March 16, 2026

Mark Rampolla: From Peace Corps Volunteer to Entrepreneurial Visionary (Part 1)

What shapes the mindset of a successful entrepreneur? In this episode of No Wrong Choices, we explore the early career journey of Mark Rampolla, the entrepreneur behind ZICO Coconut Water, co-founder of Ground Force Capital, and author of An Entrepreneur's Guide to Freedom: 7 Steps to Living Beyond Limits. Long before building a global beverage brand, Mark’s path included a working-class childhood in Pittsburgh, an unexpected decision to join the Peace Corps, and the experience of navigating ...

What shapes the mindset of a successful entrepreneur?

In this episode of No Wrong Choices, we explore the early career journey of Mark Rampolla, the entrepreneur behind ZICO Coconut Water, co-founder of Ground Force Capital, and author of An Entrepreneur's Guide to Freedom: 7 Steps to Living Beyond Limits.

Long before building a global beverage brand, Mark’s path included a working-class childhood in Pittsburgh, an unexpected decision to join the Peace Corps, and the experience of navigating elite business school while battling imposter syndrome.

Mark shares how those formative experiences shaped his approach to leadership, resilience, and self-discovery. From learning how to operate far outside his comfort zone in Costa Rica to recognizing the creative power of an ADHD mind, his story offers powerful lessons about understanding yourself and charting your own path.

In this episode, Mark discusses:

Growing up in Pittsburgh and the early influences that shaped his worldview
How joining the Peace Corps helped him build resilience and independence
Navigating imposter syndrome while attending Duke’s MBA program
The role ADHD played in shaping his creativity and entrepreneurial mindset
Why sometimes the best career opportunities come from creating your own path

Mark’s story reminds us that the most meaningful career journeys rarely follow a straight line — and that understanding who you are may be the most powerful advantage of all.

Listen now to Part 1 of Mark Rampolla’s fascinating career journey.

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00:00 - Early Reflections On Belonging

01:30 - Welcome And Mark Rampola Introduction

03:05 - Investor As Player Coach

06:40 - How Zico Made Coconut Water Mainstream

08:50 - Pittsburgh Childhood And Family Influences

14:10 - Faith Pressure And Business Guilt

16:25 - ADHD And Learning By Immersion

18:55 - Peace Corps Costa Rica And Boredom

28:15 - Resilience Takeaways And Choosing Duke

31:55 - Imposter Syndrome And Coping Tools

38:30 - Creative Rhythm And Zones Of Genius

41:55 - Rejections Then Building His Own Search

47:55 - Part One Wrap And Subscribe

WEBVTT

00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:08.640
I can look back and realize growing up there was God, Jesus, and my dad.

00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:12.640
And I wasn't measuring up to anyway.

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I can look back and see, oh my god, I was terrified.

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Imposter syndrome coming straight out of the bush into Duke where people are coming out of Wall Street.

00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:27.280
I'm coming out of like a dirt path.

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I was totally intimidated.

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This guy said, now let me just understand this.

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You had a job at IBM during college, and you left that to join the Peace Corps?

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Why would you do that?

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And it wasn't curiosity, it was he had a judgment in his mind.

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I look back, that was a transformative period because I gave myself space.

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And the power of that space of boredom.

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You know, I used to think that was a terrible word.

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Now I understand the power of just getting the mind grown.

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When I launched this brand in 2004, there were at the time billions of coconut trees around the world, all planted mainly for the meat, the oil, the cream, and the byproducts.

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The water was literally thrown away.

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Hello and welcome to the Career Journey podcast, No Wrong Choices.

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I'm Larry Samuels, and I'll be joined in just a moment by Tushar Saxena and Larry Shea.

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This episode features the inspiring entrepreneur Mark Rampola, who's known for founding Zico Coconut Water and well beyond.

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Before Mark joins us, please be sure to subscribe, like, or follow No Wrong Choices wherever you're listening right now.

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Your support helps us to keep bringing these great stories to life.

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Let's get started.

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Now joining No Wrong Choices is Mark Rampola.

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Mark is the co-founder and managing partner of Ground Force Capital, which invests in companies that transform how people live, eat, and take care of themselves.

00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:29.039
Before that, he founded Zico Coconut Water and is the author of a great book titled An Entrepreneur's Guide to Freedom, which literally personifies everything we do on this program, which is learning how to get the most out of your personal and professional journeys.

00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:30.560
Mark, thank you so much for joining us.

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Thanks, Larry.

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I'm great that I'm really grateful to be here.

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I've enjoyed listening to the show.

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And I and I just love the concept and title.

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And I think we'll get into why soon enough.

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Yeah.

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You know, it's I I've had the, but we've we have the book.

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Thank you for for sharing it with us.

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I I've poured through it, and I literally can't put this thing down.

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Um, you know, for different reasons, it it connects with me very, very strongly.

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So thank you for for putting that together.

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Thank you.

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That means the world to me.

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I appreciate that.

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Hey, uh, so Mark, before we kind of get into the your story a little bit, um, the one thing I kind of want to ask you is you know, after having a chance to kind of read through your book, and then obviously we did our own research on you, um maybe it's the wrong time to ask this question, but I really I still kind of want to ask is that do you see yourself more as a life coach at this point or just a guy who is an entrepreneur, a guy who just understands how to like lead entrepreneurs?

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Yeah.

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Oh, great cray, great, great question.

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I mean, look, I I love my life and career, and I get to dabble in a lot of different ways.

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I I find myself falling into the coaching role quite a bit as an investor, board member, leader on my my team and with entrepreneurs.

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And you know, anybody that's been through entrepreneurship know it's brutal, man.

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It's tough.

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And so it takes uh it takes a lot of support around you.

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So yeah, I spend a lot of my time sort of in many ways working on the personal things with entrepreneurs, where they get stuck, where they get trapped, their patterns, because those are the things that usually stand between, you know, uh failure or average success and extraordinary success is is is what's what's it is the inside job.

00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:12.159
All right.

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So, Mark, um, you know, and the one thing we always ask of all of our guests is normally kind of to describe a little bit of who they are.

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Now, obviously, I just asked you a question about whether or not you're a life coach or just a guy who leads entrepreneurs, but I guess the real question is, so Mark, what is it that you exactly do?

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Yeah, so my my the way I like to think about it is my my day job, my my main focus is I run this investment firm or co-run it with my partner.

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And our objective is to find, fund, and support entrepreneurs that are building what we believe are brands and businesses that are going to lead the future of health and wellness, predominantly food, beverage, beauty, uh brands like that.

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And so what that means in practicality is a lot of time with talking to entrepreneurs, you know, ones that we're considering, looking at, backing, have backed.

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And so, you know, I spend a lot of my day, you know, kind of kind of working with leaders and how they lead.

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And so, yeah, I wind up playing a lot of coaching uh role role, but I consider it sort of a player coach.

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I like being on the field.

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I like that.

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I like being in the game.

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I'm not ready to hang up my cleats and just advise from the sidelines.

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I love it.

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Larry Shea here.

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Thank you, Mark, for joining us.

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We really, really appreciate that uh you joining us and giving us so much of your time.

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Um, have you always been this inspirational?

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Because that's what I get from the book.

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Like I just want to run through a wall or something, man.

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Like that's what I get out of it.

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Thanks, Larry.

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I really appreciate that.

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Um, I think the simple answer is probably no.

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You know, like when I think back, I know you're a big sports fan, you know.

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What I I'll I'll share one little story with you.

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I'm kind of looking back on my life and remembering, I in some ways, I guess I was a somewhat of a leader.

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I remember like basketball, high school basketball.

00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:05.839
At best, I was six man.

00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:07.759
I was always a good six-man.

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But I one of the one of the proudest awards I ever won in my life was a Mr.

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Hustle World award.

00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:13.199
Oh, yeah.

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Because I I you know, I did, I would run through walls for for my teammates.

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And it's funny you use that phrase, Larry, because that's the phrase we used at Zika.

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We want people that will run through walls for the brand, for us, for the culture to get things done, whatever it takes.

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And so I I look for that.

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I love it.

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And um, you know, whether I inspire people or not, that's on them.

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I can't control that, right?

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I I kind of am who I am.

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If they take inspiration from that, great.

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I'll I'm I'll I'll take advantage of that if I can.

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Love it, love it.

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I know we're gonna talk a lot about Zico um and your many other accomplishments, but just for the people who are familiar, tell us what what Zico is.

00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:57.519
Yeah, so Zico is um is a coconut water brand.

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I happen to have one right here.

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There's a go.

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Perfect.

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Um, so yeah, that there's um, you know, I I I I'll get we'll get back to the story.

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But basically, when I launched this brand in 2004, there was really, you know, there were at the time billions of coconut trees around the world, all planted mainly for the meat, the oil, the cream, and the byproducts.

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The water was literally thrown away.

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And yet it's a super high um electrolyte content beverage that's known and loved, had been known and loved about in the tropical worlds, but we were one of the first ones to bring it to the states and make it sort of mainstream, available for consumers everywhere.

00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:39.920
So now Zeke uh coconut water is an $8 billion global category.

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Zika was one of the largest brands in the U.S.

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I sold it to Coca-Cola, and then uh they kind of had a didn't do it justice.

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So we bought it back through my firm.

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So we're giving it another run.

00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:52.000
Fantastic.

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That's amazing.

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What a great is amazing.

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We're gonna we're gonna dig into this story for sure because it's just too good, too good.

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Um, I get the fun part.

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I get to bring you back to young Mark uh running around a Pittsburgh neighborhood, I imagine.

00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:07.839
And uh, what was the dream?

00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:09.600
What was your childhood like?

00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:16.560
Did it shape your dreams, or were you just uh a kid who kind of had no idea what you would accomplish later in life?

00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.079
Oh, great question, Larry.

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Both.

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I was a kid that didn't have a clue what I would do later in life, and I was running around having fun.

00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:36.799
So I was the youngest of six kids, grew up in a suburb south south hills of Pittsburgh, an area called Baldwin, which was, you know, very working class, uh, for sure.

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And um, but it was it was great, like you know, literally running around like during the weekends and nights and summers and vacations, I would just go off right to the woods to play basketball with friends, to run around, get in trouble, do whatever.

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And how those days are over, right?

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Right, right.

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I believe that life is totally over.

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Now, I will say this as well amazing.

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And I, you know, I don't I wouldn't say I was raised by wolves, but you know, when I when I look at the influences around me as a young kid, yeah, my parents, you know, I I'd like to be a little bit more.

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I I was a lot more aware and conscious with my kids.

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My parents, I think, after having five kids, were like, whatever, just stay alone.

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As long as you don't die, right?

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As long as you don't kill yourself here in the world.

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The things I learned about what it means to be a man or a guy, right?

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From my brother's older friends who were knuckleheads, you know what I mean?

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Like, but but I I look back and laugh, but I I I had a great, great childhood.

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I mean, God, did I I I did, I can tell you for sure, I wanted to be a truck, a truck driver at some point.

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That was like big trucks, wow, it's like you know, I don't know what age I think.

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Very Pittsburgh, it's a very Pittsburgh thing, right?

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Might be uh might be an artist.

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Um, you know, uh God, I can't even remember.

00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:11.759
I like it, it just wasn't nobody talked about careers or you know, going to college was a pretty big deal in my uh my community.

00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:17.759
So, you know, but it was a great um great childhood, you know, no complaints.

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What did your parents do?

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Yeah, my this is this is interesting.

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My dad was a uh nuclear physicist.

00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.000
No way, I didn't get that gene.

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I didn't get that gene.

00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:31.120
Um no way.

00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:42.159
But he was uh yeah, he grew up in New York, um, college at Notre Dame, straight through to his PhD, and then got a job in Pittsburgh for um in nuclear power.

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Um, and so he spent his entire career there.

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He did decide at one point he was against nuclear power for defense.

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So he went, he he had been on the defense side, he went to the commercial side, and uh, you know, but he never, you know, he was a brilliant, brilliant guy.

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But you know, for someone that could split the atom, you know, he he was like had talk about ambition, no career ambition at all.

00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:14.159
Got basically the first job, he was an engineer, you know, basically never managed anyone his entire career.

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His entire career.

00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:18.000
What drove him?

00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:18.879
I'm curious.

00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.200
Yeah, wow, that's a great question.

00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.679
Um, so and I'll come back to my mom too.

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He was um he was driven by um early in his career, I would say, math and science.

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He wanted to understand, he wanted to solve.

00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.919
I do think he, you know, I talked to him about this.

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He was certainly influenced by the you know, sort of anti-communist rhetoric, the red, you know, scare and blah, blah, blah.

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And that he was part of, you know, saving, you know, humanity in a way.

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So that there was some ambition, you know, some sort of drive for him there.

00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:58.000
But interestingly, over time, what motivated him most was being a good Catholic.

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He was very, very Catholic, almost an activist Catholic, like like his view was my both of my parents, Jesus is a radical.

00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:14.799
He, you know, so so you got to get out there and protest, you gotta fight, you gotta support the poor, you gotta do all these things.

00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:16.399
Beautiful, beautiful upbringing.

00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:21.360
But I'll get to, you know, kind of how the pros and cons, how that influenced me in my life.

00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.879
But it was a beautiful um that that really motivated him.

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And so, you know, and I my mom was a potter and uh uh a counselor and a religious directions, you know, person.

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And so, you know, a little bit late later in life, I definitely know she she had a little bit of resentment about my dad not sort of dedicating himself more to finances and you know, building their own security in a way.

00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.679
Your your experience and my experience probably growing up was a little similar.

00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:50.960
My father was also a scientist.

00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:51.840
My father was a chemist.

00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:53.200
My father was a chemist.

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My mother, uh, my mother a retired, now a retired psychologist.

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So uh my father actually did go the route of trying to trying to become an entrepreneur himself.

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Um, but yes, the gene of uh the gene of uh too sure of being a chemist did not rub off on me either.

00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:13.840
And he was actually also a physicist, a physicist as well.

00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.879
So uh my father was you know super, super smart.

00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.639
I obviously did not get that gene.

00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:24.879
Um how much of an influence did you see do you see now, years later, that your parents put upon you?

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Obviously, you said you know your father was not motivated to look at the finances as a young man.

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But your mother, your mother, yeah, your mother had I wouldn't say resentment, but maybe she she felt that should have been uh an emphasis more as a young man.

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How do you feel that that shaped you?

00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:43.679
Oh boy, uh great, great common question there.

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Like, so boy, what I would say is I I used to think that up until after I sold Zeko, I would have said pretty consistently, you know, I'm motivated, I am, I am inspired by my parents to make a positive impact in the world.

00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:10.320
And and whatever that whatever that be, that's what I'm supposed to do.

00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:12.480
I'm supposed to do that.

00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:20.480
And that the influence or the drive to make money, be successful, that's all society, right?

00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:21.600
That's all society.

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That's what's driving me.

00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.840
And I was in turmoil for many years.

00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:45.679
I actually look back and realize that my father was an extraordinary powerful influence on me, and it wasn't uh always positive for me, for me, and everybody has their different experiences of this, but I can look back and realize growing up there was God, Jesus, and my dad.

00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:50.799
And I wasn't measuring up to any of them, you know.

00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:55.440
And so I I now big shoes, yeah, yeah.

00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:14.240
I was look, I I was um, I had a I had a rebellious streak, I had a troublesome streak, I had an adventurous streak, and I did some things in my life that you know I'm sure my parents would not have been very proud of, you know.

00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:15.840
But that's me, right?

00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:19.360
And I was human, I was young and I was doing this, but and that's life.

00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:23.120
But I had that conflict, like, ooh, am I really living up?

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Am I really living up?

00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:31.840
So in some ways I felt guilty about my drive for business, my drive for entrepreneurship, like like it was a flaw in some ways.

00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.320
I did.

00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:38.480
I finally came to terms with that and and can see it for what it is now, but that took a lot of work, a lot of a lot of work.

00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:39.840
That's so fascinating.

00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:41.840
Um, I'm just so curious.

00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:47.679
You know, we all have this image of successful entrepreneur and like what that represents.

00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:53.120
And some of it is intelligence, coming up with a brilliant idea and executing it and learning and growing.

00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.279
Were you a good student growing up?

00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:02.559
Or is that you weren't book smart, but you just had other ways of kind of guile and getting by and and getting great ideas?

00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:18.000
Yeah, I was decently book smart, but you know, what what I remember growing up was I would I would tutor friends of mine regularly, and and their parents and and my parents all thought I was pretty smart.

00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.360
But then what when the tests would come back, they would fail.

00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.000
Oh no, they all got D's.

00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:37.200
I remember this one one friend of mine, her parents saying, Wait, wait a second, you you tutor our daughter in math or chemistry, whatever it was, and she did better than you.

00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:38.240
Like, how does that happen?

00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.240
And I I only I didn't realize until way later I had ADHD.

00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:48.080
And so, you know, I I I I and honestly, I didn't think I was very smart for years.

00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:52.559
I didn't because I'm like, well, well, I think I'm decently smart.

00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:56.320
I I I can understand these concepts, but the tests certainly don't show it.

00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.960
You know, my grades don't show it, you know.

00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:08.799
I also learned like when I first went to um Central America with a Peace Corps, you know, man, I I think I took three years of high school Spanish.

00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:14.480
I couldn't tell you the difference between cuando, when, and cuanto, how much I couldn't.

00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.960
I don't learn that way.

00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:24.000
I don't, but then when I was there, I'm totally fluent in in Spanish, and I became fluent from being on the ground, immersion.

00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.039
That's the way I learn.

00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:30.960
And so, you know, that's one of the things I write about in the book, the importance of getting to know yourself, right?

00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.039
Oh, okay, this is how I learn.

00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:33.920
That's okay.

00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:35.680
There's nothing wrong with that.

00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:36.640
It's beautiful, right?

00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:39.279
Now play to my strengths for how I learn, you know.

00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:41.440
But that took me a long time, long time.

00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:44.079
And it's one of the most important things for all of us to learn.

00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:46.079
Uh, to your point, I learn by doing.

00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:48.319
I don't learn by reading, I learn by doing.

00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:53.759
I can, but I I do much better when immersed in the real thing.

00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:55.440
You mentioned the Peace Corps.

00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.200
Take us to the Peace Corps.

00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:00.079
How did you how did that wind up on your radar screen?

00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:01.759
What were your passions that took you there?

00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:06.240
Yeah, look, I think I think I I'd be certainly that was uh an influence from my parents.

00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:12.240
Although my parents were an older generation than you know, the the the the force peace corps generation.

00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:30.640
That sort of mindset was, I'd say um applicable, you know, in my in my family was hey, you know, um be socially responsible, you know, be active, you know, contribute to the community, all those things, give back in many ways.

00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:37.359
And so that was in my mind, as was um uh, you know, sort of the developing world.

00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:40.960
Like it was literally dinner table conversation when I was growing up.

00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.279
What was happening in Central America?

00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:51.440
Well, the US is is invading Guatemala or supporting this regime, and you know, the Jesuits were killed in El Salvador.

00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:58.000
Well, it was a dinner table conversation because my parents wanted us to learn and and they had a certain point of view.

00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:03.920
Um, it was America magazine, if you've heard of that, the Jesuit magazine around the house, you know.

00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.400
So that sort of mindset was there.

00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:10.880
Yet I went to college, you know, for for liberal arts, but also for business.

00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:17.680
And I remember going to a career fair and seeing lots of booths of different companies.

00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:23.519
And this is in the Midwest, so it was you know, Alan Bradley and Ford and whatever else.

00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:24.799
Which school?

00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.960
Was that oh Mark Heck and was Mark Heck, got it?

00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:44.000
And yeah, and you know, and I I interviewed for a few of those companies and actually had a good job during college at IBM, so I I could get a good job, but I also didn't tick a lot of the boxes, and my grades weren't that great, frankly.

00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:50.400
Um, and so I remember I remember going by the P by you know, looking at all these companies.

00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:52.319
I'm dressed up in a suit and tie, whatever.

00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:56.640
There's a little Peace Corps booth, like a table, like a card table with a little.

00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:01.279
And I remember saying to the young woman that was there, you guys don't almost walk past it.

00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.720
I turn around, came back, and I said, You don't have business programs, do you?

00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:06.640
And she said, Yeah, actually, actually we do.

00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:08.000
We have two sorts of programs.

00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.480
One are sort of small business development programs.

00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:15.839
We also have this whole program that's emerging with um with Eastern Bloc, right?

00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:18.799
This is right soon after the the fall of the Berlin Wall.

00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.400
So yeah, we have business programs.

00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.680
And I'm like, well, my God, this could be incredible, you know.

00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:28.799
So so I I can thought about it, researched it, and and I applied.

00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:37.279
And back then, and I think it's probably the same, yeah, unless you have a real specialty, um, and you know, fresh out of college, I really didn't.

00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:42.240
You you you put in your application and you go where they send you, right?

00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.680
Or you get you get an opportunity where wherever it might be.

00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:51.279
I didn't know if it was going to be, you know, South Pacific or Africa or wherever, and it wound up being Costa Rica.

00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:55.279
It was the now pre-pre-ziplines in four seasons, right?

00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:59.839
It's still uh not uh beautiful, beautiful place.

00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:02.240
So, what was the experience like in Costa Rica for you?

00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.000
And how old were you at this point?

00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:08.319
Oh well, I'd be 21, you know, fresh out of college.

00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:14.720
Um oh it was it was incredible and difficult at times, you know.

00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:17.920
I I they they they they run a good program.

00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:35.759
So so you know, there's an orientation for a week or so, and then everybody has to, at least this is the way it was, then everybody has to live with a family during three months of training, and the training is language and culture and the skills you're gonna use in your field.

00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:42.480
And so I remember day one, you know, I'm dropped off, and there's a family that's taking me.

00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:44.480
I don't speak like I speak nothing.

00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:46.240
You don't know Quando from Quanto?

00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:47.519
No.

00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.920
And I'm sitting there, they're feeding me, they're trying to talk to me.

00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.880
I feel like my head is gonna explode.

00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:58.000
And I just couldn't wait to get to bed.

00:21:58.000 --> 00:23:58.720
But I'm looking around like I have a bedroom and it's a teeny house and there's a mother father two kids a a nephew and a grandmother and I'm like where there's one bathroom like where do the where do they sleep right somehow they all it took me I didn't know until like days later how they'd organized themselves because they always let me have the room and have the bathroom and sort of get my sleep and the next morning I I I wake up and I start you know learning Spanish you know learning little by little it was an incredible experience and then after those three months I moved to a town that's supposed to be my site where I'm assigned to a uh to a local bank a uh cooperative and I'm supposed to run a little loan program and you know kind of figure out how to be valuable how to be helpful and and it was it was tough it was I I definitely struggled with a little bit of depression for the first time in my life like what the hell am I doing like where what am I what's called or was it or was it just homesickness yeah good good question I mean I mean definitely not clinical depression right you were homesick and yeah yeah beyond just homesick as well because I will say it's the first time in my life I started to have sort of an existential crisis like what the fuck am I doing and what's this all about like because I had time on my hands right I I was actually bored at times I read a ton I started journaling and it became I look back that was a transformative period because I gave myself space and the power of that space of boredom you know I used to think that was a terrible word now I understand the power of just letting the mind roam right um and dealing with whatever comes up sadness, anger whatever the feelings are they're they're there.

00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:03.440
I love that because emotion is such a big part of your book which we're going to talk a lot more about.

00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:16.799
You know, in our experience doing this this show, No Wrong Choices, people who travel tend to be more open, more adventurous, more ready to conquer whatever comes in front of them, whatever they need to accomplish.

00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:20.400
But I I just don't want to skip this part because I know it's big.

00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.480
You asked the Peace Corps table if they had business.

00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:33.119
So the dream of being a businessman and an entrepreneur had clearly sparked at that point and now you're starting to put all those pieces together.

00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:34.240
Is that how it happened?

00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:57.039
It is it is very good point Larry that that that took me some time but I think and I'd be hard pressed to remember like when that first clicked for me I'll go back to high school and tell you you know I thought back of this so so deeply but the best thing I can remember is that the the most sort of successful business person I remember growing up was Mr.

00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:10.880
Daley was a wonderful wonderful man that I think he would have been the the Maxwell House coffee sales rep for Southwestern Pittsburgh at Pennsylvania right it's like he's a sales rep, right?

00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:22.240
But just just a little bit nicer he was also very social he's a sociable guy a little nicer home a little nicer car right and there was something there that was like intriguing to me.

00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:37.039
And then but I remember up until right before college I went to college I wanted to do physical therapy because I had a crush on a hot young you know woman in in the in the physical therapy I had a human football.

00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:38.160
Totally valid.

00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:44.319
Right and then so some now what how did I shift from physical therapy to business?

00:25:44.319 --> 00:26:19.599
I don't know it's probably realizing like to get the girl I probably need money you know honestly when I look back I I'm comfortable owning now so much of my early only early life so much of my life has been motivated by you know uh by a desire to sort of impress and get and enter women in a way so you'd be surprised how many of our guests that has been a motivation for them but I will I'll make I'll give you a little parallel that's to to some stuff I talk about in my book.

00:26:19.599 --> 00:27:21.279
I can remember vividly being 15 and um one summer seeing a girl that I really liked that I think was probably a couple years older than me and I'm like you know what I can't drive like I don't have a shot when I'm 16 oh man I'm gonna get the girls I'm gonna get the girls I'm gonna get the girls and then I'm 16 it's like well you know what I'm not 18 yet you know and then at 18 it's like I'm not 21 I'm not and and I remember at some point realizing oh my God is this the way it happens forever right like there there's always this next you keep coming up with something some excuse some limiting belief some barrier to living life now going for what you want now and so uh that's uh that's many many ways well you clearly learned how to push through yeah shape you yeah so the Peace Corps what did that set you up for?

00:27:21.599 --> 00:28:25.920
I I guess what was you what was your primary takeaway from that experience and what did that set you up for wow good question Larry let's see my primary takeaway is was um I can be and I am a self-contained person a self-contained entity that can figure out how to live a life in anywhere in any situation I can figure out how to be happy or fulfilled in any situation and it's not about money because I made 186 bucks a month and and that oh my god I would never trade that for the world never so I I can I can figure it out and what that served me is unbelievable because I think it began the creation of resilience.

00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:44.960
Another word I love for this is imperturbable the ability to just be calm in the storm just to figure things out because then after the Peace Corps I backpacked around Central America for a couple months with a few bucks in my pocket you know and just camped or hiked or did whatever.

00:28:44.960 --> 00:29:19.839
And so I think that that experience began laid the foundation for me to be able to step into a new job meet a customer or a supplier meet someone and and fit just figure out how to how to be me you know how to be me and that that that wound up being really incredible for my career pre-entrepreneurship and certainly in entrepreneurship so what was the next step after from Peace Corps to backpacking?

00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:45.279
Yeah what was the next step right after that so I still I still at that time was under the illusion that uh corporations run the world the real power the real money the real influences in corporations and the way to get a corporate job is an MBA and but I felt guilt looking back I can see I felt a little bit guilty about doing only an MBA given my sort of family background.

00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:50.480
And I also had a real interest in the environment in the environment Costa Rica has beautiful natural resources.

00:29:50.480 --> 00:30:31.839
I spent a lot of time doing projects and that so I decided I want to do a joint MBA and environmental management degrees but I also believed that that might help differentiate me to get me into a better MBA program because it wasn't just an MBA I wasn't competing head to head with just that so so I I but I I didn't have you know I had no money and applications were expensive you know there were 50 bucks or whatever which is like you know almost half of my month's salary I applied to one one school one school Duke and I was a basketball you know faint fanatic grow up growing up I loved Duke and so I thought look if I get into Duke I go if I don't I figure out something else and I and I got in.

00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:36.880
So I went to Duke a joint MBA and and master's of environmental management program.

00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:44.319
That's a heck of a school wouldn't uh because you said your grades weren't that great in college right that that was quite the reach and you got into the reach.

00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:46.880
I can tell you yes and I'll tell you three reasons.

00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:54.400
One is I did finally I like I I I tested well on the standardized test.

00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:56.480
So what is it the GMAT or whatever?

00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:04.319
The GMAT yeah I took that too I remember now second of all there's no question the P score helped.

00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:20.960
I'll tell you other places it didn't help getting certain jobs but I think that was a differentiator and I don't know if it was Larry or Tush that said about about international like not so common back then to have somebody that spoken other language had traveled the way I did so that was a differentiator.

00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:43.680
And I will give credit where it's due um a a very dear friend of mine Alicia Wilson her father was a New York lawyer she was in another volunteer program in uh the same town I was her dad was in town and he was the only person I'd ever met who's like let me tell you about so who are you writing your application for?

00:31:43.680 --> 00:32:07.279
Let me tell you who he is he's 50 years old he's tired it's end of the day tell him a story keep it short big font like know your audience nice so star and boom I'm like okay I can do that and in many ways that started my writing journey was to to like know your know your audience and and be you know intentional about what you're trying to communicate.

00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:11.920
And I think I wrote a great essay I don't even remember what the hell it is but whatever it was it got you in a Duke.

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:21.759
It works I mean that should be in the appendix of the word so let's let's talk about the the pressures of that higher education though.

00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:38.079
I mean you must have been feeling that at this point how did you handle the pressure of that I'm sure it served you well in the business world later on but you must be feeling that and I know just from reading your book and so forth that you are carving out time for meditation for free writing things of this nature.

00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:39.119
How did you cope?

00:32:39.279 --> 00:35:46.400
What were your mechanisms and are you figuring out the tools that are going to literally propel you to the entrepreneurial super stardom later on I mean really God Larry what a question I I uh yes yes yes I I wouldn't have thought about it that way you're you're helping me see it that way though but yeah look I I'll share a couple things I had um I think what people might call um what do they call them like um uh constructive cook coping mechanisms and destructive coping mechanisms right so uh let's talk about the destructive ones first those are the fun ones I drank like a fish you know like a lot of young kids at that time and uh yeah that I can see that was a coping mechanism and not my proudest moments but hey you know I I I did I did that and and that that because I was stressed I can look back and see oh my god I was terrified imposter syndrome coming straight out of the you know bush into you know Duke where people are coming out of Wall Street I'm coming out of like a dirt path I I was totally intimidated you know Jesus um and so um you know this dream school so so yeah um and I um I did also begin to develop um some some more positive coping cook coping mechanisms I think by then I wouldn't have known or said I I was ADHD but I think I knew I needed to organize myself in a certain way and so I got I got I start I started to get organized like really organized okay what's gonna matter what do I need to focus on how do I you know do this workflow I I I found what I was good at and and uh in and so in a lot of teamwork yeah that that that that was beginning the era of sort of a lot of team projects I was a great team member like I just dove in and could do whatever you know whatever I was really great at presenting I was good at you know sort of some of the strategy work but then I wasn't the you know the the finance whiz I wasn't the marketing whiz so so I think I I I think I I was a good team member and I think that helped a lot um and um yeah what else I you know uh there's definitely some parallels to in some foundation laying that served me well later that being said I I'm not the like if if somebody wants to go be a consultant or or um you know honestly in big corporate you know you want to do some big corporate or some consulting type jobs or or maybe investment banking but even that you don't need to MBAs are you know they're not they're not as necessary as they might have been a long time ago right so I have no regrets but I'll look back and say what I really learned the skills I really learned were later and before when I had this job at IBM during college I learned a ton.

00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:51.840
And then my first job after after grad school, man, I learned a ton.

00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:58.320
So it was important but I wouldn't say it was the most foundational you know uh learning of my of my career.

00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:03.039
You had a very unconventional background coming into business school at Duke.

00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:09.119
Yeah um you know I I would say in some sense many and probably many of your cohorts say it's like kind of a hippie ish in in that sense.

00:36:09.119 --> 00:36:26.800
So yeah so like for sure how did your how did many of your classmates view you obviously you say you're a great teammate but you know for them the path was set right they went from the suburbs to high school to college we're going to Wall Street next you did not have that kind of an upbringing you had a very unconventional path at that point.

00:36:26.800 --> 00:36:28.320
So how'd they view you?

00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:35.360
Boy that's a great question I I haven't thought about that for a while you know it's always fascinating to think how we view ourselves versus how others view us.

00:36:35.360 --> 00:37:08.320
I think I took on a little bit of the identity of the of the hippie of the you know I I I I I was in some ways but I also like I had a bike with a with a milk crate and you know bungee cords on top of it when they were driving nice cars you know what I mean um so and I I I I played that up a little bit I'm sure and I looking back I can see that um I think I think most of my colleagues saw something in me I didn't see in myself.

00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:20.000
I remember one guy was probably the smartest guy in our class as far as I was concerned was just a wonderful guy as well he was a I think he was a a a BCG consultant beforehand.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:25.039
And um you know I'd never I wasn't spending time with people like this.

00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:31.440
And I remember one thing he said we were on a number of groups together and I think he really respected me and we did some good work together.

00:37:31.440 --> 00:38:14.719
And I remember at some point he said he said I was maybe dancing around getting a little confrontational with somebody and he said Mark you couldn't piss somebody off if you tried you know like so don't be afraid of standing your ground of making a point you know and so I I I think people appreciated me saw me as unique um I think I always had a little bit different perspective um and I'm sure it was a little bit of an oddball and and uh probably in a breath of fresh air in some ways you know but um I'll have to ask them I'm still good friends with a lot of a bunch of them I'll have to check in with them.

00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:25.679
Mark you brought something up a couple of times that has caught my attention you you've mentioned ADHD and I'm curious.

00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:38.960
I have ADHD which I had no idea until my very late 40s and it was an experience for me where I discovered that I had this ADHD inattentive presentation is what they call it.

00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:53.280
And it was very interesting discovering that later in life because I then look back at my journey and I looked at the things that I gravitated towards organically and I'm kind of curious if you if your experience was similar.

00:38:53.599 --> 00:40:31.039
Oh absolutely I I I would say a couple things around that Larry one is I first looked back kind of critically like oh imagine what my life could be if I had had that identified and blah blah blah blah blah right which of course you know as I write about you know the stories we tell ourselves right maybe yeah maybe not right the other thing is I I see um that I whether I gravitated because of it or there's a correlation of creativity ideas newness there I on my experience is there is a there is a creative energy that comes when I get that spur when I get that spur of energy like watch out and so I've learned to channel that it happened earlier but I didn't know how to channel it I would spin out of control I'd get energized I'd go crazy I'd go productive and then I'd crash you know you know um but I also look back and realize and I I I forget if it was um which one of you asked earlier I I I can't actually see I did develop some coping mechanisms because I had that like I needed to get my ass organized and particularly post grad school my first real job I realized like man I got to get my stuff together or I will I will I will die here like and so the good thing is I developed some tools and and techniques that worked for me and I think did work for an ADH type brain that I have employed.

00:40:31.119 --> 00:43:35.039
I'll give you one prime example I took today off I've been running like crazy for a while um and I'll share this uh um I was supposed to go I was in New York yesterday supposed to go to Toronto this morning until I realized I don't have my passport oh no yeah last week I haven't done that in 30 years 30 years yeah because I'm organized I have it in my backpack in this way because I know I could forget things right so so um but I got back late last night I woke up this morning and I'm like I am beat and I need I need some creative time man I need to clear my head and you know is that anyone perhaps it's certainly me but I think there's something about ADHD as well when I get into that creative energy man I go and I go hard and fast but I need breaks I need breaks and so I cleared my calendar I worked out I meditated I read I painted you know like and and then I have this how old were you when you discovered that you had yeah you know what probably a similar age probably late 40s I would guess yeah and I'll tell you what was really helpful for me was you know now everybody on my team is ex um uh my partner was a you know uh Colgate grad uh competitive athlete ran a you know he was a hedge fund guy ran a billion dollar hedge fund at a at a young age this guy has no problem focusing my whole team are all ex-investment bankers in private equity all of them they can focus i i i never could have had those jobs i i couldn't do those sort of jobs now i can accept and we do a lot of work internally on knowing what we call our zones of genius and playing to each other's strengths because I know I can't do what they do but they can't do what I do and so that that realization helped me say okay okay this is not a problem right it's a it's a knowingness of myself it's a wiring or whatever it is there are a lot of strengths to that right how do I play to them how do I um utilize them better and then how do I understand how to create a rhythm that I don't spin out of control like I used to you know you know I knew after reading your book you were going to give us all sorts of little gems like that so thank you for that you're welcome um let's start moving your career journey post graduate school so you know what what were those first jobs you said you learned so much right out of school with those first jobs what were those first jobs how are you getting them and is that coming easy to you because I'm sure people out there want to know like how do I get that job yes not coming easy to me at all so my experience in grad school was the Duke has an amazing you know network they bring top companies on the campus.

00:43:35.119 --> 00:44:03.199
So particularly with the MBA program you can kind of go through the program and have a pretty good shot at getting a job usually a pretty good job and and I probably could have but honestly my experience was this is again some years ago that you know I was interviewing for these these these bigger jobs and you know typical corporate Jobs that the ones that were coming on the campus.

00:44:03.199 --> 00:44:06.079
And I wasn't getting a lot of callbacks.

00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:07.440
I wasn't.

00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:16.239
And I remember one in particular, it was someone like it may have not been this, it was a big industrial company, something like Alan Bradley.

00:44:16.239 --> 00:44:19.679
You know, they have an MBA program, they bring a few people in, development, blah, blah, blah.

00:44:19.679 --> 00:44:25.760
So I'm I'm in the interview, and the guy says, Um, this is why I'd been rejected enough times already.

00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:28.400
I was getting to a point where I knew something needed to change.

00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:31.519
And this guy said, Now, let me just understand this.

00:44:31.519 --> 00:44:38.880
You had a job at IBM during college, and you left that to join the Peace Corps.

00:44:38.880 --> 00:44:41.119
Why would you do that?

00:44:41.119 --> 00:44:44.400
And it wasn't curiosity, it wasn't.

00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:46.480
He had a judgment in his mind.

00:44:46.480 --> 00:44:47.679
Right?

00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:53.119
And so I I stood up and I said, Thank you very much.

00:44:53.119 --> 00:44:56.559
If you don't get that, uh this isn't gonna be right.

00:44:56.559 --> 00:44:58.079
This isn't gonna be right.

00:44:58.079 --> 00:45:01.840
I walked up and I decided I gotta do my own job search.

00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:03.440
I gotta do my own.

00:45:03.440 --> 00:45:11.199
And so I stopped doing anything on campus and I decided, okay, what do I want?

00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:12.320
What can I get?

00:45:12.320 --> 00:45:14.480
I had a lot of debt, so I needed a job.

00:45:14.480 --> 00:45:22.400
I didn't know everything I know today, of course, but I but I also what's you know, what connections can I build from my school?

00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:29.920
And given I was doing the joint MBA and environmental management program, there were some interesting opportunities there.

00:45:29.920 --> 00:45:35.440
One was um that the the school, the environment at Duke University was originally the school of Forestry.

00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:39.280
So they had a lot of legacy relationships in the forest products industry.

00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:42.239
One big company was International Paper.

00:45:42.239 --> 00:45:49.679
At the time, they were a massive uh landowner, but also they had a lot of different businesses for packaging and paper and other stuff.

00:45:49.679 --> 00:46:16.480
I was on an exchange in Europe, and I somehow, you know, I I don't remember how I got this, learn that a guy that was really supportive of the school, I think his kids were at Duke, was the president for International Paper Europe, was in Belgium where I had my exchange, and I asked for a coffee, met with him, and he said, and they because they were very much on my target list, like big company, like them, you know.

00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:18.480
I think maybe hire me.

00:46:18.480 --> 00:46:23.440
And it was interesting, you know, work in sort of this environmental and business arena.

00:46:23.440 --> 00:46:27.760
And so he said, Yeah, look, you know, he here's a couple people we should talk to.

00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:29.119
They're they're in Memphis.

00:46:29.119 --> 00:46:43.360
So he introduced me to a couple people there, and I wound up finding this little division called Beverage Packaging, and they hired one MBA a year, one MBA a year, and brought them into the corporate headquarters.

00:46:43.360 --> 00:46:49.360
And then their hope was to eventually move them out to go run some businesses overseas.

00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.400
So my predecessor was a Harvard MBA.

00:46:52.400 --> 00:46:59.440
Part of his objective is he had to recruit a replacement so he could go take a job in uh Latin America.

00:46:59.440 --> 00:47:11.440
And so I literally think it was a slate of one, you know, like and also how many people are coming out who speak Spanish, have lived in Latin America, right?

00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:21.199
So, so that I I I tell people like I I love competition, but I don't always have to seek it out, right?

00:47:21.199 --> 00:47:27.199
Like there's like why not be a big fish in a small pond?

00:47:27.199 --> 00:47:31.440
Why not position yourself that you're unique?

00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:33.679
It's you, you're the you're the option.

00:47:33.679 --> 00:47:36.559
And I've seen that happen again and again and again.

00:47:36.559 --> 00:47:45.199
If you've got the perfect grades, if you want to compete, compete, compete, you want to go through a great fine, you know, go through that typical program, typical process.

00:47:45.199 --> 00:47:49.679
But by and large, I have found um build your own, it's your life.

00:47:49.679 --> 00:47:54.000
It's your life, it's your career, it's your ball, it's your bat, it's your field.

00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:55.119
You know, where do you want to play?

00:47:55.360 --> 00:47:56.320
No wrong choices, baby.

00:47:56.320 --> 00:47:57.440
That's what we talk about all the time.

00:47:57.440 --> 00:47:58.239
No wrong choices.

00:47:58.239 --> 00:47:59.039
No wrong choice.

00:47:59.039 --> 00:48:00.159
No wrong choices.

00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:03.840
That concludes part one of our conversation with Mark Rampola.

00:48:03.840 --> 00:48:13.679
In part two, we follow his leap into entrepreneurship and the creation of Zico Coconut Water, the brand he built from a simple idea into a hugely successful company.

00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:18.000
Before we go, if you haven't already, please follow or subscribe to the show.

00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:21.840
Your support helps us keep bringing these great stories to life.

00:48:21.840 --> 00:48:27.199
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00:48:27.199 --> 00:48:31.840

Mark Rampolla: From Peace Corps Volunteer to Entrepreneurial Visionary (Part 1)

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