Nichole Castillo has been behind the scenes in the mixed martial arts world since 2005, and in that time she has been responsible for some of Pennsylvania and Ohio’s most successful events. As a matchmaker, she coordinates the bouts for the events, which means managing everything from picking exciting fights to recruiting fighters, to following through on a litany of responsibilities to both the event promoter and to the state’s athletic commission.

Though Nichole’s business is not a traditional one in terms of what businesses are usually covered in podcasts like the Open Boardroom, some of her insights are universal. Those insights include:

Brian has been on both sides of the marketing agency dynamic. At Coca Cola, he was deep behind the scenes as a Group Director, helping to manage and execute Coca Cola’s international marketing efforts. From there, he transitioned into the agency world and saw the business of marketing from the other end of the relationship.