Anthony Mandler, Karolina Dehnhard, Senator Raymond Lesniak, Austin Zelan, Imran Ansari Esq.

None

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 Sam's takes youon a sexy and wild ride covering the

(00:20):
latest in film, fashion, popculture, cryptocurrency, fintech, cannabis,
and entertainment from the millennial mom's perspective. Here's your host, Zen Sam's.
Hello, my awesome Tristate area.Welcome to our one hundred and seventeenth episode
of A Moment of Zen. Twoand a half years on the air.
It's always a pleasure to spend mytime with you on the airwaves. Thank

(00:42):
you so much for listening and interactingwith me on social media. That truly
does make it all worthwhile. Pleasemake sure to follow me at Zen Sam's
That's Zen with an X, nota Z, That's XCN And remember that
we're now live on Traverse TV Sundaysat one pm Eastern. Of course,
all episode of A Moment of Zenare now streaming twenty four seven on Kathy

(01:02):
Ireland's Your Home TV, and youcan also find us on our YouTube channel.
We upload every Sunday at two pmEastern. We have such a great
show lined up for you today.Remember we are the number one trending show
in entertainment. In our Entertainment andPop Culture segment brought to you by Romulus
Entertainment, today, we're featuring directorand dear friend Anthony Mandler chatting all about

(01:23):
his new feature film, Surrounded that'sreceived rave reviews now. The film features
the impressive talents of both Letitia Wrightand Jamie Bell. Five years after the
end of the Civil War, aformer soldier disguises herself as a man while
traveling west to lay claim on agold mine, and after thieves ambush her
stagecoach, she's forced to guard alegendary outlaw while the surviving passengers look for

(01:48):
help. It's a definite must watchfilm and a definite must listen to interview.
He's here to chat film, careerand family. In our Trailblazer segment
brought to you by Navy Travel,Today, we're featuring Carolina Denhart, an
international family law attorney and partner withLindaberry, McCormick, Esterbrook and Cooper.
Today, she joins me with SenatorRaymond Lesniak. Today we're chatting Ukrainian orphans,

(02:12):
the importance of terminating and lifting themoratorium, and Russia's open effort to
adopt Ukrainian children and bring them upas Russian to the point of even giving
them citizenship. In our financial literacysegment, brought to you by one and
only OGPA dot Com, our mostfavored fintech app Today we are joined by
Austin Zelen, founder of cash flowPreneur, ten X, speaker and mentor.

(02:38):
Now Austin coaches many people around theworld on becoming financially literate through his
brand cash Flow Preneur. Today's hereto chat the best ways to earn passive
income and how you can take controlof your finances. In our scandals segment,
brought to you by b ch Kuccina, today we're featuring returning contributor Imron
Ansari of ABK Law and legal expertand analyst. He's going to be bringing

(03:00):
us the latest scandals going on inHollywood, both legal and international and under
five minutes. Can't wait to seewhat he has in store. Stay tuned
for our Entertainment and pop culture segment. Brought to you by Romulus Entertainment featuring
Anthony Mandler, chatting surrounded starring theimpressive talents of Letitia Wright and Jamie Bell.
You're listening to a moment of Zenright here on seven ten. Wore,

(03:23):
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(04:06):
Welcome back, beautiful Tristate area.You're listening to a moment of Zen
right here on seven ten, war, the voice of New York iHeartRadio.
I'm your host, Zen Sam's upin just a few minutes. In our
entertainment and pop culture segment brought toyou by Romulus Entertainment, Today we're featuring
my good friend, director Anthony Mandler. You may have seen some of his

(04:26):
most popular music videos, exceptional onesat That from Rihanna, The Jonas Brothers,
The Killers. That's just to namea few. Now today we're chatting
the film Surrounded. Surrounded features theimpressive talents of both Letitia Wright and Jamie
Bell. Five years after the endof the Civil War, a former soldier
disguises herself as a man while travelingwest to lay claim on a gold mine.

(04:48):
After thieves ambush her stagecoach, she'sforced to guard a legendary outlaw while
the surviving passengers look for help.A battle of will ensues per se,
blurring the line between captor and captiveas both try to survive the harsh landscape,
saddle up and prepare to be transportedto the wild Untamed. From Frontier
of the Old West, Anthony andArgon to delve into the captivating tales of

(05:12):
cowboys, outlaws, and the ruggedlandscapes that defined an era from John Wayne's
stoic demeanor to Clint eastwood steely gaze. The genre has captivated audiences for generations
from the very fabric of Western cinema, the good, the bad, and
the ugly high noon stagecoach Once upona Time in the West to surround it.
Here to chat film, career andfamily is the awesome Anthony Mandler.

(05:35):
Welcome superstar, Ah, thanks forhaving me. Sam, great to be
here. Absolutely, Okay, let'sdive right in. So congratulations on this
incredible masterpiece that you have directed.It was incredibly well done. And subverting
Western tropes while also treating the filmas a character study about trauma and its
effects on people was at the heartof it all. Definitely, what was

(05:58):
your motivation behind wanting to tell thestory? Well, I wrote my senior
thesis in film school about the Western, so I've always kind of been in
love with the tropes of it inthe genre. You know, it's one
of those classic genres where you're ableto sort of look at something that's been
done repeatedly over years, but thenhave the opportunity to sort of turn that
on its head. So, whetherit's really the great unforgiven, which is
great, the first Western to sortof turn the tropes upside down all the

(06:21):
way now to surround it where youbasically are able to tell a story that's
never been told before. You're lookingat a character who in many times would
have been the fourth or fifth leadin the background and saying, let's tell
their story. Let's focus the perspectiveof the Western through their eyes, and
let's see what happens when you dothat. It's interesting because Hollywood and the
entertainment industry have a crucial role,in my opinion, to play in promoting

(06:44):
diversity and storytelling. And of coursewe know that diverse storytelling allows for more
accurate and authentic representations of different communitiesand experiences. And when marginalized groups see
themselves reflected in movies and TV shows, it helps validate their identities, It
fosters a sense of belonging, andreally just promotes inclusivity, which is where
Hollywood is at right now. Andby really promoting diversity, the industry can

(07:06):
of course challenge stereotypes and present amore nuanced and realistic depiction of various communities.
So this is extremely important. Now. Leticia Wright portrays former Buffalo soldier
Moses Moe quote unquote Washington, whomust keep an eye on the captured outlaw
Tommy Walsh played by Jamie Bell afterher stage coach is attacked by Tommy's men,

(07:27):
and the evolution and nature of therelationship between Mo and Tommy is a
major part of this story and reallydoes carry the film. How would you
describe the dynamic between these two characters. Well, I think that the film
uses a classic device of antagonists andprotagonists to set up sort of this hatred
between these two people. They haveliterally nothing in common when you meet them,
and the fact that they're caught inthis robbery together on opposite sides and

(07:51):
they've sort of been their lives havebeen sort of thrust it into this heightened
moment when they're left alone in themiddle of nowhere, with Tommy tied to
a tree, And there's an exercisein the movie that really is about watching
two people have nothing in common andslowly showing how much they actually share,
and that undercurrent really is trauma theyshare. They share immense trauma, and

(08:16):
everything they're doing is in reaction tothat trauma. So you know, you
start with a Western in the middleof the movie, you essentially get a
character piece that has this sort ofsocial construct and then it sort of gives
you back to a Western again,but through a new lens. It's fascinating
the way you manage to pull thatoff all in one film. And what's
interesting, I'm gonna segue here,but is that historians often say that America's

(08:37):
Civil War pitted brother against brother,but what many people do not know is
that on occasion it also involves sisters. In fact, up to one thousand
women fought for both the Union andConfederate armies during the war, disguising themselves
as men to slip by, youknow, to pass as men. These
women bound their chests and cut theirhair. Then they chose a male name
and simply signed up right. Andone of these soldiers was It made me

(09:00):
think of her when I was watchingyour film, Francis Louisa Clayton. Her
alias name was Jack Williams. Sheenlisted with her husband in eighteen sixty one
to pass as one of the boys. She took up drinking, smoking and
chewing and swearing. And when France'shusband died a few feet in front of
her at Stones River, she steppedover his body and kept fighting. And
it's interesting because you know, it'sa mean dangerous world for an unaccompanied black

(09:26):
woman in eighteen seventy America. Andso to see this character to Moe travels
into the deep frontier disguised as aman. Talk to me about what it
was like directing a female actor disguisedas a man and which you had to
be mindful of to get that authenticperformance. Well, you know, I
think it starts in prep. Letitiacame on very early in the process.
She developed the film. She wasa producer in the movie. We worked,

(09:50):
you know, the constructs of thegenre and then met it with this
sort of authentic historical perspective from herperspective. And you don't always have that,
um, that ability to do that, but between director and writer and
actress, we were able to,in my opinion, create something that was
tied to history while being its ownstory UM and had an incredible level authenticity.

(10:11):
And so when that when that actor, when that character sort of comes
alive and you put them in themiddle of nowhere in this treachery and in
the opening the movie, you sortof watch this descent into what we call
like the hell of the world thatwe're in. Um, you realize how
dangerous. It really is. Youknow, when the camera was always the
camera, the idea of the cameras, it was always supposed to be close

(10:33):
to her, near her in herperspective. There's there's shots where you know,
traditional framing is thrown out and thecharacter's faces are cut, but you're
always in her eyes. You're alwayssort of seeing the world reflected through her.
And what is that world. It'sa it's a world that that is
dangerous at any moment. You know, for to be um, you know,
to be black at that time,to be a black female, to

(10:54):
be a black female who's hiding asa man who's also carrying, you know,
sort of something precious and also avery large gun and has an incredible
skill set when it comes to sortof using that weapon. There the potential
for danger, the potential for beingin scenarios where you might not make it
through the day, or very highand from her objective was just essentially to

(11:16):
put one day next to another day, next to another day, next to
another day, and hopefully at theend of that chain of days is salvation.
You know, safety is a promisedland, and that sort of biblical
sort of construct of the search forthe promised Land is really at the core
of her of her character. Yeah, it kind of feels like many of

(11:37):
the challenges that women are faced withtoday in even communities. But it's it's
interesting how you manage to finesse suchsuch a tough depiction into something. So,
I mean, her feminine side cameout just as much as the masculine
side, which was not an easyfeat. Now, what were some of
the biggest challenges you face directing thisWestern? Which one more common on what

(12:00):
you just said? You know,I think when you look at Tommy Walsh's
character, he's essentially a man whohas incredible entitlement, right, There's a
privilege to his whiteness and his masculinity, but he too is carrying incredible trauma
from childhood. So you know,his path is to sort of like scorch
and burn the earth and get backat everybody to make himself feel better.

(12:22):
And his entitlement and privilege as awhite male is that he could never be
controlled by a black person or evena black female in that that right,
So when these two characters sort oflike level up at this tree over time,
you just start to see them sortof come off their high horses and
sort of like see each other forwho they are, deeper beyond the actions
they've done or the way they're hidingto who they to what is really underneath?

(12:46):
Um. You know, making aWestern is definitely the most difficult genre.
You accept that you're going to makethis in the middle of nowhere,
far away from society, and intoday's sort of terms, you've got to
get away from cities. You're workingwith nature, horses, you know,
single fire weapons. Um. Thefeeling of a certainly this movie was the

(13:09):
harshness of the landscape. UM,surrounded sort of One of the definitions that
surrounded to me is that our charactersare sort of surrounded by nothingness. So
I basically marched the whole film twohours north of Santa Fe to a place
called Ghost Ranch, where no onehad ever really made a movie. Actually,
it's where George O'Keeffe painted every day. So you have these remarkable landscapes
that are surrounding you, and youknow, we found a place where we

(13:33):
could you know, look almost threehundred sixty degrees and you just were enthralled
by what was around you. Butthere was a sense of grandness and almost
um, you felt really small aroundit, you felt really alone, and
that sort of is another theme inthe movie, you know, how we
find each other in these in thisfastness. Yes, so many beautiful overlapping
themes with where we're fad you know, with the struggles that were faced,

(13:54):
as as as you know, humanityis progressing into so many different directions that
we can't even make sense of itall. Sometimes. This film definitely hit
close to home, I think emotionallyfor a lot of people. How did
you work with the cinematographer to createvisually studying and iconic shots for the film.
You know, it's privileged to workwith Max Goldman, who's a long
time collaborator of mine. In theshort form, this is the first film

(14:18):
we've made together. We have ashorthand, I think in our styles and
what we're after, I think we'reboth you know, in love with classic
cinema, and certainly the tropes ofthe Western are these grand vistas and anamorphic
lenses and the sort of tension ofcutting and the stillness that is felt by
the immediacy of life and death.You know, oftentimes two people stand across

(14:41):
from one another and in a splitsecond, they you know, they pull
and they shoot, and there's thissort of built in tension to the language
that really was created by John Ford, and so you know, kind of
looking at that language and figure outa way to sort of modernize it for
this film. Um, we tookan approach of that that we were going
to basically ask the actors if theycould go off book for four or five
pages at the time. And Isort of embracing this almost like theater,

(15:05):
this theater out in the middle ofnowhere. And so what's difficult about that
from a cinematography perspective is that basically, you know, you've got a light
in a way that the camera cansort of discover and move around. Luckily,
we had winter light, which isreally low on the horizon, and
we embraced you know, backlight,sidelight, front light, all in the
same sequences. We were fortunate enoughto have a really beautiful set of vintagenomorphic

(15:30):
lenses and incredible weather and incredible actors, and I think the rest is sort
of you know, is up thereand you see it. You know,
you did a great job, Youhad a great cast, great crew.
What do you hope audiences will takeaway from watching Surrounded and more importantly,
what did this film mean for yourfamily? Well, I mean, first

(15:50):
and foremost, you want to entertain. You want people to feel like they're
on a ride. But I thinkwithin that ride there's some incredible lessons about
the things that actually bring us togetherand make us similar, even in harsh
moments when we really appear to sharenothing. And often this concept that you
can really learn the most about yourselffrom someone you never expected, and then

(16:14):
that shared destiny is sometimes not whatyou expected to be. You know,
making a film is very difficult,you know, for many reasons. I
think it's you know, I havea wife and two young kids. It's
hard because you're gone for a longperiod of time. But I think that
you know, my legacy, myjourney as an artist is dependent on creating,
and so there's a I think ashared you know, understanding on the

(16:38):
process. Well you did a greatjob, congratulations. I mean, there's
definitely one of those films where you'regoing to show to your kids one day
and they're going to be very proud. This is that film, And I
think I do hope it gets nominatedfor some award because it's very deserving of
being highly recognized and even being atopic of conversation in schools and studied.

(17:00):
It's really impactful. You did sucha great job. Thank you. I
think it's important to note that thegreat Michael Kay Williams, son of New
York, son of Brooklyn, isin the movie. It will be his
last movie. Unfortunately we lost himalmost two years ago, and it was
my great honor to work with himand bring this performance to the screen.
He was a remarkable human being andas you know him from The Wire and

(17:25):
from Board Rock, Empire and somany movies. He embodies a certain character
in a very complex way, andhe was his process and artist was just
brilliant to watch and so we misshim dearly and so thankful to have this
movie. But if you love Michael, he certainly has an incredible, incredible
role in this film, you know, and definitely turns the movie upside down
absolutely. Anthony, thank you somuch for joining us. It was a

(17:48):
pleasure having you and thank you son. Thank you. That was our entertainment
pop culture segment brought to you byRomulos Entertainment. That was the awesome.
Anthony Mandler. Definitely check out themovie surround it. It's on digital everywhere
you can head directly on the Gramand check out Anthony's page at Anthony Mandler.
You're listening to a moment of Zenright here on seven ten wore the
voice of New York iHeartRadio. We'llbe right back after this. A Moment

(18:10):
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back, beautiful Tristate Area. You'relistening to a moment of Zen right here
on seven ten WR, the voiceof New york iHeartRadio. I'm your host,
Zen. Sam's up next in ourTrailblazers segment brought to you by Navvy

(20:00):
Travel. Today we're featuring Carolina Denhart. She's an international family law attorney and
partner with Lindabury McCormick, Esterbrook andCooper. She's born in Poland, and
Carolina has traveled to her motherland fourtimes since the Ukrainian Russian War broke out,
mainly to address lifting the adoption moratoriumof Ukrainian orphans displaced by the war,

(20:21):
and of course, to contribute tohumanitarian relief. Today she joins me
with Senator Ray Lesniak. Together withSenator Lesniak, they led a group of
civic and community leaders to Poland lastfall and visited over twelve hundred children displaced
by the war. Today we're chattingUkrainian orphans, the importance of terminating the
moratorium, and Russia's open effort toadopt Ukrainian children and pretty much bring them

(20:45):
up as Russian. Now, theUkrainian government's suspension of inter country adoption has
created a huge dilemma as organizations urgedreceiving states, international bodies and humanitarian agencies
to adopt a harmonized approach and callfor a moratorium on inter country adoptions from
Ukraine. Apparently during emergencies such asconflict. It is a well accepted principle

(21:07):
of state's obligation under international law thatadoption is not an appropriate response for unaccompanied
and separated children. Children separated fromtheir parents during a humanitarian emergency cannot be
assumed to be orphans until the fateof a child's parents or others close relatives
can verify. Each separated child shouldbe considered as still having living relatives or

(21:29):
legal guardians, and therefore it isnot a need of adoption. Again,
I repeat, this is the advisory, not my opinion, adding invents adding
insult to injury. Of course,thousands of children have been found in the
basements of warren torn cities like Maripoland orphanages in the Russian backed separatist territories
of Donbus. They include those whoseparents were killed by Russian shelling, as
well as others in institutions or withfoster families known as children of the state.

(21:53):
Russia claims that these children don't haveparents or guardians to look after them,
or that they simply can't be reached. Joining me, now, are
my dear friends Carolina and Senator Lesniakto chat further welcome to the show,
my dear friends, thank you forhaving us. Thank you what an introduction
I mean, that was very welldone, and what a great overview for
our audience. So it's great tobe here. Great, let's jump right

(22:15):
in. So Caroline, above allelse, let us suggest the biggest issue
that Ukrainian babies are literally being stolenunderneath the administration's eyes. Associated Press in
fact found that officials have deported Ukrainianchildren to Russia or Russian held territories without
consent, lied to them that theyweren't wanted by their parents, or used
them for propaganda, and gave themto Russian families and included citizenship. Dear

(22:38):
lord, is all I have tosay? What do you say to this?
Well, first of all, Ijust want to make clear that the
children that we are talking about,and the children that we are looking to
help, we're already orphans before thewar broke out. So these were children
that were living in orphanages throughout Ukraine. That the courts have terminated parental rights
of those parents, and they wereright for adoption, and they didn't have

(23:00):
any family members willing to adopt themas well, so they're really true orphans
and they need a loving family,and there are plenty of families here in
America who are in the We're inthe process of adopting these children, but
got stopped when the war broke out. We would like to get the Ukraine
to work with the United States governmentso that temporarily these children can be with

(23:26):
their adopted families, so that whenthe war ends, they can go back
and complete the adoption process, butin the meantime they'll have a loving family.
Yeah. So it's that it's soimportant just for our audience to recognize
that these children were already doomed toa life in the orphanages. Right,
So if Ukraine's going to take theposition that they should be adopted by Ukrainian

(23:47):
families, well, guys, youhad the chance to do that before the
war broke out. So true orphans, Okay, But to your point,
I just traveled back from Poland abouta month ago. On the five o'clock
news you see clips of Russians comingin pistol in hand and a shop being
put in the air, and themessentially picking the blonde little girls to go
with them. And I don't thinkthat those intentions are for those children to

(24:08):
be adopted by loving families in Russia. So there's a whole world going on
of exploding these children. As amatter of fact, we have in America
itself, we have two hundred familiesthat were in the process of adopting children
in Ukraine, three hundred children,and they were just torn away from from
their loving families. And we wouldlike the United States, you want them

(24:30):
back, you want them back.And listen at this point right now,
when we look at Russian and theiropen effort to adopt Ukrainian children and bring
them up as Russian, it's alreadywell underway, and in one of the
most explosive issues of the war.This is it, right, this is
what's happening. And Russian officials don'tdeny Ukrainian children are now in Russia,
but insist the camps are part ofa vast humanitarian project for abandoned war traumatized

(24:52):
orphans and have been surprisingly public withsocial media messaging aimed at Russian audience.
And Russia does not, however,acknowledge that these children, you know,
are in fact not orphaned. They'rejust keeping very tight lipped about it.
And you know, we don't evenknow how many at this point how many
children in Russia. Russia is housing, so it's a little bit scary.
Now, this is the other sideof the coin though. These are children

(25:17):
who have already bonded with these families, and again they could come to the
United States, live with these familiesand then be obligated. The United States
would be obligated for them to comeback to Ukraine to go through the Ukraine
adoption process. These children should notbe denied a loving family because of what
Russia is doing. This is perfectlylegitimate, not only legitimate, this is

(25:40):
necessary to give these kids. Now, Carolina, the Ukrainian the Ukrainian government
suspension of inter country adoption has obviouslycreated a huge dilemma from the onset because
these organizations are now urging these receivingstates and international bodies and humanitarian agencies to
adopt a harmonized approach and call fora moratorium on on inter country adoptions from

(26:00):
Ukraine. It's huge. Tell mewhy and how you got involved and what
do you say to this moratorium.So I've been involved in the adoption issue
for many, many years. Right, I'm a family law attorney and one
of the things that I focus onin my practices helping people build loving families.
Right, I'm an immigrant from Poland. I speak flum in Polish.
I live the American dream, andI've always wanted to promote that for people

(26:21):
that I couldn't have children in theUnited States by adopting kids from Eastern Europe.
My focus initially was Poland, butwhen the war broke out Zen,
it was obvious people started calling afterthese sor the images of these children walking
kilometers across fields. I immediately becameinvolved, contacted my contacts in Poland to
say where are these kids? We'rebeing told there's two thousand, three thousand,
seven thousand, where are they?Who's taking care of them? So

(26:44):
no better way to get your handsaround the situation than to go to Poland
and to actually visit these kids.And you could imagine Zen. At the
beginning of the war, there wasan outpouring of support, food supplies,
medicine, you name it, right, and GEO stepped in, the government
stepped in in Poland. But nowfifteen months later, these children are being
quote unquote abandoned again. The NGOsare pulling out, government resources are running

(27:06):
low. Ukraine is not contributing verymuch to the orphanages in Poland, and
the Polish government can only do somuch. So to senators point about the
two hundred, I'm sorry, thethree hundred children that were matched with parents
in America, two of which arefrom New Jersey. Before the war,
there was no reason why these kidsshould be languishing in an orphanage in Poland,

(27:27):
or in Spain or in the UKbecause that they're now throughout Europe and
not be here. There's no reasonfor this. Carolina contacted me because because
of my position forty years in NewJersey Senate, but also my grandparents were
born in Godova, right on theborder of Ukraine, just one hundred miles
from Kiev. And when we visited, we had an entourage and we gave

(27:51):
these orphans clothing and toys and iPadsand they were happy, but they were
really happy for our presidence there.They hugged us, they gave us high
and you and Carolina led this groupof civic and community leaders to Poland.
This is what you're talking about lastfall and visited twelve We will only be
able to be there for hours.Meanwhile, the rest of the day observations.

(28:15):
While they were so needy, theywere just so they grabbed us,
they hugged us. They just wantedto have human contexts, you know,
Carolina, lifting this moratorium on theUkraine, on the Ukrainian orphan adoption process
is extremely important at this point.So what are the current obstacles. Well,
we essentially need to have President Zelenskiand his people pay attention to the

(28:37):
fact that this is now something thatshould be done for the welfare of these
children. We understand that at thetime that the war broke out and there
was you know, people waiting onthe borders, sex traffic and otherwise right
it was, it was commotion,it was war. We understand that there
had to be perhaps a moratorium initiallyfor the protection of these children. But
there is no reason in the worldwhy we cannot implement the services that were

(29:00):
in place before the war broke out. There's relationships between Poland, the US
and Ukraine, there are international adoptionagencies involved, there are systems involved.
More importantly, though, there isno reason why the children that were already
vetted by Ukraine in the US andmatch with parents, why they should not
immediately be carved out from the moratoriumand be allowed to finalize the adoption process.

(29:23):
And that can be done by PresidentBiden and Homeland Security. So this
is just not a Ukrainian issue.So we are appealing through Senators Booker and
Menendez and Schumer to get Homeland Securityand President Biden to or for these this
subset of three hundred children. What'scalled parole. It was done in a

(29:45):
past for Haitian orphans during their catastropheand again so that they can join their
families and then when the wars over, go back to Ukraine and go through
the formal adoption process. It's somethingthat should be done. It's in the
best interest of this in the bestinterest of the children now. Absolutely,
Carolina, to keep things into perspective. I mean, you're an attorney.

(30:06):
You have a very pragmatic approach tothings and calculate your every move. In
this instance, you have an emotionalattachment and connection to this ordeal. What
is currently driving your motivation and whatis the focal point at this moment for
you? I think it's it's threefold. Number One, I never had children,
and I'm not going to at thispoint in my life, and I

(30:26):
really would like to leave a legacyfor children with all the work that I'm
doing. Number two. My mothertook a big chance in life and came
here to this country when I wasseven years old, in pursuit of the
American dream. And those first dayswere very difficult. We didn't have any
money, we didn't speak English.Today I'm a lawyer and my brother's a
doctor, and my mother built abusiness. This country provides every piece of

(30:48):
the American dream to become something thatis possible. But for my clients right
who have literally done all they canto try to provide a sense of family,
provide loving homes to children, that'sthe obstacle that right now is driving
me and Senator and I. Afterhaving visited these children and we saw the
kids and we know the families here, we absolutely can envision that those two

(31:11):
kids landing a Newark airport, thatfirst hug, and that moment of a
family being for and for me,my grandparents coming from Well, my next
question, wait, hold up,My next question to you is you're you're
ethnically Polish. How has this situationdirectly affected you and why are you so
passionate about bringing the Ukrainian orphans totheir spoken families. Well, first of
all, Carolina, it makes mepassionate about anything. Yes, but again,

(31:36):
I am so proud of the Polishgovernment who stepped up to the plate,
took millions of refugees, gave themjobs, homes and schools, and
that that Polish pride came out inme and got me to with Carolina to
unite with these orphans and take itone step further to help these children.

(32:01):
Beautiful. This is such a beautifulstory. Who are Carolina, who are
your current partners on the project andwhat can the American public do to help?
I could probably tell you that wehave doctors, politicians, entrepreneurs,
business owners, government officials, diplomats. We have a huge array of people
that each have a voice in this. Our goal right now is to number

(32:23):
one, bring those three hundred childrenhere. That's our focus. But to
continue the humanitarian relief. There's apicture of a little boy named Max that
we were able to secure surgery for. Max is now going to be able
to walk. We have other effortsin place to continue to provide education,
another aid for these kids. I'mheading to Poland in the next few weeks

(32:43):
in collaboration with Cena Lesniak and JackChiarelli. We have a donation that's going
to send I think one hundred kidsto camp so they have a little relief
from their day in their lives inthe orphanage. And further donations can be
made to Lesniak Institute dot org.Well, we're going to direct traffic there
are guys. Thank you so muchfor coming on. It was such a
fabulous segment. I love being ableto spread awareness and get your vision to

(33:07):
where it's seen by everybody, sowe can overturn this moratorium and have these
children home where they belong. Sothank you so much for coming on.
Thank you, thank you, thankyou for absolutely That was our trailblazer segment,
brought to you by Navvy Travel,and that was the incredible Carolina Denhart
International family law attorney and partner withLindabury McCormick, Esterbrooke and Cooper, joined

(33:29):
of course by Senator Raymond Lesniak.You could head directly to Lesniak Institute dot
org, or you can also headto Divorce dot Dynasty dot com. It's
an awesome platform. You definitely haveto check it out. You're listening to
a moment of zen right here onseven ten, wore the voice of New
york iHeartRadio. We'll be right backafter this. A Moment of Zen is
brought to you by Caldwell Solmes Incorporated, investing globally in transformative businesses like Original

(33:53):
Digital Corporation or ODC. ODC developsadvanced consumer and commercial fintech solutions such is
ogpay, which will transform the wayyou manage your money from sending a receiving
money globally for free, paying forgoods and services in person and online pay
bills, buy and sell digital currencies, all while earning interest. Ogpay is
easy to set up, FDIC ensuredand your information is secured. Check out

(34:15):
ogpay dot com. Welcome back,beautiful Tristate area. You're listening to a
Moment of Zen right here on seventen WR, the voice of New York
iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Zen. Sam's up next in our financial literacy
segment brought to you by ogpa dotcom. Today, we're joined by Austin
Zellon, founder of cash Flow Preneur, ted X, speaker and mentor.

(34:37):
Austin coaches many people around the worldon becoming financially literate through his brand,
Cashflow Preneur. His focus is oninvestments that create cashflow for his clients and
allow them to live the life theydeserve. His mission is to create one
thousand new millionaires through his unique passiveincome strategies by the year twenty twenty seven.

(34:58):
A recent in depth article title AustinZelln's Mission Passive Income for All,
explored his groundbreaking strategies and insights thathave revolutionized the way individuals can generate wealth
and financial independence. Austin has dedicatedhis career to helping individuals build multiple streams
of passive income. He believes thatanyone can really create a life full of

(35:19):
freedom and abundance by investing in themselvesand of course, leveraging the power of
residual income. Austin says that quoteunquote, passive income is extremely important because
it allows us to teach the threefreedoms in our life financial freedom, time
freedom, and of course geographical freedom. This means that we can finally do
what we want, when we want, and with whoever we want. End

(35:40):
quote. Now, let's get itstraight. The best way to earn passive
income aren't only the purview of thewealthy. Of course, with a modicum
of startup time and capital, anyonecan really create a passive income stream and
passive income isn't literally money without effort, but more can to money with less
effort. Now, some passive incomestrategies like owning dividend pink stocks or bonds

(36:02):
require less work than owning actual rentalreal estate. Today Austin is here to
chat the best ways to earn passiveincome and how you can take control of
your finances. Welcoming down to theshow is the awesome Austin. Welcome,
my friend, thank you, thankyou for having me. I'm super excited
to be here. I appreciate itabsolutely, Welcome to the show. Now

(36:22):
let's dive right in. So youhave this four step passive income framework that
is basically able to transform an investmentportfolio to the point where your clients can
scale to seven and eight figures easily. And you were recently quoted saying that
it's all about following a proven investmentprotocol that manages risk and creates profitable outcomes

(36:43):
for the investor. Tell me more, and what are these secret four steps?
All? Righty? So the fourstep framework that we use is LPs
or LIPS. It's an acronym thatwe use in our passive income investment strategies
in order to remember the steps thatwe need to follow in order to generate
passive income. So everybody goes throughthese four steps sequentially in order to maximize

(37:05):
the returns that they're getting from theirinvestments. So the first one is L
and that's learning. They're learning aboutall the different things that they could possibly
invest in, and that ranges fromphysical assets to maybe even some more risky
stuff if they want to play inthe financial markets. And we basically just
want to learn about all these differentopportunities, all the ways that we can
fund our investments, all the waysthat other people are doing these investments,

(37:27):
so that we can be more successful. It's all about learning in that phase.
Then you move on to the nextphase, which is I, and
we start implementing some of these things. Once you've learned about all the different
investment types that maybe exist in yourregion or your area or your country,
you're gonna want to find out whichones are going to work the best for
you, and the only way todo that is to start implementing. So

(37:47):
we start implementing these different investments andwe start applying capital to them, and
then we start seeing which ones areworking out, which ones maybe aren't really
working out as well as we thought, and that's when we move on to
the third phase. The third phaseis perfecting. So we've found the investments
that are working for us, we'vefound the ones that we want to keep
working with, and we start perfectingthem. So maybe it's something like an

(38:08):
airbnb or maybe a rental property,and we realize that, hey, every
time in our airbnb, when weadd a fire pit, we can charge
so much more every single night andit doesn't really cost us that much more
to deliver. So now we startperfecting all of our investments and tweaking different
things that make them more profitable.Agreed, And I love well, the

(38:30):
most important thing is that you're you. You've taken the guesswork, so to
speak, out of it. AndI think that there should not be any
guesswork when investing, only to yourpoint, proven strategies, because when you
look at where we're at in theworld today, there's a lack of financial
literacy, of course, and toyour point, this has caused so many
people to be scared of investing andultimately lose money. And that plus you

(38:52):
know all the compound It is essentiallyby the notion of inflation at six and
eight percent annually now again to yourpoint, must be making at least eight
to nine percent in order to justbreak even. And further to your point,
we're not even talking about any profits, right, so we want to
make sure that the guesswork is extractedout of this equation. And I love
how you map that out. Canyou, in your perspective, can you

(39:15):
make passive income with little to nomoney? Yes, you can, but
you're going to have to put ina lot more work on the front end.
So in my opinion, you know, as we go through that four
step framework, the last part isscaling, and so scaling allows us to
really maximize what we're making out ofthese investments. But at the very beginning,

(39:36):
you might not have that much capitalthat you're putting up. And so
what I find is that you caneither have capital. Your second option is
to access capital from the bank,which we also teach as well, or
the third option is to find somebodywho does have capital and maybe partner up
with them, because if they havethe capital, they probably don't want to
put in the work. But ifyou're willing to put in the work,
you can come in as a partner. You're doing the work while they fund

(39:59):
the project. And eventually that's goingto be profitable for you. So you're
going to have some capital that youcan then reinvest into your next project.
So I would say, if youdon't want to spend too much capital at
the beginning and just put in somework, it's a great way to get
that initial investment profit rolling in andthen you can start reinvesting. I love
it. Now, getting creative isat the core of it all. Where

(40:20):
there's a will, there's a way. Now let's chat setting expectations. So
earning passive income from investing involves kindof predicting your return based upon the investment
amount. You know, a fivethousand dollars investment in a dividend fund that
pays a six percent yield will providethree hundred dollars per year, while you
know a successful affiliate website might earna thousand dollars per month or more.
So, when you're looking at givingpeople the right advice and you're talking about

(40:46):
the best passive income investments really involvebalancing human capital, financial capital, time,
and skills. What do you sayto this and what is your advice
on setting expectations. I think thatthe more capital you're investing the more conservative
you should be, just generally speaking. And that's the way that I've used

(41:07):
investing myself to generate wealth, becauseat the beginning, it doesn't really matter
what you're investing into. If you'reinvesting less than like ten thousand dollars,
it's not really going to make muchof a difference. You could be making
thirty percent a year, forty percenta year, and it's still not life
changing money for most people. Now, once you start getting into like let's
say millions or maybe tens of millions, now you're going to have to really

(41:29):
think about the things that you're investingin because that could probably make a pretty
big difference if one of those doesn'twork out. So I say diversification is
always the way to go. Settingthe right expectations. Is that not every
investment works out, you know,and if you can get an accuracy rate
of let's say seventy or eighty percent, My overall portfolio accuracy is about seventy

(41:52):
percent, that means about thirty percentof my investments fail. And the reason
is that I'm always trying new investments. So I'm always trying new things that
most of them work, but someof them they just don't work out,
and you always have to make surethat your possibility or your chance of profit
is much higher than the amount thatyou could possibly lose, so that way
your net profitable even if you're losingon some investments. So having the right

(42:15):
expectation that it's not a perfect game, it's not a game of perfection.
It's a game of maintaining your statusas an investor for as long as possible,
and that means managing your risk reallyreally well, very well said.
Now, investing in financial markets spansbanking and financial products like stocks and bonds.
Buying banking products like certificates of depositand high yield cash accounts is less

(42:37):
risky with lower upside potential than investingin financial market assets. Now, Passive
investing in dividend paying stocks or interestpaying bonds provides cash flow but requires a
larger investment to realize meaningful monthly income. To your point, now, in
your opinion, what are the bestpassive income investments? So I can't make

(42:59):
any recommendations, but for me personally, what's worked out really well is kind
of like an alternative investment model.So instead of going to the financial markets,
which everybody can do, I likethe investments that are less accessible.
They still provide me the safety,but they also can generate much higher returns.
And for me, the best investmentso far has been private jets.

(43:21):
So you basically acquire a jet,you own the physical asset. Think about
it. The worst thing that couldpossibly happen is maybe you have to sell
the jet and recoup all, ifnot most, of your money. But
the best case scenario is that youcould be doing thirty, forty, fifty
sixty percent a year on these jets. And those are real numbers. That's
actual data that we have on ourjets. We charter them out through a
charter company, so it's very passivefor the investor. The majority of the

(43:45):
work that you're going to have todo is just get on a monthly call
maybe with the rest of the investors, to talk about the statement and your
profit split. That's about it.The charter company runs the entire operation.
For me, that's a very safeinvestment. It does really, really well,
and I'm protected because at any pointin time, I could pull up
the tail number on my phone andI can see exactly where my plane is,

(44:06):
exactly what it's doing, and Iknow it's there, it's always intrinsically
valuable. So even if we let'ssay, went off the dollar and we
didn't use the dollar anymore, whatevercurrency we're using, that jet intrinsically contains
value within it. You can't justreplace it for free. It's an expensive
asset and it always will be thatno matter what currency it's denominated in.

(44:27):
That's a very creative way to secureyour investment. And more importantly, when
you talk about the aviation industry andwhere we're at right now, people are
just wanting to fly, and they'rewanting to fly private because they just don't
want to be bothered with the hasslesof it all. So, yeah,
that sounds great. Now, let'schat real estate investing because this is one

(44:49):
of my favorites. But of course, real estate investing is frequently touted as
a response to the question what isthe best way to earn passive income?
But real estate investing takes any forms, some more passive than others. Owning
and managing real property is passive untila pipe breaks or the renter doesn't pay
their rent. Then it's a lotof work. With real property investing,

(45:09):
you'll also need a chunk of capitalto begin now real estate crowdfunding apps or
investing in real estate investment trusts,rates are more passive. Once you purchase
the securities, you wait for thecash flow. How do you feel about
real estate investment trusts? What areyour thoughts? I know some really high
performing rates, but I think thatyou're really leaving a lot of the benefits

(45:32):
on the table as an investor ifyou just go that route. Now,
for some people, that's a perfectfit. Some people want to be less
involved. They they don't even wantto think about what their money is doing.
They just want to invest into thetrust and let the trust do the
work. And that's totally fine.There's a market for people like that.
For me, personally, I liketo be a little bit more involved in
the process. I like to bea GP on big deals, so multifamily

(45:54):
real estate, and we try tomake it as passive as possible by having
a management company run it. Soto avoid the issues that you just mentioned,
we tend to not purchase smaller properties, so anything below i'd say thirty
two units, forty units, thefinances just aren't there to hire a management
company. You want to have amanagement company operating the building for you,

(46:16):
doing evictions and any repairs, maintenance, bringing in new tenants. That's a
lot of the work. When itcomes to multifamily real estate, single family
real estate, I would just stayaway from now. I do some personally,
but I don't manage any of it. But that's a lot harder to
find a solid management company for andyou're going to have to do that yourself

(46:37):
on the front end before you canhave a passive portfolio, so to speak.
Whereas with multifamily, you typically havea GP or maybe multiple gps who
are taking care of that for you, and you come in as a limited
partner, You invest, eventually refinance, pull out your cash, you own
that asset, and you buy anotherone. There you go talk about ten
x in your business right there inless than a paragraph. Now, when

(47:00):
we talk about reads, it's importantfor everyone to understand that a real estate
investment trust is an investment vehicle thatowns a pool of commercial real estate.
Basically, there are reads, ofcourse, that provide broad diversification across the
real estate landscape, but you canbuy niche reads that own senior housing,
student housing, warehouses, commercial property, mortgages, shopping malls, data centers,

(47:21):
and you get the picture many othervarieties of property, and of course
the benefits of these reads for cashflow is that they are required by law
to pay out ninety percent of theirtaxable income to shareholders, so it's an
interesting safety net, if you will. Now, one of the biggest mistakes
people are making Austin when it comesto passive income. I think one of

(47:42):
the biggest mistakes that I've seen ispeople go all in on one thing when
they're just starting out, and thereason is that they get excited. And
I totally understand because I did thatat the beginning as well. But over
time one of the biggest things thatI learned is diversification. And I believe
that there are two types of diversification. There is internal diversification and there's external.

(48:04):
So let's start with external. I'mdiversified into multiple industries. Private jets,
real estate, exotic cars, yachts. All these are different industries that
are not necessarily correlated. So externally, my portfolio is diversified. Now let's
click down into one of these andlet's say we have real estate. I'm
going to diversify internally with real estateas well. I'm gonna buy property in

(48:27):
Vegas. I'm gonna buy property inFlorida. I'm gonna buy property in Texas,
in Tennessee and Georgia. And Icould go even deeper. I could
buy property by the beach, Icould buy property in the hills somewhere.
I could buy property in the city. So I'm diversifying within that sector of
my portfolio, and that's providing protectionfor me because if one of them doesn't
work out, the other ones areprobably still working for me. And because

(48:49):
I'm in different areas and different markets, and i have a different demographic that
I'm targeting, It's likely that I'mgoing to have a very stable portfolio.
Love it, love it. Youare so full of knowledge and you do
what you do for a reason.Thank you so much for coming on.
You are absolutely incredible. Love chattingwith you. Filled with knowledge and financial
literacy is really at the heart ofit all. Once you have that,

(49:12):
you the rest. You can't gowrong. Yeah, thank you so much
for having me. It's been apleasure. Absolutely. That was Austin Zelen,
founder of cash Flow, preneur,ted X, speaker and mentor,
and of course Austin coaches many peoplearound the world on becoming financially literate.
Definitely check out his brand, CashflowPreneur. You can check him out on
the gram at Austin zelen z El A N or you can head directly

(49:37):
to invest with Austin dot com.That was our financial literacy segment brought to
you by ogpa dot Com. You'relistening to a moment of Zen right here
on seven ten w R, thevoice of New York iHeartRadio. We're back
after this. A Moment of Zenis brought to you by Caldwell Solmes Incorporated,
Investing globally in transformative businesses like OriginalDigital Corporation or odc OD. He

(50:00):
develops advanced consumer and commercial fintech solutionssuch as ogpay, which will transform the
way you manage your money from sendinga receiving money globally for free, paying
for goods and services in person andonline pay bills, buy and sell digital
currencies, all while earning interest.Ogpay is easy to set up, FDIC
insured, and your information is secured. Check out ogpay dot com. I'm

(50:21):
in run in sorry, and I'mhere with your A Moment of Zen.
Legal news briefing first. YNW.Melly, also known as Jamel Demons.
He is a famous rapper, andhe is on trial right now in Broward
County, Florida for a double murder. He is accused of killing two of
his friends and fellow recording artist yNW Juby and y NW sack Chaser.

(50:46):
That's right, his friends who weremaking music with him. Now he's being
accused of murdering him and he ison trial right now in Broward County.
Prosecution wants to prove that he committedthese murders, also that there were abbravating
factors and why nw Melly was amember of the Blood's gang. Why do

(51:09):
they want to prove that because theyare seeking the death penalty and an aggravating
factor like being in a gang andthe crime being committed association with a gang,
then they're going to be able toseek the death penalty. Right now
in Florida, it's even easier toget the death penalty sentence because the Florida

(51:30):
legislature has changed the law. Nowyou only need eight jurors to vote that
they are going to sentence a defendantto death rather than the previous unanimous twelve
jury verdict. That's huge news andit makes it all the more dangerous for

(51:50):
YNW Melly to be convicted because ifso, he could be facing the death
penalty and it is easier now orthe jury to vote to have the death
penalty as a sentence on n ronansorry, and this in your legal news.
Here on Moment of at A Momentof Zen is brought to you by

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(52:55):
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