Episode 49: Behind the First Background Check: A Conversation with Industry Pioneer Steve Brownstein

Before databases were a click away, Steve Brownstein was already connecting the dots.

In this episode of Behind the Screens, I’m joined by Steve Brownstein—a true pioneer whose work helped shape the background screening industry as we know it. From manual county searches to international screening strategies, Steve’s story is one of relentless innovation, curiosity, and community-building.

We talk about how he launched county search networks, expanded background checks globally, and created The Background Investigator, one of the first publications dedicated to our field. Steve also opens up about his adventures beyond the industry—promoting concerts in the South Pacific, boxing with Chicago Golden Gloves, and the deep family values that drive his work.

This episode isn’t just about the past—it’s a masterclass in how passion, problem-solving, and a bit of entrepreneurial courage can transform an entire industry.

Pro Conversation You don’t want to miss!

1. Manual to Global: Steve began with on-the-ground county searches and went on to create international background check networks.
2. Industry Infrastructure Builder: He founded some of the first industry conferences and publications, creating critical platforms for education and connection.
3. A Life Beyond Screening: From concert promotion in Saipan to boxing rings in Chicago, Steve shares the experiences that shaped his entrepreneurial mindset.
4. Mentorship Matters: He credits industry mentors and candid advice as essential fuel for his long-standing career.
5. Legacy of Passion: Through decades of change, Steve’s excitement for background screening hasn’t wavered—it's what still gets him up in the morning.

Connect with US:

• Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

The excitement, as long as it's there, and I still is with me, and the motivation, you know, on the waking up in the morning today and say, What can I do today? I don't always say what can I do today to make the world a better place, but you know, I'm alive and let's make the best of it. So I think that the excitement of everything.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Welcome to Behind the Screens Conversations with Background Screening Pros. I'm Les Rosen, your host, and I'm excited to have you here. On this podcast, we chat with the people who know the background screening world inside and out. Executives, industry experts, legal pros, and more. We dive into their personal stories and insights to give you a real look at what's happening behind the scenes. Whether you work in the screen industry or are just curious, behind the screens bring you the real unfiltered conversations from the people who make it all happen. Stick around for stories you won't hear anywhere else. And ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Behind the Screens Conversation with Background Screening Pros. And today is a special program. One of my longest and oldest friends in the screening industry who I've been uh waiting to have on the program for some time, and this is now the time. This is a one-of-a-kind individual and original. And I use original in the best sense of the word. There was a time, believe it or not, when there was not all these companies that did county searches. And this guest is a gentleman who, as far as I know and concerned, originated the idea of county search networks. There was a time when there was no source of international checks. And this is the gentleman that initiated the process of putting together international resources that we now just take for granted. There was a time when there was no industry publications. We take those for granted today, but that didn't just happen magically, and this is the guest that originated that with something that you might recall the background investigator. And there was a time, believe it or not, when the industry never met. They never talked, they never got together, they didn't know each other. And this is the gentleman who put together on his own dime the first industry conferences. We'll talk about that in Long Beach, then in Florida, leading to the formation of NAPBS, not PBSA. And on a personal note, this is the gentleman that really got me started in the background screening industry in terms of a public role, because for whatever reason invited me to be the keynote speaker at a lot of his conferences. And of course, by now you've probably guessed that I'm talking about the one, the only the living legend, Steve Brownstein. Steve, welcome to the program.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Thanks, Les. Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

It's a pleasure to have you. So, Steve, just start off before the first question. You're sitting there wearing this great shirt with the old map in the background. Where in the world is Steve Brownstein today?

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Um on the island of Saipan. I moved here a couple decades ago, and I've been here ever since. It's my home base.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

All right. And, you know, this is kind of a teasing question, but how did you end up in Saipan as your home base?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

It's kind of a twofold story. One is I was working in Chicago, nighttime. I was doing the international background checks, and my wife, Rhoda, was working during the day and I work at night, so our paths never crossed. So I thought it'd be a good idea if I could just find a place that we could live, that we'd both have, you know, I could work and she could work and we'd be together at the same time. So when she retired, we looked around the world for a place to live. And you had spoken about an island called Saipan. I don't know if you remember this, but this is way back when. And you said you lived down here on an island in Saipan, and I had a lot of business in Guam. So I was thinking of moving to Guam for the Air Force Base and Navy base work, and you said, Oh, Saipan, I lived there for you to check it out. So I went to Guam checking it out, and I took a quick airplane ride that turned out to be like a week and a half on Saipan, a beautiful island, you know, all the South Pacific kind of lifestyle that you expect. And I can understand why you liked it so much. So that's why I sat down here and stayed here for a couple decades now.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Oh, I was hype hands and I introduced some friends of mine there, and the rest is history.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Wow. Yeah, yeah. I got a little history on you, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

I gotta be careful when I say things to people. Well, that's fantastic. Yeah. That's good because it really is an island paradise. So let's start where we normally start. What are you doing these days? What's your current position? What do you do? What do you find interesting about it?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Well, you know, I'm still in, of course, I'm in the background check business. I'm a record research provider, not a CRA. And you know, I've been like that for my whole career. You know, I'm still up, you know, I'm running Straight Line International for what it's worth. And but my main project right now is I'm trying to put together a map of the world judiciaries and how to access them and what the different courts, the hierarchy of the court systems in the you know, different countries of the world. You know, it's a nice project because I've been ordered, there's less and less projects I think I can complete. But this seems to be one of them. So I'm busy on that. It's a process, and I'll put it out a little bit at a time. I you know, I post on the link in a little bit of time. But I think that's something that every you know record providers can use and CRAs to make their job easier for what they're reporting.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

So that's exactly and straight line of course has been uh in existence as I've been in the industry, right? Yeah, did you come to the city?

SPEAKER_00 5:46

No, you know, a little bit it started in 2000. You know, I was with uh crime source before.

unknown 5:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Then I sold to DAC. And then I managed DAC's criminal records, and that they I was a division, a crime source division of DAC. And we picked up quite a few, you know, CRAs during that time, and the business grew exponentially around it. That was a breakthrough time in the business when just uh background checks were kicking off, and everybody was excited, and it was going, you know, it was going gong-ho.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Well, let's step back. What was your career path in the background screening industry? How did you get started? How did it you know transpire?

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Back in the like the mid-80s, 1980s, I'm talking about not the like 1880s. I'm old, but not that old. So I had a friend, his name was Barry Isaacson, he's passed away. He's a great guy, and he had a law clerking business in Cook County, Chicago, Illinois. And what he did was back then it wasn't electronics, so everything had to be manually at the courthouse, and he would get faxes from his attorneys in the suburbs to go to the courthouse, and I'd help fill in for him in front of judges or things to get continuances. And over that period of time, every now and then we'd get a request to do a like a felony type of search at the courthouse. And well, we didn't know much about it at the time, but you know, I started off by just finding out where the court records were in Cook County. And I was going from there. We did that for a number of years, and finally I was in St. Louis one day. I was just hanging out, I was doing another job at the same time. And he goes, Steve, I got a newspaper article in the Wall Street Journal I think you'd be interested in. He says, Background checks are the next biggest thing. And I said, Really? And I said, he said, yeah, I got it. So I got in a train from St. Louis, you know, took the train to Chicago Monday morning, came to his office, and he looked around for the newspaper, he couldn't find it. So finally we found it laying around in a corner somewhere, and he looked it up, and there were four CRAs in it. There were four CRAs, and I said, Oh, I can do this. And I sent them each a fax saying, Cook County searches. And from that, next day I got everybody's business. I had all four companies' business, and that was the start, and it's just rolled on forward from there. I mean, county with a county.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

And so from there you just added more and more counties, and I did. And as I recall, you you ended up putting together, you know, starting down the road of a national retrieving network.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I did, and it was kind of interesting how that came about. But you know, I would get calls. I said, I was doing Cook County, I think. Then I said, someone, one of the companies said, Can you do DuPage County? And I said, Why not? So I hopped out. There was a commuter train, went to DuPage, had no idea what to find, and went there and they had a public access terminal. That was a Cook County didn't have public access terminal back then. It was microfiche. But DuPage had a computer. And I learned how to do computers, and my friend Barry, he got he was a little nervous about it because he said, Well, we're doing well in Cook County. Why do you want to expand anywhere? Because if you make a mistake, then you can lose Cook County. And I said, You know, what kind of mistake? It's the same as Cook County. So we decided to split at that time. He kept his law clerking business, and I went off on the path of doing court records. And it grew, I grew from there too, because I get called one day and go, Can you do Rockford? Can you do Milwaukee County? Can you do Kankakee? And I said yes to everything. Everything. I didn't spend any time at home. I was on the road all the time, just finding things, finding people.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

So you assume you finally went out of state and different states and every state. It's just county by county.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Pretty much, you know, pretty much. Of course, around that time, Mike Seike came out with that big boy red book. Was it the Bible? We used to call it the Bible and background checks. And I think CRAs used to write letters to the courthouses because I go to the courthouse and I see letters from CRAs at the courthouses doing a background check there. And I guess what I ended up doing by my getting the course lined up, I sped up the turnaround time quite a bit from two or three weeks to maybe two or three days, four days, five days. But it was fast, it was easy to do, it was like brand new territory. There were issues like I go to the courthouse and they say, Well, what do you want this stuff for? Why, you know, it's like no one wanted to give the information. So I had to be very, I don't know what the word is, perseverant. Is that the word? Is that a word?

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah, circus-backed or explanatory, whatever, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

I had a, you know, they I had to give my driver's license, you know, I had to almost give a written request to why I wanted it, you know, and get approved. It was rough, but it opened up. It opened up.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Yeah, those are the days where county clerks said, well, what background checks? What do you who are you? What do you want?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

And I became good at that. I I could break, I just broke through all these barriers over a you know a period of time, and it just felt one at a time, boom, boom. I found resources put together. I didn't find researchers, I made researchers in a lot of places. And uh it was pretty exciting, still exciting, but it was exciting then. It was like a whole new world for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

So that grew, and you described what happened, and then eventually you went uh international. Well, how did that come about?

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Well, again, it's almost the same process. Back in that was probably the mid-90s, and at that time, Puerto Rico was international, and Virgin Islands was really international, and Canada, Canada was getting to be a little bit here, not big, not much in Canada, but a little bit in Canada. And so at that time I was with Dak at the time. And that was one beginning where they wanted to like go electronic with their U.S. records. You know, they were trying, attempting very hard to put together some type of do it out over the internet. But the international was nothing, there was nothing there. So I said, oh, no problem, I'll take it on. You know, I'll take it on. And sure enough, we started a new side business. I partnered with Dak, it was called Crime Search International. And my first place to go, I think, was England. I think Dak had a trucking company, they were into trucking business, and they had a trucking company in England. And so I flew out to London and started all over again.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Just figured out how it was done, or the best way you could find it.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

It was no one knew. I think they might have been to CRB at the time, but no one knew how to access anything. It was kind of well secretive. You know, everything again, everything's secretive. So I just had to go in there and get my butt kicked around a little bit by clerks and everything, but over a period of time they understood, and today is look at this, it's remarkable today. What's available?

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Yeah, and now over the years I've saw the straight line offerings, and you're you know, lots and lots of countries, and now there's it's a big business and a lot of firms doing it. So this is fascinating. But you started it when it was like the wild west.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

You know, it's almost that's kind of like the pioneering day still. It's a long way to go. I think I would like to see someone pick up where you know when I leave off to finish the job, but I think that the world can be, you know, can be brought together, unified to be able to provide criminal background records globally. It's just a matter of time and effort, and of course, some dollars involved, but I think it's possible. And I'm afraid I don't think I have the time to finish that job. I'll start it, and I'm starting it.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Now there's lots of firms doing everything.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

And then you also had the background investigator. And to the best of my knowledge, that was the first publication for the background screening industry. Uh, there's others now, obviously. Barry Nixon, the pre-employment director, he's one of the sponsors of the program. But I think you were doing it way back.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yeah, back in the 90s, in the 1990s. It was the idea there was to explain to people in the background check, CRAs and record providers, what was out there in the United States. Basically, it was all in the United States and who was going online, how to do a search of the place, you know, understanding the judicial system so people could be able to talk about it, what classifications of crimes were. You know, and you had a lot that you taught me a lot about that too, Les, you know, just understanding the classifications of criminal records. No one knew what adjudication withheld was or conditional discharge, which became troublesome later on. But it was like conditional discharge, 18 months. You know, everybody thought you were guilty. You know, times have changed, but it was different. So that's how background of against the advanced market investigator brought that out to people how to do work, where to find it, how to make your life easier, and background checks. And it was more like a tutorial, I thought of it as.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

And for those of you that remember, it originally started off as a paper version. It was at like 14, 20 pages. It was mailed. It was up to 30 minutes. A lot of material in it, a lot of articles.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

I was pretty good at it. I was. Yeah, and uh I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

You had Les Rosen's Corner in there for a while. I appreciated the idea, you know, whatever something I may have written or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Well, you used to publish your own articles, and you know, I that was the forum, Les Rosen's Corner. It was beautiful, it was great.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yeah, I just remember you had a ton of educational material in there, and those were the days when you're right, people didn't know necessarily what was what. They sure know today. There were a lot of lawyers involved in the industry back then. Yeah. They weren't. You were the lawyer. I remember what you told me once that it was bathroom reading. People would get 14 pages of that.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

It's a good place, though. Keep it there. You learn a lot. You never know where you're gonna learn, but that's a good place. You know, you're free, your mind's free of other things.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

And you also, you know, obviously you had hell from our good friend Mutual from Phyllis Nadell. The first industry conference in Long Beach, California. What got into you? What made you decide to do that on your own dime?

SPEAKER_00 15:52

It's kind of complicated, but back in the middle 90s when I first started the publication, I was uh speaking with a couple guys in the industry who thought that, you know, tell me everybody everybody hides everything from everyone. And I could tell when I used to go to the courthouse to do the searches, people would be hiding their work, you know. Before they make copies of work, they have like they had a letter head with the name of the company, and people be hiding everything, and no one's talking to anybody. And you know, so I was talking to Robert Hughes, I think it was, from in Dallas. He said, Well, you get along good with everybody in the industry, maybe people will listen to you because you're like in the middle, you have no competition for anyone. And I tried back in '97. I put a little blurb in there that uh, how about starting an organization and about no takers. And it stayed in my mind for quite a while. And then about 2000, right after of uh New York City with uh 2001, I was talking to Phyllis and I said, you know what? Why don't I just do it myself? I said, you know, if I threw it, if this is what my dream is, let's take advantage of it, let's do it and I'll you know, I'll do it. The industry was great to me. It paid well, I did well. And I said, uh, let me just see if I could put something together. So my brain idea, you know, Mr. Promoter kind of guy. I said, well, we have a few California customers at the time. I said, let's do it and let's go to California. I don't know why I picked Long Beach. I have no idea anymore. But I think because of Queen Mary is there in a boat or something, you know. It's like I rented a room there, I had no idea, put an advertisement in my newspaper, and we got about 10 or 15 people to sign up.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

I think they'd weren't that actually.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Well, what happened is getting close to the end, I got a little nervous that no one was there. So I cut some deals with some of the guys in California. I said, come on, God, it'd be great. And you were speaking, and Oscar Marquis spoke, and I was speaking, and Nicole Milevich was there speaking about Cook County. But you sold your oats at that conference. That's where you sold your oats at that conference talking about the California. They just instituted a new regulation of you know, I don't I don't know what it was. You're an expert on that. And that was your talk. And we had the guy from California speak about the law, and it was a great conference.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

And for some reason you picked me as your keynote speaker, so right. I spoke about the FCRA and the California law, and uh went through stuff.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

You always had the terror reasons why you should not be in background screening or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

All I did was say what the FCRA said, and that was enough to scare people. I did nothing fancy. I just said FCRA section 607 says this and 609 says this, and people went, ooh, it does.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

It's what the CRAs needed to hear. Yeah. It was important. So that afternoon we finished up the conference, and I said, Well, we have an hour to kill. I said, Why don't we start an association? That's exactly the words that have and I said, Can anyone want to volunteer to come on up? And no one, you guys all were quiet. So I so I looked around, and of course, who do I see first? You. I said, Let's come out up here. And no, yeah, I said, no, you come out of here, and that's Mike Sankey and uh Sanja Burns and a couple other guys, and that was you guys came up there and said, Okay, it's your ballpark now. You're the CRA, I'm the I'm the I'm the provider, you know, I'm the researcher.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah, so I think that actually happened. I know Kirschwall was at that very first Long Beach conference, right? But I think you're talking about at one of the Tampa conferences.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Tampa came afterwards. So what happened then was Sankey thought it was a great idea. He says, Why don't you know, let's put together, why don't we send something out to everybody that I know? I used Sankey's help, and I said, let's go to Tampa. Because at that time I didn't know where background screening began. But it seemed like most of my customers from the beginning were from the Tampa Bay area, like Al Haft. So we actually put it together. I put it on with your support and the mic support, and we had about 176 people, many all the companies. And then you guys, it was your show. I'm the I was just facilitating, I gave you the forum. I said, here you go. And you have your famous tie-cutting uh segment there. I can't remember. Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

I cut Bruce Berg's tie for uh you sure did. I I spent two hours talking about the FCRA, so in the middle I I said, I gotta do some little job. So I cut Bruce Berg's tie in two just uh get people laughing.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

But I think you guys might have planned it. I'm not so sure about that. Maybe you know it was pretty funny. Everybody got kicked. And you guys took a vote, then that's how that's you guys took off from there. I mean, you already had your plans for your ad hoc committees and everything. You were already, it was you guys took it, you rolled with it, and every year, you know, for the next several years, we we grew and grew those conferences. There's like maybe a thousand, five hundred, eight hundred people, and we have great speakers, and like today. And then one day I looked back, I looked at it and I said, Look at this. Look what you guys did. I said, amazing.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Well, and and and a lot of us thanks to you, Steve, for putting together that that first Long Beach conference and the first the Tampa conferences and telling people to get off their butts and start an association. So congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

It didn't it worked, it worked, and uh it I didn't plan the outcome, I just planned the plan. You know, the outcome, you guys you it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

You know, you had all that it was just watching you great job, Les, and you're all your help for all the well I appreciate and I appreciate you giving me this story by by having me be your for keynote speaker in all those conferences that but you also at the same time you said I'm the only conference you want to speak at.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

You were very uh kind and considerate to me, you know. Because you got the well done except for Sherm, but you We're in demand. He's probably still on demand.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Now people demand they go away, but a different type of demand. Right. So, Steve, in the early days, who were some of your mentors in terms of getting started with all the various things you've done?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Well, I gotta say, Barry Isaacson, Barry Isaacson had to be my first one. He he showed me what potential was for what the lions were. But over the years, I think Jerry Wright, I don't know if you remember Jerry Wright. Jerry Wright was uh head of the research of the criminal rights department at DAC, and she had like faith in me and my abilities and gave me gave me opportunities there. No one else, you know, just unexpected happens. DAC needed help, and she made sure the pathway to me was was there. And Dick Wimbish from uh DAC again, he's the one who saw the vision of and Billy Metter. Billy Metter, she also saw the vision of what criminal records can be. Albert Wayne, of all people, Albert Bueno. Of all people, sorry, Albert, but anyway, Albert told me one time, he said, uh, give him credit for this. He said, we don't pay you for your clear, Steve. We pay you for your hits.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

You know, you know, I got stunned because, you know, but the truth is, it's the hits they count. I don't really can clear them. You know, I used to have a joke. I joked around, I wasn't that serious here, but I was joking around them and said, Yeah, we're so good, we'd clear them before we get them. But it's kind of a stupid joke.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

And I know you worked a lot with Mike Sankey in terms of helping you with conferences and uh Phyllis.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Phyllis, she was the backbone, the backbone of it. Uh she uh organ kept it organized, but making sure everything was in place. You know, you know, I go with the mind.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Well, let's switch a little bit. Uh I mean, thank you for sharing your career path and the information you have. It's I'm just a fascinating story. What's a lesson you learned early in your career that has sort of stuck with you today that comes atop of mind? I'm sure you've learned lots of lessons, but what's one that you'd want to share that comes uh comes top of mind?

SPEAKER_00 24:04

You know, if I listen to all the people who are like what do you call them, doomsayers or can't do this type of people? I learned that. Don't take you can't do this as an answer. If you think there's a way to do it, to go for that. Don't stop just because someone says you can't do it. You find your own idea, make your own path that way. And if you hit a wall, bounce off of it. Don't get stuck to the wall, just bounce off and keep going. Don't take no for the final answer unless you realize it is the final answer, you know. And then if it is, move on. Don't delete it, kill it. You know, that's those kind of things like that. Just try your hardest, do your best, and just keep on doing it. And at the end of the day, you can say, well, at least I did it, like Frank Sinatra said, my way.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

That's that's a great advice. If you hit a wall, just keep on doing it and try and find a way. And I guess that's the Frank Sinatra theme. I did it my way. Right, that's great. I appreciate that. So, Steve, I mean, what do you enjoy about background screening? Why'd you stay in the screening industry? You're the type of guy, you could have done anything.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Thanks for that compliment. I think that uh it was so new and and it still is. I still have that same enthusiasm I had back then. I went to some weird places to find out about criminal records and the breakthroughs and the excitement. I mean, who would have thought about doing a conference in India? I mean, you know, there's no organization going on in India. We did the same thing in India that we did in the USA. So the excitement and the thrill of just putting something together, whether it's opening up a new county and having a researcher there to be able to do the work, the same thing all over again. The excitement, as long as it's there, and it still is with me, and the motivation, you know, on the waking up in the morning today and saying, what can I do today? I don't always say what can I do today to make the world a better place, but you know, I'm alive and let's make the best of it. So I think that the excitement of everything, it's just thrilling.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

That's fantastic. You you still have that same enthusiasm. And our list of first, you that you actually put on the first international screening conference. You you flew me out to uh Bangalore, and I think Barry Nixon was there too, and the kept this company. And you put on the first international background screening conference and you know brought a lot of the folks in India together who are doing background checks. That that was a great thing. We stayed at the at the Bangalore Taj, and uh that was a great conference.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah, we did that for several years. Yeah, we had we did the same run. We do the same thing, and they're still around. Those guys, some of those guys are still around today and very successful in the business. India researchers and India, they're not so much into a few CRAs there, but they've been very, very active in the criminal record provider industry and that type of thing. They're great. I think it opened up the door to new opportunities for everybody in the United States to expand into international.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Yeah. So so with everything you've done and everything we've talked about, and I'm sure we hit the tip of the iceberg, but uh, what kind of stands out in your mind as a as a proud moment that brings a smile to your face and say, God, that was a good one?

SPEAKER_00 27:05

But the number one thing, of course, is I think you guys PBSA. You know, I walk in at conferences when I go there, and I see everyone walk around, many people I don't know, young people, you know, and I look at this. And every time I don't get goosebumps, but I get like overwhelmed by a little some type of emotion that what could we offer done out of just thin air, and that's probably it. I mean, there's many little things, but to me, that is uh is this amazing thing, you know, and everybody I have to say that. And something like being black is great. I mean, look at that. Where did we come up to Black V no Vlon? Vlon.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

I I mean that's true that you go to the BC conference, and people don't realize the history that you really kind of got the ball rolling with that Long Beach conference and the first uh Tampa conferences where you the first time people in the industry got together and became friends and formed connections and contacts.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Yeah, when the lights get turned on, it's amazing, and then that saddens me when the lights get turned off at the end of the conference. So I kind of feel left. I said, Oh wow, you know, it's over. But it's not over. It's like a must-have seed. You know, it started with a little tiny seed and grew into the big plant. So it's gonna keep the huge yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Let's do a little pivot here. We've talked about background shacks, we've talked about you know PBSA. Let's talk more about Steve Brownstein outside of background screening. Other than the fact that you're living in paradise and Saipan is your home base. Tell us about some of the hobbies or interests or things you do outside of background screening, some of the things that you do or you do for fun.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

God asked me to sponsor something. I said, why don't I just do the whole thing? So for his inauguration, the party I brought up, like some Hawaiian reggae bands out here, and it clicked, and next thing you know, I'm doing Manila, and you know, don't give me an idea because I'm gonna run with it. And so I took Manila, Honolulu, Guams, I ban. I started promoting concerts all over the South Pacific. And it's we got a bit full of too much, though. But it was fun, you know, bands like UB40 and Shaggy and Ping Pablo and the Yin-Yang twins and all the Hawaiian reggae bands all over the place. It was it was exciting. Now the younger guys can handle that. It's good, it's good.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, you and and our our friend Jason Morris have that in common because Jason promotes bands too. So that's an interesting industry. I remember that. You were doing tell us about the Chicago Golden Gloves. Tell us what Golden Gloves is. I I know because I I do boxing, well, you know, amateur workout type boxing, but but what tell tell us about the golden gloves.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

First, I knew a little about him growing up. I was like tough little kid, I like to fight. But I was raised by my grandfather, basically, and he was an old school guy from Chicago, and uh his brothers, my great uncles were all like boxers back in the 20s and 30s, it was like way back when, you know, in the olden days. And, you know, he said one day, he says, Steve, go out and uh find a find a hall and promote boxing show. And I said, And he said, just go find it, you know, do it, get a ring and do it. And I did, and I took a liking to it, and the people in it, and they had this annual tournament called the Golden Gloves. It was founded in Chicago, and it became national and then international. In fact, they were like a stepping stone to going to the Olympics. And so I became involved in the Golden Gloves first as a like a corner person, they called corner man, then I helped out being a boxing manager, and I was at the Golden Gloves tournaments. I'd hand out the gloves to the fighters and towels. I mean, I started at the bottom. And uh eventually I worked my way up to I became a the secretary of the charity, and uh we put on a great show for years, and we and I same thing I did for the Golden Gloves, I'd bring in teams from other cities like New York or from Texas, and we have competitions, and then we became then I took it worldwide. We'd have a Chicago traveling team, and we traveled to other countries.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

So I mean the Golden Globes is a great organization because it it's taking kids and channeling their energy in a positive, disciplined way and helping them grow and develop.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

In fact, I see that a lot of young men that are lost and things, and now it's young women too, because there's we had the first women boxers back in the early 90s that were yeah, it's trouble kids, but it's a good place for them to come off the streets and they have you know they get disciplined in their life. It's a very disciplined sport. And they get recognized, and uh, you know, but maybe some of the kids need something. They need the you know, they need the recognition that they're not a bad person. I used to work on the river boats on the Mississippi River along, you know, from Davenport down to St. Louis. That's why I was in St. Louis. I was doing a boxing match in St. Louis. And I used to work with the riverboats on the it was like a Wild West riverboat, and I found some kind of thrill on it mixing riverboats, old-time gamblers, and boxing. It was kind of like a storybook.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Oh, Steve, you're never at a loss for fun. I have to say, you're also probably the most traveled person I know because I I think we can start a game. Where in the world is Steve Brownstein? I mean, you're everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

I've not as much as before. Nowadays, I still take a lot of cross-specific trips back to the States. I have a granddaughter, so you know, I have to go see her. I mean, I don't want her to grow up without her grandpa around. So I go there as often as I can, and sometimes it's every six weeks I was flying 8,000 miles there to Chicago and to spend a week or two weeks with the family, and then I come back here and get things together. I travel to Asia still quite a bit, you know, to I have you know search I've researched people there, like in Macau, it's a big base of mine, and Thailand and Singapore and Korea. And the places I go all over Asia. I don't do much of Europe as much as I used to. In Africa, I've been all over the place in Africa. Crazy stories in Africa, crazy stories in you know, and even in India have stories. I you know, I would do this searches myself in India back then. I fly to India to go do the work and learned a lot and taught a lot. And today some of the same things are still used today by India research companies.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

I I wish I had your frequent flyer miles.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

You know, it's amazing that I use I give a lot of way to, you know, if you I can adopt you, I give it a lot of thought to my family. You know, I fly around. But interesting enough, one other thing I gave away, I published, you know, I publishing was the greatest thing, though. I got to go everywhere. I always put a picture of the courthouse that I went to in the paper. And I did a lot for things. I would do anything to take care of a client. I mean, I certainly, you know, I had I saw people in the industry wouldn't do something because it was like three or five dollars more than it would cost them. I said, I one of my brother said, Steve, he says, sometimes you have to give away the sidewalk to get the building. You know, I didn't understand at the time, but he wouldn't explain it to me. I used to fly to Macau or to Hong Kong to get a record. I still charge my client the same price. It's a regular search, but I would personally go there and I'd understand the system, and it really came out to my benefit and everybody's benefit. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

That's incredible. You know, there's a thing I'm sure you heard about called the Century Club for people who have been to over 100 countries. I think more than a member of that.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Well, I should be like a top-tier frequent flyer too. But that's not a profit. That's actually it's fun, but the real truth is family at home. That's the real solid part about it. If you're on the road all the time and you're staying in hotels and with strangers, I think that you're missing something. You know, it sounds glamorous and everything, but the real truth is the real glamour is a person who works hard and takes care of a family and you know, and who takes care of their life and help others become better. I mean, because not everyone can have the same blessings. They have a family, but to take care of others and to be a good person, you know, those are really the best attributes.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Those are great words to share, great ideas. So before we close out, we may have already covered this, but fun facts is there anything about you that no one knows or suspects that you care to share with the world?

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Well, I think I did cover most of it. I like people. I like to see people accomplish things. You know, even watching my granddaughter when she does something new for the first time, the amazement, the look on her face when she discovers something. You know, I mean, I get joy from living life. I find that, you know, we're blessed, we're all blessed with one life on earth. And the fact that I have the opportunity to make the best of it for myself, and that's what I try to do, and I try to to uh spread that kind of message around with me that this is your life, make the best of it. And that's kind of a fun fact about me. I really care about people and other people's lives, and as well as my own. I'm not like the world peace kind of person, but I certainly think everybody should actually be themselves.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

That's the most important thing. Steve, those are great words. I appreciate you sharing. Before we close up, just uh one last question before I give you the last word. You've seen it all, you've done it all. What's your advice to people that are trying to find their way in the industry? They're a newcomer, someone who's maybe just starting out or been in it a couple years, trying to figure out whether to stay in it. Last words of advice you want to give to anyone who's in the industry?

SPEAKER_00 36:47

I think there's so much. I think never stop learning. You know, always take an interest in things around you. If you're working in a job in our industry, take the time out to learn what you're doing. Understand, I mean, to work to write the word felony, to write the word misdemeanor, is meaningless unless you know what it means and how it's used and what purpose it's used. And if things are that little, just those things all add up. And the more knowledge you have, the more worthwhile you become to these companies you might be working for, and the more opportunity you might have for advancement in your career. So I'm always pretty much self-started and went out, but I never stopped learning. I never think that I know it all. And I don't think that there'll be a time I still study all that. Like I said, I'm putting together this worldwide document of what's available out there. No one has it. And I think to do something beneficial with yourself and within your own occupation, you know. Do your best every day. You know, they teach us that 100%, 120%, some people would say.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

So keep on learning and do your best.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Be proud of yourself. You know, not everybody I don't get patted on my back all the time. I don't need it, you know, to have everybody tell me, oh Steve, you're the greatest, and this and that. It's that's not that's fleeting. You know, I have to look in the mirror. And I look in the mirror and I say, Am I doing the best I can? And that's the test for me. You know, just be satisfied with myself and know that I'm doing the best I can and keep trying.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Great words. Steve, it's been a great interview. I've known you for a long time. I've learned things about you that I I didn't know before and had insights I didn't have, and so it's been a it's been a fabulous broadcast. I appreciate it. Before we sign off, as I always do, let me give you the opportunity for uh the last word, anything you want to add or say, the floor is yours.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

You know, so much for me, but I want to thank everyone in the industry for supporting me and helping me become the person I am that gave me a life and still gives me a life that I really never dreamed I could have. You know, I look around and I see people's accomplishments, and I say this it's a great world, it's a great place to be. And seriously, I wouldn't want to trade it for anything else. You know, I have so many friends, so many people around me that I've gotten to know. Les, you've been great for me since I've known you. And our troubles and our good times, we've been standing together, and that's with many of the people. We have great people in this industry. And, you know, I see these LinkedIn publications, and I see how people have their reasons for being in the business, and you know, for some very great reasons, and some for just simple reasons like profit or you know, money. But in the end of the day, everybody's working together to get somewhere. And so I say that just waking up in the morning and knowing that I've had another chance to live is probably all I have to say at this time. Live another day, do the best I can, you know, be nice, be kind. God bless you all. That's pretty much all I have to say.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Steve Brown says I appreciate it. Be nice, be kind. Live another day, do your best, do your best for others and your family. All great words, all great lessons. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been another great episode of Behind the Screens in today's special guest, and one I've been waiting for a long time. And I'm so happy that we are able to get him on the program today. My longtime friend and just all-around great guy, Mr. Steven Brownstein. Steve, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

Good job, guys, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

All right, that was yet another wonderful conversation with a background screening pro. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss an update. And hey, if you got a moment, we'd love for you to leave us a review. It really helps get the word out. For more info or to catch up on past episodes, or to make suggestions or to suggest possible future guests, head over to our website. Once again, this is your host, Les Rosen, and it's been a pleasure to bring you another episode. See you on the next episode. Thanks.