Finding Genius Podcast

Ann Louise Gittleman is an award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of over 30 books on a variety of topics, including weight loss, diet, and detoxification. Her most recent book, Radical Metabolism: A Powerful New Plan to Blast Fat and Reignite Your Energy in Just 21 Days, relies on the premise that the gallbladder is not a throw-away organ; it is an essential one that's connected to the health of the thyroid gland and metabolism. Dizziness, radiating leg pain, and insomnia is just a few of the seemingly unrelated symptoms that can occur after gallbladder removal, but how do we compensate for this loss, and how can we prevent removal, to begin with? Gittleman offers answers to these questions and many more. Her theory that there is a critically important connection between the gallbladder, the thyroid and metabolism are backed by Harvard researchers who found that people who improved their gallbladder health saw a 53 percent increase in metabolism. An additional study out of Finland showed that people who have reduced bile flow are seven times more likely to suffer from hypothyroidism. Gittleman discusses a range of topics, including the right and wrong types of high-fat diets, why some people might want to stop drinking kombucha, green, and white tea, and the effect of electromagnetic radiation on cortisol levels--something she refers to as "electropollution." Tune in for a compelling and eye-opening discussion, and visit radicalmetabolism.com for more information and free downloads.

Whether you're planning a business event, festival, or wedding party, Splash can help by providing sophisticated event marketing software that allows for more predictability, personalization, and greater returns on investment. As the CEO and founder of Splash, Ben Hindman has learned that the most important aspect of any event is not about getting more people in the room, but about getting the right people in the room. In order to ensure that, Splash offers invitation software, a beautifully designed landing page and registration experience, reminders and automated emails, promotions, check-in apps, and post-event follow-up apps. Hindman discusses a range of topics, including the importance of design in event planning and recommendations on how to start planning your next event. "I'm really passionate about the in-person experience, I think it creates more focus, people pick their heads up and really look and listen...it brings them into the now," says Hindman. Tune in for the full conversation, and learn more at splashthat.com.

Looking to deepen your understanding of the human microbiome or understand how it could be affecting your overall health? Dealing with a chronic gut issue such as IBD or ulcerative colitis? Trying to manage a gluten or lactose sensitivity? uBiome is a biotech company that was established in 2012 with the mission of advancing the science of the microbiome and making products that will allow individuals to understand how the microbiome contributes to their health and wellness, as well as a variety of illnesses and conditions. Since 2012, uBiome has amassed the world's largest data set on the human microbiome, having collected over 250,000 samples; that number only continues to grow. They currently offer three kits: Explorer, SmartGut, and SmartJane. Based on a user's goals and conditions, they will order one or more kits, submit a sample of their microbiome from one or more sites on their body, and complete a detailed survey that addresses their fitness routine, diet, sleep patterns, stress patterns, and daily activity. The team at uBiome will use this information in conjunction with the sequencing data from their sample in order to provide an assessment of how their microbiome changes over time and contributes to their health. As the Vice President of Product Technology at uBiome, Sara Bird provides an informative and interesting discussion about the ins and outs of everything offered by uBiome, the ways in which the microbiome plays a role in myriad conditions, the increasing use of microbiome data by physicians, and how to get started with your own uBiome kit today. Visit ubiome.com to learn more about each product offered.

There are a wide variety of medical tests and samples that are time, temperature, and handling sensitive; if either one of these factors isn't properly maintained, then inaccurate results will be delivered, putting the health and lives of patients at risk. With an error rate of 35-40 percent, blood samples taken for the purposes of monitoring chemotherapy are the most vulnerable to becoming compromised by environmental variants encountered before they even reach the machine for analysis, and a variety of other medical samples have an average error rate of between five and eight percent. Lab Sensor Solutions is a company that's developed a system to address this by closely tracking the temperature and location of sensitive medical samples with less than a five-minute delay. How do they do it? Since such sensitive samples should be kept in close proximity to the courier who's transporting them, Lab Sensor Solutions places Bluetooth-enabled, low-energy temperature sensors inside the containers holding samples, and connects those sensors to the courier's own mobile device. If a sample has been sitting too long, has reached too high or low of a temperature, or is on a route that will take longer than the sample will stay viable, then an alert will automatically be sent to the courier, the dispatcher, and the supervisor on shift. Prior to the implementation of this system, there was no way to identify when a sample was at risk of spoiling, but now the team at Lab Sensor Solutions is seeing on average three to five corrections a day and a significant increase in overall compliance. They already have 12 customers all around the country and are continuing to expand. Tune in and visit Lsstracks.com to learn more.

You might already be familiar with it--the quarterly or annual struggle to gather your company's data and retroactively determine whether or not you've met your goals, only to forget which metrics you were really trying to improve or find yourself asking, "What went wrong, and how do we fix it?" But did you know that setting and tracking your company's progress toward goals during the time period within which they should be met makes it 90% more likely for you to actually achieve those goals? Yaguara is a company in the business of helping companies do just that. As the CEO and founder of Yaguara, Jonathan Smalley calls his company a "fitness tracker" for businesses, one that helps tie real-time data into the process of accomplishing company goals by measuring progress in real time and predicting based on historical performance and current progress how long it will take to accomplish those goals. The team at Yaguara also provides insight and recommendations based on the data collected, such as which media sites a company can reach the most customers, and what each individual within the company can do to to further the overall progress of the company. There's a lot on the horizon for Yaguara, including new content-based templates, new modules, improved algorithms for improved recommendations, and paid pilots in markets outside of e-commerce beginning in 2019. Tune in and visit yaguara.co for more!

Jonah Myerberg, co-founder and CTO of Desktop Metal (desktopmetal.com), discusses the current state of technology in 3D printing and how it is revolutionizing engineering and manufacturing. Myerberg oversees the technical direction of Desktop Metal's 3D printing solutions. He founded Boston Impact, an engineering consulting firm, in 2013, and has worked at the top level of many successful businesses focused on high-performance battery development, including Renovo Auto and A123Systems. During his tenure with A123Systems, Myerberg helmed the motorsports business unit that focused primarily on the development of high-performance batteries that were later adopted by many leading Formula One teams such as McLaren, Force India, Mercedes Benz, and Red Bull. Additionally, he was a race engineer for Porsche on their 919 teams and also for Mahindra Racing on the Formula E team. Myerberg has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University, as well as a master's degree in mechanical engineering and manufacturing from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University. Myerberg states that his primary goal is to make metal 3D printing more accessible to manufacturers and engineers. Myerberg's company, Desktop Metal, specializes in bringing new capabilities to the world's first office-friendly, metal 3D printing solution. They provide high-resolution printing that can be in-house and built to exact specifications and scale. Desktop Metal's Studio System abandons the traditional lasers and loose powders typically associated with metal 3D printing, which allows for higher safety standards. And businesses appreciate that power and an internet connection can get them going, simply and efficiently, without third-party equipment. Myerberg compares and contrasts plastics 3D printing and metal 3D printing and details the variables with both, outlining polymer printing techniques for plastics versus the solid-state techniques needed for metal printing. He explains how his company has taken advantage of polymer techniques to bring that technology to the office environment for metal 3D printing. The 3D printing and engineering specialist expounds upon the technical manufacturing knowledge that is needed in the mechanical engineering world. He discusses the new tools that are being utilized specifically for 3D printing, such as Desktop Metal's Live Parts, which is proprietary software they developed that allows engineers to input their specifications and constraints in order to allow the software to actually grow the part between the holding points, establishing the geometry via the software. This saves time and creates a very efficient process as engineers can spend more of their day on engineering tasks, and less time on solving parts problems. Myerberg lists some of the many advantages of 3D metal printing, such as reduction of total number of parts by streamlining the geometry, and significant decreases in the weight of parts overall by utilizing layer construction and other methods. And Myerberg provides his insight into the future of 3D metal printing. He gives examples of some of the companies they work with who are helping to drive the technology forward as they collaborate.

Nav Dhunay, president and CEO of Imaginea Ai (imaginea.ai), presents a detailed overview of artificial intelligence technology that is bringing more efficiency and productivity to businesses globally. Dhunay brings a diverse background and experience to the position of president and CEO of Imaginea Ai. Dhunay has made significant achievements in the fields of artificial intelligence and clean technology and is a respected voice in multiple fields, including technology and energy. He is a sought-after expert in the area of early emerging trends in evolving technologies. Dhunay has strong ties to Silicon Valley and an intense drive to push for innovation within his companies by fostering an environment where experimentation and collaboration are encouraged. Dhunay's prime areas of focus are in technology, corporate development, management, business operations, strategy, product development, startups, and company culture. Dhunay's company, Imaginea Ai, is an artificial intelligence company whose mission is to help industries work better, faster, more efficiently, and smarter. The Imaginea Ai platform was crafted with the idea that innovation arrives through the liaison of global talent, leading-edge products, and highly driven commercial organizations, and by allowing AI to be fully integrated. Dhunay states that AI is not accessible to everyone so his company wants to change that dynamic in terms of access to clean data and affordability, etc. He explains that by increasing the global pool of data scientists, costs can come down across the board. Dhunay talks about Imaginea's platform specifics, and how it provides an opportunity for organizations to engage in meaningful, technology-driven partnerships in order to tackle real-world problems. By linking with global AI technologies and specialist talent, and allowing buyers and sellers to transact with complete transparency and security, Dhunay's team seeks to truly democratize AI. Dhunay discusses the importance of tech talent and nurturing data scientists. He gives an overview of how 99-cent apps have truly changed the way some businesses work by simplifying tasks through the use of these apps. And he explains how cryptocurrency and blockchain has innovated the platform by simplifying transactions and processes. And Dhunay speaks about the possibility that Imaginea Ai may soon develop their own token or work with other top cryptocurrency that is currently in the marketplace, in order to further accelerate access to their platform. The AI expert provides details on some of the areas that he and his team at Imaginea Ai are excited about, such as the marketplace that Dhunay refers to as a smart market, which is a place where data scientists can commoditize their artificial intelligence. Dhunay explains that he wants to give data scientists this opportunity to share the work they create, outside of their job, to provide them additional revenue, and to give the community more AI options to utilize for their work-related tasks and functions. Dhunay states that he hopes to give the community a one-stop-shop platform that benefits the creators, and the users, as artificial intelligence technology is applied on a mass scale to dramatically change industrial operations worldwide.

Sarah Hill, chief storyteller, and CEO of Healium (tryhealium.com) provides a thoughtful overview of her exciting industry that is helping people to get in touch with their feelings and emotions and influence them in a positive way through the use of technology. Hill is the CEO of StoryUP XR, the visionary company behind Healium. She is a former television journalist for the NBC, ABC, & CBS affiliates in Missouri and a savvy media technologist with over 25 years experience building successful platforms. Hill has a strong journalistic background and many years experience as an interactive reporter often focused on the world's negativity and trauma, and as such she is a national Edward R. Murrow, NAB Service to America, and twelve-time mid-America Emmy award-winning storyteller. She began working directly with augmented reality filters during her live TV newscasts in 2011 focusing on a variety of XR inputs such as heart rate variability and respiration trackers. Hill's journalistic passion has taken her all over the world as she has delivered powerful stories of the human spirit originating in the Amazon, Congo, Zambia, UAE, Guatemala, and China. She holds a bachelor of journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Hill's company, Healium, is the first augmented and virtual reality (AR & VR) channel that is powered by biometrics. Hill details the Healium headband and how it measures gamma asymmetry that is associated with our feelings, such as love, joy, appreciation, openness, etc. Healium's platform allows users to engage and take a more active role in their personal well being, to become more self-aware of the power of their feelings. The Healium experience is delivered through wearables including a low profile brain-computer interface (BCI). As stress is now considered to be an actual epidemic, Hill expresses the urgency to develop methods to alleviate stress and connect with our emotional state. Hill states that their platform helps users achieve a heightened sense of self-awareness, via biometrics, as the data helps to make users aware of the power of their emotions. She discusses neuromeditation and Dr. Jeff Tarrant's fascinating work as his team uses state-of-the-art biofeedback technologies to monitor the brain and body in order to train the nervous system to return to a more optimal state. Hill discusses some of the published studies that concluded Healium's platform demonstrated a reduction in anxiety for various users. She recounts stories of individual users who have shared their experiences learning about and trying Healium for the first time. And she details some of their comments regarding the experience, their recalled memories, feelings of altered states or relaxation and others while using the platform. The Healium low-profile headband known as a brain-computer interface senses electrical activity in the brain and a virtual reality headset then immerses the user into the experience. Additionally, the Healium augmented reality experiences are designed to work without goggles as well, with a simple smartphone. Hill shares her thoughts on the overall experience that users receive and how her team is extremely concerned that every user's experience is a positive one.

Alysa Hoffmeister, senior product marketing manager at Cutera (cutera.com), discusses the expanding, changing, and exciting face and body aesthetic industry and how her company, Cutera, is solving problems and providing industry professionals with the tools to satisfy their patients' needs. Hoffmeister explains the work they do at Cutera, developing advanced laser light and energy-based aesthetic systems for practitioners worldwide. Hoffmeister is a seasoned medical device professional with a strong background in the industry. She is a results-oriented leader with extensive experience in sales, sales management and training, product/marketing management, and customer retention, as well as new business development. She is a powerful strategic sales professional who excels in advanced marketing for robust revenue growth. Her incredible experience includes tenure at Syneron Candela as their senior territory manager where she focused heavily on dermatology/plastic surgery and CO2RE Intima for OB/GYN. Additionally, Hoffmeister was VP of sales & marketing and general manager NA for DIP-Tech, territory sales manager and senior director of marketing at Alma Lasers, and the women's health care and general imaging ultrasound senior account manager for Philips. The aesthetic technology-marketing expert explains some of the technology behind their products, such as the effects of laser contact with the skin, blasting melanin, etc. She discusses the technical aspects such as wavelength and depth that pertain to laser work for tattoos, freckles, and other skin issues that concern patients. Cutera develops devices that give medical aesthetic professionals the ability to evolve in the expanding and competitive face and body aesthetic industry. Cutera's one-of-a-kind devices offer professionals the opportunity to innovate and provide new and exciting options for their patients, solutions that get results. As Hoffmeister explains, Cutera partners with physicians to fully understand their needs, in order to properly deliver ideal solutions that exceed their expectations and ultimately provide superior patient satisfaction. Cutera's products are engineered at the highest level for maximum performance, safety, and efficacy. Hoffmeister provides information and details about Cutera's other products, such as their non-invasive radiofrequency devices that are utilized for fat destruction. But as Hoffmeister explains, their process is slow (about 12 weeks) and effective, a more measured response that targets the fat cells with heat, over time, so they can be eliminated through the body. She discusses their many products and how solutions need to be unique, tailored specifically to individual patient's needs, and how Cutera's goal is to make that possible. She details how Cutera's solutions can target trouble areas for patients, reducing pockets of fat wherever they occur. And Hoffmeister expounds upon the many areas that are popular and growing in the aesthetic care industry, but as she mentions, non-invasive fat reduction is by far the number one procedure in demand in the industry overall. She discusses the Cutera expansion and how demand for their products is booming, but Cutera is not a company that rests on its laurels and as such their research team is continually working to develop new, innovative products for the future, to help improve patients' lives.

Ravi Sharma, the co-founder, and CEO of OOTify (ootify.com) delivers an informative overview of the important work his company is engaged in that seeks to bring quality mental health care to everyone who needs it. Sharma has a wealth of experience in multiple sectors of industry and is a proven leader in business, technology, and investing, but his passion and primary goal is to improve mental health options for everyone. Sharma's background includes his tenure at Western Asset Management Company where his skills in on-boarding quality lenders, drafting underwriting guidelines for investment mandates, loan level due diligence for credit and compliance, and more, helped lift the company to a higher level of success. And in just 3 years at Western Asset Management Company, Sharma grew the loan portfolio to more than $1 billion, targeting double-digit returns. Before his successful time with Western Asset Management Company, Sharma helped to build and then exit several tech companies. He is a strong advocate for mental health and clean technology. Sharma describes OOTify as a mental health marketplace that seeks to match individuals with the best possible providers for their unique needs. OOTify is a community of professionals, mentors and peers focused intently on personal development and helping individuals build healthier relationships. Part of the company name, 'oot,' is derived from the Hindi language; it means, simply, to 'lift up,' and OOTify's mission is certainly all about lifting people up. OOTify allows users to connect with mental health professionals, a life coach, or verified mentor, easily and swiftly, via their phone. Sharma describes the many options users can take advantage of on the platform, such as audio, video, or messaging, connecting with trained professionals who can help, right from the comfort of the user's phone. It's on-demand online therapy that seeks to improve lives. Sharma discusses 'the fabric,' which is his term for the community forum that is a compilation of different threads that is modified by multiple, qualified individuals who provide support. Users can benefit from hearing and reading about others' experiences, engage in Q&A with experienced professionals, and more. Sharma describes how OOTify's powerful mental health technology utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to match mental health providers, life coaches, and other carefully screened professionals to users through their open marketplace. OOTify will assist with the intake process via their AI chatbot, streamline it, and improve the process of delivery of quality mental health care. And Sharma discusses the importance of quality matching, which is why OOTify's intake process is essential. For as Sharma states, while the most educated and celebrated authority on a particular mental illness may seem perfect on paper, credentials, and experience aside, that individual may not be right for everyone because it is critical that the mental healthcare seeker connect or vibe well with their mental health care provider. The healthcare technology advocate discusses the massive amount of feedback he has received from healthcare professionals who appreciate how OOTify is leveraging technology to bring care to individuals. Healthcare professionals acknowledge the power of the OOTify application as it hosts powerful productivity tools such as HIPAA compliant video, audio and messaging, and also assists with billing and scheduling. OOTify stresses however that the AI does not make any care decisions for those seeking help, but rather is leveraged to help providers match with new clients, gain insight via client data metrics, and generally be more efficient overall, so they can spend their time helping people as opposed to doing administrative work. Sharma details the OOTify rewards program and other ways in which they seek to acknowledge and support those providers who receive exceptional feedback and high ratings from users. He provides information on some notable acknowledgments of their groundbreaking mental health technology work that they have received from respected institutions such as the USC Keck School of Medicine. OOTify partners with prestigious institutions such as the University of Southern California, Loyola Marymount University, and others, as well as many respected businesses and community leaders. And the community is supported by technologists, businesses, many other academic institutions, non-profits, teachers, parents, and nearly everyone who grasps the importance of providing quality mental health care.