← Next On Scene: The Human Behind The Brand
Next On Scene: The Human Behind The Brand
From HVAC Hustle to Marketing Maverick: Diego’s Rise
00:24:10
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- [00:01]
A
Today's episode is brought to you by my wayfair storefront. I rounded up all my holiday hosting must haves from the bar cart and food warmers to take home containers, charcuterie gift setup, and my favorite wine opener. You can shop everything@creatorsoulio wayfair jackiezook. Now let's get into the episode. Welcome to next on scene, the human behind the brand. I'm Jacqueline Zuckerman delaure award winning publicist, mom and media visionary. I believe visibility is just about being seen. It's about being of service. Each week we are going to uncover real stories behind success, the breakthroughs, the heartbreaks, and the moments that made you who you are. Because the truth is, the more we allow ourselves to be human, the more powerful our impact becomes. This is where visibility meets legacy. This is next on scene. Right, Diego, today we're gonna talk about what you're wearing. So black is a mysterious color. It's power, it's elegant. So what inspired you to wear black today?
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B
I would say it's a very neutral color, so it fits in with pretty much anything. Like, I can wear that anywhere I go. I can combine different colors with black too.
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A
I love this. Is it like your go to where you feel confident in it?
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B
Black and white? I go between black and white and white. If I feel like it's a setting where it's maybe more bright, I get to stand out a little more all white. Or if I want to blend in, I want black.
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A
Yeah. Smart.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Psychology there. I love it. All right, come sit. Okay, so before we get into introducing yourself, we're going to do this part first, but like, I'm creating a red carpet soundtrack based on, like, being in your element because I think music is a very, like, gets us upbeat, excited, all the things. So what are two songs that stand out to you right now in the season of life?
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B
Two songs that stand out that are.
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A
Your go to that make you excited or feel like you're in in the moment.
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B
So I. I love Afro House. Anything. Alpha House has a great beat to it because if you think about it, it's actually a type of song where I can work with the song. I can talk to people while it's playing, and I can dance to it too.
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A
I love this.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Which do you have? Like one particular one that's a favorite or two of them.
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B
Or there's this DJ called Dennis Gold. He's. I found him on YouTube. Incredible sound engineer. Like, this guy knows how to combine music and the sound and the frequency It's. It's amazing music.
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A
So cool.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So cool. Okay, we're gonna have to find that later, but you have to send me a link so I can add it to my soundtrack. Thank you. Okay, so now, Diego, I want to introduce you to my audience. You have such a dynamic background. It's so funny because we're turning the mics today, and I'm so excited to spotlight you because you are such a rock star in what you do. So you have a background creating an H Vac company, which is so impressive at a young age of 20. Right. You were a real estate agent, and now you're a director of marketing for Smart Boston. So through that transition, like, I guess, why H Vac first? And then how that lead you to marketing today?
- [03:00]
B
That's a. That's a good question. I graduated high school, class of 19, and I had a good friend of mine in high school where he and his dad, they actually ran their own business, H Vac. So I actually started by first working for them, and then I realized the business model. I said, this is interesting. You could go into people's houses and pretty much, like, clean up, and within, like, what, maybe an hour or two, make two, 300 bucks. So doing it consistently, I don't know. I'm getting a little nervous right now. My bad.
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A
That's okay.
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B
Little jitters. It brings me back a lot of memories, too. Let me take a pause.
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A
Yeah, we're turning the tables. I love these nerves. This is good nerves.
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B
Yeah. I've never really talked about this. That's probably why.
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A
Oh, my God, I love this.
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B
So H Vac is. Honestly, it chose me. I saw the opportunity because my friend ran the business, and I saw his passion and his dad's passion for the company. And so I worked for them for a bit. And then I realized that you could make a lot of money in that industry, but it's a lot of hustle. So what happened was during the pandemic, his dad, unfortunately, was getting very sick, and he got heart disease and he had a lung cancer. He was, like, 69. Didn't pretty much. Pretty much didn't have much time left. And so my friend, he was 21. I was 20 at the time. He was just thinking, what are we gonna do? Like, he really. He's like the, you know, the principal of the house. He takes care of the bills. He does everything. And he had a little brother, too, that was, like, 14. So he was gonna quit the company. You know, long story short, what happened was his dad, after four Months passed away and he knew his dad was passing away, so he had to find an outlet. So for him, it was literally either selling the business or continuing. But if he continued, he didn't really know how to run it the right way. And then I realized I can go into ventures with this, with this friend of mine. And so I told him the day he was going to let go of the business, I said, let me go 50 50. And then from there I bought in, we rebranded and we kept the legacy going. Then came the real action, like going into the business and getting it started, doing the hard work. I can't tell you, like it was probably 10 hour shifts. The pre launch, when we first decided that we're going to continue the business, we had to pre launch the business. We had pretty much set up how the business would run when the new year would start. So it was around August of 2020, during the pandemic. We were preparing to launch the business by January. So we had all the pre marketing set up, client acquisitions, the software, the marketing strategies, the sales component. I taxes starting a new llc. Like I learned everything at the beginning. Then I realized I, I gotta jump into this because even if I don't know what I'm doing, the process and experience of getting that first business in my resume was so important to one day tell the story. And so then we went all in. Like I quit my job, I had a job with the union, I was making great money. And logically speaking, there's no reason for me to leave. But I took, I took the risk and I had some money saved up where, if any, if anything did happen, I was going to use those savings. Right? And I went all in. And there was no going back. I burned my bridges. And our first year we made like over $100,000.
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A
So. Impressive.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So do you still have an ownership in that at all?
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B
No. So what happened was within that year, 12 months passed of running the business. We made great money. But there was two problems. First, we realized that to start the company, we had to have a vision for it, right? So we had a whiteboard, a big one, and we like wrote down what we wanted to see with the company. We went three months in, we were making great money from the get go and we started to get creative. We started to do things differently than, than what was already working. And that kind of got off, got us off track to the point where for the next nine months we were making a lot of money. But there was no money management skills, no financial literacy skills. So we Mixed friendship with business. And I realized that that wasn't going to work. And so we cut the ties and young kids, two Gen Zs starting a business, like, of course it's going to fail most of the time.
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A
I mean, you did very well in the first year, so give yourself some credit. So you basically then. So once that kind of subsided, so you now went into real estate. Decided, like, this was interesting. I want to explore. But then it led you to. I think it's so interesting that today you interview people about money and finances. So, like, is. Is it because it's also things you want to learn to be better? Because I feel like you. It sounds like you're very good with managing your money. Right? Like, yeah.
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B
So it's definitely a learning process. Because when I realized that starting that H Vac business was something that was going to build experience for me so I can one day tell it, it was literally lack of money management skills and not keeping yourself to the vision why you started in the first place. So then I get my real estate license. I decided to go all in on that. And for three years straight, I was looking at my 1099. I didn't really have that much mentorship and I. I didn't like it. Like, it was a lot of hustle, 70 hours a week. Realized that no matter how little, how much you make, if you have great money management skills, you. You just can't go broke.
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A
Huh? You know, fun fact of the day.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Because I'm not great with that. So we're learning all the things. Yeah.
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B
Yeah.
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A
No inspiring stuff. So, okay. At Smart, tell everyone who doesn't know what Smart Boston is. Like, what is Smart Boston?
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B
Yeah.
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A
And like, yeah. Tell us a little bit more about that.
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B
Let's start there. So Smart Boston was founded in 2023 by my good mentor, Coach Foreign. He's on Instagram. Coach Warren, great mental coach. I've known him for seven years. He had his own culture back then, before Pandemic, where he had whole company for travel. It's a whole culture. And you would. The motto is like, let's say you own a pizza shop, you get free pizza. You work at a gym, you get free gym membership.
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A
Cool.
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B
You work for a travel company, you'll get close to free travel. Almost like discounted travels. So that was the culture we were building. And I went into it at 17. I met him, and he had hundreds of people listening to him, you know, hearing him. And he was the leader of the pack, really. And he tied all the culture to personal Growth and that I was just like, wow, this is it. Maybe this wasn't the funnel to get rich, but doing business with him was. And so as the years went by, guess what happened in 2020, right, the COVID hit. Covet, Right, right. And the big, the biggest industry that got hit was, yeah, the airlines.
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A
So true.
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B
So the travel company completely like just dismantled and went bankrupt. So he had at 1.2.3 thousand active memberships paying every month.
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A
Wow.
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B
And he was getting paid residually.
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A
Unbelievable.
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B
That takes a huge level of leadership that it requires a lot of attention towards your team, towards your people thinking of others. They say, you know, leaders take the initiative and they'll always eat last. So they're always the ones working the hardest, working the latest, and they'll get the least credit if they want it, if they want to get all the credit they could. But as a great leader, you also want to give your power away to other people and let them shine.
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A
I want to follow up on that too. Like mentorship, like, how important are mentors? Like, that's such a huge thing you always talk about. I feel like every time we fuck out.
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B
Yes. So the interesting thing is at Smart Boston, we cultivate a like attributes of leadership where you can actually grow in the community. Whether you like to have fun, we'll do social events. If you want to learn about the mind and the science of achievement is what they say, what makes a person successful? It's not a coincidence that you're here having a podcast and being so successful or your husband Andrew, and like, why do people, why are people so successful? A lot of the times these individuals may not be able to explain to you exactly how they did it, but they could show you how. Right? So in Smart Boston, it's a platform for Gen Z's. By Gen Z's, it's like for the youth to come together and literally wake up. Like, there's a lot of things going out, there's a lot of things happening right on the economy that we are, we're pretty much like on the wrong side of the table. What I mean by that is if you play poker, right, maybe the audience may not know how to play poker, but you have the dealer that deals the cards and you're dealt with stack of hands. Like, this is your hand. If it's a great hand, you can play well. And if you have a bad hand, you can still play well. So the analogy is, you know, we were dealt with a bad hand in the economy, the fiat system, the money printer, the way the government is, you know, manipulating the money, and everything is just getting more expensive for us. So we were dealt with the wrong hand, but doesn't mean we can't win.
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A
Right.
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B
So we're in this space to really educate about money, the psychology of money, personal growth, and do it in a fun way, where we do social events and we meet great people.
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A
So cool. I just. And also, like, I want to talk about how you go up to random people all the time and do interviews. Like, what is that experience like to people that aren't nice? I'm sure you get a mixed bag of people, right? Can you talk about that a little bit? And they're so quick, too. Like, you get the juicy stuff in, like, 60 seconds. It's impressive. Like, I want to commend you for that.
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B
I appreciate that. Yeah, I definitely saw that there's maybe a lack of recognition from Boston all around the States. Like, all these big cities that people go to. A lot of talent leaves Boston to go to these big cities to make it there. And I was just like, there's really nothing in Boston happening that could put it on the map. And with these interviews, I realized I got inspired by the school of Hard Knocks. He's from Dallas, Texas. You probably know who he lives.
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A
I've totally heard of him before. I know who you're talking about.
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B
Yeah, he was interviewing, like, billionaires and millionaires. And when I was on my 100th interview, like, I passed a threshold of over a hundred interviews. I was like, something was happening in my life where it wasn't allowing me to do more interviews. I was going to a whole different identity where everything was shifting my life. So it was just disturbing. And I knew I had to keep powering through the interviews because that was. That's what's gonna make me go to the next level. And so there was a day where I really felt like I wanted to give up. Like, I was like, why am I doing this? I don't know why I'm doing this, but my subconscious, my imagination, the vision of smart boss. And I said, I'm doing this for a reason. I'm building this for a reason. So I went even harder. And that week, I got to meet School of Hard Knocks on Newberry Street. I saw him there spontaneously, and I was with my other partner, Ale. She saw him. I didn't. I just passed by him. I didn't even realize it was him. I saw the guy with the camera behind him, and I was like, oh, cool camera. But Hard Knocks was right there, and Then Ale looks at me like, shakes me real hard. Hey, that's him. That's him. And I was like, who? She scared the hell out of me. And then we look back, and it was hard knocks right there.
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A
So cool.
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B
And then at that point, I was like, oh, that's perfect. I go do the interview, and at that point, I realized that you could literally do anything you want. You know, it's just about overcoming that fear barrier. And I can't tell you how many times I felt fear of walking to strangers. But over repetition and doing it so many times, then I. I realize it's. It's just a lack of repetition.
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A
Right. But also, what do you have to lose? They're gonna, like, you're going in thinking they're gonna decline, but if they say yes, it's like, oh, my God. I can get. Like, I saw one of the ones where you were following a guy driving in a car, and I was laughing. I was like, the fact that you got. That was so impressive.
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B
Like, yes.
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A
It's just really creative. So I would say that was probably one of your favorite interviews. Like, not like, in terms of people. Do they politely just say no? Like, is that kind of like, oh, I' trusted or.
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B
So a lot of. So here's the thing. The. The human mind doesn't like to be rejected. Even if, you know you do it so many times, you still kind of get hurt. Like, totally rejected, totally fair. I. I really. People really don't like to get rejected. Yeah.
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A
But you're also talking about a vulnerable topic.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You know, that not a lot of people like to talk about, which is why it's needed to be talked about, by the way. So I want to commend you for that. But I think, like, going up and talking about money is something that it's not a comfortable conversation, especially to a random person. Like, you're going to ask me much. I made, like, it's just fascinating. So I've been really enjoying just saying, like, following. It's been very impressive. So. Okay. That aside, such an impressive resume. I want to talk about the story you were telling me about before moving into your dream apartment. And, like, you were questioning, like, can I afford this? Can I do this? And then once you took that leap of faith, like, I want to talk about that mentality that you had, because I feel like it's so inspiring to share because I think we've all had that. Maybe not just in that experience, but in real life.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So can you talk about that for sure.
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B
I realized to Change not only myself in my environment. So I had to take that leap. And my mentor, coach, foreign, he was looking for apartments, and he gave me the opportunity, and he chose me first. He was going to. He had other people in line, but he had me as. As like, the person to really lock in with. And at first, I was hesitant. I told him, I don't. I don't know about that. I got to see my finances and all this and that, and I made excuses in my mind. I had to generalize information, delete and distort, right? So I couldn't believe that I could be here. And so then over time, I realized. And he kept casting vision to me and kept trying to tell me, like, giving me the nudge to, like, hey, you can grow. You can keep going. You can go further. Until one day, I just had a breakthrough, and I said, you know, I'm tired of living this way. I'm tired of being this version of myself. And so I took that leap of faith, and I told him, all right, I'm in. And it was only two months of preparation, so I had 60 days to prepare to move out. So I go to my parents one day, and I'm like, hey, Ma, I'm moving out in, like, 60 days. And they were so surprised. They're like, what? Like, I didn't tell anybody right until that day. And then I. We started looking for apartments right as the. As the day was coming up, I realized, you know, we went to all these great places, and for 40 days, this was ironic. Before I even knew I was moving out. I kept writing on my note card. I do affirmations. I kept writing on my note card, penthouse Lifestyle. Because the. The mind, what it does is it creates your reality as you go through life. Because if you imagine something for a very long time and you have desire over it, it will crystallize into reality, is what they say.
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A
I love the writing, too. I'm huge writer.
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B
Yes.
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A
Yeah.
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B
So good. Yeah. And so then I kept writing penthouse lifestyle for 40 days plus, until eventually it was time for us to choose the apartments. We went to, like, five, six locations, and we were like, all right, this is the one. This is the one. So we got this building, and it was a little side apartment, like, right next to Drift on that side. But it was a great start, right? We go in. We do the tour, and I'm going in there, and my subconscious is rejecting everything. Like, my mind tells me, yeah, this is a good start, but my heart says, this is now where I want to be. It was a great, great start. It was like maybe 900 square feet a little around there. And it had no balcony, had just windows. The ocean, you can kind of see it on the side. And my mentor, coach, Coach Warren, he was kind of like, he was like, yeah, this, we can do this, right? A good start. Mentally, I wasn't there, but subconsciously I knew I wanted that penthouse. So we went that weekend. We applied. For me, for some reason, the documents weren't working. It wasn't uploading. I called my. The property manager, hey, I have issues with this software. I don't know what's happening. And for three days straight, I couldn't apply. And she was telling me, you know, if you take a little too long to apply, it might, you might not have it. And it was one of very few in that building. And so I was like, are we really going to lose this? Until one day I had a caller. I'm like, hey, you know, I don't know what's happening, but maybe can I do it in person or whatever. I finally got all the documents set up right? Day three, I'm in there and I'm applying. But for the hell of it, I said, let me just look at the website again. Let me see what's there. So I found another unit, top floor, right in the middle of the buildings, ocean front view. We applied, I had everything ready and like within two, three days, we get accepted.
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A
Unbelievable.
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B
I had no idea I was going to do this, this quickly just by writing on an O card.
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A
Yeah. Inspiring, you know, so inspiring. So the takeaway from that give us a one sentence takeaway from that is.
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B
The one takeaway from that is definitely keep affirming into your life what is it that you want from life the most?
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A
And writing. Writing and dreaming on it. I love that so much. Love that.
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B
Yes.
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A
Okay. I want to play game time with you.
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B
Sure.
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A
Netflix or cable?
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B
Netflix.
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A
Do you have a favorite show?
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B
I haven't watched a lot of shows, but if I had to choose one big anime guy. Okay. Demon Slayer. Cool.
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A
Yeah, I just hung out with somebody else that told me they love anime. I love that. Save or spend?
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B
If I get to choose spend.
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A
Networking event or solo? Brainstorm.
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B
Solo.
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A
I like it. Early bird or night owl?
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B
Say early bird is for sure perfect.
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A
Mentor or peer collaboration?
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B
Mentor.
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A
I love it. Okay. Rapid fire questions. One word to describe Gen Z right now.
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B
Delusional.
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A
Okay. Most underrated skill in business.
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B
Human behavior.
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A
Ooh, dream person to collaborate with.
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B
Elon Musk.
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A
I love that. Yeah, he's definitely A person to know. Best piece of advice you ever received.
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B
Best piece of advice. Oof. I have many.
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A
Think of one that stands out to you.
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B
It's by Tony Robbins. He said that there's a difference in your physiology, how you stand, and it's a difference of 2 millimeters from looking down, having posture down, or having your posture up. You keep your chest up and you look up, you will naturally gravitate more energy into you and you'll feel more certain. So a lot of people go through life with maybe fear, uncertainty, doubt, and those emotions drag you into this posture. If you break out of that, you just have to change your way of being, you know, your posture. Good.
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A
I just got more postured. Thank you. That was really good. Okay, finish the sentence. Next on scene for me is.
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B
Next on scene for me is going to the next social event.
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A
I love this. Brilliant. Okay, so when people look back at your journey, how do you want them to remember Diego Andres?
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B
I would like them to remember me as somebody who was average, that says above average things because everybody is the same. It's just a mere like, the only difference is repetition. How many times are you reading these books or listening to these people or learning about a certain craft? The only difference between somebody average and great or outstanding is their number of repetitions.
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A
I see you such an analytical brain. I'm like analyzing how you're answering things.
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B
I love it.
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A
Like, so detailed. First of all, you're way above average. You are a great human. So you want to be remembered as a great human.
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B
For sure.
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A
Okay.
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B
For sure.
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A
I love that.
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B
Yes. And I would say it's putting Boston on the map with the interviews and bringing out the best of people.
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A
I love that. Love that.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Thanks for watching. You can shop all my holiday hosting essentials, including the bar cart warmers, leftover containers, charcuterie gift ideas, and so much more right at creatorsoul IO wayfair/jackiezook. Happy hosting and happy holidays. I'm here to give you your red carpet moment. So follow us on all our podcast channels on any stream from iheartradio Spotify. If you just type in next on scene, the human behind the brand. Or you can also follow us on all our social media channels at Next on scene. Can't wait for you to come on this journey with us. Your say is very impactful as an audience member. So come along for the ride and we are going to all evolve together and we can't wait for you to see who's next on scene.