Improv, Influence & Authenticity: Speaking Truth with Meridith Grundei

Do you want to know the secret to Success? Welcome to rulesforsuccess.com a platform that unites the accomplished and the ambitious. We're here to arm you with the invaluable knowledge of individuals who have paved their own path to success. And now let's get into the show with dynamic host, Joseph Varghese. Hi, friends, Joseph Varghese here. Welcome to our podcast rulesforsuccess.com where we get to engage with inspiring leaders, thought leaders, influencers, people in the space of making you better and our mission with ventures. We have success circles and our podcast is about making you better. So today I've got someone extraordinary, someone I've gotten to connect with in recent weeks. She's a public speaking and presentation expert for visionaries. She's an executive communication trainer, keynote speaker. She helps leaders create unforgettable experiences. Meredith Grundi works with bold entrepreneurs, technical leaders and visionaries to turn complex ideas into clear and compelling messages. She helps them use their voice as a powerful tool for impact. Whether you're pitching, presenting, or leading the room, your presence should reflect brilliance you bring with a background. As an award winning theater director, producer, and former Second City improv teacher, Meredith spent over a decade coaching leaders, entrepreneurs and experts to find their footing and their own room. Her clients include folks in Amazon, Google, Mercer, Merck, Accenture, Panasonic, and much, much more. I'm so happy to have you today, Meredith. How are you today?

I'm great, thank you. It's always so wonderful to hear someone else, like, read back your bio. It's very telling.

Yes, yes. For me. And for me, the expectations have been higher because you're an expert in communication. And there's this concept we play with in the communities that I lead, we rise to the expectation of our peer groups. So it's like when we connect and engage with somebody, the next time we engage with them, hopefully they expect us to be better and to rise because of who we are. And just based on who you are, your background as a public speaker, communicator, coach, you know, background in improv, Second City, for me, the expectations even much higher because of that.

Well, you did great. That was amazing. Thank you, thank you.

Yeah, of course, of course. And I know you are absolutely brilliant in the technical space. We connected recently at a summit with Andrew Young here in New York.

It was great. Yes, it's a really good summit.

Yes, yes. What brought you on this journey? I know you're from Colorado, you live in New York now. What brought you on this journey toward this creative world of impacting people this way.

Oh, wow. I don't even know where to start with that. I'm going to try to give you the Cliff Note version, which is I have always just been incredibly curious about what people do for a living. I remember being really confused too, about what people do for a living. I lived with a father who was a financial manager. I remember asking him, what do I do with my money when I get older? And he basically just said, open a Roth IRA and don't touch it. And then when I listened to him talk to his colleagues, I was like, they're speaking another language. This is, this is. And so I found that fascinating and it made me really curious about, like, what would it be like if everyone could be a part of the conversation? And so, yes. I grew up as a performer. I have a master's in theater. I had the privilege of living in San Francisco as a performer. I moved to Chicago specifically to study improvised. I've taught after school programs for kids. I got to develop the curriculum for the youth program at the Second City, which is why I started teaching there. And then I got to teach in the corporate setting. I took improv into corporations and worked with teams on how to heighten communication, build trust, and so forth from there. That's where I started getting into coaching executives and leaders in presentation delivery, oftentimes because they had big conferences that they had to attend and needed somebody to support them and all while doing that, I was continuing as a freelance artist doing voiceover, doing commercials, stage work mostly. And I did a lot of that between San Francisco, Chicago, and then Denver, Colorado. And part of the reason why I ended up in Manhattan was not to act. It was just mostly because we wanted to be around more culture and diversity. And we adopted our daughter. She was a newborn. She's black. We're like, we need to be in a more diverse city. We need to be better as parents and do better. So we moved to Manhattan sight unseen and got an apartment in Washington Heights. It was the best decision I've ever made. And it's one of those decisions that was very uncomfortable in a lot of ways. We left a house that we owned. We left comfort. But I always feel that there's growth in uncomfortability.

Yes, yes.

And so that's the Cliff Note version.

Incredible. I love your journey, all of that. Coming here to New York. So seven years now, raising a family, embracing culture, diversity. New York certainly has a lot of Agrippa. New York. I am jealous because you were in Chicago Second City and I'm sure you've studied with some of the greatest institutions for improv. Improv is something that changed my life. So for our audience, Meredith has a huge impact in a number of communities. She works with engineers who are very left brain like I was and, and she works with top entrepreneurs, organizations. You mentioned some of the organizations before. For me, leaving the engineering world in 2001, getting on this journey to find my voice, studying with some of the top experts here in New York. Locally, I've always wanted to go to Second City and I've gone to Chicago a few times over the years. It's extraordinary being able to engaged in improv and basically to get out of your head, to be fully present in the moment for the things that are important to you, especially when it comes to presenting and speaking, but in everything. For me, my kids, my wife, the different ventures, clients, improv is one of the most impactful skills that's changed my life to the point where I still take improv classes 20 some years later because the muscle is so relevant. It's like being in the moment and then you combine that with public speaking, communication, vocal exercise, vocal awareness. And extraordinary things can happen. If you're an engineer or any left brain profession, financial person, financial profession, being able to engage a team, a meeting can skyrocket you to the next level, career wise and opportunity, or even with your family, with your kids, is being able to bring fun play. I was sharing with Meredith before the conversation, before we started the podcast here pre Covid. A week before COVID happened, I was doing an improv class in New York on musical theater improv. Very challenging, very much out of, out of your head. Like singing, dancing on stage, five, six day immersion, magnet theater. Then Covid hit. Whereas some of my friends, people in my family, their relationships suffered and struggled and breakdowns happened because you have two individuals now being occupied in a home together. For me, bringing play into the conversation every day. Dance, play music was a game changer. It brought light to everything throughout those critical few months. Early in Covid, my wife was home working at home for several months and yeah, it's great. Yesterday was of course international play day, but we keep track of these things.

I'm sad I missed that. I love that. And you just said so many things. I wish I could carry you around in my pocket. But it was also life changing for me too. I just realized at the time I was doing a lot more stage acting. I just realized how much I was able to listen better and that that action and reaction and being present and being in the moment. And I love what you said too, about COVID and being able to bring play in. I feel that not only that, but what I noticed too, is that a lot of people were not able to handle that change or adapt either. And so that was the piece too, that I was so grateful for, which is like I could adapt and find the joy in that moment, as hard as it was. You know, I live in a place in Washington Heights where we just heard Ambulance. Right. So you. You can't. There's. You have to find that. What you just said, that playfulness, especially like with family and with your. Within your own relationships. So I love that you brought that up.

Yes, yes. And it's about being, as you mentioned, a part of your work is about teaching entrepreneurs how to be bold, think out of the box. There's a quote by improv instructor Day close. Follow the fear.

Yep.

Follow the fear and embrace that each day, and great things will happen. We believe in. In the community lead. We believe in this idea called compound effect. And basically the. That often occurs if we're willing to be a little more riskier, take more risks each day. Kind of follow the fear.

Yeah, right. Yeah.

And it's so vital. So how do you engage with different leaders, organizations, entrepreneurs, to get a little more bolder, to think out of the box, to be more expressed? How do you do that? I'm going to have my journey. 20 some years ago, I had to me, was leaving that whole world of being a technologist behind for some time until I could build the muscles around being in the moment. Yes. And improv. How do you now work with an individual who's looking to uplevel their world or life, whether they're an entrepreneur looking to scale their business or an executive CEO to be bolder, to be more expressive, to build better teams, all the things you do. What are your steps toward that? I'm curious.

Oh, there are so many different entrance points to that. First, it's really getting clear with the leader. How do you want to be showing up and how do you want to be engaging with your audience? What have you tried already? What's not working, what is working? And then building something from there with them that feels like it's going to be in service of where they're at. I am a big fan of getting people comfortably uncomfortable, which means that we're going to just. We're going to definitely be stepping outside of your comfort zone. And so that means there's going to be a lot of play Exploration, experimentation. And what I like to do with clients is move them towards finding ways that they're going to connect with their audience the best. Because in today's world, we cannot just talk from the stage anymore. We need to be engaging differently for multiple reasons. One, because we're very aware that there's different learners in the audience. Not one audience member is the same. And then two, we're a very distracted society. We all have a cell phone in our. In our pockets, sending off alerts 24 7. So what are you doing as a leader, as a presenter? To keep people engaged in the conversation and not over complicating it, simplifying it, leaving people curious, wanting more. And so that's really what I try to cultivate with people. And improv has structure.

Yes, yes.

We're not just making stuff up on the spot, we are making stuff up on the spot within a structure. So my job is to give my clients a very clear structure so they can find their voice and that formlessness within the structure. And that's where the play happens, that's where the engagement happens. But if you don't know the structure well enough, you are just throwing spaghetti noodles at the wall.

Exactly, exactly. Or gum to the ceiling and hopefully it's not going to fall on your head. Yeah. And structure creates freedom and structure creates opportunity. And having certain rules are very useful. And Bromph certainly has rules depending on the environment and so forth. Yeah. That's great what you just said before. Just clarifying what they want to do, like what the outcome is, whether out the impact, perhaps a team or whether it's. I'm sure in some cases we have members of our community who are looking to rise up the ladder in an organization, maybe becoming more of an executive where they're in a certain position to climb up. Communication, how we communicate oftentimes makes a big difference. They say that. I don't know how accurate this is anymore, the research is, but 7% of communication are only the words we say.

Yeah.

It's also about how we engage our body language, tonality, all of that. And then there's this whole other conversation about being authentic. Right. Bernie Brown talks about that. Adding another level of getting out of the superficial, being fully present, engaging, being authentic, speaking your heart, but responsibly. Right. Because sometimes we can give too much and that in a way can also break rapport because we're giving too much. That's responsibly establishing this relationship in public. Speaking often speak and voiceovers, trying to be back in voiceovers it's the idea of speaking to one person at a time.

Yes.

And always having that in mind. It's one of the greatest lessons I learned 20 years ago. I explored that as an idea to studying voice servers and realized I wasn't an actor. I wasn't trained to be such. So hence I built success circles and other ventures instead. Other ways of helping people find their voice. Yeah, but it's also speaking to one person at a time. Even though you're speaking to a room of 20 or 30 or in a boardroom, it's teaching those skills and it's building a little muscle. So it's great that you have embraced improv into what you do and into your teachings. Anything else you want to share on that journey? Helping people realize their potential?

Yeah. Well, I feel like a huge part of it is just giving people permission. It's creating those safe spaces where there's trust and where people feel they can take a risk and be courageous. Being able to build that container so that people can be themselves and not feel the resistance. And there will be resistance. There's all. There's going to be resistance, but it's the ability to give people that space to move through it. So the other thing I do is some of those clients, the one on one clients I bring into my confidently speaking program, which is improper speakers. So I've got two cohorts where people show up. It's like. I say it's like a gym membership. The more you show up, the more you're gonna get out of it. And that's a place where you can. Like yesterday I had people doing gesture and making sounds and getting expansive and getting contract and contract, contracting. And so there's lots of different things that I'm exploring in that group. And I've seen a lot of growth. I have one client in particular who lives here in New York as well. When she first showed up, she's been in the group for four years now. When she first showed up, she couldn't even get a word out edgewise. She was in so much judgment of herself and how it was coming out and how she was being perceived by other people. And now she's on fire.

Wow.

She's on fire. Like, she's. She launched a book. She. She's doing, you know, Instagram reels all the time. She's showing up on LinkedIn Live all the time. Like, she's just. It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool.

It's building a muscle to go in the gym each day and eventually you get better and your muscles get stronger and yeah, it's all of that.

We all feel vulnerable when we start something new. You're not alone.

Yes. I was there myself, very left brained, very much as analyzing, thinking 10 steps away. And if my wife had met me, let's say 20 years ago before I got on this journey, she probably would have walked away because I was just so planning ahead. But when I learned the skills of just trusting. Yes. And adding value, showing up, eye contact.

Yeah. Just.

It's just a complete game changer in life. Complete game changer for anything you want.

Yeah. Yeah. I would agree wholeheartedly. Yes.

Any other examples? You mentioned one client and I'm an engineer. That's why. So those, there are other engineers listening in the background here contemplating how they can kind of break out of their current setting and be more expressive and maybe go into becoming an executive.

Yeah. I would say figure out how, like what is your personal brand within your company? Like, how do you want to come across to people? Do you want to be that person that's in service of where you're helping and you're thinking ahead and you're helping and facilitating other projects? Are you a team player? Are you good at hearing everybody's ideas? Are you being inclusive? Improv is a great tool for you. That's a great way to learn those tools as well. I would say find ways to get outside of your comfort zone. So I work with AWS a lot and one of the programs that they have that's just fantastic is Amazon New Voices and it's their builders community. And so a lot of the people that come into this program are just huge AWS fans.

They implement what is aws?

Amazon Web Services.

Yes.

So what I love about that is that they're applying to be in this program and they get into this space and you know, this is like 400 people globally that don't know each other that are all showing up in a zoom room together.

Yes.

I invite cameras on which I know some people don't care for that because they want to be doing their multitasking. But I cannot tell you first of all how much growth I see in that program and how exhilarating it is for me to show up to it because there is nothing better than seeing over 100 people in gallery view on my screen doing jazz hands.

Love it.

Unapologetically love it. And then getting into breakout rooms and saying yes and to the exercises that I give them and building trust and building community with each other. So that when they get to go in front of strangers and deliver whatever their product or services that they've been working on, they can do it confidently because they know there's people there lifting them up. And so that, that has been pure joy for me.

Amazing.

The biggest thing I will say for engineers is to not get bogged down in the features of things that even when you're presenting to potential customers, they want you to solve their problem. You need to leave them wanting more. You need to simplify your content. And oftentimes what I notice is that there's an over complication of information. Like I, you know, like I said about my dad at the beginning, he was of course speaking to colleagues, but I think what was the problem is he had a hard time simplifying some of these concepts when he spoke to me. So it's just easier for him to tell me what to do. Yes, you don't want to be that person if you're going to grow as a leader.

Right, right. I've heard even in the world of marketing and sales, as we engage or write copyright content or speak, envision that you're speaking to one person. That person might be in the range of 15 to 17. They're kind of understanding, they're learning, they're open. And if we're assuming that everyone around us is as tactical as we are, then it's likely that things can get lost. And the moment that somebody in our audience has a disconnect at one point from what we're saying, oftentimes everything afterward gets disconnected to the whole idea of even when we speak. I've heard that when we replacing the word but with and is a better choice because oftentimes when we add the word but it just erases everything else we said beforehand. Basically fine tuning in our communication to be able to do that, to be able to hone in to the audience, but listen wholeheartedly and just get out of all the technical jargon which I've been stuck into. I got through college with a couple of engineering degrees because I'm a fast talking New Yorker and I can, I can feed a thousand words a minute, lots of jargon. Like in engineering disciplines, I was able to get through design projects and that might have worked back then 25, 30 years ago, right when I was in school to be able to do that. But when I came back into the world of being in business, being an entrepreneur, even doing sales, some of my first jobs, I had to throw all that out. And I have to learn hard and I fail. I Fail. I failed. I failed and failed and failed until I had to learn from people like yourself. And then leaving the corporate world, leaving the engineering world, learning improv, it suddenly made sense. Like understanding how people communicate. You study NLP or in all these different facets of communications. It can be a game changer if you choose it to.

Yes, it can. And I love it. It's the yes and it's the yes and attitude. Just yes and what's coming your way. And then be present with it.

Amazing. So how else are you using this in your life? So I know you're building the business, you've got the speakers community where improv is an integral part. You're working with AWS and other organizations. I met you through this summit of entrepreneurs in recent weeks. Are you also doing pitch competitions? Is that something that you're doing or analyzing presentations and people speak and connect, talking about their products?

Yeah. I actually just went to somebody else that we met at the OO Summit. He invited me to come to his. It was called Pitch Pop. So it was a pitch competition with judges. And so I sat down, watched five pitches, I think six actually, and gave people my card. I said, if you want further help. And a couple people came up to me before their pitch, like, would you start with this or would you start with that? And then of course, the one that had emotional connect and engagement with the audience, they'd be like that one. But a couple of them have gotten on my calendar and actually just before this call, had a really fantastic conversation with a founder about how they can improve their pitch. Because that's the other thing too. There's so much. There's so much out there. There's so much noise. And it's ambitious, awesome noise, but you've got to figure out how to cut through it by differentiating yourself. And sadly, too many people, their pitches are boring. They can be confusing. I sometimes will see they didn't do enough due diligence. So if they're speaking to a vc, it's obvious they don't know anything about what that VC cares about. So there's a lot of things that I feel if you're pitching, like, do you gotta do the work? If this is your baby and you're the voice of your baby?

Yes.

Yeah, you've gotta put in the work. You cannot fly by the seat of your pants. And I think what happens here is that people feel that they're not gonna come across as authentic. If they're prepared in a picture or presentation, they want to wing it. I know my stuff. Yeah, you do know your stuff. But just because you know your stuff doesn't mean you know how to organize your stuff in a way that your audience is going to hear it. You're too into it. You're too in the weeds with it. So if I were to give any advice to your listeners and the people watching right now who are in that they're raising funds or they're pitching their product for the first time, like, you've got to do the work.

Yeah. It's not worth winging it. And what often happens. And I'm. I take responsibility. I take responsibility for this as well. If you wing it one time, like I've been able to wing it a few times.

Yeah.

All of a sudden that feels that muscle. Well, I was able to wing it last time and I got this result. So let me just keep doing it again and being in the moment and speak things out loud. Doesn't work so well, especially if you have that one person in the audience who's an investor, who's watching wholeheartedly and it's clear that something got forgotten or left out or you weren't there because you're just in your head thinking about the next thing or whatnot, versus being fully there. Knowing fully well the presentation. A good speech is basically beginning and end and of course, having a decent middle, but knowing the conclusion and knowing the storytelling aspect of things, being able to speak into the experience of what inspires you. Right. To get to start your journey and talking to the person, Talking to myself too. All of that's very vital.

Yeah. And being able to bring your audience into the conversation. I think that's where a lot of people miss the mark, is that they're not bringing the audience into the conversation. They're not making the material relatable enough. They're not hitting upon the pain. Points for why people should care. And I feel like that's the biggest piece is like, you've got to give people a reason to care, and then you need to be clear about what you want them to do with the information you just gave them. And it can't be vague and you can't make assumptions.

A lot of good points. Absolutely. Some fantastic points all around. Any other tips you'd like to offer our audience? Like people, different settings. We talked about public speaking. The community you're leading, that you have involved. What is that community? How can people join your speaker's community? What are some steps for that?

Thank you. So it's called confidently speaking. It's an Online community for people who want to be better speakers. So I use improv. Every month there's a different theme. So this month, for example, we're working on body language, nonverbal communication, gesture, and so forth. Next month it'll be a different theme and it's like a gym membership for speakers. So you sign up. It's a membership. We meet four times a month. And I've got two different cohorts. One on Wednesday from 4 to 5pm Eastern time, and then Fridays from 12 to 1pm Eastern time. It's a lot of fun. And I. I'm a giver, man. I'm a giver.

So I could tell you why.

You're gonna get a lot of resources if you ask me questions. I'm never going to deny you. I want more people to be succeeding and using their voices and getting on more stages. That is my mission. And I don't care how. I just want you to be successful. That's it. I don't care how we get you there, but we're going to get you there.

I can tell you're a giver. You already brought tremendous value so far in this session. What are some rituals and habits you embrace on a daily basis to keep you engaged? Maybe being fully present. Years ago, when I. Years ago, when I go to situations that were somewhat challenging, where I had to engage people, I'd often listen to episodes of Whose Line Is Anyway, I love that in the background. And it would just get me in the mindset of thinking more in the moment, more creative, connecting dots, ideas. This is 20 years ago, and I was. And I have different rituals to get my day going. What are some things you do to get your day going? To maybe at the start of your day and your day to really ensure that you have a successful, extraordinary day leading the way? You do.

Oh, I love it. Well, there's a couple things. One is I. My husband and I, when we first got married, he learned really early on that I'm not a morning person. So he started the ritual of bringing me coffee every morning in bed. So I'm woken up with a cup of coffee and a lemon water. And then I get to go sit in the living room and we talk for about 15, 20 minutes. Sometimes our daughter will join us. That's how I start my mornings. And then I have a workout routine. So I have a class that I go to that's across the street. And then I usually meet with my first client at 10 in the morning. I block out everything before 10 just so that I can have that time and space for myself. I have always tried. And here's something that I've noticed with my really busy, like, executives, entrepreneurs, founders is. It's great to tell everyone to meditate, but I've noticed a lot of people struggle with that. Like, they can't find time for that. Whatever meditation means to you. Right. It could be sitting on a cushion. It could be walking in nature. And so I have developed what works for me, which is called microdosing meditation, which means that I will just. I'll be like, okay, Meredith, I can feel the feels. I'm feeling the anxiety coming on. So I'll sit in my chair. I'll feel the floor beneath my feet, or I'll stand up and feel that floor beneath my feet. I feel the ceiling above my head. I notice the air that's brushing my skin. And I'll put my hand on my chest and a hand over my belly above my diaphragm, and I will just regulate that vagus nerve. I'll do a breathing exercise, whether that's box breathing or the 4, 7, 8 breathing. But I'll do something that just gets me to calm in that moment. I'm also doing that work with my clients all day long. So I take advantage of that time. So I'm giving your audience permission to find the moments that are gonna work for you to in, like my husband and I incorporate gratitude into our morning coffee. Right. You don't have to set aside another 30 minutes in your day to find a way to just settle in. You can incorporate it into something that's already existing.

Absolutely brilliant. Really. It's very, very simple. And surrenders to the moment.

Yeah.

Find those moments throughout the day. And I love how you engage your senses. You feel into your belly, tap into gratitude. The simple practices of the coffee by your bedside. But my wife is not somebody who I know who meditates, but she does some of that what we talked about. I'm going to have her listen to this segment here, because I think you're speaking into her world.

Oh, good, good.

I meditate. I prime often. That's just how I show up. And every opportunity I have personally to do that, and everyone's different. It's just figuring out what works for you, you know? Exactly. Even pausing is a useful thing. Being able to find those moments, to just simply pause before saying anything.

Yeah.

Is often very useful.

Yeah. I love that. Yeah. I do feel that there's. There's so much noise out there about what we should be doing and shouldn't be doing and what makes a successful person, what makes a not successful person. And we got to cut through some of that and find out what really, truly works for you. And that takes some experimentation.

Exactly. You start learning about yourself and how you work and how you engage and all of that. We're all different. We all have our own unique individuality and personality traits. And sometimes that evolves as time progresses and muscles we build on a regular basis.

Yeah, I got tired of punishing myself, I'll be honest with you. I was like, I. I would read the books, you know, like the Tim Ferrisses and everyone. And I'd be like, I can't do this shit. I'm just like, I too, you know, my ADHD is like not jiving with the 30 minutes on the cushion. And I don't like cold plunges. I'm cold enough as it is. So what does work for me exactly?

Yeah, it's good to research these things too. Even cold plunges too. I've read in recent months that how for men it's a certain experience for somebody who's female, it could be reactionary, like their body fight or fright and how that can. So it's always good to like research, make choices, to talk to people, have conversations to learn, try practice different things.

Yeah, 100%.

If it can go back in time, Meredith, to the 18 year old version of yourself who's becoming an adult or maybe even the. Your daughter will be 18 in a number of years, few years. What's a bit of feedback advice you would give that version of yourself?

Hmm. I. Oh, that is a tough one. Just because there's so many, there's so many stories. I would say that to not worry so much about what other people think of you. I love this Martha Graham quote that's come up a few times this week already. So I always see the synchronicity in that. Which is what other people think of you is none of your business. I feel like I wish that that would have been my guiding mantra. I would tell my teenage self that I'm smart, that I'm good enough, that I'm capable. The same things I tell my daughter now you're. You don't have to succeed at everything and that your failures are gifts. We learned that in improv. And then what did you learn from it? What are you gonna do different next time? And that's. I feel that was a lot. That was more than one answer. But I just feel like there's just so many. I just. Kindness just to be gentle with myself, I would have been more gentle with myself. I was very hard on myself. Yes, I try to be perfect at everything and dance and. And when I wasn't perfect in school, I just dismissed it. Yeah.

Very, very good wisdom. Yeah, I concur. Incredible. Well, for our audience, tap into this podcast, the mind map, the summary@rulesforsuccess.com this podcast will be uploaded to all our sites, Spotify and Amazon and you name it, YouTube. It'll be all over rulesforsuccess.com access meredithswisdomerredithgrundi.com the last name is G R U N D E I.com or Grundi G-R-U N D E I coaching.com I appreciate this opportunity to connect and receive your wisdom. I love the world, the world you're in because it was part of my own evolution to get to where I am now. Completely life changing in so many ways. Thank you and wish you the best of luck.

Yeah, you too. Thank you.

That's it for Today's episode of rules4success.com podcast. Join us next week for another inspiring conversation with a successful entrepreneur. Until then, remember to be bold, be courageous and go after your dreams.