Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode Three: Fred Santarpia, CDO Conde Nast

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Episode Three: Fred Santarpia, CDO Conde Nast · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to episode three of Hurdle. Today's episode is brought
0:06
Speaker 1: to you by my sponsor, Ultra Shoes. I tried on
0:09
Speaker 1: my first pair of Ultras about four years ago now,
0:12
Speaker 1: and I immediately noticed a difference in the forefoot compared
0:15
Speaker 1: to other brands I've been wearing. You see, Ultra designs
0:18
Speaker 1: their shoes with a wider toe box, which really allows
0:21
Speaker 1: your toes to relax and spread out naturally, and that
0:24
Speaker 1: might be just the upgrade you need for your next run.
0:27
Speaker 1: I definitely encourage you to check them out again. That's
0:30
Speaker 1: Ultra al tr Shoes. If you're just joining me at home,
0:35
Speaker 1: my name is Emily Abadi, your lovely host. I am
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Speaker 1: a certified trainer, a run coach, also a writer, editor
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Speaker 1: and now podcaster living here in New York City. Feel
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Speaker 1: free to check me out on social at Emily Abodi.
0:50
Speaker 1: That's Abbate. Now a little bit about Hurdle, which you
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Speaker 1: can find also on social media at Hurdle Podcast. Hurdle
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Speaker 1: is a bye podcast that showcases people who got to
1:02
Speaker 1: a tough time in their life, a hurdle of sorts,
1:05
Speaker 1: and leaned into wellness to get over it. In this
1:08
Speaker 1: modern world we live in, filled with anxiety and pressure
1:12
Speaker 1: and obscene amounts of competition. Wellness in all of its forms,
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Speaker 1: is an outlet, and that can look like a lot
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Speaker 1: of things right. It can maybe mean starting a new
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Speaker 1: fitness routine, trying running or yoga. Maybe it's adopting a
1:25
Speaker 1: new way of eating and becoming plant based mindfulness and meditations, crystals,
1:31
Speaker 1: the list goes on.
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Speaker 2: You get the gist.
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Speaker 1: Hurdle brings you their stories, the lessons they learned, and
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Speaker 1: hopefully gives you the push you need to live a healthier, happier,
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Speaker 1: more motivated life. On Hurdle, we have Fred Santarpia, the
2:02
Speaker 1: Chief Digital Officer of Conde Nast. Brad has been a
2:08
Speaker 1: good friend of mine for a few years now. Really
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Speaker 1: excited to have him sitting across this table from me
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Speaker 1: and to bring you a little bit of his story. So,
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Speaker 1: without further ado, I could speak to all of your accolades,
2:21
Speaker 1: but why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself.
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Speaker 3: Sure, So, my name is Fred Santarpia. I'm the chief
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Speaker 3: Digital Officer of Conye Nast and I've been in the
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Speaker 3: digital media space now for probably about fifteen years in
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Speaker 3: various parts of the industry. Joined Conde in twenty twelve
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Speaker 3: to launch the video division of the company, which I
2:44
Speaker 3: did for about two years, and then took over all
2:48
Speaker 3: of digital for Conde in twenty fourteen, basically driving the
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Speaker 3: digital strategy for all of our brands like Vogue, Vanity, Fair,
2:55
Speaker 3: GQ wired the New Yorker about twenty brands in all.
2:59
Speaker 3: And before I is that counting ast, I helped watch
3:02
Speaker 3: a company named Vivo, which is the leading company in
3:05
Speaker 3: the music video online music video space, and really grew
3:08
Speaker 3: up in the music industry. Spent about ten years in
3:11
Speaker 3: the music industry during a very interesting time of change
3:14
Speaker 3: for that industry. And prior to that, graduated from Villanova,
3:19
Speaker 3: started out actually in finance and accounting, which is its
3:22
Speaker 3: own story for a different podcast. And I'm just happy
3:27
Speaker 3: to be here today.
3:28
Speaker 2: You know, we have this rivalry.
3:30
Speaker 3: Which rivalry is that this u.
3:32
Speaker 2: Khon University of Connecticut Husky's rivalry.
3:34
Speaker 3: About a real rivalry. I don't know if you've noticed,
3:37
Speaker 3: but Villanovo's number one in the country right now.
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Speaker 1: I am well aware. Impressive resume you have to your friend.
3:43
Speaker 1: Thank you, But obviously what we're here to talk about
3:46
Speaker 1: might have come a little before this. The first question
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Speaker 1: I started out with, talk to me a little bit
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Speaker 1: about your hurdle moment.
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Speaker 3: So, you know, my hurdle moment goes back a really
3:57
Speaker 3: really long way. When I was a kid, I suffered
4:03
Speaker 3: from really really aggressive bullying and that was really consistent
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Speaker 3: for a very very long period of time. And I
4:09
Speaker 3: actually had a moment where the bullying got so out
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Speaker 3: of hand that I ended up in the hospital and
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Speaker 3: I was literally picked up off the floor and thrown
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Speaker 3: through a plate glass window and I passed out. I
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Speaker 3: was bleeding all over the place. It was clothing was shredded.
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Speaker 3: I mean you it was like out of a movie.
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Speaker 3: And you know, that was a moment kind of like
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Speaker 3: a turning point where, you know, years and years of
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Speaker 3: bullying as a young kid, when I got to that
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Speaker 3: age and that had happened, it was like, okay, this
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Speaker 3: is enough, Like you know, this has to stop and
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Speaker 3: you have to figure out ways to basically protect yourself.
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Speaker 3: And that was really like, that was really my hurdle
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Speaker 3: moment that got me into exercise and wellness and fitness
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Speaker 3: because at the time I was probably you know, the
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Speaker 3: most unathletic, like non physical you know caidd in school,
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Speaker 3: right didn't participate in any sports, it wasn't on any teams.
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Speaker 3: A terrible hand eye coordination. I mean, it was pretty
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Speaker 3: pathetic all the way around, right, So and I was
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Speaker 3: an easy target, so I was an easy target for
5:27
Speaker 3: bigger kids. So that was a moment for me where
5:30
Speaker 3: I can I can specifically remember laying in the laying
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Speaker 3: in a hospital bed and having glass picked out of
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Speaker 3: my legs and my butt, and I was like, this
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Speaker 3: is We're done. We're done with this.
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Speaker 2: No one wants that.
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Speaker 3: So that was my hurdle moment.
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Speaker 1: So you say that, to get kind of over this hurdle,
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Speaker 1: you started to work out.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I got really into I got really into exercise
5:53
Speaker 3: because it was it was a clear it seemed to
5:56
Speaker 3: be a clear path I could I could control. And
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Speaker 3: I bought every piece of workout equipment I could possibly
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Speaker 3: find and it shoved it into my parents' basement. So
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Speaker 3: I had all those old like bowflex machines, and then
6:10
Speaker 3: I had like pull up bars and punching bags. I
6:13
Speaker 3: mean it was really a nineteen eighties a homemade gym.
6:16
Speaker 3: It was really out of control, and I spent I
6:20
Speaker 3: probably spent I would say in those days when I
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Speaker 3: was like fifteen fourteen, fifteen, three hours a day, six
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Speaker 3: days a week, really just working out. And you know,
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Speaker 3: the amazing thing, amazing thing about that when you're that
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Speaker 3: age is that you're you can make progress really really quickly,
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Speaker 3: and because your body is not used to it, your
6:42
Speaker 3: body responds really fast when you start and your program,
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Speaker 3: and you're very consistent about it and immediately notice a change.
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Speaker 3: Not just I had noticed less of a change in
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Speaker 3: my own physique, had noticed more of a change in
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Speaker 3: how others began to engage me, which became very talented, right,
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Speaker 3: And nothing had changed about who I was or how
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Speaker 3: I engage people or how I acted. But the sheer
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Speaker 3: fact that I looked like I was athletic, or you know,
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Speaker 3: I looked like I could physically take care of myself
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Speaker 3: completely changed how the rest of the world engaged with me.
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Speaker 3: And that became something that when I felt that, I
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Speaker 3: started leaning in, you know, even more heavily.
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 1: So you say you leaned in, And so do you
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Speaker 1: think that obviously with this change in your physique a
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Speaker 1: little bit, that your confidence also shifted.
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Speaker 3: Not really, I could say I'm still very I have
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Speaker 3: to tell you, I'm still very I'm very introverted. Like,
7:46
Speaker 3: I'm not an outgoing guy who likes to talk about himself.
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Speaker 3: I certainly get didn't get like more aggressive in like
7:54
Speaker 3: sports or school or anything like that. I was very
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Speaker 3: fortunate that when I left school and I went to college,
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Speaker 3: I found like a really good group of friends that
8:03
Speaker 3: I felt very comfortable with. And you know, we were
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Speaker 3: very you know, we're very and so socially things changed
8:09
Speaker 3: for me a little bit. But no, I actually felt
8:13
Speaker 3: if anything, like you know, the interesting thing about exercise,
8:16
Speaker 3: particularly when you're weight training, it can be if you
8:19
Speaker 3: want it to be a very isolated thing, right. It
8:24
Speaker 3: can be pursued on an individual basis. It's not a
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Speaker 3: team sport, right, So in a lot of ways, if
8:30
Speaker 3: you're not careful, you can actually, you know, become less
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Speaker 3: confident because your social skills. You don't have to lean
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Speaker 3: on your social skills and your ability to figure out
8:40
Speaker 3: how to how to be a better teammate, right, you
8:43
Speaker 3: can just you can rely on yourself more, and that
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Speaker 3: can actually work against you in terms of your confidence.
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Speaker 1: You start working out, you feel a little bit better
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Speaker 1: about yourself, Your confidence has a change.
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Speaker 2: You're still introverted, yeah, pretty much.
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Speaker 1: But you're kind of coming up age where you're into
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Speaker 1: college and you're thinking about your career. Where do you
9:02
Speaker 1: start to see the lessons that you're kind of picking
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Speaker 1: up with this time that you're spending with yourself really
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Speaker 1: translating into what you're putting out into the world.
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Speaker 3: I mean this, it translates on so many different so
9:12
Speaker 3: many different fronts, And I really I knew I was
9:14
Speaker 3: going to talk to you. So I thought about a
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Speaker 3: couple of the things that really kind of apply. And
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Speaker 3: you know, the first one is definitely consistency, Like you
9:22
Speaker 3: learn that in order to make progress, you know, and
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Speaker 3: anything that you're doing, it doesn't matter if it's a
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Speaker 3: sport of a life skill, you know, in the gym,
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Speaker 3: you're at the office, you have to be consistent in
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Speaker 3: what you practice. Right, So working out and saying to myself,
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Speaker 3: I'm not going to miss my workouts. I'm going to
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Speaker 3: go to the gym, you know, five six days a week.
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Speaker 3: I'm going to be rigorous about my schedule. Like that
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Speaker 3: applies to everything I've done. Professional, like, you have to
9:48
Speaker 3: be consistent in your approach, right, And you know, the
9:52
Speaker 3: other thing I would say that kind of hit me, right, away,
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Speaker 3: is that you also realize that progress is iterative. Right.
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Speaker 3: There are no you know, there are no silver bullets, right,
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Speaker 3: there are no switches that just flip right. And that's
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Speaker 3: true in exercise and fitness, whether you're running a marathon
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Speaker 3: and you're training to you know, get your your stamina up,
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Speaker 3: or you know you're looking to you know, you know,
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Speaker 3: lift heavier weights. Right, it's just it's a it's a
10:19
Speaker 3: progress thing. And in the workplace it's the same way, right.
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Speaker 3: I mean, you make progress italy over time, just don't
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Speaker 3: wake up and have really quick wins. And I think
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Speaker 3: sometimes what I find at work is that people struggle
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Speaker 3: with the fact that things they perceive that things take
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Speaker 3: too long and that they don't happen right away, and
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Speaker 3: it's really because you haven't put in the work right.
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Speaker 3: And when you put in the work right and you
10:43
Speaker 3: really and you really hone your craft, that's when you
10:48
Speaker 3: start to see real results. So I think those were
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Speaker 3: two things that that really stood out. But there's a
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Speaker 3: lot of other things I could say. I mean, really,
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Speaker 3: it goes on and on.
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Speaker 1: What do you think I think at first, aside from aesthetics,
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Speaker 1: really kept you going back into the basement, so to speak.
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Speaker 2: What kept you going after it? Were you enjoying it?
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Speaker 2: Were you not enjoying it? Like, how did you feel
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Speaker 2: when you were down there?
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Speaker 3: I felt, I felt great. But it was always and
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Speaker 3: for me, it was always about just being a little
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Speaker 3: bit better than I was previously. Right, that's to me
11:25
Speaker 3: what it's all about. And there's always there's always a challenge,
11:28
Speaker 3: and you always focus on different things, but really the
11:31
Speaker 3: opportunity to just continually force yourself to improve and be better.
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Speaker 3: That's something that I have striven for, you know, physically, emotionally, right,
11:42
Speaker 3: certainly professionally and in my career I've looked for you know,
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Speaker 3: I've looked for things that you know, forced me to
11:48
Speaker 3: learn and you know, challenge me and or maybe unexpected
11:52
Speaker 3: you know, I spent a long time in music, and
11:54
Speaker 3: then I was in video and then it was like, okay,
11:56
Speaker 3: well do you want to go work for a publishing company?
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Speaker 3: And that's very different. And I think you have to
12:01
Speaker 3: look for those opportunities in life to keep figuring out
12:05
Speaker 3: ways to continue to learn and continue to push yourself forward.
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Speaker 3: And that's one thing that I think, you know, I
12:11
Speaker 3: learned out of a regular exercise really early on.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know, I mean you just touched on
12:17
Speaker 1: a little bit. But this idea of continually just strive
12:21
Speaker 1: for better. I mean, we're sitting here in one world
12:24
Speaker 1: trade right now. We definitely weren't thinking about this kind
12:29
Speaker 1: of scenario like ten fifteen years ago.
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Speaker 3: Oh my god. No. The fact that I have had
12:34
Speaker 3: any degree of career success and time surprises me. I
12:38
Speaker 3: mean I started out in like in hardcore accounting, and
12:41
Speaker 3: I was the world's worst accountant and I was drifting
12:44
Speaker 3: and you know, really just applying that kind of those
12:48
Speaker 3: principles of like realizing you you can't be afraid to
12:52
Speaker 3: start like if you don't want it, Like for me professionally,
12:56
Speaker 3: if I didn't want to be an accountant, I had
12:57
Speaker 3: to start taking the steps to not be an accounting right.
13:01
Speaker 3: And you know, if you if you want to get
13:04
Speaker 3: in shape and you want to be physically healthy, you've
13:07
Speaker 3: got to you can't be afraid to start taking the
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Speaker 3: steps and that progress. I didn't get out of accounting overnight.
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Speaker 3: It took me seven years really to take accounting jobs
13:17
Speaker 3: and finance jobs improve that I was learning enough and
13:20
Speaker 3: I could do more outside of what my college degree
13:24
Speaker 3: said I was qualified to do right and you know,
13:28
Speaker 3: not being afraid to go down that road, make little
13:31
Speaker 3: steps a long way and eventually ladder that up to
13:35
Speaker 3: a large goal. I think is you know what makes
13:38
Speaker 3: what makes the difference?
13:52
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15:00
Speaker 2: Do you buy into the mindfulness stuff.
15:04
Speaker 3: Brad, I'm not a meditator, although I believe in the
15:08
Speaker 3: power of meditation.
15:09
Speaker 2: Okay, let's explain that a little bit.
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Speaker 3: So I look, I think meditation is very valuable. I
15:14
Speaker 3: haven't been able to calm my mind enough I can
15:18
Speaker 3: relate to that way where I'm able to actually get
15:20
Speaker 3: the value out of it. I feel like I'm too
15:24
Speaker 3: much on the go, but I know that if I
15:26
Speaker 3: did spend the time I probably I probably would get
15:29
Speaker 3: some value. So yeah, look, I'm a big believer in
15:32
Speaker 3: overall wellness and health. I'm a big believer in a
15:36
Speaker 3: healthy diet. I don't diet ever in the traditional sense
15:40
Speaker 3: of the word, but you know, you try to eat
15:42
Speaker 3: healthy and you know, find balance and all that. But
15:45
Speaker 3: you know, the key to my to my wellness program
15:48
Speaker 3: is really really making sure that I'm getting my exercise
15:50
Speaker 3: in and I'm finding the time to sweat.
15:53
Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about self doubt.
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Speaker 1: I feel like everyone to extent probably indulges in it
16:00
Speaker 1: a little bit. So do you find that you occasionally
16:03
Speaker 1: indulge in felt doubt? And then how do you kind
16:05
Speaker 1: of handle that for yourself all the time?
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Speaker 3: I think you know the the important stuff is the
16:11
Speaker 3: stuff that you're going to be afraid of. You know,
16:14
Speaker 3: you're you're and it's okay to have that fear. I
16:18
Speaker 3: think when you're when you're challenged and you're not sure
16:20
Speaker 3: if you can, those are important and defining moments for
16:25
Speaker 3: for you in terms of how you how you rise up.
16:28
Speaker 3: So you know, I think self doubt is something that
16:30
Speaker 3: all of us, you know, face a different parts, but
16:34
Speaker 3: it's important to just I have this belief that you know,
16:38
Speaker 3: you know, why not you right? And you know, growing up,
16:42
Speaker 3: I felt like the culture I belonged to was a
16:44
Speaker 3: culture of there's a lot of fear in that culture
16:47
Speaker 3: that you can't do this, you can't do that, someone
16:50
Speaker 3: else is going to be successful at that. You should
16:52
Speaker 3: do something safe, something predictable, right, And there are plenty
16:55
Speaker 3: of people who if passionate about the work right and
17:00
Speaker 3: put in the time and have the talent, why not
17:03
Speaker 3: you and why not take your shot? And you know,
17:06
Speaker 3: there have been times whereas a guy with an accounting
17:09
Speaker 3: degree has ended up in a room with some of
17:11
Speaker 3: the most creative and powerful executives on the planet. And
17:14
Speaker 3: I like to think that I sometimes hold my own
17:19
Speaker 3: and that's only it's only because you know, I didn't
17:23
Speaker 3: back away from from the challenge, not because I was
17:26
Speaker 3: better than anybody else, who smarter than anybody else. But
17:29
Speaker 3: you know, you put in the work and you're thoughtful enough,
17:32
Speaker 3: and you know sometimes you come through, and when you don't,
17:35
Speaker 3: that's okay too. You learn you learn from that. Also,
17:38
Speaker 3: no one's win record, you know is you know one
17:41
Speaker 3: thousand percent, right, that's that's okay, And you learn that
17:46
Speaker 3: another you know, like I as a phrase that I
17:48
Speaker 3: use with the team, if you don't have Plan B,
17:50
Speaker 3: then you don't have a plan, and you know, that's
17:53
Speaker 3: it basically means things change, unexpected things happen that you
17:56
Speaker 3: don't expect. Life throws lots of curve walls at you.
18:01
Speaker 3: And if you know and sometimes your plans don't work,
18:04
Speaker 3: and if you need to pivot and change what you're
18:07
Speaker 3: doing in order to get to the goal a different way,
18:10
Speaker 3: that's okay, right, And you know that's again it's something
18:14
Speaker 3: I've learned. I've learned that from. You know, exercise too,
18:17
Speaker 3: if you do it long enough, you realize that you know,
18:20
Speaker 3: maybe your elbow is going to go, maybe you need
18:22
Speaker 3: maybe your shoulder, maybe you can't do what you always
18:25
Speaker 3: used to do and maybe you need to change it
18:27
Speaker 3: up right and try something new. And you know, I
18:29
Speaker 3: think that again just relates back into everyday life.
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Speaker 1: Obviously, you you have a lot of exposure overseeing brands
18:37
Speaker 1: like self here at Kandi asked, what do you think
18:41
Speaker 1: about the direction overall that like the wellness industry is
18:44
Speaker 1: going right now.
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Speaker 3: I mean it's everywhere, Well, it's gigantic. It's never been
18:48
Speaker 3: you know, pun intended. It's never been healthier, right, I mean,
18:51
Speaker 3: it's bigger than it's ever been. It's and I think
18:54
Speaker 3: that's because there's a natural interest in it and we all,
18:57
Speaker 3: I think many people you know, want to be healthier,
19:01
Speaker 3: want to find balance. So I think the challenge, you know,
19:04
Speaker 3: the challenge for us, as you know, publishers, is to
19:06
Speaker 3: make sure that we're presenting information that we believe in
19:10
Speaker 3: that's you know, you know, truthful and you know, fact checked,
19:14
Speaker 3: and you know, that's an important part of an important
19:17
Speaker 3: part of what we try and do because it's obviously
19:20
Speaker 3: I mean you can go on the Internet and I
19:22
Speaker 3: mean there's so much misinformation out there and you can
19:25
Speaker 3: pull up, you know, articles on you know, one hundred
19:28
Speaker 3: different topics and they'll tell you one hundred different things
19:30
Speaker 3: and who do you believe? So that's very very challenging
19:33
Speaker 3: from that perspective, with the amount of noise that's out there.
19:35
Speaker 1: If someone is going to the internet, how do they
19:38
Speaker 1: even know? How do they even know? These days? I
19:40
Speaker 1: feel like it's like, how do you know that the
19:43
Speaker 1: information that you're looking for is the right information?
19:45
Speaker 3: Well, that's why brands are important, right. I mean, whether
19:47
Speaker 3: it's a brand or or an individual or an influencer, like,
19:50
Speaker 3: there's a there's an element of trust there, right, So
19:53
Speaker 3: in a sea of noise, when you see a brand
19:56
Speaker 3: like self that you know, when you recognize and that
19:58
Speaker 3: has been doing this for a really long ti time, right,
20:01
Speaker 3: you tend to put a bit more credibility into what
20:04
Speaker 3: those authorities are saying than you do from some of
20:07
Speaker 3: these other sites that just pop up out of nowhere.
20:09
Speaker 3: And I think that's true for influencers too. There's plenty
20:12
Speaker 3: of influencers that I see in the fitness community that
20:15
Speaker 3: you know, are you know, have their followings and when
20:18
Speaker 3: they put out information, they've they've got that connection and
20:21
Speaker 3: trust with their audience that people come to believe in.
20:24
Speaker 1: And rely upon something I'm interested to know. You meet
20:29
Speaker 1: someone and they're just like you, and they're sixteen, and
20:34
Speaker 1: they're picked on and they're bullied and they're confused.
20:37
Speaker 2: What do you say to that person?
20:39
Speaker 3: I tell them to get started. Yeah, you know, get started.
20:42
Speaker 3: It seems when you're when you're that age, it seems
20:44
Speaker 3: like anything you want to do is so far off.
20:47
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, anybody can just get started.
20:50
Speaker 3: And to me, that's the sixth that first step. Actually
20:54
Speaker 3: it's cliched, but it's cliched for a reason because it's true.
20:57
Speaker 3: It's it's the most important thing that you can do
21:00
Speaker 3: and not have that fear to take that first step.
21:03
Speaker 3: And the other thing I would say this that benefited
21:05
Speaker 3: me really early on. Surround yourself with, you know, people
21:10
Speaker 3: that you believe are better than you. Right, if you
21:12
Speaker 3: want to be better at running, go hang out with
21:15
Speaker 3: a bunch of people who run all the time, right,
21:18
Speaker 3: and they will force you to run, Sam, And this
21:20
Speaker 3: is why we don't hang out. That's exactly right. When
21:24
Speaker 3: I was in high school, I was well back from
21:26
Speaker 3: maybe my freshman year of college. I worked out with
21:29
Speaker 3: a guy who was like, I don't know, like six
21:32
Speaker 3: to three hundred plus pounds and he was an absolute animal.
21:36
Speaker 3: And I got more strength in like the six months
21:41
Speaker 3: that I worked out with this kid than at any
21:43
Speaker 3: other point in the time of my life because we
21:45
Speaker 3: were just doing the same workouts and I was doing
21:47
Speaker 3: a lot less than he was, but by nature of
21:50
Speaker 3: like not wanting to just be totally embarrassed every time
21:53
Speaker 3: I stepped into the gym with him, you just you
21:55
Speaker 3: up your game a little bit. So find people that
21:58
Speaker 3: are on the road to where you want to go
22:00
Speaker 3: and maybe a couple of steps ahead of you, and
22:04
Speaker 3: they'll force you to they'll force you to go faster.
22:06
Speaker 2: In your career.
22:07
Speaker 1: Who have been some of those people for you or
22:11
Speaker 1: what have I guess in what way?
22:13
Speaker 2: Have they inspired you? In different ways?
22:15
Speaker 1: Because we're talking about like you just completely shifting gears,
22:19
Speaker 1: So who were you looking at?
22:20
Speaker 3: And you were like, oh, well, I really I can't
22:23
Speaker 3: say I was looking at anyone at anyone, But I
22:25
Speaker 3: realized I realized early on there's a value to hiring
22:29
Speaker 3: people who are better than you, and not everybody does that.
22:33
Speaker 3: One thing I encounter a lot in business is that
22:36
Speaker 3: people will hire people that they think are less talented
22:41
Speaker 3: than them. So that their light doesn't shine any less bright, right,
22:46
Speaker 3: And I've made it a career rule to hire the
22:50
Speaker 3: most talented people that I could find. And I will
22:53
Speaker 3: tell you the team that's been with me, you know
22:55
Speaker 3: for a long time now, you know, six seven years
22:57
Speaker 3: through multiple companies are smarter and more talented than I
23:02
Speaker 3: am in their respective fields on every level. And when
23:06
Speaker 3: you have a great squad, you know, it's really tough
23:10
Speaker 3: to get stopped because the momentum of that is just tremendous.
23:14
Speaker 3: So I would say, you know that really the big
23:17
Speaker 3: inspiration for me there is if you want to be better,
23:20
Speaker 3: that's something else. You find people who are really excellent
23:23
Speaker 3: at that and you lean into it.
23:25
Speaker 1: Who do you find your biggest sources for support are
23:29
Speaker 1: these days?
23:30
Speaker 3: Oh? Well, for sure, my girlfriend Sarah, who just relocated
23:35
Speaker 3: from Texas to New York, and you know, and her
23:39
Speaker 3: and I know we share a common love of fitness,
23:41
Speaker 3: so we're always working out together, which I love, and
23:45
Speaker 3: she actually forces me to get out of the weight
23:47
Speaker 3: room and do.
23:48
Speaker 4: Things like yoga. I would love to be there for that,
23:52
Speaker 4: which I actually enjoy. I enjoy yoga, it's a lot
23:55
Speaker 4: of fun. I don't do it all the time, but
23:57
Speaker 4: I do enjoy it when when we do do it.
24:00
Speaker 4: My brother, for sure, I mean my brother. I have
24:03
Speaker 4: one brother, and you know, he's been my best friend
24:05
Speaker 4: since you know, we were kids, and we went to
24:08
Speaker 4: college together, and you know, you know, we've been on
24:11
Speaker 4: a similar path over the years.
24:12
Speaker 3: So certainly, my brother and I've just got a great family.
24:16
Speaker 3: I'm blessed that I've got an excellent foundation in life,
24:21
Speaker 3: and I can always return to that foundation. And as
24:24
Speaker 3: you get older and you meet more people, you realize
24:27
Speaker 3: that not everybody's blessed with that same kind of clarity
24:31
Speaker 3: and foundation. And you know, when you don't have that,
24:35
Speaker 3: you know it can be hard because it forces you
24:37
Speaker 3: to it forces you to to kind of go alone
24:39
Speaker 3: a little bit, and no one's got to go it
24:42
Speaker 3: completely alone.
24:43
Speaker 1: In order to get over any hurdle in life, you
24:46
Speaker 1: need to kind of think ahead and think about what
24:50
Speaker 1: you want and envision some sort of path. What do
24:53
Speaker 1: you advise for someone who's kind of setting out on
24:57
Speaker 1: their own journey?
24:58
Speaker 2: How do they set those initial goals?
25:00
Speaker 1: Do they keep in mind when they're thinking about the
25:02
Speaker 1: things that they want?
25:03
Speaker 3: I think, don't don't you know? It's good to have
25:06
Speaker 3: vision for the future. It's good to have vision for
25:08
Speaker 3: the future, and what you're people talk about five year
25:11
Speaker 3: plans and ten year plans. I'm a bit more simplistic
25:15
Speaker 3: than that. Life is short and you don't know how
25:19
Speaker 3: long you're going to get. This is my philosophy. So
25:23
Speaker 3: you know, what can you do today right? And how
25:26
Speaker 3: can you be better than you were yesterday? And it's
25:29
Speaker 3: it's very simple, right, like you're living for the moment,
25:32
Speaker 3: and you know, yes, long term health is really important
25:36
Speaker 3: to me, and I think it will always be part
25:38
Speaker 3: of my life, but I'm not I'm really not giving
25:41
Speaker 3: a lot of thought to where I'm going to be
25:43
Speaker 3: three months from now. You know, to me, it's about
25:46
Speaker 3: I just want to be a little bit healthier. Do
25:48
Speaker 3: you want to try and be a little bit healthier
25:49
Speaker 3: than I was yesterday? And it's you know, it's kind
25:52
Speaker 3: of as simple as that. And I'm a big believer
25:54
Speaker 3: in goal visualization and all of that. I think that
25:58
Speaker 3: really does help when you're thinking about long goals. But
26:01
Speaker 3: I would say, don't make it so overwhelming for yourself.
26:04
Speaker 3: Have the vision, but also be comfortable and breaking it
26:08
Speaker 3: down into those kind of bite size pieces.
26:11
Speaker 2: I love it.
26:12
Speaker 1: I love bite size makes it makes it easier, bite
26:14
Speaker 1: size candy. We all love bite bite sized tips. I
26:19
Speaker 1: think for good Fred, thanks so much, Thank you for
26:21
Speaker 1: having me. If you're still listening, please take a moment
26:25
Speaker 1: to leave a quick review of what's happening here by
26:28
Speaker 1: clicking the link with the description to this episode. We
26:31
Speaker 1: all face multiple hurdles in life. We heard about Fred's,
26:34
Speaker 1: you've heard about mine. I want to hear about yours.
26:37
Speaker 1: Please reach out to me at Emily at hurdle dot us,
26:41
Speaker 1: connect with me on Instagram and Twitter at Hurdle Podcast,
26:45
Speaker 1: and of course feel free to stock us both a
26:47
Speaker 1: little bit too on the interwebs. Fred, what's your social handle?
26:52
Speaker 3: Just F Santarpia.
26:53
Speaker 1: That's all we look for. Yep, I'm at Emily a body.
26:56
Speaker 1: I'm excited to keep learning and growing with all of
26:59
Speaker 1: you and other hurdle conquered See you guys next time.
27:05
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm