Cut The Tie Podcast with Kelly Dowd
What happens when success stops being about metrics and starts being about meaning?
In this thoughtful and deeply human episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Kelly Dowd, Nigerian-American designer, author, and founder of Design Inc., to explore identity, creativity, and the courage it takes to silence noise.
Kelly shares his journey from fashion, pageantry, and corporate life into a more intentional path rooted in collaboration, humanity, and sustainability. At the center of the conversation is Kelly’s forthcoming book, The Power of Hands, which reframes human creativity as the most advanced technology we will ever possess.
About Kelly Dowd:
Kelly Dowd is a Nigerian-American designer, author, and founder of Design Inc. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Power of Hands: Designing a Sustainable Future to Integrate Collaboration. Kelly’s work focuses on human-centered design, sustainability, and the role of creativity as a collaborative force that technology can never replace. Through design, writing, and leadership, he challenges people to reconnect with their humanity and redefine success on their own terms.
In this episode, Thomas and Kelly discuss:
- Redefining success beyond money
Kelly explains why being alive, present, and creative matters more than external metrics or validation. - Why cutting noise is the hardest tie to break
From corporate pressure to social media expectations, Kelly shares how noise nearly drowned his voice and how he learned to silence it. - The power of hands as human technology
Kelly unpacks why hands represent collaboration, creativity, and the one capability AI can never replace. - Walking away from identity-defining careers
Fashion, pageantry, and corporate life shaped Kelly, but no longer served his purpose. - Confidence, self-belief, and unlearning old stories
A powerful reflection on how childhood narratives shape adult self-worth and how silence helped Kelly reclaim his confidence. - Creating without competing
Why meaningful creation comes from competing with yourself, not chasing attention or algorithms.
Key Takeaways:
- Noise is the real enemy
Corporate pressure, toxic relationships, and constant content demands drown out creativity and clarity. - Your humanity is your advantage
Hands symbolize collaboration, adaptability, and creativity no technology can replace. - Success starts with being alive and present
Breath, awareness, and purpose matter more than money or status. - You don’t owe loyalty to what no longer serves you
Growth sometimes requires walking away from careers that once defined you. - Create for meaning, not metrics
Thoughtful work outlives attention-driven content.
Connect with Kelly Dowd:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thekellydowd/
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: @thelfrich
💼 LinkedIn: Thomas Helfrich
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
✉️ Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 InstantlyRelevant.com
Serious about LinkedIn Lead Generation? Stop Guessing what to do on LinkedIn and ignite revenue from relevance with Instantly Relevant Lead System
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
Welcome to the Cut the Tie Podcast.
Hello, I'm your host, ThomasHelfrick, and I am here on a
mission to help you cut the tieto whatever it is holding you
back from success.
And you got to own that success.
And it's got to be yours becauseif you're chasing some success
idea or dream that's not yours,it's not going to feel very good
with to get there.
So own it, cut the ties to getto it.
And today we're going to talkKelly Dowd.
(00:20):
Kelly, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
I'm very well, and it's a pleasure to be here once
again.
SPEAKER_03 (00:26):
I I appreciate it.
Uh you what listen, it's an easyshow.
So take a moment to introduceyourself, where you're from,
what it is you do great.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Well, thank you.
Um once again.
So uh one of the things I tellpeople initially is um please be
aware that I have slight uh adifferent intonation of talking.
And in just in case you know youdon't understand me, yell my
name across the hall.
But in this case, it's that'snot gonna be possible.
Yeah, so my name is Kelly Dowd,um M B A M A.
(00:57):
I'm a Nigerian American, and Itry to be clear by saying I'm a
Nigerian American because um oneof the things they tell people
is I was born in Nigeria, then Igot catapult to different
planets of America.
Voila, that is uh how I'm here.
I am the author of theforthcoming book on the power of
hands and designing asustainable future to integrate
(01:20):
collaboration, because I believeour hands is extremely powerful,
and this is the only advancedand natural technology that we
always have.
And no matter how much wedevelop AI, it's not gonna
replace it.
And I am the founder and uhchief designer of Fira Design
Inc.
So that is Kelly Dowd, and I'mhere today, and thanks to you.
SPEAKER_03 (01:42):
I said the power of hands is the book.
Uh give me the the one thingpeople need.
Let me say this.
The one thing.
Let me try that one more time.
It's a professional podcaster.
I'm failing miserably right now.
What is the one trigger or onething going on in someone's
life, why they should read it?
And what's that one thingthey're gonna get from it?
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
The one thing that you're gonna get from this, from
reading the book, The Power ofHands, is the beautiful
integration of how you can useyour hands to create magic.
Because, Franklin, you can tryto leverage um artificial
intelligence, AI, chargeability,and code, which I talked a lot
about in the book as well,right?
(02:23):
However, the most innovative twothat you always have with you is
this magical hand, which is yourhumanity and your adaptation,
nature, and the design of life,and most importantly,
sustainability.
SPEAKER_03 (02:38):
I will tell I I use that term magical hands to to
tempt younger when I was youngerto tend your date.
Yeah, I give you a really goodmassage, but be white.
Not sure that's the same thingthat's going on in your book,
but I'm gonna tell you, guys, itworks.
SPEAKER_01 (02:54):
It is anymore, it's just creepy, but uh but here's a
beautiful thing about the humanbody, right?
Because um I love the theintegration of allegories that's
a fiction and non-fiction tocreate um you know things that
are relatable and perhaps youcan easily connect with.
And one beautiful thing aboutthis hand, right?
(03:18):
This human, gorgeous creation bynature is you can actually use
it for a lot of things, right?
I mean, you talked aboutmassage, and I'll I will tell
you that it's once my body's onthat table and the magic hand
gets me.
I'm like, please take me toheaven, right?
But another interesting part ofit is if you look at a hand as
(03:39):
well, if you need to collaboratewith a person, it's like you are
stretching a hand for that,right?
So that is a beautiful part ofit.
And even go back to the massage,massage is also a collaborative
effort, right?
Because you are letting yourbody go for another beautiful
human to use your magical handson you.
(04:01):
So it's just an interesting justthe position of how nature gave
us a lot of equipment that isjust deposited in our anatomy.
So, and that was the key reasonwhy I chose the ends, because
the ends is a beautiful symbolof integration and collaboration
all over the world, just likefashion does.
(04:22):
So, well, let's hear uh how youdefine success.
Uh, how I define success, uh,that's that's a beautiful
question that I'd neveranticipated coming.
However, I will tell you thissuccess is uh me waking up in
the morning, having the breath,having the size, having the
(04:45):
feel, the touch, the taste, andall of that.
To me, that is success becausewhen there is life, there is
hope.
And I cannot define success bymetrics of money.
Neither can I define success bymetrics of how many people have
slept with or things like that.
I mean, you can define successhowever you want.
(05:06):
However, to me, success is thebeautiful feeling of being alive
because again, when there islife, there is higher for more
creativity to happen and moremagic to manifest in this being
the universe of us.
SPEAKER_03 (05:20):
That seems like a very simplistic point.
Okay, we'll talk about yourjourney a bit, uh, and maybe one
of the uh metaphorical ties, orthe biggest metaphorical tie, or
physical, I guess, that you hadto cut to achieve that success.
SPEAKER_01 (05:35):
Huh.
The biggest metaphorical tiethat I had to cut to achieve the
success.
Well, I would say is um cuttingour noise.
Noise is an element that I meanwe manufacture noise, however,
is an echo that is extremelydisruptive and manifest in
(05:59):
different ways.
You are familiar with what Icall corporate noise, perhaps.
And for me, cutting out noise isone of the biggest, you know,
metaphoric achievements thatI've had, and that is to be
caught to the type.
Because I almost got drowned innoise and corporate noise,
(06:20):
personal noise, when you'retalking about like toxic
relationships, that is alsonoise.
When you're talking aboutgossip, it's also noise.
So cutting out that noise is oneof the things that really helped
me to be successful as anindividual.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
So, how did how did you uh cut it?
What was your method?
SPEAKER_01 (06:39):
Of course, well, um my method, which I know has
really worked for a lot ofpeople, because if you read this
book, noise by um Daniel Kenman,it does talk a lot about uh
about um strategies that whichyou can use to minimize those
echoes that you don't want.
Take for example, I had to likemake changes to my
(07:01):
relationships, you know, I hadto make changes to how um I talk
to people, how I check in onpeople, including my language,
and including the structure ofmy language, because I believe
all of those is paramount.
And the other thing I had to do,which I believe is empirical and
um something that a lot ofpeople need to do, please
(07:25):
reassess your value proposition,reassess where you are.
If you are in the corporatespace, for instance, and you
feel that perhaps your voice isbeing shut down, or you feel
that your voice is um not beenamplified, however you want to
describe it, or you feel likeyou're drowning.
(07:45):
Well, if it doesn't serve you,then you let go.
And I had to take the leap offaith to tell um fashion,
bye-bye.
I had to um stick the littlefaith to tell um pageantry,
bye-bye.
And most importantly, I had todo the same thing for corporate.
You know, I I paid my dues.
(08:08):
I learned a lot from corporate,and it didn't serve my purpose
anymore because I have done mypart, and that was how I
silenced that noise.
SPEAKER_03 (08:18):
You just did it.
Just simply I'm noticing atheme, just simplicity, just go
do it.
Next thing, let's move on.
I like that.
SPEAKER_01 (08:28):
I will tell you this, my friend, um, because you
know, if if we are looking at apragmatic standpoint as well, it
is extremely challenging for alot of people to cut that
corporate noise.
SPEAKER_03 (08:42):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:43):
It is really, really challenging because you have to
think about a light bulb, youhave to think about a roof, you
have to think about the bills,you have to think about
everything.
And you know, so I'm soextremely grateful to the
universe, but as simplicity toum your point, and how I've been
able to like mouth and you know,to be on this new path that I
(09:04):
found myself, which I'm reallyenjoying.
What's uh what's giving youinspiration today?
SPEAKER_03 (09:14):
My new haircut.
No, that's a good one.
I mean, that's one your bar yourbarber, that would be that'd be
who gave it to you, right?
If you did it yourself, thatwould be more impressive, but I
don't know how you do that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:24):
Well, you're here's an interesting thing.
You know, when I said myhaircut, I was just joking, but
um, you did bring somethingimportant, which I I I live
because you said your barber,right?
And the interesting thing is, sowhere I had my haircuts today,
I've never been there before.
So, and um I made thisreservation, I got in there, and
(09:47):
it was another person thatshowed up to want to like
address my hair, and I told herwhat I needed to do, and she was
just like, I don't think I canhandle this.
Oh, Marcus! So she cut the otherperson and beautifully said,
sure, I can take him in.
And for the first 10 minutes, itwas silence.
(10:08):
I was hoping he talked to me,and he was hoping I talked to
him, and I was looking around, Iwas just like, my god, I'm
feeling so uncomfortable becauseI'm in this space where I've
never been before.
And I'm just like, okay, okay,okay, how is this gonna go?
And the magic moment happened.
Marcos said, Hi, do you want totell me your name again?
(10:30):
And he said, Oh, sure.
My name is Kelly.
And he said, Kelly, how do youspell that?
I said, um, it's K-E-E, Double LY.
He said, okay, where are youfrom?
I said, well, uh, which sort ofstory do you want?
Do you want the cut to the chaseor do you want a long one?
He said, humble me.
I said, sure.
Well, I'm Nigerian American.
(10:51):
He said, oh, okay, cool.
I've never I've met Nigerians,you know, nice, I've never been
there before.
Anywho, that art of likebreaking that, you know, that
silence um made me to learn alot of things about Marcos.
My uh beautiful Barbara who tookher my hair and made this.
(11:13):
I think it's fabulous.
I think he did a fantastic job,you know, and it's just to your
point, sometimes it's just justa little thing that no one takes
note of that really makes deepermeaning.
So I will tell you this that actis what is making me to go right
now.
And of course, my beautifulpartner.
SPEAKER_03 (11:35):
I think the barber was like, he's so good looking,
I don't know what to say.
I'm up and that's this level endit there.
Um that that's what it was.
He was like afraid to say thewrong thing.
Uh what's the what's the kind ofmetaphoric tie or the once
again, real time?
You might have real time.
(11:56):
Uh what's the tie you're tryingto cut today that you're
struggling with?
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
Well, I think uh and I had a conversation today and
with one of my marketing teamthat really helped me on some
work and uh off-shooting.
And he said, Hey, I noticeyou've not been um active lately
on LinkedIn.
You know, what is going on?
I notice you've not beencreating content.
(12:22):
I I said to him, I said, I thinkthe noise is drowning me.
And I think a lot of people canrelate to this because
everywhere now it's all aboutcreating your content, create
something, and we pay attentionto the like and to the all of
that.
So, you know, I told him, Isaid, that is something that I'm
(12:46):
trying to understand why thatnoise is becoming louder, and
how I can, as a creative, youknow, and as a writer and as a
designer, just let that noisevisual out and let me create,
right?
(13:06):
For the sake of creatingimportant content that's that
will help a person to besuccessful.
So that's I think that is thenoise I'm trying to cut up now.
SPEAKER_03 (13:16):
Well, I I I think you're you're hitting on
something that's very important.
So as as a as a owner of anagency that specializes in
LinkedIn, I will tell you thatyou're right, there is a lot of
noise.
But I think the lessonspecifically is there, don't put
it out there just becauseeveryone else is doing it.
It's better to take a pause andfind something that's actually
of value because when someoneactually finds you and you have
(13:38):
the services or you solve aproblem that they need, it'll it
won't look like fluff and shit.
It'll look good and it'll hitright because it was thought
through correctly and supposedto just throw it out, throw it
out, throw it out.
Uh yeah.
I applaud you for that.
The the tie there is probably somuch not for you to make the
stuff, it is to not be drawn inby the the void and vacuum of of
(14:00):
others.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
You nailed it perfectly and succinctly because
it's just it's just the pointwhere you're like, okay, well,
there's a lot of materials, andthere is a beauty and a lot of,
you know, of performing the artof writing and all of that.
So the inspiration comes.
Fiction and non-fiction and allof that, the strategy, the
everything is right there.
(14:24):
However, how do you get to thatpoint where you're like, you
know, well, I'm not going tojump into the bite of trying to
compete with other people, but Iwill try to put what is right
out of there and compete withmyself.
In that way, I have a betteradvantage of learning and
growing and improving.
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (14:45):
What uh if you could go back in your timeline at any
point, when would you go back?
What would you do differently?
SPEAKER_01 (14:55):
Great question.
I would say I will go back to umto 19.
No, I'll go back to 2002.
I'll go back to 2002 and I willtell uh the 12 years at Kelly of
that 2002 that hey, um, you haveto understand that humans will
(15:20):
always be humans.
And also you have to understandthat the tongue is extremely
powerful, and the tongue canmake or break, you know, a
person's life if you if youdon't use it wisely.
So tell myself I'll go back andtell myself that hey, listen,
you know what you just heardfrom your friend, that your
(15:41):
friend who told you that yourleg is like this, you know.
Be very careful not tointernalize that because if you
do, look, my darling, that wouldaffect your your modeling
career, your pageantal career,and it'll make you to lose
self-confidence.
And maybe if COVID happens tohappen, you get your confidence
(16:03):
back.
But anyhow, I will tell myselfthen is don't listen to that
part of my language, bullcraft,okay?
Just hold a bull by the hand andsmile and tell yourself that no,
whatever that friend of yourssaid is inaccurate and you're
darling, you're fibrilless.
SPEAKER_03 (16:23):
It's it's it's uh it's the confidence of oneself
to not have to find thevalidation or from somebody
else.
You gotta be heard and seen, butbut there's certain people you
don't need to do that withspecifically.
Uh that's hard.
You don't know that in themoment.
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
You know, um I would tell you this, so and I would
try as much as possible to beshort.
Um because, you know, when I was12, you know, I kind of like
gave you a synopsis of whathappened.
However, when I was 12, thisgentleman who I recall I was
kind of worshipping, even thoughyes, my mate is my friend, but I
(17:04):
needed a validation, and Irecall he told me he said, you
know, the reason why you cannotbe my best friend is because you
have a kaleid.
I know what a caleate lookslike.
I don't have that.
I have, you know, a perfectstraight leg, and for some
reason I internalized that andthat showed up everywhere I go.
(17:27):
And I remember when I gotapproached at the age of 16 to
be a fashion model, you know, Itold the uh no, I asked the lady
who scouted at me like, hey, areyou sure that you're telling me
the right thing?
Because I don't think I have thelegs for that.
She said, What are you talkingabout?
Have you seen your legs?
I said, Well, I have.
However, that is not what I see.
(17:49):
So she said, Well, no, you'refine.
And here's the thing.
Yeah in, yeah out, day in, dayout, fashion show, runway, and I
love that, included a pageantry.
When people clapped, my friend,you know what I think?
I think they were laughing atme.
(18:09):
And I recall my eyes was alwaysred at the end of it.
My heart is always beating sofast.
And fast forward to COVID, andbecause of that, I never was
short, I'll tell you that.
Like I hated wearing shortbecause I thought people were
like, you know, you make fun ofme.
And um, COVID happened in 2020,and that was when, you know, the
(18:33):
noise was finally canceled.
And I had beautiful silence.
And, you know, people were like,hey, uh, because I was short, my
dad, I wore my mask.
I was like, you know what?
People will laugh at me.
Let them do it, let them laugh.
You know, I wore the shortestshort I can find, which is like
three inches instant short,okay?
And I recall I struggled the theuh the streets to go to a movie
(18:58):
theater in Washington, DC.
And little did I know, peoplewere just like, oh my god, oh my
god, oh my god, and clapping atthings like that, and never
makes sense to me.
I thought it were even markingme again.
Until the following day, I had acar with my therapist, wonderful
um lady.
And I asked her, I said, um, canI ask you a very um fundamental
(19:22):
question that is actually, youknow, something I want to get to
the bottom of?
She said, sure.
I said, okay, do you mind if Istand up and show you my legs?
She said, uh sure, because itwas virtual.
And I said, okay.
I pulled my chat back, I stoodup, but I showed her my leg.
I said, Could you please give meum an idea or two of what you
(19:44):
think?
Is this something that you thinkis worth being on the runway
again and things like that?
She was just like, Oh my god, ofcourse.
I mean, you have a perfectstraight leg, and I cried.
SPEAKER_03 (19:56):
You want a perfect straight leg?
I think you want a littlebottle.
Bubble butt some roundness andlike a little shape to that
thing.
It's gotta be straight.
SPEAKER_00 (20:05):
No.
No.
SPEAKER_03 (20:08):
Mine's like two hands got shoved down some
hands.
You know, I don't uh hearanything.
I did start this podcast off forthose who've made it this point
with the fact that I spilledstuff all over my pants today,
and I meant underwear, but Ihave not proven that yet.
They are and that is that you'reimagining that.
(20:32):
We're gonna leave it at that.
Alright, I gotta ask you aquestion.
So uh just there was onequestion I should have asked you
today, though, and I didn't.
Okay.
What question would that havebeen, and what how would you
have answered it?
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
I guess the question would be um what are my thoughts
on humanity?
SPEAKER_03 (20:52):
That's a deep one.
I mean, I don't know if we havethat much time left to answer
that thing, but okay.
Well, how would you answer that?
SPEAKER_01 (20:58):
Well, a few minutes, go.
Of course, I would say uh mythoughts on humanity is we are
one of the blessed species thatever existed because we were
blessed with a lot of umembodiments of knowledge, you
know, of art, of thoughts, andall of those gluten crap that
make us who we are.
(21:18):
And um it's so imperative andsad to see that the same
ecosystem that we're supposed toknow and flourish is the same
thing, you know, that um pit usagainst each other and make us
to see ourselves as um enemiesor just competitive um like rats
(21:42):
on uh uh on a treadmill.
So um what I would say is, youknow, we are incredibly
different compared to a lot ofthe other species that have ever
existed, and we should see thatdifference as a beauty,
including the language, thestructure, the shapes, the
color, and all of those as acompetitive advantage instead of
(22:08):
um as a problem or something ofstigmatized.
SPEAKER_03 (22:14):
You know, I think humans are um we're blessed with
the idea of creativity, whichwill allow us to do lots of
things, include believe that weare not just really a different
version of an animal.
Is that animal things that we'llrepeat that has territory, wants
to you know replicate, eat, givethis, and we just we make up
everything else in between as adream.
(22:35):
I actually probably think we'reprobably the nascent versions of
ourselves to be, because if youlook about how undeveloped we
use our brains, yeah, there's alot more that's gonna happen the
next million years if we don'tkill ourselves for this.
But um, yep, for sure.
So cool.
I love the Ingrid states.
I'm I'm gonna be uh they'regonna be like that guy was like
a look at that guy, it was likea you know caveman.
You live in a house.
(22:56):
Who lives in houses anymore?
SPEAKER_01 (22:58):
Well, come on, come on.
Uh someone gotta do it.
Someone gotta do it, someonegotta have a house.
That works high and cut it off.
Made no sense.
But but this is what I'm gonnatell you, though.
You know, um you if I'm to likelook at you, I'll tell you about
maybe it's a 10% of their brain.
And this conversation, that's atwo percent looked on to like
(23:19):
26%.
I assure you.
So you'll be one of thosefastest humans to have that fast
developed brain, and maybe youwill bring the next invention.
I believe that.
Unlikely.
SPEAKER_03 (23:31):
49, it's not half up.
This point trying to try tofigure out I had a backhand in
tennis.
I've never done that before,it's a hard thing.
Like, anyway, uh uh who shouldget a hold of you, how do they
do it?
SPEAKER_01 (23:43):
Well, you can find me on LinkedIn.
Um, if you're a leader, ifyou're a designer, policymaker,
you can find me on LinkedIn, uh,just uh d Kelly Doubt or on any
other social media, you find meas D Kelly Doubt T-H-E
K-E-L-R-Y-D-A-W D.
And that's my end foreverything, including Facebook
as well.
So feel free to connect with meand um we'll take it from there.
SPEAKER_03 (24:08):
He looks like uh like a really good-looking
version of SEAL.
Like, ooh.
SPEAKER_00 (24:16):
Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02 (24:22):
Like he was gonna be like talking about his you know,
his his wife, their model self.
SPEAKER_00 (24:28):
I thought you appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01 (24:32):
Well, still if you if you're watching this wherever
you are, still, it's acompliment to hell yeah, and so
you can't look who he dates,okay, or Mary do.
SPEAKER_03 (24:44):
I'm not sure if they're still married or not,
but uh yeah, it's married, it'sanother supermodel, perhaps.
Come on, it's your world, likeyou should seen in line.
SPEAKER_00 (24:53):
He opens his mouth like rainbows come out singing
and that's got reports coming,so comedy shine.
SPEAKER_01 (25:06):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_03 (25:09):
I'm gonna give you uh my alter ego uh channel after
this is over.
I'll tell you that.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
That would be amazing.
SPEAKER_03 (25:15):
Thanks for coming on today, Kelly.
I appreciate it.
Thank you so much for having me.
Listen, anybody who's uh made itthis point in the show, you
rock.
If this was your first time, Ihope it's the first of many.
And if you've been here before,you know what I'm gonna tell you
to do.
Get out there.
Let nothing stop you from thesuccess you've defined.
Cut the ties to whatever'sholding you back and get it
done.
Welcome to the Cut the Tie Podcast.
Hello, I'm your host, ThomasHelfrick, and I am here on a
mission to help you cut the tieto whatever it is holding you
back from success.
And you got to own that success.
And it's got to be yours becauseif you're chasing some success
idea or dream that's not yours,it's not going to feel very good
with to get there.
So own it, cut the ties to getto it.
And today we're going to talkKelly Dowd.
(00:20):
Kelly, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
I'm very well, and it's a pleasure to be here once
again.
SPEAKER_03 (00:26):
I I appreciate it.
Uh you what listen, it's an easyshow.
So take a moment to introduceyourself, where you're from,
what it is you do great.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Well, thank you.
Um once again.
So uh one of the things I tellpeople initially is um please be
aware that I have slight uh adifferent intonation of talking.
And in just in case you know youdon't understand me, yell my
name across the hall.
But in this case, it's that'snot gonna be possible.
Yeah, so my name is Kelly Dowd,um M B A M A.
(00:57):
I'm a Nigerian American, and Itry to be clear by saying I'm a
Nigerian American because um oneof the things they tell people
is I was born in Nigeria, then Igot catapult to different
planets of America.
Voila, that is uh how I'm here.
I am the author of theforthcoming book on the power of
hands and designing asustainable future to integrate
(01:20):
collaboration, because I believeour hands is extremely powerful,
and this is the only advancedand natural technology that we
always have.
And no matter how much wedevelop AI, it's not gonna
replace it.
And I am the founder and uhchief designer of Fira Design
Inc.
So that is Kelly Dowd, and I'mhere today, and thanks to you.
SPEAKER_03 (01:42):
I said the power of hands is the book.
Uh give me the the one thingpeople need.
Let me say this.
The one thing.
Let me try that one more time.
It's a professional podcaster.
I'm failing miserably right now.
What is the one trigger or onething going on in someone's
life, why they should read it?
And what's that one thingthey're gonna get from it?
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
The one thing that you're gonna get from this, from
reading the book, The Power ofHands, is the beautiful
integration of how you can useyour hands to create magic.
Because, Franklin, you can tryto leverage um artificial
intelligence, AI, chargeability,and code, which I talked a lot
about in the book as well,right?
(02:23):
However, the most innovative twothat you always have with you is
this magical hand, which is yourhumanity and your adaptation,
nature, and the design of life,and most importantly,
sustainability.
SPEAKER_03 (02:38):
I will tell I I use that term magical hands to to
tempt younger when I was youngerto tend your date.
Yeah, I give you a really goodmassage, but be white.
Not sure that's the same thingthat's going on in your book,
but I'm gonna tell you, guys, itworks.
SPEAKER_01 (02:54):
It is anymore, it's just creepy, but uh but here's a
beautiful thing about the humanbody, right?
Because um I love the theintegration of allegories that's
a fiction and non-fiction tocreate um you know things that
are relatable and perhaps youcan easily connect with.
And one beautiful thing aboutthis hand, right?
(03:18):
This human, gorgeous creation bynature is you can actually use
it for a lot of things, right?
I mean, you talked aboutmassage, and I'll I will tell
you that it's once my body's onthat table and the magic hand
gets me.
I'm like, please take me toheaven, right?
But another interesting part ofit is if you look at a hand as
(03:39):
well, if you need to collaboratewith a person, it's like you are
stretching a hand for that,right?
So that is a beautiful part ofit.
And even go back to the massage,massage is also a collaborative
effort, right?
Because you are letting yourbody go for another beautiful
human to use your magical handson you.
(04:01):
So it's just an interesting justthe position of how nature gave
us a lot of equipment that isjust deposited in our anatomy.
So, and that was the key reasonwhy I chose the ends, because
the ends is a beautiful symbolof integration and collaboration
all over the world, just likefashion does.
(04:22):
So, well, let's hear uh how youdefine success.
Uh, how I define success, uh,that's that's a beautiful
question that I'd neveranticipated coming.
However, I will tell you thissuccess is uh me waking up in
the morning, having the breath,having the size, having the
(04:45):
feel, the touch, the taste, andall of that.
To me, that is success becausewhen there is life, there is
hope.
And I cannot define success bymetrics of money.
Neither can I define success bymetrics of how many people have
slept with or things like that.
I mean, you can define successhowever you want.
(05:06):
However, to me, success is thebeautiful feeling of being alive
because again, when there islife, there is higher for more
creativity to happen and moremagic to manifest in this being
the universe of us.
SPEAKER_03 (05:20):
That seems like a very simplistic point.
Okay, we'll talk about yourjourney a bit, uh, and maybe one
of the uh metaphorical ties, orthe biggest metaphorical tie, or
physical, I guess, that you hadto cut to achieve that success.
SPEAKER_01 (05:35):
Huh.
The biggest metaphorical tiethat I had to cut to achieve the
success.
Well, I would say is um cuttingour noise.
Noise is an element that I meanwe manufacture noise, however,
is an echo that is extremelydisruptive and manifest in
(05:59):
different ways.
You are familiar with what Icall corporate noise, perhaps.
And for me, cutting out noise isone of the biggest, you know,
metaphoric achievements thatI've had, and that is to be
caught to the type.
Because I almost got drowned innoise and corporate noise,
(06:20):
personal noise, when you'retalking about like toxic
relationships, that is alsonoise.
When you're talking aboutgossip, it's also noise.
So cutting out that noise is oneof the things that really helped
me to be successful as anindividual.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
So, how did how did you uh cut it?
What was your method?
SPEAKER_01 (06:39):
Of course, well, um my method, which I know has
really worked for a lot ofpeople, because if you read this
book, noise by um Daniel Kenman,it does talk a lot about uh
about um strategies that whichyou can use to minimize those
echoes that you don't want.
Take for example, I had to likemake changes to my
(07:01):
relationships, you know, I hadto make changes to how um I talk
to people, how I check in onpeople, including my language,
and including the structure ofmy language, because I believe
all of those is paramount.
And the other thing I had to do,which I believe is empirical and
um something that a lot ofpeople need to do, please
(07:25):
reassess your value proposition,reassess where you are.
If you are in the corporatespace, for instance, and you
feel that perhaps your voice isbeing shut down, or you feel
that your voice is um not beenamplified, however you want to
describe it, or you feel likeyou're drowning.
(07:45):
Well, if it doesn't serve you,then you let go.
And I had to take the leap offaith to tell um fashion,
bye-bye.
I had to um stick the littlefaith to tell um pageantry,
bye-bye.
And most importantly, I had todo the same thing for corporate.
You know, I I paid my dues.
(08:08):
I learned a lot from corporate,and it didn't serve my purpose
anymore because I have done mypart, and that was how I
silenced that noise.
SPEAKER_03 (08:18):
You just did it.
Just simply I'm noticing atheme, just simplicity, just go
do it.
Next thing, let's move on.
I like that.
SPEAKER_01 (08:28):
I will tell you this, my friend, um, because you
know, if if we are looking at apragmatic standpoint as well, it
is extremely challenging for alot of people to cut that
corporate noise.
SPEAKER_03 (08:42):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:43):
It is really, really challenging because you have to
think about a light bulb, youhave to think about a roof, you
have to think about the bills,you have to think about
everything.
And you know, so I'm soextremely grateful to the
universe, but as simplicity toum your point, and how I've been
able to like mouth and you know,to be on this new path that I
(09:04):
found myself, which I'm reallyenjoying.
What's uh what's giving youinspiration today?
SPEAKER_03 (09:14):
My new haircut.
No, that's a good one.
I mean, that's one your bar yourbarber, that would be that'd be
who gave it to you, right?
If you did it yourself, thatwould be more impressive, but I
don't know how you do that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:24):
Well, you're here's an interesting thing.
You know, when I said myhaircut, I was just joking, but
um, you did bring somethingimportant, which I I I live
because you said your barber,right?
And the interesting thing is, sowhere I had my haircuts today,
I've never been there before.
So, and um I made thisreservation, I got in there, and
(09:47):
it was another person thatshowed up to want to like
address my hair, and I told herwhat I needed to do, and she was
just like, I don't think I canhandle this.
Oh, Marcus! So she cut the otherperson and beautifully said,
sure, I can take him in.
And for the first 10 minutes, itwas silence.
(10:08):
I was hoping he talked to me,and he was hoping I talked to
him, and I was looking around, Iwas just like, my god, I'm
feeling so uncomfortable becauseI'm in this space where I've
never been before.
And I'm just like, okay, okay,okay, how is this gonna go?
And the magic moment happened.
Marcos said, Hi, do you want totell me your name again?
(10:30):
And he said, Oh, sure.
My name is Kelly.
And he said, Kelly, how do youspell that?
I said, um, it's K-E-E, Double LY.
He said, okay, where are youfrom?
I said, well, uh, which sort ofstory do you want?
Do you want the cut to the chaseor do you want a long one?
He said, humble me.
I said, sure.
Well, I'm Nigerian American.
(10:51):
He said, oh, okay, cool.
I've never I've met Nigerians,you know, nice, I've never been
there before.
Anywho, that art of likebreaking that, you know, that
silence um made me to learn alot of things about Marcos.
My uh beautiful Barbara who tookher my hair and made this.
(11:13):
I think it's fabulous.
I think he did a fantastic job,you know, and it's just to your
point, sometimes it's just justa little thing that no one takes
note of that really makes deepermeaning.
So I will tell you this that actis what is making me to go right
now.
And of course, my beautifulpartner.
SPEAKER_03 (11:35):
I think the barber was like, he's so good looking,
I don't know what to say.
I'm up and that's this level endit there.
Um that that's what it was.
He was like afraid to say thewrong thing.
Uh what's the what's the kind ofmetaphoric tie or the once
again, real time?
You might have real time.
(11:56):
Uh what's the tie you're tryingto cut today that you're
struggling with?
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
Well, I think uh and I had a conversation today and
with one of my marketing teamthat really helped me on some
work and uh off-shooting.
And he said, Hey, I noticeyou've not been um active lately
on LinkedIn.
You know, what is going on?
I notice you've not beencreating content.
(12:22):
I I said to him, I said, I thinkthe noise is drowning me.
And I think a lot of people canrelate to this because
everywhere now it's all aboutcreating your content, create
something, and we pay attentionto the like and to the all of
that.
So, you know, I told him, Isaid, that is something that I'm
(12:46):
trying to understand why thatnoise is becoming louder, and
how I can, as a creative, youknow, and as a writer and as a
designer, just let that noisevisual out and let me create,
right?
(13:06):
For the sake of creatingimportant content that's that
will help a person to besuccessful.
So that's I think that is thenoise I'm trying to cut up now.
SPEAKER_03 (13:16):
Well, I I I think you're you're hitting on
something that's very important.
So as as a as a owner of anagency that specializes in
LinkedIn, I will tell you thatyou're right, there is a lot of
noise.
But I think the lessonspecifically is there, don't put
it out there just becauseeveryone else is doing it.
It's better to take a pause andfind something that's actually
of value because when someoneactually finds you and you have
(13:38):
the services or you solve aproblem that they need, it'll it
won't look like fluff and shit.
It'll look good and it'll hitright because it was thought
through correctly and supposedto just throw it out, throw it
out, throw it out.
Uh yeah.
I applaud you for that.
The the tie there is probably somuch not for you to make the
stuff, it is to not be drawn inby the the void and vacuum of of
(14:00):
others.
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
You nailed it perfectly and succinctly because
it's just it's just the pointwhere you're like, okay, well,
there's a lot of materials, andthere is a beauty and a lot of,
you know, of performing the artof writing and all of that.
So the inspiration comes.
Fiction and non-fiction and allof that, the strategy, the
everything is right there.
(14:24):
However, how do you get to thatpoint where you're like, you
know, well, I'm not going tojump into the bite of trying to
compete with other people, but Iwill try to put what is right
out of there and compete withmyself.
In that way, I have a betteradvantage of learning and
growing and improving.
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (14:45):
What uh if you could go back in your timeline at any
point, when would you go back?
What would you do differently?
SPEAKER_01 (14:55):
Great question.
I would say I will go back to umto 19.
No, I'll go back to 2002.
I'll go back to 2002 and I willtell uh the 12 years at Kelly of
that 2002 that hey, um, you haveto understand that humans will
(15:20):
always be humans.
And also you have to understandthat the tongue is extremely
powerful, and the tongue canmake or break, you know, a
person's life if you if youdon't use it wisely.
So tell myself I'll go back andtell myself that hey, listen,
you know what you just heardfrom your friend, that your
(15:41):
friend who told you that yourleg is like this, you know.
Be very careful not tointernalize that because if you
do, look, my darling, that wouldaffect your your modeling
career, your pageantal career,and it'll make you to lose
self-confidence.
And maybe if COVID happens tohappen, you get your confidence
(16:03):
back.
But anyhow, I will tell myselfthen is don't listen to that
part of my language, bullcraft,okay?
Just hold a bull by the hand andsmile and tell yourself that no,
whatever that friend of yourssaid is inaccurate and you're
darling, you're fibrilless.
SPEAKER_03 (16:23):
It's it's it's uh it's the confidence of oneself
to not have to find thevalidation or from somebody
else.
You gotta be heard and seen, butbut there's certain people you
don't need to do that withspecifically.
Uh that's hard.
You don't know that in themoment.
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
You know, um I would tell you this, so and I would
try as much as possible to beshort.
Um because, you know, when I was12, you know, I kind of like
gave you a synopsis of whathappened.
However, when I was 12, thisgentleman who I recall I was
kind of worshipping, even thoughyes, my mate is my friend, but I
(17:04):
needed a validation, and Irecall he told me he said, you
know, the reason why you cannotbe my best friend is because you
have a kaleid.
I know what a caleate lookslike.
I don't have that.
I have, you know, a perfectstraight leg, and for some
reason I internalized that andthat showed up everywhere I go.
(17:27):
And I remember when I gotapproached at the age of 16 to
be a fashion model, you know, Itold the uh no, I asked the lady
who scouted at me like, hey, areyou sure that you're telling me
the right thing?
Because I don't think I have thelegs for that.
She said, What are you talkingabout?
Have you seen your legs?
I said, Well, I have.
However, that is not what I see.
(17:49):
So she said, Well, no, you'refine.
And here's the thing.
Yeah in, yeah out, day in, dayout, fashion show, runway, and I
love that, included a pageantry.
When people clapped, my friend,you know what I think?
I think they were laughing atme.
(18:09):
And I recall my eyes was alwaysred at the end of it.
My heart is always beating sofast.
And fast forward to COVID, andbecause of that, I never was
short, I'll tell you that.
Like I hated wearing shortbecause I thought people were
like, you know, you make fun ofme.
And um, COVID happened in 2020,and that was when, you know, the
(18:33):
noise was finally canceled.
And I had beautiful silence.
And, you know, people were like,hey, uh, because I was short, my
dad, I wore my mask.
I was like, you know what?
People will laugh at me.
Let them do it, let them laugh.
You know, I wore the shortestshort I can find, which is like
three inches instant short,okay?
And I recall I struggled the theuh the streets to go to a movie
(18:58):
theater in Washington, DC.
And little did I know, peoplewere just like, oh my god, oh my
god, oh my god, and clapping atthings like that, and never
makes sense to me.
I thought it were even markingme again.
Until the following day, I had acar with my therapist, wonderful
um lady.
And I asked her, I said, um, canI ask you a very um fundamental
(19:22):
question that is actually, youknow, something I want to get to
the bottom of?
She said, sure.
I said, okay, do you mind if Istand up and show you my legs?
She said, uh sure, because itwas virtual.
And I said, okay.
I pulled my chat back, I stoodup, but I showed her my leg.
I said, Could you please give meum an idea or two of what you
(19:44):
think?
Is this something that you thinkis worth being on the runway
again and things like that?
She was just like, Oh my god, ofcourse.
I mean, you have a perfectstraight leg, and I cried.
SPEAKER_03 (19:56):
You want a perfect straight leg?
I think you want a littlebottle.
Bubble butt some roundness andlike a little shape to that
thing.
It's gotta be straight.
SPEAKER_00 (20:05):
No.
No.
SPEAKER_03 (20:08):
Mine's like two hands got shoved down some
hands.
You know, I don't uh hearanything.
I did start this podcast off forthose who've made it this point
with the fact that I spilledstuff all over my pants today,
and I meant underwear, but Ihave not proven that yet.
They are and that is that you'reimagining that.
(20:32):
We're gonna leave it at that.
Alright, I gotta ask you aquestion.
So uh just there was onequestion I should have asked you
today, though, and I didn't.
Okay.
What question would that havebeen, and what how would you
have answered it?
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
I guess the question would be um what are my thoughts
on humanity?
SPEAKER_03 (20:52):
That's a deep one.
I mean, I don't know if we havethat much time left to answer
that thing, but okay.
Well, how would you answer that?
SPEAKER_01 (20:58):
Well, a few minutes, go.
Of course, I would say uh mythoughts on humanity is we are
one of the blessed species thatever existed because we were
blessed with a lot of umembodiments of knowledge, you
know, of art, of thoughts, andall of those gluten crap that
make us who we are.
(21:18):
And um it's so imperative andsad to see that the same
ecosystem that we're supposed toknow and flourish is the same
thing, you know, that um pit usagainst each other and make us
to see ourselves as um enemiesor just competitive um like rats
(21:42):
on uh uh on a treadmill.
So um what I would say is, youknow, we are incredibly
different compared to a lot ofthe other species that have ever
existed, and we should see thatdifference as a beauty,
including the language, thestructure, the shapes, the
color, and all of those as acompetitive advantage instead of
(22:08):
um as a problem or something ofstigmatized.
SPEAKER_03 (22:14):
You know, I think humans are um we're blessed with
the idea of creativity, whichwill allow us to do lots of
things, include believe that weare not just really a different
version of an animal.
Is that animal things that we'llrepeat that has territory, wants
to you know replicate, eat, givethis, and we just we make up
everything else in between as adream.
(22:35):
I actually probably think we'reprobably the nascent versions of
ourselves to be, because if youlook about how undeveloped we
use our brains, yeah, there's alot more that's gonna happen the
next million years if we don'tkill ourselves for this.
But um, yep, for sure.
So cool.
I love the Ingrid states.
I'm I'm gonna be uh they'regonna be like that guy was like
a look at that guy, it was likea you know caveman.
You live in a house.
(22:56):
Who lives in houses anymore?
SPEAKER_01 (22:58):
Well, come on, come on.
Uh someone gotta do it.
Someone gotta do it, someonegotta have a house.
That works high and cut it off.
Made no sense.
But but this is what I'm gonnatell you, though.
You know, um you if I'm to likelook at you, I'll tell you about
maybe it's a 10% of their brain.
And this conversation, that's atwo percent looked on to like
(23:19):
26%.
I assure you.
So you'll be one of thosefastest humans to have that fast
developed brain, and maybe youwill bring the next invention.
I believe that.
Unlikely.
SPEAKER_03 (23:31):
49, it's not half up.
This point trying to try tofigure out I had a backhand in
tennis.
I've never done that before,it's a hard thing.
Like, anyway, uh uh who shouldget a hold of you, how do they
do it?
SPEAKER_01 (23:43):
Well, you can find me on LinkedIn.
Um, if you're a leader, ifyou're a designer, policymaker,
you can find me on LinkedIn, uh,just uh d Kelly Doubt or on any
other social media, you find meas D Kelly Doubt T-H-E
K-E-L-R-Y-D-A-W D.
And that's my end foreverything, including Facebook
as well.
So feel free to connect with meand um we'll take it from there.
SPEAKER_03 (24:08):
He looks like uh like a really good-looking
version of SEAL.
Like, ooh.
SPEAKER_00 (24:16):
Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02 (24:22):
Like he was gonna be like talking about his you know,
his his wife, their model self.
SPEAKER_00 (24:28):
I thought you appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01 (24:32):
Well, still if you if you're watching this wherever
you are, still, it's acompliment to hell yeah, and so
you can't look who he dates,okay, or Mary do.
SPEAKER_03 (24:44):
I'm not sure if they're still married or not,
but uh yeah, it's married, it'sanother supermodel, perhaps.
Come on, it's your world, likeyou should seen in line.
SPEAKER_00 (24:53):
He opens his mouth like rainbows come out singing
and that's got reports coming,so comedy shine.
SPEAKER_01 (25:06):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_03 (25:09):
I'm gonna give you uh my alter ego uh channel after
this is over.
I'll tell you that.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
That would be amazing.
SPEAKER_03 (25:15):
Thanks for coming on today, Kelly.
I appreciate it.
Thank you so much for having me.
Listen, anybody who's uh made itthis point in the show, you
rock.
If this was your first time, Ihope it's the first of many.
And if you've been here before,you know what I'm gonna tell you
to do.
Get out there.
Let nothing stop you from thesuccess you've defined.
Cut the ties to whatever'sholding you back and get it
done.
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