Green to Red,” which she created for this year’s London Design Biennale, and “Postcards from Democracy” with Mark Mothersbough that will be a Featured Session at March 2021’s SXSW Online.  Enjoy Beatie’s journey to create and re-create our ceremonial experiences around music in the real world.

About Beatie:
“Musical weirdo and visionary” (Vice) Beatie Wolfe is an artist who has beamed her music into space, been appointed a UN role model for innovation, and held an acclaimed solo exhibition of her ‘world first’ album designs at the V&A Museum. Named by WIRED as one of “22 people changing the world,” Beatie Wolfe is at the forefront of pioneering new formats for music that bridge the physical and digital, which include: a 3D theatre for the palm of your hand; a wearable record jacket – cut by Bowie and Hendrix’s tailor out of fabric woven with Wolfe’s music – and most recently an ‘anti-stream’ from the quietest room on earth. Wolfe is also the co-founder of a “profound” (The Times) research project looking at the power of music for people living with dementia.

The Barbican recently commissioned a documentary about Beatie Wolfe’s pioneering work titled “Orange Juice for the Ears: From Space Beams to Anti-Streams” and Wolfe’s latest innovation is an environmental protest piece built using 800,000 of historic data that will be premiered at the London Design Biennale in 2021.

Mentioned Links:

Finance, Story, and The Storm . . . with Christopher Zyda

Finance, Story, and The Storm . . . with Christopher Zyda

by | Feb 11, 2021 | Creative Innovators Podcast

Chris Zyda

Question: What if you need to leave creative work to deal with crisis?  How can you bring your creativity to other fields?

Guest: Christopher Zyda, Author; CEO, Mozaic LLC

In this episode, Christopher Zyda shares his journey through the 1980s AIDS pandemic as a young professional writer-to-be and his shift into finance to help care for his partner while dealing with insecurities and fears in launching a life.  He tells of his choices to go to graduate school, his persistence and a kind person that got him into Disney finance, his Zelig-like choices of taking financial leadership roles at Amazon, Ebay, and a mortgage finance company, and his newer role of leading Mozaic, a financial investment firm. All of this work in finance still involved storytelling and learning everything he can.  Chris tells the story of returning back to writing with his biography of his own AIDS-era journey with his new book “The Storm.”  

About Chris

Christopher Zyda is the author of The Storm: One Voice from the AIDS Generation.

Chris is also the CEO of Mozaic-LLC, an independent, privately-owned firm that focuses on wealth management, family office, and corporate advisory services. He has over 30 years of investment management and senior-level corporate finance experience at several high-profile growth companies including The Walt Disney Company, Amazon.com, and eBay.

Chris earned a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1989 with a concentration in Finance and achieved Beta Gamma Sigma honors. Chris also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of California Los Angeles in 1984.

Chris serves on the UCLA English department Board of Visitors, the advisory board for the LZ-Grace Warrior Retreat for special operations warrior veterans and Tier 1 first responders, and the advisory board for Veterans in Media and Entertainment.

In addition to investments and finance, Chris enjoys training in CrossFit and Olympic lifting, running, skiing, river rafting, playing the piano, and creative writing.