WEBVTT - Kevin Lin - On Founding Twitch, Getting Acquired, and Life Thereafter 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.560 Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:06.960 Radio and t DC Media. But it's hard, and you know, 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:09.559 it's hard, and companies fail and it's okay to fail. 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:15.800 It was so weird and stressful and depressing honestly at times. 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:18.760 Companies from all over the world and from different industries, 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.480 some of which were unexpected, all reached out. I think 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.079 now are our lives are just yes, fundamentally different. Now 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:31.280 if you haven't caught on by now, we're talking to 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.520 Kevin Lynn. We've interviewed a lot of influencers in front 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.480 of the tech. Kevin is one of the few so 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.600 far that we've had that basically created the tech. And 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.239 I think that that's just as important because without you, 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:46.040 there would be no doctor disrespect, there'd be no Ninja. 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.320 I mean there'd be, but what would they be doing 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.880 playing video games by themselves exactly. So, so we're really 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:58.000 happy to have you here. Welcome, Welcome, So Kevin and Kevin, 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.200 there's so much to talk about. Kevin actually is one 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:02.760 of my husband's best friends, so I know a little 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:08.720 about him. He enjoys Taco Bell thoroughly. Who actually KFC huge? 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.720 Oh is it Popeye's I forgot forgot. I forgot is 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.120 pretty good. Yeah, you're from Nolan's. Did I say that? 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.520 We just say New Orleans? I don't know, Knowlins, Like 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.240 a lot of people come and they're like, hey, we're 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:24.120 in Nolins, and everyone just like we just say New Orleans. Well, 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.880 when I visited Nolan's, the uber driver insisted on teaching 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:29.720 me the proper way to say it, and he was like, 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.320 it's Nolins And I was like, Nalins, but everyone else, 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.479 you know, it's something for everybody there. So I kind 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:39.680 of say it however, you like, I suppose. Yeah, New 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:46.280 Orleans though, were supremely lazy Arleans. I like that. Actually, 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.720 what an interesting place to grow up, by the way, 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.320 definitely a strange place to grow up. How was that? 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.320 I don't know. I I struggled to like fit in. 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.080 I started smoking weed when I was fourteen, went to 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:00.720 a lot of like just roamed around with like one 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.640 or two friends. Didn't go to school. It just didn't 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:05.600 like it. Still managed to get three days. They could 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.560 have kicked me out, but somehow they didn't. Yeah, I 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.120 don't know, just roamed around a lot, lived in the suburbs. 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.359 I mean, I grew up in Kenna, where such precious 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.800 people as DJ Khalid hail from. Um. Like, I've never 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:19.600 been to your town. Like, actually you have. If you've 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:21.239 ever flown in in New Orleans, you've flown into the 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.600 New Orleans International Airport, which is actually in Kenner, which 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.160 makes Canada the gateway to the world. Um and uh 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.280 so as the suburb, you know, suburbs and uh you 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.600 went to school. There's like all boys Catholic school for 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.000 high school, which which taught me a lot like this. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:37.880 My brother went through the same school and just like 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.440 refused to go back to Louisiana for quite some time 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.799 as a result of his experience there, but then ended 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.440 up going to this boarding school up in Nakadish like 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:51.000 northwestern Louisiana, like middle of nowhere where Steel Magnolias was filmed, 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.680 beautiful little southern town. Um where basically all the people 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:56.919 who just couldn't fit in where they were in Louisiana went. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:58.880 I was like a magnet school. So that was great. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:00.720 That was a lifesaver. But yeah, this is great. Music 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.080 is great, foods great. People are actually super nice. People 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.359 are very nice. They're actually Um, I was there for 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.760 a movie junket and I remember thinking the one thing 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:09.760 I was a little shocked by was during the middle 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.960 of the day, just people drinking and smoking cigarettes. There's 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:15.920 that's I think New Orleans honestly has a bit of 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.600 a marketing problem, so there's a lot of people that 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:20.560 go through every year. I think it's something like, I 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.359 don't know, twelve million people flow through New Orleans every year, 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.760 and it's this little bright spot in the South that's 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.480 just very different from everywhere else. People know it from music, 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.800 but people also associate just like super ratchet heavy drinking, 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:38.240 what the bro culture on Bourbon Street um, but really, like, sincerely, 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.280 there's something there for everybody. Like I started taking my 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.920 friends to Marty Crawl the last few years and they're like, 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:44.560 holy crap, Like we thought this was going to just 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.080 be like a NonStop hangover fest with like, you know, 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.680 a bunch of college kids, which is there. You can 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.280 certainly go to that part of Marty Gral, but it's 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.119 very family friendly. When I was a kid, my parents 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:55.720 would take me to Marty Gral every single year. Is 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:57.880 my favorite time of year. Schools out. They were teachers 0:03:57.880 --> 0:03:59.440 to schools out for them too, and we just go 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.680 and just like park it at ten am, wait for 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:03.760 the floats to come. My dabby drinking beer. We'd be 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.280 eating like hot dogs. I'm catching beads and like random trinkets, 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:08.960 and it was like, awesome. You go home with all 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.600 this loot, you sort through it, you organize it. I 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.160 guess I did that. It was do that. But yeah, 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:16.680 like I prepared as if I was ever going to 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:18.080 ride in a float one day. I had like tie 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.120 them all together, like perfect, perfect dozens and so on. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:22.840 But it was really fun and you know, your your 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.280 friends come out with you. You like my my parents, friends, 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.120 families would would come out too, and it was a 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.760 great time. Lots of music, lots of cool art. The 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.039 floats are all designed. It takes them all year to 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.479 do these things, and an army and it's like one 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:36.280 of the biggest parties in the world. Takes over an 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:38.880 entire city for really about a month. You know, a 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:40.840 lot of people associated with the last couple of days 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.960 when people go from like Friday till that Tuesday, but 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.039 it's really going on in the city the whole time. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:47.800 But that happens all the time. People just wake up 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.919 one day and they're like, you know what I feel good. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.479 I feel real good. They call their friends, they send 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.640 out a flyer, they put like this elaborate costume on, 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:58.840 and then they just go march down the road, uh 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.360 and party music, aunts food and they just meander through 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:04.320 the city kind of wherever they want. You gotta obviously, 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.280 like let the cops know that you're doing it so 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.680 they'll help and protect you and make sure traffics routed properly. 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.880 But that stuff happens all the time. Yeah, you're right, 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.840 it is. It does have a marketing issue because I 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.120 would have never known any of these things. Yeah, everyone 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.080 just so it's like it's like Vegas South, right, A 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:19.760 lot of people think of it that way, and you know, 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.240 Harris promotes themselves a lot. There's a casino down there. 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:23.839 It's a much friendlier experience, and a lot of people, 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.320 imagine people think it's just really like heavy drinking. Uh, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.919 like you know, one of those types of experiences. But 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.320 you can go and do how do it however? You like? 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.320 Food is amazing. I remember a few meals that I 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.080 had there. I was like, holy shit, this is amazing. 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.360 But also it's going to give me diabetes probably, Yeah, 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.240 you know that is so like the it's a very 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.159 you know, let the good time's role, as they say, 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.360 type of place. And I think the thing I greatly 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.719 like about being there's everyone has good balance. They work 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.280 hard and in the case of like you know, startups 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.279 and corporate workers, they work a lot, but they'll you know, 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.839 they'll they'll take the time to go to happy hour, 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.240 to go spend time with their family and friends every night. 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.720 I think the result of that, as you notice, is 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.840 people are just a little happier and they're just not 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.320 like they hustle, but they don't overdo it. But the 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.880 food and the drinking is a big part of the culture. 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.840 There's a big part of this, like local community culture. 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.960 I mean you see bars, restaurants. There's not a lot 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.520 of national change. You see them of course, like Taco 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.839 Bell Popay is actually from the rolling so people embrace it. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.000 Raising Keynes is a new new fried chicken spot from 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.400 Louisiana that people like. But there's a lot of local 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:28.960 stuff that you can go to and people like to congregate. 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.400 People actually like to go out and hang out. It 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.720 could be in the neighborhood, it could be at a bar, 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:35.880 at a restaurant, but they like to see each other 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.680 in person, which is cool. So when you go down 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:40.159 there as a tourist, you're not just seeing a bunch 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:41.760 of other tourist, You're seeing a lot of locals and 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.599 they're they're they're happy to welcome you. But yeah, the 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.680 they have a fitness problem in addition to a marketing 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:48.680 problem of the city that people got to exercise. Maybe 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.360 they're the best lives and they don't care they are. 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.000 But then you know, you think about, like we have 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.000 a huge diabetes problem. We have a huge The Optioner 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.640 Hospital in Louisiana is like the number one liver transplant 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.960 hospital in the world. I mean, congratulations, but you know 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:06.200 you might want to some community outreach about Lily. You 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.520 fly to the airport, big sign Ostener Hospital, number one, 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:13.400 that transplant hospital in the world in the airport right 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:15.760 when you arrived, right when you get that, like, yo, 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:20.119 check out this awesome thing we do. Well. No one's 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.840 pointing out that it's because of the ben years for 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.960 all fish. No, but my mistake was going there without you. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.280 The next time. I'm definitely going to go with you. 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.480 This year. I really wanted to go with you because 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.200 you had your own float, which, by the way, I 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.760 had no idea. It was so hard to acquire or 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.440 be a part of a float. It's like a whole situation. 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.440 We wrote in Orpheus, I mean flow. It's one of 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:42.760 those things I never really imagined that ever do. And 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.480 it's you know, generally historically reserved for fairly wealthy people, 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.200 very networked people. But Orpheus was started by Harry Connick Jr. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:52.760 And what he wanted to do was create a parade 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.600 where anybody had a shot at riding, and it wasn't 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.240 about how much money you had. And it was also 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.160 about diversity. So if you look at like most of 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:05.120 the parades were all male historically, then a couple popped up, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.760 like Muses that became all female, and Harry's was the 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:10.840 first to be mixed. And he was just like, fucking 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.560 I can do this. I'm Harry Conic Junior. Why not? 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.680 And so it was all about embracing that, It's all 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.360 about celebrating the arts. He's got a nonprofit that supports 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.239 all that stuff, and he's done so much for the city. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.320 So I don't know. We Ryan invited us to go 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.320 to Orpheus capaid so they all have balls after the 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.640 parade and so we went to Orpheus Capaid the last 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.040 couple of years, and then two years ago Marty Gras 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:29.480 he was like, hey, do you guys wanna do a 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.079 float and sure, why not? Happened I fall right near 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.880 my birthday, so I worked out. It was great fun. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:36.960 It was weird. Honestly, it was kind of a really 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.520 weird experience to be on the float on and just 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.320 sort of you drive through so many neighborhoods and you 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.320 can see how much of a dichotomy there is just 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.000 from one block to the next. Sometimes maybe you see 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.880 the city in different light. That's that's insane, especially since 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.480 you grew up there. When did you leave New Arlands? Okay, 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.120 so college? I was born there, stay there till I 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.600 was sixteen, and then tenth grade I went to Louisiana 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:02.840 School up in Nakadish and I spent two years there. 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.559 I mean I was going back home every month, driving 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:05.679 back and forth. It was like a four and a 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:07.640 half hour drive up to Nakadish, and they made us 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:09.200 go home once a month just to make sure we're 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.199 still being with family and everything. And then eighteen, so 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:14.920 year two thousand, I went to college. Where'd you go 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.360 to school? I went to Yale for undergrad I've never 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:19.280 heard of that school. Yeah, it's it's it's you know, 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.200 it's it's, it's it's it's okay, honestly, Um, yeah, So 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.440 Yale is this where all the magic started happening. This 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.440 is where all yeah, something like that. Um, I went 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:31.640 to Yale studied college way. But let's reverse because you 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:33.920 said you never went to school and you smoked pot, 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.600 but you still got great grades. Why is it that 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.200 I meet these successful people all the time who were 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.880 like I barely tried. Then I went to Harvard, and 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.760 I'm like, what what happened in between? I think about 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.480 this a lot, actually, because I also encounter similar people 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.200 and so, like in high school, I just didn't go. 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.000 I didn't once I went to school called Jesuits, all boys, 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.120 Catholic schools. It was terrible experience. The sad reality is 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.600 our educational system is one of the worst. I think 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.160 it is second worst, if not our first, first, worst, 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.880 most worst, whatever, the worst. See, this is what happens 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:05.959 if you don't finish high school. I finished high school, 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.959 so I went there, and I just didn't enjoy going 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.000 for for multiple reasons. A lot of bullying a lot 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.720 of just boredom, um, a lot of just like they're 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.160 they're like forcing religion on you. And I just wasn't 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.920 prepared and my parents didn't know how to prepare me 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:24.800 for that type of schooling. And now I understand why 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.760 my brother is so bitter about his experience. You're supposed 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:29.360 to be able to skip like ten days a semester 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:31.960 or semester every half years, so twenty days a year. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.400 I skipped like forty because I just didn't want to 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.160 go in and still got straight days, and so they 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:36.719 didn't kick me out. But many times I went to 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.280 see the guidance council and they're, hey, you gotta come 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:39.920 to school or else we're gonna gonna have to drop 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.400 you out. And I remember, I remember this, this is 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.560 just popping my head. Random moment of redemption I think 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.240 I had where my ninth grade geometry teacher came and said, hey, 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.960 will you come to me Alpha data the like math 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.199 competition with us, because if you come, we think we'll win. 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.720 And I was like, no, that's my girlfriend's birthday that weekend, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:57.640 so I'm just not gonna come. And then after that 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.240 they just wrote me off and I left to go 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.760 to Louisiana school, but the schools tearing. You know, I'd sit, 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.240 I go to home room in the morning and all 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.439 the kids in class would be like, Hey, which one 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.080 are you, Dan Tran, don Wyn, Kevin Lynn. You know. 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:17.040 That happened almost every day and gotten fights eventually found 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:21.280 this really small community of magic, the gathering players. So 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.880 we literally like we were so egregious about it. We 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.000 sat in the basement between the coke machines playing magic 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:30.960 and it grew from like five of us to like 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:32.920 ten of us to twelve of us. And there's this 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.440 guy Brian Funk like a bunch of my friends, like 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.920 Charles Prrett's, Charles Press, Charles noon As. Kevin Walker didn't play, 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:40.920 but he was like a baseball card gather and he 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:42.280 just hung out with us. But it's like a bunch 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:43.719 of kids who just couldn't quite fit in. So we 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.679 just play magic together during lunchtime for everyone to see, right, 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:51.959 We're like sat down with me, now, yeah you want 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.560 to go? And I actually got They actually banned us 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:56.400 event well, they tried to ban us at some point 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.600 because they thought the cards were satanic um. Because this 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:01.360 was like, you know what the year was this like 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:03.800 I don't know, nine six or something, and it was 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.679 the cards were like demonic or demonic tutors, so they 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:09.720 like literally would rifle through my cards looking for things 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:11.520 that look satanic and like, okay, you can't play this 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.960 game anymore. Luckily I found out about this boarding school 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:15.880 and left. But it wasn't great. I mean, they just 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:18.160 don't They don't teach the kids there how to like 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.320 be good community members. They just kind of let them 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.680 run rampant, very jock driven school, like the Jesuit would 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.079 win you know, the football state championships and blah blah blah. 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.440 Like they were really into sports and I wasn't into sports. 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.040 So another mark against me, you know, but you know, 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.160 it's fine. It's a good learning experience. I got to 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.360 meet lots of cool people ended up and and you know, 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.520 it's okay. Survived. Louisiana school was awesome, though much different. 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.640 And then you get into Yale because you just got 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.680 into Yo. Yeah. I think it was like, you know, 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.160 like seven people from Louisiana get into Yale every year. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.560 What made you apply to Yale? You had good grades? 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.240 You had good grades, obviously, you probably scored well on 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.680 your S A T. S. I'm assuming, yeah, I did okay, 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.520 we did A C T and S A T. I 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:00.400 did all. I did fine, I got good, I got 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.199 I got great good grades. My brother went to Harvard, 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.720 so my parents like, go to Harvard. Just apply, like 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:09.760 blah blah blah. My guidance counselor um Joanne forrest in 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.480 at Louisiana school, I was like, hey, you should apply 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.400 to Yale. And honestly, I've never heard of Yelle at 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.199 the time, and I was like, this is like a 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.200 luck company, right, Maybe don't say that because there's a 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:25.120 lot of kids out there right now who are likely 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.000 I had never here. I am like seventeen years old, 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.320 and I'm like, I don't know what that school is like. 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:31.600 At the time, I was trying to come to my 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:33.280 parents let me stay in Louisiana because at a high 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.720 school sweetheart I wanted to stay nearby. She was in Mobile, Alabama. 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.040 How did that work out? I didn't work out? Unfortunately, 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.160 but or fortunately, I guess, I don't know. She's great. 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.679 We keep in touch, but my parents like, you know, 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:45.439 if it's meant to be, it's meant to be, right, 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.440 And so applied for Yale played for everywhere we always 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.319 one of the first response I went up there. I 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.839 went actually to Shreveport for an interview with this random 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.240 dude who was like, I don't know what he did. 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.000 He was like a lawyer. I think a big building 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.600 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Brought him a kingcake. I thought it 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.320 was a nice thing to do, and he and I 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:04.520 just got along awesome. And then and then they sent 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:06.240 me and then and then they did a follow up 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:08.960 interview at school on campus. Some some like an army 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:10.880 guy came in I remember his name, but he came 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:12.599 in and he was el grad and I think he 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.040 was CIA, and he came in and spent some time 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.080 with me, and it's like army outfit. I'm like, this 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.080 is the most intimidating interview ever. But he was also 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.680 super nice. So when they sent me the acceptance, I 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:24.280 was like, Okay, cool, this seems good to ask my brother. 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.000 And my brother was like, look, you'll have better You'll 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.520 have a better time at Yelden pretty much anywhere else, 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:30.880 so just go there. It's like it probably will suit 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.480 you the best. And he was right, you know, good advice. Oh. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.240 The other piece of my advice my brother gave me 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.600 that was very simple but correct. I think it was 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.280 just major and whatever you like, like it doesn't really matter. 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:42.760 You'll see people that are history majors and polyside majors 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.320 that go be a doctor, people that are econ majors. Like, 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:47.480 you know, it doesn't matter. It's sort of like it 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.239 just a period in your life where you're self discovering. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.480 So just try to find the thing you really enjoy. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.560 And so I switched, much to my parents chagrin, from 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.440 biomedical engineering because my dad's an engineer as a professor 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.240 at You and I University in New Orleans. My mom 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.600 was also a special ed teacher, and so they're like, 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:05.160 go be an engineer, but don't do what we did. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:06.960 Don't teach you after go get a go get a 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.440 real job, but learn engineering is really important. And ideally, 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:11.440 go be a doctor. That was was pre medtracked. I 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:12.920 had it all figured out. Yeah, that was that. That 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.480 was the plan. And then I took this a class 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:18.120 called e B one oh one, which was the Diversity 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.400 of Life with his teacher named Leo Busts, who was 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.640 this like awesome ecologist guy and loved it. And I 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:25.720 was like I'm going to switch to ecology and evolutionary 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.440 apology as my major. There was like the first rift 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.680 I had with my parents were like, no paying for school. 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.000 You're going to study engineering and you're gonna go to 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.840 med school. That's like, that's what we're paying for. Switched anyway. 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.120 I had a blast, love my major, love my classes. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:40.960 I learned how to do bug collecting. That was my 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.800 favorite class for sure. Did you have a plan at 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.200 that point when you chose the major, what the and 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.520 game would be or were you just like, I'm focusing 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:51.680 on what interests me right now and I'll figured out later. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:55.480 So in reality, that's what was happening. What I told 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.760 my parents was, oh, I don't want to be a 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.040 doctor doctor. I want to be a veterinarian. And so 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.760 that became the reason to switch. And so I'm studying animals, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.240 animal science, ecology, anthropology like a really he is a 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.280 very wide variety of of of classes you know, to take, 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:12.840 like hard math classes like differential equations, which to this 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:14.760 day still doesn't make any sense to me. And that 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.600 was the excuse. And then then you had to do 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.720 likes of veterinary volunteering in order to even apply and 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:22.080 there's only like at the time, I don't know how 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.600 like twenty something veterinary schools in the nation, and so 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:26.480 U C. Davis is one of the best ones. And 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.520 I think north I don't remember anymore, Uh, Northwestern maybe, 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.680 And so that was the quote unquote path I had selected. 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:34.200 And so I spent my summer in my junior year 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.960 doing uh internship at the Autuman Center for Research of 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.560 Endangered Species also known as ACRES back in Louisiana on 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:43.960 the west bank of New Orleans in like the middle 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.480 of the swamp. That was my veterinary experience need I 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.200 guess fulfillment. And it was great, honestly. It's like part 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.120 zookeeper work, part what they called reproductive physiology work, which 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.240 was a nice way of describing that we were just 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.600 trying to make sperm and eggs last longer in transit. 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.240 And then so from that, you graduate with this major, 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.320 did you you didn't switch again? No? Stay in? And 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:09.399 then what was your next step after that? I didn't 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.640 have any job lined up after graduation. I had met 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.360 this girl my senior year on this random trip in Taiwan, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:18.359 and she was in New York. She was an N 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:19.879 Y year. Her name was Jenny. We had we just 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.600 hit it off. It was great. We weren't dating or anything. 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.240 But we started hanging out in New York towards the 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:26.240 end of my senior year and I was like, oh, yeah, totally, 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:27.560 Like all my friends are going to New York. I'll 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:28.880 just come to New York. And she's like, that'd be great. 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:30.480 I'm gonna stay here. She was working at a hotel 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.920 because she wanted to go through like hotel management program 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.119 and so on, and so I was like that sounds awesome. 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:36.960 Like I'll just move there and maybe I'll find a job. 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:38.639