Story In A Bottle Podcast

Melanie Cristol has always let her passions drive her career. Those passions lead her to become a lawyer and, now, to become an entrepreneur. As a founder, she’s launched her most personal product yet: Lorals. Lorals are lingerie worn during oral sex, for when you love the idea of oral and you want to love the reality. This latex underwear will block anything you don't want transferred, whether it's an intimate view, menstrual or other fluids, or scents. And soon, Melanie hopes for Lorals to block STIs too. Over a shot of Maker’s Mark and some coffee on the side at Fool’s Gold in Manhattan, Melanie discusses her drastic career change and what it takes to create a new sex product line for women.

 

What You’ll Learn:

  • How do orgasms lead to physical benefits (4:40)
  • What does the name “Lorals” mean and what is their goal (6:50)
  • Types of products for oral sex that are already out on the market, so what makes Lorals different (8:00)
  • How did Melanie start this company and where did she get her inspiration (11:22)
  • What was Melanie’s approach in starting her company (24:53)
Direct download: SIAB_MCristol_v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:33am EDT

We all have a lost feeling after college life, even astrophysicists! Andrew Fleming originally went to Michigan Tech for physics and then took it one level higher to study astrophysics at Columbia University in New York. He realized before he was officially done with all school that the prospect of him spending the  rest of his days studying the stars and universe wasn’t in the cards if he didn’t commit himself to academia in perpetuity. So, he made a choice. Instead of the challenging and uncertain world of science and academia. He chose a totally different route: the challenging and uncertain world of media. . He went on to work as a content strategist and senior producer at Conde Nast and, later, VP of Product for Business Insider. Now, Andrew is the Head of Content Platforms at Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. Andrew loves his media world and wouldn't trade it for all the stars in the universe.

 

What You’ll Learn:

- What is “Moneyish” (7:40)
- How does a pop culture moment tie into these financial education moments (16:09)
- What drove him into the world of astrophysics? (26:17)
- How does product work and scientific research equate to each other? (41:57)
- The challenges of journeying from freelancer at Conde Nast to senior-level staffer at Business Insider when it was just starting out (55:40)

Direct download: SIAB_AFleming_v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:43pm EDT

Courtney Boyd Myers has always been a multitasking mover. She was born in Connecticut and grew up playing in multiple sports at one time, and in a family that moved around a lot. Both of those qualities has molded her into the person she is today. Courtney is the founder of AKUA, a company that creates sustainable, seagreens-based foods, an adviser of GreenWave, a nonprofit that supports the regenerative ocean farming industry, has invested in an ice cream store based out of Cape Town, South Africa called Unframed Ice Cream which focuses on the perfection of vegan ice cream, AND she is a Global Community Ambassador for the leadership event company, Summit. At just 33, she has accomplished so much in her life and continues to grow and love all of her personal and professional endeavors.

 

What You’ll Learn:

  • How did Courtney get started with her business, AKUA? (2:30)
  • When and where did media and tech businesses come into her life? (11:08)
  • How she got into the technology and startup world? (19:11)
  • Is mingling and being friendly in the journalism world a good thing? (21:00)
  • What a weekend through Summit is (34:35)
Direct download: SIAB_CBMeyers_v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:59am EDT

Daniel Kibblesmith grew up loving comedy and always found himself gravitating towards writing, but it took him awhile to realize he was actually writing comedy as a career. Starting off his career in Chicago after college, Daniel worked for Groupon as an in-house comedian and wrote humorous ad copy. This lead to him becoming one of the founding editors of ClickHole which eventually lead him to Buzzfeed in New York City and now as a staff writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Today, he is a published author with his book Santa’s Husband and just launched a comic book, Lockjaw, for Marvel. Daniel is doing what he loves everyday and happy to share his comedy with the world.

What You’ll Learn:

  • How does Daniel take in all the horrible events and news of each day and turn it into comedy on a deadline (24:20)
  • What made him get into comedy writing (27:00)
  • When your day is surrounded by comedy for a job, does it ever get overwhelming (50:00)
  • How to create a packet to become a tv writer (1:02:06)
  • What is the hardest parts of Daniel’s dream job (1:09:11)
Direct download: SIAB_DKibblesmith_v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:44pm EDT

1