9×90 Episode #34

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All opinions expressed by the guests are their own. 9×90™ and its affiliates do not endorse or guarantee any specific outcomes discussed in this episode. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Listeners should conduct their own due diligence and consult with professional advisors before making any investment or business decisions. Nothing discussed in this episode constitutes an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities. Any such offer or solicitation will be made only through official offering documents and to qualified, accredited investors, in accordance with applicable securities laws. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or 9×90™.

About This Guest

For those of you who do not know Ethan Boivie:

1. He is a Rocket scientist turned entrepreneur: Ethan holds a mechanical engineering degree, worked in aerospace consulting and did glacier research at Columbia University before attending IE Business School.
2. IE Business School alumnus: Completed an International MBA with honors in Madrid, receiving awards for academic & entrepreneurial excellence.
3. Founder & CEO of ANTI Elixir: Created a science-based, party-friendly anti‑hangover drink, leveraging his technical background and startup experience.
4. Diverse experience: Early roles included investment banking in New York, real estate growth strategy, intelligence program management (NGA), and even volunteering/teaching at a Buddhist temple.

About This Episode

In this candid and hilarious episode of 9×90™, Adi Soozin sits down with one of her best friends from business school—Ethan Boivie—a literal rocket scientist turned entrepreneur & the infamous mastermind behind the anti-hangover drink ANTI.

They explore Ethan’s surprising career path from engineering and rocket science

to launching a party-friendly wellness product that actually works. Along the way, you’ll hear stories of mosh pits, Buddhist temples, and the kind of radical friendship that inspired a product designed to help people feel better after the party.

Beneath the science and success, Ethan reveals the fiercely loyal, protective, big-brother heart driving it all.

Transcript

This transcript was generated by AI and edited by ChatGPT

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Adi Soozin:
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of 9×90™. Today, we have a very special guest—and friend. We’re connected through the IE Business School alumni network, and he is quite literally a rocket scientist. So, if you thought my biochemistry references made me a nerd, I found someone who’s five levels above me.

He’s already laughing, which is throwing me off… okay, I’ve got this.

He is now the founder of ANTI, the anti-hangover drink.

Adi Soozin:
Go ahead—I’m going to try and make you laugh while you’re talking.

Ethan Boivie:
Thanks, Adi. I wasn’t expecting such a warm—and nerdy—introduction, but I love it.

Yes, I worked in aerospace for a while. My background’s in mechanical engineering; I’ve got a couple of degrees in it. I never actually worked as a formal engineer, but I did consulting in aerospace and related areas.

Then I went on to study at IE in Spain, which really lit the entrepreneurial spark in me. Engineering taught me creative problem-solving, and entrepreneurship gave me the toolkit to use those skills across different domains—psychology, marketing, product development, you name it.

Adi Soozin:
Meanwhile, I left the biochem lab and jumped into marketing. And Ethan went and created this amazing drink that actually prevents hangovers.

And I can vouch for it—we’ve tested this to the max. Copious amounts of rum and everything else that should absolutely destroy you… and the next day, everyone was fine. People were like, “What was that drink?”

So, happy 30th birthday—many years ago—but seriously, it works.

Ethan Boivie:
Yeah, we try not to oversell how well it works because we’d rather under-promise and over-deliver. It’s not a medicine—it’s part of the party. You can drink it on its own, but the coolest part? You can mix it into your cocktails—vodka, rum—and your cocktail itself prevents your hangover.

So yeah, we don’t tell people how well it works. We let them find out for themselves. And we definitely don’t encourage binge drinking. That’s not part of our marketing strategy.

Adi Soozin:
Disclaimer: none of what I’m saying is part of his official marketing.

Ethan Boivie:
Exactly. We had someone overseas try it. I told him, “Start slow—test it with a few drinks and see how you feel.” He said, “That makes sense.”

Next day, he messaged me—he and his wife split two bottles of red wine, had four shots of tequila, and four beers. That’s 16 drinks. He took two ANTI throughout the night and woke up feeling perfectly fine.

And I was like, “Okay, we cannot tell people that.” That’s not going in the ads.

Adi Soozin:
So let the customers be the testimonials.

Ethan Boivie:
Exactly.

Adi Soozin:
Okay, so aside from being a literal rocket scientist, what else did you do before founding ANTI?

Ethan Boivie:
Sure. I’ve done a bit of everything. I volunteered in Thailand, taught at a Buddhist temple school, worked at an investment bank in New York, and even did research on Antarctic glaciers at Columbia University.

As for why ANTI started—people assume I must party a lot. But I actually don’t drink much. I just grew up in New York in neighborhoods with Italian and Jewish families where being a good host is serious business.

So, even in college, when people were throwing parties and charging $2 for awful beer, I said, “Nope—my guests deserve better.” I had a fully stocked bar and made custom drinks for everyone.

People would say, “You must be an alcoholic.” And I’d say, “If I were, these bottles would be empty.”

Ethan Boivie:
From there, I started hosting dinner parties. I’d cook for people, mix cocktails—and then I thought, “I don’t want my guests feeling terrible the next day.” So I’d hand out things like Pedialyte to help them recover. I wanted to be a good host even the next day.

Adi Soozin:
For those of you who don’t know Ethan, he is the quintessential protective older brother—always thinking ten steps ahead to take care of the people around him.

I’ve got a few stories to prove it.

Ethan Boivie:
Now that you say that—I am the oldest sibling, with two younger sisters. Once, my teenage sister wanted to go to a Nine Inch Nails concert. My parents didn’t know what a mosh pit was, but I did. So I told them, “She can go—but I’m going with her.”

I spent the entire concert with my arms locked around her, standing behind her in the pit, taking 80% of the hits so she wouldn’t get hurt.

Adi Soozin:
Yes! That’s the energy. And remember that night after a networking event when we went out to dinner? You looked at me mid-conversation and asked, “Did you extend your parking?”

The woman with us was floored. She’s sitting at dinner with the CEO of an anti-hangover company and the founder of a global software brand, and we’re reminding each other to pay for parking.

But that’s who Ethan is. He’s nurturing, thoughtful, and just good.

Adi Soozin:
And then there was that fall, when I was going through a rough time with bullies and some really dark moments. You told me, “You’re not disappearing. You’re going to come with me to one networking event every week.”

You said, “If you ever feel uncomfortable, come find me—I’ll be your safety bubble. But you’re not going into hiding just because some bad people were mean to you.”

Adi Soozin:
That tells you everything about the kind of person he is. And maybe it’s part upbringing, part time at the Buddhist temple. But it’s something a lot of people miss at first glance.

They see the rocket science, the successful brand, the fact that—whether he likes it or not—Miami Beach models seem to magnetically attach themselves to him. They get this frat-boy impression.

But in reality, Ethan is that rare, deeply empathetic, fiercely protective best friend and big brother figure everyone wishes they had.

Adi Soozin:
So now you understand why he created ANTI—and the level of care he put into making it.

Ethan Boivie:
I’m never going to complain about people wanting to talk to me… but yeah, that’s the story.

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Ethan Boivie:
It’s always flattering when people want to connect—I’m always happy to meet new and interesting folks. And honestly, everyone should aim to be interesting. Be passionate about what you do, talk about it. I was about to go off on a tangent, but I’ll pause there before I say something half-baked…

Adi Soozin:
Hold on—how old is ANTI?

Ethan Boivie:
Let’s see… so a few years ago, I was headed to a party with a Pedialyte in each hand—passing them out to friends so they’d feel okay the next morning. I remember thinking, Why isn’t this already built into the drink itself? Why is it treated like medicine? I looked around for a product like that—it didn’t exist. I assumed someone else would eventually figure it out.

Then I went to business school. We went through the whole startup grind four or five times during the program. I kept a list of startup ideas, and this one—ANTI—stayed at the top. Toward the end of the program, I said, Alright, let’s make this real. We pitched it, entered competitions, and started winning awards.

Adi Soozin:
People don’t realize this about IE Business School—you come in not knowing anyone and leave feeling like lifelong friends. We were at a different cultural party every weekend. Someone in my class crunched the numbers and said the average student consumed five liters of alcohol per month.

Ethan Boivie:
Yeah—shockingly more than during my mechanical engineering master’s. There, people just randomly went to bars. At IE, it was constant themed parties. The diversity led to amazing events—like a Japanese night where they shared traditional food and drinks, explaining the cultural meaning behind everything.

Adi Soozin:
Exactly. You didn’t just show up and binge drink. You went to Brazilian night, and they’d say, “You have to try all five drinks to understand our culture.” If you tapped out after three, they’d go, “You don’t get it.” So you’d keep going. Then you’d hit Japanese night and someone says, “We flew in 19 different types of sake—you must try all of them.” And you’re like, “Cool, I guess I’m not seeing my liver until next week.”

Ethan Boivie:
They didn’t bring sake from Mexico like we had recently.

Adi Soozin:
Nope! I’d never even heard of Mexican sake before that dinner. Wild.

Ethan Boivie:
Anyway, to finish that story—ANTI came from this desire to be a better host. Hangovers are a huge problem. When we looked at the data, it was shocking: two million people go to work hungover every single day—just in the U.S.! That doesn’t even count people on vacation.

So the problem was bigger than I realized. And the existing solutions—pills, powders, shots—didn’t fit most people’s lifestyles. It’s like caffeine pills: sure, you could buy them, but most people didn’t… until Red Bull came along. They put that same functionality into a tasty, convenient drink—and suddenly everyone was onboard. No stigma. It even mixed with alcohol.

Ethan Boivie (continued):
That was the inspiration: take the functionality of something like Pedialyte and make it enjoyable. We’re the first to put that anti-hangover benefit into a drink that actually fits into how people live.

Adi Soozin:
Right—and it turned out, it wasn’t just functional—it actually made a great cocktail! You mixed ANTI with vodka or spiced rum and discovered it tastes amazing and prevents hangovers. That’s what we have today.

And for everyone watching: I never wear blue nails. But today I’ve got ANTI blue nails—special tribute to your brand. You’re even wearing blue too! And speaking of the brand… you had a huge marketing win recently. What was that?

Ethan Boivie:
Yeah—we partnered with an emerging artist named K. Charles. Great guy. I’ve hung out with him in the studio, watched him rehearse, and just chilled over NBA games with his crew.

Then one night—right before Rolling Loud—I get a call. He was bringing ANTI onstage with him. That’s Rolling Loud at Hard Rock Stadium—a three-day mega-festival. If you’re not familiar, it’s second only to Coachella in the music scene. Massive crowds. Huge cultural moment.

And there he is, on stage, repping ANTI. He even started making up his own taglines for us live—wish he’d used ours, but hey, it was amazing visibility.

Adi Soozin:
And you ended up in his documentary too, right?

Ethan Boivie:
Yeah—Rolling Loud was so recent that it hasn’t dropped yet. But the film crew was in the studio before the festival, capturing everything. I watched him perform the exact set he’d later do on stage—full choreography, transitions, even the shoutouts to the crowd—all rehearsed like a pro.

It was fascinating. Then he did a full commercial shoot right there. So yeah—getting featured in that upcoming doc was another big win for us.

Adi Soozin:
I love it. A rocket scientist turned anti-hangover innovator… now getting shoutouts on stage at Rolling Loud. What a journey.

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Adi Soozin: How much prep goes into those moments people assume are spontaneous? There’s a keynote I get flown out to deliver—

Ethan Boivie: Yeah.

Adi Soozin: —and people come up afterward saying, “That gave me goosebumps.” But they have no idea it took over a hundred hours to get that speech just right. Then they ask, “Can you write one for me like that? It’d only take a couple days, right?”

Ethan Boivie: [laughs] That’s so true.

Adi Soozin: It’s like—no. It takes a lot.

Ethan Boivie: That reminds me—when I’m pitching or talking to strategic partners or customers, I often have a script in my head. I remember this one interview for a rocket science job. It was strange—they gave us the questions 15 minutes before we started so we could prep. I had most of my answers ready to go, just had to tweak one. I knew they were solid responses, but I didn’t want to sound robotic. So I added strategic pauses—pretending I was thinking it through—to make it sound off-the-cuff.

Adi Soozin: Yeah, exactly.

Ethan Boivie: I do the same thing now when I speak. I’ll build in pauses or stumbles just to make it feel organic—even though I’ve rehearsed it.

Adi Soozin: Not here though. No strategic pauses in this chat. This is just coffee talk that people get to tune into.

So, what’s next for ANTI? You’ve been on stage, you’re showing up at events, you’re expanding into restaurants, liquor stores, luxury hotels… what’s the next move?

Ethan Boivie: Yeah, so obviously bars and restaurants are the most natural fit—easy for people to access. But a lot of people don’t think about hotels and mini bars. Business travelers and vacationers alike are drinking, but they also have meetings or want to keep the party going. ANTI is perfect for those situations—toss it in the mini bar and it becomes the most valuable item in there. We’re working on getting into some major hotel chains now.

Ethan Boivie: But even more interesting are the resort casinos in Vegas. People go there to party and gamble. The casinos give out free drinks to encourage betting, but then those same guests wake up wrecked the next day—unable to gamble, hang out, or do anything.

Adi Soozin: Right, so the casinos are losing revenue the next day.

Ethan Boivie: Exactly. If casinos gave away ANTI with the drinks, they’d double their revenue by keeping guests active twice instead of once.

Adi Soozin: That’s brilliant.

Ethan Boivie: Literally giving ANTI away would increase their bottom line. So that’s what we’re working on—getting into those kinds of placements. We also just got approved to launch in a massive convenience store/gas station chain, which is perfect.

Ethan Boivie: It’s not really an e-commerce product—when people want it, they want it now. You don’t want to wait three days for Amazon.

Adi Soozin: Although for those of us who host like you do, we stock up. I always keep a case downstairs.

Ethan Boivie: Right, but the best use case is still at the bar—mix it with your drink, or grab one to go as you’re calling your Uber. Or if you forgot the night before, you hit the 7-Eleven the next morning and grab one. We’re pushing into those kinds of retail locations now.

Ethan Boivie: Even though we’re technically DTC, we’re more of a B2B brand. We’re in a few shops now, starting in Miami.

Adi Soozin: But people can still buy cases online, right?

Ethan Boivie: Yep. You can order 12-packs from TikTok or our website.

Adi Soozin: And what’s your URL?

Ethan Boivie: It’s anti-elixir.com—that’s anti as in anti-hangover, and elixir like the magical potion it is.

Adi Soozin: Perfect.

Ethan Boivie: We’re also on Instagram and other platforms, where we really love seeing people create their own content—making cocktails, showing use cases, or just having fun with it.

Adi Soozin: All the sourdough moms out there? They should start a “make your own ANTI cocktail” trend. Right now, some people drink pickle juice to prevent a hangover—this is a tastier alternative that actually works with your vodka.

Ethan Boivie: [laughs] Yeah. That’s so true. I’m from New York and I remember the first time I saw picklebacks in a Manhattan bar—whiskey followed by a shot of pickle juice. It was wild. I asked a guy at the bar what it was, tried it with my cousin, and it was so good we had a few more. Then my other cousin shows up—she’s from Williamsburg, way cooler than me—and she already knew all about it.

Ethan Boivie: Later I moved to St. Louis and brought the concept with me. The bartenders there had never heard of it. We basically introduced picklebacks to the whole scene.

Adi Soozin: Oh my God.

Ethan Boivie: And I thought this was a hip new Brooklyn thing. Then I visit friends in Russia—Moscow, St. Petersburg—and realize, nope, they’ve been doing this for 300 years. At every bar you’ve got pickled herring, potatoes, pickles—super salty stuff to drink with vodka.

Adi Soozin: That’s why I always travel outside the U.S. We’re advanced in some ways, but so behind in others. In Israel, for example, if you’re a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Ashkenazi Jew, people assume you’re logical and smart. You say, “Here’s the best strategy,” and people go with it. But here? If you’re a young blonde woman, they assume you’re just supposed to be cute.

Adi Soozin: Then you go to Russia, and they’ve figured out how to party and avoid hangovers. In the U.S., people binge drink on an empty stomach and call that a night.

Ethan Boivie: Yeah, it’s crazy. But hopefully we’re shifting that culture. I’ve already seen ANTI have an outsized impact in places you wouldn’t expect. This is bigger than just a drink—it’s about changing how people experience their nights and their mornings.

Adi Soozin: And productivity.

Ethan Boivie: Exactly. We’re excited to help people have fun and show up ready the next day.

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Adi Soozin: You know what would be really funny? Doing the Pepsi Challenge.

Ethan Boivie: The Pepsi vs. Coke taste test? Yeah, classic.

Adi Soozin: But instead—hear me out—what if we did a pickle juice anti-challenge?

Ethan Boivie: Oh my gosh. If people didn’t know what was coming and thought it was just some trendy cocktail, and then you hand them a shot of straight pickle juice…

Adi Soozin: You’d get so many spit takes! You’d have to stand like four feet back with a poncho. Or better yet, a full parka.

Ethan Boivie: Why am I the one wearing the parka?

Adi Soozin: Because they’re going to be spitting at you! Whoever’s filming needs to be geared up too—hazmat suit optional.

Ethan Boivie: That’s true. It’s the anti-Pepsi Challenge. But back to the original one—in the ’80s, Pepsi ran a campaign where they blindfolded people and had them taste Pepsi vs. Coke. Two out of three picked Pepsi. It wasn’t rigged. It was legit.

Adi Soozin: But it didn’t work the way they hoped, right?

Ethan Boivie: Right. They thought it would blow Coke out of the water—but it didn’t. Sales barely moved. What they eventually realized was that Pepsi tastes sweeter on the first sip—it kind of shocks your taste buds. It’s got that lemon-lime brightness. But for a whole can, people actually preferred the richness and complexity of Coke—rum raisin, vanilla, that kind of thing.

Adi Soozin: Still, it shook up the market. It may not have toppled Coke, but it forced out a lot of smaller cola brands, leaving Pepsi and Coke with nearly the entire market.

Ethan Boivie: Totally. It ran well into the ’90s too—not just the ’80s.

Adi Soozin: I was born at the end of the ’80s. I wouldn’t remember anything that aired when I was still in diapers!

Ethan Boivie: Fair point.

Adi Soozin: So, for anyone who wants to stock your product in their restaurant or store, what’s the best way to reach out?

Ethan Boivie: Easiest way is through our website. The contact info is there. Or just email us at info@antile.com. You can also call the number on the can or the site. (Not my personal number—because we do get those spam calls from Ohio like everyone else…)

Adi Soozin: Wait—you put a phone number on the can? Are you trying to have models chasing after you?

Ethan Boivie: [laughs] Not quite. We picked a number with a 513 area code because it let us spell “elixir” in the digits—like 51-ELIXIR-89. It was the only area code where we could make that work.

Adi Soozin: Clever. Branding goals.

Ethan Boivie: And of course, we’re active on social media too, especially for people in marketing who want to collaborate.

Adi Soozin: Love it. Thanks for coming on the show—and for making me laugh during my intro. That’s never happened before. Like a true older brother vibe. I’ll allow it.

Ethan Boivie: Thanks so much for having me. I’ve actually been watching your other episodes. I saw the one with Steve… uh—

Adi Soozin: Benenati.

Ethan Boivie: Yes! I could tell he really shaped your journey. He said he was humbled by your praise, but didn’t remember the specific moment. It got me thinking about how asymmetric those interactions are. One person says something small and forgets it, but for the other person, it’s life-changing.

Adi Soozin: Exactly.

Ethan Boivie: I’ve been on both sides. People have thanked me for things I don’t even remember saying—and vice versa. When I left the ad agency to go to business school in Spain, I was heading the employee resource council there—focusing on diversity and culture. As I was leaving, someone who barely knew me stood up and said I’d had a huge impact on his life. It totally caught me off guard.

Adi Soozin: Wow.

Ethan Boivie: It was a reminder: Always be kind and helpful. People remember those things, even if you don’t. That’s when it hit me—you can actually mathematically model karma.

Adi Soozin: Oh no. And here we go—this is when people start getting lost because Ethan’s IQ is in the top 0.01%.

Ethan Boivie: [laughs] I’m serious. You can create a model based on inputs, behaviors, effects—and map the secondary and tertiary impact over time.

Adi Soozin: So you’re saying we could calculate our karma score?

Ethan Boivie: In theory—yes. I’ve worked with mathematicians who could formalize it. We’ve outlined the structure. Someone else can write the code.

Adi Soozin: I’d love an app for that: “Was I nice enough today? Did I earn my karma points?”

Ethan Boivie: There’s definitely a market for that.

Adi Soozin: So back to Steve—his wife runs the most upscale restaurant in this tiny beach town where Wall Street execs and former pharma CEOs vacation. And every summer, finance students from top schools in NYC would beg to work as servers there. Why? Because they wanted a chance to wait on someone who could change their career—or even just to have Steve look at their résumé.

Ethan Boivie: That’s wild.

Adi Soozin: One guy rented a tiny apartment and commuted from New York just to work there for the summer. He didn’t care about the tips. He wanted Steve to read his résumé. That’s the impact Steve had—whether he remembered it or not.

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Adi Soozin:
Every weekend during the summer, Steve would come down. And by Thursday and Friday, before he arrived, this one college kid—who waited tables at the restaurant—would have every single server proofread his resume. I didn’t even know why Steve was called “The Kingmaker,” I just knew he was. And I knew if I was ever going to work a summer job waiting tables, it had to be at this restaurant.

Eventually, I got my shot.

One day, the dishwasher—the person, not the machine—didn’t show up. The restaurant pooled tips, so it didn’t matter who had the best tables, we all split everything. Naturally, no one wanted to wash dishes. But I just looked around and said, “My parents sent me on humanitarian missions to Haiti, Bolivia, and Cuba. I’ve literally walked into remote villages, been handed a needle and scissors, and asked to operate on a dirt floor to remove masses from someone’s head. Washing dishes is not going to kill me.”

So I rolled up my sleeves and did it. All I had to do was load and unload the machine—it wasn’t a big deal. Steve and Sandre weren’t there that day, but word got back to them. A few days later, Steve wrote me a letter. He said,
“You’re a type-A go-getter. You’re solutions-oriented. You belong in the entrepreneurial world. I heard you’re studying biochemistry—that’s not where someone with your brain and drive belongs. You belong building something bigger.”
And I was like, Oh my God. I got a letter from the Kingmaker.

That letter changed everything.

Back at college, I took an internship as a model for a guerrilla marketing agency. I wasn’t supposed to talk—just wear the clothes. One day, I noticed someone asking sketchy questions while the designer was fitting a dress on me. After they left, I asked the designer a few questions of my own.
I said, “Do you think she could be scoping you out for intellectual property theft?”
She was a brilliant marketer and artist—but she had zero legal background. I had grown up hearing enough of my parents’ business litigation stories to recognize the signs. That one question saved her. She later told me it protected her from a major IP issue.

After that, she pulled me into other projects—Porsche, Whole Foods, Target, Disney. Those experiences are what got Apple in Italy to say, “We want her running one of our stores.” That’s how I became the youngest person to run an Apple store—and broke Steve Jobs’ performance record.

If Steve hadn’t written me that letter—if he hadn’t taken the time to redirect me—I never would’ve taken that internship. Everything else would’ve fallen apart.

That’s why he’s called The Kingmaker. He sees people—usually in their late teens or early 20s—and he just knows:
“You’re going to get frustrated over there. But you’ll thrive over here.”
And then he says it out loud.

That restaurant? Every summer, you’d see the most overqualified 18- to 22-year-olds scrambling to get jobs waiting tables—just for the chance to meet him. He literally changes lives.

There was this other girl who was about to go run a boutique fashion business. Steve told her, “Go to Goldman Sachs instead. Just give it two years.” She did—and now she’s one of the key decision-makers for which startups get funding between New York and California.

So yeah, I completely agree with you—these little moments do change people’s lives.

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Adi Soozin:
I was getting so frustrated with cranking out all these shorts for consulting—twenty a week. I just didn’t want to do it anymore. Then, last night, my best friend from when I was eight sent me a screenshot. She said, “Your marketing videos are popping up on my computer here in Seattle—and I’ve never searched your name.”

That was all the motivation I needed.

Sometimes, it only takes one message, one person, one comment—especially when you’re at a low point. You never know when someone needs that moment of encouragement.

Like this morning—when I told you: “You are a demigod. You’re a badass. I’m only your wingwoman because I know exactly what you’re capable of. So go put on your suit and get on camera.”

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Ethan Boivie:
Time flew. I thought we were only 15 minutes in, and you’re like, “We’re wrapping up.” I didn’t even get to ask you the probing questions!

Adi Soozin:
Let’s go. Ask away. Interrogations welcomed.

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Ethan Boivie:
Okay—one random one. We’ve both been trained in dance, which I find is surprisingly common among business school peers. What was your dance background like?

Adi Soozin:
Ah, the Russian ballet story?

Ethan Boivie:
Yes, tell that one!

Adi Soozin:
Okay, so no one really knows how I got into ballet. My parents were hardcore skiers. When I was six months old, they had me in a backpack skiing down the mountains in Vail, Colorado. This was the ’80s—so no one questioned why a baby was strapped to someone skiing moguls.

Apparently, they’d take the gondola up, my mom would feed me, I’d defrost and cuddle into her, and then they’d strap me in and ski down. I don’t even know how this contraption worked, but I still have all my limbs—so something went right.

They didn’t even have to burp me—just took me over the moguls. The mountain burped me.
Raised by moguls… literally.

And with that perfect young-parent logic, they decided that by next winter, I’d be skiing on my own. So at 18 months, they signed me up for ballet—not because I wanted to dance, but because they thought if I was surrounded by girls who could walk and move, I’d be pressured into walking faster. And it worked.

By 18 months, I was walking—and skiing.

Later, my dad (a commercial architect) started working on churches and synagogues, and some of them wanted live performances before the services. Suddenly, I was the introverted daughter being thrown onstage to dance in front of 4,000 people. And my mom? She wouldn’t warn me. It would be Saturday at lunch and she’d go, “You’re performing tonight.”

“Wait—what?! In front of who?!”

Didn’t matter. I was dancing.

They thought I was handling it well, so they kept upping the ante. (Pun intended… Anti… like your platform.)
So yeah—my dance journey wasn’t exactly normal, but it built a lot of what I now use as a founder. Performance. Pressure. Poise. Resilience.

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Ethan Boivie: The abstract designs were fantastic. I have the original art piece — it’ll hang in a museum one day.

Adi Soozin: Naturally. You also got to witness why all parents have a set of “nice clothes” their kids never see… and “mommy” or “daddy” clothes that are already ruined — because we know they’ll just get ruined again.

Adi Soozin: Anyway, what was the other thing you wanted to chat about?

Ethan Boivie:

Adi Soozin: Come on — tell me.

Ethan Boivie: I was just thinking about something mildly amusing. You wanted me to talk about rocket science, but the truth is, I wasn’t the one building the rockets. Most of it was sitting in front of a computer, making sure GPS data was being sent out correctly to the world.

Ethan Boivie: So if your phone maps aren’t working — that’s not a GPS problem. Just update your app.

Adi Soozin: Right!

Ethan Boivie: But yeah, when the rockets launched, that was a fun day. Sometimes we worked with NASA. We were consultants, making sure everything flew correctly.

Ethan Boivie: One time NASA was launching a couple of rovers to Mars. We were ready — standing by, prepped to collect anomaly data, double-check things. But NASA said, “No, we don’t need you on this one.” So we stepped back.

Ethan Boivie: Then they launched… and encountered anomalies they couldn’t explain. They called us like, “Uh, we’ve got another launch next month. Can you help with that one?”

Ethan Boivie: So, we did. And—maybe just coincidence—but that rover had far fewer problems and sent back a ton more data over a much longer life.

Adi Soozin: Incredible.

Ethan Boivie: Once we get a few of our math PhD friends to code karma, we’ll be able to track that kind of thing, right?

Adi Soozin: Yeah. But my favorite is when someone says, “No thanks, I don’t need marketing help. I bought a book.”

Adi Soozin: I smile and say, “Great — have fun.”

Adi Soozin: Then three months later, they show up saying, “I spent all my marketing budget and didn’t make a dollar. Can you help?”

Adi Soozin: And I have to say, “Now you want my help — but you can’t afford me anymore.” It’s a great cycle.

Ethan Boivie: You never know when something you do will actually be life-changing for someone.

Adi Soozin: Exactly.

Adi Soozin: Last year, I was almost the target of a very serious bullying incident — like, dangerous. The kind of bully people wonder, “How is she not in jail yet?”

Adi Soozin: One of the most powerful people in that organization — literally the most powerful — walked in, saw what was about to happen, and sat down next to me, completely derailing it.

Adi Soozin: A few months later, she came down with a rare chest infection. No one knew what to do.

Adi Soozin: Guess who had triacetyl erodine in their med kit?

Ethan Boivie: No way.

Adi Soozin: I handed her the compound, and it literally drained the fluid from her lungs so she could return to her international campaign. You just never know who you’re helping — or when they’ll save your life in return.

Ethan Boivie: That’s amazing.

Adi Soozin: It really is. But there’s no way you could’ve coded that. The data table would’ve needed a million variables to predict that exact chain of events.

Ethan Boivie: True. But hey, yesterday I didn’t know how to code karma — today, I do.

Adi Soozin: So… any final thoughts you want to throw out there?

Ethan Boivie: Nah, that’s plenty for now. This was amazing — thank you.

Adi Soozin: And thank you — for coming on the show, for being my bodyguard at every event I was too afraid to attend alone, for walking with me to get a drink when creepy people were at the bar, and for letting me hide behind you every time I didn’t feel safe. That’s what mature adults do, right?

Ethan Boivie: Obviously.

Adi Soozin: Some people call me “the sleeping dragon,” but Ethan knows me as the little sister who hides behind him.

Adi Soozin: Meanwhile, others see me as the fierce dragon in the corner who refuses to let anything break her.

Adi Soozin: But this — this is the dragon I hide behind.

Adi Soozin: Okay, bye ANTI. We’ll see you online or at some epic party Ethan drags us into.

Ethan Boivie: She recorded it… It’ll be online soon… or something. Random stuff.

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