In-depth with the Think Big i-Team: Max Gall

This summer, Think Big Partners proudly took on its biggest project of all—managing 9 rockstar interns!  We were so excited to bring on these 9 eager students that we felt like we had to come up with name for them—they are now known as the i-Team. We can’t wait to teach the i-Team all about the world of entrepreneurship, startups, marketing and all things in between.  Learn more about i-Team member Max Gall, our bizperc coworking space intern:

NAME: Max Gall

FAVORITE COLOR: Changes with the seasons

3 BEST QUALITIES: Jack of all trades, creates his own music, never satisfied with the status quo

GREATEST FEARS: Small towns & being unsuccessful

SECRET FUN FACT: Loves shopping

As native of Kansas City and the oldest of two children, Max is a young man with many talents. The newly 20-year-old (he celebrated his golden birthday on July 20^th) began his education on the Kansas side at Westwood View Elementary. Like many bright young men, Max was on the move and his educational journey took him to Pembroke Hill where her was a 2-time science award winner in middle school. While in high school, Max competed in cross country, basketball and track and field.  He also competed in academics. As he describes it, “at Pembroke, academics are very competitive”.  After graduating from Pembroke as an honor roll student, Max decided to take his talents to South Beach.

As a current student at the University of Miami, Max likes to spend his time studying. But when he’s not studying, you can expect max to be dropping sick beats. Whether as a disk jockey at the #1 ranked College radio station WVUM 90.5 FM, or at bars & parties around Miami—Max has done it all. Max has fully dedicated himself to music in more than one way. He is currently pursuing a major in finance and a minor in music industry. However he is still not fully decided as to what he wants to do when he completes his degree.  “On one hand, I could see myself working for a large firm working a desk job. Or I could see myself graduating and just living as a free bird disk jockeying wherever!” as he puts it.

Here at Think Big, Max is a self-described “swingman”.  If there is something to be done, he is more than willing to do it. A fellow jack of all trades that Max admires is RZA of The Wu-Tang. If given the chance to spend an afternoon with RZA, Max would love to talk to him about his philosophy of how rap and chess are similar.

How Does Max Think Big? As he explains it “I think big when I dream. I dream when I sleep. So usually after a nice nap I’m thinking pretty big.” Whether he pursues a career in the financial sector or as an electronic musician Max’s future is one to keep a look out for.

In-Depth with the Think Big i-Team: Bobby Miller Jr.

This summer, Think Big Partners proudly took on its biggest project of all—managing 9 rockstar interns!  We were so excited to bring on these 9 eager students that we felt like we had to come up with name for them—they are now known as the i-Team. We can’t wait to teach the i-Team all about the world of entrepreneurship, startups, marketing and all things in between.  Learn more about i-Team member Bobby Miller Jr., one of our four copy interns: 

NAME: Bobby Miller Jr.

FAVORITE SPORT: Wrestling

HOBBIES: Improv, deejaying and rockin’ shorts to work

FUN FACT: Performs improv with troupe LSR

BIGGEST FEAR: Being adequate

Bobby Miller Jr. was a high school athlete, excelling in football and wrestling.  When he wasn’t busy striking fear into the hearts of his opponents with his half-nelson techniques, he competed and held leadership positions in the marketing group, DECA.  He was the Vice President of Kansas DECA his junior year and then ran for international office when he was a senior.  One of his biggest accomplishments was securing a corporate sponsor for his campaign (which never happens. Seriously, it’s impressive.) Bobby cold-called Kodak one day, established a relationship and with persistence, landed a sponsorship from the company.  He believes this is the right attitude to have in life.  “You’re never small enough to ask and never big enough to ask,” he says.  “It doesn’t matter who you are.  If you project yourself properly, you can do anything.” 

Bobby enjoyed two and a half years at Kansas University studying business.  But after awhile, he came to find that many of the classes he took had nothing to teach him (or at least weren’t teaching him anything he hadn’t already learned from his extensive DECA experiences).  Although he wouldn’t have had these problems had he gotten a quality education from Mizzou*, Bobby decided to leave the college life and pursue his true dream career—entertaining others and making them laugh.  Today, Bobby deejays at the Velvet Dog and studies and performs with his improv troupe LSR on the side, apart from writing awesome waffle blog posts for Think Big Partners.

If he approached a wishing well, Bobby would sacrifice some loose change for his one true dream: to sit in the front row at Wrestlemania.  Bobby has been a fan of wrestling ever since his early childhood, with a brief hiatus due to the very distracting presence of the opposite gender in high school.  His love for the sport has now been rekindled and the flame burns hotter and more passionately than ever (wrestling matches take up most of Bobby’s TiVo). 

It’s pretty obvious by now—Bobby doesn’t know how to think small.  If he’s not calling Kodak for sponsorships, he’s pursuing his dreams in any and every way possible, even if it’s not the most roundabout way of getting there.   

Bobby would like to leave you with this thought: “My biggest fear is being adequate.”  Angela Hayes said something similar to this in American Beauty, but they’ve sure got a point – being average just isn’t acceptable.

*Yes, this was written by a recent Mizzou grad. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.