What is like to start a nonprofit from scratch? Brian Russo can tell you. What about a nonprofit that is on a mission to fight sex trafficking? That too! Brian shares his story of building Eye Heart World with his wife, Season.
Hear from with Brian Russo, Co-Founder of Eye Heart World, a nonprofit organization fighting sex trafficking in Wisconsin and Alabama. We talked about what it was like shifting careers, and starting a nonprofit within an issue that many are afraid to tackle, or don't even know how to begin. Brian also talks about his passion for music. This is a really good one, folks.
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Brian Russo
Oh gosh, yeah. Yeah, we we wondered all the time if it was going to fail.
And,
and I think that's, that's a part of every pivot that you make. We're very fortunate that we have the sort of marriage and relationship where
we actually function best when we're working with each other.
Jacob Miller
Hey there, you're listening to never done this before, a podcast where I interview humans that had the courage to start something new and take action. This podcast is for those that want to discover their purpose, to understand what is possible, to be inspired to start their own journey into something new. Whether it's a new career or hobby, starting something in your community, or changing the way you live your life.
None of those things are simple, and they're not easy. I hope you find valuable insight and gain fresh new perspectives from each episode. I'm your host, Jacob Miller. On the internet, some people come and kinetic bear. Either way, I'm glad you're here. So thanks for joining us, episode number four. In this episode, I connect with Brian Russo, co founder of I heart world, and nonprofit organization fighting human trafficking in Wisconsin and Alabama. We talked about what it was like shifting careers, and starting a nonprofit within an issue that many are afraid to tackle, or don't even know how to begin. This is a really good one, folks. So let's get to it.
Hi, Brian. Welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you on here to have you share your story about yourself and like building our world and I mean, we've been friends now for Oh gosh, like at least five years now.
Brian Russo
Yeah, thanks.
Jacob Miller
Which is crazy, I think Yeah, but I think it's a great opportunity to to even like dive deeper
with each other a little bit again, and obviously we haven't seen each other a little bit too. So it's just good to be able to hang out for a little bit today. And I'm excited to have you share whatever you want to share with everybody. So
Brian Russo
yeah, thanks.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. So maybe introduce yourself to everybody who's here. who's listening. who you are. And you know, what do you do? what's what's life look like for you right now?
Brian Russo
Yeah, well, my name is Brian Russo. I am a Florida native Green Bay by choice. And I'm married to the most wonderful woman in the world season. And we have a beautiful little girl Magnolia. I do a couple different things. I'm a musician. I am a marketing and messaging coach. But probably the still the largest chunk of what I do is my wife Season, and I run another
nonprofit called I heart world. We work to combat the issue of sex trafficking, through recovery for survivors, prevention for at risk teens and awareness training for professionals and community members.
Jacob Miller
Awesome. Very cool. I'm in your musician too. So Like what? Like, how's that been going for you? I know you recently released some new music. Yeah,
I know. I know, originally, like you went to school for music, so maybe talk about that a little bit just on the side.
Brian Russo
Yeah, yeah. So I
I graduated from college with a bachelor science music business, bachelor of arts, music performance, and so that basically means
there's literally nothing I can do with that with those degrees. So
yeah, so right out of college.
I mean, it's not entirely true. Yeah. That's a different conversation. But
But no, right out of college. I
I went into full time church ministry. And so I did that in the music arena for Gosh, just about 10 years. Mm hmm.
Jacob Miller
Cool. Yeah. And but then more recently, you've been ramping back up. Yeah.
Brian Russo
Yeah. Yeah. So, personally, I buy my passion. Probably, probably my biggest mission in life is to write and record music that is inspired by my faith in an effort to help other people with their faith journey. So that's, that's my why behind my craft, so to speak.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, very cool. Yeah, I mean, you're definitely one of my favorite vocalists. So
Brian Russo
no, you're so kind.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. I have to be paid to just say that. So
seriously, everyone will have links in the show notes and all that stuff. So yeah.
So that brings me to the next question. You know,
What what kind of music can be listened to lately? And why? Any new like any new songs or albums or maybe there's old music that you're going back to, you know, we're all kind of like hunkered down homes right now.
So like what? What music?
Brian Russo
Yeah. Okay, I saw, um, I saw you sent me a few questions ahead of time. And I saw that on there. And I kind of chuckled to myself. Because funny enough. I've been listening to a lot of classical music lately, because I'm going stir crazy in my house. And it's helping to keep me calm. Yeah, help me
Jacob Miller
clean it up. You know,
are you just like listening? Or like, I'm just kind of curious if you're,
Brian Russo
I am actually I I'm so funny. I took a chance on a $600 baby grand piano on Facebook marketplace, fully aware that it would probably not me. Yeah, and yeah.
And, and so it was free delivers like a give it a shot.
And sure enough it's it's, it's great. And so, yeah, I broke out some of my old classical piano books, but I've been listening to a lot of
a lot of string music and stuff just yeah, that that's super calm that um
Yeah. Because I have a toddler as well and so it helps to calm her down. Oh yeah, like lullabies and stuff in the evenings Absolutely. Putting me to sleep at 7pm Not really. There's no bedtime anymore. Yeah.
Jacob Miller
I it's funny. I've actually been listening to a bunch of like, 90s music just
90s pop rock essentials playlist or something on Spotify. Just because I just need some kind of like, throwback to like when I was in grade school, middle school. That's like, remembering all the songs that I actually didn't know the words to Yeah, you know, all that kind of stuff. Makes me feel good, you know?
Yeah. So how are the cranberries doing then?
Yeah, I yeah, yeah, zombie. Yeah.
What's the, what's the other one they have?
Brian Russo
Of course, I'm drawing a blank now.
Jacob Miller
I know it's okay. We don't need to. We don't need to remember that all the sucks. Cool. Um, yeah. And then one other question too before we dive into kind of the origins of art world, in how you kind of transferred your career into that. Um, I always like to ask you know, if you weren't doing you know what you do now music or I have a world I guess. I guess it could be music. And money wasn't an issue. What could you see yourself doing with your life instead? I'll just say no music and no, I hate world. Oh, music and art world are not involved. Yeah. Oh, we're gonna do something else. Like what would you do?
Brian Russo
Hey, you pulled the rug out from under me that you took my answer. Um, that's a really tough question.
I mean, I feel like it'd be super cliche, but I would be like, a preference professional traveler.
That's another that's super see. I don't think that even counts. Does it was I think that's everybody, at least anybody who's on Instagram.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, I will let you have that. And if you want to do music that's so cool. Okay, music for sure. For sure. It's gotta be something random that he's always thought about doing with his life, and he just hasn't done it. So are just like, I'll never do that. But that'd be super cool to do something like that, etc. Yeah, yeah. Gotcha. Well, cool. All right. So this next segment, I like to call back to the beginning. So it's about, you know, going back to the origin of when, you know, when you either started something started something new, or you pivoted from something you were doing to start something new, or, or whatever, however, you want to phrase it, depending on the person. So, let's go back to the beginning of our world. I think I remember you were in Florida, at the time. And so what was going on in your life and what was going on kind of like, you know, in your head at the time, just kind of set the scene a little bit for everybody that the origin of our world?
Brian Russo
Yeah, absolutely. So, um, gosh, fall 2000 And nine, my wife season and I were in a little bit of a transition time. She had been on staff at the church I was on staff at and we just kind of felt like it was time for her to step down, get ready to do something different. We didn't know what quite yet. I was doing music at the church and also running like a ministry for like college students and young adults. And so we in Fall 2009, we went to a church conference. And that was the first time we had heard about the issue of human trafficking. And obviously, we were just so taken back that was right around the time that the issue was really beginning to get some press coverage, and people are starting to talk about it. So season and I just really felt like we wanted to do something, right. And so we took a step back and surveyed our life to see what we had in our hands, so to speak. So we decided to organize As an awareness event for our young adults group, and we invited the whole church and the community and everything. And as we got closer to it, we wanted to do more on a personal level. Mm hmm. So season, our mom went to the fabric store, bought enough fabric to make 30 handbags, but a random orange rose on them, just kind of as a statement, and the goal is to sell them and donate the proceeds to a safe home for trafficking survivors that was just getting started in Florida at the time. And we had we had a great turnout for the event, like 350 people showed up, sold all the DAGs two quarters for more. We're like, well, maybe we need to keep going. And so um, within within a few weeks, we were incorporated nine months later, we had our 501 c three and we spent the first the first four years four and a half years or so. Just doing that awareness and fundraising for other organizations. In our naivety, we thought that it seemed as though there were enough service providers for trafficking victims, at least around the world. And, you know, around that around that four year mark, we started to realize how big the issue was in the United States as well. Up until that point, most people just talked about Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, you know, labor trafficking in Africa and South America, that kind of stuff. And so, around that time, we were, we'd actually moved to Alabama, and I was on staff at a church there. And so we started to identify some gaps in service that we could fill as an organization. And again, just kind of seeing a need and surveying what we could do and we we said, okay, we'll step up and we'll we'll meet that need And so that project took off. And then that brought us to some connections here in Green Bay. And the project took off here. And we started making connections with law enforcement locally in Green Bay, realized how big the need for residential program for trafficking survivors was at the time. And law enforcement was encountering these ladies all over the place, and they didn't have anywhere for them to go. So I said, Would you guys ever consider opening a home here because we had been involved with some homes down south and I had some great friends and family members who pastor a church into pure Life Church, and they said Abel fund your your operating expenses while you guys get started with the grown up with the home, fundraise for the program itself. And so we took another leap and moved up here and haven't looked back since. Yeah.
Jacob Miller
Awesome. Yeah, what, you know, when you were kind of pivoting into making it I know cuz I remember you were talking about like your transition from kind of full time slash part time doing other things for a living because you obviously didn't want to cut a paycheck out of her worlds expenses for yourself. Yeah. But you know, you know, when you were kind of putting more time and effort into it, like, you know, was there you know, what was kind of run through here like where you were afraid? Are you afraid of like it not working? Like what if we, you know, what if season and I jumped into this, and it doesn't work. And you know, I guess kind of what was going through your head, I guess as you were slowly building this thing up like Were you ever did you ever wonder like,
like, I guess if it would fail?
Brian Russo
Oh, gosh, yeah. Yeah, we we wondered all the time who was gonna fail. And, and I think that's, that's a part of every pivot that you make.
And usually if you think it's not, then
the likelihood of it failing might be.
And so yeah, it was it was a very interesting pivot. Um, I, I'm the son of a preacher, man. And so yeah, I've never really known was was church anyway, I cut my career teeth in the church world. And so that was very safe for me. But I acquired a lot of skills as well, that I had prepared me to do. Well, and my wife.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, we didn't know what skills do you feel like were very transferable for what you do now?
Brian Russo
Yeah, well, you did. First and foremost people skills. There.
Yeah, there's, you know, there's a lot that goes into running a nonprofit and it's, it's based entirely on relationship in many cases. And so knowing how How to work with people inspire people, rally people, lead people, I, I acquired a great deal of organizational skills as well. Just leading really large teams, large groups of people got very, very, very used to well, very comfortable being on stage in front of people. And so that's also a major component as well. Because when you're stepping into something like we've stepped into, you have to, you're the spokesperson, oftentimes, you're the admin person, and you're the social media person and you're on and on and on, right. Yeah. And so really, um, I think, you know, a lot of it has to do with my personality. I'm a bit of a figure out her. And so along the way, I mean, when I was in church ministry, I out of necessity, learned the basics of Photoshop and Illustrator. So even today, I know enough about a few Adobe products to make it look like I know what I'm doing and so yeah, um yeah, just I think tenacity and just just being willing to get in and do what needs to be done. That's something that I definitely feel like I learned
before coming to this full time
Jacob Miller
Yeah, um, you know, as as things were progressing, like what were their like pivotal moments where you keep saying pivotal. Wow, I keep anyways, were there specific moments that that gave you like affirmation where you're like, this happened? And yes, we know we're going in the right direction or like, Oh, this is definitely this was definitely the right move. You know, things like that gave you some clarity. Like were there moments of clarity that kind of like happened over the last episode? I'll just say 10 years.
Brian Russo
Oh, yeah, man, I'm trying to think of some obviously, there's some that are more recent than others. But so I'll just list a couple. So yeah, I'm one of them was, you know, when we were working on getting the home up and running, we contracted an agency in and out in Atlanta, that's done what we do for trafficking survivors for, gosh, 1516 years, something like that. And they have a program that they put together to help other agencies like ours who are wanting to do the same. And so while we were going through that mentorship program, we we were fundraising and trying to fundraise and it's fun trying to find a location for the home itself, to provide a safe place. For the ladies we were intending to serve and so very different conversations that we'd have It's funny how just a conversation can confirm. So even before we moved here, there were a few, you know, family type conversations that just confirmed what, what we needed to do that we were on the right track. But then as we were here in Green Bay, just little, not little things, big things that took place like another organization donating the use of a property of a home for for the roads homes, which is what we call our residential program for trafficking survivors and stuff like that even down to more recently, there was a, there was a really large grant that we were awarded based off and it was based off of a big fundraising event and
it or
we didn't know it at the time that
it was cold. It ended up arriving. I think about For months later than we had anticipated, and later than we had promised, and when you have a facility that's providing 24 hour care, to survivors of intense trauma, and like ours was at the time that we needed that grant to come through. And so we made some friends on a trip last year personally, and they own a business. They live in California, they own a business and randomly a $15,000 check showed up. Right when we found out that the grant was going to be much later than we intended. And then yeah, two days later, some friends of ours, some really great friends of ours who are black, who were real estate agents, and they, they handed us a check for $10,000. And then so many cases like that, where it was like right at the right moment that that we needed something like like that to take place, not not simply for like the funding itself, but more of that affirmation of it's okay guys, you're still on the right track, you're still doing the right thing. Um, you know, I think that that affirmation to a leader to start a runner of an organization, the information piece of that is as valuable if not more valuable oftentimes then than the financial component itself. That makes it Yeah.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, was there I mean, trying to think of
there was another part of the that that was gonna respond to, but I lost my train of thought so I apologize. Um, yeah, and as as things were progressing to, oh, no, no, no, I remember. You obviously, like had to, like scale up a team, like you had to you know, you couldn't just do everything by yourself anymore. So as a person, that is a figure router, who like was doing everything and probably likes, you know, probably has a set of standards for yourself like what was it like kind of starting to grow a team hire people let go of responsibilities like what was that like for you?
Brian Russo
Very difficult.
I'm also I'm also a bit of a perfectionist. And so it is it is hard for me to let go of various aspects. But then also you know trusting people with the right things and finding the right people to trust and there's for many leaders I think there's a tendency to micromanage and I probably fall into that category more than I'd like to admit.
I guess knowing is half the battle right? Anyway, um,
but no No finding growing a team is so much harder than you would imagine, when you're just starting out, and I do often wonder if it's a little bit different even for nonprofits, because,
you know, when I was
Jacob Miller
really sorry, no, I was gonna actually I was gonna ask this. So it was, you know, like, do you feel like it's different for a nonprofit growing a nonprofit organization versus just a normal like business like revenue generating business?
Brian Russo
Yeah, yeah, I really do for a number of reasons. First, um, we're nonprofit, so we can pay less getting top talent for for less than they may be able to make on the open market is saying, I don't know. But, so that's a little bit challenging. The other side of it is the work that we as a nonprofit do is very, very, very, very intense. And that's not to devalue the work of other nonprofits, I think by nature of the individuals we serve and the issue that we are combating. It's very emotional. It's very, very, very heavy. When you're getting calls in the middle of the night that this young lady who's been coming to outreach group overdosed, and is an ICU when you're getting calls from a grandma saying, I think my 18 year old is involved in trafficking, what do I do? And then the stories you hear once they are in your care, it's very, very, very, very heavy. So I think, from nonprofits, I think there's definitely a bit of a bit more emotionalism in the workplace, at least in our kind of nonprofit. And when you're serving people, it's messy. When you're serving survivors of very, very, very, very intense trauma, it becomes even more complicated. So in that sense, I do think growing, growing a team is, is more challenging for nonprofits. But the thing that I imagine makes it a little bit not easier, but a little. Yeah, maybe a little bit easier is that, you know, when you have a nonprofit, especially one like ours, you have a very clear mission. Right. And I think, you know, I think it's important for all businesses to be mission first. Um, but with a nonprofit, I think it's a little bit easier to maybe rally people around a mission.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, yeah. Did you have any, or over the last, you know, five years have you had any guidance from a consultants that specialize in like nonprofit teams? are just like us, helping you grow in a healthy manner like as an organization?
Brian Russo
Yeah, yeah. I have, um, you know, again with the nonprofit budget, I have not been able to invest in like a straight up. Yeah, nonprofit leadership coach, but that's, you know, Necessity is the mother of invention, right? So, you go out and you find content that you need, you have honest conversations with people around you, the other nonprofit leaders, with with friends who are business leaders, but then also there are other you know, that other people that I follow on social media, books, you know, books that I read, podcasts I listened to,
Jacob Miller
yeah, I remember you talking about when you were kind of designing the program for the road. So I'm here in Green Bay, about how you kind of utilized a blueprint from a different organization. So maybe talk about that a little bit. I think that's, I think that's like a really cool approach to like establishing a program. You know, obviously, like, even with companies, like there's companies that do a lot of the same things in different places. So like, maybe talk about that a little bit and how it helped you kind of like, reduce your risk for and also like, validate like, Hey, this is a program it's happening. We'd like to do it here. It's there. We'd love to do it here and curate it a little bit to like, what we know of our area, all that kind of stuff. So maybe want to talk about that a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. So it was for a small startup. It was a really hefty investment
Brian Russo
in perspective now, I don't think it would be nearly as big of a deal. But back then it was it was a huge oh my god are we gonna pay for this? Um, but we knew we needed to and and we were Very, very, very right in thinking we needed to, because it helped in so many ways. First and foremost, the issue of, you know, serving survivors of trafficking is in at least in the US, it's still a pretty new field in human services, mental health arena. You know, trauma is not new, PTSD is not new. Stockholm Syndrome is not new. But when you combine all of these things with, you know, a od a substance abuse issues, it's just kind of a melting pot, right? And then the residential component and so, having that guidance was really invaluable. But then the other thing it did was it gave us confidence to know Okay, these are, you know, we've based this off of the long standing findings of another agency that's doing it And then Honestly, it really helped us in our financial development efforts. So to be able to look at a donor that we were asking for some big, some big dollars. Yeah. And say, you know, we've patterned this program after a proven program in Atlanta that's been going for 15 years, and they've helped dozens of agencies like ours get up and running across the nation and in cities large and small. You know, that, that really helped a lot as well.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, I think I think just that concept in general, like, collaborating with other people that have done this before, and I think that can be helpful to anybody in any industry in any business. Like, if you're gonna, if you're thinking about pursuing something, like ask around, make friends, you know, get insights, get information and data and just like any buddy looking for investment into an idea, like if you have the data and evidence that it's Need and that it will work. I think like anybody can put that into practice, whether it's in their life or whether it's in their business, I think, hey, I want to pursue this thing. Try to find a blueprint that you know that they can use. Maybe not to a tee. But like that's your starting point. And then that from there, you can kind of like manufacturing to what you what you actually need for yourself. So yeah.
Brian Russo
Oh, absolutely. is sometimes I mean, even as a musician as a songwriter is the scariest thing is a blank page. Right? Yeah. So yeah. And so I think that holds true here as well. I mean, it's a whole lot easier to edit. You know, to kind of take a recipe and make it your own your own flair.
I'm always gonna add more garlic to whatever I'm making, because I'm Italian. So
So yeah,
Jacob Miller
nice. Yeah, yeah, even for me, like if I'm writing a song or like if I feel stuck, I'll just like, try to learn Song or learn a chord progression, because then you're like, oh, I've never actually played this chord before, or I've never thought about this rhythm structure. And then you'll start to apply it to like, Oh, actually play these chords usually, like me apply that structure to these chords for this rhythm or this beat, and all of a sudden, you're like, Whoa, and absolutely, sometimes you just need a starting point and not like, like, you know, the whole concept of, there's really no such thing as an original idea anymore. Like, it's kind of half true half, you know, half alive, but I think that, like, we all need some kind of, like, jumping off point for to create inspiration. And then because it actually triggers our brain to think in different ways, and just, you know, to be able to just start moving cuz I think if you don't start moving, nothing's gonna happen. So and that's where the like the blank page is, like the worst because it's like, yeah, there's nothing to push against.
Brian Russo
Absolutely.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. So well, cool. Yeah. In this nest, Next part I want to kind of go into like mentors and I know you kind of touched on a little bit with like, just books and podcasts and some people in your life. But first person, the first part I want to go to is that kind of mentors of the craft. Were there certain people in like the nonprofit world, or even in you know, the the trafficking world that were mentors to you like throughout the past 10 years?
Brian Russo
Yeah, they're, um, they're a few people, um, on the nonprofit side of things. Um, I've told my wife, if I could be friends, with anybody of any notoriety, I would love to, I'd love to be friends with a guy named Scott Harrison. He started Charity Water. And I think that that organization has really helped to change the face of how nonprofits work and how they fundraise. They were the first thing nonprofit I I know of That adopted a model of every penny you give goes directly to a water project because they put in the work to raise their operating budget from corporate donors and big, you know, big major donors. So that I mean, for that matter if I give 20 bucks to a water project, I can actually follow that project online and see exactly where my $20 landed in Botswana. And how many people it's providing clean water for. So that he's just a super cool guy. His story is incredible. What what he and his wife have built are incredible. And so on the nonprofit side of things, yeah, he's he's a huge part of that. trafficking specifically. Um, yeah, it's a little bit of a different one. There's, there's the Someone I met recently. That is just so interesting and so cool. And her name is Becca. She's the founder of thistle farms in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, yeah, I'm familiar. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was.
Brian Russo
I just kind of happened to be in Nashville at the same time they were hosting one of their all day training events and they do amazing work. And I didn't even know until I got there, but they've been going for for about 20 years. And the stories were just so inspiring. She's such an interesting lady. Super, super cool. I'm a little bit grizzled. If I can, if I could not grizzled I shouldn't say that. Not that sounds like an early Sure. So now I think. But we know she's like she's very, like earthy and she's she's Really interesting lady. She's an Episcopal priest. And um, she's started this organization from nothing and and now they have this booming social enterprise or they employ Yeah, hundreds of people. And it was so cool the morning that the training I was at the morning started out with all of their employees from their C suite down to their hourly employees down to people who had just entered their residential program. They all came into the room and everyone introduce themselves. Like I'm so and so I've been a resident at magdala house for three months. I'm so and so. I am an employee of thistle farms and I I make the kit I work in the candle department. And I'm I'll be graduating from magdala house in in two months I'm selling so I'm a graduate from 2008. I'm the VP of Marketing like what this like it was it was cool to see this ecosystem that created. It has such support and inspiration about it. And so she's somebody that I really, that I really look up to.
Jacob Miller
Awesome. Yeah, actually, when you mentioned how the folks at cherry water, it's a husband and wife, I was actually gonna ask you about like, What? What was it like kind of pursuing something together, you know, with season with your wife and how, how has that kind of like, you know, obviously, I would say, I think it's strengthen your relationship. We have this together. But I guess what? Not everybody, I don't think everybody would be able to do that, you know, obviously, it takes, you know, a special kind of relationship to be able to go into building a business, especially something as heavy as this industry that you're in. Maybe talk about that a little bit like, you know, obviously how you've kind of like, braved it together.
Brian Russo
Yeah, um, gosh, I can't imagine weathering everything we've done. weathered and continue to other had we not done this together? um you know, it's it's both comforting and scary at the same time because then you realize, Oh gosh, like our livelihood is entirely contingent on the solvency of the organization. Right. So there's that component but but no, I we're very fortunate that we have the sort of marriage and relationship where we actually function best when we're working with each other. And so that's been incredible. She's an unbelievable leader, the kindest person you'll ever meet, and, and she has so many strengths that outweigh mine. But then there are things that I bring to the table that she doesn't and and so we're both very comfortable in our skin and so I think that helps a lot.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. Over the strengths, so what would you say your strengths are versus your strengths and how you guys kind of approach that?
Brian Russo
Yeah, so, um, I have more of an eye for aesthetics, when it goes to like design and,
and all that kind of stuff. And so she works background, so it makes
it yeah, it doesn't make sense. But we joke often that if I wasn't around that she'd still been making posters with cardboard signs and bubble letters. So, so I think that's part of it, but I'm, I'm fine. I'm definitely more of an analytical mind. And so, I bring a lot of structure to the business side of things, the marketing side of things. I'm a student of marketing and, and so I think that's really helped a lot. Yeah.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. So then what was Kind of her, like, Where was she? putting her strengths? Like what was she up to?
Brian Russo
Yeah, people. She's unbelievable with people. She can inspire people. It's, it's so funny, she, um, she's not a huge personality. But when she starts to speak, people listen. And it's really, really fun to watch. And so she's incredibly inspirational. She's, she's an amazing leader. And and it's, it's so funny, she the way she works with the ladies we serve is so different than anybody else we have. You know, frankly, neither one of us are qualified to be doing what we're doing.
We don't have you know, the education in mental health.
Jacob Miller
But what we're doing, you know, like, even if we went to school, you're like, Am I doing
Brian Russo
this? Right? Yeah, right.
But you know, we've worked hard to hire the right people and outsource the right things like, okay, we're gonna have an outside accounting firm, do our book and our month end accounting and all that. But, um, but, but even, you know, first season as compared to a lot of our, you know, master's level mental health professionals we've hired, they're, they're amazing and they have a unbelievable knowledge and they have so many tools in their toolkit but to see season work with ladies firsthand is really something she has a way that that is very difficult to replicate.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, like when I think of any conversation that I've ever had with Susan, the one thing that always comes to mind is that she's an intentional listener. Absolutely. Like she's like all in on listening to what you're saying in Like responding in the most genuine way possible, like that's the one thing that I notice about her. Absolutely.
Brian Russo
And now of course as her husband that's really frustrating when I'm trying to call her and get ahold of her and she's talking to somebody, but
Jacob Miller
I'm just she's uninvited she
Brian Russo
can't see it as she is. She really really really is. Yeah.
Jacob Miller
Okay, awesome. Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing that I wasn't I'm always just kind of curious. Like what like I can assume like, where things are divided or how it goes, but it was good to hear from you. So yeah, yeah. And then kind of go into obviously like season you and season mentored each other obviously through this whole thing as husband or wife. But were there mentors in your life of that were more of mentors of compassion and tough love that helped you kind of through the really tough times and and celebrate with you in the good times?
Brian Russo
Yeah, yeah. I'm fortunate that I have some friends in my life that
are leaders of organizations.
My dad has offered me some tough love and at different times and you know when it's you dad sometimes it's a little more complicated to receive love. It was funny one time we were about two and a half, two and a half years into getting the roads hell up and running we did open for about a year I guess at that point. And season I were complaining to each other one night in the kitchen at three and put our daughter to bed. And and she said, Gosh, I wish who knew who knew that helping people would be this hired? And I chuckled. Is that my dad?
Yeah Then so we've had some some folks who are who've given us that tough love.
We're very close to season sister and brother in law. And they've been huge sources of encouragement and support and also call us on stuff at different points are like hanging I don't want to accept that. You're right. But I know you're right.
So yeah.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. And then I know you kind of talked about some of the books and podcasts and stuff, but we're like passive mentors. So like, people that you follow online or read their books and stuff like that, maybe share a couple, couple places, maybe some podcasts or something, or maybe a couple books that you find really, really helpful to have helped you in your life, I guess. And then in with road stuff.
Brian Russo
Yeah. Um, so the first one that comes to mind for me is Donald Miller. I'm a huge fan of everything he's done with story brand. I mean, so much so that I went through their guide certification process so that I could help other organizations get their message clear.
raise more money and increase their impact. So yeah.
So yeah, I I'm a huge fan of Donald Miller.
And he's the kind of guy that like he'll he'll count To give that harsh reality, and not be afraid to back down from it. And so I feel like I've really learned a lot, a lot, a lot A lot from him and the community that he's created.
There's some other other people though. There's,
there's a pastor in Atlanta that I actually that I like a lot. He's just an unbelievable communicator, and I feel like I've learned so much from him about leadership and communication. His name is Andy Stanley, if I didn't already mention that. And of course, now I'm drawing a blank. Dang it, man. I mean, I feel like okay, yeah, I feel like it goes without saying a guy like Seth Godin.
Just so many of these leadership
gurus out there that seem to have a disproportionate amount of work. Wisdom and Knowledge. Yeah.
Jacob Miller
But for some reason, though, like, they're also writers and you just know that they've, they've put in the time and energy to, to build a craft a strong message to clearly communicate like, it has to be a leader. So yeah, it's like Seth Godin. It was like an interview. I think it was on the Chase Jarvis Chase Jarvis, his podcast, it was like, from a couple years ago, but it was like a panel discussion. And somebody was asking about, like, right, I want to write a book or I want to write a blog or something. And, and he just talked about that how people get like obsessed, or they get stuck in the idea of wanting to write a book. It's like they romanticize they, they fall in love with that feeling of like, I'm gonna write a book. And it's a really good he says, it's a really fun place to be. But, um, but it doesn't like help you get it. It doesn't like create progress. It's a fun place to be, but the act of writing is like a really hard, difficult time. Because, because you just have to, like, write a bunch of things that you know, aren't good. And then, you know, go through that and filter it out and rewrite, and fix and edit and like, all this stuff. And yeah, it's just like and even any any simplifies things. So, like so well, like, like really big concepts. He clearly can state it in like one or two sentences and you're like, Yeah, he's right. Like, it's simple. It's that simple. But it's also that difficult. It's simple to say, but difficult to do, is the whole thing.
Brian Russo
Well, and I think, you know, on a little bit of a side note going off of that, I think that also speaks to, you know, the notion that sometimes dreaming is a whole lot more fun than doing right. Like there have been plenty of times where, you know, our dream was to grow our organization, to the place where it is or we have two different locations. Alabama, Wisconsin and we're serving. You served hundreds of young ladies at this point in time educated thousands of people. But there are times that like it's really, really, really hard. And sometimes you're, you're, what you thought was your dream ends up kicking you in the gut? And so kind of processing? The I don't know, the shock of that is, you know, is a little bit challenging. And something that, I don't know, I'm sure people weren't involved, but I didn't know it. I didn't know to listen until I got to that point. So, to your point, you know, sometimes wanting to write a book is a whole lot more fun than putting in the actual work to do it. And then being prepared for the shock of, oh, gosh, this person didn't like it. Yeah, I
Jacob Miller
think Yeah, I think that's like true is so much things though, like absolutely, that you have this idea, oh, I'm going to do this because and then in your head you, you have this this whole like, like dream like are this like this you imagine, like what life will be like when you get to this point. And I think I think that's even true with like relationships whether it's a friendship, or significant other like you You see this person you meet this person and you're like, oh, if I was in a relationship, if I was friends with this person, my life's gonna be like this now. And it like you, you almost like set that up for failure by saying this is gonna happen. I believe this is gonna happen rather than just like putting in the effort to like, be a really good friend or be a really good boyfriend or spouse, or you know, all that all those all these things are or just do do the work to like build this business don't like so focus so much on the dream one day of what it could be like obviously, you should have a vision, but that vision or that but the outcomes in this industry specific details are going to change. Like every, you know, just like you. That's why you have meetings every quarter every year to evaluate where you are, and to plan for for the next year. And like because you can't like the five year and 10 year plans are kind of good, but they're like, they're more like Northstar is like this is the direction we want to go. And maybe a couple stats like we like to hit, but it doesn't, but that should not define the the details of what like what happens.
Brian Russo
Oh, absolutely. You know, so. And it's so funny. You say that I just had a business leader locally that I really look up to. I had lunch with him. And he were talking about exactly that. And he said, he said I tell people all the time quit trying to make your five year goals. He said Think about it. Would you want Brian from last February making your decisions today? Like Yeah, oh,
no, Sarah would not know.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's totally it's totally true. I think also like, you'll feel called to do different things or you know, identify like a new opportunity. That's even better than the one that you dreamed of last year or two years ago or whatever. So like, the the whole idea of like, even I think it's such a funny question for an interview. Where do you see yourself in five years? I'm like, honestly, I don't know. Like, I honestly couldn't tell you. I hope I'm alive. That's one thing, right? My only goal is to be alive and be happy. You know? Yeah. How do you? You know, and I think it's, it's also a little like, um, I don't know, like, it's kind of oddly selfish to think that you're in control of your own life all the time. Because I think that obviously, you are in control of like, what you eat what you say what you do every day. But it doesn't define the possibilities and opportunities that arrive. So like, I think that i think that's what's super fun about like, the uncertainty is like, better things usually present themselves like, as long as you're putting in the effort, like they present themselves. So
Brian Russo
yeah, yeah.
Jacob Miller
Well, cool. Yeah, um,
the one thing I'll kind of dispute in closing here, you know, the question I usually ask is, if you were to start her world all over today, um, you know, what, what, you know, what would you do differently to help it? Like start better?
Brian Russo
Yeah, um,
I think I would have been far more clear about what it was that I intended to build. Because that would have really informed the path we took in developing our structure. So for us, we kind of, you know, we pivoted, even a couple years into starting the organization. At first we were just going to be this social enterprise fashion line with all these in bags and all this stuff and then we realize not there's a whole lot more to this. So I think we would have structured things differently, which means we would have we would have put in the work to find the right people to guide us in that. Yeah, a lot earlier on, because then once you're already up and running, and, you know, every, every little change has to go through a board vote. And yeah, when you don't have the right board structure in place, that's even more difficult. And, and so yeah, I think early on earlier on, I would have had a far I don't know, I would have had a much more clear picture, or realistic picture, but I wanted to build
Jacob Miller
Well, you could almost argue that you could, it was more. You could have used that time to experiment more because it's harder to change. Yeah. Yeah. That's a very good point. And yeah, it's funny, because during my lunch today, I had a different interview with Zach Montreux and he talked about how, you know, when you're a leader of a he lead, just over 100 people at a larger organization, he said, When you want to change things or make adjustments, it's a lot harder to do when there's more things, people and variables involved. Yeah, it's like kind of like a giant plane like and try to turn this giant plane. It just takes a lot longer to do it, because there's just more pieces. Yeah, so and more approvals and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, interesting. And, you know, if you were, you know, what, what advice could you share to somebody that's like looking to maybe get into, like, whether it's social enterprise or start some type of nonprofit movement? What kind of advice would you share with them to kind of get them started off, right? And
Brian Russo
my advice would be, to always be the student. Um, you know, make sure that you're honest with yourself, about your limitations, and make sure that you Surround yourself with people that can.
I don't know, kindly point those limitations out and guide you in the right direction.
I encounter so many people who have ideas and passion. But they also think they know far more than they do. And I think making sure that you're always the student in every conversation no matter who it's with.
affords, you know,
a better track for growth.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, yeah, I think. Yeah, absolutely. I think I've definitely been that person. I definitely can really, I mean, I feel like you saying that? You probably feel like you were that person too. Yeah. Oh, yeah. we all we all like, I think we all do it like, no
Brian Russo
one is, yeah, I'm an old dude now.
Jacob Miller
Yeah. Yeah, I'm out of my 20s now, but you're still living Me, so, whatever, um, but I think, I think too, like, just learning to, to like listen and take note of what people have to share and then like, I think for the longest time to like I always like was a person a curious person, but I always feel like I could have asked more questions. Yeah, like, you know, that's one thing you know even like thinking back about like my family like I like all my grandparents had passed away but before I you know, graduated college pretty much and I kind of wish that like now with the talents and skill sets that I have like photography and video and like, you know, audio and stuff, like I would I would do, or I would, what I wouldn't do that the right phrase, what I wouldn't do to just sit down with them and like ask them about their life and their experience and record them and be able to share them with other people just like this. Like, how cool would that be like my my mom's dad so my my grandpa Binky, he him and his brothers had a grocery store. Like just talking about that whole experience, like, you know, and like. I mean, yeah, there's like so many things just like just learning just about everybody in your family. Like, I think there's a lot of like things that can be uncovered. Especially between generations and stuff. And But yeah, I think like being a student, I think, like you said is like, super key to that. So yeah,
Brian Russo
yeah.
Jacob Miller
For sure. Um, random question. This is I just thought of this. Before we leave. If there was like a person in history, like, who would you want to sit down and have coffee with like a historical person?
This is kind of I don't even know who I would talk to actually, but I just thought about it. I just like randomly thought this question. Who would I want to sit down and talk to?
Brian Russo
Oh, I'm drawing a blank. It's all good. Oh, no,
Jacob Miller
there's no wrong answers here. Okay,
Brian Russo
so there is at the risk of sounding like a complete church kid. Am I am I allowed to say Jesus? And I say I say that that lead in in jest but no one really that is like, yeah, the cornerstone of my life
Jacob Miller
I think I think despite your any despite whoever's listening like your background even me like he would just be an interesting person to talk to. In general like, yeah, despite what you believe, like, just he's such a historical figure, like, absolutely, it'd be super cool to hang out with for sure.
Brian Russo
Yeah, um, yeah, I don't know who I would. I don't know.
Jacob Miller
It's a hard question. Actually. Why did I say that? I can't think off the top of my head. Like, I think what history and I'm like, ah, like, I just, I'd be like the kind of person where like, I'm gonna go on Wikipedia for what two hours and try to find somebody weird person in history and just so I can talk to them. Yeah. Because there's not enough because there's not enough information about them on the internet. Like, I want more. Yeah. Like, that'd be my pick, like, do some research figure out who doesn't have any data. And like, talk with them.
Brian Russo
Yeah.
Jacob Miller
Well, cool. Well, thanks for hanging out with, with, with us with me with everyone, Brian.
Brian Russo
Thank you.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, it's been really cool. And how can people kind of get ahold of Connect? Well, maybe if they have any questions, how can they get ahold of you and then find out more? I guess what I heard world in, in support, what you're doing?
Brian Russo
Yeah, absolutely. Our website is I heart world.org that's, I like the IEC with not the letter so e ye. h EA RT w or LD. org. My email addresses Brian br i n and I heart world.org Yeah, yeah. on social media as well, at Russa Brian on Instagram, that's really the only social media platform I care about is that Yeah, how do people find out about your music?
Oh, yeah. Spotify Apple Music search, Brian Russo. There are a lot of Brian Reese's on Facebook, but not as many on Spotify, which is very, very fortunate for me.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I can't use my name like on the internet Really? Because there's too many Jacob Miller's in this in this world. So
Brian Russo
yeah, man I had for Brian's in my sophomore English class in high school. So my parents were very inventive with my name.
Jacob Miller
Yeah, what is board brought? What is the name Brian even mean? I don't think I've ever looked that up before you cash.
Brian Russo
I should know this. shouldn't I?
Jacob Miller
Alright, I'm on the internet.
Brian Russo
Oh,
Jacob Miller
okay. Fantastic, Ryan, meaning. It means it's an old Celtic word meaning high or Noble. That's pretty cool. You know, nobleman,
Brian Russo
digit thing. I'll take it.
Jacob Miller
I'll take it. Cool in Italian Noble. There we go
Brian Russo
in Italian. No, I'm actually more German than I am Italian.
Jacob Miller
Okay, well, okay.
Well, thanks again, Brian. It was great having a chat with you again and hopefully, I'll be able to hang out with you soon.
Brian Russo
And thanks for having me. Yeah, take care.
Jacob Miller
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