From Crisis Calls to Culture: Pete Duche on Leadership, Psychology & Building Trust

In this episode, I sit down with Pete Duche — founder and principal consultant of Houston Leadership Consulting. Pete brings over 25 years of leadership experience, starting in law enforcement where he commanded a major city’s crisis negotiator team. Those high-stakes moments — requiring calm under pressure, rapid decision-making, a...

From Kitchens to Code: Gregory Willis on Flavor, Innovation & Food Tech

In this episode, I sit down with Gregory Willis — founder and president of SenSpire, the company behind Flavor Studio, an operating system powering innovation in the food and ingredient industry. Gregory’s journey is anything but linear: from earning four-star reviews as a chef in the competitive San Francisco dining scene, to leading CPG innovation...

From Excuses to Enterprises: RJon Robins on Building Real Businesses That Last

In this episode, I sit down with RJon Robins — co-founder and CEO of How to Manage Enterprises, best-selling author, and attorney — to unpack the raw truth about entrepreneurship, mindset, and what it really takes to build a business that works without you.

RJon shares his journey from foreclosure and financial rock bottom to leading multiple eight-figure ...

From Startup to IPO: Amanda Patterson on Scaling with Strategy and Customer Truth

In this episode of Uncomplicate It, I sit down with Amanda Patterson — seasoned tech marketing executive, former Head of Marketing at Mindbody, and co-founder of Rocket Fuel Labs. Amanda has seen it all: scaling Mindbody from $30M to $200M, growing leads by 300% in a single year, building a marketing team 5x larger, launching the consumer app, and crea...

From Engineering to Empathy: Chris Silvestri on Conversion Copy That Connects

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Silvestri — founder of Conversion Alchemy, conversion copywriter, and message–market fit specialist — to explore the psychology behind conversion and how B2B SaaS companies can craft customer journeys that actually drive decisions. With a background in industrial automation engineering and a decade in copywriting, Chr...

From Big Ideas to Meaningful Experiences — Hallie Seltzer on Events That Truly Connect

In this episode, I sit down with Hallie Seltzer — founder of Pinpoint Productions, campaign strategist, and creative director — to explore how events can move beyond “pretty productions” and become authentic, community-driven experiences. With nearly 20 years of experience and a client list that includes Google, Netflix, Instacart, F...

From Strategy to Execution — Rob Smith on Unlocking Digital Transformation

In this episode, I sit down with Rob Smith — founder of Fractional Digital, strategic advisor, and fractional CMO — to unpack what digital transformation really means for mid-sized businesses and manufacturers. With a career spanning 3M, global marketing ops, and building four companies of his own, Rob has seen firsthand how companies waste millions chasing t...

From AI Flood to Originality — Jonathan Gillham on Protecting Authentic Content in 2025

In this episode, I sit down with Jonathan — founder and CEO of Originality.ai, co-founder of Motion Invest, and one of the earliest voices warning about generative AI’s impact on publishing — to dig into the evolving battle between authenticity and automation. From building the first-ever paid AI detection tool (launched days before ChatGPT) to s...

🎙 From Google to Growth Engine — Cody Jensen on Building Ethical SEO That Actually Works

What do Groupon knockoffs, offshore shortcuts, and a Lil Wayne lyric have in common? For Cody Jensen, they were all lessons on his path to building Search Bloom — a multimillion-dollar SEO and digital marketing agency built on transparency, strategy, and results.

In this episode, I sit down with Cody — former Googler, data-obsessed strategist, a...

From Car Washes to $20M Funnels — Chris Shihadeh on Scaling Smart with Pay-Per-Call

What do data lists, AI-generated ads, and a six-year-old’s car wash have in common? For Chris Shihadeh, they were all stepping stones on a journey to building Skylab Digital, a powerhouse in pay-per-call lead generation for the Medicare and insurance space.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris — a scrappy entrepreneur, creative tactician, and CEO of...

From Madison Avenue to Main Street — Benjamin Hawk on Brand Strategy That Actually Works

What do BMW, American Express, and small-town coffee shops have in common? They’ve all benefited from Benjamin Hawk’s sharp creative mind and brand-building expertise. In this episode, I sit down with Benjamin Hawk — a seasoned creative strategist, brand whisperer, and self-proclaimed “couples therapist for brands” — to unpack what enterprise br...

The Psychology of Peak Performance — Dr. Adam Formal on What High Achievers Get Wrong About Success

What happens when you reach the top of your game — and suddenly everything feels harder, not easier? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Adam Formal, a clinical psychologist who works with Team USA athletes, C-suite executives, and elite performers who look superhuman from the outside but are very much human on the insi...

Build Before You Burn Out — Chris Davis on What Startups Keep Getting Wrong About Tech

What does it really take to build a tech startup that scales — and how do you avoid the costly mistakes most founders make? In this episode, I sit down with Chris Davis, a seasoned startup operator, strategist, and former CEO of multiple venture-backed companies, to talk through the gritty, unglamorous parts of launching a tech business that actua...

🎙️ This Week’s Episode: Allyson Havener on Owning the Modern CMO Role

What does it take to go from ballerina to CMO in the fast-paced world of B2B tech? In this episode, I sit down with Allyson Havener, Chief Marketing Officer at TrustRadius, to unpack what it really means to lead marketing today—across content, data, strategy, and most of all, trust.

With a background that spans SaaS, brand building, and go-to-market strategy, Ally...

🎙️ This Week’s Episode: From Magic Tricks to Marketing Truths—Jeff Greenfield on Attribution’s Future

Is marketing attribution still possible without cookies? And how do you actually know which of your efforts are driving conversions? In this episode, I sit down with Jeff Greenfield—entrepreneur, magician, and co-founder of Provalytics—who’s building the next generation of privacy-compliant, AI-driven attribution for marketers who ...

🎙️ This Week’s Episode: Why Short-Term Rental Hosts Are Ditching Airbnb

Tired of sky-high booking fees and platform rules that favor guests over hosts? In this episode, I sit down with Denayer and Carlos, co-founders of Direct BookMe, a community-first platform helping short-term rental hosts take back control of their business—and their profits.

Born from their own frustration as frequent travelers and would-be hosts, Direct BookMe...

🎙️ This Week’s Episode: Why B2B Video Marketing Is Broken—and How to Fix It

B2B video isn’t working the way it should. In this episode, I sit down with Daniel Borba, founder of Spark Portal, to talk about how companies are burning budget on flashy videos that don’t perform—and what to do instead.

Daniel breaks down:

• The Video-as-a-Service (VaaS) model that’s disrupting B2B marketing
• Why production quality ≠ effectiveness
• The simple...

Podcast Summary: The Worldview Brief — Why Marketing Needs a Political Lens (Without the Politics)

In this episode, Sacha Awwa sits down with Chris Peterson, co-founder of LifeMind and author of Red and Blue Customers, to unpack one of the most overlooked dimensions in marketing today: worldview. A former agency leader and lifelong consumer insights enthusiast, Chris explores how the deeply ingrained cultural values of liberal and c...

Podcast Summary: The Community Code — Building Brand Loyalty Beyond the Transaction

In this episode, Sacha Awwa dives deep with Michael Puhala, Chief Community Evangelist at Khoros, a trailblazer in the digital community space. With over a decade at the forefront of online community innovation, Michael has helped some of the world’s top brands—like Microsoft, Spotify, and Sephora—build thriving ecosystems that drive retention, loyal...