Balancing Purpose, Profits & Innovation w/ Founders Krista Berlincourt & Danny Steiner

Show notes in order of appearance:

• Last Oh Shit moment for Danny.
• Last Hell Yeah moment for Krista.
• Krista was living large before Kensho. She shares what this life was like.
• Danny talks about being in media and tech consulting. Shares his journey with Brami Snacks, a snack company that is all over the country including chains like Whole Foods.  
• Why Krista and Danny left successful careers. 
• The importance of having a higher “why” as opposed to just scale to make money.
• The idea for Kensho Health at Burning Man.
• What exactly is Kensho Health?
• 87% of deaths are the result of preventable chronic and lifestyle-driven illnesses. Krista dives into this. 
• The timing for holistic health.
•  What aspects of Kensho make it a Conscious company.
• Danny shares what it’s like to have a female co-founder.
• Raising money for a purpose-driven company instead of a money-driven model.
•  Putting people first to increase ROI.
• “What are two traits the NEW conscious leader should embody?” answered by both guests

Visit Kensho Health and find Kensho on Instagram.
Follow Krista Berlingcourt and Danny Steiner on Instagram.

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SebastianNaum.com

Below is a transcript of the video podcast created by Seb’s Robot buddy, Zekton. He tends to make mistakes so please forgive him if you find errors or some funky sounding sentences. For the real deal, watch the video or click on your favorite audio Podcast platform above! Enjoy!

Sebastian Naum (00:03):
What’s up fam today. I’ve got an Epic duo of humans, Christa Berlin court, and Danny Steiner. They’re the founders of Kensho health, which has been getting a ton of attention and has been described as the antithesis of goop merging together, holistic healthcare, data and technology into a new online platform. Krista previously worked at financial and tech startups and had an extremely successful career. And Danny invested in a number of purpose-driven companies and advised fortune 500 companies and digital innovation strategies. What I love about their stories is that they both had it really good in the eyes of most people. I mean, they were crushing it, but there were things along their journeys that caused them to pivot into where they’re at today. They share these stories with us on the show, and we also discuss a bunch of other fun stuff. Krista talks about something I was really interested in learning about, which is what it’s like to raise money from VCs for a conscious business, with alternative goals, to just making money and how putting people first can actually mean more ROI. Danny tells us what it’s like to work with a female co-founder and goes into what an ideal balance of feminine and masculine energies can bring to the table in a business guys. I’m a big fan of both of these humans, not just because of everything they’re accomplishing on paper, but more so because of the great energy and positive change they bring to the world. I love this episode and I think you will too enjoy guys.

Sebastian Naum (01:38):
What’s up guys, welcome to the show.

Krista + Danny (01:42):
Thank you for having us

Sebastian Naum (01:44):
Really excited to have you guys, uh, really excited. You know, I always start my podcast actually with a question that, to be honest with you, I took the idea from the very first meditation group that I went with you guys. And I dunno if it’s something that you did it that day, Danny, but I love the question as an icebreaker. So I say, I’ll ask you, Danny, what was your last Oh, moment.

Danny Steiner (02:12):
Uh, I have to say it was this morning as I was reading an Atlantic article about, uh, from potentially not leaving office, if he loses the election. That was probably, I was like, Oh, I think I intuitively I knew that and I’d read about it before, but for some reason, this article framed in a way that, that made it more real than I previously thought. So that was my, my most recent, Oh. I wasn’t very work-related or personally. Yeah,

Sebastian Naum (02:46):
It’s definitely an Oh. Krista. What was your last hell yam moment?

Krista Berlincourt (02:53):
Um, about an hour ago, thinking about,

Krista Berlincourt (03:00):
Uh, oppressively that haven’t done for two years. So that was good. Um, I was looking at accounting and seeing money. Yeah.

Sebastian Naum (03:13):
I’m glad to hear that. I’m glad to hear that. Uh, before we get into and do, can show health and running a conscious business, I want to just touch a little bit on each of you guys as past, um, you know, Krista, you like, you were like living the life before can show, like you had a high paying job, you were flying private jets. I mean, you were living this LA Epic life that people like would love to live, like share a little bit about that and where, where there was a shift

Krista Berlincourt (03:44):
Eating a little bit. Cause we were, you were coaching partners, you know, the incidence of my soul here. I think there’s a there’s, you know, there’s, um, there’s a book by David Brooks called the second mountain, which if you haven’t, you haven’t read it highly recommend, but it talks about the soul line and the goal line. And, you know, I climbed that first mountain and had a lot of external success, um, which created financial cushion. Um, but my heart wasn’t in it, my heart wasn’t. And so I think there’s a point in it. I know there’s a point in every person’s life in their career. We just start in different lines. So when people start on the soul line and then they realize their career, isn’t fulfilling them materially, um, there isn’t enough sort of security in the financial by-product of that to build a life that feels like it’s building you.

Krista Berlincourt (04:38):
Um, I started on the goal line and then realized it was time to switch to the soul. And for me, that really came out of asking myself, you know, what do I want to do with this one precious life? And what do I want to be known for? Um, and that made it really clear that I needed to build something where passion and purpose came together. Um, and to be fair, all of the companies that the, my last company was very much, um, a leader in the conscious profit space and was, was really known for that. Um, but I wanted to do it in the same way with the same leadership strategy, but in a space that I deeply cared about where I had personal attachment and conviction to really change

Sebastian Naum (05:25):
Well, that’s really interesting because if you’re saying too, that the previous company was actually in that space, but it still didn’t get to you, you know, to your passions and that caused you to shift. That’s, that’s really interesting.

Krista Berlincourt (05:38):
I think, you know, there’s lots of conscious profit companies out there. Um, I think Patagonia is a rad brand and I deeply respect them and I also don’t want to work with Patagonia. Not because they don’t think they’re amazing. It just doesn’t bring purpose to my soul.

Sebastian Naum (05:53):
That’s a great point. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah. Danny were, um, you’re a media and tech consulting and then you’re one of the founders of Brahmi snacks, which is a highly successful company. You could find the products in whole foods. Right. You’ve got, I mean, it’s what actually got you excited about that first. Yeah.

Danny Steiner (06:16):
So I had switched over to the vegan side around six years ago. And soon after that I met, uh, Aaron who is the CEO and founder of Brahmi and quickly resonated with his passion for what he was bringing and thought I could do a lot of good in the world. Uh, I love the idea of creating a snack and a product line that was all around savory, very healthy, vegan eating. And, uh, yeah, so that’s, that’s what got me interested in that.

Sebastian Naum (06:52):
Nice. And then what started, I know you’ve told me in the past that there was some issues internally with communication. There’s some things that started kind of like internally not working out for you. Where did that passion leave? Why, why did it go away? What happened?

Danny Steiner (07:04):
Yeah, I think, you know, without going into too much detail there, I think that they’re just at a certain point, there just became kind of a, um, a very obvious distinction and what the future of the company should be between the, between Aaron and myself. Um, we’re on very good terms now. And I actually wished, uh, one of the other founding members, Dylan dander and happy birthday today. Um, but yeah, I think there was just a, there’s just a difference in strategy. Um, there was, you know, some bumps in the road and early management, which was, can happen and, uh, I’ve certainly experienced uh Kensho as well. And, um, just some of the handling of that stuff I think could have been, could have been better, but ultimately, um, from more of a, like a feeling perspective, it, I didn’t think that I was making a big difference, uh, work that I was doing.

Danny Steiner (08:06):
Um, I thought that, yes, it’s good to have more vegan products out there, uh, and ones that are enjoyable and, and can substitute for snacks or other, um, uh, you know, other items that are not vegan, but I didn’t think it was necessarily going to change new, so overall conversation or change habits or anything like that. Um, and so I, I realized that it’s not how I wanted to be spending my time. Um, and I, you know, I’d put it all in like, you know, Aaron and I and Dylan were working at the co-packing factory, literally out the bad, you know, the bad beans, um, you know, mixing, mixing the product together. I mean, you know, I had spent 12 hours with these, this amazing Indian couple who ran this, co-packing a factory and we’d have lunch together, you know, with our hairnets on and everything. Um, outside of Philadelphia, it was a, it was a wild, weird experience, but I realized if I’m going to be putting in this much effort, I want it to be going towards something that I think can really make the world a better place. Um, and so, yeah, that kind of helped me to,

Sebastian Naum (09:16):
You had something that was like, scaling like crazy. Like I said, it was it’s in whole foods and things like that. My money was definitely there. It sounds like it’s like the why it’s like the, why is the one thing that wasn’t there necessarily? Yeah,

Danny Steiner (09:30):
I thought it was. And then, uh, and then for me it shifted from the why became a little bit, uh, a little bit confusing. Um, yeah. So I think that’s a, that’s a great way to put it. Yeah.

Sebastian Naum (09:44):
It’s interesting about how that shifted. And it’s funny, like, I feel like all the time I put myself into situations where I’m like, this is like my mission and my why, and this is how I feel about something. And then like, I feel bad about changing my mind. Like, there’s this thing like where it’s like, well, no, because I said, I felt this way or I was like this, you know, it’s like, do you know what, like you have the right to change your freaking mind if you want. Like, whether it is from a mission that you had three years ago or 15 freaking minutes ago. And I just think that that’s important for people to, I think, to understand. And it’s like, if it’s something that’s really deep and it’s not just like, Oh, I’m just changing my mind every five minutes. Cause I don’t know what I want, but if it’s more so like, it’s like deep purpose and that just shifted. It’s like, well, it’s shifted, you know?

Danny Steiner (10:25):
Um, so having giving yourself permission to, to shift, like that’s important, absolutely absolutely evolve and learn and, and get exposed to other ideas.

Sebastian Naum (10:36):
So you guys, both of you guys left these lifestyles that you had, they were both successful. They were both great companies, but there was something inside that didn’t really resonate. And you were looking for something different, whether you knew it or not. Rumor has it, you guys were at burning man, when you guys came up with the idea, uh, or the decision or the idea for 10 show, let’s be honest, like mushrooms, acid, like what were we on guys? Like, come on.

Krista Berlincourt (11:03):
Technically we weren’t at burning man yet. So yeah, technically, um, a mutual friend of ours, I’d actually gone through a little bit of a heartache, a long-term relationship rebounded came to LA and I was like, my heart hurts, uh, speaking to a friend and he said, come to burning man. And how to camp, just get yourself there. I’ll take care of the rest. That’s cool. Okay. Not my first burn. Um, but I didn’t have anything planned. Didn’t have an RV, didn’t have a tent, didn’t have a car, didn’t have it figured out. And then I texted the group’s read and was like, Hey, I’m coming from LA by myself. Um, if anyone else is driving out, let me know. And this dye slid into my BMS and was like, that’s super unsafe and you can join my caravan. And that guy was Danny. So we went walk from, uh, earth cafe you’re in Venice, Santa Monica. And we just started talking about life and, and what we were passionate about. And we were, we both were in this very interesting liminal space, really. Like we didn’t know what was next, but we both had given ourselves the freedom and space to figure that out. And we were both exploring discovery platforms. He was looking at the meditation space, going back to become a meditation teacher. And I was looking at the coaching space and I went back to become a coach, but then we went to burning man. Um,

Danny Steiner (12:37):
But that, that just felt like this thing. Is there some things you, like, what is it called catfishing? There was a, there was a lot of moments of like, wait, what are you working on? What are you interested in?

Krista Berlincourt (12:53):
And the parents thing, I think know, and I know you love your mom too, so you guys have a close relationship. I think it’s really lucky when you, you really do care about your parents. Every family is different, but Danny and I were talking about how we had bulls. You know, our curiosity in this space had really blossomed out of our own ability to make ourselves better, to grow as people and to find wellbeing, um, both mentally, physically, and then ultimately spiritually. And this practice for me of coaching was sort of my gateway drug and his was meditation. And because of that, he wanted to find a meditation teacher for his coach or for his dad. And I won’t find a coach for my mom. We were both like projecting that we really just want to help people. It’s so hard to help people and love people, but really the people were, our parents came and had so much fun.

Danny Steiner (13:55):
Yeah. Right next to my tent and became very good friends with a lot of the friends that I went with. And I became very good friends with the friends she went with and yeah. Uh, and then, you know, quite, uh, quite famously, at least in our small little company, uh, Christa wrote a very long text to me, um, after the burn saying, Hey, I have this crazy idea. What do you think about we work on this together? I think there’s something much bigger here. Um, and, and yeah, so I flew, I was living in New York at the time and I flew back to LA and spent some time with her. And, um, that was the beginning of a, kind of a long, you know, mutual courting process where we were feeling each other out and feeling if this was something we wanted to work on. Um, so it was just a, quite a lucky thing that we were both in. And as Chris was mentioning this liminal space of thinking very intentionally about what we wanted to do next and wanting it to be big and wanting it to be a very conscious,

Sebastian Naum (15:00):
That’s awesome. What an Epic way to, to give birth to something. Because people talk about ideas all the time. Everybody has an idea for an app, you know, and, and just for it to be that intentional and that person purposeful it’s, it’s Epic. And so the IC Ken show is like this, um, because doc, doc, or a Yelp for holistic health, right. Make it making holistic health accessible to more people. Is that good description?

Krista Berlincourt (15:28):
Yeah, I think so. I think with a little side dishes, um, research. So the one thing that’s very different from maybe as Octa is that we know that holistic health is hard to navigate because there’s no general practitioner that you go see when you’re working in conventional medicine. Like you go to the one guy and he sends you to the next or the next woman. And we’ve really created a product that helps you navigate based on your own symptoms, using original research and open sourcing, a ton of research that’s ever contained before. And then we kind of look to the world of dating apps, believe it or not. Um, because why does healthcare field, you know, why, why do you know nothing about your doctor and they know everything about you? That doesn’t make sense.

Danny Steiner (16:29):
Yeah. And I think just further to that point, the importance of bedside manner and in a relationship with, with a doctor or with an acupuncturist or any of these folks is, is often as important as you know, their education. Like, how do you, how do you resonate with this person? Do they, do they get used? They understand who you are. And do you resonate with where they’re coming from?

Sebastian Naum (16:54):
Yeah, absolutely. You know, there’s this, uh, a stat that shocked me when I went on your website a couple of months ago. And it said that 87% of the deaths are the result of preventable chronic and lifestyle-driven illnesses. I was like 87% of deaths are preventable, chronic and lifestyle driven illnesses. Christa, can you talk to that? Can you explain that a little bit? How that is?

Krista Berlincourt (17:20):
Yeah. I was actually an investor it’s lifestyle. It’s basically, how are you living? You know, you think about diseases is a disease. Anxiety is a disease where we have emotion and really spiritual struggle when we feel tense when we feel, not even in the place of diagnostics, but when you simply feel like, something is going on inside of you. And when we don’t have the tools to name that emotion or name, that feeling or name that, you know, stomach thing, that’s upset about smooth that over time into something that can be so anxiety gives weight retention, which you can use, which gives you no stress. And hormonal imbalance gives way to skin inflammation, which gives way to infection, which gives it just, you know, polycystic ovarian syndrome. And so for us, it’s really about, it’s funny in conventional medicine, because you treat the symptoms you go in with showing your face, or I was reading something, one of our providers yesterday, we have a thing on polycystic ovarian syndrome. And one of the first giveaways is hormonal acne in women and hair growth. Like Holy, those are pretty busy. If you’re a woman, you’re going to notice that very quickly. But what happens if you go to the doctor, if he went to a dermatologist, they would get rid of this and a pill to get rid of the acne. Well, where’s the polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Krista Berlincourt (19:10):
It’s not gone. And so for us, we look at the root cause we promote a holistic way of thinking about being in your life.

Sebastian Naum (19:21):
You know, there’s something you said that there, that reminded me something Krista, that, uh, when you and I were doing coaching together. Um, and by the way, so I’ve, I’ve done meditation with Danny’s and amazing meditation teacher. And Chris is an Epic coach as well. Um, but so we were talking about some deep stuff and I think you, I don’t know if you were the first person to say this to me, but I think it was the first time that sometimes you hear things different times in your life. And then at one point it clicks. Right. But I think you were one of the first people that said to me that when I was talking about something that was giving me anxiety, that I wasn’t realizing was necessarily give me anxiety, but my body was in a different shape. Yeah, exactly. So it was, it was, it was in my shoulders were down and I was closed up and you were explaining to me, you’re like, you look at your body right now while you’re talking about this specific subject.

Sebastian Naum (20:10):
And I was like, what? And then you explained, you’re like, and that’s kind of an explanation what we were saying like, Hey, if you’re feeling like about something like there’s something else going on. Right. So I think it was a really interesting thing for me because I started thinking about my body and my posture in different situations throughout my life when I talk about stuff. And it’s like, Oh, like, I am not shoulders up open feeling, you know, empowered. I am closed up, you know, I’m, I’m, you know, closed up and like, I’m getting, getting anxiety about this, would it, you know? So I just thought it was really something really interesting.

Krista Berlincourt (20:43):
Yeah. It’s um, um, it’s such a giveaway on what you’re actually feeling. And I think one of the things for anyone who’s listening is not to blame yourself for when you’re shutting down, but rather getting curious about what the route might be. So if you notice you’re closing, look at yourself and say like, you, you you’re, you’re shutting down. You’re so small that really like, what am I, what am I doing in my life where I’m not serving me well, and generally that’s like one root cause, which is just putting your wellbeing first. And most people are deferential to society and their families and their communities and their companies to make sure that they’re satisfying their needs. Um, but we don’t need the same things.

Sebastian Naum (21:39):
And to extend off of that, I think it’s a good idea too, that when, when you do feel that anxiety or something going on, it’s almost like think that anxiety, because it’s actually talking to you and it’s telling you something, like you said, be curious about it, let it pass through you and see what’s going on, as opposed to just fighting it off with a pill and just getting rid of the symptom, which will later on explode. So

Krista Berlincourt (21:59):
I think one thing that, um, that I, I try to use in myself and that was gifted to me is reading, rename your anxiety, don’t call it anxiety, call it awareness. I’m hyper aware that I’m thinking about my relationship. I’m hyper aware that I’m thinking about work. I’m hyper aware of my whole, whatever it is. It’s giving you anxiety, my children. Interesting. It’s again, it’s a gift of presence and awareness in that topic. I like that

Sebastian Naum (22:30):
Hyper or I’m really effing, hyper aware, right? No, that’s really funny though. I love that. I love that way to look at it. It’s really awesome. So guys, how, um, is Danny, is this like a good time? You think it’s great timing when it comes to, from a, from a company standpoint like holistic health, is this like the time to expand and scale holistic health from a business standpoint to the world, is the world now finally ready for this? Maybe 10 years ago, this wouldn’t have been a thing.

Sebastian Naum (22:56):
Hey guys, I just want to remind you that you could get more content like this@sebastiannom.com. That’s a bastion N a U m.com. And you can also get a ton of other marketing resources from myself and my agencies ranging from SEO to social media, influencer, marketing, branding, animation, web development, and more again, that’s a bastion nom.com. Thank you. And enjoy the rest of the show.

Krista Berlincourt (23:21):
Um, yeah, we were talking about ideas. I don’t, I don’t think are ideas that novel, to be honest. And, and we’ve spoken to dozens of people who have had the same idea, a lot of practitioners who have tried it’s about the execution and the timing. And I think that our timing has been very good. Um, and I think that even over the two plus

Danny Steiner (23:46):
Years that we’ve been working on this almost three years now, the shift and perspective from investors from media, from just folks we’re speaking to has, has been dramatic. And we began this, we had to justify what we were doing and, and the space that we were interested in, and that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Uh, in conversations we’re having some of that has to the place our company in particular has gotten too. But I think a lot of that has to do with the acceptance and bullishness in, in the world around holistic health and in particular in the investment community, in the States. So I think that’s interesting to note, um, and I think that, you know, Chris and I were both listening to this, uh, to this talk yesterday with, uh, defined ventures and 4runner and the CEO CEOs of folks and hymns and her, uh, great conversation.

Danny Steiner (24:41):
And one of the takeaways for me was, uh, Kirsi green, four runner was saying, um, you know, in these five months of pandemic, we’ve essentially, uh, you know, sped forward five years in sort of evolution development of, of health and healthcare. And I think one of those major ways is thinking about health more holistically, um, thinking about the whole person, considering mental health, considering, uh, spiritual health. So, so yeah, I think our timing was great. Um, it feels like there’s a lot of, uh, tailwinds not only for holistic health, but digital health, um, investment in digital health companies, um, is tremendously high in the first half of, uh, of 2020 actually. Uh, despite the pandemic, um, actually it will be the biggest year yet in terms of digital health investment. Um, so yeah, it, it feels, it feels like, like there’s momentum, uh we’re in our company and, and without,

Sebastian Naum (25:44):
Yeah, I was, I’m glad you brought up that investment aspect. I was going to ask you that Danny, you know, raising capital is a gnarly process. Like it’s not easy to ask for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to build your dream. And so when I remember thinking about when you guys were starting to raise money, I was like, I wonder if it’s easier to raise money when you’re building a conscious business or if it’s, you know, way harder. So you were kind of essentially answering that question, talking about, um, the timing. So what is that like? Because essentially when you’re raising money, people are like, here’s my money so that you can 10 X my money. That’s essentially the bottom line of a venture capitalist, right? Like traditionally. So what is the difference when you’re doing it for a conscious business? Um, it, are they a little bit easier? Are you, are they harder on you? Like, you’re basically looking to scale holistic health and it may not be as simple as just like, you know, we’re just going to 10 X your money, you know, with this formula kind of thing.

Krista Berlincourt (26:47):
Um, it’s not like it’s not dating. Fundraising is just like dating. And so in the same way that if you’re dating and you’re not yet conscious, you’re like just looking for someone cool, but I want to hang out with now, if we say, and that understands this awakened mindset with which I approach my life, your selection narrows significantly. And it just means for us. And because we’re building a conscious business, we want conscious people touching the business and we have felt the impact every time we’ve allowed someone who wasn’t really anchored in that mission, didn’t have a personal attachment to really make health care, more human, to change that if they don’t care about that thing, then their drivers. And that’s the same issue. I think we have to find last company as well, but like, what’s that KPI. And so, so long as you, it will drive profits.

Krista Berlincourt (27:44):
It just does because people are the thing. It drives profits it’s money. When it comes from people it’s not just magic, but more often than not, when you’re fundraising, you’re going to meet a lot of people where the KPI they have is just how quickly can you scale it. And if you’re looking at it that way, you’ll probably make a lot of decisions that are predatory, that undercut the consumer, that don’t put the human first at the center of the human centric design that have business models that are adversarial to the people you’re actually serving so that you can get rich quick. Um, it does mean though that just like dating, you build a big lightning rod and lightning can strike. And so our brand has struck people who believe in what we’re doing, and it means that the investors, we have really good people. Like they’re great people who liked spending who care, but you just have to hunt a little harder.

Sebastian Naum (28:47):
That’s great. I love that. You know, it just, it just, I wish I would. I like to make you repeat that. So people just get that ingrained in their heads, but just the whole idea of putting people over profits and people are the one that bring in the profits anyways. So the profits will scale by putting people over profits. And the other thing that I’m getting from you on that is that you’re like, and these investors are freaking awesome. Right? I love these people. Like I actually enjoy hanging out with them as opposed to that kind of old school vibe of, you know, these VCs are up my. Like I kind of like give them what they want. And it’s like this like fear based kind of relationship between the investors and the founders.

Krista Berlincourt (29:30):
It is different. And actually take me asked a really good question at the counter, spend a little stat recently. Um, we’re getting ready to launch the next version of our product, which is big, big endeavor. And he was like, is this meeting for you? Or is it for this dude? Who’s our investor. It’s for me. So as, as a CEO, as a founder, remembering your investors are there to serve you. You’re the one who’s making them money. They’re not working their asses off. They’re not, you know, doing 20 hour days. They’re not trying to build something. They just wrote you a check that check came from a limited partner who put money into their fund. Like let them help you. Um, but yeah, with our investors, I mean, one, I, I tore down his house with a sledgehammer that was fun in the early days. And another week we might’ve heard of social functions in New York and, you know, Danny, the other Danny went to his house and, um, had a morning tea meditation. So what,

Sebastian Naum (30:38):
That’s great. That’s great. So we’re really lucky. Yeah. That’s amazing. It sounds that way. And it sounds like you are because of the energy that you’re putting out and the purpose that you have behind it. So outside of Kensho being essentially a conscious company by its nature, what makes Kensho a conscious comp uh, conscious company in terms of like your employees and what you’re doing with the profits right now, I know that you guys are donating profits through a certain amount of time for November. Like what’s going on with that. What, outside of just the nature of the company being conscious, what are you guys doing to do things that improve the lifestyle of all the stakeholders

Krista Berlincourt (31:16):
Anybody needs me?

Danny Steiner (31:18):
Sure. Um, yeah, in terms of, uh, profits, we’re actually donating all our revenue to an organization through the rest of the year, through the respiratory now. Um, and this organization is the, um, I’m just blanking on it. Uh, crystal helped me

Krista Berlincourt (31:38):
National and trans therapists of color network, which is UTTC. Yeah.

Danny Steiner (31:48):
And, and their, their managing director Erica is, is absolutely terrific. And, and we’ve connected with him on, uh, on a number of occasions, um, and really believe in this organization. And we were, we were quite activated by the BLM movement and wanted to put our money where our mouth and our feet and our hands holding signs were. Um, and we thought the best way to do this. And since, uh, we have control of the company, um, we could do that. Uh, and so that’s, so that’s what we’re doing for the rest of the year. And we’re very excited to, to do that in addition to helping, uh, in QTC CN with strategy and marketing support and, and really being a soundboard for them. Um, and then, um, other ways in which we are a conscious company internally, um, I think it’s just the way that we, we treat each other, uh, that Krista and I show up for each other, as friends, as partners, um, which isn’t always perfect, but I think when it’s not, we, uh, we talk about how it’s imperfect and we make the bottom of it and, and try to address it.

Danny Steiner (33:01):
Um, and in the way that, you know, our team shows up in the way that we support them and care for them, um, you know, more specifically, we, every time we have a team meeting, we do a check-in where we ask, how are people feeling? What are they thinking about, you know, what are they bringing into this space that we’re creating? Um, and that’s proven to be incredibly helpful. Um, you know, sometimes, you know, a dog has died or, um, or you’re, you’re very sick or you’re worried about a loved one or whatever it may be. Um, and that should be considered, uh, as you’re, as you’re working, not to say that we, um, don’t expect high standards and great ex execution output. We do. Um, and I think that you can, in a, in a, in a non-cynical way, you can get more out of your, uh, of your, of your team who care about them, if you relate to them, if they are invested in, in what you’re building. Um, and we believe that everyone on our team is, is truly an owner of the company. Um, and so, um, and then, you know, we do, uh, we do, uh, meditations, uh, twice a week. Um, sometimes crystal leads, sometimes I lead. Uh, and, and yeah, so we, we try to bring, uh, we try to practice what we preach.

Sebastian Naum (34:23):
I love that. That’s great. That’s a lot of great practices there, Danny, you’ve got a female co-founder, I’ve got, uh, two male co-founders I’ve, I’ve mainly had experience being a co-founder with men and you did in the past as well. And I think most guys have experienced being co-founders with other men. I think that that’s, I don’t know what the stats are on that. I should look that up, but it’s probably really high. Um, what is it like to have a co-founder as a female? How has it made the experience, um, better in a way? Cause I know I’ve done a lot of business with women and it’s, there’s a lot of things that are just a lot better. So I don’t know, uh, what, what is that like for you? Can you share that?

Danny Steiner (35:06):
Sure. Yeah, I think there’s just an obvious balance between the masculine and feminine, um, that is really, really productive and helpful, uh, in any partnership and especially in running a company. Um, I think that there’s a, um, certainly reflecting on my experience at Brahmi and comparing it to this. There’s a, there’s a, there’s a level of connection and, and care and feeling that we certainly never gave each other. Uh, and, and which, uh, I think was, was quite negative really. Um, yeah, I think that there’s there. Yeah. There’s so many benefits to, um, I think to working with working with someone of the opposite sex, like whether you’re willing to working with men and men working a woman. Um, so yeah, I, I, I don’t even know if it’s necessarily men, you know, um, like cis-gendered, you know, heterosexual, whatever it may be. I think it’s just like masculine and feminine energy, like having there, and that can come in, um, in, in men or with women.

Danny Steiner (36:15):
So I think, I think just having a balance of energies and experiences is perhaps the most important thing. I mean, Krista and I balance each other in a number of different ways. Um, you know, from, from background to, um, the sort of energy that we bring to, uh, you know, to, uh, different personality types. Like there, there’s so many, there’s so many to, you know, to experience to, um, uh, you know, to sort of like our own geniuses, like there’s so many different ways. And I think generally speaking, any, any partnership that has good balance, um, in these ways is going to be more successful.

Sebastian Naum (36:55):
Absolutely, absolutely. Krista you’re obviously clearly a conscious leader. Uh, both of you are, what do you think are two, the two most important traits that a conscious leader has to bring to the table today?

Krista Berlincourt (37:12):
Feelings that, um, honesty, I think honesty of self honesty, honesty of what you see he, honesty of what’s possible honesty. I think that self honesty is the biggest, um, because that internal tension and anxiety tells you something is wrong. Every time I’ve done something that was a disservice to our business, not, not not, or that I could’ve done differently is because I didn’t trust that intuition, that that self honesty of this doesn’t feel right. And I, a conscious leader has that because you’re leading from a place of intuitive instinct. I think that’s a better word for the men listening to this. Um, so I think trusting your instincts and then having self honesty, and then, um, I, you mean putting people over profits is really just integrity, but then you shouldn’t drive integrity of, is this an integrity? Is this an integrity that the values that we’ve created as a company, are we really making decisions based on those values? Is this integrity with the mission? Um, I really can’t say enough good things about the CEO of my last

Danny Steiner (38:39):
Mission. And every decision was measured on its values and people over profits. And it was also a disruptive disrupted. It was a space that hadn’t been in the financial services, FinTech space. There’s like a hundred companies in the last nine years that have done really, I think for us, it’s holding to that. So if you’re building a business right now, that’s hard just holding yourself to that. The challenge is just a part of the journey. You just know that it’s teaching you to be a better person, profit first become dishonest in yourself and that integrity.

Sebastian Naum (39:31):
I think that honesty specifically with yourself, like you explained, it is so important. And then, you know, you know, people over profits through integrity, um, how you connected that I think beautifully. Danny, what about yourself to two traits of the conscious leader?

Danny Steiner (39:50):
I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me next. Uh, I always have trouble, uh, answering least, or most or best, uh, answers. Um, yeah. Are a lot of good answers. Um, really good. Really good hair is definitely, uh, um, yeah, I think, uh, I think humility, uh, is important. Um, and I think that ties into what Krista was talking about in terms of, of honesty, um, and also self knowledge. And I think to have that we have to be, we have to practice humility, um, in order to, to look again like, Oh, I thought I thought I did that. Oh, no, there’s still a bit more there. Um, you know, for me that’s around, uh, that’s around communication and, um, and that’s certainly one way in which Krista, and then I think having a female co-founder to answer back on that question again, has been so helpful is I think men often don’t, they, we certainly don’t over-communicate um, oftentimes under communicate, uh, as is the case with me.

Danny Steiner (41:25):
And so, um, that’s something that I’ve had to come back to over and over and over again, uh, throughout a relationship. Um, so I think humility would be one. Um, and then, and then honestly, just this sounds a little bit, I guess, a little Lulu, but like showing up with love and, and having, having fun. Um, and I think, I think if you do that, you’re not going to be a jerk. You’re not going to be an, an unconscious whatever leader. Um, if you’re leading with your heart, if you’re enjoying what you’re, if you’re having fun, what you’re doing is just, I think really difficult to, to have those things occur at the same time,

Sebastian Naum (42:11):
We forget to have fun so much, you know, it’s so important to get back into that inner child and play man, even if you’re working. So in an ideal world, you get to be playing and having fun and doing it with love at work. I love it. That’s the Holy grail, you know, um, guys, how do we get home? How do we get ahold of, uh, Oh, did you want to say something, Danny?

Danny Steiner (42:33):
Yeah. One thing to touch upon that subject is, um, Christa actually put forth to our team, uh, I believe last week or earlier this week, that if you’re, if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right. Um, and I let her kind of elaborate on that, but I think it’s an important one.

Krista Berlincourt (42:53):
So funny and the skin, my whole body Chelsea, cause the thing earlier was that, you know, and caught an anxiety around something for a long time. And then you realize like, could you change it? Could you do it differently? And usually the answer is, yes, if you’re the leader, then you can like that recognition of, if you are a founder or a CEO of a company and something is not fun and what are you doing? Because you have the power within you to change every single thing. You have the power to create a dynamic where you’re setting your team up with, with values and structure and processes that are fun. You have the ability to empower them to have fun. Um, and so I was looking at, you know, one of our teams and I was like, you guys are not having fun with this. Why, why aren’t you having fun? It should be fun. We should, if this isn’t making you laugh, it’s not going to make our customers feel anything. And I think we there’s this cultural belief that like businesses, business and business hard. And like, you need to wear a suit or like talk to the souls of those people. I bet you, they’re not having a lot of fun. Um, it’s a waste of life. Yeah.

Sebastian Naum (44:13):
And even if you’re not a CEO or founder and you have some sort of a leadership position, I think it’s super worth looking into this and then proposing it to the person above that allows you to make decision or still proposing it to your team. And I guarantee you that your team will outperform the other teams that are not having fun, you know? Yeah. So guys, how do we get a hold of a Kensho? Can people just go download it on the app store, Instagram account, anything that you’d like to share?

Krista Berlincourt (44:38):
We are what you would so much like Airbnb, you go to their site, you find a home, you come to Kensho, you find a holistic health provider. So www.kenshohealth.com. And we’re also at Kensho health on Instagram and Facebook.

Sebastian Naum (44:56):
I love it. I love it guys.

Krista Berlincourt (44:59):
Okay.

Sebastian Naum (45:02):
Excellent guys. Really appreciate you guys. Being on you guys are Epic conscious leaders and I’m super proud of you and you guys are an inspiration. So please keep being you appreciate you guys.

Krista Berlincourt (45:17):
Thanks.