26: Racism, Hollywood Movie Star, and Entrepreneurship // The Story of Tommy Chong
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Release Date: 09/15/2020
45: Teens & Parents, Mental Health, Drugs, & Healing as a Family Unit // The Story of Aaron Huey
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Aaron Huey has been working with children, teens, and parents for over 18 years. After ten years directing camps and empowerment programs around the world, Aaron opened Fire Mountain because he wanted to work with kids and families on a deeper level. Over the first few years of running programs like Teen Rites of Passage The Warrior Phoenix Challenge, and numerous cries for help from parents, Aaron realized the need to turn his efforts towards teens struggling with drugs, alcohol and the behaviors and issues related to addiction. An addict in recovery since 2000, he felt a calling to put...
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44: Street Artist to Vice-President of Global Design Coca-Cola // The Story of James Sommerville
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
James Sommerville is the Founder of KnownUnknown, the world’s first decentralized design community working with Fortune 100 brands on brand design assignments and NFTs, leveraging their utility token ($KUDOS). From 2013 to 2018, James was the VP Global Design for The Coca Cola Company, where he led the design innovation and identity programs for many billion-dollar iconic beverage brands. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, James was co-founder of Attik, a UK startup design firm that led the digital art revolution and changed the face of design in the 1990s, inspiring thousands of designers and...
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43: Re-Inventing Yourself Through Entrepreneurship // The Story of Bryan Clayton
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Bryan Clayton is the Co-Founder and CEO of GreenPal, an online marketplace that connects homeowners with local lawn care professionals. GreenPal has been called the “Uber for lawn care” by Entrepreneur magazine and has over 100,000 active users completing thousands of transactions per day. Before starting GreenPal, Bryan Clayton founded Peachtree Inc., one of the largest landscaping companies in the state of Tennessee, growing it to over $10 million a year in annual revenue before it was acquired by Lusa holdings in 2013. Bryan‘s interests and expertise are related to entrepreneurism,...
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42: The Kid With No Chance Who Built A World Class Podcast // The Story of Justin Schenck
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Justin Schenck is the host of the top-rated podcast the Growth Now Movement and founder of Growth Now, LLC which is a full-service podcast production and coaching company. He has been named a Top 8 Podcaster to follow by INC Magazine and chosen as an ‘Icon of Influence’ in the new media space. What started as a way to connect with top people and inspire others has become a way of life. Now getting played in over 100 countries every single week he is able to make a greater impact than he could ever imagine. He not only speaks to organizations on how to overcome adversity and utilize...
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41: Coming Out as Gay, then Creating a World Class Impact for LGBTQ Communities // The Story of Arthur Woods
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Arthur Woods is a social entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ leader, working at the intersection of equity, inclusion and technology. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and 40 Under 40 by BEQ. He is the author of the national best-selling book, Hiring for Diversity; he is a global keynote speaker, having delivered 3 TEDx talks; and has contributed to Harvard Business Review, FastCompany and Forbes. He is the Co-Founder of Mathison, a venture-backed technology platform equipping employers with everything they need to manage their diversity hiring efforts. He is the creator of the first Equal Hiring Index...
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40: Sexual Assault Victim To Impact Entrepreneur // The Story of Carlie Rioux
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Carlie Rioux is the founder of Thea Caye, a social enterprise creating stylish and functional beach bags while making a positive impact in the world by creating jobs for survivors of exploitation, using sustainable materials, using bio-degradable packaging, and working with unknown artists to help them build their rep. Through this venture, they can provide scholarships to the children of the survivors to help break the cycle of violence. They support the Drop-In center in Nepal so that present-day trafficking victims have somewhere to go. Carlie and her team are also helping to create jobs in...
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39: Undercover to Fully Recovered, Former Police Officer Overcomes Addictions // The Story of Brock Bevell
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Brock Bevell is a well-regarded family man with 7 children, six daughters and one son. He is a retired Police Officer who was run over on duty and ultimately retired from the injuries. The injuries caused him to endure numerous knee surgeries and constant rehabilitation. To deal with the pain, he was prescribed Opioids. After months and months of therapy, the department and doctors made the determination that his injuries would prevent him from doing the job effectively and could place others at risk. It was decided that he would be medically retired from the department. For the next few...
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38: Bench Warmer to Pro Basketball Career, Author of 29 Books & 8,000 Videos // The Story of Dre Baldwin
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Dre Baldwin turned one year of high school basketball and a Division 3 college ball career into 9 years of pro basketball. In 2005, he began blogging and publishing to a new website called “YouTube.” That’s where the brand started. Dre created his first products in 2008, and introduced the phrase “Work On Your Game” in 2009. His first book “Buy A Game” published in 2010. Dre stopped playing basketball in 2015 – the same year he did the first of his 4 TEDxTalks. The daily Work On Your Game Podcast launched in 2016. Today, between Speaking, Coaching, Authoring and Podcasting, Dre...
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37: From Depression to Passion, Winning a Film Festival, & 1.4 Million Followers // The Story of Zac Stracener
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Zac Stracener is a popular social media personality who gained his popularity for his videos with the theme of mental illness and anxiety. His TikTok account, Zac.Stracener, has over 1.4 million followers. One of his most well-known TikTok videos, which has the song "Overwhelmed" by Royal & the Serpent, earned more than 2 million views. Creating striking and poignant vignettes on TikTok, Zac has also proven himself with award-winning short films as well as engaging commercial pieces. Bringing magnitudes of creative insight, he has given himself a name in content creation as well as...
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36: Chronic Heart Conditions to the Worlds First AI Powered Health Care // The Story of Marie Johnson
From Rock Bottom to Rockin' It
Marie Johnson is the co-creator of Nadia, the first AI digital human for service delivery and the creator of the AI digital human cardiac coach. She is a writer, commentator and international speaker on artificial intelligence, digital transformation, cyber, technology, ethics and the human experience. Her expertise is the human interface in complex servicing systems. Described as a “public entrepreneur”, “crazy brave”, Marie is a trailblazer with a track record for tackling wicked problems head-on. Marie says she prefers the “edge” because it’s uncomfortable and that’s what...
info_outlineGrammy Award winning comedian Tommy Chong is legendary for his invaluable contribution to American counter-culture as part of the iconic comedy duo Cheech & Chong. During their reign, the twosome recorded six gold comedy albums, including the 1973 Grammy winner “Los Cochinos,” and starred in eight films, most of which Chong co-wrote and directed. The first, Up In Smoke, was the highest grossing comedy of 1978, topping $100 million at the box office. Others were Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie (1980), Nice Dreams (1981), Things Are Tough All Over (1982), Cheech and Chong: Still Smoking (1983), and The Corsican Brothers (1984).
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Tommy began his entertainment career as a musician in a Canadian-based rhythm and blues band. Eventually, he landed a gig with the “Vancouvers”” and co-wrote the band’s 1960’s hit, “Does Your Mama Know About Me.”” From here, Chong eventually turned towards the life as an actor. The first step was forming “City Works,” an improvisational group where he consequently met his future comedic partner, Richard “Cheech” Marin. Throughout the 1970’s Cheech & Chong earned a massive following until eventually, the duo had run its lengthy and prosperous course and they both embarked on solo careers.
Earlier this year, the highly anticipated, award winning documentary A/K/A Tommy Chong was released worldwide. The documentary features the journey that Chong took after a fully armed SWAT team raided the comedian’s home in February of 2003. Tommy Chong was sentenced to 9 months in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute drug paraphernalia through “Chong Glass,” a family business specializing in handmade glass water pipes, or “bongs.” Making history this year, Tommy Chong reunited with his old comedy partner, Richard “Cheech” Marin to announce their first tour in over 25 years with Shelby Chong opening the show. The “Cheech & Chong: Light Up America & Canada” tour has proven to be one of the most successful comedy tours of the year, selling out multiple shows from coast to coast.
*** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & More on this episode please visit our website: RockBottom2RockinIt.com. ***
Feedback? Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Contact me at us via: Email (eric@ericgilbertwilliams.com), LinkedIn (@ericgilbertwilliams), Twitter (@ericgilbertw), or Instagram (@ericgilbertwilliams).
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