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Welcome to Episode 10 of the Movers&Shakers Podcast.  This episode is important to me because at the beginning of the year I decided that my  “Money Mantra” for 2014 was going to be LAUNCH. So, I’m very proud to be able to bring the 10th Episode to you today. I hope you’ve made you mind up to do something special this year as well.

We’ve had the opportunity to chat with and learn from a number of successful entrepreneurs in the first 10 episodes, but I know that some of you Movers & Shakers out there are looking to excel in the corporate arena.

In this episode I’d like you to meet someone who has done just that, the Kat Cole, CEO of the irresistible billion dollar brand Cinnabon.

Kat has an amazing story.  As a teenager she started working as a Hostess at Hooters in her home state of Florida. Because of her hard work and trustworthy nature she was asked to help open new Hooters restaurants in Australia and Latin America.  Her skill at launching the brand in foreign markets eventually helped her become vice president at the company.

When you prove your success, soon others will come calling, and she is leading the globally recognized brand (and scent….) Cinnabon.

But it wasn’t always this way.  Kat had to overcome difficulties in her family life as a kid and made the tough decision to drop out of college before climbing the ladder at Hooters.

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There seems to be this notion out there that there are two distinct types of people; those that are book smart, and those that are great at hustling and in business.

But there’s a fatal flaw in that notion.  There are may people who have been successful in academia and also successful in the business world.

In this episode I’d like you to meet one of those people, Dr. Randal Pinkett.

Dr. Pinkett is not someone that you want to try to match accolades with at a cocktail party.  He has five academic degrees in addition to being a Rhodes Scholar.  He is also the winner of season 4 of Donald Trump’s reality show, The Apprentice.  If that wasn’t enough, his newest venture, BCT Partners, recently signed a multi Billion dollar contract to provide information technology consulting to the Department of Health and Human Services.

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From the feedback I’ve been receiving from all of you, there are a lot of you that want to earn a living by having impact and influence on the lives of other people.

There’s only one problem: Many of you just don’t know where to start. No sweat. Here comes #MoversAndShakers to the rescue.

Enter Melinda Emerson, a.k.a. SmallBizLady, a former journalist who has, over her 15 years in business, become one of the country’s leading experts in building successful small businesses.

Melinda is the author of the best-selling book, Become your Own Boss in 12 Months, she has been named one of the top experts to follow by Forbes Magazine and Huffington Post, and she has an army of 250,000 loyal followers on Twitter.

She’s built a tremendous platform of impact and influence, and there’s a ton that we can learn from her success.

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No matter how successful you are, I’m sure that, from time to time, you have some of “those days.”  You know the days that I’m talking about.  The days when you might question yourself more than usual.  The days when things are going as well for you as they normally do.  We all face ups and downs along the way and it can be difficult to stay motivated under those circumstances.

If you’ve ever dealt with this type of challenges, then you need to meet Eric Thomas, a.k.a. ET The Hip Hop Preacher. Eric’s notoriety skyrocketed when a speech he gave to a group of students went viral.  If you haven’t seen it, you need to watch the video below so that you’ll be properly prepared for the interview.

In this episode, we’ll talk with ET about how he overcame tremendous obstacles (including homelessness, and dropping out of high school) to become a highly sought after motivational speaker, author, voice over artist and entrepreneur.

If you feel like you have things you need to over come in life, or you want to build a platform to help others do so, you’ll love this episode.

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Don’t worry, I already know what you’re thinking. The polar vortex has you questioning why your risk your life the in the treacherous city streets, just to go to a job you hate. If this is you, I’m sure it wouldn’t take too much convincing to get you to leave your job.

But what if you have a good job? What if you work for a billionaire and travel across the world? What if you have a fancy degree that everyone thinks you should be using? How easy would it be to leave then?

In this episode, we’ll meet someone who was in that exact same position, Paul Brunson. Paul, a.k.a. the Modern Day Hitch, left a lucrative finance job to create a business as a matchmaker and he hasn’t looked back since.

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With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, there seems like no better time to have a relationship expert on the show. To that end, we decided to have one of the best relationship experts on the show, Tony Gaskins.

Tony is a highly respected life and relationship coach who has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the Tyra Banks show, written countless books, performed speaking engagements around the globe and turned his “mess” into a “message” and built a six figure business around his expertise and experiences.

In this episode, Tony gives tons of valuable advice on how to grow your following and monetize your message.  Plus, he even throws in a little relationship advice as a bonus.

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No matter how successful you are, the tough times are going to come eventually. For the most successful people among us, it’s how you handle those tough time is what really matters.

In this episode, you’ll get to hear from one of the most highly decorated and accomplished female basketball players in history, Swin Cash. From the University of Connecticut, to the WNBA, to the Olympics, she has seen success at the highest levels of competition.

But she’s been met with adversity as well.  Like the time she didn’t make the USA Olympic Basketball Team in 2008.

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Have you ever dreamed of seeing yourself on the big screen, and the fame and fortune that might come along with it? It may seem like an impossible task to get noticed or “discovered” in tinsel town, but as it turns out, the fundamentals of success in entertainment aren’t that different from those in business.

In this episode, you’ll get to hear from star actor Lamman Rucker, a Pittsburgh native, who is perhaps best known for his role as Jill Scott’s love interest in the hit movies Why Did I Get Married and Why Did I get Married Too.

He was gracious enough to share with us the experiences that took him from the inner city to the big stage as a star in major film and television projects.

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Many of us feel as though we have a message that would benefit the world…if we could just get it out there.  Unfortunately, getting time on national media programs is no easy task.

However, with a sound strategy and persistence, it can absolutely be done.  Meet Mario Armstrong, a successful entrepreneur, digital lifestyle expert and frequent contributor to CNN, HLN, Fuse, The Today Show and more.

In this episode, Mario reveals the steps he took to create his national media exposure and shares how he handled adversity when the economy tanked in 2008.

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