Jenn Drummond, Ashish Alfred, Karl Pierre

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The following is a paid podcast.iHeartRadio's hosting of this podcast constitutes neither an
endorsement of the products offered or theideas expressed. Welcome to a Moment of
Zen. Time to sit back andrelax. As model, actress, mentor
and supermom Zen SAMs takes you ona sexy and wild ride covering the latest

(00:20):
in film, fashion, pop culture, cryptocurrency, fintech, cannabis, and
entertainment from the millennial mom's perspective.Here's your host, Zen Sam's. Hello,
my beautiful Tristate area. Welcome toour one hundred and twenty sixth episode.
Three years on the air and goingstrong. It's always such a pleasure
to spend my time with you onthe airwaves. Thank you for listening and

(00:42):
interacting with me on social media.That truly does make it all worthwhile.
Please make sure to follow me atZen SAMs. That's Zen with an X
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(01:03):
always find us on our YouTube channelat zen Sam's we have such a great
show lined up for you today.A big shout out to our newest sponsors,
once Upon a Coconut and cootwolift dotCom. Now, in our Hydration
with Heart segment brought to you byOnce Upon a Coconut, we're featuring Jen
Drummond, world record holder, author, influencer, and speaker. Post a

(01:25):
near death accident, Jen Son daresher to climb Mount Everage for her fortieth
birthday. Now she is the firstwoman to climb all seven Summits inlisting her
into the Guinness Book of World Records. Tune in to hear the secrets to
how Jen did it and how youcan apply her heart earned lessons to learning
how to never quit. In ourCulinarian Wine segment brought to you by bch

(01:46):
Kutina, today we're featuring celebrity chefAshish Alfred. He combines his classical training
from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan. He's a serial entrepreneur. He owns
tons of restaurants in Maryland and tohis credit, he's been feature regularly in
the media. He's a little celebrityhimself. Today we're here chat Food Career
and the global rise in vegan andplant based eating. Can't wait to get

(02:09):
his opinion on that one, andour Travel Treasure segment brought to you by
Navvy Travel. Today we're featuring CarlPierre, serial entrepreneur that has achieved financial
freedom through owning home care agencies,healthcare staffing firms, and a multimillion dollar
real estate portfolio throughout the world.He's going to come on today Chat Affordable
Travel, the importance of traveling andseeing the world, and his tips for

(02:31):
the key to success an entrepreneurship.Stay tuned for our Hydration with Heart segment
brought to you by Once Upon aCoconut featuring the incredible gen Drummond. You're
listening to a Moment of Zen righthere on seven ten wore the voice of
New York iHeartRadio. We'll be rightback after this. A Moment of Zen
is brought to you by Once Upona Coconut. Pure coconut water. Imagine

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a drink that's nutrient rich, powerfullyrefreshing, naturally sweet, with no added
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Once Upon a Coconut the absolute besttasting coconut water you will ever try.
Available in four refreshing flavors, purechocolate, pineapple, and sparkling with

(03:15):
energy. Pick up some today atonce Upon a Coconut dot Com. Welcome
back, beautiful Tri State area.You're listening to a moment of Zen right
here on seven ten w R,the voice of New York iHeartRadio. I'm
your host, Zen. Sam's upnext in our Hydration with Heart segment brought
to you by Once Upon a Coconut. We're featuring Jen Drummond, world record

(03:35):
holder, author, influencer, andspeaker. Now post a near death accident,
Jen's son dared her to climb MountEverest for her fortieth birthday. Jen
now forty three, is the firstwoman to climb all seven Summits, enlisting
her into the Guinness Book of WorldRecords. She's a mom to seven kids,
all names beginning with the letter J. She had a former career in

(03:57):
finance before launching her third book comingout next year. Get Ready to embark
on a journey of personal growth withthis one. Jen's experiences on the mountains
serve as metaphors for achieving life goalsand inspiring continuous self improvement and quit proof.
She shares her struggles and victories anddelivers potent insights into achieving balance,
setting meaningful objectives, and living lifeto its fullest. This past June,

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Jen became the first woman in theworld to conquer the seven second Summits life
goal reached right there. Now you'regoing to learn the secrets to how Jen
did it and how you can applyher hard earned lessons to learning how to
never quit. Her book is amazing. Welcoming down to the show is the
incredible Jen Drummond. Welcome, superstar, Thanks for having me. Absolutely,

(04:45):
I am so excited to chat withyou. You are one amazing human.
Oh, we're all amazing humans.Well you specifically my knear. Now tell
me about your near death accident andexperience and how in the split of a
minute your life very quickly changed.Yes. So I was driving back from
a nearby town and on the highwaylooking outside at the reservoir. I saw

(05:05):
that it wasn't frozen over. Thinkingabout a little bit got my attention back
onto the road and realized that Iwas coming up very fast to a semi
truck, so I looked at myrear view mirror, went to go into
the left hand lane. He hada trailer. Somehow the trailer hit the
passenger side headlight. I flipped endover end rolled sideways into the median and

(05:28):
luckily survived that accident. They rebuiltat about fifty different times because it's a
dangerous area. Could not rebuild ascenario where I lived, So that was
very amazing to walk away from.That definitely changes your perspective on everything.
I remember going home to my kidsthat day from the hospital checkup, and
they were fighting, of course,and instead of me wanting to neutralize the

(05:51):
fight, I just sat there andI was like, oh, wow,
how amazing is it that we havetwo people from the same household that have
entirely different Indians, that are soconvinced that they want their sibling to believe
what they believe. And it justchanged everything in my life to say,
listen, this is all beautiful,all of it. Like, let's enjoy,
let's experience, let's make the mostof this one magic life. Yeah,

(06:13):
because at that point you were justso grateful to be alive. Yes,
Yes, I like the principal office. I'm okay, I'm here to
take this call. Let's continue exactlynow. It's just like that. Things
changed now. Mountain climbers consider thesecond highest mountains on all seven continents to
be technically more complex than the sevenhighest. You became the first woman to
conquer all seven summits, and thisis a remarkable feat that has earned you

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a place in the Guinness Book ofWorld Records. Could you say, could
you share some of the most memorablemoments or challenges perhaps that you face during
your journey to these summits and howthese experiences really have shaped your perspective on
life. Yeah. So every mountainhas had its own story which has been
humbling and inspiring and above itself.When I went to Kate two in twenty

(07:00):
twenty one, I had a teammatedie in an avalanche and another one lose
his hand to thrust bite. Iwas on the mountain when all this information
was provided. I had the opportunityto continue up the mountain or turn around
and go home. I decided thatit was more important who we are as
people than what we achieve. SoI came down to be with my team
and put the people over peaks.When I got back to the United States,

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I was definitely frustrated without with youknow, I didn't summit, I
didn't have the success, but Iwas successful in showing up as I wanted
to. I was a person thatput people first, and I think that's
sometimes hard when we're going after bigquests. The story comes full circle in
twenty twenty two and I went backto go Summit K two. I was
made aware that some people wanted toSummit from Pakistan and they didn't have the

(07:46):
resources to climb their country's prize peak. So I brought over gear and helped
sponsor the first Pakistani female to standon top of K two. So when
I summited, and oh yeah,I just got chills. Jen, that's
incredible, I know. So whenI summited, I'm like whoooo. But
then when she summted, it waswaterworks. Because I have daughters, and

(08:09):
I know what it's like to havedaughters see people that look like them in
these positions or in these roles,or on top of these mountains in this
case, and it just goes toshow that when we do the right thing,
things happen for us, and greaterthings are possible, so true.
And this all started on a dare. I read that your son dared you

(08:31):
to climb Mount Everest. Yes,so I was originally climbing a mountain called
Ama Deblom. Because when I saidI'm gonna launch my forty decade with this
big mountain. What mountain should Iclimb? Everybody said, Alma Deblom.
It's a gorgeous mountain in Nepal.It's Paramount Pictures logo. And I'm like,
okay, perfect. Well, myson's struggling with this math homework one
day and I'm like, listen,buddy, we do hard things. He

(08:52):
goes to me, if we dohard things, why are you climbing a
mountain called I'm a dumb blonde insteadof a real mountain like Mount Everest.
I said, I'm a dublom.Honey, Nah, I'm a dumb blonde,
but thank you. And then Ithought about it. I'm like,
hey, if Everest is the realmountain to him, maybe I should climb
Everest because that will show him we'recapable of all of it. Oh,

(09:13):
that was so funny. I'm adumb blonde. Oh God, you can't
make this stuff up. That's great. Now it's interesting because I always love
a saying by Winston Churchill famous quote, continuous effort, not strength or intelligence,
is the key to unlocking our potential. Yes, it's interesting. Now,
how did you prepare physically and mentallyfor these extreme climbs? I mean,
were there any unique training routines ortechniques that you used. Yeah,

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well, having seven children will mentallyprepare you for about anything, so that
helps it naturally. And then physically, I live in Park City, So
living in Park City, I mountainsall the way around me. When the
ski resort would close at night,I'd be able to ski up it or
hike up it and then ski down, which helped because that's what you do
in the mountains. I have sevenkids. I run a business, so

(09:58):
I also had to really manage timehighly. So I would be that mom
that would be at soccer practice witha twelve inch step and a backpack full
of water bottles, watching soccer andthen doing my step up so I could
get exercise in and support my kidsand what they were doing. So you
just have to get creative and figureout how you're going to make it work.
Where there's a will, there's away. And again, another famous

(10:20):
quote by Calvin Coolidge, he said, nothing in this world can take the
place of persistence. Talent will Nothingis more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not. Unrewarded genius isalmost a proverb. Education will not.
The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

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The slogan press on has solved andalways will solve the problems of the
human race. So press on,press on, ye. Now, Climbing
such diverse peaks must have, withouta doubt, exposed you to various cultures
and landscapes. Can you describe howthese experienced? These experiences in rich your
perspective? Yeah, you know,I think we get so caught up in

(11:03):
the stories and the bubbles and ourculture. When you get to travel to
another location and just see a differentway of doing things and lets you say,
oh wow, there's more possibility andhow this can look or how this
can show up. I'll never forgetbeing in Kenya and it was around Valentine's
Day and the United States Valentine's Dayleaks out of every single everything, and

(11:26):
over there it was just as simple, I love you, I see you,
how are you and it just remindsme of how we don't need pillows
for every holiday. We don't needall of the stuff. It's who we
are and how we can show upand support one another and see each other
in our pursuits. And that's justreally changed on how we've done our lives.
Here a lot less things and alot more experiences without a doubt,

(11:48):
and that you have written the manuscripton perseverance and on truly believing not only
in yourself but in humanity, becauselike you said, you put people first
and it always comes full circle.I mean karma. I believe in karmae.
It's one of those things where inlife I say to people, look,

(12:09):
you never know who you're going tomeet and how that person is going
to change your perspective on life.There are no coincidences. Treat everybody with
dignity and grace and go where there'sno path and leave a great, big
trail. And that's what's important.I mean. Perseverance, in fact is
failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth. So yeah, I mean listen,
So you achieved a world record andthis requires meticulous planning. What were some

(12:33):
of the logistical aspects that you neededto manage to accomplish this feat. I
mean there's a lot involved here.Yeah, there is a lot involved.
And mountains have different seasons that youclimb them in. So that's why we
see Mount Everest typically summited in May, or you see K two summited in
July, or you see Mount Tyreeand Antarctica summited in January. Those are

(12:54):
the seasons that it's safest to climbthose mountains. So I was looking at
the goal saying, okay, whocan be climb what season? How much
time is it going to take?How much time I away from my home?
How am I going to have mykids still be supported? Why I'm
gone? When I went to climbMount Everest, it would be the longest
I'd ever been away from home.I went to the kids school. I
told the teachers and I said,hey, I'm not going to be here.

(13:15):
My Grandmom's coming in. Grandma's goingto be there, but they might
need a little extra bit of loveand grace during this timeframe well and sharing
that struggle or that concern. Theschool stepped up and said, hey,
let's do it. What's your Everestcampaign? So then I went in and
talked about setting Everest like goals.The kids colored little hikers and had a
flag and they put what their averagegoal was on that flag. I had

(13:37):
a tracking device why I was climbingin Nepal, so then the kids could
see where I was on the mountain. Wow. Yeah. And then at
base camp you can actually do zoomcalls back to the schools here. So
I did some zoom calls to answerquestions on you know, where he went
to the bathroom and what you ateand all the things that kids care about.
And so my children, even thoughI was gone for a long period

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of time, felt so loved andso seen because my community stepped up in
a way that they wouldn't have knownhad I not said, here's where I'm
falling short, here's my concern.How can we work together to bridge this
gap? And I really feel thatwhen we learned to say here's what I
need to the right people, solutionsare provided and it makes it such a

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better, more enjoyable experience for everybody. Well, you definitely have a community
around you, and when there's awill, there's a way. And not
only did you find a way toclimb that mountain, but you got everybody
involved. I mean, it doesreally take a village. So yeah,
played that one out nicely. Now, were there any specific moments or summits
that stand out to you as themost rewarding or unforgettable? You know,

(14:45):
when I was in Antarctica, ithas not been climbed by that many people.
I think maybe twenty people before us, So our team was twenty through
twenty five on the summits. Therehad been one female that climbed it before,
and I got to meet with herbefore I went to the mountain,
which was amazing, so I couldask her all the questions of what should
I eat, how many handwarmers doI need? What things do I need
to look out for what? Itjust helps to have knowledge when we're doing

(15:11):
things from people that I've been therebefore. When I woke up to do
the summit day, I remember lookingoutside of my tent thinking, wow,
I would have been born when mymom or my grandma were an entirely different
era. This would never be possible. And so that entire climb, I
was carrying our flag just saying lookwhere we've come, world like, look

(15:31):
at what we're doing with our time, what we get to experience what we
get to empower, what we getto say, and no matter what part
of the world we are in,our flag matters. Who we are matters,
and it has a ripple effect onwhat's possible for the next generation or
those around us to take that flageven further. And that was just a

(15:52):
really important moment for me to realizethat we all are so significant in moving
society forward and making possibilities available toothers. And I'm just so grateful for
all of it. Wow, Iappreciate you so much. I mean,
you are so touching and inspirational,and thank you so much for sharing your
incredible story with us, because thatis one brand new perspective on how to

(16:17):
really look at things, and youare refreshing. Now you're the first woman
to achieve this feat, and it'squite inspiring to many. What advice would
you give to aspiring female adventurers outthere? Yeah, you know, we
have these things inside of us thatlight us up, that make us who
we are. When I moved toPark City and we were shopping at Casco,
I looked outside the store and Isaw all them mountains and I was

(16:41):
telling my mom, I can't waitto climb every one of these. My
mom looked at him. She's like, there is not one thing I want
to do about those mountains except lookat them from here. But when it
comes to decorate in a bookshelf,she can figure out all the pretty things
to put together to have it bethe most gorgeous bookshelf you've ever seen.
And just understanding that each one ofus has this different story, there's different

(17:02):
view, or this different idea ofwhat we want to do with our lives,
and it's beautiful when we allow thatand step into that and experience that,
because when I do me, Igive you permission to do you.
That is so true, and Ilove what you said. My takeaway and
all of this is community and relyingon others, because again, joy can

(17:23):
be magnified if we're around others.We all know that intuitively, if you're
watching a really funny movie by yourself, that's pretty good, right, But
if you're watching a really funny moviewith your best friend you're looking over and
sharing the laughter together, that kindof feels a lot better. And the
emotions we experience, good or bad, get more intense when we experience them
together. And this also explains whynegativity tends to spread like wildfire given the

(17:48):
right context toxic office environment, forexample. So I always like to keep
things positive, and you are soupbeat. So thank you. Thank you
for making me feel so so blessedto encounter somebody who's had a second lease
on life and is so appreciative andjust looks at life with a glass half
full and such a positive attitude.You are amazing. Oh thank you.

(18:11):
Here's what I say. We don'tget to choose when we die, but
we sure get to choose how welive. And every day we have a
choice to show up and live lifeas big as we want it. I
love it. Thank you so muchfor coming on. You're awesome. Thank
you. That was our Hydration withHeart segment brought to you by Once Upon
a Coconut. That was the incredibleGen Drummond. Do check her out directly

(18:32):
on her website at Gen Drummond dotcom, or you can check her out
on the gram at the Gen Drummond. You're listening to a Moment of Zen
right here on seven ten w R, the voice of New york iHeartRadio.
We'll be right back after this.A Moment of Zen is brought to you
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(18:55):
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(19:18):
of Zen Saturday nights from nine toten VM on WR, the voice of
New york iHeartRadio. Welcome back,beautiful Tri State area. You're listening to
a Moment of Zen right here onevent w R, the voice of New
York iHeartRadio. I'm your host Zen. Sam's up next in our Culinary and
Wine segment, brought to you bybch Kutina. Today we're featuring celebrity chef

(19:41):
Sheish Alfred. He combines his classicaltraining from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan.
A serial entrepreneur with multiple Maryland restaurantsto his credit, Chef al is
regularly featured in the media, evencompeted on Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped.
Now overcoming an addiction to rugs andalcohol, Chef Alfred has frequently shared

(20:03):
his journey on recovery and redemption.He was named Maryland's Chef of the Year
in twenty nineteen by the Maryland RestaurantsAssociation. Today, he's here to check
food career and the global rise invegan and plant based eating. Now,
outside of countries and cultures where abstainingfrom animal products was part of spiritual or
moral beliefs, diets that limited orexcluded meat, dairy products, and eggs

(20:27):
have often been seen as fads,especially in the US and many European countries.
Plus, meat free food options usedto be difficult to find outside of
certain stores, and even then theyweren't always appetizing. But now all that
is changing, and quickly in abig way. The global rise in plant
based foods has officially arrived. Welcomingout to the show is the amazing chef

(20:51):
Ashish Alfred. Welcome, superstar.Thank you so much for having me.
How are you absolutely okay? Let'sjump right into this headliner and then we
can circle back to your ming careers, So even as little as less than
a decade ago, those identifying asvegetarian, vegan, or plant based were
often viewed as weird or extreme,more to the domain of hippies and activists
rather than large numbers of everyday people, and many headlines made veganism sound like

(21:17):
a surefire way to become nutrient anddeficient, even using fear tactics to prevent
parents from raising their kids on plantfoods. Where does a plant based lifestyle
stand today and can you still balanceout the flavors and nutrients just as effectively,
chef, I think the shore answeryour question to the second part of
your question is yes, you know. I think that as far as making
flavors work, you can make themwork. Made and textures work, you

(21:40):
can make them work. You know. I think, like a lot of
other things that we have seen growingpopularity, whether it is an alternative relay
style, whatever it might be,I need to be really careful what says
whatever it might be, I thinkthat there is there's just a growing desire
among people to find different ways ofliving and getting through their day to day
I think that, you know,for me as a chef, the frustrating

(22:03):
part of it is when people don'tknow what they're talking about, right,
Like people will come in and theyexpect you at a steakhouse to have,
you know, a vegan option.You know, that's where it gets a
little bit frustrating for me, likewhy did your research rat sho up to
the restaurant. You're right, Andit's interesting because you're right, you couldn't
balance out those nutrients. And theplant based lifestyle today is very popular.
Like you said, people are justexpecting that it's you know, available,

(22:26):
readily available at every type of restaurant, and it's just not the case.
But in twenty twenty, there wasa plant based study done and the plot
based dairy and meat sales were overtwenty nine billion dollars and they were projected
to increase to one hundred and sixtytwo billion by the year twenty thirty.
This means that that plant based meatsand dairy alternatives are already making up nearly

(22:48):
ten percent of the so called globalprotein foods market, and according to the
Blueberg Intelligence Report, plot based foodsales are expected to increase fivefold by the
year twenty thirty. Chefs, soit's interesting because you know, many people
have observed that millennials seem to becentral drivers of this worldwide shift away from
consuming animal products and really normalizing plantand based eating and leading consumer demand.

(23:12):
But the plot based movement is biggerthan any one generation because everyone from celebrities
to athletes to entire companies including Google, and countries as big as China are
supporting the movement to more plant andbased foods. So there's definitely something there.
But that's just my opinion. NowI'm going to shift to your journey.
I'm going to shift to your journey. So overcoming addiction to drugs and

(23:34):
alcohol, you frequently share your roadof recovery and redemption. What was the
catalyst to turning your life? Areout to put us simply? I think
you know, you almost die acouple of times, and it's unfortunately for
me, took a couple of timesand it became a time for me to
do something different. You know,my family was a big, brilliant,
big role. They supported me inmy early endeavors as a chef, and

(23:57):
when they kind of drew the linein the sand and they said, hey,
we don't we don't really wanted todo with you unless you do something
different. I was started being amixing changes, but I think that the
major catalyst was I overdosed in themiddle of the road. I passed out,
fell over busting. My chin opensbut on my teeth super good.
My face shut so bad. Daya builts just a little, right,

(24:18):
But you know what, you pickedup the pieces of that very broken puzzle
and you put yourself back together again, stronger than ever. So congratulations on
that. Now. How did youget started in the culinary arts and how
would you describe your cooking style.I got started kind of totally by accident,
you know, I did. Idid the community college thing for a
little while. Mom got tired payingfor classes and I needed to find something

(24:41):
to do. So I went toculinary school kind of on a whim,
just looking for a ticket to NewYork City, and I kind of fell
in love with the structure, thesimplicity, the regiment of being in a
kitchen, and I think that that'skind of emulated in my culinary style.
You know, I'm not the guythat's trying to reinvent the wheel. You
know, there's you've got phenomenal chefsthat do like really out of the box

(25:03):
things. That's not me not sayingthat I don't consider myself a good chef,
but I like to keep it simple, seasonal, flavor forward, you
know, things that make sense.Yeah, and I think the simplicity there's
you know, a gentle strength isstronger. There's less and more right now,
I mean there's more and less andover the next ten years, it's
expected that the US is going toneed about ten thousand personal chefs, small

(25:26):
but niche market that you seem tohave total control over in Baltimore and beyond.
So again, congratulations. Now,the context in which to view the
private chef industry is that one ofthe gig economy, so to speak.
Instead of renting a house or catchinga ride, one is renting an experience
with a private chef. Now,you're very much in demand, not just

(25:47):
you. It's not just your cooking, it's you. You are the rock
star of their night. Would youcall yourself an entertainer? I think that
food stimulates people the same way thatmusic and art does. So I think
that if you're going to be asix setsful chef today, you've got to
be able to dance and dance,you know, it's not just about what
you put on the blade it's aboutyou know what you bring, what you

(26:07):
bring to your own brand as achef, and you do that effectively.
Well, I mean, you area celebrity chef. You have a lot
of celebrities and VIPs following you,lots of friends that are supporting your restaurants
and even dining at them. Soit's quite interesting the way that you've really
not only turned your life round,but you are your own brand. It
goes beyond culinary arts. This isan entire business. It's you're entrepreneurial.

(26:30):
Now, how many restaurants do youcurrently own and where? And I'm interested
to know how do they all differ? But I know that they all remain
in theme. Talk to me aboutthat. Right now, we have two
duck Geese, one in Baltimore,one in Washington, DC. We are
in the process of opening our veryfirst good Ducking Burger, which should be
done any day now we are doingWe have Austria Brado which is two months

(26:52):
old, and then we have theAnchor Bar, which is a tavern space.
Also, you're in Baltimore, soI think the common denominator across the
spaces is is just simple, delicious, affordable fun food. If that makes
sense. So we're not like superfancy restaurants. We're also not super categor
restaurants. What differs is, Yeah, there's a ducto goose and baltswords is

(27:15):
ducto goos in DC and menus aredifferent? You know, it's two different
clienteles. You definitely have it allcovered. Now, what invaluable entrepreneurial advice
can you share? Show up?Show up? Half the job is just
showing Yeah, good advice. Thereyou go. I mean you speak directly
into your brand's identity. Simple showup. Can't get any wor simable than
that. Now, let's do quicktrivia. We were about three minutes left,

(27:37):
and I would like to get yourshort answers as they roll off the
tongue. Okay, what's your favoritecuisine to consume diner food? What's your
favorite cuisine to cook? Friend food? Most challenging dish you've ever had to
make? My culinary school final exam, we had to make us five layer
opera cake from memory. Oh mygosh. Your most popular dish, The

(27:59):
most viral dish we did uneat Soit's like potatoes with cheese in it.
Use whipping and whippit and whippit andthen you stretch it like a yoyo almost
and then you got a serve atable side. Oh wow. Now,
if you could be anything but achef, what would you be? Doctor?
Interesting? What's one fact that peopledo not know about you? Say?
But very go ahead love it?Okay, Well, we are out

(28:22):
of time. Thank you so muchfor an incredible interviewed. You are so
much fun to chat with. Thankyou absolutely. Guys, definitely check out
Chef Ashish Alfred on the ground.That was our culinarian wine segment brought to
you by Beach Guccino. But youdefinitely have to check him out at Chef
Ashish Alfred. You're listening to aMoment of Zen right here on seven ten
wore the voice of New York iHeartRadio. We'll be right back after this a

(28:45):
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(29:49):
That's Nava nave dot Travel. Welcomeback, beautiful Tri State Area. You're
listening to a moment of Zen righthere on seven wore the voice of New
York Heart Radio. I'm your host, Zen. Sam's up in just a
few minutes and our Travel Treasures segmentbrought to you by Navvy Travel we're featuring
Carl Pierre, a serial entrepreneur thathas achieved financial freedom through owning home care

(30:12):
agencies, healthcare staffing firms, anda multimillion dollar real estate portfolio throughout the
world. He aims to teach peoplehow to live globally by building revenue streams
that allow you to live anywhere inthe world without the pressure of how to
pay for the lifestyle you want.Now, the benefits of travel go beyond
making memories and meeting new people.Getting out of your comfort zone and exploring

(30:34):
a new place can have a remarkablypositive impact on your emotional well being.
Even when traveling far distances can feeluncertain, changing up your daily routine at
a nearby town or locale on aweekend day can help to change your mindset
and help to ease the stress ofthe daily grind. Today, we're chatting
affordable travel, the importance of travelingand seeing the world, and Carl's tips

(30:57):
for the key to success and entrepreneurship. Now, in case you need another
reason to explore and travel the world, let me remind you that traveling will
open up your heart and soul tocultural experiences and wonders. Welcoming down to
the show is the amazing Carl Pierre. Welcome, superstar, Welcome, thanks,
thanks for the introduction. It definitelyshapes me in the right light consolutely.

(31:19):
Well, you are a superstar,so let's jump right in. Can
you share your journey from starting outto basically becoming a self made millionaire.
Well, I would say my journeystarts with my immigrant parents. My parents
are from Haiti. They came tothe United States. They decided to go
into the healthcare industry. My mom'sa nurse, and early on we started
a medical staff and company and that'skind of where I got my entrepreneurial start.

(31:44):
I helped her out because I wasthe only kid that knew how to
use a computer in the household,so I became her right hand. We've
since grown that company quite large.We do about twelve million dollars in annual
rev and I've gone on to formmy own entity, which is called eight
Book. We're tech enabled to focusedhome healthcare company that is starting to accumulate
assets throughout the United States. Ilove it. This is an incredible story,

(32:07):
truly self made, and I lovehow you ruled up your sleeves and
were an incredible son to your mom, Now, how did you manage to
turn your passion for travel into aprofitable venture, and what were the initial
steps you took to monetize and createincome streams. So initially my focus was
healthcare. I saw it as likea reliable path. My parents never got

(32:30):
laid off, they always did fairlywell. So my thought was, how
can I generate enough money to liveglobally. The first time that I had
the idea to live globally was actuallyI took a trip to Thailand and I
saw that I could get a fullmeal for like a dollar and fifty cents
in Thailand, and I was like, wait a second, this is the

(32:50):
first time that I'm seeing how farthe West dollar goes, because before then
I would travel to Mexico the Caribbean, and your money doesn't go that far
there. But going to Thailand actuallyshowed that there was major currency fluctuations and
the advantage of having the best dollars. So I started thinking, how could
I run a business or invest myway to have enough passive income to live

(33:10):
in places like Thailand or really anywherein the world. And that's what got
the gears going. So one ofthe investments that I had made at that
time was that I had two propertiesin Sony Brook, New York. So
a Brook is a state university collegetown, and me and my fraternity brothers had
bought a house and then another andwe're renting that out to other students.
And those properties would generate between likea thousand and two thousand dollars a month

(33:35):
in cash flow, because like,if I just got a couple more of
these homes, I could live virtuallyanywhere. So what I started to do
was all the money that I savedfrom the earnings of the healthcare companies and
working as an X ray attack andCT tech, I would roll that back
into real estate assets. And thatfirst initial number that I had in mind,

(33:57):
it is like, if I couldjust make thirty five hundred dollars passively,
then I could replace my income,and thirty five hundred dollars in a
place like Thailand goes a long way. Then that number has kind of expanded
over time. And talk about tenX in your business, right, grant
cardone right there? Yeah, yeah, you are amazing so well. First
of all, success is not final, right, Failure is not fatal.

(34:20):
It's the courage to continue that counts, and it's better to fail in originality
than to succeed in imitation, right, So that's something I always taught myself.
Now, building a successful business,Carl obviously requires these days a strong
online presence and audience, tons ofaudience engagement. What strategies did you employ
to grow your followership? I mean, this is quite an amazing journey you've

(34:45):
had. Yeah, right now,we have nearly two hundred thousand followers on
our social media platform. So onmy personal brand, I have about one
hundred eighty thousand. Then I havemy consulting company Passive Workforce that has maybe
a thousand sort of combined, andthen of course a pretty large email list.
My tip for anybody who is inbusiness is that you have to have

(35:07):
some sort of online presence, andI think social media helps in a lot
of ways. And you don't haveto like dance or do anything ridiculous.
Usually, you as you are isenough of a character to shape your brand
around. Just be yourself and sharewhat you know, because chances are there
are other people who are in exactlythe same position as you or once we're

(35:27):
there, or trying to get whereyou are, So you just need to
talk about your life, share usefulinformation, actionable items, and then just
do it. Because you start whenyou start kind of creating a brand,
you tend to compare yourself to themost successful brand that you follow, and
that successful brand started day one,just like you don't compare it to that

(35:47):
high production level. Just go outthere and start creating. You're going to
get better at speaking, you're gonnaget more comfortable, and then you'll start
to see what your audience actually wantsout of you, and then you can
start shaping your narrative around that.You are so receptive. I love that.
Now. Could you share some ofyour most memorable travel experiences that have
influenced both your work content and yourpersonal growth as an entrepreneur. Oh man,

(36:12):
there's so many, But I thinkone that I've talked about on my
channel that was kind of a strongmemory for me and my family is that
in the small town of Mussameli,they're selling properties for as little as one
euro and I actually went out thereto buy these properties and actually it's like
one eurot I gotta check this outfor myself. Craziness. Yeah, it's

(36:36):
absolute, absolute craziness. But youcould get a house in Italy anywhere from
a bucket to about thirty forty thousandquite easily. So anybody who's thinking about
living the dulta vita, I wouldrecommend looking at Italy and seeing what you
could pick up. But this town, the small town of Mussameli, has
twelve thousand people, and one ofmy friends there is an artist and they

(36:57):
were doing this project called the Artdoors. And what ended up happening is that
my wife took a picture with meand my daughter walking through this historic part
of town and one of the painterssaw the picture on social media and decided
to use it for his outdoor project. So strong memory for me was him
presenting the idea to me and mywife and asking for permission to use this

(37:20):
idea for his door, and mywife just breaks down crying, and to
me, it was like a signof being accepted in this new town.
Because we're totally outsiders. We lookedlike outsiders. We're buying up cheap property.
A lot of people would think thata small village wouldn't be so welcoming
of investors coming in, but thiswas confirmation that we are part of this

(37:43):
community and people want us to beinvolved and want us to be there.
So a beautiful story. This isItaly right, Wow, yep, this
is incredible. Gave me goose bumps. That is a truly memorable story.
Now, achieving self made millionaire statusin life, that's where you are.
What was your secret? If youcan, if you can share a little

(38:04):
tip, it's actually pretty easy tobecome a millionaire. And when when it
happened for me, it was kindof like not actively knowing, because your
net worth is just the difference betweenthe value of your assets and your total
liabilities. So I'm picking up realestate and company growth. One day,
we just were reconciling for life insurancepurposes what my net value was, and

(38:30):
I was like, WHOA, i'dn'teven realize that I'm here already. So
I think the tip that I haveis that you have to understand how values
determined and if you're if you're notmanaging that that asset side of things.
A lot of people buy things withtheir money. If you should be spending
your money on assets, We're talkingabout stocks, real estate, assets,

(38:51):
other businesses, things that actually havevalue and produce income. And then you
need to keep your debt low becauseif you have high debt and you have
a bunch of assets, your networth is still low. So it's all
about trying to push as much moneythat you have into the asset column,
true assets that produced cash, andthen all the additional casual whether it's from

(39:12):
your businesses, from your real estate, from stock dividends, roll that back
into getting more assets, and alsokeep your personal expenses low. I live
a pretty humble life. I alwayshave because I always found it to be
quite ridiculous to overpay for things.So even in my life today I live.
I live in like I guess,pretty nice area in Fort Lauderdale.

(39:35):
Average home prices around one point fivemillion. But I bought the worst triplex
in the neighborhood for land value forsix hundred grand. I put three hundred
grand into it. I have sixhundred thousand dollars in equity. I still
kept it as a triplex. Meand my family lives in one unit.
The other two units are on Airbnbdoing four thousand dollars a month. Wow,

(39:57):
you are so. I I justsay that to people, like people
have this goal of their dream houseor buying you know, the range Rover
or whatever it is, and I'mjust like, well, what are you
doing to bring more cash in?And if you're looking to achieve financial freedom,
you need to set your freedom number. That's the number that replaces the

(40:17):
job allows you to eat and survive. What can replace or your freedom number.
You're free to do whatever you wantand chances are you're going to start
piling more money into what's working foryou and then from there, this guy's
a limit. There you go,well, we are out of time.
And with that that was incredible advice. Thank you so much for being transparent,
not only in how you got towhere you are at with your investments,

(40:40):
but you also gave us some prettypersonal information in terms of what you
paid for your land and where it'sat right now, and that goes a
long way. So thank you somuch for coming on. Thanks for having
me. Guys. You definitely haveto check out Carl Pierre. That was
our Travel Treasures segment brought to youby Navvy, and that was Carl Pierre,
a serial entrepreneur that clearly has achievedfinancial freedom through not only his intelligence

(41:02):
but who he is beautiful inside andout. Do check him out on YouTube,
Instagram at Carl Underscore Pierre, oryou can head directly to their website
at eantplife dot com. You're listeningto a Moment of Zen right here on
seven ten war, the voice ofNew york iHeartRadio. We'll be right back
after this. A Moment of Zenis brought to you by Nava, a
members only travel portal exclusively available throughOrgano, offering members steep discounts on nightly

(41:29):
or weekly hotel stays, cruises,auto rentals, excursions, and so much
more with its travel getaway portal.Now they makes the days of surfing multiple
travel sites and spending hours evaluating thebest deals done with That's because with Navy
you are guaranteed the best prices,plus to gain access to an even more
expansive collection of condos, hotels,cruises, vacation villas, fantasy getaways,

(41:52):
and concierge service. There's four EverWeeks. Simply purchase a Nava Forever Week's
package one time and enjoy the benefitsmany times. With Forever Weeks Forever means
Forever. Not only does Navai guaranteeyou the best prices, but it is
also one of the few travel portalsthat pays a referral bonus in addition to
you earning rewards points, which canbe redeemed on the Travel Getaway Portal for

(42:15):
further discounted hotel room rates. Becomea member today and Navagate the World of
Travel. Navai the world for youto experience. For more information, go
to Nava dot Travel. That's Navana Vee dot Travel. Welcome back,
beautiful Tri State Area. You're listeningto a moment of Zen right here on
seven ten w R, the voiceof New york iHeartRadio. I'm your host,

(42:36):
Zen. Sam's up next in ourTravel Treasures segment. In our extended
segment, we're speaking with Carl Pierre, serial entrepreneur achieved financial freedom through owning
home care agencies, healthcare staffing firms, and a multimillion dollar real estate portfolio
throughout the world. Welcome back,my friend. Thank you for having me
again. Absolutely, So let's jumpright into We're an our extended segment.

(43:00):
What advice do you have for individualswho are just starting their journey and aiming
to create both a successful lucrative businessand also get to see the world.
First things first, I would say, establish a business in an area that
you know really well, and makesure that you are addressing a problem that

(43:22):
you know. So at one pointin time, I was raising money for
a company and it was a fashiontech company. This is something I did
with with my ex wife, andone of the investors was like, I
went through the project, I wentthrough your history. Your whole life is
in healthcare. What the hell areyou doing launching a fashion company. He's
like, why don't you solve aproblem within your industry and come back to

(43:45):
me? And I got me thinking, it's like, you know what,
we do have a couple issues inour company that I can't stand. Let
me create a technical solution for that. So in home healthcare at the time,
every worker had to have their timesheetssigned by the patient weekly, bring
it back to the office or faxit in, and of course I would
create delays and payroll miscalculations, etc. So I created an app called on
time Its, which we're raising moneyfor now. Actually, so if you

(44:07):
want to invest, shoot me anemail and invest at MCP Life and I'll
get you over some information. Butthe problem that we had was that collecting
and compiling all this data would resultin errors. So I created a mobile
GPS app that allowed them to checkin at the patient's home, collect the
signatures that we needed and submit them. So no longer did we have to

(44:28):
chase people down for time sheets.We got all the data in accurately,
all the data in on time,and we're able to do our payroll,
billing and all of our financial needsquite soon assly. So the reason I
breed this up is that you askme what should business owners focus on?
Focus on what you know solve aproblem. Chances are other people within that

(44:49):
industry have the same exact problem,and if you come up with a solution
for that, you have customers.Wow, that's a great, great analogy
there that I love how you tiedthat full circle. Now, let's chat
sacrifices. So what sacrifices did youhave to make along the way, and
how do you feel like that thesesacrifices actually contributed to your achievements. I

(45:10):
think the biggest sacrifice that I've madealong the way in this journey of entrepreneurship
is kind of time with friends.So right after college, a lot of
my friends they got their jobs andyou know, happy hours hanging out on
the weekends. I worked overnights,I worked double shifts at the hospitals on
the weekends, and I kept mydays free to run the business, so

(45:35):
my sleeping hours were like from fourpm to ten pm, and then I
worked overnight ship and I worked weekends, so I was completely maxed out on
work. So what I lost werekind of those early social interactions. I
had plenty of fun in college,but that's what was missing, and the
fact that I didn't spend my moneyon happy hours and running up large bar

(45:57):
tabs and nightclub table tabs. Ihad enough money to reinvest in my business.
I had enough money to buy morereal estate, so the sacrifice that
I made was somewhat social. Butnow I'm in a position that I can
travel as frequently as I want.Whenever my friends want to travel, they
know that I'm down, so I'mmaking up for that lost time, and
I'm doing it without really breaking asweat financially. So the sacrifices is kind

(46:24):
of delayed gratification and just kind ofholding off a little bit so that you're
not spending your money on junk that'snot producing for you. Beautiful Now,
innovation and staying current are essential inyour world. How do you continue to
evolve your content and adapt to changingtrends to really maintain your relevance and popularity.

(46:45):
Oh, that's always tough because younever know when you're creating content,
you never know what hits. Youcould kind of study and analyze how people
are reacting to different kinds of content, Like today it's shorts in reels vertical
filming. I kind of don't likeI'm so used to the landscape kind of
presentation of traditional TV that filming verticallyturns me off. But that's where the

(47:07):
industry is going. So you justhave to keep creating, testing ideas,
learning as you go, and thenthe results reveal themselves to you and then
you start to kind of refine downon that. So anybody who's who's trying
to stay innovative, just keep doingwhat you're doing. But listen, pay

(47:29):
attention to your data, pay attentionto your insights, pay attention to the
comments that people are making. Arethey asking questions? If you're asking questions
and there's conversations starting around your shortor around even a phrase that you made
that could become a video where youdeep dive into that same topic. I'm
covering one of your homes in Italyand people are always like, oh,

(47:50):
that's b s. It's a lie. You have to spend so much money
on your renovations, and that's acommon comment. So it makes me say,
all right, you think it's alie, Well, I'm gonna film
an entire series showing exactly how MTRICcost, what the final results are,
and how you could replicate it.Seeing is believing, Seeing is believing.
And guess what. People judge abook by its cover. You know,

(48:12):
they think that everything that glitters isgold or has to be gold. But
if you give them, you know, the proof that not everything that glitters
is gold, it could be silver, it could be bronze, it could
be you know, people are justvery very used to certain ideals and checklists
that they follow that if it's outsideof their concept of success, then it's
a lie or it's impossible to them. So I love that you are actually

(48:37):
filming, putting the footage out thereand allowing people to get educated by virtue
of just watching. So you're educatingpeople and people are loving that in return,
which is why I think you're alsoso successful. Now, you mentioned
that you are working on something prettyinspiring, a new project. Can you
tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, So, being in a

(48:57):
home healthcare space, I realize thatthere's a lot of inefficiencies in healthcare.
I'm sure you've been to a doctor'soffice or a hospital. Things move slow,
things are archaic, and the patientis who suffers. So in that
same vein of thought of solving aproblem within the industry, we decided to
launch this tech enabled home healthcare companythat puts technology first. And what we

(49:21):
do is we run our company withour software and we listen to what our
caregivers have to say, what ourpatients have to say, the things that
are causing errors to be made,and we program them out. So right
now, we're raising a million dollarsto kind of grow a little bit further,
to build out our sales team andto also kind of build out our

(49:43):
ArtReach team so that we're getting moredoctors aware of these sort of services that
we provide and how they benefit theirpatients. In the long run, a
lot of people who aren't being caredfor properly, especially in their elderly years,
will develop chronic diseases that just advanceand get worse. We can step
in and actually slow the advancement ofthose diseases by just managing care a little

(50:07):
bit better. Reminding patients to taketheir medication, watching out for their diet,
training our aids remotely through updates andvideo distributions on things to look out
for when caring for a diabetic patient. These are all the things that we
build into our software and build intoour company's philosophy that helps people live more
vibrantly and also allows us to delivercare in a more efficient manner. You

(50:30):
are quite the businessman. Well,we are officially officially out of time.
Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you absolutely guys. That was
our Travel Treasure segment brought to youby Navvy, featuring the incredible Carl Pierre.
Do check them out on YouTube andon the Gram at Carl Underscore Pierre.
It's Carl with a K, andyou head directly to their website at
eantplife dot com and Passive Workforce dotcom. You're listening to a moment of

(50:53):
Zen right here on seven ten worethe voice of New York iHeartRadio. We'll
be right back after this. AMoment of Zen is brought to you by
Caldwell Solms Incorporated, investing globally intransformative businesses like Original Digital Corporation or ODC
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(51:13):
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Well that's a rap, my dearfriends. Remember to join me right here
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(51:36):
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(51:59):
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