Adam Torres, Patrice Bonfiglio, and Jose Tejada discuss podcasting and finance.
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Show Notes:
Listen to the Mission Matters PodCon 2024 coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Patrice Bonfiglio, Host of The Burnout Club, Jose Tejada, Host of Hispanic Wealth Matters, explore podcasting trends and Mission Matters PodCon 2024.
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Full Unedited Transcript
Alright, are we ready for round two, second half, yes? Alright, we got two more Rockstar panels coming up, so we’re going to have a lot of fun there. And then there’s time set aside for networking afterwards. And so far, I mean, this has just been looking at the crowd, looking at everybody come together, seeing all the networking and otherwise happen.
Like, this is what it’s about. When Chirag was talking about building community. And uniting people like this is what we do and this is a great pleasure. So let me start by bringing up the next panel, Jose and Patrice, please. All right, so this is another fun panel. So Patrice is newer to the podcast network and Jose has been here for a while.
So One of the reasons, both are in finance from different perspectives, different industries, but I thought it’d be interesting to bring them together for a panel. So just to get us kicked off for those that are not aware of their shows, Patrice, maybe just start with your background and a little bit more about your show.
Sure. So I’m Patrice Ponce de Leo, host of the Burnout Club. The whole reason behind starting the Burnout Club really stemmed from what I see At the hedge fund side, so I’m president of the capital. We’re an activist investor specifically in health care. So biotech and pharma and what we see when we go in and turn around companies is that.
There is just a tremendous amount of burnout from the employee standpoint. From management, even the board level shareholders are just tired of returns that aren’t matching up with what the assets are. And then you take myself, my team, everyone else that’s, that’s working behind the scenes. We’re all feeling the same thing, and I figured if I’m feeling it and those around me are feeling it, then maybe I should try to do something about it.
So I’m exploring the whole topic. Interview by interview and it’s it’s just been a blast so far three weeks in all right. How many episodes? If it dropped today, that’s my third episode. Yeah, give it up for three episodes. So I think Cory is the youngest here with this first episode today So there we go, and this is how the podcast agency works like clockwork.
See notice they’re here But their episodes are still dropping. See? Benefits there. Okay. Jose, talk to me. Your show, what was the concept behind it, and a little bit about your background. Yeah, so my name is Jose Tejada. My show is called Hispanic Wealth Matters. And the show comes as an inspiration from conversations you and I had.
I’ve known Adam and Sherag for many, many years now. And it really came as the idea that I, I’ve grown up in the world of finance as from a teller when I was, you know, 20 years old to being a private wealth manager to now be a mortgage lender and then running my own mortgage practice. And throughout that journey of 24 years, I’ve seen how, The Hispanic community has always had a disadvantage when it comes to economic literacy, and also the taboos that happen within the culture, right?
I think that when it came to the podcast you know, 38 percent of podcast listeners are of Hispanic descent, and that’s doubled in the last year and a half. You and I have spoken about how that’s an open ocean for the podcast industry, and we thought it was just the right time to launch. Awesome.
How many episodes in now? 38. Awesome. I’m not a hunter, it’s one of my fans, bud. That was my real goal, bringing everybody together so they can get following. Like, how many do you have? How many do you have? Alright, that’s the real goal behind PodCon, thank you. We’re like, Matt’s like, we’ll get them to release some episodes, won’t we?
Where’s Matt at? There he is. Take that. So, when I thought about when you first pitched your idea of Burnout Club, like at first I was like, This is unique. Like, it’s different. I haven’t really quite heard of something like that. I know you’re only a couple episodes in as of this point, but have you learned anything yet?
Like, whether it’s from the people that you’ve interviewed or otherwise, like, can you share some of that? Yes, that was the shocking thing actually. The risk going in was that everyone would say the same thing and it would just become boring, you know, two shows in. But what I’m realizing is that since everyone’s struggling with this issue, everyone has already tried to make tweaks to what they’re doing at home to, you know, What’s happening in the workplace to how they re energize and reinvigorate themselves.
So one episode that should be dropping now one executive that started out in advertising and marketing, she ended up creating a whole project called 1490 that takes people out of the office, out of the city. And you start doing off road driving, and chopping wood, just really learning basic, kind of like, life skills, to truly just, Get your head out of everything that’s bothering you and then start to network on a deeper level with people.
So, really trying to push the boundaries of what you think is relaxing or what you think is going to lift your spirit. So, I’m, I’m doing that a little bit more. And as I’ve seen the first couple of your episodes drop, what’s been interesting to me is now that the idea has kind of evolved in my head, I know we were going to try it, see what happens, right?
But but now that the idea has kind of evolved in my head, I can already see that it’s almost like a safe space. For people to talk about it and to connect and to not feel like they’re alone and to build community. Oh, yeah, exactly because everyone feels like they’re on an island. They feel like oh, well, I’m just feeling at home And you know, I dropped the kids off late and you know work is stressing me out and then you realize oh, it’s actually Everyone I know it’s it’s every industry It’s just something that’s plaguing society and they feel a kinship when you’re talking about it It’s kind of just good to know So, I’m getting very positive feedback from the guests and also just from the listeners.
Amazing. And Jose, so I know you for being a big community builder from way back, whether it’s NAHREP or many of the other organizations you’re a part of and you attend like Latitude and many, many other things. That being said, I know you have this like ingrained passion for education, whether it’s the Latino market, Hispanics or otherwise, like where does that come from and how do you put that into your show?
I think I’ve been very blessed to have grown up in the financial industry. Like I said, I was a teller when I was 20 years old, and I was a very bad teller. And so, because I was, I was, I wasn’t like stealing from people, but sometimes I gave them extra money. I was like a little Robin Hood. I wanted you as a teller, Jimmy Jose.
So what ended up happening is that I had a branch manager at that time, and And you know, he says, you know, you’re, you’re not a good teller and I either have to, I have to fire you or you got to go on the platform and try to sell some loans. And so I started doing lending right off the bat and that journey in 24 years, you know, as my career progressed, I got to see thousands of entrepreneurs, thousands of families at all levels, whether in the developing economic area or mass affluent multi millionaire families.
And I think that I’m privileged to have had that journey. So because I came to the States when I was 10 years old and we had a very humble start and difficult start, I just find it as a responsibility to me. And part of that is why I serve in so many different things as well. And I know, so speaking of you, you mentioned the Latino market and also like the growth and whether it’s podcasts or otherwise, like, can you just share a little bit more about that?
I know you just came back from, we came back from a big, large conference in San Diego. Like just some of the takeaways of things you got from that. Cause I know you gotta be on fire with your show after coming back from that. Yeah, we have a lot of great guests lined up thanks to Latitude. And thank you for joining us.
You know, this might have been your first time there. You know, the, the Hispanic market is the market. We’ve skewed so young as a, as a cohort. And the economic power that we carry. If we were an economy, we would be bigger than England, as in the United States. Just as Latinos in the United States. We would be bigger than many, many other country economies.
And so, what happens is that, we’re so young that over the next three to four, five years, you’re going to see a massive influx of dollars coming in from the Hispanic market. And frankly if you’re not, if you’re a company, if you’re not investing in it, you’re really going to just be out of, you’re going to be blockbuster, right?
You’re not, you’re not Netflix. You’re out of the game. Patrice, all right. So now jumping around a little bit here. You’re on the other side of the mic now. How does that feel? You need a couple episodes in. How are you feeling? It feels more natural than I thought. I was very scared before I went into the episodes with the guests.
I, you know, I did my monologue episode and I was fretting and rewriting and rewriting like everybody talks about, but you know, I got through that and I thought, oh, what if the conversation just dies or what if I need to really turn it away from what someone’s bringing up. But then I realized that I’m so curious in the actual subject that I, it’s very easy for that time frame to just pass right by and feel engaged.
So I, I’m loving it. What’s one of your favorite parts, because you’re a couple episodes in, what’s one of your favorite parts so far? I, I really enjoy asking people questions. The last time that they laughed, like a deep belly laugh. Because they’re always like, Oh, okay, let me, let me take a second. And then everyone’s idea is different.
And I take that and then I go and try to recreate it for myself. So when was the last time that you belly laughed? That’s a great question. I love it. You’re getting it next. Yeah, I think it was when my, my two kids have a ten year old and a six year old. They understand the concept of like mommy’s doing a podcast and I know I have these mics and stuff.
So they tried to pretend to be me and I put on a little show. It’s not accurate whatsoever, but. It was really cute, and it, it, it just, Next generation of podcasters, see? Get them young, that’s what we’re doing. Yeah, and they want to be on the show already. I’m like, how do they not know about Burnout? It’s funny.
Last time you, last time you belly laughed. You have to, that’s a great question, I love it. That’s, that’s really good. I’m going to go with the kids, too. I have a six year old and a three year old. And we were making slime in the backyard, and my three year old spilled something. And I say, Emma, this is your fault.
You should be watching her. You’re older than her. And Emma says, well, you’re older than me, so whose fault is it? So, I couldn’t help but laugh to that. Dang, another, another future host. I’m in. So when we think about finance, so both of you come to this from different points of finance, like how does your career and how does what you do, let’s just say on a day to day basis, and for everybody that maybe some people came in after lunch and didn’t catch the morning session, so all the posts, all the hosts on the, on the podcast network, so they all have it.
Yeah. Businesses, they’re entrepreneurs or executives and have their own careers and Podcasting is what they do on the side and we’re investing in helping to grow these shows So just some context for some that came in after after lunch So how does you know what you do on a day to day basis? How does that fuel and or inspire your shows?
So what I do normally in my job is try to solve very complicated problems So, in the industry that I’m in, maybe it could be, oh, a company needs to figure out funding before they are going to lose out on being able to run a trial to, you know, serve a community that, that has a, a health need or maybe they need to commercialize globally, but they can’t quite figure out how to, you know, circumvent some issues to the government said you’d actually sell this, this drug.
So, I’m just taking that set of problem solving skills and using it on burnout to try to reverse engineer ways to alleviate it. And, and just kind of like, stick on it. Same question. Yeah, I mean, I I’m involved in so many things in the city and so many boards, and I’m also, you know, my, I’m a lender by trade, so I get the chance to meet a lot of interviewers, very interesting people, and to me, it’s just a part of my everyday life.
I continuously and constantly invite people just to come on the show, and it doesn’t, like, I don’t really vet out who comes on the show per se, I think that if I find an interesting story, I’ll say, Hey, you know, I had this podcast, would you want to come tell your story? And, and what you’re going to send this to me around the beginning, where you’ll be surprised at how many people say yes.
You know, the majority of the time people go, I would love to do that. And, and that’s allowed me to connect to a lot of, a lot of great people. And to network on different levels, would you argue? Like people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Just yesterday, for example I, I recommend this for anybody to read.
It’s, it’s this young lady who wrote this blog call. Culture and cash, and it’s about the Latina and black experience with money and how culturally it’s so much different. And I DMed her, congratulating her on her book and asked her, would you come on the podcast with me? And she’s like, I would love to be on the podcast with you you know, in November.
And that allows you to, you know, you build a bridge so you’re connecting to somebody else right through an M on Instagram. So yeah, it’s a fantastic platform. Patrice, how do you approach that? Like what guests do you wanna have on the show? How have you been approaching that? So what I’m doing now in the early stage is trying to figure out, okay, what’s one avenue I want to explore myself to alleviate burnout and then see who’s in that space.
And what I’m realizing too is that even within my network people are just really open to the idea of getting on a podcast and talking about something and being vulnerable. They’re really kind of jumping at it. So, it’s been interesting trying to just pick the timing of who goes first when I’m trying to establish the show and, and what it means.
Yeah, that’s awesome. And for everybody that’s here that’s not a podcast host, by the way, if you haven’t been pitching yourself to the host to be on their shows, I highly suggest doing it because I know there’s going to be a lot of hosts that are going to walk away with some guests going forward. So if you’re interested in being in shows we don’t book them.
I don’t, we don’t say who has to be on them, but if you haven’t already been talked to them, definitely pitch yourself or your business or your idea so that maybe, maybe you get on some of these shows as well. So, awesome. So, what’s the vision going forward for the show? I know it’s early on, I know you’re just getting started, but like, let’s dream for a moment.
I wanna, we’re all, many entrepreneurs, executives, you’re out here today spending time, let’s dream for a moment. Like, what’s the vision long term for the show? The big dream. Yeah, long term, I think it would be great to explore burnout from all sorts of angles and really try to draw the similarities.
Agreed. between different types of people, different ages you know, parents and children as well. And really try to round out a kind of like playbook for what people can try. Because I think what happens with burnout is that people think, Okay, I just need to fix a few things. But I think just, you know, Generally, we need to fix things about how our society is running, how workplaces are running.
So it’s really macro themes and try to inject that back into the community and see if we can together try to, to navigate a bit differently. And are you, are you bringing on only individuals in the hedge fund industry or outside of that or just to give me that flavor? I, I actually started outside my industry, you know, I, I’m very familiar with what it feels like for someone in the Edgerton industry to feel burned out.
So, I run with cybersecurity, I run with advertising I have one episode that hasn’t aired where I talk to a founder of a healthcare company, so really just trying to, you know, go across the board. Jose, your, your big vision, your big long term vision, let’s dream, what’s the big one? Yeah, like I was saying, the podcast space is so open, such an open ocean in the Hispanic market.
I think that, in fact, I was trying to get poached from Issue Matters, but of course I will never leave you, Adam just because of the, the noise we’re already making. With the poachers in the crowd, you heard that, right? No I think the big mission is to be a leader in that space. I think that as podcasting continues to grow, it continues to grow within the community and it continues to grow within the country.
It would be great to be a new show in that space. Yeah. And then, and the real estate market in general, like, because you’re through NAREP, maybe talk a little bit about what you’re doing there and kind of how that relates, because I know we’re going to be doing a big collaboration coming up too for your Exedo event and some other things, so talk about that a little bit.
Yeah, so NAREP is the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. I am currently the president of that Los Angeles. And what NARAP is doing as an organization, it’s the largest trade association for Latinos in the country. And what we’re trying to do, and we are doing, is we’re creating an ecosystem of joining all the Latino pieces in the country.
So outside of real estate, for example, we have our Avance division, which is our sports entertainment division for Latino athletes. We also have the National Hispanic Construction Alliance, which is an alliance where we’re going to teach, we’re going to, we have training for members to go from laying down a brick to becoming a general contractor, and more important than that, we’re going to be creating a group insurance plan so that people that don’t have insurance, often these, these members don’t, are able to get insurance at an affordable cost.
So, we’re involved in a lot of those initiatives that, that I really believe are going to shape the country going forward. So, I’m going to ask one more question here and then I’m going to open up for some questions from the audience as well for the panel. So Favorite episode. Talk to me. What’s your favorite episode so far?
Give me some moments there. I, I’m going to go with my first one with a guest. And I loved it because it was so relatable. So even though the, the guest, Rick, he was a cybersecurity lawyer, you know, he was talking about being on the phone with Basically a cyber criminal, but holding his son who was just born because his wife was traveling and just the stress of trying to do your job and parent at the same time.
That was completely relatable, so I loved that part. And it was also a man saying it, and it flipped the script on, on parenting, so I like that. My favorite episode is one that I get, I think, the most, one of the, some of the most feedback on, and I titled it, it was a solo episode, and I titled it I’ve been reading contracts since I was 13, and other third parent duties.
And it was a story about me, really you know, when we came to the United States, my parents had to work two, three jobs. And so I became kind of that third parent and, you know, it’s just a very common experience that immigrants have when you are 13 years old and your parents hand you a lease and say, you speak English, tell me what it is.
And I’m like, I got here three years ago, you know, like, I don’t, I don’t know, but that immense amount of pressure that is placed on children of immigrants to, to represent the family and make decisions for the family resonated, I think, a lot with the people that listen to the show. So, that’s one of the episodes where I get the most feedback on saying, Oh, you know, I relate to that.
I went through that. Thank you for voicing it out. Alright, let’s