October 2, 2025 • 41 mins
Too many leaders talk about Gen Z without ever listening to them. Ziad Ahmed has spent a decade changing that. From founding JUV Consulting as a teenager to now leading Next Gen at UTA, he’s shown what happens when brands give young people a real seat at the table. In this conversation, he and Christian explore how to integrate into culture instead of interrupting it, why authenticity matters more than ever, and how Gen Z is rewriting the rules of creativity and leadership.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Possible Now Stories of Possibilities, the podcast where
we dive into the leadership frameworks, bold ideas, and personal
stories shaping the future of marketing, technology and leadership. Today's
episode is truly special for me because I get to
sit down with someone I not only deeply respect, but
(00:26):
also know personally, Ziad Anned, who is a twenty six
year old social entrepreneur, speaker and strategist and the head
of next Gen at UTA. He has been rewriting the
rules of how brands connect with culture ever since he
founded Jew Consulting as a teenager. He's been honored on
Forbes thirty Under thirty, selected as an Obama USA Leader,
(00:48):
and named one of the world's most influential ESG Leaders,
all before turning twenty seven. What inspires me most about
Ziad is not just the accolades, but his relentless come
comitment to giving gen Z a real seat at the
table and showing us all how the next generation is
reshaping creativity, culture and connection. In our conversation today, we
(01:12):
will talk about the lessons of entrepreneurship, what it means
to lead with purpose, and while the future of marketing
belongs to those who listen to and empower new voices.
This is not just the first episode of season two,
if possible, now, it's the perfect way to start with
an amazing leader, change maker, and a friend. So let's
(01:32):
get started and welcome a remarkable person and human being.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Zie.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm ed welcome, Zied.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Thank you so much, my friend.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
That was a very generous introduction, much more so than
I deserve. And I am just grateful for your friendship
and your partnership and your leadership, and really excited to
be in conversation with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Perfect. Perfect, Yeah, it's really As I said before, it's
so great to have you with us. We know each
other for a while, and I've told you before that
I've always been impressed not just by what you've built,
but by the energy and conviction you bring into every conversation.
So I would like to kick off today's talk a
bit talking about the person behind the profile. People know
(02:14):
you as a strategist and entrepreneur. As I said before,
but if we would spend a quite sunday with you,
what would surprise us most about how you recharge and
find inspiration.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I love that you went there first, so I guess
I'm perfect Sunday would be in London, even though I
live in New York.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Now I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I'd love that you started with this question because something
I'm thinking about a lot, right.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I think that.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I'm obsessed with this idea that when the Industrial Revolution happened,
the idea was that we would have a three day
work week, right, that the innovation would buy us more leisure,
because the idea was that we worked to buy lesion.
If we were more efficient with our work, then we
would buy leisure. But as time has gone on, we
have embraced this notion of workism where we identify our
(03:00):
so I was buy our work, and therefore we no
longer buy leisure with our work.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
In a lot of.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Highly ambitious circles, we work for the sake of working, right.
We work as a state of being, and I think
in certain moments I've certainly fallen a victim to that,
you know, mindset and psychology, because I do work a lot, right.
You don't start a company at sixteen and then sell
it by not working, I imagine. But I'm thinking a
lot about like now, especially post acquisition, like I work hard.
(03:25):
I love a lot of parts about what I do
but what am I buying with my leisure?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
What am I buying from with that work? What leisure
am I buying? What do I want my life to
look like? Especially like I am four years out of
graduating college, I am an existential state of my twenties,
deciding who do I want to be and thinking a
lot about those question as to what brings me the
most joy. I guess like the truthful answer is television.
(03:50):
I love watching TV. I think of my life as
watching TV and everything being a break from TV. And like,
what a perfect Sunday looks like to me is binging
on the summer I turn pretty and then getting to
text all my friends about it to get their takes,
and posting on my Instagram close friends story about the
many ups and downs and plot twists of this season.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
But it's obviously not hanging just on the beach or
strolling around the city. You do not differentiate between your
work and your private life, right, It's all one thing.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Content is one of the things where I allow myself
to really escape, which is why TV matters so much
to me, because it's like this is my escape, Like
I cannot think about my own problems for a minute,
I can think about somebody else's and I love disappearing
into content for moments in a time, but I like
connecting it back to my work for sure, and drawing
the connection, because so much of my job is knowing
what's hot in culture and then getting to create partnerships
within those spaces and within that talent for our brand clients.
(04:45):
But to your point, as I think about my twenties
in my adulthood, I want to prioritize rest more. I've
been working out more as of late, eating healthier right,
going on more bike rides the sake of going on
a bike ride, And I feel so much joy when
I'm city biking on a Sunda day on the West
Side Highway in New York City, and I want to
do that more. And I want to walk for the
(05:05):
sake of walking, and dance for the sake of dancing.
And I think that oftentimes when I think of what
my ideal world would look like, it looks like reading
for the sake of reading, and singing for the sake
of singing, and getting to just learn for.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
The sake of learning.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And then I think to myself, Ah, that's what college
was supposed to be, right, but I was running a business.
We'll go to school, so I didn't approach college with
that mentality. Sometimes I regret that because if I think
about what I really want my life to look like,
it's just being surrounded by smart, empathetic people who challenge
me to be better and to get to just pursue
(05:39):
curiosity and creativity for the sake of curiosity and creativity
rather than necessarily for the sake of production.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I think that's a great strategy. And by the way,
if you want to be more active, continuesy and visit me,
because here can do all the crazy stuff in the world.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right I love New Zealand. I love New Zealand. My
one of my best friends was in New Zealand. I've
spent my birth my birthday there one year and I
had the best time.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I didn't know that that you already visited this wonderful country.
You've mentioned of quote that you've founded. You've at the
age of sixteen, which is obviously an amazing and impressive decision.
What I would like to learn is what gave you
the courage to launch instead of just dream like most
of the others in being in this age, and have
you had a mentor who pushed you forward in a
(06:23):
positive way, or was it just all about you? Was
it your own thing?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It is certainly not just all about me.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I am only the sum and the result of so
many people showing me kindness in believing in me far
before I believed in myself, And none of my victories
or successes have been mine, right, but belong to all
of those people. I think we're all fundamentally a product
of our privilege and a product of our opportunity in
our circumstance. And I was profoundly privileged to be born
(06:51):
in Princeton, New Jersey, the greatest town on earth.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And to be born to my mother. And my mother.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Taught me that I can be whatever I wanted to be,
and raised me to be delusional, and I have been,
and I was right. I believed her, and so I
approached the world often with a sense of conviction and
confidence that she instilled in me. Juxtapposed that it's against
the difference that my sister has had and experience, because
(07:18):
they were raised with those same values of confidence, but
the world beat that out of them much sooner on. Yeah, right,
Whereas I was affirmed constantly with my teachers, and by
those around me being like, you're gonna be somebody and
go do the thing. And so I started a nonprofit
when I was in eighth grade because I was privileged
enough too, and I grew up in a situation where
that wasn't impossible. And I started a company when I
(07:42):
was sixteen because I felt pissed off that I found
myself in rooms There was the youngest person in the
room by two three decades, and people were speaking about
young people, but not to us by virtue of starting
my nonprofit, and I said, no, why I can do
something about this with my friends, I start started this company.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And in any of these cases, I think.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
A lot of people might assume that there was a
lot of poster syndrome that then was provoked by starting
a nonprofit or a company or so young went to
the contrary, I found myself in a lot of rooms,
and I still had my mother's love and whispering in
my ear, saying no, you got this, And it wasn't Oh,
I don't belong in these rooms. My mindset was, I think,
actually a lot more of us belong in these rooms. Yeah, right,
(08:20):
Because I looked around and I saw nobody like me,
and I saw so many silly assumptions being made about
gen Z and about young people that made no sense
to me, and I felt uniquely inspired to start the
company and then to bring more of us into the conversation.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And ten years later I still shared that conviction just
as deeply.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I'm glad to hear that you know, and of course
I can only confirm that you know. It is so
beneficial and a huge privilege to have people whether in
your family own of course, or you meet on your way,
to support But at the end it comes down that yourself,
you have to make a decision, right, You have to
agree with some advice. You have to say, yeah, that's
what I want. Also, if you figure out at the
(08:56):
latter stage, well it wasn't maybe exactly what I wanted,
but that's worth what I mean, This is okay, right,
I mean to go through a door and maybe do
a step back and then use another door instead. I
think that's the best advice we can give to everybody
else in a similar situation. But it's important to have
people surrounding you and support you. And I think it's
still the case, right, It's still the case in your situation.
(09:17):
Also now you've mentioned the acquisition by UTA, which was
another huge turning point obviously recently last year. I think, yeah,
so let's talk about this for a couple of minutes.
What was the big learning after a year now or
a bit more than a year, what was the biggest
learning for yourself but also for your team as a
startup to join such a big corporation.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It's been a dream come true for us, right, Like
I started this company I was sixteen in my high
school bedroom, and I never thought that I'd be doing
this full time, let alone start hiring full time employees
when I was in college, and then graduate and grow
this company to what it became that's probably twenty nine
called the largest most popular gen Z agency, and then
ultimately get acquired by a company that is so massively
(09:59):
influential scale across this globe, right, a company like you know,
a talent agency that's it's so squarely at the epicenter
of culture. And I feel uniquely privileged to now be
here and to sit inside of this organization. Which whatever
story you're looking at in culture, UTA has some role
in it, right, whether it's on the big screen or
book you're reading, or on the news channel right or
(10:19):
on the sports field. UTA is in all of these domains,
and I think my theory of change right has always
been that I believe the more divers young people need
to set at the table, but disproportionately.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And Christian and I know each other. You and I
know each other because.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I've been, as you know, vary network in the marketing
and advertising world. That is the world in which I've
been effective at getting more young people that have stated
at the table. Of course we've dabbled in politics and
other domains and whatnot, but dispportment where I spend my
time and being at UTA in the world of media
and entertainment now. But I think we're really coming to
understand is the value of being that much closer to
(10:56):
the storytellers that architect. A lot of the culture that
we're interfed with advertising is oftentimes responding to the culture
that a musician or that an athlete, or that a
filmmaker or that a writer is creating. And I think
what's been really beautiful. And we were intentional about choosing
UTA as our acquirer vis the other potential opportunities that
we had at holds closer otherwise because we believe in
(11:19):
this theory of change that we shouldn't be interrupting someone's entertainment,
we should be integrating into someone's entertainment. And I think
what we've learned here is just how powerful that proposition
can be.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Because we get.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
An email and they love you know, it's not my
favorite thing about this company, but they love Outlook. We
miss our Gmail, but we've adjusted to Outlook. They love
Outlook here, and they'll email the whole company. Someone'll email
the whole company and be like, I had this amazing
meeting with this extraordinary producer doing this amazing thing, and
you're like, wait, actually it's about a garden. I had
this client who's obsessed with Oh my, we should make
(11:52):
a connection and we can broker partnerships that we never
could have pulled off before. And so getting to understand
that ecosystem and plug into it has been really valuable.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
And the business is doing well, you know, and our
Visitas is doing well.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
U team marketing is doing well, and we've been able
to also prove to ourselves right that we had this
amazing run as an independent company, and we've got to
prove what we were capable of as a team of
diverse young people who had never done this before and
were rewriting a lot of the rules as we go,
but also being successful within somebody else's rules. It's a
whole different ballgame. And proving that we can do that too,
(12:27):
I think has been really validating right in so far
as proving that what we were doing having diverse young
people lead right, doing things differently, prioritizing a community for
social first impact first model can also work within existing organizations.
I think is really a powerful learning for the industry
(12:49):
to say, hey, wait, if the odd can do this
within U team, maybe we can do this with an
organization too, and promote more diverse young people to take
on more leadership.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
And to do things differently.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And I think that's a really cool model that hopefully
getting to prove to the market.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So obviously a dream came true. But what doesn't mean
for you personally? I mean, you're leading a team of
how many people these days?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I've like twenty folks on my team. There are full
time folks.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, and I assume it's growing over the time. And
what did change most for you personally? Do you still
feel that you can focus on why you started this
whole thing? Years ago. Do you feel you can still
do it and are support was additional opportunities or do
you feel sometimes all right, I know it'll be stuck
in all this corporate stuff here.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Look, of course, is there more red tape and bureaucras
to get a company of thousands than there was that
my small company, of course, right? And am I adjusting
to that in some ways?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Of course?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I started the company in twenty sixteen, we sold in
twenty twenty four, So for eight years, right, every decision
was my decision, and we never had outside investment, right like,
we were an independent, truly autonomous organization, and I value
right that freedom and agency that we had. And so
of course there are moments where like, damn, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I wish that could be my decision.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Of course, that said, I think UTA has such a
uniquely entrepreneurial culture. And my boss will report to Julian Jacobs,
who's the you know, the head of UTA Marketing and
the head of the New York office here. He's spun
up UTA Marketing when he was around my age, starting
UTA's work working with brand clients like Delta that have
(14:27):
built out their entertainment and culture strategy. You know, and
he's around ten years my senior. But he's a young guy,
you know, and he's cool and he gets it, and
he's been able to accomplish so much or because he
had an idea and he made it happen. Now, UTA
Creators is this powerhouse in the industry run by phenomenal
young leaders like Ali Berman, right, And we've been able
(14:47):
to really showcase what happens at UTA when you let young,
diverse leaders have an idea and go run with it
and make it happen. And so I'm grateful to now
be in a company that has that legacy and has
that muscle built out where they understand like.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
But they're not gen Z, They're not gen Z. We
would talk about this in a couple of minutes, right,
How can we change this even further? Right? And how
how can we support also from the current leaders you know,
to make this shift even you know, faster or better.
Let me ask you one more thing after the acquisition,
considering the acquisition and all these great things coming along
(15:22):
with that, as you said, where do you want to
see next Gen be any year's time? Let's do not
talk five and ten years. I mean, this is so
much Will happen till then what about the next twelve months?
What are your goals as a company.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I think we have had a phenomenal year and a
half year. The business is healthy, we're growing, we really
integrated with you team. Marketing is offering We've been able
to sell into clients being this partner that helps them
understand the whole cultural landscape right because this portionately it
is young people and it is culture makers in music
and entertainment who are responsible for most of the cast
that our brands want to engage with. If we have
(15:56):
both gen Z authority and cultural authority, that's a really
powerful position thing would have been able to sell that
in effectively.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I want to keep doing that.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I think that more dollars need to move away from
the traditional models of advertising into solidifying your role within culture,
and I think that we're doing that. We're really excited
about zecon in the fall, our flagship conference, the first
major conference only gen Z speakers that we continued post acquisition.
It'll be in LA in October, so that's a big
moment that we're working towards right now. But I think holistically,
(16:24):
we're just really excited about continuing to prove what diverse
young people are capable of and bringing them to more tables,
like it possible, or eve been proud of a partnership
and having even another year of our partnership coming up
this year, bringing more diverse young voices the table, and
continuing to champion as uta the power of storytelling. And
so I think we're just excited to keep growing on
all of those fronts, and I think we feel really
(16:46):
grateful to be here in so far as I don't
think there's a lot of companies out there that would
be really excited to bring in a bunch of diverse
young people and make them executives and give them a
platform who are apologetically doing things differently and being themselves
out loud. And the fact that we can do all
(17:06):
of those things and that it can grow a legitimate,
real business has taken seriously in the marketplace, and proving
that out to the market is what I'm always most
excited about. Got it right, that this is possible? Right
that like we don't. I think so much of business
is all about like being scared, yeah, right, Scared of
the reaction, scared of being yourself, scared of saying the
wrong thing, and I think what we hope to inspire
(17:27):
is by the virtue of our work, inspiring a sort
of leadership, a sort of marketing, a sort of storytelling
that's more honest, right, that's more joyful, that's more intersectional,
that's more candid about the crisises that we are facing
and the opportunity that exists. We include more voices at
the table, and so I'm just excited to keep doing
that work and grateful that I get to do it
within the storied halls of UTA where so much incredible
(17:50):
creativity happened.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Awesome, awesome. Obviously you've built your career around connecting brands
to the site.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and we talk about the next gen? Is it
still the next gen? I mean, the Generation Alpha is
just behind you.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
And that's all of us.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
So I would say you are tuning into the gen now, right,
and the gen is Gen Aalpha? So yeah, I mean
how does this impact when you consult companies? I mean,
you represent gen Z, so what about Gen alfha? Is
it already playing a role here because in five years
time they're taking over?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Right? Sure?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Well, look, I am certainly not as young as I
once was, and I certainly feel that way, I'm twenty six,
and I feel it, and.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
My clients feel it too.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
There are people in the workplace who are my same age.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Right, It's not as radical as it once was, and
so I'm very conscious of that. That said, less and
less of our work is just gen.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Z specific, right.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
More of our work now is and we do influence
a marketing campaigns the likes of eos. Right, They're not
just interested in reaching a gen Z consumer. They're interested
in being broadly culturally impactful and connecting with people where
they are, and of course gen Z is an important
piece of that. But we're just doing amazing influencer marketing yeah, right,
and we're helping to run Lion skates TikTok. Right, We're
not just thinking about gen Z audiences. We want everyone
(19:06):
to watch these amazing films. But we're really good at
understanding TikTok because we're native to it, right. And so
it's thinking about digital creator community, storytelling as muscles that
we perhaps have a unique flexing of because of our age.
But we're not just talking about our demos often these days,
we're just talking about culture first, digital first, marketing and partnerships.
(19:28):
And that's especially true intensified by our acquisition and just
the larger joint offering that we're not selling into clients.
But I think to your point of course, our business
model has always been that we have a pretty lean
team of full time employees, but we have contractors that
we leverage in a network right of survey respondents and
otherwise of gen zers from around the world that we
always leverage to make sure that we're actually honest and
(19:49):
smart on the things that we're talking about. As gen
Alpha ages in to the legal age of work where
I can compensate them for their contributions, they're not quite
at that age. We want to invite in more nextra
invoices to advise us on where culture is and where
it's headed. And we'll continue to build out our network
of contractors and survey participants and focus group respondents to
(20:12):
make sure that it's not that I'm not the third
year old talking head who's just deciding for somebody else
what they're interested in. And we want to be a
platform that gives them a microphone to speak for themselves.
And so my goal is always and as you know,
of my team, it's not just to me. I have
a bunch of folks on my team who are smarter
and better talkers than I, and I want.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
To find folks even younger than us.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That I can platform, that we can put in front
of stages and say this is who you need to
be listening to. Because yeah, like I am yesterday's names
a little bit, and I'm okay with that. And I'm
excited to get to be to the next with so
many were to me right, so many people championed me
and platform me and gave me a microphone, And I'm
excited to hopefully now be in a seat where I
(20:52):
can do that for others.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So I can't imagine when you do your consulting job that,
especially in the last couple of years, you experience all
the time the same kind of questions from leaders, Right,
how can we get connected with the gen Z? And
Da da da shore? What are the real questions from
today's leaders, assuming that they are not gen Z? Right,
what should be the real questions you think they should ask?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I really value when people ask me the question that's
actually keeping them up at night, right, like how do
we reach gen Z?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Is so vague and so broad.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I love when someone asks me about a specific employee
that they have are having a problem with, righte a
challenge that they don't understand about their own kid. Yeah, right,
when we understand the real stakes of the question that
we're talking about when we're making I think talking in
the esoteric is fine, and you know, we do it,
and I we go on panels and we talk about
(22:03):
the vague. But I think when we actually talk about
what is the real problem that you're experiencing and where
we get to really dive into the solutioning that that's
where I find the most joys. And I think that
part of that is when folks that are honest with
me about the frictions that they're feeling as it relates
to gen Z. Right, So, someone might come to me
and say, we don't understand how is gen Z so
(22:29):
passionate about climate and sustainability but buying Shean and Mass
my kid.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
They tell me that they care so much.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
About climate change and climate action, but then they ask
me to buy this thing on TMU for them, Like,
how can these two things be existing in tandem of
one another. I love that question because it's not some
same tired, trite talk track that we've seen on every stage.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It speaks to a real question.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I think a lot of people are scared to ask
out loud, right because the answer might make us actually uncomfortable,
and they think. The answer right as I see it,
on that specific question, is that these things can of
do exist intention and the exist intention because oftentimes young people,
we look at the world and we say, the system
has failed us. So why would I penalize myself for
(23:15):
the system's failing The system ought to prioritize climate action,
ought to reduce emissions. Why would I a young person,
and especially young person that isn't me, who isn't so privileged.
A lot of young people are cast dropped, why would
they penalize themselves on a cost basis for the feelings
of a system that they did not create. And so
these two audiologies actually can exist in tandem. But no
(23:36):
white paper is going to tell you that nuanced perspective
as to the politic that governs a lot of gen
Z's decision making. And of course we're not a monel
that I'm speaking in you know, broad strokes here, and
they're gen Ziers who of course only buy a secondhand
and they are genders whyn't give a shit about climate change,
right and everybody in the middle just portion just proportionately.
Of course, a lot of us do report caring about
climate action, but still might buy fast fashion in certain moments,
(23:56):
and so understanding and impacting that psychology and explaining why
it is so imperative as a corporation, you still think
climate actively seriously because gen Z's expectations of the corporation
that system will if we cannot is I think such
an important part of my role in my job, and
I love those questions because they allow us to be
more honest and allow us to get to solutions that
(24:18):
actually push us forward, rather than always just talk in
the vague niceties that I think often govern a lot
of the discourse.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I personally feel as well that at some stage it's
no longer about questioning things or asking those right questions,
but also just accepting as it is right because it
comes along with you know, you grow up in a
complete different environment and every conversation these days and we
have to touch base on this as well, sorry to
say AI, which is for you guys, it's a natial fit,
(24:49):
especially for the Jenelpa. Do we have to embrace in
the older generation, to embrace it in a different way
than just asking questions and try to understand it comes
down to how you use it every day, how you
embrace it every day in your own daily life when
it comes to gen Z, except why you see things
differently and not asking another question, Now.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
I really value what you just said, right.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I think that I'm oftentimes bewildered, right, because people will
contract us to be their advisors on what gen Z
thinks and on digital and Creator, and then we'll tell
them and they'll be like, actually, we don't like the answer,
and it's like, well, that is the answer, right, And
I think there's sometimes a discomfort with the reality that
folks are living in, and we have to embrace the
(25:33):
world that we live in, right, And we have to
treat the expert on any reality as the expert on
that reality. And I think that we often don't. And
I think that's so much of marketing a product misses
the mark because we don't include the most affected populations
in the conversation that impact them most, and we don't
trust their testimony as the ultimate authority on their experience.
(25:55):
And so I am always most enthusiastic when folks want
to bring us in, not just to check a box
to say they talked to gen Z, but to say, hey,
you were actually the expert on this thing, and we
need to listen to your opinion to govern what we're
going to do going forward, and we're going to.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Bring you in as a partner to do so.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Right, And I think the best question that sometimes I
also get asked, the question you earlier asked, is also
like if not you, who should I be talking to?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Right? And an era of AI. I think that to me,
I value so much.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
It's so easy right to say from the perspective of
and ask an algorithm a question. I think there is
no replacement for a real conversation. There is no replacement
for real community building and being irl with people, beating
hearts and minds coming together with empathy, with nuance, and
getting to be a connector to another young person to
(26:45):
bring them into the room. That's the best question someone
can ask right to say, I want to learn more
about climate, talk to my friend saves Linear, right, and
I'm going to connect you to her, and she needs
to be in this conversation and like that joy for
me is something that I take really seriously. And so
in this moment of technology that we're living in to
speak to it quickly. I think often about you know,
five years ago, the headlines would have you believing that
(27:08):
gen Z was obsessed with web three, and we came
out with a report pre acquisition, our web Ze report,
and our data did not support that claim. The vast
majority of our g gen Z respondent said we don't
care about this, or we don't know about this, okay,
but the headlines would have you believing this would But
this is all we were thinking about was a very
small percent of gen Z that had the capital to
(27:29):
be engaging with some of these you know, economic instruments,
or that had the interest. Because what I hear from
most young people is not most young people. I say
that they have this device and they look at it
and they say, you know what, I want more distance
between myself and this device.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Okay, they don't say, you know what, I want to
be inside of it.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I've never heard anyone say that, yeah, right, But somehow
we were hearing in the narrative that that's what people
were looking for. And so I think in general, my
perspective of an entrepreneurship and innovation is that there's been
a dangerous conflation often of innovation and progress, that just
because something is new, it is better. Maybe that's true,
maybe that's not true, but I think oftentimes that's not
the case. And I think oftentimes, especially today, where technology
(28:08):
has advanced so much, it has created a lot of
efficiencies and has created a lot of opportunity, but a
lot of people are really craving. When we think about
being consumer centric and listening to the consumer is telling
us we're overwhelmed by our technology. Right. We want to
be more human, we want to feel more alive, we
want to detox. I think it's important that we listen
to that consumer. I think it's important that we hear people.
(28:30):
Our data tells us when we did research over that
pandemic that the vast majority of young people we're using
creativity to get through the moment in the pandemic. We're
treating back to things like poetry and artistry and singing.
If that's who we are as humans, as artists, right,
I think it's really important that we as business leaders
think about what are we doing to foster our hummunity.
(28:51):
And I don't think that that conversation is happening enough.
And I think that's a conversation that I'm really excited
about and they don't think it's instead of the technology conversation.
I think it's in a too. But of course, while
excited as I am about certain technologies that might make
us more efficient, I have given me a lot of
pause the idea that certain technologies might make it harder
for people to make an honest living as an artist,
because I believe that humans that are core are artists,
(29:13):
and I believe that we ought to be concerned about
the impact of certain technologies that might make it harder
for us to be human.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So, in other words, if I understand right, you know,
also in your consulting job, leaders these days are focused
a bit too much as well on technology trends, you know,
which is more absolutely reasonable approach, but it might overlay
all the other topics, you know, which are important to
fully understand, you know, your generation.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
And it's a yes and yeah, okay, yeah, yes, and right,
Like I think we ought to care about the technology conversation,
but it can't be at the expense of caring about
the human conversation, especially when our consumer is screaming at
us telling us, hey, see me as a human, yeah right,
allow me to live as a human because I think
a lot of us right now are looking around at
the world and saying, is this humanity right? Right? And
(30:03):
we have to be responsive to that question that I
think a lot of us are cross generations, are asking
right now.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I have one question following on those How do you
see platforms evolving as both political and cultural battlegrounds over
the next years. Obviously it happens for some time now,
are we turning back already? Is it getting worse when
you look into this like a challenge or an issue?
Do you see it turning into the better? What is
(30:29):
your prediction here if you have any bait? It's a
big question. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I wrote my thesis on this question, and I don't
think that if I did my same thesis research today
that I have the same conclusions that I did in
twenty twenty one. Okay, when I was in high school,
it was my dream, it was my dream to work
at Twitter dot com. I think it's safe to say
that's no longer my dream. And so it's certainly a
lot has changed in the last ten years in my
world and in the new world right. And I used
(30:58):
to really believe that social media would change world for
the better. I think a lot of people did, and
I think relatively few of us still think that's probably
the case today. And when we did research on this
that you've pre acquisition, we ask young people, is social
media playing a positive or negative role in your life?
If you're listening, I want you to pause for a
(31:19):
second and put a number in your head that you
think we said that.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
You think gen Z said, Christian? What do you think
gen Z said?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Obviously I would say the majority would appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
You think the majority are saying positive role in your life?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Of course you fifty to fifty, You add fifty percent
saying positive and fifty percent saying negative.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
When you segment down based.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
On certain demographics, women more likely to say negative, men
more likely to say positive certain demographics. But it speaks
to so many of us are simultaneously aware of the
ways in which it's making us more aware, more connected,
but also more anxious, right, but also most more disconnected,
also more misinformed. And we're holding all of the attentions
at once because we're seeing both the positive and the
(32:01):
negative play out in real time. As it pertains to
its impact on politics, I think we can see something similar.
Is it beautiful and wonderful that more voices are being
included in the conversation, that gen zers can galvanize movements
instantaneously across regions and across the world right and create
a global conversation around systemic injustice. Yes, at the same time,
(32:22):
are we clearly seeing tremendous amounts of cyber bullying and
misinformation and division and all sorts of negative externalities and
these varia same platforms, Yes, and sweet are content with
all of this at once. And I think my take
holistically is that social media is no longer social. It's
really just become media. The data tells us the ten
to twenty percent of people are creating eighty to ninety
(32:44):
percent of content today. What that tells me is that
scrolling on your phone is actually not that different than
going to the movie theater or watching TV. You are
watching a professional content creator, disproportionately a professional storyteller tell
you a story, and you are possibly consuming that as
a consumer. And so I'm not convinced that social media
is very social anymore. We don't talk enough about the
(33:05):
transition of the word friend on Facebook to follower on Instagram.
Followers are not friends, right, social media is no longer
a playground to reconnect with your old schoolmates. It's a
place to go viral. That's a very different ecosystem and
a very different roy than friendship. And so the way
that I think about it is I don't think social
(33:26):
media is really media. I think we've disaggregated social and media.
Social lives in the DM, social lives in group chats,
social lives in certain platforms that we don't talk about
as much, like Reddit and Pinterest and media, right, is
really what's happening on TikTok on Instagram, which is to me,
the same bucket as Netflix and otherwise. Yeah, I think
media is more important than ever before, and it shapes
(33:47):
everything that we think, that we believe. And the most
valuable stories are ones that we tell across media formats
because they are porous and people watch parts seven need
tool of a movie on TikTok right, and all of
them are reinforcing one another. And it's massively impactful as
(34:07):
it pertains to political realities because it shapes the world
that we live in. And I think that that's not
going anywhere. Yeah, but we need to be thinking about
our social strategies and our media strategies, sometimes separately, but
also how they exist in tandem to really understand how
we ultimately inform the conversation. And I think certain political
actors have understood the new media landscape better than others.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
I'm very public about my politics.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I think that certain campaigns that I may have supported
were not as strategic as it pertains to understanding the
new media landscape as we need it to be.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
And I think there's real consequence to that.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
So obviously you use the TikTok platforms and Insteain, etcetera.
You mentioned I do you see a hidden star at
the horizon who is will be developed soon or will
be launched soon, or will will come to the surface
to everybody's mind, which will consider your prediction to be
maybe the next generation of social media platform.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Be Real was the closest we've seen right, and be
Real tried to cretin anti social media social media right
that forced you to not edit, right, that forced you
to cop your number of friends that you could have,
that forced you into a social a really social experience
that made us feel like we were connected again. And
then I think they made themselves too much like the rest.
Then you could add it cautions, you could post no
(35:25):
more times a day, you could post after the fact.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
It took away the limitations that made us feel like, oh,
maybe this is a little bit more human way to
stay connected, right, because I feel so we're all feel
so overwhelmed by the self editing and you know, the
constant compare culture and all of it, And what does
it look like to build ecosystems that are built around
legitimate connection that don't allow for a lot of the
mutations that have made us feel icky inside. I think
(35:52):
that there will be another anti social media social media
that comes out founded by a gen zer. Right.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I don't know if it exists yet. Maybe it does.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Maybe it does, in that speaks to that impulse and
speaks that need state. We're ready seeing a lot of
dating apps do the same.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Right. That's not to say that the existing getting apps.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Of course, they'll have so many users and are like
the vast major of people are meeting each other, but
a lot of people are like mastering all these people,
I'm never meeting them in person, and so now more
and more, right, these apps are built around in person connection,
in person community. Right. Thursdays started as an app and
is now primarily an event series, which is a dating series.
And so I think we're going to continue to see
a lot of technology adapt around this impulse to be
(36:32):
an in person with each other and to feel like
we're actually connected and talking to one another rather than
we're all just in a peanut gallery observing media together.
And so I think there needs to be an emphasis
on that social muscle that I think a lot of
us s feel has not been exercised enough in the.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Last few years.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
And we'll see which platform really does that the most
and does that the best. But I'm excited for more
entrepreneurship and more innovation that hopefully makes us feel more connected.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
You guide a lot of people you know and companies
how to do better, and sometimes I feel it myself
as well. You know, it's easier to guide others and
advise others than to apply the lessons. So if you
were your own client, what you tell Zet today?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
It's a big.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Question, Okay, Like I said this on a panel a
few weeks ago. Someone asked me, like, what does success
look like for you personally? And what I said was,
and this is probably the advice that I'd give myself
if I was my client, I said success for me personally,
it would look like when I was confident enough that
I would post on my main story on Instagram, would
I post on my close friends story right now? Like
(37:36):
I am way too scared to post what I posted
my close friends to everybody. But if I was my
unfilter itself one hundred percent of the time, I think
I'd be more marketable. I think I'd probably have more
success that I'm scared because there's also more risk attached
to that, right, And so I think if I was
my agency partner, I would say stop being so risk averse.
(37:56):
I would say, there is more to be gained than
to be lost by being yourself out loud, and you
should do it more often, and you should encourage your
team to do it more often, and turn the close
friends off and turn the main story on and be
yourself out loud in public all the time. And I
think a lot of gen ziers that would would relate
to that about like the we're a different person on
(38:18):
our friends does and close friends than we are on
our mains, right, How freedom would feel like being willing
to be fully candid out loud.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah, I think that was a great kind of finish
for today's conversation, we could go on. I hope that
our audience got a good sense of you as a
person and why you do what you do.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Leadership isn't just about age or title. It's about courage,
it's about conviction, It's about creating space for others, and
this is what you do every day.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Question.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
You have been such a phenomenal partner, and your willingness
to bring in my voice and allow me to bring
in other young voices into possible has been such an
extraordinary partnership. And I think a lot of people talk
a big talk about the power of young people, and
a lot fewer people actually empower young people. And I
think it's says so much about your conviction and your
leadership that you would have me as your first guest
on season two, that you would bring a bunch of
(39:07):
diversity on people with different perspectives across difference to your
conference to disrupt a lot of the hegemonic thinking of
our industry and give that center stage right. I think
that says so much of the type of leader that
you are in the world that you and envision to
be possible, And I'm really grateful that we're now partnering
for a third year to highlight more creator and creative
and change making voices at Possible because it makes me
(39:30):
feel like more is possible, because a lot of people
say one day it will be, but say that today
can't be that day.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
And I'm really really grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Thank you, Thank you, And we're working on further ideas
and additional ideas because we can always do better also
what we did in the past. So to my audience,
if you want to keep up with Zia's work and ideas,
you can find him on social media at z i'm
ed or follow him on LinkedIn, where he is being
named a top voice. And I hope today's episode with
Zi left you as energized and inspired as I feel
(40:00):
joined this conversation. Make sure to surpribe to Possible Now
stories of possibilities so you never miss an episode of
bold ideas and personal stories like Zia's. Soyldia, thank you
so much again. Until next time, Thank you, thank you,
thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Everyone.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Once again, I'm your host, Christian More. If you have
a question or suggestion to me, reach out send me
them on LinkedIn. If you're curious to learn more about Possible,
sign up for our newsletter, or if you want to
join us at the Possible Show in Miami, visit possibleevent
dot com. Possible Now is a co production of iHeartMedia
(40:38):
and Possible. Our executive producers are Ryan Martz and Yasmin Melandez.
Our supervising producer is Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen
Lawrence mac from our programming team.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Our theme music is.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Composed by Anthony Kellacoli. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit
the iHeart app Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite show.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Sh
Welcome to Possible Now Stories of Possibilities, the podcast where
we dive into the leadership frameworks, bold ideas, and personal
stories shaping the future of marketing, technology and leadership. Today's
episode is truly special for me because I get to
sit down with someone I not only deeply respect, but
(00:26):
also know personally, Ziad Anned, who is a twenty six
year old social entrepreneur, speaker and strategist and the head
of next Gen at UTA. He has been rewriting the
rules of how brands connect with culture ever since he
founded Jew Consulting as a teenager. He's been honored on
Forbes thirty Under thirty, selected as an Obama USA Leader,
(00:48):
and named one of the world's most influential ESG Leaders,
all before turning twenty seven. What inspires me most about
Ziad is not just the accolades, but his relentless come
comitment to giving gen Z a real seat at the
table and showing us all how the next generation is
reshaping creativity, culture and connection. In our conversation today, we
(01:12):
will talk about the lessons of entrepreneurship, what it means
to lead with purpose, and while the future of marketing
belongs to those who listen to and empower new voices.
This is not just the first episode of season two,
if possible, now, it's the perfect way to start with
an amazing leader, change maker, and a friend. So let's
(01:32):
get started and welcome a remarkable person and human being.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Zie.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm ed welcome, Zied.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Thank you so much, my friend.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
That was a very generous introduction, much more so than
I deserve. And I am just grateful for your friendship
and your partnership and your leadership, and really excited to
be in conversation with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Perfect. Perfect, Yeah, it's really As I said before, it's
so great to have you with us. We know each
other for a while, and I've told you before that
I've always been impressed not just by what you've built,
but by the energy and conviction you bring into every conversation.
So I would like to kick off today's talk a
bit talking about the person behind the profile. People know
(02:14):
you as a strategist and entrepreneur. As I said before,
but if we would spend a quite sunday with you,
what would surprise us most about how you recharge and
find inspiration.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I love that you went there first, so I guess
I'm perfect Sunday would be in London, even though I
live in New York.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Now I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I'd love that you started with this question because something
I'm thinking about a lot, right.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I think that.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I'm obsessed with this idea that when the Industrial Revolution happened,
the idea was that we would have a three day
work week, right, that the innovation would buy us more leisure,
because the idea was that we worked to buy lesion.
If we were more efficient with our work, then we
would buy leisure. But as time has gone on, we
have embraced this notion of workism where we identify our
(03:00):
so I was buy our work, and therefore we no
longer buy leisure with our work.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
In a lot of.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Highly ambitious circles, we work for the sake of working, right.
We work as a state of being, and I think
in certain moments I've certainly fallen a victim to that,
you know, mindset and psychology, because I do work a lot, right.
You don't start a company at sixteen and then sell
it by not working, I imagine. But I'm thinking a
lot about like now, especially post acquisition, like I work hard.
(03:25):
I love a lot of parts about what I do
but what am I buying with my leisure?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
What am I buying from with that work? What leisure
am I buying? What do I want my life to
look like? Especially like I am four years out of
graduating college, I am an existential state of my twenties,
deciding who do I want to be and thinking a
lot about those question as to what brings me the
most joy. I guess like the truthful answer is television.
(03:50):
I love watching TV. I think of my life as
watching TV and everything being a break from TV. And like,
what a perfect Sunday looks like to me is binging
on the summer I turn pretty and then getting to
text all my friends about it to get their takes,
and posting on my Instagram close friends story about the
many ups and downs and plot twists of this season.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
But it's obviously not hanging just on the beach or
strolling around the city. You do not differentiate between your
work and your private life, right, It's all one thing.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Content is one of the things where I allow myself
to really escape, which is why TV matters so much
to me, because it's like this is my escape, Like
I cannot think about my own problems for a minute,
I can think about somebody else's and I love disappearing
into content for moments in a time, but I like
connecting it back to my work for sure, and drawing
the connection, because so much of my job is knowing
what's hot in culture and then getting to create partnerships
within those spaces and within that talent for our brand clients.
(04:45):
But to your point, as I think about my twenties
in my adulthood, I want to prioritize rest more. I've
been working out more as of late, eating healthier right,
going on more bike rides the sake of going on
a bike ride, And I feel so much joy when
I'm city biking on a Sunda day on the West
Side Highway in New York City, and I want to
do that more. And I want to walk for the
(05:05):
sake of walking, and dance for the sake of dancing.
And I think that oftentimes when I think of what
my ideal world would look like, it looks like reading
for the sake of reading, and singing for the sake
of singing, and getting to just learn for.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
The sake of learning.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And then I think to myself, Ah, that's what college
was supposed to be, right, but I was running a business.
We'll go to school, so I didn't approach college with
that mentality. Sometimes I regret that because if I think
about what I really want my life to look like,
it's just being surrounded by smart, empathetic people who challenge
me to be better and to get to just pursue
(05:39):
curiosity and creativity for the sake of curiosity and creativity
rather than necessarily for the sake of production.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I think that's a great strategy. And by the way,
if you want to be more active, continuesy and visit me,
because here can do all the crazy stuff in the world.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right I love New Zealand. I love New Zealand. My
one of my best friends was in New Zealand. I've
spent my birth my birthday there one year and I
had the best time.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I didn't know that that you already visited this wonderful country.
You've mentioned of quote that you've founded. You've at the
age of sixteen, which is obviously an amazing and impressive decision.
What I would like to learn is what gave you
the courage to launch instead of just dream like most
of the others in being in this age, and have
you had a mentor who pushed you forward in a
(06:23):
positive way, or was it just all about you? Was
it your own thing?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It is certainly not just all about me.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I am only the sum and the result of so
many people showing me kindness in believing in me far
before I believed in myself, And none of my victories
or successes have been mine, right, but belong to all
of those people. I think we're all fundamentally a product
of our privilege and a product of our opportunity in
our circumstance. And I was profoundly privileged to be born
(06:51):
in Princeton, New Jersey, the greatest town on earth.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And to be born to my mother. And my mother.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Taught me that I can be whatever I wanted to be,
and raised me to be delusional, and I have been,
and I was right. I believed her, and so I
approached the world often with a sense of conviction and
confidence that she instilled in me. Juxtapposed that it's against
the difference that my sister has had and experience, because
(07:18):
they were raised with those same values of confidence, but
the world beat that out of them much sooner on. Yeah, right,
Whereas I was affirmed constantly with my teachers, and by
those around me being like, you're gonna be somebody and
go do the thing. And so I started a nonprofit
when I was in eighth grade because I was privileged
enough too, and I grew up in a situation where
that wasn't impossible. And I started a company when I
(07:42):
was sixteen because I felt pissed off that I found
myself in rooms There was the youngest person in the
room by two three decades, and people were speaking about
young people, but not to us by virtue of starting
my nonprofit, and I said, no, why I can do
something about this with my friends, I start started this company.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And in any of these cases, I think.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
A lot of people might assume that there was a
lot of poster syndrome that then was provoked by starting
a nonprofit or a company or so young went to
the contrary, I found myself in a lot of rooms,
and I still had my mother's love and whispering in
my ear, saying no, you got this, And it wasn't Oh,
I don't belong in these rooms. My mindset was, I think,
actually a lot more of us belong in these rooms. Yeah, right,
(08:20):
Because I looked around and I saw nobody like me,
and I saw so many silly assumptions being made about
gen Z and about young people that made no sense
to me, and I felt uniquely inspired to start the
company and then to bring more of us into the conversation.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And ten years later I still shared that conviction just
as deeply.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I'm glad to hear that you know, and of course
I can only confirm that you know. It is so
beneficial and a huge privilege to have people whether in
your family own of course, or you meet on your way,
to support But at the end it comes down that yourself,
you have to make a decision, right, You have to
agree with some advice. You have to say, yeah, that's
what I want. Also, if you figure out at the
(08:56):
latter stage, well it wasn't maybe exactly what I wanted,
but that's worth what I mean, This is okay, right,
I mean to go through a door and maybe do
a step back and then use another door instead. I
think that's the best advice we can give to everybody
else in a similar situation. But it's important to have
people surrounding you and support you. And I think it's
still the case, right, It's still the case in your situation.
(09:17):
Also now you've mentioned the acquisition by UTA, which was
another huge turning point obviously recently last year. I think, yeah,
so let's talk about this for a couple of minutes.
What was the big learning after a year now or
a bit more than a year, what was the biggest
learning for yourself but also for your team as a
startup to join such a big corporation.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It's been a dream come true for us, right, Like
I started this company I was sixteen in my high
school bedroom, and I never thought that I'd be doing
this full time, let alone start hiring full time employees
when I was in college, and then graduate and grow
this company to what it became that's probably twenty nine
called the largest most popular gen Z agency, and then
ultimately get acquired by a company that is so massively
(09:59):
influential scale across this globe, right, a company like you know,
a talent agency that's it's so squarely at the epicenter
of culture. And I feel uniquely privileged to now be
here and to sit inside of this organization. Which whatever
story you're looking at in culture, UTA has some role
in it, right, whether it's on the big screen or
book you're reading, or on the news channel right or
(10:19):
on the sports field. UTA is in all of these domains,
and I think my theory of change right has always
been that I believe the more divers young people need
to set at the table, but disproportionately.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And Christian and I know each other. You and I
know each other because.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I've been, as you know, vary network in the marketing
and advertising world. That is the world in which I've
been effective at getting more young people that have stated
at the table. Of course we've dabbled in politics and
other domains and whatnot, but dispportment where I spend my
time and being at UTA in the world of media
and entertainment now. But I think we're really coming to
understand is the value of being that much closer to
(10:56):
the storytellers that architect. A lot of the culture that
we're interfed with advertising is oftentimes responding to the culture
that a musician or that an athlete, or that a
filmmaker or that a writer is creating. And I think
what's been really beautiful. And we were intentional about choosing
UTA as our acquirer vis the other potential opportunities that
we had at holds closer otherwise because we believe in
(11:19):
this theory of change that we shouldn't be interrupting someone's entertainment,
we should be integrating into someone's entertainment. And I think
what we've learned here is just how powerful that proposition
can be.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Because we get.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
An email and they love you know, it's not my
favorite thing about this company, but they love Outlook. We
miss our Gmail, but we've adjusted to Outlook. They love
Outlook here, and they'll email the whole company. Someone'll email
the whole company and be like, I had this amazing
meeting with this extraordinary producer doing this amazing thing, and
you're like, wait, actually it's about a garden. I had
this client who's obsessed with Oh my, we should make
(11:52):
a connection and we can broker partnerships that we never
could have pulled off before. And so getting to understand
that ecosystem and plug into it has been really valuable.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
And the business is doing well, you know, and our
Visitas is doing well.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
U team marketing is doing well, and we've been able
to also prove to ourselves right that we had this
amazing run as an independent company, and we've got to
prove what we were capable of as a team of
diverse young people who had never done this before and
were rewriting a lot of the rules as we go,
but also being successful within somebody else's rules. It's a
whole different ballgame. And proving that we can do that too,
(12:27):
I think has been really validating right in so far
as proving that what we were doing having diverse young
people lead right, doing things differently, prioritizing a community for
social first impact first model can also work within existing organizations.
I think is really a powerful learning for the industry
(12:49):
to say, hey, wait, if the odd can do this
within U team, maybe we can do this with an
organization too, and promote more diverse young people to take
on more leadership.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
And to do things differently.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And I think that's a really cool model that hopefully
getting to prove to the market.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So obviously a dream came true. But what doesn't mean
for you personally? I mean, you're leading a team of
how many people these days?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I've like twenty folks on my team. There are full
time folks.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, and I assume it's growing over the time. And
what did change most for you personally? Do you still
feel that you can focus on why you started this
whole thing? Years ago. Do you feel you can still
do it and are support was additional opportunities or do
you feel sometimes all right, I know it'll be stuck
in all this corporate stuff here.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Look, of course, is there more red tape and bureaucras
to get a company of thousands than there was that
my small company, of course, right? And am I adjusting
to that in some ways?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Of course?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I started the company in twenty sixteen, we sold in
twenty twenty four, So for eight years, right, every decision
was my decision, and we never had outside investment, right like,
we were an independent, truly autonomous organization, and I value
right that freedom and agency that we had. And so
of course there are moments where like, damn, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I wish that could be my decision.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Of course, that said, I think UTA has such a
uniquely entrepreneurial culture. And my boss will report to Julian Jacobs,
who's the you know, the head of UTA Marketing and
the head of the New York office here. He's spun
up UTA Marketing when he was around my age, starting
UTA's work working with brand clients like Delta that have
(14:27):
built out their entertainment and culture strategy. You know, and
he's around ten years my senior. But he's a young guy,
you know, and he's cool and he gets it, and
he's been able to accomplish so much or because he
had an idea and he made it happen. Now, UTA
Creators is this powerhouse in the industry run by phenomenal
young leaders like Ali Berman, right, And we've been able
(14:47):
to really showcase what happens at UTA when you let young,
diverse leaders have an idea and go run with it
and make it happen. And so I'm grateful to now
be in a company that has that legacy and has
that muscle built out where they understand like.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
But they're not gen Z, They're not gen Z. We
would talk about this in a couple of minutes, right,
How can we change this even further? Right? And how
how can we support also from the current leaders you know,
to make this shift even you know, faster or better.
Let me ask you one more thing after the acquisition,
considering the acquisition and all these great things coming along
(15:22):
with that, as you said, where do you want to
see next Gen be any year's time? Let's do not
talk five and ten years. I mean, this is so
much Will happen till then what about the next twelve months?
What are your goals as a company.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I think we have had a phenomenal year and a
half year. The business is healthy, we're growing, we really
integrated with you team. Marketing is offering We've been able
to sell into clients being this partner that helps them
understand the whole cultural landscape right because this portionately it
is young people and it is culture makers in music
and entertainment who are responsible for most of the cast
that our brands want to engage with. If we have
(15:56):
both gen Z authority and cultural authority, that's a really
powerful position thing would have been able to sell that
in effectively.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I want to keep doing that.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I think that more dollars need to move away from
the traditional models of advertising into solidifying your role within culture,
and I think that we're doing that. We're really excited
about zecon in the fall, our flagship conference, the first
major conference only gen Z speakers that we continued post acquisition.
It'll be in LA in October, so that's a big
moment that we're working towards right now. But I think holistically,
(16:24):
we're just really excited about continuing to prove what diverse
young people are capable of and bringing them to more tables,
like it possible, or eve been proud of a partnership
and having even another year of our partnership coming up
this year, bringing more diverse young voices the table, and
continuing to champion as uta the power of storytelling. And
so I think we're just excited to keep growing on
all of those fronts, and I think we feel really
(16:46):
grateful to be here in so far as I don't
think there's a lot of companies out there that would
be really excited to bring in a bunch of diverse
young people and make them executives and give them a
platform who are apologetically doing things differently and being themselves
out loud. And the fact that we can do all
(17:06):
of those things and that it can grow a legitimate,
real business has taken seriously in the marketplace, and proving
that out to the market is what I'm always most
excited about. Got it right, that this is possible? Right
that like we don't. I think so much of business
is all about like being scared, yeah, right, Scared of
the reaction, scared of being yourself, scared of saying the
wrong thing, and I think what we hope to inspire
(17:27):
is by the virtue of our work, inspiring a sort
of leadership, a sort of marketing, a sort of storytelling
that's more honest, right, that's more joyful, that's more intersectional,
that's more candid about the crisises that we are facing
and the opportunity that exists. We include more voices at
the table, and so I'm just excited to keep doing
that work and grateful that I get to do it
within the storied halls of UTA where so much incredible
(17:50):
creativity happened.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Awesome, awesome. Obviously you've built your career around connecting brands
to the site.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and we talk about the next gen? Is it
still the next gen? I mean, the Generation Alpha is
just behind you.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
And that's all of us.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
So I would say you are tuning into the gen now, right,
and the gen is Gen Aalpha? So yeah, I mean
how does this impact when you consult companies? I mean,
you represent gen Z, so what about Gen alfha? Is
it already playing a role here because in five years
time they're taking over?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Right? Sure?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Well, look, I am certainly not as young as I
once was, and I certainly feel that way, I'm twenty six,
and I feel it, and.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
My clients feel it too.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
There are people in the workplace who are my same age.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Right, It's not as radical as it once was, and
so I'm very conscious of that. That said, less and
less of our work is just gen.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Z specific, right.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
More of our work now is and we do influence
a marketing campaigns the likes of eos. Right, They're not
just interested in reaching a gen Z consumer. They're interested
in being broadly culturally impactful and connecting with people where
they are, and of course gen Z is an important
piece of that. But we're just doing amazing influencer marketing yeah, right,
and we're helping to run Lion skates TikTok. Right, We're
not just thinking about gen Z audiences. We want everyone
(19:06):
to watch these amazing films. But we're really good at
understanding TikTok because we're native to it, right. And so
it's thinking about digital creator community, storytelling as muscles that
we perhaps have a unique flexing of because of our age.
But we're not just talking about our demos often these days,
we're just talking about culture first, digital first, marketing and partnerships.
(19:28):
And that's especially true intensified by our acquisition and just
the larger joint offering that we're not selling into clients.
But I think to your point of course, our business
model has always been that we have a pretty lean
team of full time employees, but we have contractors that
we leverage in a network right of survey respondents and
otherwise of gen zers from around the world that we
always leverage to make sure that we're actually honest and
(19:49):
smart on the things that we're talking about. As gen
Alpha ages in to the legal age of work where
I can compensate them for their contributions, they're not quite
at that age. We want to invite in more nextra
invoices to advise us on where culture is and where
it's headed. And we'll continue to build out our network
of contractors and survey participants and focus group respondents to
(20:12):
make sure that it's not that I'm not the third
year old talking head who's just deciding for somebody else
what they're interested in. And we want to be a
platform that gives them a microphone to speak for themselves.
And so my goal is always and as you know,
of my team, it's not just to me. I have
a bunch of folks on my team who are smarter
and better talkers than I, and I want.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
To find folks even younger than us.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That I can platform, that we can put in front
of stages and say this is who you need to
be listening to. Because yeah, like I am yesterday's names
a little bit, and I'm okay with that. And I'm
excited to get to be to the next with so
many were to me right, so many people championed me
and platform me and gave me a microphone, And I'm
excited to hopefully now be in a seat where I
(20:52):
can do that for others.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So I can't imagine when you do your consulting job that,
especially in the last couple of years, you experience all
the time the same kind of questions from leaders, Right,
how can we get connected with the gen Z? And
Da da da shore? What are the real questions from
today's leaders, assuming that they are not gen Z? Right,
what should be the real questions you think they should ask?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I really value when people ask me the question that's
actually keeping them up at night, right, like how do
we reach gen Z?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Is so vague and so broad.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I love when someone asks me about a specific employee
that they have are having a problem with, righte a
challenge that they don't understand about their own kid. Yeah, right,
when we understand the real stakes of the question that
we're talking about when we're making I think talking in
the esoteric is fine, and you know, we do it,
and I we go on panels and we talk about
(22:03):
the vague. But I think when we actually talk about
what is the real problem that you're experiencing and where
we get to really dive into the solutioning that that's
where I find the most joys. And I think that
part of that is when folks that are honest with
me about the frictions that they're feeling as it relates
to gen Z. Right, So, someone might come to me
and say, we don't understand how is gen Z so
(22:29):
passionate about climate and sustainability but buying Shean and Mass
my kid.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
They tell me that they care so much.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
About climate change and climate action, but then they ask
me to buy this thing on TMU for them, Like,
how can these two things be existing in tandem of
one another. I love that question because it's not some
same tired, trite talk track that we've seen on every stage.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It speaks to a real question.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I think a lot of people are scared to ask
out loud, right because the answer might make us actually uncomfortable,
and they think. The answer right as I see it,
on that specific question, is that these things can of
do exist intention and the exist intention because oftentimes young people,
we look at the world and we say, the system
has failed us. So why would I penalize myself for
(23:15):
the system's failing The system ought to prioritize climate action,
ought to reduce emissions. Why would I a young person,
and especially young person that isn't me, who isn't so privileged.
A lot of young people are cast dropped, why would
they penalize themselves on a cost basis for the feelings
of a system that they did not create. And so
these two audiologies actually can exist in tandem. But no
(23:36):
white paper is going to tell you that nuanced perspective
as to the politic that governs a lot of gen
Z's decision making. And of course we're not a monel
that I'm speaking in you know, broad strokes here, and
they're gen Ziers who of course only buy a secondhand
and they are genders whyn't give a shit about climate change,
right and everybody in the middle just portion just proportionately.
Of course, a lot of us do report caring about
climate action, but still might buy fast fashion in certain moments,
(23:56):
and so understanding and impacting that psychology and explaining why
it is so imperative as a corporation, you still think
climate actively seriously because gen Z's expectations of the corporation
that system will if we cannot is I think such
an important part of my role in my job, and
I love those questions because they allow us to be
more honest and allow us to get to solutions that
(24:18):
actually push us forward, rather than always just talk in
the vague niceties that I think often govern a lot
of the discourse.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I personally feel as well that at some stage it's
no longer about questioning things or asking those right questions,
but also just accepting as it is right because it
comes along with you know, you grow up in a
complete different environment and every conversation these days and we
have to touch base on this as well, sorry to
say AI, which is for you guys, it's a natial fit,
(24:49):
especially for the Jenelpa. Do we have to embrace in
the older generation, to embrace it in a different way
than just asking questions and try to understand it comes
down to how you use it every day, how you
embrace it every day in your own daily life when
it comes to gen Z, except why you see things
differently and not asking another question, Now.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
I really value what you just said, right.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I think that I'm oftentimes bewildered, right, because people will
contract us to be their advisors on what gen Z
thinks and on digital and Creator, and then we'll tell
them and they'll be like, actually, we don't like the answer,
and it's like, well, that is the answer, right, And
I think there's sometimes a discomfort with the reality that
folks are living in, and we have to embrace the
(25:33):
world that we live in, right, And we have to
treat the expert on any reality as the expert on
that reality. And I think that we often don't. And
I think that's so much of marketing a product misses
the mark because we don't include the most affected populations
in the conversation that impact them most, and we don't
trust their testimony as the ultimate authority on their experience.
(25:55):
And so I am always most enthusiastic when folks want
to bring us in, not just to check a box
to say they talked to gen Z, but to say, hey,
you were actually the expert on this thing, and we
need to listen to your opinion to govern what we're
going to do going forward, and we're going to.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Bring you in as a partner to do so.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Right, And I think the best question that sometimes I
also get asked, the question you earlier asked, is also
like if not you, who should I be talking to?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Right? And an era of AI. I think that to me,
I value so much.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
It's so easy right to say from the perspective of
and ask an algorithm a question. I think there is
no replacement for a real conversation. There is no replacement
for real community building and being irl with people, beating
hearts and minds coming together with empathy, with nuance, and
getting to be a connector to another young person to
(26:45):
bring them into the room. That's the best question someone
can ask right to say, I want to learn more
about climate, talk to my friend saves Linear, right, and
I'm going to connect you to her, and she needs
to be in this conversation and like that joy for
me is something that I take really seriously. And so
in this moment of technology that we're living in to
speak to it quickly. I think often about you know,
five years ago, the headlines would have you believing that
(27:08):
gen Z was obsessed with web three, and we came
out with a report pre acquisition, our web Ze report,
and our data did not support that claim. The vast
majority of our g gen Z respondent said we don't
care about this, or we don't know about this, okay,
but the headlines would have you believing this would But
this is all we were thinking about was a very
small percent of gen Z that had the capital to
(27:29):
be engaging with some of these you know, economic instruments,
or that had the interest. Because what I hear from
most young people is not most young people. I say
that they have this device and they look at it
and they say, you know what, I want more distance
between myself and this device.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Okay, they don't say, you know what, I want to
be inside of it.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I've never heard anyone say that, yeah, right, But somehow
we were hearing in the narrative that that's what people
were looking for. And so I think in general, my
perspective of an entrepreneurship and innovation is that there's been
a dangerous conflation often of innovation and progress, that just
because something is new, it is better. Maybe that's true,
maybe that's not true, but I think oftentimes that's not
the case. And I think oftentimes, especially today, where technology
(28:08):
has advanced so much, it has created a lot of
efficiencies and has created a lot of opportunity, but a
lot of people are really craving. When we think about
being consumer centric and listening to the consumer is telling
us we're overwhelmed by our technology. Right. We want to
be more human, we want to feel more alive, we
want to detox. I think it's important that we listen
to that consumer. I think it's important that we hear people.
(28:30):
Our data tells us when we did research over that
pandemic that the vast majority of young people we're using
creativity to get through the moment in the pandemic. We're
treating back to things like poetry and artistry and singing.
If that's who we are as humans, as artists, right,
I think it's really important that we as business leaders
think about what are we doing to foster our hummunity.
(28:51):
And I don't think that that conversation is happening enough.
And I think that's a conversation that I'm really excited
about and they don't think it's instead of the technology conversation.
I think it's in a too. But of course, while
excited as I am about certain technologies that might make
us more efficient, I have given me a lot of
pause the idea that certain technologies might make it harder
for people to make an honest living as an artist,
because I believe that humans that are core are artists,
(29:13):
and I believe that we ought to be concerned about
the impact of certain technologies that might make it harder
for us to be human.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So, in other words, if I understand right, you know,
also in your consulting job, leaders these days are focused
a bit too much as well on technology trends, you know,
which is more absolutely reasonable approach, but it might overlay
all the other topics, you know, which are important to
fully understand, you know, your generation.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
And it's a yes and yeah, okay, yeah, yes, and right,
Like I think we ought to care about the technology conversation,
but it can't be at the expense of caring about
the human conversation, especially when our consumer is screaming at
us telling us, hey, see me as a human, yeah right,
allow me to live as a human because I think
a lot of us right now are looking around at
the world and saying, is this humanity right? Right? And
(30:03):
we have to be responsive to that question that I
think a lot of us are cross generations, are asking
right now.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I have one question following on those How do you
see platforms evolving as both political and cultural battlegrounds over
the next years. Obviously it happens for some time now,
are we turning back already? Is it getting worse when
you look into this like a challenge or an issue?
Do you see it turning into the better? What is
(30:29):
your prediction here if you have any bait? It's a
big question. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I wrote my thesis on this question, and I don't
think that if I did my same thesis research today
that I have the same conclusions that I did in
twenty twenty one. Okay, when I was in high school,
it was my dream, it was my dream to work
at Twitter dot com. I think it's safe to say
that's no longer my dream. And so it's certainly a
lot has changed in the last ten years in my
world and in the new world right. And I used
(30:58):
to really believe that social media would change world for
the better. I think a lot of people did, and
I think relatively few of us still think that's probably
the case today. And when we did research on this
that you've pre acquisition, we ask young people, is social
media playing a positive or negative role in your life?
If you're listening, I want you to pause for a
(31:19):
second and put a number in your head that you
think we said that.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
You think gen Z said, Christian? What do you think
gen Z said?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Obviously I would say the majority would appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
You think the majority are saying positive role in your life?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Of course you fifty to fifty, You add fifty percent
saying positive and fifty percent saying negative.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
When you segment down based.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
On certain demographics, women more likely to say negative, men
more likely to say positive certain demographics. But it speaks
to so many of us are simultaneously aware of the
ways in which it's making us more aware, more connected,
but also more anxious, right, but also most more disconnected,
also more misinformed. And we're holding all of the attentions
at once because we're seeing both the positive and the
(32:01):
negative play out in real time. As it pertains to
its impact on politics, I think we can see something similar.
Is it beautiful and wonderful that more voices are being
included in the conversation, that gen zers can galvanize movements
instantaneously across regions and across the world right and create
a global conversation around systemic injustice. Yes, at the same time,
(32:22):
are we clearly seeing tremendous amounts of cyber bullying and
misinformation and division and all sorts of negative externalities and
these varia same platforms, Yes, and sweet are content with
all of this at once. And I think my take
holistically is that social media is no longer social. It's
really just become media. The data tells us the ten
to twenty percent of people are creating eighty to ninety
(32:44):
percent of content today. What that tells me is that
scrolling on your phone is actually not that different than
going to the movie theater or watching TV. You are
watching a professional content creator, disproportionately a professional storyteller tell
you a story, and you are possibly consuming that as
a consumer. And so I'm not convinced that social media
is very social anymore. We don't talk enough about the
(33:05):
transition of the word friend on Facebook to follower on Instagram.
Followers are not friends, right, social media is no longer
a playground to reconnect with your old schoolmates. It's a
place to go viral. That's a very different ecosystem and
a very different roy than friendship. And so the way
that I think about it is I don't think social
(33:26):
media is really media. I think we've disaggregated social and media.
Social lives in the DM, social lives in group chats,
social lives in certain platforms that we don't talk about
as much, like Reddit and Pinterest and media, right, is
really what's happening on TikTok on Instagram, which is to me,
the same bucket as Netflix and otherwise. Yeah, I think
media is more important than ever before, and it shapes
(33:47):
everything that we think, that we believe. And the most
valuable stories are ones that we tell across media formats
because they are porous and people watch parts seven need
tool of a movie on TikTok right, and all of
them are reinforcing one another. And it's massively impactful as
(34:07):
it pertains to political realities because it shapes the world
that we live in. And I think that that's not
going anywhere. Yeah, but we need to be thinking about
our social strategies and our media strategies, sometimes separately, but
also how they exist in tandem to really understand how
we ultimately inform the conversation. And I think certain political
actors have understood the new media landscape better than others.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
I'm very public about my politics.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I think that certain campaigns that I may have supported
were not as strategic as it pertains to understanding the
new media landscape as we need it to be.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
And I think there's real consequence to that.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
So obviously you use the TikTok platforms and Insteain, etcetera.
You mentioned I do you see a hidden star at
the horizon who is will be developed soon or will
be launched soon, or will will come to the surface
to everybody's mind, which will consider your prediction to be
maybe the next generation of social media platform.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Be Real was the closest we've seen right, and be
Real tried to cretin anti social media social media right
that forced you to not edit, right, that forced you
to cop your number of friends that you could have,
that forced you into a social a really social experience
that made us feel like we were connected again. And
then I think they made themselves too much like the rest.
Then you could add it cautions, you could post no
(35:25):
more times a day, you could post after the fact.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
It took away the limitations that made us feel like, oh,
maybe this is a little bit more human way to
stay connected, right, because I feel so we're all feel
so overwhelmed by the self editing and you know, the
constant compare culture and all of it, And what does
it look like to build ecosystems that are built around
legitimate connection that don't allow for a lot of the
mutations that have made us feel icky inside. I think
(35:52):
that there will be another anti social media social media
that comes out founded by a gen zer. Right.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I don't know if it exists yet. Maybe it does.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Maybe it does, in that speaks to that impulse and
speaks that need state. We're ready seeing a lot of
dating apps do the same.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Right. That's not to say that the existing getting apps.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Of course, they'll have so many users and are like
the vast major of people are meeting each other, but
a lot of people are like mastering all these people,
I'm never meeting them in person, and so now more
and more, right, these apps are built around in person connection,
in person community. Right. Thursdays started as an app and
is now primarily an event series, which is a dating series.
And so I think we're going to continue to see
a lot of technology adapt around this impulse to be
(36:32):
an in person with each other and to feel like
we're actually connected and talking to one another rather than
we're all just in a peanut gallery observing media together.
And so I think there needs to be an emphasis
on that social muscle that I think a lot of
us s feel has not been exercised enough in the.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Last few years.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
And we'll see which platform really does that the most
and does that the best. But I'm excited for more
entrepreneurship and more innovation that hopefully makes us feel more connected.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
You guide a lot of people you know and companies
how to do better, and sometimes I feel it myself
as well. You know, it's easier to guide others and
advise others than to apply the lessons. So if you
were your own client, what you tell Zet today?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
It's a big.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Question, Okay, Like I said this on a panel a
few weeks ago. Someone asked me, like, what does success
look like for you personally? And what I said was,
and this is probably the advice that I'd give myself
if I was my client, I said success for me personally,
it would look like when I was confident enough that
I would post on my main story on Instagram, would
I post on my close friends story right now? Like
(37:36):
I am way too scared to post what I posted
my close friends to everybody. But if I was my
unfilter itself one hundred percent of the time, I think
I'd be more marketable. I think I'd probably have more
success that I'm scared because there's also more risk attached
to that, right, And so I think if I was
my agency partner, I would say stop being so risk averse.
(37:56):
I would say, there is more to be gained than
to be lost by being yourself out loud, and you
should do it more often, and you should encourage your
team to do it more often, and turn the close
friends off and turn the main story on and be
yourself out loud in public all the time. And I
think a lot of gen ziers that would would relate
to that about like the we're a different person on
(38:18):
our friends does and close friends than we are on
our mains, right, How freedom would feel like being willing
to be fully candid out loud.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah, I think that was a great kind of finish
for today's conversation, we could go on. I hope that
our audience got a good sense of you as a
person and why you do what you do.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Leadership isn't just about age or title. It's about courage,
it's about conviction, It's about creating space for others, and
this is what you do every day.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Question.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
You have been such a phenomenal partner, and your willingness
to bring in my voice and allow me to bring
in other young voices into possible has been such an
extraordinary partnership. And I think a lot of people talk
a big talk about the power of young people, and
a lot fewer people actually empower young people. And I
think it's says so much about your conviction and your
leadership that you would have me as your first guest
on season two, that you would bring a bunch of
(39:07):
diversity on people with different perspectives across difference to your
conference to disrupt a lot of the hegemonic thinking of
our industry and give that center stage right. I think
that says so much of the type of leader that
you are in the world that you and envision to
be possible, And I'm really grateful that we're now partnering
for a third year to highlight more creator and creative
and change making voices at Possible because it makes me
(39:30):
feel like more is possible, because a lot of people
say one day it will be, but say that today
can't be that day.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
And I'm really really grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Thank you, Thank you, And we're working on further ideas
and additional ideas because we can always do better also
what we did in the past. So to my audience,
if you want to keep up with Zia's work and ideas,
you can find him on social media at z i'm
ed or follow him on LinkedIn, where he is being
named a top voice. And I hope today's episode with
Zi left you as energized and inspired as I feel
(40:00):
joined this conversation. Make sure to surpribe to Possible Now
stories of possibilities so you never miss an episode of
bold ideas and personal stories like Zia's. Soyldia, thank you
so much again. Until next time, Thank you, thank you,
thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
Everyone.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Once again, I'm your host, Christian More. If you have
a question or suggestion to me, reach out send me
them on LinkedIn. If you're curious to learn more about Possible,
sign up for our newsletter, or if you want to
join us at the Possible Show in Miami, visit possibleevent
dot com. Possible Now is a co production of iHeartMedia
(40:38):
and Possible. Our executive producers are Ryan Martz and Yasmin Melandez.
Our supervising producer is Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen
Lawrence mac from our programming team.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Our theme music is.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Composed by Anthony Kellacoli. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit
the iHeart app Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite show.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Sh
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