We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sean Russell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sean below.
Sean, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Success starts with loving yourself. There are billionaires that are miserable because they have not built a healthy relationship with the person they see in the mirror. This also allows you to be open to loving those around you because fear and hatred is counterproductive.
Abundance is all around us and when I get out of my own way and tap into the support that’s all around me, I create a pathway to achieving my goals. This positive mental attitude turns problems into challenges, and failures into learning opportunities. It also creates synchronicities that illustrate a path towards success.
Moving forward and accepting support from the people around you is also a key. Both are critical because momentum keeps the team actively engaged and if you aren’t present to supply this community with direction, you will find yourself starting over building a new group of people to support you on your journey..
Ultimately, you get to develop a positive relationship with yourself to be prepared for what life has in store. This is your armor to brace against the adversity that is sure to appear as your getting closer to your goals. Having people around you that are also invested in your journey is critical to help you fill gaps and shine light on blind spots. Finally, moving forward helps with keeping everyone motivated and optimistic that the vision is becoming a reality.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m an executive producer in the vegan, music, and education industry. Since 1996, I’ve been actively engaged in producing media content and have Forrest Gumped my way into some pretty cool opportunities.
Ever since I was in the eighth grade, I knew I wanted to be a producer. Using Steven Spielberg as a prototype, I scrambled to blaze a trial for myself. I spent four years in high school building a foundation in video production, web development, and graphic design. This led to working with NBC and the Miami Marlins before my 18th birthday.
After high school, I went on to receive a scholarship to Florida International University where I earned my bachelors degree in Television Production as well as working with MTV and a short film. I also received a minor in education which served me well as I worked at an elementary school teaching children Fitness and Technology. I worked my way through the Broward County Public School system as a substitute teacher, classroom educator, micro-tech, aftercare counselor/supervisor, and even developed the first Summer Camp program run by a Broward County school. This led to over 39 schools adopting the program in future years. Before retiring in from the District in 2017, I ended up as the District Webmaster overseeing marketing campaigns for the sixth largest school district in the country.
While with the school board I also managed several media properties that focused on music, anime, and education. These projects took me around the country working with major brands from Def Jam, Nintendo, and Nickelodeon to name a few. I launched podcasts that reached millions of people, and interviewed famous celebrities and business leaders.
After deciding to focus on my passion and purpose, I left the school district and focused on my marketing agency that I was managing part-time. I produced websites, videos, and branding packages for small businesses and nonprofits. In 2017, I decided to focus 100% of my talents on supporting the vegan movement. I started an organization called SoFlo Vegans and spent the next 5 years building a community that put a spotlight on my home, South Florida. Over 300 events and countless podcasts and videos later, we’re still going strong and expanding into a global initiative designed to create a world-wide network of vegan communities. I’m also launching my first book and embarking on a global tour.
What’s next? I get to take everything I’ve learned and pair it with the emerging Web 3.0 landscape. The goal is to empower my community to leverage these technologies in order to engage audiences and build financial prosperity. The future is bright and I look forward to connecting.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
NFTs are the future and provide a vehicle for creatives to add significant value to what they are already doing. It’s in the early stages and the best time to become an expert. My goal is to support these creatives so they don’t miss the boat. My advice is to learn about this space and experiment as much as possible. Figure out what you can bring to the table and craft a plan to move forward.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
With my market being the vegan community, being compassionate, open and understanding helped tremendously. My focus was never to make money initially. It was to make an impact and support the community. It was this initial mindset that help me build solid relationships within the community.
Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that running an organization takes more than just time and positive vibes. Finding that balance and not making it all about raising money has been my biggest challenge. Luckily, by persevering I’ve been able to refine processes and trust in the guidance of experts to figure out how to fund my projects. This is through providing services, securing sponsorships, grants, selling merchandise, events, and using a membership model. The combination of these activities allows me to give freely of my time to promote and support local business owners without expecting anything in return.
Doing work on myself in the way of transformational workshops also keep me focused on being in service to the community. It’s easy to take things personally and operate from a place of fear and scarcity. Ultimately, these mind games only destroy you from the inside, removing the opportunity of living your best life. I don’t have all the answers, and I have the tools to be aware when I’m going down a dark alley that might not be the best choice for my well being.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://seanarussell.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/seanarussell82
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanarussell
- Other: SoFlo Vegans https://SoFloVegans.com Lesaruss Media https://Lesaruss.com Info sheet shorturl.at/rASW1
Image Credits
Xavier Russell