Over 500 business professionals, area residents and students gathered on July 19 at the Santa Fe Fine Arts Hall to attend FreshSpark’s inaugural event, reThink: Success. The speaker series and startup showcase featured 12 world-renowned thought leaders from across the country who captivated the audience by sharing lessons of success, failure, and how their varied approaches to business – and life – led them to where they are today.
Emcee and host, Kristen Hadeed, founder of Student Maid and FreshSpark, intertwined her own candid stories while introducing the speakers onto the stage.
The mission of FreshSpark, the events division of local startup Student Maid, is to connect the Gainesville business community with global ideas that motivate, educate and ignite the mind through a series of speakers, showcases, seminars and more.
This first celebration of success brought together a stunning collection of businesses, a multigenerational mix of attendees, and unconventional elements, like a food truck rally that gave guests the opportunity to munch and mingle in an informal setting. Speakers and attendees both praised reThink: Success as a one-of-a-kind event that met even the most discerning person’s expectations, and left everyone excited about attending the next one.
BITS OF WISDOM FROM THE SPEAKERS…
Simon Sinek – Author, “Start with Why”
2nd most watched TED speaker in the world
- “If you don’t write down your own goals, you won’t achieve them. It’s biological.”
- “We can addict people to performance by giving bonuses – dopamine and endorphins are selfish.”
- “The best leaders aren’t those that email most. They are the ones who stand up from their desks, walk to your door and say ‘good job today!’”
Sam Tarantino – Co-Founder, Grooveshark
Named one of the “30 under 30” by Forbes Magazine
- “If you do what you do best, you don’t worry about the outcome because you’ve run the best race you can.”
- “It takes tenacity. It takes never giving up.”
- “As entrepreneurs, have a dream, go for it and defend yourself. Defend that thing that you believe and the thing you love.”
Dina Dwyer-Owens – Chairwoman & CEO, The Dwyer Group
Recently featured on CBS’s hit show, “Undercover Boss”
- “Living rich is all about living with respect, integrity, customer focus, and again – my favorite – having fun in the process.”
- “We believe if you treat people with respect and dignity, whether they are your customers, your employees or your franchisees, profit is the applause you’ll get for taking good care of them.”
- “The great thing about a values-based team is that they have permission to hold one another accountable.”
- “It’s much better to have high standards and almost achieve them than to have low standards and achieve them every single day.”
Jason Lucash – Co-Founder, OrigAudio
Named Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 by Entrepreneur Magazine
- “We were the small fish in the big pond, but we were the cool looking small fish with the Afro.”
- “Stick to what you know best, and if you aren’t good at something, hire someone who is. And, if Shark Tank calls, go on Shark Tank.”
- “You don’t have to invent the wheel. You just have to make the wheel look and run smoother… and cooler.”
Nadia Kamal – Founder, Onyx
Named Tallahassee’s Best Web & Graphic Design Firm for two consecutive years
- “Make beautiful things happen on purpose and with purpose.”
- “If you can find purpose in what you do, you can find beauty.”
- “If you can’t quite believe in yourself yet because you are still doing this grand study of who you are, then find someone who will.”
John Spence – Author, “Awesomely Simple”
Named one of the top 50 speakers in America
- “Failure is not fatal. It’s just a stepping stone.”
- “You become what you focus on… and like the people you spend time with.”
- “The three watchwords of excellence: focus, discipline, action.”
Diana E. Kelly – Founder, Diana Kelly Inc.
Featured in Style Magazine
- “I turned my problem into my passion.”
- “Passion isn’t something that necessarily needs to give you butterflies.”
- “Do you have to be a little crazy to be an entrepreneur? To jump off that ledge? To take that risk? Maybe you do!”
- “Every time someone tells you no, use that as your fuel to succeed.”
Joe Cirulli – Founder, Gainesville Health & Fitness
Featured on INC.com
- “You have to know what you’re made of. You have to know who you are. What your true north is.”
- “Let the people in your organization know your story.”
- “When you know your foundation, you can hire the right people because you know what you’re looking for.”
Alex Sifakis – Co-Founder, Jacksonville Wealth Builders
Ranked #12 in US Real Estate by INC Magazine
- “We decided the best way to attract and retain top talent was to build an amazing culture.”
- “If you work with people you like, you’re going to create this great culture.”
- “Our internal teammates are the most important facet. So, we need to make sure we like working with them.”
Geoff Wilson – Co-Founder, 352 Media Group
Named one of America’s Top 30 Young Entrepreneurs by INC Magazine
- “When a crisis occurs in our communities, it’s all hands on deck. It doesn’t matter your background or your job or where you are in society. Everyone wants to pitch in and help. They want to make the situation better. That’s the type of spirit we try to embody in our teams.”
- “If you hire smart people, they will find amazing ways to add value at every single step of the process.”
Gina Danner – Co-Founder, Mail Print
Recognized as an Industry Leader
- “As a leader, they don’t need to know your pain. They just need to be able to follow you. And you need to get out of their way.”
- “You have to feed yourself. So often, that’s the one person we forget.”
Byron Young – Owner, CordaRoys
Recently featured on ABC’s hit show, “Shark Tank”
- “No matter how much money you have, it can always be gone.”
- “I redefined security to be what is left after all the money is gone. Relationships.”
- “Money is not the answer. Money is the reward for knowing the answer.”
- “I was so stressed that I thought I had cancer of the everything.” (referring to his appearance on “Shark Tank”)