EP 101 Incorporating Multiple Passions into One Brand with Sumi Krishnan
Our guest this week is Sumi Krishnan. Sumi is an artist, an activist and an entrepreneur currently living in Nashville. A serial entrepreneur by nature, she spent her 20's building a mulit-million dollar consulting firm with 100's of employees serving healthcare and national security missions.
In her 30's, Sumi took a deep dive into wellness, human potential and trying to figure out what it takes to impact large social problems and trying to create a more equitable world. She's currently launching a new business called Conscious Life with aims to create positive impact in all these areas.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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Sumi Krishnan Awarepreneurs Interview
SPEAKERS
Sumi Krishnan, Paul Zelizer
Paul Zelizer 00:06
Hi, this is Paul Zelizer. Welcome to another episode of The Awarepreneurs Podcast. This podcast is all about the intersection of three things conscious business, social impact, and awareness practices. Each episode I do a deep dive interview with the thought leader in this intersection, someone who has market tested experience and is already transforming many lives. Before I introduce today's guests and our topic, I have one favorite ask if you could go over to iTunes or whatever app you're listening to subscribe and do a rating. We'd really appreciate it really helps our guests get their message out there people find our community and all those good algorithmic things. So today, I am thrilled to introduce you to Sumi Krishnan. And our topic today is incorporating multi passions into one brand. Nobody in this community ever has to deal with anything like that. I'm kidding. So many in our community are dealing with this I'm super excited to ask sue me about how she's doing that and her tips for success. Before I do that, let me tell you a little bit about sue me. Sue me, Krishna is an artist and activist and an entrepreneur currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, a serial entrepreneur by nature, she spent her 20s, building a multibillion dollar consulting firm with hundreds of employees serving healthcare and national security missions in her 30s. So far, she's not that far into her 30s she took a deep dive into wellness human potential, trying to figure out what it really takes to impact large scale public problems and create a more equitable world. She's doing social impact work. She's currently launching a new brand called conscious life, which aims to create impact in all these areas. And as far as I know, we may have the scoop on this. I'm not sure that anybody's ever heard it before us. Super excited to talk to you. Sue me. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Paul, it's really great to be here with you. So you've done some things in your life. And we're going to talk about some more things that you're bringing into the world that I'm really excited about. Yes, we do that before we do that. We're called the where printers and you're really interested increasingly so in wellness and human potential and bringing your best self into the impact work. What's one practice that you personally do that helps resource you for having that kind of positive impact day after day, week after week? Oh, I love this great, great question. I'm sure all of yours will be great questions. I have so many practices that
Sumi Krishnan 02:30
You know, over the years, I've just had to commit to you know, and whenever I slip from them, you I feel the impact, like more and more apparently, um, if I were just to pick one, I would say my daily meditation practice. I, you know, now I've gotten into a really good routine of you know, I wake up, I make myself a cup of coffee, after I drink my coffee, usually outside on the front porch, I will meditate. And usually for about 30 minutes. But it's really for me a practice in surrender and having faith in higher power and allowing in my life, whatever is coming and you know, controlling less
Paul Zelizer 03:16
We're going to talk about conscious life and all this great stuff you have. But to give a little bit of perspective, I think it's really helpful. Just people get a sense of you and what you've been up to in your work and want to wind it back a little bit, you know, kind of two snapshots as I was like getting Who is this web edit, she's done some cool things. There's a lot of them, right. But two, in particular, talk to us a little bit about what led to this company literally had hundreds of people working with healthcare and national security space, consulting and stuff. And, you know, you weren't that old.
Sumi Krishnan 03:53
Right, that happened pretty quickly. Talk to us about that story. Now. What led to that? Well, it wasn't it wasn't unusual situation. You know, I was a I'm a you know, Indian American woman in my early 20s. Or, you know, in the government contracting space with peers, mostly, you know, older white men, double my age. So it was an interesting path to navigate. But what led to that was really what we don't have that much time but I sometimes tell this funny story of how I actually wanted to be a dancer and through a weird butterfly effect, you know, confluence of events, I ended up getting kicked out of my University's Career Services Program which led me not to have in in an internship availability and to me deciding to start my own company. And so it's it's really funny when you know how when you connect the dots backwards, you see meaning in things and understand like when I when I first got kicked out for basically quitting an internship that I hated. I thought at that time being 19 years old or 17 I was I was like, Oh my God, my life is over, I'm never able to get a job and make up all these worst case scenarios in your head and believe them, right? But really, that led me down this path to creating this thriving company that I never would have thought I never would have thought of actually being an entrepreneur, if it weren't for that experience. So nice. So you're 19 you get or whatever you get kicked out of this internship, you're like, well, I should probably just start my own thing. And like, kind of play it forward a leader, you're an Indian American woman in this space full of mostly white guys. And like, well, Funny enough, like I did have a mentor in the space, which who was my father, who I basically grew up watching my father start a company with his brother in the government contracting space. And so they manufactured communication switches, and they sold these fiber optic switches to one of their biggest customer was the US Navy. And so all their comms equipment was were on these Navy ships. So I kind of saw the world of, you know, providing products and services to government and agencies. And I had an idea of like, how you go about doing that. And so, I actually wrote a business plan around starting a wedding planning company, and showed it to my dad. And basically, you know, I had no idea how to write a business plan, I really didn't know what I was doing. And I was just trying to do something this summer, since I didn't have an internship. And he, he looks at my business plan. He's poking holes in it. And he's like, Well, you know, what, this, this wedding planning company has a bunch of, you know, I don't know, your business plan isn't really well thought out. But hey, I have an idea for you, why don't you start in an IT services company, and contract to the government, and I can help show you how to do that. And so you know, I do give a lot of credit to him sort of paving the way and being my mentor, without his support, you know, I wouldn't have been able to create that company, or even really understand how in the world you go about doing that. So that's, you know, sort of the story of how it happened.
Paul Zelizer 07:07
I see you and your dad because of this idea. And you're like, let's say early 20s now and like, like, how did it start? And like it like you're doing networks? Or like, what are we talking here?
Sumi Krishnan 07:20
Yeah, so Okay, so I had majored in electrical engineering as an undergrad. And I had a bunch of friends who were also really like, technical minded people. And so the first thing I did was I put together our company's sort of, you know, like brochure of offerings, right. And I remember, I had no idea what I was doing. I think I was, I was 19 when I started this. So I'm, like putting together the brochure of offerings. And like, well, I'll just ask everybody I know. And there's actually so much brilliance in this, like, when I think back, right, because it's how you start anything, it's like, utilizing the resources in front of you already in creative ways, right? So I was like, well, I'll just ask all my friends to contribute their skill set. So we like wrote up a brochure, and it was like, we this company that I was starting called k four could do all of the things that my friends could do individually, right, like database administration, website design, you know, c++ programming, all the things back then in 2001, that were like cutting edge technology. Um, and so we really just started by that. And then I would go in my little, you know, pant suits and heels, as I felt like I was playing dress up and go talk to talk to people at at, you know, the Small Business offices of these major agencies, like, you know, Homeland Security and health, health and human services and partment of interior, and I would go make appointments to meet their small business reps, and, you know, talk to them about all these things that my company could do. And, you know, I knew I had the resources, like, if we were actually kept for a job, I would, I would ask my friends to come on board. So it sort of started like that. But um, you know, Funny enough, the first major contract we got was a contract to support the one 800 Medicare support line. So basically, I ended up, you know, pitching our company, as somebody who could support this hotline, but the it was a subcontract. And we had to prove that we knew, you know, the future of Medicare, and I remember like going to this presentation and the speaker was like, Don't come to us don't send in a proposal if you if you can't say that you fully understand where medical Medicare is going and what the future of Medicare is, and of course, no future of Medicare, you know, like, again, young 20 something and, but it resourcefulness like again. And that was I feel like that was the key to everything. I just, I just never thought there was something that I couldn't figure out, you know, and so, I remember actually just meeting somebody who was working For a Medicare Think Tank, like somebody at a, like happy hour or something that was that was my friends and, and so I was like, Oh, you work for a Medicare think tank? Can you help me with this proposal that I'm writing and you know, I didn't have any money to pay him or anything. So it's always like, Hey, you know, if we if we were to win this, I'll happily give you a cut of you know, the work that we went on the back end. And so he was more than happy to, to pitch in. And he went with the, with me to the to the pitch presentation. And we ended up winning this contract where we had to hire 75 people in two weeks and have them trained and ready to go. So I feel like you,
Paul Zelizer 10:38
And you're off and running. Wow. Wow. And this is this is K bar consulting. And this eventually became a company with hundreds of employees and consultants, and you wound up on Inc magazine's 30 Under 30 list eventually, because of the rapid trajectory of that company.
Sumi Krishnan 10:58
Funny about that, Paul, which I've never told anyone before. I'm sitting here today, I was getting a kick out of this, I was so embarrassed to be on that Inc 30 under 30 list. And you know why? Because one of my team members pitched me for it. But I was not sharing my age with anybody like I was so trying to pretend during those times, which is not healthy, by the way for anyone. But I was so trying to pretend that I was older than I was my entire career that I didn't want anyone to know that I was under 30. And like the mullet but you know, Young Entrepreneur was not a big sexy thing like it is right now. And so like I was like trying to pretend that I was Oh, at least like in my 30s. And when I got when I got on that list, I was like I remember feeling sick to my stomach because I was like, No, no, everyone will know.
Paul Zelizer 11:54
So funny. And you're we didn't put the context. But if you didn't get it listeners, obviously you're in Washington, DC area while this is all going on. Right?
Sumi Krishnan
Right? Exactly. Yes.
Paul Zelizer 12:04
Cool. So fast power levels that give the sense of semi background listeners, just I like to joke about my spiritual highlight or a couple things I'd circle here, just the way you you networked semi. That's one thing, your willingness to go like being conversation and not feel like you had to wait until you knew it all. But get into conversation, figure out what the people that you want to serve, in this case, the government agencies that you wanted the contract what they needed. And then the second thing I wanted to like draw a spiritual highlighter, you know, around is your willingness to engage people rather than try to learn it all or know it all yourself you really quick. They're like, I got these friends or here's this guy who knows about Medicare and boom, and suddenly you're at 75 people because you engage people in the conversation and found a win win situation really early on, and I just like, celebrate you and so appreciate that kind of non siloed thinking. Ah,
Sumi Krishnan 13:03
Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out.
Paul Zelizer 13:05
Nice. Alright, so let's fast forward to getting to this where So somewhere along the way that sold you made a bunch of money they k fours like in other hands now, right?
Sumi Krishnan 13:15
Yeah, that's right. Mm hmm.
Paul Zelizer 13:18
You moved to Nashville, right. Somewhere along the way music enters the space. Wow, you guys. I'll put a link to send me music site. But somewhere along the way, you're like doing music and like you move to Nashville, like I'm gonna do this artists music activist thing. And Nashville is the place to do it. When did that happen?
Sumi Krishnan 13:36
Yeah, so it's funny music entered the scene. When I was like five years old. I remember seeing a commercial remember the the Mickey Mouse Club? Totally. I remember seeing it commercial for auditions for the Mickey Mouse Club. And we're like running up to my mom and our little house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shouting up to her, she at the top of the stairs. I was at the bottom and I was like, Mom, you know, I just saw these this commercial for this audition. I really want to try out and she's like, Uh huh. Okay, like probably dealing with my other three sisters running, running, uh, creating rockets in the house. And nothing ever happened with that. Suffice it to say, but I've always had this like flair for and desire to, you know, express myself in that way and be a singer and be an artist and be an actor, and you know, just kind of have this flair that, to be honest, I never was able to, like give energy to until I made it a priority, you know, and for so many years and I was focused on building you know, my first company pay for I was sort of like, it didn't understand how I could have time for anything else. And I got to the point where I realized you know what, like, this passion inside of me that's been this, this essence really, ever since I can remember. I don't want to just keep squishing it down. Like I need to find a way to also allow this to be part of my life, you know, and I feel like a lot of people feel that way, but somehow keep following the path of what's, you know, logical or what we should do. And I think that what's so cool is that I finally found a way to kind of integrate and allow all of the the true essence of who I am, to be honest, wasn't really a government contracting executive, you know, although I really believe in and I'm proud of the work that we did there, I feel like for me, personally, so much more of my essence is encompassed in, in in being an artist and having that creative expression. And on top of that, though, like, and, and I hope that this gives permission to everyone listening, to know that, you know, just because like, for example, just because I have this creative expression and artistry that I want to allow and express out into the world, that doesn't mean that then I can't do anything else, you know. And so like, I also have a deep passion for what's going on in the world right now, and how to actually impact change and move the needle on some of these most pressing issues. And after being 15 years in DC, and really feeling like I got an inside view of how all these things come together, and what programs end up getting funded and what don't, and where we're putting our money toward and who's, you know, who are the winners and losers. In this sort of current system, I really felt this deep passion to go and like do do something about it, and not just be, you know, at the effect of all these things. And also not just be complaining about it, right. Like, I think that was a major point where I realized, you know, what I want to find a way to because when I was in DC, I was basically implementing programs that were already funded and decided, right, and so there was a lot of good work that we did, but I was not on the, on the other end of the stick, or I'm helping to decide what gets funded, right? How these programs Yeah, we're, we're putting the money and what we're gonna actually decide to support. And so I came to the point where I was, like, I knew I wanted to have more of an impact on that side of the stick and, and design these policies, and I went to get a master's in public policy to to understand more about that world. And then just last, just this year, actually, about four or five months ago, I moved this seems like a bit longer than Matt apparently. But I moved to, to Nashville to to find a home for all these things, which I'm like, almost like, I still get goosebumps, because I can't even believe it's, it's true, you know, but I've put together all of these various ideas that I never saw congruent, you know, my desire to create an expression through music, and songwriting and singing. And then this, this desire to actually impact public policy. And then this like, penchant for just being an entrepreneur and like, you know, leadership development and personal development, all those things coming kind of coming together. In one new brand, which as you teased at the beginning, is the first time I'm ever speaking publicly about
Paul Zelizer 18:07
Ooh, we got the scoop.
Yeah, so we're gonna talk about conscious life in just a second. But I want to just pause for a second semi as somebody that I think a lot of our listeners could relate to your story like the artist, musician, the activist, the entrepreneur, like, there's a lot of heads in this community nodding right now. expression of that, you know, everybody's got a different expression of that. But those three themes, they're pretty. I would just say, I know our community well enough to know, there's some heads nodding right now, before we talk about the specific way you've brought them together, and the offerings and all the things we do on the show, and somebody's still in that place where it feels a little disjointed. Like sometimes they wonder if they're a little skits, a phrenic. Like, I had this career doing that, actually in a web printers in our, in our community the other day, actually, I quoted Joseph Campbell, or some quote about we must be willing to let go of the life we imagined to step into the life that's waiting for us or something like that. And I said, So what are some of your careers and we had, Oh, my gosh, you should have seen that thread. It was so awesome, right? Oh, every like everything from like artist and activist and entrepreneur, and I was a corporate marketer, and I started the restaurant I was a tantric companion. I mean, you name it, like it was like, like full spectrum, right? So if somebody's still in a place that they're not yet it's still feels like it's scattered or they're they're trying to make sense of how they might bring it into sort of all the dogs in the harness pulling the sled in one direction, the way you're going to be sharing with us in a second. What would you say to that person who's still feeling a little disjointed in their various passions?
Sumi Krishnan 19:51
I mean, the first thing is to really evaluate where you are right? Because I think what a lot of us do is we we have various passions and then where we are doesn't even have to do with any of those passions. I don't know, I don't know if any of your listeners can relate to this, but a lot of us go, you know, like, if you're working, for example, if you're working a job you aren't aligned with or that you don't even, like, you know, that doesn't have to do with where you truly want to be spending your time, I think the first thing to do ask yourself why you're doing that, you know? And is there a way that you can start including even one of, you know, your your passions into is a side hustle? Or is it something where you can start to get some proof of concept that may be there's other paths out there, right? Like, I mean, the whole time I was building k four, I didn't really feel like it was my passion, and, you know, granite things, I firmly believe that, like things follow their natural course. And the timing of what happened with me and K four was, was, was aligned and perfect. And I needed that time to actually figure out what it was that I was going to do next. Right. But like, I think the thing is, now we have such like opportunity at our fingertips to create businesses in new creative ways with a direct to consumer access, like it's never been, it's never been like this in the history of the world so far that we are able to access, you know, however many people are on social media, why? Like almost 2 billion people? Um, I don't know, the numbers don't get me.
Paul Zelizer 21:27
A lot of fucking humans right?
Sumi Krishnan 21:33
In reach and talk to those people, there are no barriers, right? Like, and when you're talking about creating a business, it's offering value to other people, right? So if we like dumb it down to those basic constructs, then you think like, well, you really do have the flexibility to create a brand, right? That kind of houses. And honestly, like, I've just gone through this process. So you know, I'm, I'm so happy now to be able to express it. And if anybody wants to talk to me personally about it, I'm happy to go go deeper one on one. But, you know, if we have the ability to create a brand, a home, I say, right, that actually incorporates all the things that we're passionate about in new creative ways that will add value to other people's lives. Like, how cool is that? You know, and a lot of the constraints of the past are actually gone. You know, of course, there's new constraints and new issues that come up with with this new technology and new environment that we're in, but I think, more than ever, now, we have an opportunity to embrace what's in front of us. And like, it's like, if you've been thinking about something, but not doing it, like now's the time people, you know, that's my advice, like, now is the time, it's all possible now. Yeah, no. And then the cool thing is, the other thing that I realized is kind of something that you implied, Paul, in the beginning that, you know, there's so many people in your community, for example, who have this, some kind of combination of, you know, an artistic expression with a desire to, you know, impact social issues, as well as an entrepreneur, side to them and a desire for, you know, personal development and spiritual practices and things like that. And it's like, if you are somebody with all of these multiple passions and multiple interests, then it's like, you know, there are other people with things like that, too, who would be attracted to the community that you build that incorporates all those things.
Paul Zelizer 23:33
I just want to highlight that some of you who've been listening for a while know where printers is really getting a lot of traction. And it comes from lots of conversation, but also, somewhat, um, I didn't know how to integrate them at the time, but experience of being more like an activist and doing community work and being really interested in mindfulness and awareness and other things like that. And those communities felt really disjointed and not really synced up if you go back, you know, I started my business 13 years ago. Now, it's more common, but there weren't many brands like the the spiritual and mindfulness world, and the activist world, they were really kind of separate paths for a long time. And I was like, No, both are important. We do work on both of these levels. And, you know, in my career, I had times where I was way more working the activist muscle and community organizer and restorative justice and domestic violence work and all that. And then other times our eyes, you know, doing work around inner work and personal development, and I ran him in center and I was a mental health therapist and teaching mindfulness and you know, so and I was like, these parts of my career felt really disjointed until there was a time that I could kind of feel fluid in myself. And then I said, what really wants to happen is I know there's other people there in the world, not just one or two. I knew Few, but I knew that there were more than I yet knew would resonate with that kind of desire, the way we talk about it, or were printers right now is conscious business, social impact and awareness practices. And that was already in the works, it was live. And then, you know, some of the things like our current political leader started happening. And suddenly that conversation lit up. And over figures like took off, right. But there was a lot of years of feeling uncertain. So if you're in that uncertain space, like, I just want to say, you know, be kind to yourself, and you're like doing research and you're building certain muscles that I trust, you'll find a way to integrate, and sue me and many other people, in aware printers can help with some languaging for that, but just be kind and trust, there is a way that these things that the outer world might be like, Wait, you're a dancer, Sue me, and now you're a government contractor entrepreneur. Like, in there is some wisdom. Right?
Sumi Krishnan 26:03
Can I ask you, Paul? Like, how does it feel now to have found a home for all of these different sides of you?
Paul Zelizer 26:10
Well, it's, it's, you know, I wake up so grateful. And, and it it is because I get to be my real self, you know, like, I get to be all of who I am. But it's also like the community that I've been looking for, for, you know, decades. It, it's here, and I wake up, and I talk to people about these inner faces. And this, the power, you know, what happens to activists when they don't have any resiliency practices, and how they burn out and lash out at each other and get really mean sometimes and get really cynical. And then what happens when we have these spiritual communities that have no social context and how we do harm to people that we don't really mean to do harm, but we do real harm by not understanding what life is like from people who might have different embodied experience than us. And it turns out, there's, there's, I don't even know how many thousands or hundreds, I don't know, I can't keep up, I literally can't keep up with what's happening and to wake up and be in those conversations and resource people like yourselves to me, and we were talking about before we even turned on the mic. Oh, let's get you connected with this one. And this one, and this one, right? Like, that's what I do now. To be in those conversations. Just I have never been more aligned and alive in my life than I am right. In this moment.
Sumi Krishnan 27:34
Do you think Paul like that if somebody has the these, like, various interests and passions that then like, that, perhaps part of their calling is to set up a place for other people who hold similar combinations of things? Like? I mean, a lot of a lot of times, I think, you know, it's, it's so funny how we kind of are the microcosm of what we want to offer, right? Like, I like I sort of think, you know, I have this unique what I can always considered, like, this really odd and unique combination of, of passions and interests, but then I realized, you know, if I, I'm sort of a microcosm for that for the macro of, of, of, I guess, people or or, or communities of people who also would relate to the same and are looking for a home for the same, like, I don't know, does that make sense?
Paul Zelizer 28:26
It totally does. And, and I honor you for having integrated and I want to share with our listeners how you've done that. But I also want to say, it doesn't always have to be start your own thing. Um, we have a fabulous community member, just fabulous, who I've adored for years good time, Julie HAMP in Santa Cruz, and she has a what she calls the School of energy awareness. It's fucking awesome School of energy, where's this two year deep dive program for leaders who don't want to, like leave their thing, but they're, they're already leading an existing organization. But that organization hasn't fully kind of landed in the transformational impact that it wants to have not that assume bad word. But they know it just a little bit more, more intentionality in the organization and in the leadership that it'll pop. And she works with these leaders not to leave and start their own business, but how did they bring energy awareness into the leadership role they already have as a school principal or nonprofit director or whatever, right? A team leader in a you know, progressive organization that's close, but not fully there yet. Yeah. And so I just use that as one example it just so that you know, sometimes the sexy entrepreneur thing that you're talking about earlier, like, you know, I'm wired to be an entrepreneur. I'm good with that. But I don't have the story that somebody has to be an entrepreneur.
Sumi Krishnan 29:52
Neither do I.
Paul Zelizer 29:53
Yeah. So So yes, I do think
Sumi Krishnan 29:57
It's one way and definitely not the only way
Paul Zelizer 30:00
But what I do think is that that suffering that pain that working out in the gym have purpose and meaning and looking around the world and saying, gosh, I wish there was a way and then doing that work, we then find a way to activate our own leadership that that allows us to walk into the deeper end of the pool, whether it is the nonprofit director, who does the work to like really help that nonprofit and the team working towards that mission come alive. Or you leave and you leave k four and you start conscious life, which lets go there. Yeah, that
30:39
are, you know, run for office or you run for office
Paul Zelizer 30:41
or Exactly,
Sumi Krishnan 30:42
yes, meeting organization, like you said, that you will let you love and believe in Yeah, there's lots of ways
Paul Zelizer 30:47
that suffering transformed is what creates the leaders into the next reality, or my opinion, what the structure is, is that your own business or the nonprofit or political office, it's not my place to say is how I approach all that.
31:01
Mm hmm. I like that.
Paul Zelizer 31:03
Cool. Let's do this. Let's do a quick break. This podcast is sponsored by literally hundreds of incredible leaders doing incredible work. And I want to invite you to do a short practice of me. And the practice is this is research based. We're talking about having impact and being the kind of leaders that lead towards real transformation. And the research tells us the single biggest predictor about whether we in human change process, about whether we reach the goals of that change process, whether that change process is on around some addiction behavior we might have or something we are, you know, we're feeling anxiety or depression, the single biggest predictor about whether we stay with the change process is positive social support, called social support and research. That's true in business as well. So I want to ask you to reflect for a moment, if there is a scale from one to 10. And 10 is feeling really supported in the kinds of conversations that sue me and I've just been having about what you're here to do as a leader and integrate different threads of your life and passions. And you have people in your life who really get it and support you. And that's a 10. And on the other end of the continuum is the one where you feel like, wow, I really wish I had that kind of support. But the honest truth is, I feel pretty isolated. Where would you put yourself on that continuum. If you're Can I want a hi fi view and just acknowledge that you're set up to really be research base, likely to be having the impact, you want to be happy. If you're less than a 10. And you would like some more support, I invite you to check out the web printers community, it's a fabulous group of humans, you can find out more at aware printers.com forward slash community. And thank you for printers for community for sponsoring this podcast. So sue me, so you've had this fascinating journey doing all these cool things. And this has led to this moment where you've never talked about this quite publicly before a brand called conscious life. Tell us about consciously.
Sumi Krishnan 33:13
Ah, that's right. I've never said it publicly before. So conscious life is the is the, you know, manifestation of all of these things that I've been sharing, that have been in my heart for so long. And it's really a community that I'm building that, you know, really allows the conversation and, and the, the coalescing of art activism, leadership, you know, and, and, and, and entrepreneurship and social growth and all these things that so many of us care about, but it's a way for us to sort of, you know, I think it's to go on a quick tangent, I feel like entrepreneurship today is kind of interesting. There's a new kind of, there's a new form of entrepreneurship coming up, where it's really about community building, and really about, you know, building communities of people who share similar values. And when you have a community of people who are committed to similar causes and share similar values, then in terms of, you know, monetizing various offerings, like that's easy, the hard part is building that community and having that trust of groups of people right. So when as I'm launching conscious life, that's what I'm focusing on. It's really building the community of people who share these values where we can share openly about these conversations where we can help each other you know, make our highest impact and live our highest potential while you know enjoying the the artistic expression that that that we feel at our essence and while you know, enjoying community who like you just like you just mentioned, beautifully said by the way about you Having a social support structures that that support you, I think this new type of entrepreneurship is all around building community building community of people that that trust each other and trust you.
Paul Zelizer 35:13
And we're gonna talk about this later. But if you're listening to this podcast, Paul is podcast obsessed, right? Like, I'm an addict, like, I don't want to change, don't try, like, I'm just gonna be podcasting until I die. Right. So you you one of the things that you're gonna do,
Sumi Krishnan 35:31
can be a different platform. Wow,
Paul Zelizer 35:33
who knows? Maybe But anyway, for now, there's no hope of stopping Paul from like, just being podcast obsessed. You're gonna do a podcast, right? I mean, how can you talk about conversations and community to Paul Zelizer, and he knows you're gonna start a podcast, and how can he not tell you to say, Tell us about your podcast?
Sumi Krishnan 35:54
Yes, I'm so excited to be I. And I will say, finally launching my podcast because I've had this podcast on my heart since 2015. I did my first two interviews in 2015. My next batch of six earlier this year, and like, I have just not, you know, really found the right. The, I don't know, for multiple reasons. I haven't launched it yet. So we are coming out with the conscious life podcast, which I'm so excited to share about December of 2019, right before the new year. And we will be talking about all these good stuff with so many guests that I can't wait to, to include you guys in on.
Paul Zelizer 36:34
Nice. And what would you say? Like if you were going to explain the podcast that a couple sentences to somebody who didn't know you and didn't really know what conscious life is all about? What would you say about the podcast?
Sumi Krishnan 36:44
Yeah, the conscious life is conversations with I would say like imperfect changemakers, who believe in the values of conscious life, which is being conscious about the way we, you know, do everything in our lives, from the way we spend our time from the way that we interact with technology, and the way that we run our businesses, and from the way that we, you know, have and deal with relationships in our life, what we eat, how we take care of our bodies, and also being conscious about the world around us, right, what's going on being plugged in as citizens as conscious citizens. And so conversations with leaders, thought leaders and changemakers in that space, who are making waves in that space, who are, you know, either, you know, from, you know, conscious parenting to, you know, to the CEO of Patagonia who is who's you know, donating so much of their tax refund to to climate change research, you know, so that's the idea.
Paul Zelizer 37:45
Nice for be the way that people find out about you. And they can you know, I like to call it you know, it's not hidden behind a paywall. It's out there conversations are happening, when the reasons I'm such a fan of podcasts because they leverage technology, Sue me and I have this conversation and anybody who can somehow get on the internet can listen to it as long as they have the hearing mechanism or if it's somehow written down, they can take part in that conversation.
Sumi Krishnan 38:12
Yes, and to inspire people right to create the to create more of this conscious element in their own life like I I love And listen, listen, I love listening to podcasts, right? I feel like sometimes podcasts are my biggest they spark so many ideas or thoughts in my mind, after listening to a guest share vulnerably their stories, I think that's what this platform offers is such authentic sharing, right, like, like you said, it's not scripted. It's not fancy. It's not formal. And it's an it's an opportunity for us to kind of get behind the scenes with leaders that we would not necessarily get a chance to talk to. So
Paul Zelizer 38:44
yes, cool. And some of the offerings of conscious life that are under this brand. Remember, listeners are titled today is incorporating multiple passions in one brand, like CB has established her resume for multiple passions. I don't think we have to go too much deeper enough to talk about the one brand part of thing right, so you have this podcast that's gonna have the conversations, they'll community and some of the things that you were telling about that some really cool is you got this online event coming early in 2020. Tell us about that.
Sumi Krishnan 39:16
Yeah, really excited about it. I found there's so many people that really care deeply about the issues, right, the issues of the current administration, issues of immigration and police brutality and mass incarceration and climate change, and just all of the things that are really becoming more and more apparent that we as citizens can just ignore, right? But a lot of times, I find people don't know how to channel their, their passion or outrage or desire for change into someplace you know, most effective like we're constantly getting bombarded by donate to this campaign or go march with this. You rally or support this, you know, candidate, but it's like, a lot of us feel like we're running around with our, with our you know, as our, like our houses on fire from like room to room trying to figure out how we can best support on a daily basis. So the idea of this online event that we're launching in March of 2020, called cocreate. 2020 is so people can hear from some of the foremost movement leaders of our day about, you know, what, and how they can really make their own personalized plans of activism to, you know, make decisions for themselves around how to best move the needle, in terms of what they can contribute in 2020. So we're gonna have mole, it's gonna be a multiple day series of conversations with people that I can't wait to share with you guys. And, yeah, and really offer the space to stop running around like your house on fire, but actually decide, okay, you know, this is what I'm going to be committed to contributing to in 2020, whether that's time, energy, money, or otherwise. And if we all do that, I really believe we can co create 2020 in the vision of the America and the world that we believe in one that values love and inclusivity, and diversity and acceptance and, you know, really values the freedoms that this this country was was, was built on. So I can't wait to share and provide that that space. That summarize, free, free online event.
Paul Zelizer 41:36
Nice. So be spring of 2020, if I remember correctly, right. Yeah, exactly. Cool. So we'll have links for all this. They're actually being built as we're recording this right now. But when it's launched, it will be live. I'm so excited to scoop this.
41:54
Getting a lot of these.
Paul Zelizer 41:55
I know, right? I'm so excited. Yeah. And then you have a live event. That's part of what's happening here. So you're excited to bring people online, but I have a sense of use me like there's something that happens when you're with people and breaking bread together going deep, like in a kind of retreat? Are they kind of over time kind of way? Right? And really working it in that face to face kind of way? And that's part of what's in your intention for conscious life? To tell us about that a bit.
Sumi Krishnan 42:24
Yeah, thank you for asking. Yeah. So after we do this, you know, online event where we're hoping to get, you know, thousands of people to join and just you know, watch however much of of the interviews and more importantly, create the space for themselves, want to invite people after that to come join us at the Actually, it's going to be at this beautiful resort in in just south of Birmingham, and we're going to really like plug into the deep civil rights history of Alabama and get to, like you said, break bread together with some, you know, we're in all kind of share the most intimate spaces, and to learn from the people doing the work on the ground, and to actually, you know, spark new ideas, I feel, you know, you can't really like like, like, as Einstein, right, who's quoted to have said, You can't solve the problem in the same level of thinking as it was created. Right. And I feel like that's what these this event is intended to do. And, and what I found most helpful that really kind of like, breaks you out of your, your current way of being and breaks you out of the linear path, you have you believe our minds convinced us that we have to take right when you go and break out of your current situation and go into a new room, a new vortex of energy with people like in doing the things that you know, that that you've never met somebody who, for example, like like Hawk Newsom, President Black Lives Matter, New York, and he's on the streets, like, you know, in between the police officer and the guy, they've just held up on the car, and you have to talk to him in conversation and spend. It's been four days, you know, with people like that, who who are really moving the needle and then artists who are who are writing, like, Where is our new generation of protest songs.
Paul Zelizer 44:14
Man, they're tired of talking about a tired genre, right?
Sumi Krishnan 44:18
We're doing that today. Like let's get together and spend time together in the room. And you know, I am like the ideas and then the impact that will come from that room. I think we'll be well is already giving me goose bumps.
Paul Zelizer 44:34
I love it. Hello, thanks again. See me just gone back. Spiritual highlighter here, Paul, right. I want to unpack like I love what you're doing. But part of the reason we do these interviews to keep people like concrete examples, real world examples, not theoretical things. I hear you doing leveraging that same strengths me so here you are when you were 19 or 20 or 21. And you're like, Alright, I'm going to start a government. I don't know what the government contracting thing is, but I'm going to start it And you like leverage the strength of the people around you who really had some you were weaving it together. And you put on the pantsuit and like you did it right. Like to go and get somebody from Black Lives Matter and go and get an artist to like, really, in the world of I've heard it called Art of ism, right art and activism. When I looked at who's going to be at this event, I was like, Oh, yeah, she went and got the people re like you, you brought that strength into this world. insaaf. And I hear people talking about collaboration, whatever. But unfortunately, the organizers either I don't know, a lot of times, it feels like they're not quite getting the people on the ground, who really have the kind of real world gritty, like, I've moved the needle, and I'm with the people who've moved the needle, and you're bringing them together on this and odd like, Oh, yeah, I want to interview her.
Sumi Krishnan 45:59
Oh, cool. Thank you for saying that. And you know, it's true. Like, I don't think I don't think any of us can do anything alone, right? Like we I know, I can't, there seems to be
Paul Zelizer 46:09
a lot of people in this space who feel like Well, let me tell you how to go out there and walk this intersection between, you know, having positive impact and being an entrepreneur, a kick ass entrepreneur, they don't know shit about art of ism or activism, right? They know nobody in the you have no depth what's or vice versa. They're kick ass activists, and they suddenly decide, you know, they're tired of being broke. And so now they're gonna teach entrepreneurship, but they've never built anything. And you're like, hello. Right? I talked to people who've done all these things. Like he said, He's built a multi million dollar consulting firm, you know what it looks like when somebody hasn't built their entrepreneur muscle, and they're presenting themselves as an entrepreneur.
Sumi Krishnan 46:51
So funny, like, one thing I've seen not the rip on this for too long, but like,
46:55
no riff on it, please go off.
Sumi Krishnan 46:59
How to Build how to build your online Empire? But how did that person build their online Empire?
Paul Zelizer 47:06
They've never built an online Empire, or an offline empire for that matter, right?
Sumi Krishnan 47:14
That's funny, too, because like, you know, I was told, and some people were, I was socializing this idea a lot before I actually went and, you know, put it into real life or decided to actually do anything about it. And you know, I have, you know, I graduated with a Master's in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2018. So a couple people I talked to were like, Well, great, then you can monetize that by basically offering what you learned to other people. And I'm like, No, no, no, no. Like, that's not that's not the way I want to do it. You know, I don't just want to say like, Hey, I spent however much 10s of thousands of dollars for this education. And now come pay me a couple thousand so I can teach you like, that's not really icky. Because it's all academic. It's all in my head. And it seemed to be too much about like, even though the purpose would still have been in alignment and true, it seemed to be too much of just trying to like, monetize what I just learned, which was like, why would I want to do that? Like, no, I want to go and get the people who been in this space, like you said, you know, and, you know, the community will also continue to grow. And I'm looking forward to that.
Paul Zelizer 48:18
Yeah, well, high five for that intention. I totally celebrate that. So one of the other things, so we're gonna be offering a conscious life is a series of masterminds tell us about those.
Sumi Krishnan 48:28
Yeah, totally. Well, so if you can see here, like, I guess you can imagine, I hate the word funnel, but I'll have to say funnel. Like since we're talking about cast Paul's most of people listening, are they entrepreneurs, or we have a wide
Paul Zelizer 48:45
spectrum, people who are just getting started two people who are like literally rocking it, like world class level and everything in between. Let's use the word funnel. Go ahead. And if you don't know what it is, folks, look it up. Right? It's a sales funnel.
Sumi Krishnan 49:01
Yeah, also, just imagine a funnel, like the old school like out flour sifter or whatever, you know, I'm a like it, you know, like, like this trajectory that you just took us on with, you know, first talking about the the online event, which is, like I said, free and open to the public. And then we've got the the mastermind, which is a small group, you know, change in in vortex of energy in a room about 50 people in Alabama. And then from there, I also want to offer a chance to keep the conversation going right and keep supporting people as we continue to do these large online events that I'm going to invite anyone and everyone to please join. We're also wanting to hold space for the people who want to invest in higher levels of thinking, conversation, collaboration and workshopping around these very issues of depth and significance. So, you know, after the June in person event, I will, you know, planning to hold a container for about 10 to 12 people to really go deep with this with the same ideas that people who are really ready to take their work and impact, even deeper and even even farther, and, and, you know, I'm, I just I don't know, I don't know how to say it with any other words other than I'm such a believer in, in actually investing in what you believe in. And so you know, my dad always told me that you don't have any skin in the game, you're not actually going to make a change, you know and so so that, that that's what it's all about.
Paul Zelizer 50:30
Nice. And we'll have links to all that and where you can find out about that in the show notes. So sue me, you've had this really interesting career and kind of got a front row seat now you've kind of put yourself in this wonderful position, talked about the art music, as one bucket activism is another entrepreneurship and leadership is another bucket. These are things that our audience cares deeply, deeply about. As you look forward, like where we are right now. most poignant moment in my life, I'm 51 years old. I have friends and mentors who are in their 70s and 80s. They're saying most poignant moment in their lives. What do you feel like? Is your wanting to pay attention going forward to you personally in the space? And what are you encouraging others who are trying to create a brand that allows them to work in this intersection or similar intersections? What do you want to encourage our listeners to pay attention to given the poignancy of what's happening on planet Earth right now?
Sumi Krishnan 51:37
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I feel like it's, for me, my mantra lately has been slow down. And that might sound counterintuitive, but I feel like you
Paul Zelizer 51:49
already go so slow. I mean, you talk really slow, right?
51:52
Are you being sarcastic? Yeah,
Paul Zelizer 51:54
sometimes.
Sumi Krishnan 51:59
But, you know, I do feel like I'm probably a lot of people listening, maybe you have 1000 ideas at once. And I think reconnecting with Source Energy read aligning your yourself and your inner world with the change that, you know, we're working on in the outer world, I think is, it could, it's massively important. I mean, God, the strength and resilience and alignment, like, specific alignment, if you imagine, like I, you know, like I said, I'm a musician, I grew up actually playing the trumpet, and any, any slight off tune, it's like, it's this real dissonant, you can't even stand it, you have to cover your ears. And it's like, if we're not exactly aligned, right, with, if you like, the waves of frequency exactly aligned with what we are creating in the outside world, I feel like it's just not going to have the impact. But if you're aligning actually double the same wave on top of each other, and then the amount of impact that that has, you know, so I feel like instead of focusing on doing more, and, you know, going out there more and meeting more people. And while all that, yes, we need to do, but I'm trying and I think this is the advice I would give anybody, I'm trying to focus more on my inner practices, and like really cementing and making that 30 minutes of meditation an hour and like, you know, and really cementing in my alignment, so that I know that all of my actions are going to have the impact that we need to be having right now. And, you know, climate change, I think addressing those problems from a systemic level, from the, you know, the the fossil fuel subsidies to all of the new technologies that are being developed, to combat climate change, you know, there's so many ways that we can play in this conversation, and I'm sure so many ways people are are already playing, who are listening. And so it's like, we need we need you like more than ever to be aligned, so that we can really, really solve this thing and, and have have a planet for our future and our kids.
Paul Zelizer 54:01
Nice. So if there was one thing you were hoping we'd get to in this interview, and we haven't yet gotten to it. Oh, would that be?
54:11
Oh, that's a hard question.
Paul Zelizer 54:14
I left my notebook full, easy questions. I left it at the coffee shop. So sorry.
Sumi Krishnan 54:22
Oh, my gosh, one thing that was hoping we get to, you know, what I kept trying to get in was, um, and this is kind of I'm being a little bit facetious here, but when you said multi passion, I was I was gonna say, you know, the one thing that I too and I just as more to give people permission to play before they think they have to find their aligned brand. Like I think it's really important. Like I said, My journey, building k for what the timing was right. And one of the things I did that we didn't talk about was I started a CrossFit gym. I went deep into this journey of like fitness and I was really like, not taking care of myself. I was a little bit you know, on the heavier side, I was not eating that. Well, not really working out. And then the practice of movement and finding the functional fitness, you know, way of moving your body and then like finding CrossFit and like finding the community that came with that, I ended up starting a CrossFit gym. And that experience itself, though, it's not something that I want to do long term, or that I kept the long term, it helps me figure out right, like how to, again, integrate all these things, and that, that element of coaching and helping people develop their, their bodies and their for their selves, and everything really played a role in what I'm doing now. So I guess I would share that to say like, if you feel like you haven't found your thing, or the alignment of all your passions, it's like, really pay attention to what's going on in your life right now, you might be in the phase of running, you know, metaphorically speaking, your CrossFit gym. That's not where you're gonna land at the end of the day, but it's going to inform where you land, like in a really significant way. So
Paul Zelizer 55:56
beautiful, beautiful, semi, if somebody wants to find out more about all these fabulous things that you're up to, where would you send them first?
Sumi Krishnan 56:04
Great question. I would say go to Sumi cafe. All things sue me to get on our list and to find out all the happenings.
Paul Zelizer 56:12
Great. We'll have all the other links of at least some of the other links. There's too many to have on and we'll have a lot of other links. Send me it's been fabulous having you on the show. Thank you so much.
Sumi Krishnan 56:23
Thank you, Paul. It's been so much fun. Thank you so much.
Paul Zelizer 56:27
So that's all the time we have for today's interview. Thank you so much for listening to the where printer show. If you're a multi passionate entrepreneur and thinking about activism and impact and doing it with care and intention, with you know what you're bringing to the work on the inside. Go check out the aware printers community if you could use some of that social support that we talked about earlier. It's how to wear printers comm forward slash community. So for now, I want to say thank you so much for what you do and how you do it.