Tom Leveen - Author, Teacher and Speaker on being a creative, overcoming challenges, and finding ways to stay true to your goals

In this episode I chat with Mike Johnson. He's a fellow podcast host who also appeared on Tea with Gary V. We chat about how he came up with the idea for his podcast, what challenges he's faced, and why it's so important for you to put yourself out into the world.  You never know who's listening, reading, or scrolling, and we live in an era where anyone of us can reach the world with a phone and an internet connection.  We also talk about the importance of figuring out your overarching goals and not tying your success, identity, or self-esteem to a singular vessel of delivering on that goal. Listen for more details.  Enjoy! 

Today's episode is my full-length interview with Pauleanna Reid. She is a motivational speaker, millennial mentor, celebrity CEO, ghostwriter, and critically acclaimed author of her fiction novel Everything I Couldn't Tell My Mother.  This interview is all about how someone who failed her 11th and 12th grade English classes monumentally succeeded in the art of writing. Pauleanna shares exactly how she got from point A to point B with unique and practical advice.  Pauleanna offers a lot of insight in this interview on topics that affect all of us: we talk about why our culture and generation struggles so much to fulfill ourselves through work and how to fix it. We talk about how she took the leap from dropping out of college to starting her own businesses.  And we also talk about how to reframe your past experiences and how to navigate things like mental health, networking, mentorship, etc.  Pauleanna is a rock star and there's so much to learn from her in this interview! 

In this short clip, I chat with Pauleanna Reid, an accomplished author, public speaker, and mentor about passion and purpose.  If you're struggling to figure out your sense of purpose or what you're really passionate about this episode is for you. Not only does Pauleanna give examples from her own career, but she also makes some really important practical distinctions about passion and purpose in today's culture. Pauleanna really nails it when describing why our culture and generation really struggle with fulfilling ourselves through our work and how you can overcome that challenge! 

In this short clip, Pauleanna Reid talks about how she got her first client for celebrity ghostwriting. It came by way of a mentor and further demonstrates how important it is to have mentors and sponsors in your life. because if you execute against their advice, they can connect you with the right opportunities.  Pauleanna also worked as an executive assistant in an early part of her career. She didn't realize it, but she was actually doing ghostwriting for the CEO's that she was assisting. You never know how a previous job can contribute to a new opportunity, so it's really important to reexamine your past experiences and not be afraid to reposition them to figure out how they might fit something that's been presented to you. 

In this short clip, I chat with Pauleanna Reid, an accomplished author, public speaker, and mentor about how she vaulted herself into the world of professional writing.  The story she shares is really important for everybody to hear. She met with a mentor. She executed the mentor's advice over a long period of time and it turned into a bigger opportunity for her. She talks about the distinction between self-worth and market value.  You may know that you're a really strong writer, programmer, etc. but if the market doesn't know about your capabilities, you're not going to get connected with the right opportunities.  There is another layer to building the skill set: it's exposure and it's putting yourself out there to the world and giving the market a chance to adopt you for whatever skill set you have.  

In this full-length interview, I chat with Tom Levine. Tom is an author, teacher, and speaker. He's written for Spawn, he's published novels, and one of his books just got picked up for a movie script.  In this conversation, we talk about how Tom got to where he is today and how it's a little bit difficult to be a creative when you're putting out work into the world. We talk about overcoming challenges and finding vessels for your overarching goals. Tom talks about a day in his life, and he gives a lot of really great practical advice for young writers, experienced writers, and people who are just interested in creative endeavors.  Tom's been doing this for a long time and he's found a lot of success so I'm really excited for this episode. 

In this short clip, I chat with author Tom Levine, about how one of his books got picked up for a movie script. He talks about how that came about, but more importantly, he talks about how he doesn't expect this to be a big box office hit. What he is trying to do is just pilot and test something new to see if it might be an opportunity for him in the future and our full interview we talk about how his overarching goal is to be a storyteller.  Tom is really good at is executing a number of different formats for that storytelling to see if something will catch on and to leverage that experience.  I love Tom's perspective when it comes to meeting his larger goals and it can be applied to any field. Always be testing. Always be learning. Always stay humble. 

In this short clip, I chat with author Tom Levine, about how he came into a gig writing for the comic book Spawn. This gig was a really big deal and reveals a very important career growth trick hack tip: what's important about Tom getting this gig is it was partially because of someone he knew, but it was mostly about the fact that that person knew Tom's abilities, and knew what he was interested in.  You could be the best author or the best anything in this world, but if nobody knows your intentions and your goals, they're never going to think of you when an opportunity arises.  Tom's story is such a practical example of that working out in his favor. 

In today's short clip. I chat with author Tom Levine. Tom has been really successful in his career so far - he's written for Spawn, he's published novels and one of his books just got picked up for a movie script.  One of the narratives that emerge in my conversation with Tom is that he's always adapting to new environments and he's continually testing different channels and formats. This is unique advice that I don't hear a lot from creatives and I think anybody who's aspiring to be an author, a communicator, or a content creator needs to hear this advice. 

In today’s episode, I chat with Cassidy Petit, a recent UVM graduate who’s working for Hula, a new co-working space and tech accelerator being constructed to build a community that fosters economic growth in Burlington, Vermont. The company has a big mission: to put Burlington, Vermont on the map as a hub for start-ups and technology companies. Cassidy is at the center of this as she’s responsible for marketing and operations and making sure the existing community of Burlington and its students know what opportunities are available. We share her story of how she found herself in this position after originally intending to go into social work. The opportunity for her to contribute to her community in a slightly different way presented itself and she took it on. Her story is one of focusing on the process, not the outcome, and of not being afraid to take on new challenges. We talk about how Burlington, VT is a great place to work and live, and how we both share the goal of spreading that message to retain more students and attract more people to the state.