Learning Life With Jon Tota On The Knowledgelink Network

This week, Jon sits down with Duane Peterson, Co-Founder and Co-President of SunCommon, a benefit corporation powering Vermont and Hudson Valley homes, schools, and businesses with solar. Duane is also a member of the board for both VBSR and VPIRG, organizations pushing for social responsibility and environmental protection across the green mountain state.  Duane began his career in politics in California, before moving to Vermont where he spent 12 years as "Chief of Stuff" at Ben and Jerry's, hired directly by Ben Cohen to use the business as a force for social change.  Duane's commitment to using businesses for positive change has continued since then. SunCommon is a certified B-Corp, with rigorous standards for social and environmental performance, as well as public transparency and legal accountability. SunCommon goes far beyond a profit-driven model, and has helped over 10,000 homes, farms, and businesses go solar! Visit https://suncommon.com/ to learn more.

This week on Learning Life, Jon talked with Kai Cook about Deep End Fitness. Kai Cook is a lifelong swimmer and when she discovered Deep End fitness in California, she felt it was important enough to bring back to Vermont and became one of the founders of the Vermont branch. Deep End fitness was originally developed by Don Tran and Prime Hall after they started water survival training for marine raiders. Join in and listen to Kai explain how this military survival training, has become a fun but high intensity workout. Kai shares her story of how she came to be a part of Deep End Fitness, how she brought it to Vermont, and how she is building the community. Check out: The Deep End Fitness Website: https://www.deependfitness.com/ The VT Branch’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deependfitness_vt/?hl=en

This week Jon sits down with Riley Seith, co-founder of the Laces App, and student entrepreneur. Laces is a platform for runners to find and share safe running routes when traveling or moving to a new city. After you’re done running, you can report incidents or obstacles. Think Waze for runners. Riley and her co-founder Makenzie started their business from Champlain college. The idea started as a way to help women identifying people, particularly in college, to find a more safe way to run. As the Laces App gets ready to launch, Riley shares the difficulties they faced in developing this app without the technical skills to build it herself and building a business while in college. Check out: The Laces App Website: https://www.lacesapp.com The Laces App Instagram: https://instagram.com/thelacesapp?utm_medium=copy_link Sign up to Become a Beta Tester: https://linktr.ee/lacesapp

This week Jon sits down with Lousia Schibli, co-founder of the Northern New England Women's Investor network, and co-founder and CEO of Milk Money Vermont. Milk Money is a platform for Vermonters to discover local investment opportunities, get tips on how to evaluate those opportunities, and then make an investment.  Louisa has also recently joined RuralWorks Partners as Chief Engagement Officer. RuralWorks Partners is an impact investment firm that supports growth stage and transitioning rural businesses and the communities in which they operate. RuralWorks is currently raising a $100 Million impact fund for these businesses and communities across the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Listen in for Louisa's lessons about raising capital in rural Vermont and being a female entrepreneur in the Green mountain state. Check out: Vermont Women's Investor Network www.nnewin.org Milk Money Investing www.milkmoneyinvesting.com RuralWorks Partners www.ruralworkspartners.com Learn more at https://milkmoneyvt.com/

Matty Benedetto solves problems that don’t really exist by creating products that no one is asking for. Benedetto is the inventor, serial entrepreneur and evil genius behind the wildly popular Unnecessary Inventions based right here in Burlington, Vermont. Matty grew up outside New York City, got his marketing degree at St. Michael’s then settled here in the Green Mountains funneling his passions into product development and startup businesses along the way. Now with over 6 million followers across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, Matty is a full-time content creator making “Unnecessary Inventions” and the satirical product launch videos that have made him an Internet celebrity. Listen to learn the story behind Vermont’s most notorious inventor and how creativity, passion and a helpful 3D printer have thrust him into the spotlight. Learn more at https://unnecessaryinventions.com

This week Jon sits down with Will Read, CEO and founder of CannaPlanners, a marketing agency that helps cannabis retailers with their branding, identity, and digital presence. After graduating college, Will moved to Burlington with his band as a musician before moving down to New York City to work for sales at Apple. As many Vermonters will understand, he felt the Green Mountain State calling him back and he returned a few years later to work in digital marketing. With Vermont legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2022, many farms and businesses are transitioning from CBD to THC and seeking ways to promote their branding, especially as on-site farm tours and live events are restricted by the ongoing pandemic. Read decided to hone in on the Cannabis Industry and now seeks to normalize and elevate these new businesses through beautiful branding, thoughtful websites, and data-driven digital marketing strategies. Learn more at https://cannaplanners.com/

This week Jon sits down with Cairn Cross, co-founder of FreshTracks Capital in Shelburne VT.  FreshTracks is a venture capital and private equity firm focused on investments in Vermont-based growth companies. Cross sits on the board of multiple Vermont companies including Native Energy, Faraday, and Vermont Teddy Bear, as well as Mamava (previously on Learning Life,) and a board observer for ThinkMD. Cross is also a lecturer at UVM, teaching at the cutting-edge Sustainable Innovation MBA program.  Listen to learn about opportunities abound in the Green Mountain State and the capital behind many of the great businesses you see in Vermont every day.  Learn more at https://www.freshtrackscap.com/

This week we're excited to have Lindsay DesLauriers, the co-owner and President of Bolton Valley Resort. A mountain legacy, Lindsay's father Ralph founded Bolton Valley back in 1966 and developed it into an iconic indie ski mountain in the Northeast. In 1997, her family had to sell the resort, but recently bought it back in 2017 with a group of local investors to restore and modernize Bolton Valley while maintaining its nostalgic charm. With its broad terrain, back country connection, night skiing, and tight community, Bolton is a one of a kind world to explore in a small ski resort. Lindsay's family is also set on bringing Bolton back to a four season operation, with its mountain biking trails, disc golf, and weddings. Listen to Lindsay's journey from her childhood on the slopes to the public and non-profit sector, and how that experience brought her right back to her "mountain island."  Learn more at www.boltonvalley.com

Our guest this week is Kevin Pellon, the founder and CEO of raisedVT, live in our studio! Listen in as Kevin Pellon explains what it means to him to be raisedVT and what it means to be a proud Vermonter, even if you weren't born in the Green Mountain State. This retail clothing brand focuses on what makes Vermont, Vermont, with unique imagery from ski to farm culture, and from the Champlain valley to the top of Mount Mansfield. Listen to learn about a great local entrepreneur building a brand for anyone who's proud of where they were raised, regardless of where they live. Learn more at www.raisedVT.com

Our guest this week is Byron Batres, a wealth management advisor and financial planner in the Burlington area who is the founder and CEO of EZ-Probate. After realizing the trials and tribulations of dealing with the court system for the probate process of wills and estates for families, he set out to build a turbo-tax like system to avoid the hassle during an already emotional time. Now EZ-Probate helps families prepare legal documents themselves and get through the process quicker. Listen to learn about a great Vermont entrepreneur, the importance of estate planning before you need it and starting your own business in the Green Mountain State. Learn more at https://ez-probate.com/estate-planning/  

Happy New Year! This week, Learning Life is talking innovation for moms with Mamava co-founder Sascha Mayer. A certified B corp, Mamava was founded in 2013 by Mayer and Christine Dodson, now COO. Mamava has over 2000 lactation pods across the country, providing mothers privacy and security while breastfeeding or pumping, as well as digital resources, community, and advocacy. Sascha began her career as a staffer for then-congressman Bernie Sanders after graduating from UVM. Moving on to working for a design firm, Sascha, a new mother at the time, frequently traveled to meet clients or go to conventions and realized there were no places to pump privately. The first Mamava pod was launched in the Burlington Airport in 2013, built with design in mind, a product to solve a real-world problem and bring the conversation out in the open. Listen in to learn how Mamava is disrupting the status quo and scaling up their business in Vermont. Learn more at https://www.mamava.com/all-products and https://www.mamava.com/mobi

This week Jon gets down with Jason Levinthal, who founded LINE in his parents' garage back in 1995 and is known for creating some of the first twin tip skis. After selling LINE to K2 sports, Jason was longing to get back into the industry, with the lessons he learned about scaling and the new prospects of online selling. In 2013, he founded J Skis with a direct-to-consumer business model with limited edition runs and a community focus. On top of all that, Jason medaled in the first-ever Winter X Games slopestyle skiing event in 1998. Today, J Skis is known for its limited run ski designs, gear and clothing with frequent Vermont collaborations, including Stowe Cider Apres All Day skis and Ski the East Ice Lightning skis. Learn more at https://jskis.com

This week Jon sits down with Cyrus Schenck, CEO of Renoun and co-founder of Mission V Sports. If you're a skier or snowboarder in Vermont, you've surely seen Renoun skis all over your favorite mountain, but many people don't really know what makes these skis so special. A graduate of Champlain Valley Union High School, Cyrus went on to learn about material sciences in college. There, he got the idea to put a non-newtonian substance, a material that changes properties under stress and strains, in the core of a ski. The result was VibeStop, a technology that stops 300% more unwanted vibrations than a regular pair of skis. After changing the game in ski materials, Cyrus realized that VibeStop technology has applications across the sporting world and even across industries. Listen to how a Vermont entrepreneur went from washing windows in college to changing the ski industry and building a technology used across surfing, boating, and even flooring. Learn more at https://renoun.com/ and https://missionvsports.com/

This week Jon sits down with Vermont’s favorite weatherman, Tom Messner. After 31 years at NBC5 serving Northern New York and Vermont as Chief Meteorologist, Tom is retiring from our televisions and moving on to a new chapter as a media consultant, early stage investor and advocate for the Vermont entrepreneurial community. Messner may be leaving TV, but he’s invested right here in Burlington. Between the beautiful state and the people of the community, Tom says Vermont is the perfect place to build a business. After decades of finding sunshine for the community, Tom is ready to help local businesses and startups find opportunities. His advice to entrepreneurs, “Don’t be afraid to reach out! People in this community are so willing to help and they want to see what you’re trying to do succeed.” Get in touch with Tom at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-messner-49146414b/ Check out our full video interview recorded at Syntax Studio on Pine St: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOhBEfPX7aQ&t=2s

This week Jon sits down with Ryan Nakleh, founder and CEO of Local Maverick, a sales and marketing platform that makes it easier to discover, shop, and support local businesses. Listen to the story as Ryan got a local business off the ground during the pandemic, and how he aims to bring the Amazon buying experience to communities and help them buy local. Learn more at https://www.localmaverickus.com/

This week Jon sits down with Sophia Rabe, founder and CEO of Olive and Milo Social. Olive and Milo is a digital marketing agency that focuses on social media, offering services such as consulting, strategy, management, and measurement. Rabe grew up in the Mad River Valley and is a Champlain College alumni, choosing to set up her business right here in Burlington. Rabe chose Vermont over big city life after trying out a year in New York, finding the smaller towns less isolating and a better work and social environment, including a more personal way to build a business. Olive and Milo is named after Rabe’s pet pig and cat, respectively. While the agency serves clients nationwide, today much of Rabe’s client base is here in Vermont, helping businesses navigate the web of social media platforms and pinpointing where to focus efforts; be it Facebook, the “modern-day phonebook”, or Tik-Tok, the world’s fastest growing hyperactive engagement platform. Learn more at https://oliveandmilo.com/.

This week Jon sits down with Barry Finette, founder of ThinkMD. ThinkMD is an innovative healthcare and technology company, seeking solutions to expand quality healthcare coverage across the globe. Barry is also a professor in pediatrics, microbiology, and molecular genetics at the University of Vermont. ThinkMD aims to put physician-based decision logic into the hands of anyone, so areas underserved by physicians can be aided by technology. The technology is distributed by government and NGO partners, rather than directly by the company. Listen as Barry and Jon discuss the future of healthcare, the role of big data in fighting diseases and stopping pandemics, and disrupting the healthcare industry. Learn more at https://thinkmd.org/

This week we have a UVM student entrepreneur with a firey new idea - all natural fire starters that are sustainably sourced and safe for the environment. Meet Adam Liszewski, CEO and founder of Stokes Firestarters.   After making fire starters as holiday gifts as a child with egg cartons and dryer lint, Adam has moved on to production models using food-grade paraffin and recycled sawdust from East Thetford Vermont.   Stokes are now available in stores across the northeast and beyond, and on Amazon!   Learn more at https://www.stokesfirestarters.com/  

This week we are excited to have Mieko Ozeki and Bethany Andrews-Nichols, the co-founders of Vermont Womenprenuers, an organization driving the mission of helping women entrepreneurs build their businesses in the Green Mountain State. In addition to helping other women start up their businesses, the duo are small business owners of their own. Mieko owns and runs Radiance Studios, a website, digital marketing, and event production business. Bethany is the owner of Beenanza graphic design, and licenses her pattern work internationally. The organization was hatched when Mieko began holding monthly networking meetings, and met Bethany who suggested creating a showcase of the products and services of women-owned businesses in Vermont. Womenpreneurs has held in-person and virtual summits since 2018 and helps collaborate with women to build better businesses. Don’t miss the upcoming Vermont Womenpreneurs Summit, “Navigating the Unexpected” — a 4-evening virtual event focused on navigating change in uncertain times. 

This week we have Scott Finn, President and CEO of VPR and Vermont PBS. With the recent merger of Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS, Scott is now leading the green mountain state’s largest media organization with a reach of over a million people each month and the goal of expanding to a broader and more diverse audience. Modern public media is more than just TV and Radio. Scott is looking to democratize media, with outreach through Youtube, podcasts, and more online content with shows like “Brave Little State,” “The Frequency” and the children’s educational show “But Why?“. We’re excited to see VPR and Vermont PBS support independent podcast shows like ours. Learn more at https://www.vpr.org and https://www.vermontpbs.org