The grey Ave Podcast

Mitch Bowler is the founder of Pencil Kings. A platform which gives training and support to artists in-order to take their art to the next level. Mitch has also been an artist working in video games, films such as X-Men 2 and of course an entrepreneur. Before Pencil Kings, he traveled to China and started his own company. Mitch's story consists of passion, risk taking, failure, perseverance, success and consistency. He's a very insightful guy, I learned alot from this conversation. I hope you find it helpful too. I was once a guest on Mitch's Podcast, I told my story which I never shared before on this Podcast. You can find it here :https://www.pencilkings.com/podcast-grey-jabesi/ Link to Pencil Kings - https://www.pencilkings.com/

I recently went to Namibia and attended the Namibian Annual Music Awards 2017 where I met Gazza and his team. I watched him win awards that night and the next morning, we recorded this podcast. Gazza, is one of the most commercially successful and best selling recording artists in Namibia. Since the entrance into the Namibian music scene, Gazza has worked his way up to become the most commercially successful artist in Namibia. He has also become a firm favorite in Namibian households with the young and old alike and has embarked on tours that have expose him to the rest of Africa and the world. He has been well accepted and is a firm favorite with Channel O, a DStv channel, where his work and life is regularly showcased. His music can be defined as a mix of several influences namely Kwaito, Dancehall, Reggae, Hip Hop and his lyrics are about the township life. His sharp lyrics reflect the intricacies of Namibian life and strike a familiar chord with Namibians from all walks of life, young and old. To date, he has released over 10 albums, all of which have contributed to making Gazza the best selling recording artist of all time in Namibia. Links: Gazza music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih5RYVTOJHM Documentaries: Fela Kuti - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfrNGST9V_E Michael Jackson documentaries: https://www.google.com/search?q=michael+jackson+documentary

Stephen Larkin is a penchant of mathematical algorithms and innovative funding methods with a dream to provide electricity to the people in Africa. He co-founded Africa New Energies in 2012 with a simple vision - to write an algorithm to find natural gas to generate electricity cheaply enough to give 600 million Africans affordable power for the first time. He is the co-founder and CEO of Africa New Energies and has experience running multiple companies, venture capital, raising funds and using crowdfunding and tax breaks in innovative ways. Steve and his team has raise 6 million Pounds in a period of 3 years through crowdfunding only. Thanks to StartUp Grind Cape Town. Links: Africa New Energies(ANE) website: http://www.ane.na ANE on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/africanewenergies/ Enjoy and share.

As I was going through a tough week of no drive and motivation. I returned to my archive to find interviews, talks and videos that inspires and motivate me. I remembered that I had been cutting snippets from my favorite interviews. I then decided to share it with you. Let me know your thoughts and favorites. The list of people quoted in this podcast: - Chris Sacca -Will Smith - Steve Jobs - Larry Ellison - Mark Cuban - Beyonce - Aliko Dangote - Steve Distante - Peter Thiel - Gary V Much love from Grey.

Bradley Stilwell is a South African digital artist. Currently based in Australia, working for Animal Logic. He has worked on such films as Lego Batman, Mad Max Fury road, Legend of the Guardians just to name a few. Topics covered: - How Grey learnt about Brad. - How he got started. - His experience working on Lego Batman. - How to create opportunities and work overseas. - The current state of animation in South Africa. - How to learn. - The challenges or work+travel The book he mentioned: http://www.audible.com.au/pd/Business/Pitch-Anything-Audiobook/B00FLVHVBE Enjoy and share.

While the movie Kong Skull Island is still in Cinemas, I managed to get hold of one of the major contributors to the film, all the way from Industrial Light & Magic(ILM) Jeff White is the visual effects supervisor of Kong, he has also worked on other big films such as Avengers, Warcraft, Transformers and Starwars just to name a few. In this episode, we covered: - The experience of making Kong - Working at ILM - His story - Other films he has worked on - Team building - What he looks for in an artist - Life/work balance - Advice Enjoy Kong trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44LdLqgOpjo Avengers Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrNdBpGMv8 Enjoy

SHOWNOTES: Robyn Farah, CEO of KATO is an Entrepreneur, speaker & people connector in tech & innovation. Her company focuses on product development to solve real world problems in order to create a better world. She also founded and run some of the most influencial tech events and communities in South Africa which create exposure to and connect people who are pushing the boundaries of tech, as well as bridging the class and gender gap. These include #TechTalkCPT, Arduino Cape Town, Modern Alchemists and Women in Tech Cape Town. She's a partner in Curiosity Campus, which taught people all sorts of tech skills from Python, building a robot to creating VR environments. In 2016 she was listed as one of Mail&Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans and granted a Shuttleworth Flash Grant. In 2015 she was invited to be a guest lecturer at MIT and to attend the World Maker Faire in New York. She completed her Masters in Interactive Sound Installations at the Sonic Arts Research Center at Queen’s University. Links: Robyn's website: https://robynfarah.com/ KATO website: https://www.kato.global/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtW-cYF-tqY&feature=youtu.be Curiosity campus website: http://curiositycampus.co.za/

Kat Theo(@Kattheo) is a traveler from Nebraska, US. She has been traveling for 3+ years and loving it. In this podcast, we covered: What inspired her to travel (very interesting:) How she survives financially on the road Worst Couchsurfing experiences Vloggs Her next travels. One of her youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alTXy0vKIcA&t=71s Welcome to my channel! If you are into travel, vegan food, diy, language learning, random things and all things natural, subscribe to my channel.

Ferdinand Garcia is a financial advisor from San Francisco. To this day, he has lived with HIV for 14yrs. He loves traveling and work on the road. While out there seeing what the world has to offer, he raise awareness for HIV by taking photos with "I AM HIV" written on a board. One of the main things I learned from this is to be brave and not let the world define who you are because of what they expect you to be. Topic we covered: -Living with HIV -Financial advice

Christopher Nichols is one of the most inspiring, smart and creative people in the CGI industry right now. From working with leading studios on The Day After Tomorrow, I Robot, Stealth, Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Maleficent and The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo to photo real cars and photo real humans and now going into new art and technology adventures. Chris is the Director of Chaos Group, the developers of V-Ray as one of the main people behind Chaos Group Labs. He has been involved with many high profile projects while pushing art and tech in new directions. His career journey is very interesting, it’s the reason why I had to bring him on the podcast since I have been following him for a long time throughout my career and I have learnt so much from him. One of the main things being changing careers. He is never stuck, always reinventing himself and doing fun things while still putting out great work. Below are the links mentioned in this podcast: Chris’s Podcast- https://labs.chaosgroup.com/index.php/category/cg-garage-podcast/page/4/ Chris’s short film- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9rgG2vPAvQ Chaos group - https://www.chaosgroup.com/ Vray reel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqB9KJsbIlU Chris’s imdb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1436759/

Paul Snodgrass (@Snoddie) is an actor and comedian based in Cape town. He has worked on several movie projects including Black Sails, The Odyssey and Dominion. He is also popular for "I'm so lonely" , one of his stand-up end bits. He started his career at the fresh faces section of the Smirnoff International Comedy Festival. He is best known for his work on eTV’s “That Sport Show” and for his work as reporter and producer for eTV Sports News. He has also successfully performed for many corporate clients and he has quickly made a name for himself as a multi-talented stand-up comedian and MC for many SA rock bands. In this episode we went all over the place with our topics but in summary we covered: -History of comedy in South Africa -How he writes comedy and perfom on stage -What to do when you bomb. -Paul holds a degree in history, this led to a political conversation. Links to some of Paul's work: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4701872/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8G0zaRekrw Enjoy and share.

“Are you out there doing it rather than talking about doing it?” - Jay Wong. Jay Wong(IG: @jaywongjaywong) is one of the most inspiring people out there. He is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Traveler. He is also the creator of The Inner Change-maker Podcast which was the number 1 Podcast on itunes back in 2015 as far as the self-help category. In this Podcast, we covered: - Selling a division of his company - His story - Traveling - Some of his life philosophies - How to get over fear - Your vibe attracts your tribe and more. All the links mentioned in the conversation below: Inner change maker: https://www.theinnerchangemaker.com/ JayWong Tv https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeR0FLjRFFLqY5nLPAmc0dA Personal website: http://www.thejaywong.com/ Thanks for listening.

This is a part 2 of my conversation with Dr Jonathan Farley. If you haven't listened to the first one yet, below is a short bio of the Dr.Farley. Dr. Jonathan David Farley is a well recognized mathematician, traveler, entrepreneur among other things. He has been a Visiting Professor of Mathematics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a Science Fellow at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Mathematics at Harvard University, and a Visiting Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In this episode, we talk about Math and his professional career. Below is a list of some of the topics we covered: -His childhood -When he became interested in Math -Can anyone learn Math? -How he applies Math in other areas -How he would use Math to eliminate ISIS -How he helps students to get straight A's -His thoughts on the current education system -How math should be taught in schools -His definition of "smart" -And all the questions from listeners. Links to books and articles mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Successful-People-Management-Straight-ebook/dp/B016FPTIZ6 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/12/black-mathematicians-john-derbyshire-fields-medal Enjoy

Widely known as a radio and Tv presenter on Goodhope FM and TLC. Carissa is also a part time actor and vlogger. She recently won the TLC Next Great Presenter competition 2016. She is very driven and energetic which you’ll be able to tell just by listening to this Podcast. A summary the topics we covered in this episode: -Her story and childhood -Her breakthrough into the industry -Her education -Transformation from radio to tv presenting -The road to becoming TLC’s Next Great Presenter 2016 - London trip -Tips and advice for aspiring presenter -She also answered the Peter Thiel question

My guest in this episode is Brent Botha, a sports scientist. He also work for Air, Water & Earth (AWE), A Biotech startup working on reversing air pollution. Brent has also been a professional cyclist for the last couple of years. We started off with catching up since we worked together at some odd job 2 years ago. We mostly talked about clean air in which he gives a lot of insights. He then talks about how the technology AWE developed will help to solve the air pollution problem to some level. Enjoy and share!

Dr.Jonathan David Farley received his D.Phil. in mathematics from the University of Oxford in 1995, after winning Oxford's highest mathematics awards, the Senior Mathematical Prize and Johnson University Prize, in 1994. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1991, with an A.B. in mathematics. He had the second-highest grade-point-average in his graduating class. He has also had visiting appointments at the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University, and he has been a Science Fellow at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. Dr. Farley is one of only four Americans to win a 2001-2002 Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award to the United Kingdom. He is the 2004 recipient of the Harvard Foundation's Distinguished Scientist Award, given on behalf of the president of Harvard University for "outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of mathematics." Seed Magazine named him one of "15 people who have shaped the global conversation about science in 2005." Professor J. Farley also co-founded Hollywood Math and Science Film Consulting where they’ve worked on several tv shows including Elementary, Numbers and Flatland(consulted for a film with Kristen Bale and Martin sheen). Jonathan thinks very differently, in fact his thoughts are usually unconventional. My impression was to talk about math as you might’ve thought but we talked about life. Specifically about politics, dating, places among other things. Below are few points I picked up from Jon which stood out for me in our conversation: -Obama is a war criminal. He should be charged for murder. -Marriage isn't worth it for men, it’s actually a mistake. -Alimony should be eliminated. -Feminism is harming women. -The skills required to be a successful politician are not the same skills that are required to run a state successfully, that's the problem. We also did a part 2 where we talked about other subjects we didn't cover on this one like his mathematical formula to eliminate isis/terror, his childhood, academia and more. All you need is to subscribe to stay update with new podcasts. All the videos, links, articles and other statistics mentioned in this podcast below.

“Just ask, can I stick my tongue in your mouth? before you kiss each him or her, it makes things straight and simple" - Jillian Butterworth Jillian Butterworth is a clinical psychologist who works primarily in the field of sexual violence. She works in private practice but consults to a number of NGOs and government sectors. She also conducts forensic assessments. She is a research affiliate at the Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit at UCT. In this Podcast we covered a lot. Some of the topics we covered: -Her experiences. -Definitions of rape. -The mind of perpetrators. - Rape statistics in RSA -Sexual orientations. -Feminism. -Night outs.

SHOWNOTES This is by far my favorite. Even though I asked Steve for 30 minutes to just talk about cars, I managed to steal another 40 minutes to talk about entrepreneurship. For someone who has always been an entrepreneur from age 5. He obviously has alot I could learn from. He also share a story about how he met his wife. This is part 2 of episode #27 Steve is a serial entrepreneur since the age of 5. He is the CEO of his own company, they help people to do goo with their own money. To this day, they manage a few billion dollars i. So this Podcast is a continuation of the first part with Steve Distante. Below is a summary of a few things we talked about. -His first business. -Why and how you should hire people to help you. -How helpful are entrepreneurial meetups or groups. -Finding mentors or personal advisory board. -His work/life balance. -His business philosophies. -His system for making decisions -His daily practice(meditation). -How he deals with negativity / nay sayers. Share with friends and enjoy.

Steve DIstante is an Entrepreneur and car aficionado from Long Island, New York. He started his first business when he was only 5 years old. He is the CEO of Vanderbilt Securities LLC, member of Long Island Exotics Club and an incoming president of Entrepreneurs Organization(EO) I was fascinated by his love and enthusiasm for electric vehicles(EV). He owns the model S, P90D with Ludacris mode, The Roadster 2010 and other non-teslas. The first part, We talked about his experience with the cars among other things. One of his car’s number plate is “USA FAN, THE EMPIRE STATE, ZERO EMISSIONS” This Podcast is relevant on so many levels, its appeals to car geeks, electric car geeks and electric car doubters. I asked Steve the questions that the above groups might ask and his answers are definitely valid because he plays with these toys. It was a fascinating talk really. I did a part 2 with Steve where we talked about Entrepreneurship, his advice and philosophies are quite unconventional and profound. I recommend that you check it out and subscribe.

“If you’re a man and super organised, you are a such a good worker. If you’re a woman and organised, they say you’re “bitch”-Annika Friesen, my favorite take away from this Podcast. Annika Friesen is a business person, blogger, traveler, accountant and consultant. She is the creator of Fernwehsociety.com, a blog about lifestyle, travel, and entrepreneurship. She was bitten by the travel bug while she was only 10 months old and she never look back. She has traveled alot and lived many places while doing all sorts of odd jobs just to stay on the road. That just reminds me of how travel or new places forces you to go out of your comfort zone and try new things that you wouldn’t do in your home town. In this podcast, we covered: -Her story -Her transition from 9-5 to doing what she love. -How living in a foreign country affects your life -How she balance her job and blog -Women in business -Her favorite blogs and podcasts The blogs she mentioned: www.theskinnyconfidential.com www.careergirldaily.com podcasts: Mytaughtyou Jess lively