1. What does Madhappy mean to you?

Madhappy to me means a lifestyle of positivity.  Not an overtly happy disposition, but rather one that is keeping it cool and happy at the same damn time.

2. What was your first encounter with mental health? Either personal or family / friends?

To me mental health is keeping your mental state healthy. My first time understanding that this needed to happen was in high school.  I began competing heavily in freestyle skiing and although having a natural physical skill, my mental state was not built for performance athletics and all the positives and negatives that come with it.  It’s very challenging at a younger age to be put in an individual sport where it all relies on you to win or lose. You get beat up mentally very quickly watching others excel around you and when you don’t hit your goals.  A lot of times you fall and literally don’t want to get up again. It was super important to learn visualization skills to mentally prepare yourself and get a grasp on turning negatives into positives to help overcome the mental barriers.  All-in-all, although being quite tough, it prepared me well for life’s challenges in a way and I focus a lot of mental training for everything I do in my current life.

3. How do you prioritize your mental health?

I take some time each day to unplug, meditate and exercise.  All 3 things equally as important and sit at the top of my list.  We all get so wrapped up in our work life that we forget to feed our brain good amounts of quietness, oxygen and peace.  Allowing yourself to “reboot” mentally is very effective, for me any way, and makes for much more productive operation of your body.

4. The role of social media / information overload in this mental health epidemic

Social media and info overload are just overwhelming for any and all things in the world today.  You can get lost in a sea of negativity or research that can all lead to false conclusions or opinions about you or others.  It’s important to read everything in the news, social media or anywhere with a grain of salt. We live in a time, now more so than ever, where information isn’t regulated and we more often than not believe what we want to hear, or don’t want to hear, rather than making an educated conclusion.  Take your time, as you need to with you mentality everyday as well, and form an opinion whole heartedly that makes sense with your beliefs and ideas.

5. What can we do to create conversation both in our internal community as well as the broader world?

Communication, although on overdrive in general, seems to be less from person to person.  It’s easier to talk to groups, but i think it’s super healthy to be talking at a more intimate level with those you trust about how you feel; good or bad.  It’s definitely easier and effective to anonymously air your questions/concerns out to groups online, which can be super helpful to get things moving for you, but good to check in openly with those around you, and not create the narrative that you’re “living the perfect life”.  We all struggle daily no matter who we are.

6. Can you share your journey with us? How did you get to where you are today?

How long do you have….?!  Ha. In short'ish; grew up in a small town (population 2500 with still one stoplight) called Durham in Canada.  Realized pretty young that I wanted to get out of there when i grew up. I worked my way up to the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team by the time I was 19 but blew my knee out the first year.  Hardest decision I ever had to make was to come back stronger then ever, or go to school and move on. I chose school, which I will always be thankful for now, but at the time was beyond upset about the decision.  After graduating from University I slowly made my way to NY on a whim because a friend lived there. I took a very low paying job and figured out how to live on a penny in New York City ($21k USD a year…was rough).  I needed to have more fun while eating for free or making money so I started dj’ing at nights and decided to treat it like a business not a hobby; network my ass off, print business cards out and follow up quickly with anyone who i got info from.  Soon enough I was playing 6/7 nights a week and quit my day job. but I always and still think of the dj business as money I can earn in “off business” hours. So it allows me the freedoms to be entrepreneurial during the day, be supply’ing me with income during the night.  I founded Preveyor in 2013 (a talent management business) and we manage over 20 people currently. I also am a partner in 5 other business’ which I’m incredibly excited about and love to help build. Lots more to go, but truly just getting started. Lots of tough parts along the road, and still deal with hurdles daily but that’s part of the joy of success.  Anything that’s difficult to achieve just feels so good when you accomplish it. 

7. Give us insight into growing up in Canada and how that impacted who you are today.

I love the fact that I grew up in Canada, and truthfully struggle with the idea of raising kids in the US.  Canada is such a good wholesome country but more so, small town Canada is especially an amazing place to be raised.  My parents taught me so much about manners and work ethic at a young age, things I think about every day. And Canadians in general just have a different disposition on life which I hold on to tightly and love to share with others around me.  I feel it’s contagious in ways, so just need to put it out there and people will slowly pick it up.

8. How did you go from DJing to being on the talent management side with Preveyor?

Originally it started because I was getting quite busy so I was passing gigs along to other djs that I knew.  I quickly realized that it would be great if I was making a bit every time I passed a gig along, but would never have asked that because I felt that people would pass gigs to me as well.  That happened both way, but still, realized there was a business there and when I met my now partner Gabe Walker, who originally came on to do PR for me (which I didn’t even understand how it would help me) we decided it was time to help others out and make a run at management as a business.  We singed our first client that day; my girlfriend at the time, Hannah Bronfman, now my wife.

9. Can you give us a day in the life of Brendan?

Not as exciting as you’d think, although people would say differently, but when you’re living your own life, the grass is always greener. I’m blessed to have positive days most of the time because of my mental disposition. Day starts with a lemon water usually to kick up the system, then a matcha or coffee around 11AM.  Been intermittent fasting lately so not eating til 1-2PM. I’ll workout around 11-1PM or somewhere in that window. Morning before that is usually meetings or cranking out emails. Then after lunch, usually at my desk, I try and get some content done in the afternoon at some point and hopefully nap.  I try to nap daily if I can, it’s kind of my form of meditation. It resets my body and mind and a great way to energize yourself for the rest of the day. All days are different though, sometimes fittings, sometimes gigs at night, dinners with friends, or cooking with my wife. Luckily I have built a life around myself that allows for tons of interesting daily things to happen but I chose long ago that office life wasn’t for me.  But with that life comes uncertainty around pay checks and it might look fun but you have to hustle hard for every dollar, but i wouldn’t trade it for the latter.

10. How do you think about your brand? How do you align with the right people and companies to reflect that?

My brand is tough for me to put into words, for me anyway. I struggle with what it is internally and wonder if I’m going the right way.  But that’s because I focus on it daily, and when you’re looking at yourself with a micro lens it’s strenuous. But if you zoom back and look at yourself a year out, you’ve accomplished so much of what you set out to do.  So with that said, I’m trying to keep my brand aspirational and gentleman focused. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m not “cool” like i used to be, or think I was, but now I’m just more distinguished of sorts I guess.  And by way of that, I pick and choose brands/partners/relationships and create content around portraying that, which isn’t as tough as I thought because I realize that it’s just me and how I live, but still weird to look at yourself like that.  I struggle with that all the time and not trying to look phony but authentic to who I am at the core. 

11. Where do you see your career heading towards over the next 10 years?

Another great question.  I don’t like to look 10 years out, because if you asked me 10 years ago if I’d be doing an interview for some cool kids in LA who have a great initiative because they think I would be a great fit for it, I would have told you that you were crazy.  I was a hustling office assistant buying lunch for people and photocopiers. Life is f*cking awesome if you have the right mentality. You can really accomplish anything you set your mind to. 

Speed Round  

1. Favorite Madhappy piece?

Baby Blue Hoodie

2. Best relaxation tool?

Anywhere I can nap.

3. What does your most recharging day look like?

Running along a boardwalk followed by ocean and beach and no phone.

4. Role Model?

My Dad

5. Favorite Podcast?

Joe Rogan

6. What are you reading right now?

The Monk who sold his Ferrari

7. If you had a billboard that everyone in the world could read, what would it say?

B+Positive