Stephanie Maas: Well, I'm super excited to be with you. So thank
you for sharing your time, I would actually love for you to
start with your background, because I think that sets a nice
foundation for where you are today, walk us through a little
bit of your background.
Alysia Silberg: So it's a wild journey, and I'll do my absolute
best to share with your listeners, the stuff that I feel
is most important in terms of their own journeys. So my dad
was an immigrant from Eastern Europe, you know, back in the
day, so he was born in 1870. Sounds completely wild. And that
was a very different time in America. So they went on boats
to South Africa, arrived in South Africa in 1929, you know,
these immigrants with just clothes on their backs. And he
was very fortunate, he had a passion, which was the arts, he
was a chemist by training. And he made his way to America, you
know, an incredibly difficult thing at the time. And he
trained under Max Factor, the makeup artist, and he became
somebody who worked on movie sets with the most famous
celebrities in the world. And I think part of my madcap
adventure inside of me comes from it comes from my dad's
journey, he had to unfortunately go back to South Africa, even
though he was successful in America. And that started a
journey for all of us in the sense that during the pot, I
created what was the world's only pharmacy and costume hire
store. And I was born into this, as I say, wild environment. And
I grew up in that environment. And whilst it was fun, it was
also incredibly difficult, because there was always a
shortage of money growing up. So he was passionate about helping
other people read it in the book, as a chemist, because, you
know, apartheid, there was no doctors for the bulk of South
Africa, give away medicines for free, he became this community
doctor. So for us, we kind of suffered the consequences,
because we were always short on money. And this whole, you know,
he died in during a car accident very unexpectedly. And then we
were going to lose the business because the business was
crippled in debt. So they were coming for the house, they were
coming for absolutely, everything we owned, I was
telling my brother was six years older than me, my mother was a
ballerina. So you know, that's the kind of skills she had. And
it was a fight for human survival. And we started just
like fighting for this business. We slept in the shop, which was
extremely dangerous. You know, like, there's a lot, a lot went
wrong. And I slept under costume rules for a long time. And we
just worked 1820 hours a day for five years, we managed to save
the business a lot with load. That's what took me on my
journey to Canada, because we wanted more my brother and I, we
were obsessed with getting to North America. And eventually I
made my way to North America. And today, I'm incredibly
fortunate. I get to invest in startups after being a founder,
I get to work with extraordinary people. And so I'm incredibly,
incredibly grateful to be in the US and to be, you know, building
startups and working with startups.
Stephanie Maas: Okay, so South Africa and then Canada. Tell me
about that.
Alysia Silberg: Sure. So we were poor. We had a very old car, we
would barely go but we had a call. And we lived in a very
dangerous neighborhood as well couldn't afford to leave. And
one night and a Saturday night we got attacked was very intense
attacking, and I got shot. My mother got beaten up, it was
harrowing, even like, even by a Hollywood movie standards. The
moment that happened, I decided I was always obsessed with
coming to America. From the day I was born. I think my dad
wanted that seat in my mind. I was like, I'm going no matter
what it takes, and my circumstances around me. People
refer to it as a dead end life. That was my life in South
Africa. And for many people, that's their lives. We got to
cap, I remember standing, bleeding, screaming my head or
screaming sight, I'm leaving, I'm leaving. I'm going and you
have to help me leave. I made up my mind there. And then I was
going to get to North America no matter what. And my brother and
I came up with a very entrepreneurial venture, where
we would create costumes, you know, from our crazy costume
shop, or the burgeoning Hollywood film industry in
Canada. Sounds crazy. But this is economics tax. So basically,
Hollywood, very expensive, create movies, New York, very
expensive to create movies. And so that at that time, they were
starting to do a lot more movies in Nova Scotia. And my brother
and I have been very good researchers. We figured this
out. And we figured out that there was a trade treaty between
certain countries in Canada, and that you could apply towards
making this trade treaty. And you can get funding and you
could build a business. And so I was shipped to Canada to go
pitch this to the Canadian government. I was 15 at the
time, and I'm telling them about this amazing, amazing, you know,
venture that they would of course, want to participate.
They said yes, they were incredible. That was my first
taste of what it meant to be in North America. In terms of being
an entrepreneur to see a well organized things are the
opportunities. And no one laughed at me when said I was
stupid, and what I experienced changed my life.
Stephanie Maas: Okay, so you did that at 15?
Alysia Silberg: 15. And it was crazy. Like when I look back,
I'm like, Wow, a grown up mature version of me it was like, I
think it was adrenaline, as well as nothing to lose. I think that
played a big role where your life is so bleak, that you're
like, I really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I
see homelessness in America. Yeah, I live in, in Venice in
LA. And I see all those people. And I think about it every day.
And I'm like, I could be one of those people. I just happen to
be lucky enough that I had a drive to say, okay, my
circumstances suck. And no one's going to come in to rescue us
like this. And I'm going to try and I'm not going to give up to
the state that drives me. I can never forget how close we came
to having absolutely nothing.
Stephanie Maas: Tell me, I know you said you and your mom didn't
always get along. What were some of the things you garnered from
her?
Alysia Silberg: My ability to never give up? She pushed me
extraordinarily hard. I think in some respects, it almost damaged
me. I had somebody who had a very tough life, and who kept
pushing me harder, because she knew how tough life had been.
And she wanted me to to have the best life possible. Even if she
had difficulty in helping me create that.
Stephanie Maas: Has she been able to see your success?
Alysia Silberg: No. But th at's okay. I hope she's proud of me.
Stephanie Maas: I'm sure she is. Sure she is. Let's shift gears
ever so slightly and talk about technology? I just think there's
an aptitude for technology. Some people have it, some people
don't, I definitely don't have it. So that's very interesting
to me. So you're 15 years old? What technology did you have at
hand? How did you figure out that that's kind of part of your
thing.
Alysia Silberg: Thank you for your honesty, in terms of your
ability to use technology. I understand. It's ironic, but I'm
not good with technology. As funny as that may sound. I'm not
natural at this. And I think that's important. But at that
time, the Internet was so so so basic, like it was really basic.
And when you asked about Canada, you got to picture these two
kids sitting in deepest, darkest Africa, where the tip of Africa,
were at an internet cafe. The internet was not like America,
we sitting there looking on the internet, and we want to go to
Canada. And we like, um, this place looks interesting. It's
got a cute little bug. I'm not kidding with you. Okay, like a
cute little sailing boat. It's in the pictures. And it looks
very sophisticated compared to where we coming from. And this
is Halifax, Nova Scotia. And that was our interaction with
the internet, that it was like this raw thing that gave us the
ability to build all our dreams. And that was the relationship
I've owned with technology from very early on, were at each
turn, I could do a certain amount. And then it needed to do
something needed to do the rest. And it was always the
technology, there was always something that could help me to
help myself get where I wanted to stay like people like us are
involved in AI. I'm like, it's pretty simple. I'm a human with
a problem. And I've found that the technology helps me solve it
like my accent. It's hard for Americans to understand my
accent. For me, it's very important for Americans to
understand me, I want to live here, I want to immerse myself
in the culture. But in order to do that, people have to
understand you. I was like, Okay, I'm gonna get an AI coach,
I'm just going to practice and practice. I just started
applying it in every aspect of my life. And as I say, as a
woman, it started giving me leverage, and I would have never
had any other way. Because when I do things to almost make
myself small, it would help me make myself big. And so that
relationship, as I say was, again, survival allistic. But
technology showed up for me in a massive, massive way.
Stephanie Maas: Fascinating. So the things you talked about was
early on, you were willing to take these risks, because what
did you have to lose? Now you have stuff to lose. How do you
still keep that unbelievable risk appetite that served you
incredibly well, but now you have something to lose. So talk
to me about that.
Alysia Silberg: I think it comes down to our values. And I think
the thing I value most in the world is learning. I can't get
enough of learning. And I think that just drives me forward. I
feel like physically sick when I'm not learning. Like it's it
sounds insane. But it's that constant need to, to just keep
growing. And it's like I'm constantly investing in
startups. I'm constantly evolving and constantly creating
some stuff work, some stuff doesn't work, but you know, you
just keep on going. That's probably why I love AI so much
because it grows and it grows faster than me, which sounds
insane. But at the same time that keeps me on my toes. Like
the times where I run into my own barriers in terms of like
engaging with people because I've had impostor syndrome, you
know, like it's stuck. There's realities of who we are. And in
a work with the AI, I have conversations with with GPT
around this and GP He loads faster than I do. And it adapts
whilst than I do. And then I'm like, wow, that's interesting. I
have to stop, I have to think about this. I have to come back
tomorrow, what I could see it didn't stop learning, it was
comfortable keeping on going, my mind couldn't go any farther
that day. And that's been very interesting, because that forces
my mind, in a positive way to keep on growing each time I get
on a call with a founder. And each time I get to learn
something new about what they're doing to solve a major problem
in the world. For me, there's very few things that give me
that kind of joy. It's a good way to be I think.
Stephanie Maas: I think that's fantastic. So let me ask you
this. There's a ton of conversation right now around
this idea of growth mindset. And it got me thinking, do you think
the growth mindset is that nature or nurture?
Alysia Silberg: Nurture. I took it upon myself to bold like a
rewards challenge for myself, I've lived and died by these
rewards challenges. So it's like mini habits, where I'll give
myself like a walker rarely once as a reward. And I'll be like,
I'm gonna break through on this thing. And for me, that was
like, I could see I was fixed in a lot of areas. And that I never
wanted to be, I knew that to get to America. To live the life, I
wanted to feel the sense of fulfillment and joy that I
sought so much, versus the pain and heartache. And as you say, a
survivor that was still within me, even if externally it may
not have looked so much like that. And as to do that I have
to change the wiring in my brain. Trust me, it was a really
tough thing to do. But I think that was why it was very
important for me to write the book because I could see how
there was so much darkness that came with me so much pain, so
much heartache so much just like yuckiness still inside of me,
even though I was I had a lot of accomplishments. And to really
do that I had to take on a growth mindset. And I have to
say like, this is my life, like, this is what I'm going to do. I
went from I Can't to I Can, because there were a number of
times I wanted to get out. But I believe that I don't think a lot
of people who have been through difficulty, have that growth
mindset nurtured into them. But I do believe they cannot share
it into themselves.
Stephanie Maas: I think one of the things that is going to be
so relatable to you, I mean, let's face it, most of us have
not grown up in some of the extreme situations that you have
been faced with. But despite that, we still struggle with the
same things that you mentioned, the I can't, the imposter syndrome...
Alysia Silberg: I was carrying so much baggage, though, even if
I wasn't aware of it. And the idea that I put on paper, and I
highly encourage you and everyone listening, it's an
incredible exercise to actually sit down. And writable I highly
recommend anyone that thinks that they really got a gift and
they want to share it, I call it superpowers, you have that gift
yourself however long it takes just keep going, just keep
going. And as I say, it's worth it.
Stephanie Maas: That's awesome. So I love your transition,
because the next thing I want to ask about was this superpower.
What is your superpower or powers?
Alysia Silberg: Well, let me start by saying, I'd love to
know what your superpower is. Me. It started with a pair of
pink rode estates sounds insane. But I'm five years old. Everyone
around these got these rode estates, and I realized we can't
afford them. And I knew better to have off my parents was just
like, not something I'd ever do. Because I didn't want to make
them feel bad about themselves. And so that's how I figured out
the solution. But for me, I learned to fall in love with
selling like, it sounds crazy. But I learned to fall in love
with like bullying companies selling and literally of solving
someone's problem for them. Somebody has a problem. And I
can delight them with the solution. And the memories
people have of me being in the shop, and I could barely stand
over the counter. And I'd be stretching up and I'd be smiling
and I'd be selling and it was just it was like every time I
message someone on behalf one of my companies, and I'm like,
Please, we help them please, we don't you want to quit call and
say no. Like, that's all I see without it. So I think that
would be my one superpower. And I think the other one is maybe
pattern recognition. You know, being a survivor, I learned to
recognize patterns very early on, just in terms of survival.
And in terms of like, keeping safe. And I think it's helped me
a lot in terms of like, making investments and just learning to
see where the world is going, which are in and out just like a
joy to do that kind of thing. But I think pattern recognition
too. I think many people comes down to curiosity as well, where
you're like curious, hey, what's happening? And then like making
these fun predictions for yourself and practicing making
them until eventually they kind of just become like this like
game you play with yourself.
Stephanie Maas: Very interesting. Hey, one of the
things you talk about is obviously the name of the book
Unemployable. You took a career aptitude test and it said you
are not employable. How old were you when you took that test?
Alysia Silberg: I think I must have been 19 at the time, and it
had a profound effect on me.
Stephanie Maas: Like why do you think that was so profound,
because 18 or 19, you already had some successes.
Alysia Silberg: I think we have to start with, if you look back
on the circumstances, so we're blue collar, all intensive
purposes, if you look at our quality of life, not proper
writing, you know, they turned off the water regularly, they
turn off, you know, the power regularly like this was, this is
the way we learned wasn't food regularly. And so the idea that
I was able to join a fancy bank, in inverted commas fancy
sophisticated investment bank, was that to some extent,
especially in our culture, while I've made it, so I think it's
important for us, this is Jiu Jitsu. So the idea that being
Jewish going into banking was like, a prestigious thing. So
finally, I cleaned up well, for lack of a better term, you know,
like, I made my family proud. And we're finally moving into a
different class structure, I suppose. And the idea that, at
that last moment, I take this test, I've never failed a test
before I've been told my entire life, you've got to be the best,
no option, the best, and whatever cost to compensate the
best. I've been to expensive fancy Jewish school on a
scholarship. But the idea that I got told, we don't want you
here, you have no place. Yeah, you don't belong here. Once
again, you're an outsider, in your own community. So everyone
around me had, you know, been to these fancy schools being to
work in banks, it was a cultural thing, where that's what people
do. And the idea that I got told, you're an entrepreneur,
I'm thinking, Oh, no more, no entrepreneur never allowed, you
know, into the system. And your researcher, okay, you stating
the obvious these two things I can do. But I don't want to only
be able to do these things, I want to be able to hold my head
up high, I want to belong somewhere. And the idea that
I've bought the frame on my family, that was very painful.
The idea that once again, and being thrown out of the insider
club, always the outside, never the insider, it was ironic
because they were basically complimenting me. And they were
saying, well, you're very good at what you do. You have to
develop mastery at what you do, stick to what you're doing. But
it wasn't well received in that community. And that's why I
wanted to come to America. Because in this country, it's,
it's noble, to be a founder, it's noble, that if you fail,
you get up you try again, and I'm gonna judge you.
Stephanie Maas: I do think when when we're doing it, right, as a
country, we allow you to make your own club. And that is
certainly what you have done.
Alysia Silberg: It's a very special country. I think you
have to grow up elsewhere. And Americans are like, we're going
through so many problems. And I'm like, you have to grow up
elsewhere, to know how special it is. And it's very, very
special. And it's worth protecting because there's
nowhere else like, like, there's nowhere else that gives the kind
of opportunities like it's suffering, Americans are
different. Anything's possible. And the fact that you can be
building basically anything, and you always find a customer to
support you, you will always find an investor to support you,
you'll always find employees to be on your team. It's
incredible. If I could run for president and run for president
just because I want to protect the country.
Stephanie Maas: Well, I think it would be an honor to have
someone of your character run for president. I understand
there are laws that prevent that. But that would be a breath
of fresh air. So since that's off the table, what is next for
you? What are your eyes set on next?
Alysia Silberg: So I want to build a community around
unemployable of force for good at a time where as I say, I'm
very involved in AI, we've seen a lot of change in terms of the
economy. And we see a lot of, you know, tech layoffs. And so
for me, the idea that people see this as more than a book, but
more as a platform where they're like, Hey, I'm worried about
losing my job, or I lost my job, or I just want to build
something. And the idea that they see the lessons in the book
as an inspiration, and give, it gives them that sense of courage
to be like, Okay, I'm going to use this information. And I'm
going to start building because as we were talking, each person
has a superpower and use the power of internet. I keep saying
to people there 3 billion people online, you don't need 3 billion
customers with all you know, there's so many studies you need
1000, Boston was to build a very nice business for yourself, that
can sustain you in a very great manner. So the idea that people
say, Okay, I'm going to bold, I'm going to build a company for
myself. I think that inspires me beyond beyond measure. My
personal goal for myself is NSC 100,000 companies. And people
say to me, where do you want those companies founded? And I
have American 33 So Delaware based company sounds crazy, but
I'm very proud of the fact that people contribute to the US
economy pay tax and bite people in that I think it's great. And
so that's that's a big big goal for me is that I see that
succeed and you know, invest heavily in AI. I got a free AI
newsletter, which I hope people join subscribe to, they can ask
me questions. We've put a lot of work into it. I have a team or
and it's like tools, it's all kinds of things that I encourage
people to just start looking at. And people be like, Wow, that's
a bit scary. You know, I'm just starting out, I know nothing
about AI. And that's fine. Just start looking at it, if you're
interested in on, look, look at the images and be like, Wow,
that's AI generated on the cover of the book. These AI generated
images in the book are AI generated, we work very hard to
create those one of my founders. And so finding something you
interested in when it comes to the AI too, and just say, hey,
at least he's got some articles on those things. Then you read
about me message. me ask her a question. When me that's very
important, because I want people to be left behind the exciting
time to be living. So those are my priorities right now.
Stephanie Maas: That's awesome. Okay, so I know you have a
thirst to learn. I would even say it is almost for you like
breathing. It just naturally brings you joy, which by the
way, I mean, of all the things to love. That's a good one. You
love it so much people will ask you if you're on drugs, that is
saying, Wow, that is fantastic. I mean, really? Okay. But what
are your guilty pleasures? What do you secretly love to learn
about that people might be surprised or didn't know, or
whatever the case may be.
Alysia Silberg: I love learning about art, I think it's because
there's so much to understand that you don't you create your
own interpretation. But at the same time, there's so many
layers to it, like I recently watched, I'm obsessed with the
Renaissance. We're living through modern day Renaissance.
And I was just in Italy, and just celebrate the book coming
out. I learnt about some pieces by Leonardo da Vinci. And they
had as a result of the technology, there were so many
layers on this piece that no one was aware of. But the
technologies enabled us to see it. And they were like five
artworks on one artwork. And it was just so incredible, to be
able to wow, like, I wonder what he was thinking about in that
version. I wonder what he was thinking about an effort and it
was just so fascinating. And so for me, the entire house is
covered in OT and OT and audiobooks. I can never buy
enough audiobooks. So I think that's an again, the privilege
of living in the US. In South Africa. We had no art galleries,
museums, art galleries, everything was stolen. And the
idea that I can get at a home for free to an art gallery, a
different art gallery every Sunday. Wow. That's my guilty
pleasure. And I never get tired of it.
Stephanie Maas: Your humility is so sincere. And it comes through
so much in your just gratitude, which Oh, it's so endearing.
Really appreciate your willingness to give of your time.
Alysia Silberg: I think you've been incredibly generous with
your time and so thoughtful with your questions. I really
appreciate it. If people are looking for the book, they can
find it on Amazon, I think that's the easiest place to find
it. And one of the feedback is don't try to ferret like I'm
obsessed with radical open mindedness and allowed learning.
So if this stuff I can take away from the book, right in your
review, like be honest, and message me reach out to me, and
I want to engage with people. So whatever your feedback is, just
reach out to me, let me know.
Stephanie Maas: But if it's mean, I'm going to respond, you
don't need to be mean people.
Alysia Silberg: Thank you, again, incredibly, incredibly
appreciative for this beautiful, beautiful conversation.