From Risk To Radical Reinvention: Lessons From Dmitry Koltunov’s Unstoppable Journey

Serial entrepreneur Dmitry Koltunov shares his journey from Soviet refugee to tech founder, exploring how embracing both his technical and creative identities fueled his success building multiple companies and a Broadway musical.

• Coming to America as a refugee at age 9 shaped Dmitry’s unique relationship with risk-taking
• How limiting beliefs about "what a founder looks like" almost kept him from pursuing entrepreneurship
• The powerful revelation that self-doubt persists even for highly accomplished people
• Why creatives often hide their artistic pursuits in corporate settings despite their transferable skills
• Reframing your creative and professional pursuits as "batteries" that charge each other
• Understanding the connection between artistic creation and entrepreneurship — both start with blank pages
• Building an authentic community as an underappreciated advantage in business and personal growth

More on Dmitry:

Dmitry Koltunov is a serial entrepreneur, technologist, and storyteller based in New York City. He’s the founder and CEO of Arbor, an AI-powered platform that helps communications teams quickly turn long videos into compelling content (video clips, social posts, emails, and articles)—without losing the human touch. Previously, he was the co-founder and CTO of ALICE, a hospitality tech company that grew into a global brand and was eventually acquired by Expedia. Dmitry is also a community builder in the startup world, leading the NYC chapter of the Startup Leadership Program and mentoring first-time founders. A lifelong creative, he’s also a musical theater writer currently developing a new show for Broadway. He holds degrees in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and is a CFA charterholder.

Follow : linkedin.com/in/dmitry-koltunov

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Dimitri Koltunov
• 4:15 From Soviet Refugee to Risk-Taker
• 9:45 Breaking Free of Limiting Beliefs
• 19:05 Creativity and Entrepreneurship
• 31:33 The Underrated Power of Community
• 39:30 Closing Thoughts and Where to Connect

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You're listening to the Fortify Wellness Podcast. I'm Bettina, founder and survivor, and this season we're not holding back. This is for anyone who's been through the fire, sat in the dark, questioned everything and still chose to get up. We talk healing that hits mind, body and soul raw stories, expert gems and the real stuff that helps you rebuild. Just so you know, this podcast isn't therapy or medical advice. It's real talk, lived experience and tools to help you find your way back.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Season eight starts now. Subscribe, log in and let's get fortified. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I've been wanting to ask this next guest that come onto the podcast now for months. I met him through the Startup Leadership Program. He is a program lead and he is just such a unique person because he's so smart and creative and he just happens to be an entrepreneur and he bridges vulnerability and boldness and bluntness in such an incredible way that I could only aspire to that. I think I try to pull out out of every guest that comes on and he just inhabits that. Every guest that comes on and he just inhabits that on a daily basis and it's just really. It's an honor to be able to watch that in real time every Tuesday. You know, being a startup leadership member, I'm so excited that Dimitri can be the one that kicks off season eight, because he just he's an inspiration to so many people.

Speaker 1: 1:51

Dmitry Koltunov is a serial entrepreneur, technologist and storyteller based in New York City. He's the founder and CEO of Arbor, an AI-powered platform that helps communications teams quickly turn long videos into compelling content video, social posts, emails and articles without losing the human touch. Previously, he was the co-founder and cto of alice, a hospitality tech company that grew into a global brand and was eventually acquired by expedia. Dimitri is also a community builder in the startup world, leading the new york city chapter of the startup world, leading the New York City chapter of the Startup Leadership Program and mentoring first-time founders. A lifelong creative, he's also a musical theater writer, currently developing a new show for Broadway. He holds degrees in computer science and economics from the University of Pennsylvania and is a CFA charterholder. Okay, let's welcome, dimitri. I'm so excited, hi, dimitri, I'm so excited, hi, dimitri. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. How are you?

Speaker 2: 2:50

I'm doing great. Hey, Bettina. I've not done a podcast like this before, so I'm looking forward to the mental health perspective side of building so excited to dig in side of building, so excited to dig in.

Speaker 1: 3:09

I'm really excited and you have changed my life being a leader at Colpe. You do this really cool magic trick where you hop into a Zoom call and you just like mic, drop incredible information and then you just pop into a new Zoom room and it just it's incredible, it's really incredible and you are super vulnerable and super direct and when you bridge the two together, you make such an impact. So thank you for that.

Speaker 2: 3:34

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 3:35

So I'm really interested in your story, your family story. Coming from Ukraine to Brighton Beach, it's layered in so much resilience, which I'm sure is who makes you who you are today. How has that shaped your appetite for risk, storytelling and leadership?

Speaker 2: 3:55

So I think being an immigrant has almost opposing forces that you have to deal with, almost opposing forces that you have to deal with. It both gives you this incredible appetite for risk as well as this almost crippling fear of taking it, and so to me, that lives in two distinct spaces. So a bit of context. My family and I came to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1989. I came from Kiev. I was, I think, nine years old and my parents were professionals. They were teachers. My dad was becoming one of the top teachers in the Soviet Union. He was publishing books, having all these accolades. He had a huge community. He was organizing music festivals. I mean, just living the best life, but under a regime that was very anti-Semitic. It didn't really allow for people to express themselves. There was no concept of growth. You were kind of boxed in, and so they decided to do this wild thing, which is we're going to leave an entire life. We're not going to do that preemptively. With five, 10 years of studying a language. No one knew English. We did not know anything about what America would look like. This is the 80s. The Soviet Union wasn't sending videos to the US and back and forth. There was no YouTube to see what it was like. We had a few photographs and just based on that, you're making an entire decision to move life. And just based on that, you're making an entire decision to move life.

Speaker 2: 6:03

And so I think embedded in my psyche was leave as a refugee on the border of the Soviet Union. They took our passports. We could not come back, and until we landed in the US we were actually stateless. We had no citizenship, Wow. And when you were leaving, we were allowed to take two suitcases and $100 per.

Speaker 2: 6:30

There was no guarantee on the other side, and so to me that was the most badass entrepreneurial thing I'd ever seen happen. And so, on the good side, as we got into Brighton Beach, as we learned the language, I learned to face risk head on, and I think a lot of the lessons that I got that later on would play so important in entrepreneurship actually came from me struggling to adapt. Right, it's a new language, but it's not only a new language, it's a new way to communicate. Something that a lot of people miss when moving cultures is humor, because humor is probably the highest level of communication, because you have to understand language and cultural significance as well, as some cultures are direct, some cultures are indirect. Humor in the US is different than humor in Japan, because the way that we exchange information is different. So even if you understand the language, you may not be able to make a joke. That to me is like when you understand a culture, you you is when you can make a joke.

Speaker 1: 7:33

And at such an age you know, wanting to fit in and to relate to other kids. Your age, I think, would be really important. So in a sense, being so young it's kind of strange to say you kind of had to reinvent yourself, because at nine years old, who, who?

Speaker 2: 7:49

A hundred percent.

Speaker 1: 7:50

You know we're kind of skipping ages here. When you think about labeling yourself or just taking it all away. You have experience coming from one country to another, so in a sense you kind of had to relabel yourself. But when you take all of those things away, like another, so in a sense you kind of had to relabel yourself. But when you take all of those things away, like you've done incredible things with your life. Now you know, when you take all those labels including father, partner, founder, songwriter, just Dimitri in his purest form what brings you the most comfort and how do you define yourself without all of those titles?

Speaker 2: 8:26

you the most comfort and how do you define yourself without all of those titles? So there's one thing that I just thought of that I didn't note on the last one, and it will clarify this as well. So I said that I had two different relationships with risk rates. The first is like jump in and figure it out, and the second is, as you, I got a big job I was eventually leading a huge team at a hedge fund before I went into startups, etc. And you hold on to that with your life because you don't want to lose it.

Speaker 2: 9:00

So your fear is, now that I got to this other side, I don't want to be there again. So you're both able to take risk because you've lived risk, but you're also fearing the loss of this thing that got you out of risk, because the natural response of being in risk is to reduce risk. In risk is to reduce risk, and so being able to get back into risk and being able to be comfortable with stepping in it again when you've stabilized is so important. So, part of who, like a lot of the, you asked the labels right like um. So I would say I define myself without expectations. I'd say a builder, a coach and a dot connector.

Speaker 1: 9:52

I know that you talked about feeling a slight like a sense of burnout in your, in your when you were in finance during those years and you kind of had to make a pivot in your life personally during those years and you kind of had to make a pivot in your life personally. So a lot of times we bring people on and we talk about limiting beliefs, the things that like get in our own way, and once we push those things out of our way we step into our true power and who we really are Right. So I'm curious now connecting the dots, maybe backwards a little bit. Curious now connecting the dots, maybe backwards a little bit. But how? What did you have? What story did you have to stop telling yourself in order to become the person who could build arbor?

Speaker 2: 10:36

I mean there's like an infinite amount of stories. I had to stop telling myself I wish it was one story, because then we'd be, you know, we'd be rocking and rolling, but um, because then we'd be rocking and rolling. But there's this workshop that I did once and it was on the Enneagram, and it talked about this inner critic that we all have, and I'm a type one Enneagram which has the strongest and loudest inner critic. And the problem with the inner critic is, at least for the Enneagram type that I've associated myself with, is it's extremely good at fault finding and it speaks to you in your own voice, and so it will find stories, and those stories will be very intense because they will be custom tailored towards where you are, when you are, and so at different parts of my life I would have different stories that were limiting beliefs, like I remember when I was first deciding to go into entrepreneurship and and I have this job, working in finance, and it's extremely engaging and I'm very well positioned to be financially well off and I'm buying my parents gifts and sending them on vacation. It's amazing. From that perspective, it's just like something missing for me and it's that idea of being a true builder without constraints. I was building within deep constraints and I had all these ideas that I couldn't put out. And I'm a creative at heart and I couldn't really embrace that part of me.

Speaker 2: 12:34

But the story I would hear is you're in your thirties, you're not an entrepreneur, because the entrepreneurs that are making a big drop out of college. And you went to college and you worked in corporate and you're not like the person that you see covered in the magazines. So what business do you have doing startups? You're just going to screw it all up. Stay in your lane. You have a good thing going. Your parents gave up their entire life to build an opportunity for you. You got the opportunity. Why would you ever mess that up?

Speaker 2: 13:12

And I remember having a conversation with my mom as I was thinking about leaving the corporate world. So my initial goal was I'm going to be a CTO at a hedge fund and I was DSVP at a hedge fund. That was the next step. And I'm telling her that, hey, I have these ideas to build companies, but I don't really know what I want to do. I'm just afraid of taking a risk. And she almost laughed and said that's not a risk. It's like leaving your entire life behind with a few hundred dollars and two young kids. That's a risk, and I realized I'm really on bonus rounds now and I really needed to stop thinking of all these things as grandiose big ideas.

Speaker 2: 14:03

And so, when I got into the startup leadership program, I was still figuring out what my place was, and I met all of these startup founders that didn't look like the folks on the magazine. They were later in their career, they were older, they weren't these walk-into-a-room salespeople. Some of them were quite introverted and just powerful personalities, and I recognize that there are so many different types of ways to be a founder, and just because the media was pushing one narrative didn't mean it was the only narrative to be told. And so the first story I have to tell myself is that I am a founder and and the reason that we took the first risk to come to the US was to allow me to take the second risk to create something that the journey of risk-taking was one that was continuous, not one that ended with the first risk being successful.

Speaker 1: 15:16

Wow, I identify a lot with that. I don't look like the typical digital healthcare. You know, founder, and I spend a lot of time working with my own soul coach and we talk a lot about, you know, sitting with the inner child and a lot of that self-doubt that comes up is the younger version of myself that's afraid and scared, that doesn't think that I'm good enough, and I've done a lot of work on sitting with her, having my Dunkin' Donuts coffee and just going. No, I got this Because the skills that got me past, for example, my trauma, is not the skill sets that are going to get me to launch and raise a VC-backed business and all those different things. I'm past that. To get to level 10, you need new skills. So it's a constant evolution and a lot of people think, oh, you're healed and you're done, but no, it's an evolution.

Speaker 2: 16:14

You made me think of something. So one limiting belief that actually resurfaces all the time is that the presence of self-doubt is an indication of being in the wrong place and doing the wrong thing. And the presence of self-doubt is an indication of being unfit, because if you were fit, why would you doubt yourself? And so it's kind of this really weird cyclical moment where you start doubting yourself. You're like well, obviously, that proves this thing, and I have an entire life in writing for theater and kind of developing this show for broadway, and I remember speaking to this incredible, incredible writer. This is somebody that I think they haven't got right emmy tony, uh, grammy, uh, oscar right. Or emmy emmy, grammy, oscar tony right.

Speaker 2: 17:19

I was asking them like, tell me about this inner critic, do you have one at this point? And they were joking that even after their awards, their voice says what place do you have being here? Why do you think you're so good? Maybe everyone is just fooled by this thing that you did, and maybe this was just a one-time shot, maybe you just got lucky, maybe you can never repeat it. And he was saying that he still hears it and sometimes he just has to be like look, critic, shut up. Here are the receipts. Yeah, let's stop. But I thought what was interesting is that the voice doesn't go away, the stories don't go away and you just have to accept that. That is a part of being human is questioning your ability to do hard things, and we can either succumb to the questions or see what they have to teach us.

Speaker 1: 18:39

Yes, leaning into it and asking why.

Speaker 2: 18:43

Because that's a defense mechanism to stay sharp, not a way to beat yourself into submission.

Speaker 1: 18:54

So you stop trying and I kind I want to highlight what you brought up as far as being a creative and in the Broadway world. So if there was something that you were like afraid to lean into, something that you're afraid to say out loud, what would it be?

Speaker 2: 19:15

we could probably do an entire podcast on this, but, yeah, I had a story in mind, but now you're making me think of a different story, so we're going to go with that story. So two years ago, I stood on a stage, actually backstage, looking at 500 theater professionals with 10 Broadway actors about to perform a piece that I had been working on with my co-writer, david, who was incredible and worked on Motown the Musical with Barry Gordy, and most of my community didn't know about it until I told them. I was afraid of being too public about this incredible achievement. We had gotten into this festival where there's like 575 shows applied, eight were selected and we were one of the eight that's like a sub 1% acceptance rate and I was afraid to talk loudly about it.

Speaker 2: 20:27

I actually wrote an entire blog post about the feeling of seeing my inner child, who is this writer and the songwriter, being validated by all these industry professionals, and I didn't send it because I was about to go raise money and I felt like people couldn't understand how you could be a creative and a business leader at the same time, how you could pursue something so big as a show on Broadway but also build regime changing technology, and it was something that you know. I actually I regret not posting it, um, because I felt like it came to the inner voice that said, you, you have a good thing going, don't ruin it, which is like the voice that says a lot of stuff, don't take the risk. It was like this big accomplishment working on this show and it was a resounding success. And I didn't get to share it because I didn't want to freak out people that don't have that creative element and would say, well, obviously you're not serious about your startup if you're working on this show, and the more I've been thinking about it for the last few years, like, why didn't I do it? Because people know that I'm a writer, people know that I'm working on this show. This is just a really big step and I think even in the investment world, there's still maybe an over-adherence to certain pattern matching and when new patterns emerge, they can almost feel disqualifying rather than new versions of unique.

Speaker 2: 22:38

I don't know too many tech people that have been writing songs since they were nine, but that was me. I have tech people that have been writing songs and they were nine, but that was me. I have right, um, and to me, those things are just so synchronous and, rather than leaning into the story of, look, the way that I write music is the way that I code, is the way that I design businesses. They're all the same way of connecting dots, they're all my way of building either technical or commercial or creative narratives, and the skill set underneath it all is all kind of this ability to see a story in a glimpse and spend years bringing it into reality really, which is really what creatives do, right? We basically see a reality that has not yet happened and, by sheer will and vision and inspiration, we bring it forward.

Speaker 1: 23:39

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 23:40

And go ahead.

Speaker 1: 23:41

I think you know, growing up as a dancer, as a choreographer, I can highlight that that there is this, this interesting notion around artists and what they're able to do or can't do. And I actually brought on my cousin Andrea, who's now an executive Estee Lauder, but she used to be an opera singer and she's on the videos of all the corporate videos and everything for Estee Lauder and they're like how did you memorize this content so quickly? She's like I used to memorize an opera. I can do anything, and so I think creatives bring such a different perspective in the sense of, for example, being able to fundraise. I'm not afraid to speak in front of people, I'm not afraid to find creative ways to partner with other companies that might feel out of the box or different. And I think there is this strange approach or feeling around artists. But I'm curious, like would you ever want to post what you did more publicly now? Are you starting to rethink? No, I actually am.

Speaker 2: 24:39

I had a lot of conversations with my therapist about this afterwards, because I feel like it was a cop-out. I didn't do it and I wanted to, and when I spoke to people about whether I should do it or not, the answer was like look, there's a risk. Do you want to take the risk, which is like, again risk, do you want to ruin this thing that you have? It's like this replaying narrative, and one of the things that we converged on was this idea of batteries. We all need to charge, and to me, my creative world is a battery, my startup world is a battery, my startup leadership, like you know, community world as a battery, and I have at least three batteries that are rich with juice, and when one battery is depleted, I can go to the other batteries to kickstart my excitement, to kickstart my engagement, and that's a strength. I think that there's certain batteries which are very accessible, like if you ask how many people train for a marathon, the answer is a lot. Then you ask how many people are writing a Broadway musical? The answer is not that many, and so my batteries have always been obscure. They've been the kind of things that make people go, oh, what do you do again, and I've always leaned to obscure batteries. I wish that I liked the things that everyone can say oh yeah, my cousin does that, whatever does that.

Speaker 2: 26:26

But what I found is that when I really lean into the side quest, I actually find these wonderful connections, these authentic connections with people that were impossible before. They were impossible before. I think the corporate world has this massive shadow economy of creatives that had to find a way to lead a life with a family, and thinking or writing or dancing wasn't going to do it, and so they made this hard decision to keep their passion as a passion, but not necessarily as the means to bring in subsidence to their family. They've found stability in a professional pursuit and they still have this other passion. But it's hard to harmonize that because I think there are far fewer people that are open about their creative endeavors as there are that are open about their physical endeavors. I'm doing a triathlon, I'm playing on a soccer team, I'm on. You know that conversation happens all the time. I'm in a band, I'm in a dance troupe, I do community theater. That conversation doesn't happen. No no.

Speaker 2: 27:58

And it's odd because they're both ways to have another battery and to charge. It's something I want to change.

Speaker 1: 28:08

It's a great way to like. I think that channeling into the creative helps me at least refill my cup for all the work that I do with Fortify, and it's a nice equilibrium, you know, and I and I am also. I shy away a little bit about telling people you know I was a dance and psychology major. They're like what you know, but I loved it and I love the intersection between movement and the way that we think there's so much crossover. Hence, you know, the mind, body, soul experience in the way that we think there's so much crossover, hence the mind, body, soul experience. And I also don't think I would be building Fortify had I not been an artist, because I just thought of the way that I connected to the world so differently. I connected to movement, fitness, I connected to journaling and doing soul coaching and expressing myself in such a different way that I think maybe most people are aware of and I think we're able to connect with our bodies in a very different way that I think is really impactful.

Speaker 2: 29:10

And I think artistry and being somebody that creates has a direct connection to entrepreneurship, because no matter what craft you pursue, everyone starts with a blank page. Whether you're writing a song or choreographing a piece, or creating dialogue or drawing something, you always start with a blank page either physical, actual blank page or a metaphorical blank page and you have to be able to figure out how to set direction and create something in your mind that is going to guide not the first you but eventually a group of people towards an eventual evolving mission. And to me, everything that I did on the music side from organizing bands when I was 12, organizing shows, figuring out merch, getting people to come writing music, negotiating people's creative differences, hiring band members, firing band members I mean all that entrepreneurial stuff that happened when I was 14, 15, 16 has been so useful to me in creating startups. And they all started with blank pages and me having to figure out what do I put here and how do I communicate it to others so they come along.

Speaker 1: 30:49

And I obviously didn't know you in 2013, when you were heavily in Alice and building Alice, but if I could guess, I would say that you're probably in a new state of consciousness than you were back then. So is that true?

Speaker 2: 31:07

Is that safe to say that? Probably that's true, totally, totally. I mean, at that point I was trying to not screw up, right. And there's this concept, and I love this concept in sports and it's this idea of are you playing to win or are you playing not to lose? Which is very different. No-transcript. I don't want to lose my footing when the next opportunity or the next risk presents itself. So, 2013, I was. I think at that point I was very much playing to win because, I didn't have anything later on.

Speaker 2: 32:09

It would be like you when you exited your company. You've kind of landed in a place you know you start to get different voices, like and when you sold, were you like oh, I made it.

Speaker 1: 32:24

Or did you just kind of, did you not associate with the sell? Did it change your perspective, change the way you looked at impact at all?

Speaker 2: 32:36

It was such a weird moment because you're building something for eight or nine years and there's that moment when a wire hits your bank account and you're like, wow, you take a screenshot, you show it to your mom and dad, you go out to dinner, but you can't stay in that moment forever, like what happens. Then I wasn't thinking about that. I mean, I'm not really motivated by money, so it's not really a thing to me. That was like, oh my God, I climbed the hill and what I've learned afterwards is all people that have inspired me, that have climbed these hills, keep climbing more hills and they leverage the resources that they've gotten, as well as the lessons that they've gotten, to expand their impact. So to me, I think, like in a movie you hit the ending, you hit that resolution, but life isn't over. After that, what happens? We all live in perpetual sequels.

Speaker 1: 34:00

Absolutely. And the and the running that you're referring to. There's no healing in the running, like I learned from my own experience, leaning into my insecurities, leaning into my adversities. It what helped amplify me. You know so. You're so self-aware, which is really interesting. You know so, you're so self-aware, which is really interesting. And what a cool full circle moment for you, thinking about how your life began, how you came into the US and selling a company. It must have hit home for your parents in such a deep, impactful way.

Speaker 2: 34:31

I can't even imagine. I made one outsized celebratory purchase which is a home for my parents, and then everything else stayed generally the same, wow.

Speaker 1: 34:47

So I I'm curious like one question as we close, you wish.

Speaker 2: 34:53

someone asked you that you know they never did, or something you wish I asked you that we didn't address today. I think maybe like what is what is an advantage? That is an under underappreciated advantage that everyone has access to. A few people lean into.

Speaker 1: 35:19

And what would that? Be, I think, it's community.

Speaker 2: 35:29

There's a great book that Adam Grant wrote about give and take. It's the idea that there's givers, there's takers and there's matchers, and in a transactional world we are either takers or matchers, and being a giver is a different way of being. You're farming, you're not reaping, you're investing, and I think the advantage of that is so layered At the highest level. You get to connect with people authentically because you're not looking to get anything from them and there's a joy to that. We're communal beings and just being able to connect with somebody and help is an awesome feeling and rejuvenating. Others work through things.

Speaker 2: 36:37

The second value is you wind up creating a mirror for your own things. Sometimes it's easier to give people advice than it is to see that advice in yourself, and I can't tell you how many times I've been chatting with somebody in the startup community where they're talking through something and I'm asking them questions and we're digging in, and then I come home like I just did that yesterday. I just didn't see it. It's the reason that doctors don't operate on themselves Just because you have a medical degree doesn't mean that you can use a mirror.

Speaker 2: 37:10

It's kind of hard to be 100% self-aware, and so I think when you're in community, you're able to chat with people who are going through things and you start to see it in yourself, and then their fortitude gives you fortitude, their bravery gives you bravery, and their support lets you understand that even if risks don't work out which, inherently, by defining them as risks, not everything's going to work out You're not going to succumb to that voice in your head that says well, I told you, you should have just stayed in your place, right, that you can remind yourself that risk-taking is a journey of successes and failures, and when you're around others that are doing it, it's a superpower, because it gives you resilience in a really authentic way. So I think community in general is a underappreciated asset, and I've been so fortunate to have built this massive community by walking into a room and not really looking to gain anything other than connections. Well, I've seen and it's given-.

Speaker 1: 38:33

Sorry, andrew, I've seen how you've walked into the room and you've changed the energy in the room and I honestly didn't realize. I actually found out about Startup Leadership Program through one of my advisors, katya, who was in, and she'm like oh yeah, okay, yes, I get it. You know you can't go through life alone. You need to ask for help and give back, and I'm always a giver and I realized, you know what sometimes I might need to ask for help too, and the community proved to be something that I really really needed and I appreciate because you built that. You built that community within. You know the New York City realm and I respect you. I respect how blunt you are and how direct you are and your story and where you've come from. So I appreciate you so much and you've made such an impact in my life. So thank you so much. And where can our listeners find you and follow you on your journey?

Speaker 2: 39:42

Yeah, so you can follow you on your journey. Yeah, so I'm uh. You find me on linkedin. That's probably the best place. I don't like most socials, uh, but linkedin seems to just be the right level of hosting needs. Um, I actually always wanted to write small blog posts and I had all these notes. I was like where am I going to put it? Am I going to create a Medium account? Who's going to go there? And so I've recently just started to post musings or experiences, and it's proven helpful for others. They've commented on certain lessons learned or perspectives, so I think easiest way to engage is jump on, follow me on LinkedIn If I write something that connects with you, comment, get into a conversation.

Speaker 2: 40:32

I love hearing people's perspectives and I love learning. One of our company values is strong ideas loosely held. I'm a very opinionated person, but I'm also opinionated about changing my opinion, and learning about things in ways that I couldn't think of before is one of the most exciting parts of the day. It's like oh wow, yep, totally missed that. That's awesome. So I I enjoy being wrong in unexpected ways. So you know, I want to learn, I want to share, but I also want to engage with people that see the world that in a different way and listen to that and see how we can continue to search for whatever version of the truth there is in this world and then turn that into play, a community or a business thank you so much, dimitri, for your time and your vulnerability.

Speaker 1: 41:30

I appreciate you so much. Thank you for listening to the fortify wellness pod, where we empower mind, body and soul to reach new heights. Your wellbeing is your greatest strength. Nurture it, honor it and watch yourself thrive. If today's episode inspired you, subscribe, share your thoughts in the comments and come back next week for more insights to elevate your journey. Stay empowered, stay true and remember you're not alone. This is a Fortify Wellness production. All rights reserved 2025.