Authenticity in Branding: Mental Health, Vulnerability, and the Power of Truth

What happens when leaders of a successful company bare their souls about their deepest struggles at VeeCon 2023? In this episode, you'll uncover how a top executive at Athletic Greens transformed his personal battles with mental health into a compelling, authentic brand narrative. You'll hear firsthand how their raw honesty about dealing with PTSD, depression, and anxiety not only brought them personal healing but also forged a strong emotional connection with their audience, including Kevin. This isn't just about marketing—it's about the profound impact of being real and vulnerable in building a brand that truly resonates.

Join me, Kevin Shook, as I share my experiences from VeeCon 2023, hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk, and the unforgettable session with Athletic Greens' top executives. Discover why their genuine storytelling struck a chord with me and how it can transform your approach to self-branding. From the breakout sessions at Lucas Oil Stadium to their heartfelt confessions, this episode is packed with insights that go far beyond traditional marketing tactics. If you're looking to elevate your personal or business brand by being authentically you, this conversation is an absolute must-listen.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Life Inscripted with Kevin Shook.
Let's make a podcast.
I'm Kevin Shook.
If you didn't gather that bythe info, I have studios here
called Global Media Enterprise.
We are a creative agency indowntown Richmond, indiana.
If you're on any of my socialswhich you probably are if you've
seen this video you will knowthat I travel a lot and do a lot

(00:22):
of various projects anythingthat involves caffeine and
cameras.
We are a digital marketingagency that provides solutions
to numerous clients throughoutmany industries, from website
development, videography,photography, virtual tours,
podcasting.
We can podcast through thesestudios, live streaming
capabilities to YouTube,facebook, twitch.
So that's my elevator pitch.

(00:43):
Check it out.
If you need anything, we'd behappy to help you.
So we collaborate with and workalongside our clients to
provide the best digital onlinepresence possible for their
business, and it takes a lot ofcaffeine and cameras.
So today I want to kind of talkabout self-branding, why
branding is important, whybranding is important before

(01:06):
marketing.
This is a good example.
So I have Athletic Greens,which is a supplement that
provides vitamins, minerals,phytochemicals for your body
right, because no American,including me, eats the actual,

(01:31):
proper diet.
I mean, I guess some do, but Iobviously don't which I need to.
We all need to 2024 of the year, I just don't want to get
diabetes.
2024 of the year, I just don'twant to get diabetes.
But this supplement is athleticgreens and why I bought this

(01:52):
product wasn't because of thereviews on how good the product
is on google, how skinny it madepeople, how better it made
people feel.
Right, it wasn't any of thatmarketing bullshit.
Um, it's their brand.
So in 2023, I went to VCon,which, gary Vaynerchuk, that's

(02:14):
my ride or die when it comes toum marketing advice.
Uh, he offers a lot of greatadvice on YouTube, so check him
out.
Um, I'm just a little bitobsessed maybe, but anyways, he
has a conference every yearcalled VCon.
So in 2023, vcon was at LucasOil Stadium in Indianapolis and

(02:35):
basically, if you've never beento one, it's a lot of breakout
sessions throughout the expo, alot of breakout sessions
throughout lucas oil of um.
You know, entrepreneurs,athletes, musicians uh,
entertainers, performers there's.
You know, young gravy that'swhere I met young gravy and um,

(03:00):
in the same token, drewbarrymore.
So, so it's pretty wild andit's really inspiring.
But Athletic Greens, I walkedin because each session you can
just kind of walk in, walk outwhenever you want.
So I walked in in the middle oftheir session and it was like
their CEO, coo, cfo, cmo ABCs Idon't know all the execs, cmo

(03:23):
ABCs, I don't know all thatexecs and this guy was talking
about how he was in a psych wardfor 90 days and then when he
got out of a psych ward he gotarrested and had to do time in

(03:45):
prison or jail and he goes intomore detail.
So he started talking about howhe was diagnosed with PTSD and
depression, anxiety, and I waslike, oh shit, huh, okay, I
better listen.
And Then he talked about he hadmaniac episodes with this and
so well, he had his breakdown,went to the psych ward, but then

(04:06):
because of that breakdown, hephysically abused somebody and
then he had to go do time forthat.
So, like he literally opened up, made himself very vulnerable
to the entire um expo hall,including his boss, you know,

(04:31):
and his colleagues andeverything else, because I mean
they could have been like shutup, dude, like don't tell people
that that might make us losebusiness.
You know, most people wouldthink by sharing your secrets
not really secrets, but bysharing your darker days you
might lose business.
But, um, you know, when helooked around the room and said

(04:53):
you know, I went through all ofthat and I made all of those
mistakes and I got the help thatI wanted and needed.
Um, and here we are.
You know I'm talking, I'm I'mtalking to you guys on stage.
So he just proved that you know, no matter how much you fuck up
in life and, uh, do bad things,make bad decisions, whatnot,

(05:17):
that you can still overcome allof those skeletons and stand on
top of them and let them be thestage for your future.
That's really a really, reallycool story I have about brand.
So that's why I bought athleticgreens, right.
It had nothing to do with, like, being healthy, even though I
need to be healthy, but I wasjust like, well, this company

(05:41):
hired this guy right, and theysupport him and they support him
moving forward.
So that's a good company to getbehind.
And that's what I'm sayingBranding, self-brand.
We work with agencies that Iwouldn't say, forget about
branding, but they want andexpect us to market, market,

(06:04):
market, market, when, like, weneed to really work on their
branding, work on their why?
Work on their internaloperations.
So we have a great business tomarket, right.
So brand.
Another prime example is meThree, four years ago.
You know, years ago, I reallyhit rock bottom and, instead of
dealing with all of my labelsproperly, I drank a lot of

(06:27):
alcohol and fucked up, and withthat comes ruining relationships
and losing business.
But I lost business, right so?
And I lost relationships why?
Because my self-brand sucked.
I wasn't being honest to myselfor anybody else.
And then, halfway through,without fixing it, I'm trying to

(06:49):
, like, market myself, right.
So I'm trying to I'm a greatperson, hire me and all this
shit.
Meanwhile, I'm not reallyworking on what I should be
working on internally my ownself brand.
Okay, um, I still have my demons, and I was.
I was sitting right next to him, hanging out with him.

(07:10):
You know, I wasn't trying toget rid of him at the time, but
I was trying to market myself assomebody else, you know,
somebody glorious, give me yourbusiness, all that bullshit.
But once I sobered, sobered upand, uh, like 400 and something
days ago, I'd have to look on myapp.
But, uh, once I quit drinkingalcohol, um, it's rough because

(07:30):
you're not around people, butthen it's also really good
because you're not around people.
So, um, there's pros and consto that, but, um, I start
getting more and more businessand start building healthy
relationships with the rightpeople, okay.
And then I see a lot moreclarity level is increased.
So I learn more about my familyand my friends and toxicity you

(07:53):
set boundaries.
It basically comes down toself-respect.
So January 1st, I said 2023 wasa year of authenticity.
Okay, I was sober most of thatyear.
I forget exactly when I startedfebruary, april maybe but I was
sober, uh, most of that year.
So it was all about beingauthentic, okay, and um, just

(08:17):
being my most authentic self,not faking shit.
I'm not faking my accounts, notfaking my occupations or
anything Right.
And then, moving into 2024, Iremember that social media post
that 2024 was a year ofself-awareness.
Okay, so in my mind, that is toreevaluate that authenticity

(08:40):
and see what I need to changeabout myself as a human being.
So that's where we're atself-awareness.
I'm very aware that I fell offmy diet tremendously and got fat
as fuck this year, but I'maware of it.
So I know what I need to doMore athletic greens, less
donuts Fortunately, we got a newdonut place in town, but it is

(09:03):
what it is, okay.
So I'm just really self-aware.
I'm a great example of brand,of building brand, and I haven't
marketed anything.
If you increase your quality ofservices and you increase your
quality of product, people aregoing to come to you by word of
mouth.
Okay, that's the business Iwant to run, Because I'm really
hesitant as a consumer to buyathletic greens if all I get in

(09:28):
my email is like buy athleticgreens, buy athletic greens, buy
athletic greens which they dohave an email campaign.
I didn't opt in.
I didn't buy athletic greensbecause of the ads, right, it
was an experience.
We buy experiences, right.
We don't buy because of the ads.
If we did that, we would getwish t-shirts and just crazy

(09:48):
shit of low quality throughoutthe world.
To wrap this up brand overbullshit as you've seen my
social media post, if you followme on Facebook, let's wrap this
up with brand before bullshitand I'll see you next time.
Life Inscripted with KevinShook.