Black is Beautiful

Christmas trees are big business in NYC. Running a tree lot takes grit and experience, and even then, it's a tough network to break into. All of the lots in the city are divided into separate territories, owned by only a handful of entrepreneurs. We spent the day working for NYC's busiest Christmas tree seller on Greg Walsh's busiest day of the year to better understand the wild logistics behind NYC’s Christmas tree economy and the tumultuous history of running a lot in this city. Get the Side Hustle Ideas Database: https://clickhubspot.com/ogv

Often called the Oscars of the food industry, the James Beard Foundation Awards are among the most coveted for chefs in America. But what's sold and packaged as prestige can sometimes become a distraction from managing the business that got you there. Host Matt Brown is joined by The New York Times food critic Brett Anderson & chef Chintan Pandya (Dhamaka, Semma, Adda, Unapologetic Foods) to learn that an award can not only change a winner's life but an entire industry as a whole.

Every year, the US throws out roughly 125 million tennis balls. That's enough to fill 21 Boeing 737s to the brim. And until recently, tennis balls were impossible to recycle. That's right, every ball ever produced would eventually end up in a landfill where it could take 400 years to decompose. But no more. The Hustle’s Matthew Brown visits West Virginia to track down what happens to tennis balls when they die. Check out The Hustle’s Side Hustles Database: https://offers.hubspot.com/side-hustle-ideas-database  Get the 5-minute newsletter keeping 2M+ innovators in the loop.

Watch any major awards ceremony. Not right now. You’re busy. But what those keen couple of eyes of yours will quickly notice is the way the camera moves. You can also see it on every reality tv, news, and competition show. In fact, once you see it, you'll never stop noticing it. And while the big, sweeping camera technique of these jibs might be etched into our collective brain matters at this point, this way we experience a production wasn’t even possible until the 1990s. The Growth Show is a special series brought to you by The Hustle Daily Show about how to grow a business, an idea, or a movement. Hosted by Matthew Brown.

Let's face it: Smoking is just f--ing cool. Run go watch any of the biggest films and tv from the past year. What do you notice? They all feature cigarettes and vapes. The dangers of smoking are well documented. But today, many Gen Z who try e-cigarettes remain e-cigarette users (CDC). So we talk with a new company called Blip about how they plan to un-hook an entire generation. The Growth Show is a special series brought to you by The Hustle Daily Show // Hosted and produced by Matthew Brown.

We're back -- now in special series form! That's right, the show you love and let stand in your podcast feeds returns for an all new run of growth stories. So here's how it works: New episodes launch on our cousin podcast The Hustle Daily Show. About a week later, you can catch the second wave over here on our original feed. Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Show to get new episodes when they drop (and your fair shake of business news each morning while you're at it). Our first episode back takes a dive into the mechanical wave pool of the future. Aventuur is planning to develop surf resorts in 11 cities across North America. But for their hefty price tag, success will take more than a perfect wave on demand. Hosted & produced by Matthew Brown // Previously released on The Hustle Daily Show // You're the best.

Kevin Kelly is a futurist and co-founder of Wired Magazine. His latest article looks at augmented reality's role in our future lives, in a world he calls the Mirror World. Kevin talks about how business leaders can be better futurists, and why it's not about being right but being ready.

Following the death of George Floyd, Minnesota Freedom Fund found itself in the international spotlight. Over 900 thousand donations, from around the globe, came pouring in. And celebrity endorsements from folks like Mark Ruffalo guided their followers on how to help support protesters. As Greg Lewin quickly found out, he needed to not only scale operations at Minnesota Freedom Fund fast but maintain the integrity of its important mission to end discriminatory, coercive, and oppressive jailing.

On a global scale, women only hold 29 percent of senior management positions. Not to make any sweeping assumptions, but that’s a far cry from gender equality. But 29 percent is also the highest percentage ever recorded in that category. And it’s thanks to folks like Mia Perdomo and Andrea de la Piedra -- the co-founders and co-CEOs of Aequales. Their consulting firm provides tools for closing gender gaps in the workplace in Latin America.

Marcus Baskerville created Black is Beautiful -- a collaborative beer initiative amongst the brewing community and its customers -- in an attempt to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face daily. And you can now find this open source beer at 1,158 breweries, in 50 states, and 21 countries. And As someone who has personally dealt with the abuse of power by the police, this recent turmoil the country is facing has hit home for Marcus.