Sports Tech Conference, Ken Durand, Nikola Mrvaljevic, Rocky Collis

LAX Pals, Ermis Sfakiyanudis from Uproar PR and James Miceli, CEO of Epoch Lacrosse

In this episode of the SLN Podcast, our friend of the Network, Ermis Sfakiyanudis, from Uproar PR, speaks with his pal, James Miceli, the founder of Epoch Lacrosse. They talk about James' formidable years growing up on Long Island and his first love, lacrosse. James developed a passion for business while "majoring in lacrosse and minoring in everything else" at Adelphi University. James would parlay an internship at NASCAR into a career in consumer electronics calling on the likes of Best Buy. While cycling, James became obsessed with composite technology and knew it would enhance lacrosse products, so Epoch Lacrosse was born.

Sports Tech Conference, Ken Durand, Nikola Mrvaljevic, Rocky Collis

This episode of the SLN Podcast is a replay of a panel John Peters had the privilege of moderating as part of Lake Point Sports’ recent sports technology conference. Lake Point is the ultimate youth sports destination with over 1 million visitors annually. Featured on this panel was the CEO for Mustard, Rocky Collis, the CEO from Strive, Nikola Mrvaljevic, and Comcast's very own Ken Durand, who is the program director for Comcast Sports Tech.

Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Chad Capellman had the opportunity to talk with world famous author Jeff Kinney [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Kinney], whose 16th book in his Diary of a Wimpy Kid [https://wimpykid.com/] series, a sports-themed book called Big Shot comes out on October 26. Jeff talked about how he figured out how to put together a sports-themed book, the surreal nature of many parts of his life, including the jump between writing in isolation to encountering fans around the world, seeing his books come to life in live-action and soon in 3D animated Disney, the responsibility he carries after once being named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people, his thoughts on the current state of the publishing industry and how he fits in it. Jeff also talked about his perseverance, how he was guided to his target audience and the importance of perfecting your craft in an age of instant, connected feedback.

Jon Schwartz, Big Ten Conference

Chad Capellman had the chance to re-connect with a colleague from his student newspaper days, Jon Schwartz [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonschwartz1/]. After successful runs with NASCAR and the National Football League, Jon has just begun his role as Senior Vice President, Communications, Marketing, Digital & Social Media at the Big Ten Conference [https://bigten.org/news/2021/6/29/general-big-ten-conference-names-jon-schwartz-senior-vice-president.aspx]. They talked about Jon’s goals for his new role at the Big Ten, and some of his favorite moments during his time as Senior VP of Communications and Public Affairs at the NFL. Those moments included preparing for a Zoom draft during Covid-19, coordinating messaging around the league’s 100th anniversary, the league’s response to Black Lives Matter protests and the satisfaction that came from league’s Coming Out Day promotional efforts. They talked about how the role of public affairs has evolved and the challenges and opportunities that exist when every single player can now be their own media entity. Jon brought us back to school to share what he’s gleaned about the media consumption and creation habits of current students as a professor at New York University, and how his own lessons learned during his student newspaper days helped start him on a path that led to the creation of his own mentoring podcast. Jon also talked about the evolution of NASCAR and why it has a love-hate relationship with a certain Will Ferrell racing movie.

Eloiza Tecson, EY Ventures Group

In this episode of the Sport Lifestyle Network Podcast, John Peters is joined by Eloiza Tecson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/etecson/], Managing Partner for EY Ventures [https://www.eyventuresgroup.com/]. Eloiza spoke about her background at Red Bull and Orange Theory Fitness, and how stepping outside her comfort zone helped her land in the world of Venture Capital. Eloiza also spoke about EY Venture's thesis as investors in the wellness and active lifestyle ecosystem, and gave three clear actions on how we all can do more to empower women in sport today.