The Rubén Harris Story
“What’s better than one billionaire? Two! Especially when they got the same hue as you.” – Jay- Z
You can feel the purpose in the eyes of Ruben Harris. He’s locked in and his mind is always moving at a rapid pace, even at 6am. That was our workout start time at Fitness SF Gym on Brannan Street before we recorded the podcast interview at my apartment. We’re both members so we often run into one another at this gym. Actually, I run into many of the city’s business and civic leaders at this spot. I have found that many accomplished people make fitness an ongoing part of their routine. Ruben is no different and it’s clear he has strong convictions about the importance of self-improvement.
“I want to help a billion people.” That’s a mantra you’ll soon start to associate with the homie Ruben. As the Co-Founder of the tech company Career Karma (which has already secured over $1M in venture capital) and alumni of the prestigious Y-Combinator accelerator, you can start to see that many people believe he’ll get there. His vision is a timely and needed calling: to empower software engineers in-the-making across the country to transform their careers- and lives- in less than a year through his app.
We had a great conversation. We talked about the problem his company is solving to address the trends around the future of work in America. We also talked about his personal process which has led to his accomplishments to date. This is definitely a podcast you’ll need to listen to twice. He drops the type of game that lets you know he’s serious about making a worldwide impact. Unfortunately for the listeners of the podcast, my favorite parts of our conversation happened before and after we started recording: the influence that Marcus Gravy and Elijah Muhammad had on our perspectives of self-reliance in the black community, our shared dietary restrictions such as not eating pork nor drinking alcohol, and why we decided to take up martial arts.
That said, we did go into depth about his upbringing in Atlanta, and how Career Karma is completely changing people’s lives by providing pathways to improve their earning potential. He also explains how he started his podcast Breaking Into StartUps, which I was featured on a few years back as guest #33.
As many of our avid readers have noticed, the newsletter has started to transition into a podcast. I love to write and plan to continue this work in local newspapers, national publications, and eventually a book. The podcast gives us an opportunity to have in-depth conversations with guests that can help millions of people improve their lives. I believe that changing your life starts with owning Monday morning. We are building a community of people that want to take that ownership together.
Cook on Monday Morning is available on Apple podcast, Google Play, Spotify and several other streaming services. You can watch the video interview on YouTube. Our goal is to get to 2020 subscribers across all platforms by April 30, 2020. Please support the podcast by subscribing today and encourage five friends to do the same.
Ruben’s Book Recommendation: Finite and infinite games
Music Recommendation: 4:44