The Keri Croft Show
The Keri Croft Show
Suraj on Building RTRX, Leading with Heart & Sparking Big Change
RTRX 2025 Is Coming—and So Is a New Era of Leadership, Wellness & (Maybe) Love 💥
My guy Suraj is back—and not only is he looking more snatched than ever, he’s giving us the full inside scoop on RTRX 2025: the leadership experience that’s changing the way we grow as humans, business leaders, and communities.
In this episode, we get into:
✨ What’s new at RTRX and why it matters more than ever
✨ Suraj’s journey with functional medicine and healing burnout
✨ Cortisol, sleep, supplements—and the surprising power of slowing down
✨ What he’s really looking for in a partner
✨ Why I think this is the year we find him a wife 😉
We go deep, we laugh hard, and we say the things that usually stay off the mic. Whether you're passionate about community building, civic leadership, or just love a good matchmaking moment—this one’s for you.
🎧 Hit that subscribe button, leave a comment, and if Suraj sounds like your future husband… my DMs are open 😘
#RTRX2025 #TheKeriCroftShow #LeadershipPodcast #FunctionalMedicine #ColumbusEvents #PodcastInterview #DatingAfter30 #PersonalDevelopment #CivicLeadership
Hey there you beautiful badass. Welcome to the Keri Croft Show. I'm your host, keri Croft, delivering you stories that get you pumped up and feeling like the unstoppable savage that you are. So grab your coffee, put on your game face and let's do this thing. Baby Ready to elevate your self-care game? Bosco Beauty Bar is a modern med spa offering everything from cosmetic injectables, lasers and microneedling to medical grade facials and skincare. Conveniently located in Clintonville, grandview, powell and Easton. Making self-care a priority has never been easier. Use code croft for 25 off your first visit. Summer's coming in hot, but is your skin summer ready? Fine lines, sun damage, melasma if these are cramping your vibe, the moxie laser at donaldson will leave you glowing, nervous about lasering your face. I tried moie and it was quick and gentle, perfect for first-timers and all skin types. And my results 10 out of 10. And if you're a first-timer at Donaldson, mention the Keri Croft Show for $100 off your Moxie treatment. Don't say I've never done anything for you. All right, siraj, welcome back. Thank you To the Keri Croft Show.
Speaker 2:Thank you To the Keri Croft Show. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Is it possible you're looking even more dapper and handsome than? You were last time, I don't know I'm trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2:You're too kind.
Speaker 1:No, it's true. Look at your pants.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Everything's real, tailored and fit, and you look fit, you look snatched, thank you.
Speaker 1:What's going on with the snatching?
Speaker 2:It's either the medicine I'm taking or, like I've been, on a functional health kick.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:And so Marguerite Weston at Donaldson's been my doctor for the last seven months and we've been working through like my cortisol and all of that stuff, and so maybe some of the stuff's working. I don't know. I'm seeing her later this week.
Speaker 1:What kind of medicine are you on? Please tell me, it's not a GLP-1.
Speaker 2:No, no it's not, no, it's like I feel like I joked with her. I feel like a pharmacy every Sunday afternoon when I have got my daily pill boxes in my morning and evening. But it's really just stuff to help with my cortisol and sleep, and so it's all like natural supplements which has been really interesting, and so it's what she gave you it's what she's, yeah, she's given me, yeah so what was the biggest thing that you took away from your like assessment with her?
Speaker 2:you know, I sat next to her at dinner last year, this time last year at RTRX and I, after she had presented on functional health, and I said to her I said I bet I have high cortisol. And she just laughed and she's like no, you do, we don't. I don't have to test, I can tell, I just know, just based on the way you live your life and the things you've said. And so we um, we did, we did a couple rounds of the blood tests and the saliva tests and we'll do another round later this fall.
Speaker 2:And what I appreciate is like here's information about your body, here's where you should be, here's what we're going to do to get you there, what we are going to do. She would put a big emphasis on the we. It was like what she, as my doctor, is going to prescribe me and coach me through. And then she would say the other part of the we is you and it's the accountability you have to have of your diet and your sleep and your working out and drinking water and you, you know, no phone an hour before bed and if you are how's that working out?
Speaker 2:um, I turn the tv off an hour before I go to bed and I turn music on if I am on my phone or laptop. I have put on like I've got blue light glasses to help with that. Um, I don't bring my computer to bed. I haven't done that in years, like that's I do that all the time that's one boundary. I'm not the best at boundaries, but that's one boundary but isn't the computer in the bed the best?
Speaker 1:like why is that a boundary? Like, can't we just get and get cozy and work?
Speaker 2:but like, at like 10 pm, yeah, I need to, I need to like, yeah, yeah, yeah so have you see if you slowed down at all?
Speaker 1:no, okay, are you still single?
Speaker 2:I still am single. You know it's funny, it's so funny you say that. So last time I was on, we talked about the fact that I was single and the Columbus bachelor and my parents, who they're on Instagram but they're really not, they just like you know they just whatever.
Speaker 2:And you know, the last time we were here, we talked about a, a pretty open post I made on mental health and I had to give my parents a heads up, just say you know like this is going on in public, don't worry. And of course my parents. I talked about that. But then my mom was like well that that miss carrie lady, she's going to like set you up with people.
Speaker 1:She makes me sound so classy.
Speaker 2:And and you are classy and um, and I was like mom, that was a joke. And my mom was like, ah, I don't think it was a joke. Why is it a joke?
Speaker 1:And it's not a joke. You just said no, yeah, I did say no, I did say no. So you know and I know, and everyone who knows me knows, I love a good like hooking up with people.
Speaker 2:I love a good like hooking up with people. Yeah, you know, I think I should be open to it. Is is is what my therapist, stacey, would say. Stacey would say, probably seeing her next week. She'd be proud of me for saying that, because I'll tell her all the time. You know, I'm ready to be open and thinking about a partner in life. And she'll say, ok, let's look at the past two weeks. Of'll say, okay, let's look at the past two weeks of your schedule and let's look at the next two weeks of your schedule. And I just have a busy schedule and some of that is self-inflicted, some of that is just the demands of my job and my civic life. And then I've recognized, okay, I gotta make time for it but do you?
Speaker 1:do you think some of it is that you are making yourself so busy because it's just you and like it's better than sitting there thinking about oh, totally you know. So I think, if you found the right person, wouldn't it kind of just naturally, kind of fit into the grooves, or do you think you'd be the kind of person that you'd have a hard time?
Speaker 2:No, I think it would fit into the grooves right, Because then I wouldn't have to. If someone says tonight, hey, do you want to go to dinner? And I'll be working all day because we're in busy season, Someone says, hey, like a 730 dinner, I'm like sure, why not Like it just gets me out of the office. But if I have a partner who's got her own life and the things that she's accomplishing and things that we're doing together, then I don't necessarily have to do that. So there is some flexibility. That's enjoyable. But because I'm going home to my apartment in the short north and probably just going to eat and work more, why wouldn't you just go out for a random dinner with a friend or a coworker?
Speaker 1:So let's talk about what's on your like. If you wrote out an executive summary on your Kate, hit the record button.
Speaker 2:Oh, we're not recording. We haven't been recording. Oh no, we're recording.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about B-roll.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:All right. So if you were going to write an executive summary on what you're looking for, in a woman and I want it to go from the superficial.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because we all have superficial things right yeah. You're not six four. You may not want a six foot woman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe you do. I mean, listen, if my kids have, if my future kids are going to have any chance of being athletic, so maybe you do want a tall woman.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to assume. All I'm going to say is let's start from just superficial high level sure and let's dig into the deeper. I mean, does she have to be of indian descent, like what's happening here? Yeah, um.
Speaker 2:So if we start with superficial, I mean, I'm not like um, I don't sit here and say like, oh, um, I have to be the taller one.
Speaker 2:I'm five, five, five, like six on a good hair day, right and I add some volume to the hair and so, like I'm not one to say like, oh, I have to be taller, um, that doesn't bother me, right? And so there's that element. Um, I'm attracted to a lot of different types of people, and so the superficial side, I I mean, I don't know, it's like tough for me, especially when we're being record.
Speaker 1:I'm being recorded oh, here we go, we're all real careful. Am I the only one that's really not careful? No, no, no, no, no. I know, I know let's skip on, but culturally, do we want to align there? Is that important?
Speaker 2:No, it's so funny. I think I was probably seven or eight years old when I told my parents who were in arranged marriage that I was not going to get an arranged marriage, and it's mainly because I saw it happen in Bollywood and on movies and things like that. For me, it's less about the cultural alignment of being in the same culture and it's more about the value alignment, and so is it. Someone who values community, respects, believes that family is a big and important part of life.
Speaker 2:It is to me, you know, in the Indian culture and the Hindu faith, respecting our elders is a really big I don't always agree with them, but it's a really big portion of our life and how we live our life, and so me it's more values-based than it is the same culture. I was raised, yes, in a Hindu household. There are things that I do from a faith standpoint that I do because I have to do it. I also have grown in my own spirituality into someone who shares in that, but it doesn't have to be the same. I spend a lot of time actually like studying religion and reading about different religions.
Speaker 2:One of the nerdiest things about me is that one of the things I obsess about the most and I'm not Catholic is the Roman Curia, and like conclave and the process of selecting a new Pope, and like the political operational apparatus behind the Roman Catholic Church. And people are like why? And I was like I've always just been enamored with it. Really, it was after Pope John Paul II passed away. I just was watching the news one day and was just fascinated by it, and so faith to me is important, but it's more about spirituality than a specific religion.
Speaker 1:Hobbies and lifestyle.
Speaker 2:Hobbies and lifestyle. I like to be active, whether I'm on my bike, whether I'm at you know a workout studio here in Columbus, whether it's a walk through the short north or a hike, so I enjoy being active and someone to be active with. Lifestyle. Work is busy. A lot of my work is civic related and dinners and events and things like that. People are surprised when I tell them I'm a natural introvert. I'm an only child grew up in a south asian household. My parents worked a lot, so I read a lot and and you know, entertained myself. But I know when I have to put the tuxedo on and and work a room and so someone who enjoys doing that but like also recognizes that it doesn't we don't always have to, but a lot of my work is that and small group dinners and things like that, so just someone who's open to that being a part of life, versus like going home after a nine-to-five right. There's just a lot of my like I said, a lot of dinners and events and things like that you want kids.
Speaker 2:I do want kids. I love being an uncle to my nieces and nephews and it is truly one of the biggest joys of my life. I've got a bunch of nieces and nephews in India and in Florida and then here from work, we have a core group of us and there's six or seven or eight kids at this point, and so I'm a very proud Uncle Sonny to all of those kids and love them dearly and can't wait to be a dad.
Speaker 1:OK, well, here's what we're going to do. Here's that we're going to deal.
Speaker 2:We're not going to scare people away with all this roman empire stuff well, yeah, like that's like I'm kidding, you know, but like you know, people have a, you know we all nerd out.
Speaker 2:There's a lid for every pot, yeah and I nerd out on a lot of stuff which you're gonna find someone who wants to nerd out with you or who's like great I don't care about that right go um, get fascinated by um the conclave, or some article in the New York Times, or shining your dress, shoes, like you know, like I'm going to let him have his hobbies over here, Right, and and then you know also, like, listen, like at the end of the day, like, is it someone that has a similar value, someone that I want to be her number one cheerleader and my hope is that she's going to be my number one cheerleader, and my hope is that she's going to be my number one cheerleader and just as ambitious but ambitious in our own right of our own things and a true kick ass partner. Who, who doesn't mind the spectrum of going from Wendy's to Lindy's like I can do it all and someone to just laugh with and build with. Um is is what I'm looking for.
Speaker 1:It's a tall order uh, so social clips and sound bites incoming into the universe for siraj yeah we're just gonna low-key this, we're not gonna make it a big thing?
Speaker 1:yeah, we're just gonna you know, ask and you shall receive sometimes and the way that we did this with sir anthony was kind of the same way, where it's like okay, if this sounds interesting to you, and I'm going to give you my disclaimer for everyone at home. Because the first thing that happens if somebody feels like maybe there's potential or like this kind of gets them rumbling in their belly a little bit. The first thing is like fear. Oh my God, like what if I get? How I could never put myself out there?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So I will let you know that if you do reach out to me on DM or email, it is complete safe space. I would never say your name. I would never expose you in any way, shape or form without your consent. So if you are interested in potentially dating this sexy, savage, handsome guy, You're so kind, you are, look at you.
Speaker 2:I mean talk about the full package here. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1:So if anyone's interested at least maybe having a coffee or something with this lovely young chap, dm me, and we'll make it very classy and low-key and no one's gots to know. And then you know, we'll see what happens. We'll roll with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I think've worked a lot in therapy about like putting myself out there. I spent I've been with Stacey for probably five and a half years now and we love Stacey and she's pushed me in ways that I've had to really grow and allow myself to be pushed and there's a lot that we're working on and so, um, and in the age of like dating apps and Tik TOK and social media, it's just like listen, it's like we're all just trying our best here, Right, and like we're all imperfect and find someone to be imperfect with.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, we'll see what we can do here, so you know I just love a little matchmaking.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad you're open to this now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm much more open to it.
Speaker 1:Good yeah, all right, moving right along RTRX 2025. Yeah, so what's popping off?
Speaker 2:You know it's um, I say this every year it's going to be our best year, and I don't say that just because I have to, but we um. This year's narrative is around possibility and the belief that, in order to think about what's possible, you also have to see what's impossible and go and find and hear from people about what could be. And so we're going to open up RTRX on Wednesday morning, with a welcome party on Tuesday, but Wednesday morning with a woman named Sharon McMahon, who's America's government teacher, and she's going to talk about the possibility of civic discourse and civility, and she started her claim to fame during the pandemic in basically getting on Instagram live and educating people about, like, let's revert back to, like, high school government class, and if you think you're upset with your mayor, you're really. You know, the thing that you're upset about, or the thing that you want to learn more about, is actually handled by Congress or the state legislature or the governor or the city council or what have you. And so giving citizens a better understanding, a simple way to understand what's going on in the world, how they can then respond to it and go make an impact in it, and then what's possible if we think about civility and it feels like every year we're getting more and more uncivil with each other and less and less conversations like this and less and less tables and more and more blockades between people. And so Sharon will be amazing.
Speaker 2:John Hope Bryant is the founder and chairman and CEO of Operation Hope. He will leave the room in tears because he will talk about what economic prosperity, what that means for a family and what that means for communities, and how we help more families get to economic prosperity and live a life that is meaningful for them. And then Angus Fletcher is probably one of the most underrated, under the radar professors, academics at Ohio State, and he leads the study of and science of, storytelling and of probability versus possibility. And he's got a book coming out a couple of weeks after Archer X. Everyone's going to be getting a book mail to them. And then how literature plays a role in our day to day lives. And he's worked with Hollywood veterans, the US Army and when people like Malcolm Gladwell and Brene Brown, their commentary on Angus's work is breathtaking and mind-blowing. And I didn't know I needed this, but now I don't know what I would do without it. That's where it tells you okay, we've got something special on our hands.
Speaker 2:And then on Thursday, our second keynote speaker, a wonderful, brilliant woman, laverne Council, former executive and CIO at Johnson Johnson. She was the only innovation. She was an innovation officer, cabinet level innovation officer, department of Veterans Affairs, and she led a multi-billion dollar innovation apparatus within the US government. And so one she's got an amazing personal story that I won't steal her thunder but will shock people, just like where her life led her. And then she's got an amazing civic and corporate background and then bringing that together for an audience to then share how you look at innovation and change and how you can do it for yourself in the government and then in the private sector, government and then in the private sector. And then Friday morning we will have a very special fireside chat very rare with Jimmy and Dee Haslam, the owners of the Cleveland Browns, and the crew, talking about possibility when a family is focused on impact and on community and what that means for across their businesses and across from their previous business life to their current businesses, to community, to politics and how they've engaged. Jimmy and Dee do not do it's very rare that they do a sit down conversation like this and we'll actually do it in the Huntington Club of lowercom, which will be really amazing, with the field and the stadium as our backdrop. And so those are our keynotes, and then our masterclasses will go everything from sound baths to silent disco, to executive coaching and mindfulness meditation, to the power of AI, to the possibility around.
Speaker 2:There's an entrepreneur, george, who has taken prescription drugs that you and I would throw away or no longer need, and then created a platform to then collect all of those drugs and then provide those to individuals in our country who can't afford the drugs. So, instead of wasting the drugs, putting the drugs into our water system right or getting rid of them or throwing them away, then how do you then take those drugs that are just going to sit on shelves either at our homes or in businesses and use them for good and how? He's completely, and it's a political issue because it involves medication. It's a logistical issue because it's about shipping drugs across and prescriptions across state lines, and then it's a social impact issue of how you then can make an impact in someone's life. Um, functional medicine.
Speaker 2:With Dr Weston and Donaldson, health will be back. This time It'll be about like, okay, how do you actually? You get a blood report, or you get a lab report. You read it. Then what do you do? So how do you go through that? And then, if everyone remembers, like when we were in elementary school and you had to do like the president's test, physical fitness test or whatever we had to like stretch on the box and run laps we're going to have some different stations of functional health to then gauge one's abilities and then what you can then do from there. So it'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Action packed Action, packed in three days and, like the whole idea, right is always changing the way businesses and individuals convene. And where else can you go and hear from luminaries and thought leaders in business and in politics and in innovation and leadership? But then also focus on yourself and this belief that we have of priming optimists for action. So the world's a better place if we're optimistic about it, but the world's an even better place if we go take action. And so then how do we then give you know, our attendees and our community, the tools to go take action?
Speaker 1:I feel like 2026 vibes is going to be a live kerry croft show I love that somewhere somewhere in the mix, totally like some kind of
Speaker 2:you know it's, it's so funny, as I was talking to my team about that and I was like it's, it's a podcast at a conference or a conference experience like ours. It's like a fireside chat but there's just a microphone in front of people, and so the audience then feels like they got an inside look. But I was like I was like you know, in this final like five weeks, my brain's all over the place, and so so I said to my team, I was like just so, I'm checking myself on this, like I love the idea, but like it's literally just a fireside chat with microphones in front of everybody. And my team was like yeah, and I'm like OK, sure, like, if that gives people. But I 100 percent like who is it that you've always wanted to get onto the show, whether locally or, uh, and I would say even nationally, and then let's use our shared power and and influence and do it together. And then it's only, and then that individual's doing a live podcast interview with you in front of a thousand people.
Speaker 1:Couldn't we do like a musician? Couldn't that be a different? Like with?
Speaker 2:with a story that kind of resonate like 21 pilots you know a story that's kind of resonant like 21. Pilots Sure.
Speaker 1:You know someone who's local or like that, you know it'd have to have the right vibe and the right backdrop. It kind of all was like thematically in line, but it could be really cool.
Speaker 2:You know, the beauty of the Double Edge sort of program with RTRX because we program through the lens of leadership and innovation and well-being is that can go in so many places different, you can go in so many different ways. The question is always is this an individual or individuals that will be able to share their experience and their specific line of work, their body of work, but then share it in a way that can be applied to one's life? Because we've got folks across the entire corporate ladder, from first year analysts to chairman and CEO. We've got folks from 30 plus states. We've got last year we had 350 plus companies represented. And so then, how do you then take like one nugget here and one nugget here and apply that to your life, and so that's the beauty of it.
Speaker 1:I want to be invited and I want to be involved.
Speaker 2:Yes, great, done and done.
Speaker 1:I can really improve the atmosphere in a very interesting way.
Speaker 2:I that, I that I know you can do, so done.
Speaker 1:I mean if things start to get a little crusty.
Speaker 2:Yeah and listen, we have big plans. I mean like we're we're, while we are building out and running out 2025, in the next five hearts believe and will build RTRX to become where people are like, hey, are you going to be in Aspen for Aspen Ideas or Austin for South by? And you know you may not like go for the programming, you might go for some of the speakers, but you know that you're going to run into really creative, compassionate, committed, kick-ass people and businesses and cool shit's going to happen. We're going to run into really creative, compassionate, committed, kick-ass people and businesses and cool shit's going to happen.
Speaker 1:We're going to build that.
Speaker 2:And if that then is going to elevate the global image of our community and then our social impact element of putting our profits into cancer research, with Pelotonia and having folks ride and then getting closer and closer to ending cancer, then we know we've done something. Then, getting closer and closer to ending cancer, then we know we've done something and we're working really intently in parallel to what that is going to be.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're just, how old are you again?
Speaker 2:I am 32.
Speaker 1:I mean think about? I mean people out there listening to this. You're 32. Just like I can't even imagine when you're like 50, what's going to be going on with you. Stress and inflammation take a toll on your body and your wellness.
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Speaker 2:Headspace by Mia Santiago, because great hair days shouldn't be rare. Oh, thank you, I'll tell you, I am blessed beyond belief in so many ways. You know, my parents immigrated here in the early 80s with a little bit of money to make do and worked a lot, and my dad worked two, two and a half jobs. When I was growing up, my mom worked full time and took care of me and they, whether by choice or not, they allowed me to seek the things that really made me light up. And so I, from a typical South Asian male perspective, I wasn't really good at math or science, but I was a history and government nerd and I was, you know, in student government and I always got good grades. But I, um, I was involved in other things and my parents supported that. And then I got really lucky by people who invested in me, and so one of my biggest mentors in life, alex Fisher he's got a former CEO of the partnership. I met him when I was 20 years old at Ohio State. I interned at the partnership. My first job was with him at the partnership. I met him when I was 20 years old at Ohio state. I interned at the partnership. I my first job was with him at the partnership and he had a sign on his wall is that a turtle doesn't get on the fence post by himself, and that means, like we all need each other.
Speaker 2:And, um, there is a like I would be. I would not be alive, uh, without a lot of people and we talked about that last year. There's a lot of people. Like you know, by the word alive, I would not be alive without Brenda Jordan and a handful of other people. I wouldn't be where I am today without the village that has been around me, and so everyone wants a village. I'm not sure that everyone is willing to be a villager and as I've been, like just is in life and you sit and you watch and it's like what does it mean to be a villager?
Speaker 2:And so, at 32, I get to do the work that I get to do and be of service to my community and to other people and these causes and my family and my friends, because of people that invested in me and saw something in me. So, one, they saw something in me. Two, they saw something in me and doubled down on me when I didn't see that Right, and so then it's like okay, so you've got to then be grateful for that and, I think, find salvation and inspiration in that. But then we then got to like, go do that for other people and then still continue to build what we want to build other people and then still continue to build what we want to build. Um, and so I'm blessed beyond belief, um, for that of the people that have invested in me, taken a risk on me, said yes to a crazy idea, uh that I've had Not every crazy ideas panned out, but, um, the people that have, uh, I'm very lucky to to, to have been raised and continue to be raised and invested in by an amazing village.
Speaker 1:I still think there may be a world in which I'm your campaign manager.
Speaker 2:Politics are interesting, right? If you would have asked me you know so, I'm 32, if you would have asked me 16 years ago, I would have given you a completely well mapped out plan to run for Congress and Senate and maybe even be president of the United States, and I would tell people that and they'd be like, oh, that's cute. And I'm like, oh, you think it's cute? I'm serious, and what I found, what I loved at that moment in time about politics, was to be of service. And since I was 10, in addition to other things I nerd out about, my favorite show is the West Wing. And the West Wing is a very idealistic approach to what governing the country could look like.
Speaker 2:And I've learned over the past call it, you know, 10 years through my work of there is multiple ways to be of service. There's multiple ways to be involved in both politics and policy, which are two different things, and right now it's really messy, as we're seeing, and it's really tough to get things done and it's tough to find consensus and compromise. I like the position I get to work in now around some of that work, but never say never. But the dream or the goal of being purely in politics has dwindled a bit, but I found other ways to be of service and to find vocation and opportunity there.
Speaker 1:So entice somebody who's never been to RTRX or they're on the fence. Why spend my time there? Kick it home for us.
Speaker 2:The way I look at it is, time and energy are our most valuable assets and we are all so fragmented. And so if you can go to one experience and over four days and you can invest and grow in your business and build your brand as an individual. In your business, you can invest in yourself from the content and leadership development, you can have fun and you can participate in a social impact movement and you can be a part of bending the arc of progress, you can do it all in one experience, all in one trip, all in one credential like why not do that? So why not, instead of doing all of those things four or five things, different days, different, different weeks, different registrations if you could do it all in one and know that you're going to leave a better person and that you're going to leave better for yourself, for your community, for your business, for your family, then what would stop you from showing up?
Speaker 1:That's why they pay you the big bucks.
Speaker 2:We'll go with that.
Speaker 1:Did you practice that?
Speaker 2:No, I didn't Jesus.
Speaker 1:Raj, my God.
Speaker 2:Okay, now I want to turn the table.
Speaker 1:Turn the mic, turn the table. Let's do it.
Speaker 2:It's like we always have this conversation every year and then we're like texting back and forth. But how in the world is Keri Croft?
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, what a loaded question. I'm good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Things are really good over here.
Speaker 2:So I was at a conference over the weekend and, instead of asking talking about the weather or what do you do for a living we're supposed to ask two questions when you meet somebody. So I'm going to ask those questions to you. One is what is, what is something that you're working on that you're most excited about, most passionate about right now? So I'll let you answer.
Speaker 1:Well, Siraj, that's easy. The B-Lab.
Speaker 2:The B-Lab. Tell me more about the B-Lab.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 1:So the B-Lab is this business, this approach to business that we've been working on for a while and we have it's been a labor of love that we've been working on for a while and we have it's been a labor of love.
Speaker 1:Okay, but what it's morphing into is basically this engine that combines AI and human touch, meaning my lens right, my lens of corporate America, entrepreneurship, authenticity, my kind of personality. So you take, right now, we have six different personas, like six different entrepreneurial journeys that people would probably go through. One is someone who hasn't even gotten the balls yet to start. One is someone who's just getting started and they're like there's all these silos, it's a big, wide world, how do I do it? There's one, the person who started, and their bottleneck somewhere Revenue is not rolling in, something feels off. I won't bore you with all of them, but it goes all the way through to someone who's crushing it and ready to scale is to sort of be this engine that can take whatever their scenario is, by assessing not only a comprehensive set of data around their business where it is current state and what their goals are but personality test.
Speaker 1:Who are you? What makes you tick? When were you born? So what's your sign? Right? And then, from a mindset perspective, there's like a whole set of data.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:So you, you put all of this stuff through this engine and then, based on what we find and what your goals are, we create strategies around how to help you through whatever you're going through. And then the idea is for this to be like a repository. As we build, like, let's say, siraj the entrepreneur comes through and let's say you're at the bottleneck phase, we gather all of your data we have based on how you want to engage, we, we do all the inputs, we create your strategy around whatever your pain points are, and you're like, well, shit, this really worked. And then you become sort of part of the maintenance community, like a subscription. But then we can take your case study and make it anonymous. It doesn't have to be, it's Shiraj's pawn shop or whatever the fuck it is.
Speaker 1:It's. Here's a case study of an entrepreneur who was bottlenecked right, so that we have that also in the data collect, so the next person who comes through in a similar circumstance you can kind of look at the other sets of data and get really smart around how you're providing value and strategy. I mean it's, it's a very modern um, I think really cool fucking way to help people start a business and follow through. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And how did you come up with the idea?
Speaker 1:Oh honey, this has been a when I say a birthing process. So anyone who's ever built something from nothing, they understand what I'm talking about. The last, I would say, year has been an absolute torture chamber in my brain.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And when I say torture chamber, it's like there's moments of sheer excitement and oh my God, fuck, yes. And there's moments of you're fucking nuts. And then there's moments of like, fuck it all. Like we don't have time. I mean, it has been a spin.
Speaker 2:I mean and that could be in all. You can have all those thoughts in one day. Oh, yeah, for sure, yeah, and we've all been there.
Speaker 1:but I knew, but I've known the the seed right. So go all the way back to before I started SOS right? Um, I've always been someone who sees something in someone.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:And I'm good at that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm good at building teams, I'm good at seeing, seeing potential in another person, and just I have this innate thing, and building businesses has always just sort of been the thing. So when I started with SOS that's what it was it was I saw something that was very not built. It was basically a name and a couple of people like stroking checks for an hour workout, and it was a mess and I'm like I like the name, I like her, I'm really looking for something. So that's basically what happened.
Speaker 1:But, then I was stuck in something. Right, it's like I loved it, but I always wanted more. I'm like wait, I don't want to just talk about fitness.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So, as it turns out, I think I was meant to help people who are in that little situation where they may never get out of the mess to transcend into a business. I feel like that is my role.
Speaker 2:Gotcha. And so for me to it sounds so simple now but you wouldn't have been able to say that had you not gone through the experience of SOS, right, no, no, and that was beautiful, and that's credibility For sure. Right Cause you can't, you couldn't have like like if someone was coming to the bee lab correct and they're like oh what have you done? You're like, oh, I just I have ideas. And then it's like, okay, well, correct, are you full of shit?
Speaker 1:this is. This is really the pro. It was like, oh my god, of course, like that was so natural to me and every element of it and the aspect of like taking nothing into something, that was that significant and you know. But it took me a good year and a half and we just are. I mean, we are just now like throttling on where it's at now in terms of like, oh shit. So now we've got all the obvious things with AI and all this stuff that's informing things, which is going to make this really fun and very efficient, but I don't want to lose what makes it special, which is the human authentic connection and that special sauce right.
Speaker 1:So the idea is to really morph this together to create something really, really powerful and very different than anything else you're going to find. And I think we're there, like we're. We're not, it's not done, yeah, but we are like you're there there. Yeah, I mean, nothing's ever really it's really exciting, right, yeah, but it's exciting yeah and who is the the?
Speaker 2:I, like you, have different, six different personas right of people that you want to work with. But like when you talk about seeing and believing in people which I agree with as a skill set of yours or in a talent, when you, when you're up at two in the morning and you're thinking about, like I want the b lab to serve this individual, like who's's that, who's that individual?
Speaker 1:So it is those six different people at this point. So so I will tell you we already have what's. What's been exciting is we have, like the demand is there Okay? So just from the very organic reach outs, I've started with these 15 minute calls where I just truly want, I'm curious about what? People are doing Well next thing, you know, that's basically a lead magnet, right?
Speaker 1:And I was like oh well, shit like we're doing this thing, and so now people have been so interested and they've been. I have clients, right. So what? It's not one specific, it it's I want to serve the person who is in that point in the entrepreneurial journey where they need to take a step forward. So there's more than one of those yep, you know, there's someone who isn't ready yet because they need to like work on their mindset right they have some toxicity going on internally and when they're with their inner circle that's like keeping them from the starting line right right.
Speaker 1:So you, you have stuff you need to work on that. I love that. I love that person for the obvious reasons. That's more the sos like stuff I've dealt with forever.
Speaker 2:But then you have the person you want me to do a 60 minute high and tight class and heated, and like I remember my first SOS class I was like in the back corner, like you've got to be kidding me. I no way. No, it's not happening.
Speaker 1:Right. So it's like that mental that's a person who's blocked. It's like the B lab. Why the B lab? There's so many. When I was, when I was thinking about this branding, I'm like, okay, what's the essence of this? It's like, okay, build brand badass, belong brave body, brain. There's B, there's so many, right? So all of these six personas, they all start with a B.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:But it's less about one specific person and more around where they actually are and how I can get them to that next step. So, for example, we have a client starting next week and she has a successful business here and she wants to scale it. So exciting, Right. Right, she's someone who okay, how do we help her organize her current state? Get rid of duplicity, trim the fat, really like, get real about what she's got going on and then say, okay, what's the smartest way to replicate this, and with whom that? I mean come?
Speaker 2:on.
Speaker 1:But then we have someone else who's also starting next week. Her name is Sarah and she's just starting her career and she wants to start her personal brand because I'm telling you, the world has changed if we haven't noticed. And if you're not thinking about a personal brand, because I'm telling you, the world has changed if we haven't noticed.
Speaker 1:And if you're not thinking about a personal brand that you can take with you and catapult out of whatever situation you're in, you're not thinking. So you know what we're doing with her is exciting because she's a blank canvas. So another thing we do with people in her specific situation we go back, we have this whole whiteboard around like who are you? And the last girl that went through this I'm actually doing helping her build her brand, and she's been on here a couple times. I've been showing her behind the scenes. Her name is Megan Goodman. The process started with okay, let's get some, get some inspo from you via like a shared album. Well, she brings in like this poster board and she's like a.
Speaker 2:Her brand is like a Martha Stewart on steroids right.
Speaker 1:She brings in this big cork board both sides completely did an inspo board textiles notes quote. It blew us away.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So it kind of set the bar where it's like okay, when you come in for that type of engagement, we're trying to build your personal brand. I want you bringing me something that illustrates who you are. So if it, is a shared album cool. But if you want to get real creative and I'm telling you what we've built for this girl it's because we've gone so deeply and so wide into who she is and why the fuck she wants to do it anyway right and you can see it now just beautifully being weaved through this business.
Speaker 1:She's building everything from the name, the logo, the, the touches, the, the storytelling.
Speaker 2:I mean it's so cool it feels like and I'm gonna, and I'm going to make a broad stroke assumption here it's tapping into, yes, the businesses that people want to go create or build or scale. And I don't know if this is a post-pandemic thing, if this is a social media thing, but people wanting to lean more into their authenticity, Like we can post whatever we want to post on Instagram. But is that really who we are? It feels like there's a collective dissonance that's happening where it's like. But now I get to choose who my friends are. I get to choose where I go to work. I get to choose how I show up. I get to choose because we have so many different things to choose from.
Speaker 2:But in the paradox of choices, there's too many choices and you don't know. Then you get overwhelmed, like me, and I am overthinking, and the whiteboard gets overwhelmed with ideas. Is it's also people who are? We all just need a little extra encouragement and dose of vulnerability and authenticity to really go after what we want, Because for someone to come in with a fully designed double cork board with all of that means that was sitting within her, in her heart, in her mind, on her soul for a long time.
Speaker 1:Yep I mean, and if it wasn't, then good for her and she was able to but that means that like that is like sitting within her what's cool about her scenario that I love so much is that when we met for the first time on FaceTime, she was afraid to even talk to me. She's like I hope someday I have the nerve to sit down with you and I'm like, well, let's do that now. We're going to move through that right, so I get her on a FaceTime.
Speaker 2:When you say afraid, was she like the nerve to sit down with you she?
Speaker 1:had been sitting. So she's a child of an alcoholic. Her background was very tumultuous. She has a lot to give.
Speaker 1:It's like she was bubbling up and she didn't know how to do it, or she wanted some help with it and so originally, when she reached out to me, it was like maybe I want to start a podcast. She had a business during COVID that was successful and she stopped doing it. There was a lot of pieces there, but the biggest part of it was her unfolding and becoming and that's been her, her business. On her, her business shaping up is super exciting, Everything that we're doing and what she's bringing to the world, but watching her personal evolution through this is everything.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:And it, and you're right, you hit it on the head. It had been sitting with her for a very long time.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I'm just very honored and feel lucky that our paths crossed and, it just so happens, my skillset and the timing lends itself to being perfect for what she was looking for. It's just been so great and so to have those types of situations where the dichotomy, I guess, is that they're so highly customized and that we are going so deep into like it's never been more important to really own who you are and capitalize on that as a superpower.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But then also being very aware and taking advantage of the technology that is today and beautifully placing those things together.
Speaker 2:Right, and I don't think people doing those things in silos, I don't think a lot of people know how to do doing them together, especially with the pace in which technology and AI is evolving, is going to be really hard for people to wrap their arms and minds around.
Speaker 1:So they can come to be lab.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they can come to B-Lab, that's right. So the second question that we're supposed to ask is, after we ask you, what you're energetic and passionate about is how can I help? So, carrie, how can I help?
Speaker 1:You're the town, crier.
Speaker 2:That's true. Cry baby. Yeah, that's true. You know, like that's how I am when I believe in something and somebody brings me something and I'm like I feel this yeah.
Speaker 1:Like that's how I am when I believe in something and somebody brings me something and I'm like, I feel this yeah. I want to go tell whenever it's relevant. Hey, have you heard of this thing? It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's it. I mean just keep being who you are. In my life, You're always a value add. I love what we have.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:I want to be more involved with RTRX.
Speaker 2:I'm waiting for my invite Done.
Speaker 1:I will do whatever the fuck I need to do great fucking juggle juggle, fire whatever but just you know the fact that you're interested. You're asking the question now you understand more. So when you're out in the street and you hear something that could maybe be a whisper of hey, this might actually be a fit for you great done you know and then how I can help find you a wife. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:My mother and father and, uh, my many aunts and uncles will be. You know, it's, it's, it's funny. I'm the um, let's see here. So I'm the youngest, I think I'm the youngest grandchild on my mom's side. My mom is one of nine. She is the youngest child and so, like everyone's like great you know, child. And so like everyone's like great you know, and I'm the baby. And then on my dad's side, my late grandfather was the eldest of nine brothers and sisters. My father is the eldest of 20, some first cousins that all grew up, you know, like siblings because, of family houses and family compounds.
Speaker 2:And then I'm I think I'm the eldest boy, um, I'm definitely the eldest here in central Ohio of all of us are here in central Ohio and and so there's a lot of um, there's a lot of. They always ask. My great aunts and uncles always ask, and so, um.
Speaker 1:I may have to marry you, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, there's that too. Um, no, but it's, it's funny. Yeah, my uh, uh. I can be a little bit of a a jerk. I'm not. I can be a little bit of an asshole when, like my great uncle, but I call any good news, I'm like life's good, I'm good, I'm making money, I'm saving some of it. You know I'm working a lot and he was like that's not what I'm asking. I'm no.
Speaker 1:I can marry you for sure.
Speaker 2:That's yeah it's, I have to be open to it, right, and this time last year I wasn't open to it for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll see.
Speaker 2:We'll see what happens, but we'll see. We'll put it into the ethers and see what's out there.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for stopping by. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:I know I'm like hey you're probably like oh gosh, what does he want?
Speaker 1:No, I know I'm like there's my boy.
Speaker 2:Well, now, it's always fun, like we should think about how we like we do it in the spring leading up to it, but then we obviously for our TRX, but then in other ways too. It's because, like, there's so much going on in our world and there's so much going on in our community. Yeah, um, you know, if, if there's like one thing too of like we live in really interesting times and I by no means um have a bully pulpit, but I'm going to take a bully pulpit and be like we just gotta be like a lot kinder to people and more open and curious and willing to talk, to define one our brand as a global community. But like, just like being kind and being willing to know that most people are generally doing the best they can and we're all moving so fricking fast and I don't know like you've got the love here and in the restroom. It was like love is always the answer and I've been thinking about that a lot, right Of like. Just, you know there's a um, there's a there's in the in the Sikh faith Um, when we were in India, we went to the golden temple which is um in Amritsar in Punjab, and it's been on my list forever to go to it, and the main temple is made out of gold, and it is probably one of the most surreal moments of my life, and it's it.
Speaker 2:The religion is adjacent to Hinduism, but there's a. You know there's a, there's a, a scripture that you know that says like you, like your, your, your boat is still at sea and you never know what will happen. And so you cannot look down on people, you cannot um, because you never know what will happen. You cannot um be only proud of your body, because at some point you will have to shed your body the way a skin or a snake sheds its skin. We in the Hindu faith believe in cremation, so we don't embalm the body, we send the soul off to its next life.
Speaker 2:And I play that every morning because I have to remind myself that my every morning, because I have to remind myself that my, uh, my boat is still at sea and um, not to get too philosophical and deep, but it's also really interesting, like the, the, the similarities in religion and faith, because JFK used to have a plaque on his desk that said you know I'm going to butcher it, but it was about my, my boat, my, my ship is at sea and the sea is vast, but my God is good and my God will guide me to it and, like you know, the the comparisons to our, our ships and our boats, whatever you're on is still at sea. Um, and I don't know, it's just like the more and more you sit and we were just like rushing and I'm the worst at it. Right, it's like I am moving way too fast sometimes and overpacked and overscheduled, and have a list of all the people I need to text and follow up with and call and I think we just need to slow down a little bit.
Speaker 2:And you know the irony in me saying that is self-reflective so yeah, it is, but it's just a reminder that we're all doing the best we can. We're all you know, people, human, imperfect, with, hopefully, lots of love to give and lots of love to receive.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to get this show on the road. Let's get this show edited and clipped up and get this guy married. All right, Siraj, I love you.
Speaker 2:All right, love you too, thank you.
Speaker 1:And if you're still out there following your girl, follow me on YouTube, spotify, apple or wherever you get your podcasts. And until next time, go to RTRX every single year.
Speaker 2:Say hi to Siraj, you'll be there, you'll see me and keep moving baby All righty.
