December 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Nashid Braswell shares how he became a Chief of Staff, starting with personal shopping for friends in Italy and moving on to high-stakes roles supporting executives and managing billion-dollar projects. He explains building trust with his principal, creating personalized experiences for guests (like arranging Austin barbecue tastings), and offers tips on self-care and valuing your own contribution. The episode also touches on his work with Agency Maison, helping others get into Chief of Staff and high net worth support roles.
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Who Am I?
If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want.
Time Stamps:
01:19 Nashe's Early Career and Personal Assistant Journey
03:16 Transition to Personal Shopping and Styling
04:12 Working with Celebrity Stylist June Ambrose
05:47 Joining Impossible Ventures
06:49 Developing Four Seasons Private Residences
08:36 The Importance of Customer Experience
10:22 Daily Operations and Responsibilities
13:51 Overview of Impossible Ventures
22:07 Agency Maison and Domestic Placement Services
28:40 Final Thoughts and Advice
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_13 (00:25):
My guest today is Nashe Braswell.
He is a chief of Staff atImpossible Ventures and managing
partner for agency Maison Nashe.
Welcome to LeveragingLeadership.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (00:37):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so grateful to be here andvery also excited.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_130 (00:42):
I cannot wait for this
conversation.
You, you and I were, weretalking beforehand.
I was like, this is gonna bejust a fun conversation.
Um, you come at this from alittle bit different angle than
we're used to hearing, which isfamily office, high net worth
individuals.
You've been a personal chief ofstaff to someone for 10 plus
years.
Um, and I wanna get into allthat, and especially what you're
(01:03):
doing.
Agency Maison for chiefs ofstaff who wanna get into that
space.
But you also have a greatbackstory and um, it starts how
every Chief of staff storyshould start.
So could you please tell usabout your journey to the chief
of staff role?
squadcaster-che3_1_ (01:19):
Absolutely, absolutely.
My journey into the chief ofstaff role has al It was, it has
been quite interesting and alsofun at the same time.
I first became a personalassistant because I had gradu, I
had finished school.
Kind of confused about life andI was dating someone who was
(01:40):
living in Italy at the time, andhe had me while we were dating
in the course of ourrelationship, he would have me
buy things for all of hisfriends over in Italy.
He, at the time, was a va, veryfamous hairstylist.
Still is a very famoushairstylist in Italy and knows a
lot of the upper crust in Milan.
(02:00):
And at this time, this was backin 2006, 2007, 2008 era where Ed
Hardy was really big.
Abercrombie hadn't.
Inserted themselves into theEuropean market, yet I think Gap
was still very fresh there.
So they would have me come over,come back to the United States
(02:21):
and pile my suitcases with vonDutch hats, ed Hardy, uh,
Abercrombie, any sort of, uh,middle ground designer that was
super cool here in the UnitedStates that they had heard of,
that they weren't able to getback in Italy.
And I would bring it back.
And at the time of living inItaly, it's.
It was an amazing experience.
(02:43):
We were together for quite sometime, but the pain point began
to come to the point place of,what am I gonna do here while
you're working every single day?
I'm the only one that's notworking.
I have friends there, I had myown community there, but they
were all working, had lives oftheir own.
Were very busy with what theywere doing.
So being by myself every singleday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM was
(03:08):
a little boring.
So I.
Told him straight up, I waslike, you know, I kind of wanna
come back to the United Statesand do my own thing.
And I think that personalshopping is where I really wanna
go.
This is literally how I startedas an assistant.
I said, I really wanna be apersonal shopper or assistant,
something like that.
Something like I'm doing foryour friends here in Italy, but
(03:29):
in the United States.
So I had moved back to theUnited States and literally
within two weeks I had met myreally good friend, Beth Hanock.
She, at the time was presidentof Kenneth Cole Women's Footwear
Division.
Her husband was the president ofAerosol Shoes, and I had told
them that I wanted to form thisconcierge company at the.
(03:51):
Time so I could do personalshopping and personal styling,
and they had just moved into myparents' neighborhood from New
York City and they were like,well, you have to know June.
I'm like, I don't know.
June.
She's like, she's a hugestylist.
She styles everyone.
She is huge in the world of hiphop.
You have to know June.
You have to know June.
(04:12):
it turns out that she wastalking about celebrity stylist
June Ambrose, and I, of course,I had known who June Ambrose
was.
It was my dream to work withher, and I had never thought
that I would be able to, soliterally within a month, be
Beth connected me with.
June and June, I had June and Ihung out like three or four
times before I started workingwith her.
(04:34):
And then one day we were at abarbecue and she was like, do
you wanna work?
And I was like, absolutely.
I was very excited.
I was like, absolutely.
She was like, okay, great.
On Monday, meet me here at thistime and this location and we're
doing a casting call for a BETtelevision show called Film
Meets Fashion.
And she literally.
Just threw me into it.
(04:55):
It was a model casting, neverdid a model casting before in my
entire life.
But, you know, um, I feel likein the role of being an
assistant or chief of staff,it's not necessarily what.
You learn or what skills youadapt.
I feel like it's um, a fabricthat's sort of within you, you
(05:16):
know, to serve and to sort ofwanna just roll up your sleeves
and get dirty.
And so that's exactly what Idid.
And I was June's assistant forthree years and from there I had
moved to LA, worked with Bud andCynthia Yorkin was the estate
manager for the Getty HouseFoundation, which is the
official residence of the mayorof the city of Los Angeles.
And then from there I moved toSan Francisco.
(05:39):
For a company called Apti, wasthe senior EA there, and then
got promoted into a chief ofstaff, and that was about 11
years ago.
And then was recruited toAustin, Texas to work with
Jonathan Coon at ImpossibleVentures.
At that time he had a companycalled Wiki by.
Which is now Capital Oneshopping, but when I first got
(06:01):
to Austin and we were with Wikibuy, it was very interesting
because we weren't making anymoney yet and we were trying to
figure things out.
We were very much a startup, andI believe it was Brian Atwood
that was on our team that hadcome up with the concept of
couponing, and we just startedgoing with couponing and finding
lowest prices, and then westarted making money and then
(06:24):
sold to Capital One and it.
Now Capital One shopping.
And at that, uh, point in mycareer, I could have been a
chief of staff at Capital One,or I could have stayed with
Jonathan.
I had both options available tome and I continued on with
Jonathan since he's the one thatbrought me all the way out here
to Texas.
And presently, we are nowdeveloping a$2.3 billion
(06:45):
development called Four SeasonsPrivate Residences at Lake
Austin.
And in this project, I, it'sreally helped me hone in and
refine my chief of.
Skill chief of staff skills,excuse me, I'm stumbling over my
words.
Um, because.
With this project in particular,we had to get all 11 city
(07:07):
council members on board.
We had to meet with all eightneighboring HOAs and present our
plan of action for thiscommunity that we're developing
to make sure that it wouldn'tcause any friction with the
neighbors or, you know, thatwere, you know, chopping down
trees and essentially.
the view, the landscape of whateveryone once knew to be, you
(07:30):
know what I mean?
But just making sure that we hadall of the neighbor support
because with having theneighbors, you know, on our
side, then we can quell thecity's noises.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (07:41):
Wow.
Okay.
That was fantastic.
That was everything I wanted tobe and more, um.
Loved, uh, loved that.
Um, you got to fill suitcasesfull of clothing and just fly
back and forth.
Love that you had like castingcall in your story.
Like, I wanna be called to acasting call sometime in my
life, or just like, observe one.
That's amazing.
Um, but so glad that you were onthat
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (08:03):
the first day of my, on the first
day of work, it was like, okay,arrange these
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (08:06):
call.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (08:07):
I was like, I how, but in went
with it.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (08:16):
Wow.
And you, I mean, the themethrough your story is like, it's
who, you know, it's littleconnections like Beth and know
June, and people moved into, youknow, happen to be in your
apartment or, or just in yourarea.
Um, that, that stuff is justabout who you know.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (08:32):
That is, that's very, very true.
It is about who you know, andalso I feel like it's when you
set your intention.
know what I mean?
And I knew from a very early agethat I wanted to focus on the
customer experience.
And obviously at a young age, Ididn't know what the customer
(08:53):
experience was.
But now in my older age, I dothink of the receiving end of
everything that I do.
So what is this experience goingto look like for my principals
who I'm serving?
You know what I mean?
Whether it's, you know, settingup a meeting out of state or
just, you know, a simple taskas, you know, setting up the
(09:14):
conference room.
You know what I mean?
What is that experience gonnalook like?
What is that experience gonnalook like for our guests?
I always keep that in mind,especially when we receive
guests coming in from out of.
State.
We live in Texas.
Texas is a big barbecue city.
So one of the things that I liketo do to add a nice personal
touch for anyone coming to seeus, what I try to do is get
together the three best barbecuespots in Austin, which in my
(09:37):
opinion is Franklin Barbecue andEsella Barbecue and LA barbecue
or LA barbecue.
So I call up all three placesand arrange barbecue from all
three places.
And what we do is do like ablind taste testing to see
which.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (09:49):
Oh, cool.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (09:50):
the guest thinks is the best before
we tell them that, okay, this isbecause everyone's heard of
Franklin Barbecue before you,and usually before anyone sets
foot on the tarmac in theairport, they're like headed to
Franklin or, but Franklin's is alittle bit better.
So we do the, uh, notblindfolding.
We just don't tell them whereit's from and let them taste and
(10:10):
you know, then you have a tasteof the city and you have
something to go back with.
You.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (10:14):
Wow.
It's like a little barbecueflight type of thing.
Um.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (10:19):
Yes, exactly.
emily-sander_1_04-17-202 (10:20):
that's awesome.
That's awesome.
So you said you had the choiceto go be a chief of staff for
Capital One shopping, or yourcurrent principal, and you chose
to stick with him.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the relationship that you
had built up with him and whyyou chose to go that direction?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (10:36):
Yes, I chose to go to the that
direction A because it took me awhile to build up the
relationship with him.
Um, when I came in, if I'm beinghonest, I kind of, you know,
just.
Had to figure out how to makemyself impactful to the
organization, how to make myselfstand out, how to make myself
(10:58):
valuable.
And again, when I met withJonathan, and I've been with him
for 10 years, we've only hadone, one-on-one.
I.
And that one, one-on-one tookplace on the day that I was that
on my first day of work.
So he just gave me a little bitof run of show, like a little,
this is what you're gonna do,it's not gonna be that much,
(11:19):
this, that, and the third.
And so the rest of it was justme figuring it out.
And what helped me figure it outa lot is mirroring his
communication style.
Which I found out that he likesto text and to go work on Slack
a lot and is very heavy intoemails.
So what I started doing was justgoing through old Slack threads
and going through old
emily-sander_1_04-17-20 (11:40):
That's.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (11:41):
making sure that no action items got
missed, and just bringing thisto, to his attention.
Like, oh, I saw this and Inoticed that no one said
anything, or This thread hasgone quiet for a while.
Just bumping this back up toyour attention.
Not sure if it's important.
I thought it was something thatyou need that needed your
attention.
And so that's what kept me,because I worked so hard to get
(12:03):
to that point with him that Ididn't wanna start over with
someone else.
And, um, I like our workingstyle.
He empowers me.
And in, not in like a coachingand development way, but like,
you, this is the task, this iswhat I need done.
And you figure out how to make,how to, how to do it best
because that's what you're hiredto do is.
To make this best for me, solet's just do that.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (12:26):
And it sounds like you're involved
in pretty hefty if you'retalking like city council people
and, uh, you know, billiondollar projects and initiative,
uh, he's trusting you with alot.
So you've clearly built up thattrust and, and rapport like,
Hey, go take care of this.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (12:42):
Yes, exactly.
And um, just always reportingback to him and always making
myself available to him.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (12:48):
Yeah.
Are you?
So it surprises me.
Only had one, one-on-one in 10plus years.
Uh, so how do you normallyinteract?
Is it just like he's flying offto different places?
Sometimes you're with him oryou're mostly in Austin.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-202 (13:04):
So I'm mainly in Austin because,
and right now we're not doing alot of traveling because it's
peak selling season in Austinright now.
And so we're trying to get asmuch attention to the property
as we can because we're
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (13:14):
Yeah.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (13:15):
homes.
Um, but normally he would flyand travel a bit, and when he
does travel, I stay here inAustin to man the office sort
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (13:24):
Wow.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-202 (13:24):
to make sure that, you know,
because every day is adifferent.
Every day is different.
You know, you have packagescoming, you have something that
may need to be set up rightaway, you know, while he's gone.
It's never just, you know, oh,just taking it easy.
There's always some sort ofimprovement in new television to
be installed faster.
Internet speeds, perfectingpresentations, going over floor
(13:46):
plans.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (13:47):
Never boring.
Never boring.
Yeah.
Let me, can you give thelistener just a quick snapshot
of what Impossible Venturesdoes?
squadcaster-che3_1_ (13:55):
Absolutely.
So what an Impossible Venturesdoes is manages all of
Jonathan's in investments inentrepreneurial endeavors.
So before at ImpossibleVentures, we had Wiki buy, which
was um, W, which was anextension on.
Google, which was an extensionon Chrome, and we worked
exclusively with Google to find,say if you were looking for a
(14:18):
button on a shirt, we would pulltogether all the sellers that
were selling that exact samebutton and find you the lowest
cost and present that to you.
And that's what has becomeCapital One shopping.
And then at the same time asWiki buy was growing and the
couponing was getting big,that's when Jonathan found this
piece of property over on LakeAustin and was knee deep into
(14:41):
buying it and was like, youknow, I've never done real
estate development before, but Iimagine it being impossible, so
let's just do it because I, helikes to, I don't.
I don't know the exact saying ofthis, but it's some of the
saying that Jay-Z says that Ilearned, which is difficult,
(15:03):
takes a day and impossible takesa week, which Jonathan also
likes that there's somevariation of that, that the US
Army says, but that's what we gofor at Impossible Ventures.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (15:14):
Okay, so you're, you're managing his
investments and investments likebroad, broad range, speaking
like.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (15:20):
range investments.
Broad, uh, yeah.
And handling all of hismeetings, but mainly right, I do
manage all of his investments,but we've been just been so knee
deep in the Lake Austin project.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (15:31):
Wow.
And knowing someone for 10years, I mean, do you have like
a shorthand now?
Do you just like, kind of havea, have your own language and
can kind of predict what he isgonna need and want?
squadcaster-che3_1_ (15:41):
Absolutely.
Um, especially because I spentlike two or three years, uh,
modeling his behaviors andthings like that so I know
exactly what he needs and wantslike the back of my hand.
Um.
For example, whenever he'straveling and things like that,
I know his preferences forhotels.
I know his preferences fortemperature and vehicles and
(16:03):
also hotel rooms.
I know pillow preferences.
I know food preferences,allergies, things like that.
emily-sander_1_04-17-202 (16:10):
You're taking care of him from like all
angles there.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (16:13):
Very much so.
And then especially if, um, he'shaving a meeting that's not here
in Austin, uh, that's, you know,offsite somewhere, I do my best
to coordinate and communicatewith the person that's there
managing in there and setting itup so that way it's modeling
what we do here in Austin.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (16:30):
Very cool.
And then are, so how does he,uh.
Work with you or just expresshis appreciation for you.
I mean, it sounds like you'redoing so much for him, but it
seems like you're setting him upfor, for success and you're
setting him up to perform welland show up Well in all these
different places he has to goand he has to deliver on.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (16:52):
Um.
He has his own way of showingyou his appreciation.
Like for example, his, one ofthe things that he loves to do
most is to buy someone theirname as a domain.
So like he bought mebraswell.com as a domain, so, or
is it nasheed braswell.com, Ithink.
(17:13):
But it's really, really coolbecause if the way that he has
it set up is so that way if youjust plug in his name, it just
pulls up his LinkedIn page.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (17:20):
Oh, okay.
He buys you a domain.
That's a new one.
That's.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (17:25):
A domain.
I mean, uh, just he, and alsoapart from that, um, he's a
very, very focused man, butThere's nothing that we couldn't
talk about, you know what Imean?
Like in terms of work related,we have the communication style
is always open door, and if Ihave any questions or concerns
(17:46):
or get stuck somewhere, it's notit he never present.
Or maybe I do, but I don't know.
He hasn't shown me that, but hedoesn't show me or make me feel
like I'm annoying him or like,Ugh, you should know this.
You know what I mean?
Or something like that.
And I always.
into, I've always walked intoany ea pa, chief of staff role
(18:06):
as knowing that it's going to bea thankless position most of the
time because most of thesepeople are super, super busy.
And if they do have time then,or the bandwidth for something
else, then they need to allocatethat time to their families or
their wives, kids if they're notmarried or in the same
household.
You know what I mean?
So their tension is being pulledin so many different directions
(18:28):
that, you know, I.
I understand that.
I mean, it's not easy, you know,being a powerful person,
changing the world, especiallysomeone like Jonathan who got
everyone their, um, contact lensprescription because prior to
him, uh, creating1-800-CONTACTS, uh, American
citizens did not have access totheir contact lens prescription.
(18:48):
So Jonathan spent 332 days goingback and forth to Washington DC
to change that law with Senate,and he did.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (18:56):
Wow.
Okay.
Okay.
There's, there's like, yeah.
Movers and shakers.
Okay.
You're helping, you're helpingthem move and shake the world.
Um, and it's so clear that you,I mean, you mentioned this
customer experience, like you'reall about the customer
experience and how someone willreceive kind of the setup and
the environment.
And when they walk into Austinand visit you guys, um, what,
(19:18):
what is like the one or two topthings you would tell people who
are trying to.
Put on a good customerexperience, like just, you
probably take it for granted.
It's innate in you, but likewhat are some really important
ways to demonstrate that?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (19:33):
Ooh, that's a great question.
Um, one way is to do yourresearch on the person that
you're receiving.
I.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (19:42):
Here we go.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (19:43):
Um, most of anyone in the role of a
chief of staff, or even as anexecutive assistant supporting
any organization, you're goingto come, you're gonna encounter
another business person orexecutive, right?
That person is gonna have aLinkedIn profile or that person
is gonna have some sort ofprofile or on the internet, you
can look up that profile, findout if that person is married,
(20:05):
find out.
That person has kids, and thenyou can set it up that way.
And then once you find that out,then oh, maybe you can get the
kids a hat or a t-shirt from utut is the thing here.
You know what I mean?
Or something from your wife.
You can get her something fromSwedish Hill, a, a gluten-free
treat, something like that.
I know when Jonathan goes to,uh, San Francisco, there's a
(20:27):
bakery in MA called Magnolia.
Bakery in San Francisco and it'sa hundred percent gluten-free.
So when he's in his meeting, I'mcommunicating with the driver,
run to Magnolia, get a wholedozen of just any and
everything, so that way he hassomething to bring back to his
wife.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (20:43):
Wow.
The little things, but they makeall the difference when you're
in a busy day and you just likeneed some good food that's not
gonna gut bomb you or bog youdown, like, go to Magnolia.
Yeah.
Okay.
Send the driver.
Come on.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (20:55):
should also be thinking about food
because who wants to eat plainfood?
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (20:58):
Yeah, true.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (20:59):
Whole food is gross.
You can bring food on theairplane.
emily-sander_1_04-17-20 (21:03):
Eating, traveling, like eating while
you're traveling is hard though.
I mean, that's, you're not inyour routine, you're not in your
normal stuff.
You gotta figure that outbeforehand.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (21:12):
That's true.
But that also comes with thebeauty of working with high net
worth individuals because theynormally have chefs.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (21:18):
Okay.
Okay.
Forgot about the personal chefpart.
Okay.
Of course.
Yeah, just bring your along andyour massage therapist and
whatever else you have, uh, yourent.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (21:26):
no, no, no.
You don't bring the chef along,but you can just say, Hey,
they're traveling.
Can you pack plain food?
And
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (21:33):
my.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (21:33):
you know, usually there's a menu of
what they would like to go,whether it's a southwest salad
or egg salad, chicken salad,something, you know, easy but
better than airport food.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2 (21:43):
Clearly, I'm not on this level yet.
I didn't even register, have,have the personal chef pre-make
some stuff.
Um, very cool.
Very cool.
Those are some good practicaltips though.
Um, high net worth individuals,obviously a different, uh, a
different breed.
Sometimes you help people getprepared and equipped to.
(22:05):
Support these types ofindividuals.
Uh, and maybe a way into that,into that, uh, area is what does
agency Maison do?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (22:13):
Oh, excellent.
Well, agency Maison is thepremier destination for domestic
placement.
We provide placement servicesfor domestic staff only at the
moment, so any estate managers,personal assistants, executive
assistants for the home, chefs,butlers and nannies.
We help place in the home and I.
(22:35):
I used to work in the home as anestate manager that I spent a
quite a bit of my career doingthat in Los Angeles, and what I
felt was I felt that theposition was really, really
cool, but I also felt that itwas isolating working in
domestic
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (22:49):
Hmm.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-1 (22:49):
because a lot of can be a good employee,
but that doesn't mean that.
The person that you've built arapport with at the next house
over has the same workingrelationship with their
principal.
So the, and their principal andyour principal are best friends
and you need to coordinatelunches all the time.
And you know, charity galas ateach one's house and going
(23:11):
around all of that.
So sometimes when there'sfriction with other people in
other homes that you're workingwith and they get fired or
separated from payroll.
Then, you know, you're startingfrom the bottom.
The new person coming in doesn'tnecessarily wanna work with you
'cause they know everything.
You know what I mean?
So they don't want you to, youknow, offer your opinion on much
of anything.
They wanna come in and do theirthing.
(23:33):
So I felt with Agency Maison andwith developing and launching
it, that it was very importantto.
Build a community of solidpeople that we can lean on
because especially with my roleat Impossible Ventures and my
boss traveling everywhere, ifsomeone's in New York and you
know, I need an amazing dinnerrecommendation and I have no
(23:54):
idea about.
The latest New York restaurantopenings, what's the coolest
place?
You know what I mean?
For them to go, where can weimpress people that we're
hosting?
But if I have some, if I built acommunity with someone in a
rapport with someone in New Yorkthat's supporting a person like
my principal, they would have,you know, purview into all of
that.
They'd be able to make a quickreservation or and
(24:16):
recommendation, but hopefully rethat leads to a reservation.
Um, so yeah, that was my wholething with building agency
liaison was making it moreinclusive for everyone and
learning about what other peopleare doing because not everyone
is the same type of chief ofstaff.
I worked with one sector ofpeople, but then, you know, you
have the chief of staff thatsits for American Express and is
(24:37):
supporting everyone in theC-suite there.
And that's, you know, theantithesis of what I've done and
what I am doing.
So I just like things like that.
I'm nosy.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (24:46):
Knows in the best way chiefs of staff
have to be.
Um, what, can you talk a littlebit about the, is it a
certification, is it a programthat the training program.
squadcaster-che3_1_ (24:55):
Absolutely.
So with Agency Maison, we haveagency Maison training where I'm
providing my hands-on experienceof being a chief of staff to
unique high net worthindividuals.
So it's me leading the course.
The entire course.
So you'll see my face and you'llhear my voice the entire time.
And just walking through case ofli real life scenarios of what
(25:18):
I've seen in this job.
And then also going through whatI've seen as to remain as a
constant in this position.
And then the, and the way thatpeople like to be serviced, you
know?
And that's just making sure thatyou're on top of things, whether
it's booking commercial airfare,but making sure that you know,
you have.
Backup, even if you're notservicing a high net worth
(25:40):
individual, principlesappreciate things like travel
planning and having a plan Bwith that travel.
Like for example, in WashingtonDC I think it's the Dulles
Airport is the absolute worstairport, one of the absolute
worst airports in the country.
However, the airport inMaryland, that's just like 45
minutes away.
(26:01):
You know those flights are ontime all the time, so.
What would be great is if your,if your principal had a meeting
in the Falls Church area ofVirginia and you have them on a
flight going out of IAD, butthat's been delayed, and you
have them on a backup flightthat's on time, they can start
heading, shifting and headingthat way.
You know what I mean?
So just being ahead, beingprepared, and that's what the
(26:24):
course is helping everyone do.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (26:26):
And who is that?
Course four.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (26:28):
That course is for anyone that wants
to be a chief of staff,obviously, and anyone that's
still, that's a current chief ofstaff or wants to, or wants to
move into working with high networth individuals, but don't,
you're not sure how to sort offrame or position yourself into
that area.
what we're helping to coach youinto.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (26:50):
And do you help with, um, those
placements or is it more like,I'm gonna equip you and then
give you kind of some directionsto go in?
Or is it like, no, if I knowsomeone, here's, here's the
connection.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (27:01):
I am going to equip you and then I
am going to keep your resume onfile with us at Agency Maison,
and then place you if you'reavail, if you're able to be
placed.
Absolutely.
That's what my goal is.
I want to work within my ownnetwork of people and place them
with
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (27:17):
Yeah.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (27:17):
trust.
Like if you have somebody that'samazing that you could
recommend, why would I lookanywhere else?
You know what I mean?
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (27:24):
Yeah.
And I imagine that high networth individuals, um.
We'll, we'll not just takeanyone, and I don't mean that in
a, in a derogatory, pejorativeway at all, but they want people
they can trust if they're cominginto their home.
If they're talking about bookingflights for family and making
arrangements for everything,that's gotta be at least vetted
by, okay.
Um, you know, she knows them.
So I'm gonna trust him and bringthis person on board.
squadcaster-che3_1_ (27:47):
Absolutely, like, uh, I would say with
everyone that's a chief ofstaff, your reputation is all
you have in this role, really,because, I mean.
Obviously you're an extension ofyour principal, and that
principal is, know, puttingtrust in you.
So you have to carry that trustwith the highest, highest
prestige I do anyway, because Ifeel like trust is everything.
(28:10):
And if you don't have trust andthe relationship is soured, like
with any relationship, right.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2 (28:14):
Totally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Trust is foundational.
Yeah.
Um, and there's like, there's asaying for that too.
Like it takes a lifetime tobuild in a second to break, and
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (28:22):
And that is the
emily-sander_1_04-17-202 (28:23):
that's true.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (28:24):
and all anyone will ever remember is
what it took to break it.
emily-sander_1_04-17-20 (28:28):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (28:28):
about any of the good stuff before all
they about is that one broke.
That's.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (28:39):
It's a true story.
Um, you, we've talked, we'vecovered a lot here, but it, any
words of wisdom, any finalthoughts about shopping, about
networking, about relationships,chief of staff, high net worth,
anything across the board thatyou think is important to get
out to people?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (28:54):
I just think that anyone that's a
chief of staff or in any EAPArole always trusts your gut.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (29:01):
Ah.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (29:02):
Always trust your gut because so many
things are just gonna come atyou every single day and you,
you know, you can second guessyourself quite easily, you know
what I mean?
But always go with your firstinstinct all and always believe
in yourself.
You know what I mean?
Like I said, I, I come from adifferent background of working
(29:22):
with high net worth individuals.
So, um, not that my currentprincipal is like this, but I've
worked with principals that arevery demanding.
They don't really care, and theycan be a little reckless with
the way that they speak to you.
So just always take care ofyourself.
Self-care is very important.
And, um, yeah, I, I don't knowif that answered your question,
but I feel like you have tostart with self-care.
(29:44):
I do
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (29:44):
Start with self-care.
Trust your instincts and, um,believe that you can do it.
And believe that you add valuebecause you are.
Because you are.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (29:53):
know that you add value,
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (29:55):
Yes.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (29:55):
know you add value.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (29:58):
Love it.
We're gonna leave it on that.
Beautiful.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it so much.
This was such a funconversation.
My guest today is Nashe Braswell.
He is a chief of Staff atImpossible Ventures and managing
partner for agency Maison Nashe.
Welcome to LeveragingLeadership.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (00:37):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so grateful to be here andvery also excited.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_130 (00:42):
I cannot wait for this
conversation.
You, you and I were, weretalking beforehand.
I was like, this is gonna bejust a fun conversation.
Um, you come at this from alittle bit different angle than
we're used to hearing, which isfamily office, high net worth
individuals.
You've been a personal chief ofstaff to someone for 10 plus
years.
Um, and I wanna get into allthat, and especially what you're
(01:03):
doing.
Agency Maison for chiefs ofstaff who wanna get into that
space.
But you also have a greatbackstory and um, it starts how
every Chief of staff storyshould start.
So could you please tell usabout your journey to the chief
of staff role?
squadcaster-che3_1_ (01:19):
Absolutely, absolutely.
My journey into the chief ofstaff role has al It was, it has
been quite interesting and alsofun at the same time.
I first became a personalassistant because I had gradu, I
had finished school.
Kind of confused about life andI was dating someone who was
(01:40):
living in Italy at the time, andhe had me while we were dating
in the course of ourrelationship, he would have me
buy things for all of hisfriends over in Italy.
He, at the time, was a va, veryfamous hairstylist.
Still is a very famoushairstylist in Italy and knows a
lot of the upper crust in Milan.
(02:00):
And at this time, this was backin 2006, 2007, 2008 era where Ed
Hardy was really big.
Abercrombie hadn't.
Inserted themselves into theEuropean market, yet I think Gap
was still very fresh there.
So they would have me come over,come back to the United States
(02:21):
and pile my suitcases with vonDutch hats, ed Hardy, uh,
Abercrombie, any sort of, uh,middle ground designer that was
super cool here in the UnitedStates that they had heard of,
that they weren't able to getback in Italy.
And I would bring it back.
And at the time of living inItaly, it's.
It was an amazing experience.
(02:43):
We were together for quite sometime, but the pain point began
to come to the point place of,what am I gonna do here while
you're working every single day?
I'm the only one that's notworking.
I have friends there, I had myown community there, but they
were all working, had lives oftheir own.
Were very busy with what theywere doing.
So being by myself every singleday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM was
(03:08):
a little boring.
So I.
Told him straight up, I waslike, you know, I kind of wanna
come back to the United Statesand do my own thing.
And I think that personalshopping is where I really wanna
go.
This is literally how I startedas an assistant.
I said, I really wanna be apersonal shopper or assistant,
something like that.
Something like I'm doing foryour friends here in Italy, but
(03:29):
in the United States.
So I had moved back to theUnited States and literally
within two weeks I had met myreally good friend, Beth Hanock.
She, at the time was presidentof Kenneth Cole Women's Footwear
Division.
Her husband was the president ofAerosol Shoes, and I had told
them that I wanted to form thisconcierge company at the.
(03:51):
Time so I could do personalshopping and personal styling,
and they had just moved into myparents' neighborhood from New
York City and they were like,well, you have to know June.
I'm like, I don't know.
June.
She's like, she's a hugestylist.
She styles everyone.
She is huge in the world of hiphop.
You have to know June.
You have to know June.
(04:12):
it turns out that she wastalking about celebrity stylist
June Ambrose, and I, of course,I had known who June Ambrose
was.
It was my dream to work withher, and I had never thought
that I would be able to, soliterally within a month, be
Beth connected me with.
June and June, I had June and Ihung out like three or four
times before I started workingwith her.
(04:34):
And then one day we were at abarbecue and she was like, do
you wanna work?
And I was like, absolutely.
I was very excited.
I was like, absolutely.
She was like, okay, great.
On Monday, meet me here at thistime and this location and we're
doing a casting call for a BETtelevision show called Film
Meets Fashion.
And she literally.
Just threw me into it.
(04:55):
It was a model casting, neverdid a model casting before in my
entire life.
But, you know, um, I feel likein the role of being an
assistant or chief of staff,it's not necessarily what.
You learn or what skills youadapt.
I feel like it's um, a fabricthat's sort of within you, you
(05:16):
know, to serve and to sort ofwanna just roll up your sleeves
and get dirty.
And so that's exactly what Idid.
And I was June's assistant forthree years and from there I had
moved to LA, worked with Bud andCynthia Yorkin was the estate
manager for the Getty HouseFoundation, which is the
official residence of the mayorof the city of Los Angeles.
And then from there I moved toSan Francisco.
(05:39):
For a company called Apti, wasthe senior EA there, and then
got promoted into a chief ofstaff, and that was about 11
years ago.
And then was recruited toAustin, Texas to work with
Jonathan Coon at ImpossibleVentures.
At that time he had a companycalled Wiki by.
Which is now Capital Oneshopping, but when I first got
(06:01):
to Austin and we were with Wikibuy, it was very interesting
because we weren't making anymoney yet and we were trying to
figure things out.
We were very much a startup, andI believe it was Brian Atwood
that was on our team that hadcome up with the concept of
couponing, and we just startedgoing with couponing and finding
lowest prices, and then westarted making money and then
(06:24):
sold to Capital One and it.
Now Capital One shopping.
And at that, uh, point in mycareer, I could have been a
chief of staff at Capital One,or I could have stayed with
Jonathan.
I had both options available tome and I continued on with
Jonathan since he's the one thatbrought me all the way out here
to Texas.
And presently, we are nowdeveloping a$2.3 billion
(06:45):
development called Four SeasonsPrivate Residences at Lake
Austin.
And in this project, I, it'sreally helped me hone in and
refine my chief of.
Skill chief of staff skills,excuse me, I'm stumbling over my
words.
Um, because.
With this project in particular,we had to get all 11 city
(07:07):
council members on board.
We had to meet with all eightneighboring HOAs and present our
plan of action for thiscommunity that we're developing
to make sure that it wouldn'tcause any friction with the
neighbors or, you know, thatwere, you know, chopping down
trees and essentially.
the view, the landscape of whateveryone once knew to be, you
(07:30):
know what I mean?
But just making sure that we hadall of the neighbor support
because with having theneighbors, you know, on our
side, then we can quell thecity's noises.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (07:41):
Wow.
Okay.
That was fantastic.
That was everything I wanted tobe and more, um.
Loved, uh, loved that.
Um, you got to fill suitcasesfull of clothing and just fly
back and forth.
Love that you had like castingcall in your story.
Like, I wanna be called to acasting call sometime in my
life, or just like, observe one.
That's amazing.
Um, but so glad that you were onthat
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (08:03):
the first day of my, on the first
day of work, it was like, okay,arrange these
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (08:06):
call.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (08:07):
I was like, I how, but in went
with it.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (08:16):
Wow.
And you, I mean, the themethrough your story is like, it's
who, you know, it's littleconnections like Beth and know
June, and people moved into, youknow, happen to be in your
apartment or, or just in yourarea.
Um, that, that stuff is justabout who you know.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (08:32):
That is, that's very, very true.
It is about who you know, andalso I feel like it's when you
set your intention.
know what I mean?
And I knew from a very early agethat I wanted to focus on the
customer experience.
And obviously at a young age, Ididn't know what the customer
(08:53):
experience was.
But now in my older age, I dothink of the receiving end of
everything that I do.
So what is this experience goingto look like for my principals
who I'm serving?
You know what I mean?
Whether it's, you know, settingup a meeting out of state or
just, you know, a simple taskas, you know, setting up the
(09:14):
conference room.
You know what I mean?
What is that experience gonnalook like?
What is that experience gonnalook like for our guests?
I always keep that in mind,especially when we receive
guests coming in from out of.
State.
We live in Texas.
Texas is a big barbecue city.
So one of the things that I liketo do to add a nice personal
touch for anyone coming to seeus, what I try to do is get
together the three best barbecuespots in Austin, which in my
(09:37):
opinion is Franklin Barbecue andEsella Barbecue and LA barbecue
or LA barbecue.
So I call up all three placesand arrange barbecue from all
three places.
And what we do is do like ablind taste testing to see
which.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (09:49):
Oh, cool.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (09:50):
the guest thinks is the best before
we tell them that, okay, this isbecause everyone's heard of
Franklin Barbecue before you,and usually before anyone sets
foot on the tarmac in theairport, they're like headed to
Franklin or, but Franklin's is alittle bit better.
So we do the, uh, notblindfolding.
We just don't tell them whereit's from and let them taste and
(10:10):
you know, then you have a tasteof the city and you have
something to go back with.
You.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (10:14):
Wow.
It's like a little barbecueflight type of thing.
Um.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (10:19):
Yes, exactly.
emily-sander_1_04-17-202 (10:20):
that's awesome.
That's awesome.
So you said you had the choiceto go be a chief of staff for
Capital One shopping, or yourcurrent principal, and you chose
to stick with him.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the relationship that you
had built up with him and whyyou chose to go that direction?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (10:36):
Yes, I chose to go to the that
direction A because it took me awhile to build up the
relationship with him.
Um, when I came in, if I'm beinghonest, I kind of, you know,
just.
Had to figure out how to makemyself impactful to the
organization, how to make myselfstand out, how to make myself
(10:58):
valuable.
And again, when I met withJonathan, and I've been with him
for 10 years, we've only hadone, one-on-one.
I.
And that one, one-on-one tookplace on the day that I was that
on my first day of work.
So he just gave me a little bitof run of show, like a little,
this is what you're gonna do,it's not gonna be that much,
(11:19):
this, that, and the third.
And so the rest of it was justme figuring it out.
And what helped me figure it outa lot is mirroring his
communication style.
Which I found out that he likesto text and to go work on Slack
a lot and is very heavy intoemails.
So what I started doing was justgoing through old Slack threads
and going through old
emily-sander_1_04-17-20 (11:40):
That's.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (11:41):
making sure that no action items got
missed, and just bringing thisto, to his attention.
Like, oh, I saw this and Inoticed that no one said
anything, or This thread hasgone quiet for a while.
Just bumping this back up toyour attention.
Not sure if it's important.
I thought it was something thatyou need that needed your
attention.
And so that's what kept me,because I worked so hard to get
(12:03):
to that point with him that Ididn't wanna start over with
someone else.
And, um, I like our workingstyle.
He empowers me.
And in, not in like a coachingand development way, but like,
you, this is the task, this iswhat I need done.
And you figure out how to make,how to, how to do it best
because that's what you're hiredto do is.
To make this best for me, solet's just do that.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (12:26):
And it sounds like you're involved
in pretty hefty if you'retalking like city council people
and, uh, you know, billiondollar projects and initiative,
uh, he's trusting you with alot.
So you've clearly built up thattrust and, and rapport like,
Hey, go take care of this.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (12:42):
Yes, exactly.
And um, just always reportingback to him and always making
myself available to him.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (12:48):
Yeah.
Are you?
So it surprises me.
Only had one, one-on-one in 10plus years.
Uh, so how do you normallyinteract?
Is it just like he's flying offto different places?
Sometimes you're with him oryou're mostly in Austin.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-202 (13:04):
So I'm mainly in Austin because,
and right now we're not doing alot of traveling because it's
peak selling season in Austinright now.
And so we're trying to get asmuch attention to the property
as we can because we're
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (13:14):
Yeah.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (13:15):
homes.
Um, but normally he would flyand travel a bit, and when he
does travel, I stay here inAustin to man the office sort
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (13:24):
Wow.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-202 (13:24):
to make sure that, you know,
because every day is adifferent.
Every day is different.
You know, you have packagescoming, you have something that
may need to be set up rightaway, you know, while he's gone.
It's never just, you know, oh,just taking it easy.
There's always some sort ofimprovement in new television to
be installed faster.
Internet speeds, perfectingpresentations, going over floor
(13:46):
plans.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (13:47):
Never boring.
Never boring.
Yeah.
Let me, can you give thelistener just a quick snapshot
of what Impossible Venturesdoes?
squadcaster-che3_1_ (13:55):
Absolutely.
So what an Impossible Venturesdoes is manages all of
Jonathan's in investments inentrepreneurial endeavors.
So before at ImpossibleVentures, we had Wiki buy, which
was um, W, which was anextension on.
Google, which was an extensionon Chrome, and we worked
exclusively with Google to find,say if you were looking for a
(14:18):
button on a shirt, we would pulltogether all the sellers that
were selling that exact samebutton and find you the lowest
cost and present that to you.
And that's what has becomeCapital One shopping.
And then at the same time asWiki buy was growing and the
couponing was getting big,that's when Jonathan found this
piece of property over on LakeAustin and was knee deep into
(14:41):
buying it and was like, youknow, I've never done real
estate development before, but Iimagine it being impossible, so
let's just do it because I, helikes to, I don't.
I don't know the exact saying ofthis, but it's some of the
saying that Jay-Z says that Ilearned, which is difficult,
(15:03):
takes a day and impossible takesa week, which Jonathan also
likes that there's somevariation of that, that the US
Army says, but that's what we gofor at Impossible Ventures.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (15:14):
Okay, so you're, you're managing his
investments and investments likebroad, broad range, speaking
like.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (15:20):
range investments.
Broad, uh, yeah.
And handling all of hismeetings, but mainly right, I do
manage all of his investments,but we've been just been so knee
deep in the Lake Austin project.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (15:31):
Wow.
And knowing someone for 10years, I mean, do you have like
a shorthand now?
Do you just like, kind of havea, have your own language and
can kind of predict what he isgonna need and want?
squadcaster-che3_1_ (15:41):
Absolutely.
Um, especially because I spentlike two or three years, uh,
modeling his behaviors andthings like that so I know
exactly what he needs and wantslike the back of my hand.
Um.
For example, whenever he'straveling and things like that,
I know his preferences forhotels.
I know his preferences fortemperature and vehicles and
(16:03):
also hotel rooms.
I know pillow preferences.
I know food preferences,allergies, things like that.
emily-sander_1_04-17-202 (16:10):
You're taking care of him from like all
angles there.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (16:13):
Very much so.
And then especially if, um, he'shaving a meeting that's not here
in Austin, uh, that's, you know,offsite somewhere, I do my best
to coordinate and communicatewith the person that's there
managing in there and setting itup so that way it's modeling
what we do here in Austin.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (16:30):
Very cool.
And then are, so how does he,uh.
Work with you or just expresshis appreciation for you.
I mean, it sounds like you'redoing so much for him, but it
seems like you're setting him upfor, for success and you're
setting him up to perform welland show up Well in all these
different places he has to goand he has to deliver on.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (16:52):
Um.
He has his own way of showingyou his appreciation.
Like for example, his, one ofthe things that he loves to do
most is to buy someone theirname as a domain.
So like he bought mebraswell.com as a domain, so, or
is it nasheed braswell.com, Ithink.
(17:13):
But it's really, really coolbecause if the way that he has
it set up is so that way if youjust plug in his name, it just
pulls up his LinkedIn page.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (17:20):
Oh, okay.
He buys you a domain.
That's a new one.
That's.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (17:25):
A domain.
I mean, uh, just he, and alsoapart from that, um, he's a
very, very focused man, butThere's nothing that we couldn't
talk about, you know what Imean?
Like in terms of work related,we have the communication style
is always open door, and if Ihave any questions or concerns
(17:46):
or get stuck somewhere, it's notit he never present.
Or maybe I do, but I don't know.
He hasn't shown me that, but hedoesn't show me or make me feel
like I'm annoying him or like,Ugh, you should know this.
You know what I mean?
Or something like that.
And I always.
into, I've always walked intoany ea pa, chief of staff role
(18:06):
as knowing that it's going to bea thankless position most of the
time because most of thesepeople are super, super busy.
And if they do have time then,or the bandwidth for something
else, then they need to allocatethat time to their families or
their wives, kids if they're notmarried or in the same
household.
You know what I mean?
So their tension is being pulledin so many different directions
(18:28):
that, you know, I.
I understand that.
I mean, it's not easy, you know,being a powerful person,
changing the world, especiallysomeone like Jonathan who got
everyone their, um, contact lensprescription because prior to
him, uh, creating1-800-CONTACTS, uh, American
citizens did not have access totheir contact lens prescription.
(18:48):
So Jonathan spent 332 days goingback and forth to Washington DC
to change that law with Senate,and he did.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (18:56):
Wow.
Okay.
Okay.
There's, there's like, yeah.
Movers and shakers.
Okay.
You're helping, you're helpingthem move and shake the world.
Um, and it's so clear that you,I mean, you mentioned this
customer experience, like you'reall about the customer
experience and how someone willreceive kind of the setup and
the environment.
And when they walk into Austinand visit you guys, um, what,
(19:18):
what is like the one or two topthings you would tell people who
are trying to.
Put on a good customerexperience, like just, you
probably take it for granted.
It's innate in you, but likewhat are some really important
ways to demonstrate that?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (19:33):
Ooh, that's a great question.
Um, one way is to do yourresearch on the person that
you're receiving.
I.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (19:42):
Here we go.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (19:43):
Um, most of anyone in the role of a
chief of staff, or even as anexecutive assistant supporting
any organization, you're goingto come, you're gonna encounter
another business person orexecutive, right?
That person is gonna have aLinkedIn profile or that person
is gonna have some sort ofprofile or on the internet, you
can look up that profile, findout if that person is married,
(20:05):
find out.
That person has kids, and thenyou can set it up that way.
And then once you find that out,then oh, maybe you can get the
kids a hat or a t-shirt from utut is the thing here.
You know what I mean?
Or something from your wife.
You can get her something fromSwedish Hill, a, a gluten-free
treat, something like that.
I know when Jonathan goes to,uh, San Francisco, there's a
(20:27):
bakery in MA called Magnolia.
Bakery in San Francisco and it'sa hundred percent gluten-free.
So when he's in his meeting, I'mcommunicating with the driver,
run to Magnolia, get a wholedozen of just any and
everything, so that way he hassomething to bring back to his
wife.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (20:43):
Wow.
The little things, but they makeall the difference when you're
in a busy day and you just likeneed some good food that's not
gonna gut bomb you or bog youdown, like, go to Magnolia.
Yeah.
Okay.
Send the driver.
Come on.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (20:55):
should also be thinking about food
because who wants to eat plainfood?
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (20:58):
Yeah, true.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (20:59):
Whole food is gross.
You can bring food on theairplane.
emily-sander_1_04-17-20 (21:03):
Eating, traveling, like eating while
you're traveling is hard though.
I mean, that's, you're not inyour routine, you're not in your
normal stuff.
You gotta figure that outbeforehand.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (21:12):
That's true.
But that also comes with thebeauty of working with high net
worth individuals because theynormally have chefs.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (21:18):
Okay.
Okay.
Forgot about the personal chefpart.
Okay.
Of course.
Yeah, just bring your along andyour massage therapist and
whatever else you have, uh, yourent.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (21:26):
no, no, no.
You don't bring the chef along,but you can just say, Hey,
they're traveling.
Can you pack plain food?
And
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (21:33):
my.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (21:33):
you know, usually there's a menu of
what they would like to go,whether it's a southwest salad
or egg salad, chicken salad,something, you know, easy but
better than airport food.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2 (21:43):
Clearly, I'm not on this level yet.
I didn't even register, have,have the personal chef pre-make
some stuff.
Um, very cool.
Very cool.
Those are some good practicaltips though.
Um, high net worth individuals,obviously a different, uh, a
different breed.
Sometimes you help people getprepared and equipped to.
(22:05):
Support these types ofindividuals.
Uh, and maybe a way into that,into that, uh, area is what does
agency Maison do?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (22:13):
Oh, excellent.
Well, agency Maison is thepremier destination for domestic
placement.
We provide placement servicesfor domestic staff only at the
moment, so any estate managers,personal assistants, executive
assistants for the home, chefs,butlers and nannies.
We help place in the home and I.
(22:35):
I used to work in the home as anestate manager that I spent a
quite a bit of my career doingthat in Los Angeles, and what I
felt was I felt that theposition was really, really
cool, but I also felt that itwas isolating working in
domestic
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (22:49):
Hmm.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-1 (22:49):
because a lot of can be a good employee,
but that doesn't mean that.
The person that you've built arapport with at the next house
over has the same workingrelationship with their
principal.
So the, and their principal andyour principal are best friends
and you need to coordinatelunches all the time.
And you know, charity galas ateach one's house and going
(23:11):
around all of that.
So sometimes when there'sfriction with other people in
other homes that you're workingwith and they get fired or
separated from payroll.
Then, you know, you're startingfrom the bottom.
The new person coming in doesn'tnecessarily wanna work with you
'cause they know everything.
You know what I mean?
So they don't want you to, youknow, offer your opinion on much
of anything.
They wanna come in and do theirthing.
(23:33):
So I felt with Agency Maison andwith developing and launching
it, that it was very importantto.
Build a community of solidpeople that we can lean on
because especially with my roleat Impossible Ventures and my
boss traveling everywhere, ifsomeone's in New York and you
know, I need an amazing dinnerrecommendation and I have no
(23:54):
idea about.
The latest New York restaurantopenings, what's the coolest
place?
You know what I mean?
For them to go, where can weimpress people that we're
hosting?
But if I have some, if I built acommunity with someone in a
rapport with someone in New Yorkthat's supporting a person like
my principal, they would have,you know, purview into all of
that.
They'd be able to make a quickreservation or and
(24:16):
recommendation, but hopefully rethat leads to a reservation.
Um, so yeah, that was my wholething with building agency
liaison was making it moreinclusive for everyone and
learning about what other peopleare doing because not everyone
is the same type of chief ofstaff.
I worked with one sector ofpeople, but then, you know, you
have the chief of staff thatsits for American Express and is
(24:37):
supporting everyone in theC-suite there.
And that's, you know, theantithesis of what I've done and
what I am doing.
So I just like things like that.
I'm nosy.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (24:46):
Knows in the best way chiefs of staff
have to be.
Um, what, can you talk a littlebit about the, is it a
certification, is it a programthat the training program.
squadcaster-che3_1_ (24:55):
Absolutely.
So with Agency Maison, we haveagency Maison training where I'm
providing my hands-on experienceof being a chief of staff to
unique high net worthindividuals.
So it's me leading the course.
The entire course.
So you'll see my face and you'llhear my voice the entire time.
And just walking through case ofli real life scenarios of what
(25:18):
I've seen in this job.
And then also going through whatI've seen as to remain as a
constant in this position.
And then the, and the way thatpeople like to be serviced, you
know?
And that's just making sure thatyou're on top of things, whether
it's booking commercial airfare,but making sure that you know,
you have.
Backup, even if you're notservicing a high net worth
(25:40):
individual, principlesappreciate things like travel
planning and having a plan Bwith that travel.
Like for example, in WashingtonDC I think it's the Dulles
Airport is the absolute worstairport, one of the absolute
worst airports in the country.
However, the airport inMaryland, that's just like 45
minutes away.
(26:01):
You know those flights are ontime all the time, so.
What would be great is if your,if your principal had a meeting
in the Falls Church area ofVirginia and you have them on a
flight going out of IAD, butthat's been delayed, and you
have them on a backup flightthat's on time, they can start
heading, shifting and headingthat way.
You know what I mean?
So just being ahead, beingprepared, and that's what the
(26:24):
course is helping everyone do.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (26:26):
And who is that?
Course four.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (26:28):
That course is for anyone that wants
to be a chief of staff,obviously, and anyone that's
still, that's a current chief ofstaff or wants to, or wants to
move into working with high networth individuals, but don't,
you're not sure how to sort offrame or position yourself into
that area.
what we're helping to coach youinto.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (26:50):
And do you help with, um, those
placements or is it more like,I'm gonna equip you and then
give you kind of some directionsto go in?
Or is it like, no, if I knowsomeone, here's, here's the
connection.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (27:01):
I am going to equip you and then I
am going to keep your resume onfile with us at Agency Maison,
and then place you if you'reavail, if you're able to be
placed.
Absolutely.
That's what my goal is.
I want to work within my ownnetwork of people and place them
with
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (27:17):
Yeah.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (27:17):
trust.
Like if you have somebody that'samazing that you could
recommend, why would I lookanywhere else?
You know what I mean?
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (27:24):
Yeah.
And I imagine that high networth individuals, um.
We'll, we'll not just takeanyone, and I don't mean that in
a, in a derogatory, pejorativeway at all, but they want people
they can trust if they're cominginto their home.
If they're talking about bookingflights for family and making
arrangements for everything,that's gotta be at least vetted
by, okay.
Um, you know, she knows them.
So I'm gonna trust him and bringthis person on board.
squadcaster-che3_1_ (27:47):
Absolutely, like, uh, I would say with
everyone that's a chief ofstaff, your reputation is all
you have in this role, really,because, I mean.
Obviously you're an extension ofyour principal, and that
principal is, know, puttingtrust in you.
So you have to carry that trustwith the highest, highest
prestige I do anyway, because Ifeel like trust is everything.
(28:10):
And if you don't have trust andthe relationship is soured, like
with any relationship, right.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2 (28:14):
Totally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Trust is foundational.
Yeah.
Um, and there's like, there's asaying for that too.
Like it takes a lifetime tobuild in a second to break, and
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (28:22):
And that is the
emily-sander_1_04-17-202 (28:23):
that's true.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-20 (28:24):
and all anyone will ever remember is
what it took to break it.
emily-sander_1_04-17-20 (28:28):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17- (28:28):
about any of the good stuff before all
they about is that one broke.
That's.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (28:39):
It's a true story.
Um, you, we've talked, we'vecovered a lot here, but it, any
words of wisdom, any finalthoughts about shopping, about
networking, about relationships,chief of staff, high net worth,
anything across the board thatyou think is important to get
out to people?
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2025 (28:54):
I just think that anyone that's a
chief of staff or in any EAPArole always trusts your gut.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_1 (29:01):
Ah.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17 (29:02):
Always trust your gut because so many
things are just gonna come atyou every single day and you,
you know, you can second guessyourself quite easily, you know
what I mean?
But always go with your firstinstinct all and always believe
in yourself.
You know what I mean?
Like I said, I, I come from adifferent background of working
(29:22):
with high net worth individuals.
So, um, not that my currentprincipal is like this, but I've
worked with principals that arevery demanding.
They don't really care, and theycan be a little reckless with
the way that they speak to you.
So just always take care ofyourself.
Self-care is very important.
And, um, yeah, I, I don't knowif that answered your question,
but I feel like you have tostart with self-care.
(29:44):
I do
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025 (29:44):
Start with self-care.
Trust your instincts and, um,believe that you can do it.
And believe that you add valuebecause you are.
Because you are.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (29:53):
know that you add value,
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (29:55):
Yes.
squadcaster-che3_1_04-17-2 (29:55):
know you add value.
emily-sander_1_04-17-2025_ (29:58):
Love it.
We're gonna leave it on that.
Beautiful.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it so much.
This was such a funconversation.
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