The Richard Brooke Podcast

Makana- Musician, singer, and songwriter

Today on The Authentic Networker Podcast am talking with Makana.

Makana is a Hawaiian musician, singer, and songwriter known for his innovative style and virtuosic guitar playing. He was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, and began playing guitar at the age of seven. As a teenager, he was mentored by slack-key guitar masters such as Sonny Chillingworth and Bobby Moderow Jr.

Makana's music blends Hawaiian slack-key guitar with elements of folk, rock, blues, and jazz, creating a unique sound that has earned him critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base. He has released several albums, including "Ki Ho'alu Christmastime," "Koi Au," and "Venus and the Sky Turns to Clay: The Instrumental World of Makana."

In addition to his solo work, Makana has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Sting, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, and Willie K. He has also performed at prestigious events such as a White House Dinner and TEDx Maui, where his performance went viral and helped to raise awareness about the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.

Beyond his music, Makana is an advocate for social and environmental justice. He has worked with organizations such as the Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club to raise awareness about climate change and ocean conservation. He is also an advocate for Hawaiian culture and has used his music to promote the preservation of the Hawaiian language, arts, and traditions.

Currently, he is working with Facebook and Instagram to create music for people to sync to their own videos uploaded to those platforms. He has produced over 150 songs as part of their Creator Studio Sound Collection. His main focus is the completion of an original musical he began composing nearly 15 years ago!

Dr. Joseph I. Castro – Chancellor of the California State University System

Dr. Joseph I. Castro is the first Californian and first person of color to serve as the chancellor of the California State University (CSU), our nation's largest, most ethnically and economically diverse four-year university. 

 

The grandson of immigrants from Mexico and the son of a single mother, he was also the first in his family to graduate from a university, eventually earning a Ph.D. in higher education policy and leadership from Stanford University. ​As a renowned and gifted scholar in the fields of leadership and public policy, Dr. Castro has mentored hundreds of other scholars and practitioners. 

Sunil Godse – Intuition Expert

After making a series of bad decisions, one that led to devastating consequences, Sunil Godse spent thousands of hours on research and interviews to find out WHY we waste time making bad decisions. 

 

What he found is that we ignore our intuition, a subconscious phenomenon we’re all born with. He then developed a seven-step process on how to sharpen our intuition so we can make the right decision in any given moment. Using this process, Sunil grew several entrepreneurial ventures to over $20 million before shifting his focus to teaching others.  

Les Brown – World's Top Motivational Speaker

As one of the world’s most beloved motivational speakers, Les Brown is known for his unique charisma, warmth and humor, captivating audiences of up to 80,000 across the globe. 

 

If he had believed the labels he was given in grade school – “the dumb twin” and “intellectually disabled,” his life would look much different today. Fortunately, Les tapped into the powers of determination, persistence and belief to unleash a course of amazing achievements in his life, including Chicago-area Emmy® award winner, TV host and multi-term state representative in Ohio.

Terry Jones – Digital Disruptor & Founder of Travelocity

Best known for founding Travelocity.com and serving as founding Chairman of Kayak.com (later sold to Priceline for $1.8 billion), Terry Jones is one of the leading innovators and digital disruptors of our time. 

 

Terry began his career as a travel agent and spent 24 years at American Airlines in marketing and information technology, capping his career as Chief Information Officer of its SABRE division. While at SABRE, he led a team of six, working on a project
that became Travelocity.com. He served as its CEO for seven years, transforming it into a public company with $3 billion in travel sales. 

Ken McElroy - Real Estate Investing Guru

Money tends to produce more money—when invested right. These are the words of the great Ken McElroy, who’s like the guru of real estate investing. He has over 1 billion dollars in real estate investments and is the real estate advisor to Robert Kiyosaki of The Rich Dad Company. He is also co-founder and principal of MC Companies, a full-service real estate investment and property management company. 

 

Ken is the author of several bestselling books, including “The ABC’s of Real Estate Investing,” “The ABC’s of Property Management,” and “The Sleeping Giant,” where he shares his real-life examples and ideology of how to be successful in business and in life. He’s been featured on Cheddar, Fox and Friends, Forbes, ESPN and many others. You’ll love Ken’s unique perspective and the wisdom he has to share with you. 

Mitzi Perdue - How to be UP in Down Times

Mitzi Perdue is a science and health writer. She holds a bachelor's degree with honors from Harvard University and a Masters of Public Administration degree from George Washington University.  

 

She is a past president of the 35,000-member American Agri-Women's coalition. She’s also a former syndicated columnist for Scripps Howard. In the 1990s, she was the most widely-syndicated environmental columnist in the country.

Mark Schulman - Rockstar Drummer

Mark Schulman has enjoyed an unprecedented career over the last 30 years as a first-call drummer for world-class rock and pop artists. He has been voted "Top 3 Pop-Rock Drummers" in the 2014 and 2019 Modern Drummer Reader’s Poll and was the featured cover artist in the May 2019 issue. Mark has done four record-breaking world tours with P!NK. Mark has also played with Cher since 1999 including her two biggest tours. 

Mark’s resume reads like a “who’s who” of international Rock n’ Roll royalty including acts such as Billy Idol, Foreigner, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Beyonce’, and so many other world–class artists. He has drummed with Velvet Revolver at Ozzfest and for a crowd of 225,000 at Glastonbury Festival with Simple Minds. Mark has appeared on nearly every American, European, and Australian variety show including The Grammys, David Letterman, The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brian, Jon Stewart, American Idol, Paul O’ Grady, X-Factor, Wetten Das, The Arias, and more.