Episode 005 - Tony Cho
When we are reminded that obstacles can be a valuable part of our journeys
Tony Cho (b. 1978) is an American-born and Miami-based real estate and city district developer who is leading the future of urban development platforms aiming to impact the lives of 1 billion people through innovations in the built environment. Tony is a global citizen whose career, life, vision, serendipities and passion have taken him first around the two American continents and then around the world.
EPISODE SUMMARY
Tony traces the experiences of his youth living in a communal ashram, doing his first city district development work in Miami, USA, and how life experiences have guided him towards a desire of creating a more sustainable world.
RECORDED AT
Tony’s home in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, on a windy but clear Thursday evening of March.
“The most challenging moments in my life have really made me the human that I am today. It’s not when things were easy or things were just in perfect flow and harmony that I learned the most. It was through the challenges, the mistakes, the failures.”
KEYWORDS & TRANSCRIPTION
Future of cities, community, ashram, Miami, nightlife, Madona, life, real estate, perfection, Wynwood, happening, imperfection, creating, grandmother, regenerative, learned
SPEAKERS
Tony Cho & Risto Kuulasmaa
Tony Cho 00:07
The most challenging moments in my life have really made me the human that I am today.
Tony Cho 00:12
It's not when things were easy, or things were just in perfect flow and harmony that I learned the most.
Tony Cho 00:19
It was through the challenges, the mistakes, the failures.
Risto Kuulasmaa 00:23
Welcome to Talks of imperfection.
Risto Kuulasmaa 00:27
In this episode, we meet Miami based real estate and city district developer Tony Cho.
Risto Kuulasmaa 00:33
Tony is leading the "future of cities" platform aiming to impact the lives of 1 billion people through innovations in the built environment.
Risto Kuulasmaa 00:43
Tony shares his life journey from growing up in communal ashram, becoming a nightclub promoter in South America, and eventually pioneering the Sydney District Development in Miami City and globally.
Risto Kuulasmaa 00:56
In my books, Tony success is very much linked to his healthy relationship with perfection and imperfection.
Risto Kuulasmaa 01:05
My name is Risto Kuulasmaa. And I'm your host at Talks of Imperfection, where we meet nearly perfect people revealing their imperfections. Our intention is to create an encounter where we learn and get inspired about what kind of role imperfection plays in our private and professional lives.
Risto Kuulasmaa 01:25
Welcome to the show.
Risto Kuulasmaa 01:29
It's a beautiful afternoon in Miami Beach.
Risto Kuulasmaa 01:34
The first question.
Tony Cho 01:35
Your diving right in?
Risto Kuulasmaa 01:37
How did you encounter perfection first time in your childhood or youth?
Tony Cho 01:44
So, this is a very interesting question that I had to think about.
Tony Cho 01:48
And to me, I think, as I reminisce about my childhood, which is a very unique childhood growing up in a commune and interfaith commune started by my grandmother in the 70s, who adopted me at birth.
Tony Cho 02:02
Were really just feelings of community and warmth and just complete kind of, you know, living in this bubble of acceptance and love and joy, as a kid who was unaware of anything in the outside world. No, not a lot of TV. Not a lot of interaction with the world outside of the community.
Tony Cho 02:30
And, you know, I was born in 1978. I grew up in the 80s, you know, so I did get to see Michael Jackson and Thriller, when that came out. And those were kind of my connections to the outside world and MTV, you know.
Tony Cho 02:44
But Christmas, was a very special time for us growing up as kids because while we weren't religion, religious, it was interfaith, the concept behind the ashram and it was a you know, loosely a Hindu base. an ashram is usually Hindu based, but it was interfaith, because my grandmother was a Jew from Coney Island.
Tony Cho 03:05
And Christmas time, for me was the most exciting as a kid, because we lived in a community of a couple 100 people. And each of the communal houses were like co-living houses, you know, the main house where my grandmother lived, and where we had our temple where we had our gatherings every night, was also like kind of Grand Central Station where all the activities happen.
Tony Cho 03:28
We slept in the temple floor for a period of years.
Tony Cho 03:31
And we would always have these 30 to 40 foot Christmas trees, live, you know, spruce, Christmas trees there.
Tony Cho 03:38
And, you know, as we got closer and closer to Christmas, the pile of gifts just started growing and growing to the point on Christmas Eve, there was no space in this huge living room, it was only present.
Tony Cho 03:53
And I remember being so excited as a kid for just the endless of mountains and sea of presents, you know, and just I can always remember my excitement around the night before Christmas Eve.
Tony Cho 04:06
And, you know, the adults used to give us the stockings over the fireplace to distract us to give them time to sleep in because they know that if we didn't have something to do when we woke up at three in the morning, four in the morning out of sheer excitement, that we would be mayhem and we would be waking up the whole house.
Tony Cho 04:22
So there was this one Christmas where of course I got up at 3:34 in the morning, I ravaged through my stocking which had candy and and all these kinds of like smaller gifts.
Tony Cho 04:32
And then we all got together as the kids and started waking up the adults time to open up because each of us were assigned like an assistant to help open the presents and because there was so much wrapper and trash and all this craziness and we were just like tear through all these presents and having like 20-30 kids, you know all together. You know, opening up presents was just a moment of pure joy. And there was just no other have feelings. And so for me, the first feeling of perfection was that feeling of community and joy and unfettered happiness and, you know, connected with celebration around holidays and family and all of that stuff.
Tony Cho 05:15
So I think that's probably my first recollection of kind of a perfect beautiful memory, really.
Tony Cho 05:22
Because memories are all perfect at the end of the day, whether they're good or bad memories, they are what they are, you accept them, and it is what it is, it's just makes the fabric of your life.
Risto Kuulasmaa 05:30
Cool. Thank you for sharing.
Tony Cho 05:32
Sure.
Risto Kuulasmaa 05:33
Pretty awesome. So how would you now nowadays introduce yourself, you have many pots boiling.
Tony Cho 05:43
Actually, I'm reducing the number of pots, I'm simplifying, because less is more.
Tony Cho 05:48
You know, my mission is to impact as many people in the world as I can positively through innovations in the built environment. And the new company that I launched Future of Cities, aims to do that, in the built environment, in the in the space of regenerative and equitable and sustainable cities.
Tony Cho 06:06
So Future of Cities is really where I'm concentrating the bulk of my ambition and skills and resources and networks, towards really open sourcing and accelerating this transition from the current extractive unsustainable model of creating not only cities, but the communities that we're building these cities for as we go through a massive shift in, in, in human civilization, from demographics, to technology, to, you know, financial systems, to governmental systems to all of it is really in flux.
Tony Cho 06:43
And in that flux, is the opportunity for us to basically reinvent and recreate the new system as Buckminster Fuller had been talking about for many generations, and replacing the old obsolete system that just doesn't serve 100% of life. And I think we are in a very special moment.
Tony Cho 07:02
So I do have, you know, many different passions and investments and an initiative.
Tony Cho 07:04
But really, the core focus of what I'm doing at this moment is really through my activities at the future of cities, and chosen retreat, which is our community, our Eco retreat sanctuary.
Tony Cho 07:19
And it's really, you know, what we call a camp for the humanity of the future we can, it's a living laboratory, where we're growing our own food, and we have an eco village and development.
Tony Cho 07:29
And we're learning how to how to live together more harmoniously and community and building on the example of my grandmother, who was a leader of an intentional community, and how do you bring that forward to the contemporary world in balance with, you know, the modern world, and I think that's really the key.
Tony Cho 07:49
And I always had this debate with my grandmother is how to live in the world, but not be of the world and to be in balance with the different poles, because for me, I think my work is in cities. But I really draw a lot of inspiration from nature.
Tony Cho 08:07
And the idea from that is how do we bring in? How do we rewild our cities? And how do we bring in nature into the built environment to create the harmonious feeling that you feel in nature?
Tony Cho 08:19
That's, that's, to me is the key on all levels.
Risto Kuulasmaa 08:22
Wonderful. We'll get back to those practical things that you're doing right now. But before that, let's rewind. How did you end up to become a real estate developer and city builder?
Tony Cho 08:37
it's kind of a very unusual way that I arrived at this current place that I'm in life and it's all everything is obviously was meant to be and, and, you know, I believe that you know, there are no there are no mistakes and there are no you know, there's there's, there's no surprises of why we are where we are, but I went to when I left the ashram the community I grew up in Kashi.
Tony Cho 09:05
I went to school in northwestern in Chicago, and a northern suburb of Chicago and Evanston.
Tony Cho 09:11
And I found myself very out of place, I found myself very unfamiliar, with freezing cold, pre professional,Midwestern, fraternities, kind of the antithesis of the community warm Florida, in a very maternal very matriarchal, very idealistic you know, there was you know, a lot of embracing and tolerance around, you know, interracial couples and, you know, LGBTQ communities and HIV and AIDS is very much present in our life.
Tony Cho 09:46
Going to conservative somewhat suburban, cold, you know, Chicago suburban University, although beautiful and very, you know, reputable, was very kind of it was it was depressing for me in many ways.
Tony Cho 10:04
And so I ended up, you know, coming back to Miami, and wanting to spend time with my adopted father, Masters Soo Sei Cho, who has been credited with bringing international style taekwondo to the United States in the 70s. And having taught the Turkish army actually in the 70s, as well, was a guru in his own right.
Tony Cho 10:25
And I wanted to spend time with him because I hadn't spent a lot of time in my childhood because he spent most of his time in Miami and I grew up in central Florida at the ashram.
Tony Cho 10:34
And so I came here and then I got an internship at MTV Latino on Lincoln Road at the 1111 building, which is a theme in my life elevens seemed to appear a lot.
Tony Cho 10:44
And I was blown away by the multicultural, you know, Latin diaspora vibe of Miami and I was very taken, you know, by all things Latin, Latin women, Latin culture, Latin music, Spanish, all of it.
Tony Cho 10:58
And I decided to do an exchange programme through Butler University, which was affiliated with Northwestern, and I moved to Argentina, to do an exchange programme, learn Spanish very rigorous programme.
Tony Cho 11:10
And it was life changing, for me. Eye opening, life changing, mind expanding, really incredible experience.
Tony Cho 11:19
And after six months, I called my grandmother, the guru. And I said, I've got bad news for you.
Tony Cho 11:26
Unfortunately, I'm moving to Argentina. I'm dropping out of school and eating meat.
Tony Cho 11:32
And you know, what she was most offended by? Could you imagine?
Risto Kuulasmaa 11:37
Hard to say? Maybe the meat?
Tony Cho 11:40
Yeah, it was the meat.
Tony Cho 11:41
I mean, because obviously, she was guru. And you know, we were vegetarian.
Tony Cho 11:45
And I think all of it was, you know, it was a triple you know offence, but she tried to convince me and bribe me to, you know, listen to her and to not, you know, stay in Argentina and to not eat meat and to not drop out of school and I wasn't having any and I really wanted to, you know, become independent from her, you know, incredible, powerful, you know, shadow essentially, in growing up.
Tony Cho 12:12
And so I said, No, I'm okay, I'm gonna figure it out for myself.
Tony Cho 12:16
And she cut me off financially, which was a very pivotal moment in my life.
Tony Cho 12:21
I mean, if you talk about one of the most challenging, but exciting moments, you know, on this tip of, you know, completely being excommunicated and thrown out of my community and cut off financially, to really being in one of the most exciting places in the world.
Tony Cho 12:41
At that time, Argentina, was the dollar in the peso was, one to one.
Tony Cho 12:46
Madonna was filming Evita.
Tony Cho 12:47
Menem was president.
Tony Cho 12:49
And it was just like, it was literally like, 1999.
Tony Cho 12:52
Like, it was like, party time all the time. And everybody was doing well and the country was thriving, as artificial as that was created and fabricated, you know, from the government.
Tony Cho 13:03
But, you know, it was it was a glory time for Argentina.
Tony Cho 13:07
And so I was determined to find a job and to be self sufficient and be independent from my grandmother.
Tony Cho 13:13
And within two hours I was in went in, when Buenos Aires, I was in downtown, and I went looking for an opportunity.
Tony Cho 13:21
And the first place I roll into is on the second floor of this, this building, and there was a striking, middle aged, redheaded, beautiful woman named Vici standing at the top of the stairs, long Italian, you know, Argentinian, you know, Goddess essentially.
Tony Cho 13:40
And, you know, we started talking and I told her a little bit about you know, coming from Miami and what I was doing there and exchange programme.
Tony Cho 13:47
But the end of the conversation, she offered me a job to be the host of what turned out to be the number one restaurant lounge concept in Argentina at the time.
Tony Cho 13:58
And the first week my, some of my first clients were Madonna and the president of the country.
Tony Cho 14:03
And so I started meeting the who's who of Argentina and Latin America.
Tony Cho 14:08
Next thing, you know, one week I'm skiing and Bariloche for the first time.
Tony Cho 14:12
I'm in on yachts at Punta del este
Tony Cho 14:15
I'm in Carnival in Rio.
Tony Cho 14:17
And I was feeling no pain, making great money and having the time of my life.
Tony Cho 14:24
And that was the beginning of my life on my own as my own person, independent self sufficient with my own identity. And that was really, really important for me, as somebody who is very strong headed, strong minded, and a leader and an independent thinker, much like my grandmother.
Tony Cho 14:45
And so of course, I don't think that made my grandmother very happy.
Tony Cho 14:50
But, you know, I continued on that path and when I came back to Miami, I had the option to go back to the ashram.
Tony Cho 14:58
Because after a year I said okay, I had this experience, it was magical. What is next?
Tony Cho 15:03
And so I came back to Miami, you know, New Year's Eve 1998. And I said, here are my options, go back to Northwestern in the middle of winter, freeze my butt off, freeze my ass off, go back to the ashram with my tail between my legs and beg for forgiveness, or become a nightlife personality in South Beach, at the most exciting time in Miami Beach, you know, where I had just had the experience and the resume coming from Latin America, one of the best cities and cities in the world with a resume of being a host of nightlife. So what do you think that I did?
Risto Kuulasmaa 15:39
How old you were?
Tony Cho 15:40
I was 19 years old.
Risto Kuulasmaa 15:42
There you go. No, not skipping meat.
Tony Cho 15:46
So then next thing you know, I'm the host of "Tantra" restaurant / lounge on Pennsylvania Avenue in Miami Beach.
Tony Cho 15:54
This was the hottest lounge in Miami Beach. Al Pacino. LL Cool J. You know Pamela Anderson, regular guests on a regular basis.
Tony Cho 16:05
I'm hosting them at 19.
Tony Cho 16:06
I'm not even old enough to legally drink alcohol.
Tony Cho 16:10
And I'm serving Methuselah lumps of Dom Perignon and PJ Rose, you know, to all these celebrities and having the time of my life.
Tony Cho 16:18
And it was just magical.
Tony Cho 16:19
Next thing you know, I'm at Cannes Film Festival, I'm at Sundance Film Festival, I'm at the US Open, I met all these places as a personality representing Miami nightlife.
Tony Cho 16:29
And there was nothing at that point and 19 years old, that was more fun, or more magical than doing that.
Risto Kuulasmaa 16:37
Wow. And then the third chapter, how on earth you found your way to real estate.
Tony Cho 16:45
So, so it's, yeah, I think that the all of these, you know, not comparing myself to the Buddha.
Tony Cho 16:52
But much like Siddhartha had the different chapters in his life, where you go through the spiritual, the material, the hero's journey of establishing yourself gaining independence, all of this stuff, I kind of did it backwards, because I started out on the being force fed spirituality, meditation and yoga, and then went into, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah has nightlife, you know, material, Kamala has garden experience where it was, you know, fast cars, fast life money, you know, glamour, celebrities, that whole experience.
Tony Cho 17:29
But the interesting thread is that in every every component of it, it was community is what tied everybody together, there was a beautiful community in Argentina.
Tony Cho 17:38
That was what kind of held me there and the nightlife and that it was and it was the community in South Beach in the 90s, which was very bespoke, and underground.
Tony Cho 17:47
And it was a different Miami than, than it is now, much more commercial and accessible and more homogenised.
Tony Cho 17:55
You're a part of this kind of underground cool crowd in Miami that we're always at the right places, you just you were just in flow, you know.
Tony Cho 18:05
And but I knew that that lifestyle, you know, being up all night, you know, on the weekends, wasn't balanced. And I said, there',s I was I knew that this was a stepping stone to another opportunity.
Tony Cho 18:18
So I got my real estate licence in 2000. And I started handing out my business cards, I joined the firm, and started handing out my business cards. And my vision was to be to be a realtor to the stars concept, you know, selling multimillion dollar residences, etc, because I was in that crowd.
Tony Cho 18:38
And the first apartment I sold was an apartment and Fisher Island, I made a big commission said, Wow, this is a whole new, you know, reality for me.
Tony Cho 18:47
And, you know, I parlayed my career into real estate brokerage from nightlife.
Tony Cho 18:53
And it was a very tough transition. Because, you know, when you're, you know, when you're the king of fun or the, you know, in the your responsibility is more around entertainment, and, you know, having this frivolous life or access, you know, it's very different than being a serious professional and people relying on you to find them good opportunities and transact, etc.
Tony Cho 19:18
So that was quite a challenging transition, because it required a much different kind of work ethic, and much different type of consistency and focus to convince people that you are a serious professional.
Tony Cho 19:31
And so that was a very, there was multiple transitions in my life that were very difficult but then as soon as you broke through, is when things started to take off, but the transition is the difficult and having the faith through the whole thing. And I quickly learned that residential high end luxury real estate was not my calling, but it was the path to where I am today.
Risto Kuulasmaa 19:56
Wow, whell what a story. Let's dive into the current affairs. Why citiess are so imperfect? Like why they are so inelegant, not safe. Why there's so much lacking?
Tony Cho 20:15
I think the short answer is poor planning, you know, not enough resources, and a broken system.
Tony Cho 20:26
And in the United States, unlike Europe, you know, all of our cities have been based on the automobile. We've designed around the automobile, all of our highway systems, all of our cities, unlike Europe, which was designed around pedestrians, and horse and buggy.
Tony Cho 20:44
And that's a completely different experience, and that's why in Europe, everybody has smaller cars, and you have these beautiful streets, that there's more pedestrian focus, etc.
Tony Cho 20:53
So I think that if you look at the history of city building, and kind of you go country to country or continent to continent, you can see where our shortcomings are.
Tony Cho 21:04
And a lot of it has to do with the current ideology. And cities take a long time to plan and a long time to build. And they're slow.
Tony Cho 21:14
The way that we've built buildings over the last 100 years with concrete and steel, going through the zoning process, which is very cumbersome and very complicated, really is a game of elite white men, predominantly around the world.
Tony Cho 21:28
Has not a real a not as it has not been representative of the world at large. And so that's why it's also messy because it's been designed for the 1%.
Tony Cho 21:39
And when we start thinking of designing our cities for the 99%, the 1% will be just fine.
Tony Cho 21:46
And I think that's really what we need to think about. And so there, the cities of the future will be designed and built much quicker, with better materials more sustainably, and they will be prototyped in the metaverse very quickly, and it will be more participatory and more inclusive.
Tony Cho 22:05
So the cities of the future, hopefully, will look a lot different than they do today. But more importantly, hopefully that they will function a lot better for 100% of life and work because the success of a city is not only how thriving the humans are within that city, but it's all of life, the sea life in the ocean.
Tony Cho 22:25
Right now, we have a crisis in Biscayne Bay, with pollution, agricultural runoff, algal blooms, you know, biodiversity die off, etc.
Tony Cho 22:36
And if we don't get control of that, you know, some people, you know, in the concept behind regenerative development, they rate the success of the city by the health of their rivers, oceans, mountains, forests around it, because if you're in balance as a city with the way you're managing your resources and your waste, then you should not be polluting anything around you.
Tony Cho 22:59
And to me, as a resident of a city and also someone who lives on a nature preserve and I'm a retreat centre is what brings me joy is the interaction, interspecies interaction with other animals.
Tony Cho 23:11
And when we live in cities, unless you go to a zoo, you don't get to see other species.
Tony Cho 23:16
And it's very isolating.
Tony Cho 23:18
And it's also very self centred, you know, humans become very self interested and very self focused and lose sight of the delicate deep biodiverse system that is perfect, you know
Tony Cho 23:29
, that the world created through evolution. And we're disrupting that whole system, by the way that we're living in cities. And the other reason why cities are so important, is because within the next 30 years, 72% of the world's population will live in cities, and they're going to double in double or triple in size, over that same time period.
Tony Cho 23:50
So it's a, it's a historic once in a in a human, humanity's lifetime opportunity to really change the game. And it's not only how we reinvent our cities, but how we reinvent our civilization, at its core. So that's the opportunity, just a small little opportunity, nothing big.
Risto Kuulasmaa 24:10
And what I find fantastic and used is that you, you live as you preach, so walk us through the development that you've done in the Miami area and the in the Florida.
Tony Cho 24:24
So, the Miami evolution was great, because, you know, in 2000 - 2001. You know, I was flying high in nightlife travelling around the world, going to the most fabulous parties, you know, film festivals, fashion shows everywhere, Monaco Grand Prix, all of this stuff at 20 - 21 years of age, living a very carefree lifestyle, you know, working two days a week going to the beach five days a week.
Tony Cho 24:55
And then I got into real estate and it was a very abrupt, difficult reality check.
Tony Cho 25:04
And at that moment Miami was starting to go through this transition of moving from the beach which got expensive to the mainland.
Tony Cho 25:13
And I was introduced to this Hungarian artist named Esther Gyari. 65 year old widow, whose husband was a cardiologist at the hospital Mount Sinai.
Tony Cho 25:24
They had a penthouse at Portofino towers here in South Beach. When her husband died, she sold the penthouse and bought a warehouse and Little Haiti next to where my project Magic City innovation district is in Little Haiti.
Tony Cho 25:38
And she started dating this hunky good looking, you know, 30, something Jamaican sculptor, named, Osiris.
Tony Cho 25:48
And they would throw these wild warehouse parties, sex parties and all kinds of crazy stuff.
Tony Cho 25:55
And I was introduced to the other side of what I call the creative underbelly of Miami, that was not part of the model, celebrity, south beach, fashion world, but was this new emerging creative class in Miami, and that inspired me and so I was never a real estate person. I mean, I was in sales, brokering deals first residential. Then I saw how the defunct manufacturing warehouses from the 50s were like a blank canvas and how artists were recreating what happened inside of them. But then we saw the street artists starting to repaint the town of the warehouses in places like Wynwood. Because there was no oversight. There was no police, they were very dilapidated and neglected parts of town.
Tony Cho 26:45
And so I started getting very involved in the local street art movement and artists and was very much active in the Wynwood Arts District Association.
Tony Cho 26:54
And then, you know, really connecting street artists with landlords through our company, Metro 1, which was really kind of a champion of Independent Businesses like Zak the Baker, and Panther coffee and Jr. Hadaram and these types of really cool tastemakers within the cultural scene, the creative class essentially, which, you know, was also a movement at that time by Richard Florida that created the birth of the creative class.
Tony Cho 27:20
And it was very much a common theme. And so we were seeing this revitalization movement happening all over the world in urban cores that was really triggered by art and culture.
Tony Cho 27:34
And then much, you know, not too far along later, technology was kind of the third leg of that stool, that really impacted but the moment the exact moment, aha moment I had, how art and culture impacted real estate values and caused gentrification and dislocation etc. Was I bought an apartment in Biscayne 21 condo on the other side of the bay in Miami.
Tony Cho 28:01
First $66,000 with $9000, I'd saved from the nightlife and a private loan from a loan shark in Hialeah, at 11%.
Tony Cho 28:11
And then, and I knew that the performing arts centre would be announced very shortly a block away, it was announced and boom, the whole area exploded just on the announcement, you know, and a year later, I sold that same apartment for $180,000. And I was like, wow, this is I started to learn how these stories and these ideas, manipulate values and change everything.
Tony Cho 28:38
And I learned kind of the hard way, The Good, The Bad of that, you know, the hype around marketing, essentially.
Tony Cho 28:46
And then I saw when, when Facebook and Instagram started happening, and people were taking selfies in front of the murals and Wynwood how that exported this image of Wynwood and Wynwood overnight, became this internationally recognised brand of street art.
Tony Cho 29:04
And it became, you know, one of the most recognised neighbourhoods in the world.
Tony Cho 29:09
And being part of that journey was like another South Beach experience. And it was literally only a mile and a half away from South Beach.
Tony Cho 29:16
I was like, wow, how was it that I was in the right place at the right time?
Tony Cho 29:20
And being part of it and pushing this vision along? And so, you know, people are like, how did you know when what was going to be so great? And actually people thought I was crazy. Up until recently.
Tony Cho 29:31
People were like Wynwood would never happen. It's in the middle of nowhere. It's in the middle of the city. It's between Miami Beach and the airport. For me it was completely logical.
Tony Cho 29:39
But you can't tell people you have to show them and then it's too late for that point. It just was too expensive. So people are like, now people they follow me wherever I go, because I've made some good choices in the neighbourhoods.
Tony Cho 29:53
But now my focus isn't just about being in the right place at the right time. It's having the most impact with If that first mover ability that I've been lucky enough to have,
Risto Kuulasmaa 30:06
Have you had already a perfect development, or is it even possible?
Tony Cho 30:13
I don't think that perfection is really possible.
Tony Cho 30:16
I think that there's a lot of beauty in imperfection and, and things that are organic and authentic.
Tony Cho 30:26
And I think striving for your own version of contentment, satisfaction, accomplishment, excellence, can be defined as perfection.
Tony Cho 30:37
I mean, I think if you if you live in the present moment, and you have gratitude, then every moment is perfect in its own right in its imperfection.
Tony Cho 30:46
So, for me, I think this pursuit of perfection is a bit of a fool's errand, because I think that inherently, perfection is found in our defects and our flaws.
Tony Cho 31:00
And that doesn't mean you should accept your shortcomings. But what it means is that the process of your journey and your evolution is a perfect experience. And there are highs and lows throughout those periods. But it's how you perceive those moments, is what defines you as a human as, and honestly, for me, the most challenging moments in my life have really made me the human that I am today.
Tony Cho 31:30
It's not when things were easy, or things were just in perfect flow and harmony, that I learned the most it was through the challenges, the mistakes, the failures.
Tony Cho 31:40
And one of the biggest ones for me was in the financial global amount meltdown of 2008 - 2009.
Tony Cho 31:47
I was 27-28 years old and I was flying high.
Tony Cho 31:52
I was you know, I just opened up my new brokerage. I was before then I was the number one commercial brokerage and a big firm of 500 agents.
Tony Cho 32:00
And I opened this big office next to Lenny Kravitz recording hangout studio in Wynwood at the warehouse, and I thought I was the cat's meow, that was the cool guy was the cool, coolest, coolest kid on the block.
Tony Cho 32:14
And then, you know, Bear Stearns collapse and the financial market implodes and Miami loses 50% of its real estate value overnight, the phones are not ringing, I had all of these loans that I was maxed out and all the properties because people were handing out loans like water money, like water, people would come up to me and say, "Hey, you can buy this condo and get money back at closing", because you're getting paid to buy real estate, I said, something inherently didn't feel correct and about this to me.
Tony Cho 32:43
And then of course, those movies "Too big to fail". And all the other things that came out showed what happened in the financial meltdown. You had you had cocktail waitresses from nightclubs and taxi cab drivers who are all like speculating, I've got 15 condos I've got deposits here and, you know, getting adjustable rate mortgages, and everybody was in on the Ponzi scheme.
Tony Cho 33:04
And it all fell down like a like a house of cards.
Tony Cho 33:07
And I was badly burned by that.
Tony Cho 33:10
And that was my first real lesson in how markets change.
Tony Cho 33:18
And, you know, being more conservative and being forward thinking and not just living, you know, day to day in the moment, it's never going to end the party's never going to end.
Tony Cho 33:27
And that was the moment, probably the lowest point in my professional career. When everything was collapsing before me when I met my wife, my current wife, Ximena, and I was losing my house in foreclosure. I had to get rid of all my cars, I had a Prius that I owned, because I wanted to own something that wasn't finance.
Tony Cho 33:46
So I bought a Prius at auction that I still have today, like 12 years later. Ironically, it's worth more than I pay for.
Tony Cho 33:56
And now the company uses it and we have it in an emergency and it's this symbol of stability for me.
Tony Cho 34:03
And I was living in a one bedroom apartment with my wife and for a couple months she paid the rent and you know, she got in when the stock was low.
Risto Kuulasmaa 34:13
What is the personal imperfection that you are working right now on?
Tony Cho 34:21
So for me, one of the personal imperfections that I have is being more patient and surrendering to the moment without judgement.
Tony Cho 34:33
I think that that's challenging for me.
Tony Cho 34:37
I like things to happen quickly.
Tony Cho 34:39
And I like to you know, have resolution the way that I want it when I want it.
Tony Cho 34:45
And you know, having patience is a real virtue and it's something that I have struggled with and work on on a regular basis through meditation and exercise and breathing and you know, breathwork, and things like that.
Tony Cho 35:01
But yeah, I think that that's probably one of the things that I struggle with.
Risto Kuulasmaa 35:07
And from that low point, if I look at you now, I have had the pleasure to enjoy your chosen retreat. And it's been, you know, you live in an abundant world, what kind of spin you into the growth track from from that low point?
Tony Cho 35:27
Well, ironically, you know, financially, you know, I was devastated, you know, and didn't really have access to, you know, I didn't have any money.
Tony Cho 35:39
But what I had was experience, conviction, passion, and I was in the right place at the right time, because being in Wynwood, when the market crash, was the right place to be.
Tony Cho 35:51
And I was able to, because of my position, and being the number one broker and an investor in that neighbourhood, people were coming to me, someone once called me, the rabbi of Wynwood, you had to come and pay the toll to enter, you have to pay Tony Cho tall to enter Wynwood.
Tony Cho 36:09
So, you know, one of the deals that I put together, which I was just talking to, the guy that I did this deal with was the Ducati building, which I had sold to my client. And before... that before the the financial crisis, and then he decided to sell it to me, because he didn't want to move forward with it at a very good price.
Tony Cho 36:33
And I didn't have the money to buy it. So I borrowed 100% from another client, and you know, put to cobble this deal together. And it was at the bottom of the market, and the market kept on rising and rising.
Tony Cho 36:45
So I refinanced and, and it was able to stabilise this asset. And two years ago, I sold it for, you know, a very good price. And that was, you know, an incredible opportunity to really turn the right place at the right time into an opportunity.
Risto Kuulasmaa 37:05
And that's interestingly linked to the, to the imperfection you are working on, like real estate is all about, it's a waiting game, right? How you cope with that with with all that passion, and, you know, you need, you want things fast, right?
Tony Cho 37:23
Well, I think, yeah, on the one hand, I'm not in a rush, because, you know, the, you know, our first slogan, and of our first company Metro 1 was "we shape neighbourhoods".
Tony Cho 37:35
And so shaping and being part of neighbourhoods is not, you know, it's not a not a quick process. It's a slow process and organic process.
Tony Cho 37:44
And so I've learned, at least in the professional real estate game, which is a slower game, to have patience, you know, and to believe in the long term investment is not a game of just flipping and monetizing, etc, because then you're extracting quick value, but you're not leaving a lasting value on the community or an impact.
Tony Cho 38:02
And so now I'm investing in opportunity zones, which have a minimum time horizon of 10 years, which is very aligned with and that's the minimum, when you're really looking to build authentic regenerative communities that you want to invest your time in to really be part of something and help men and be committed to something.
Tony Cho 38:21
So I really believe that, you know, that taking your time and being thoughtful, and actually can accelerate, you know, if you do things right, you get more support, you get more more acceleration in your entitlements and getting approvals, than if you just try to go and be a coloniser and rammed down your ideas into somebody else's minds and thoughts.
Tony Cho 38:45
And I think, for a long time, real estate developers have been Neo colonisers with their own ideas. They come into an underserved community, predominantly in this country and African-American community.
Tony Cho 38:56
And they say, I want a country club here. I want a golf course here. I want a Ritz Carlton here. But what does the community want? What makes you think that your God, and you can say this is the best thing? It's maybe the best for your pocket? But is it the best for the overall company?
Tony Cho 39:11
Is it for the overall city and through a rural community, and I'm not, you know, I'm not also a socialist, either. I'm a social capitalist, so I believe in profit, but profit, not at the expense of others or the environment.
Tony Cho 39:27
And I believe that there's a way to do that if you actually care to accomplish that goal.
Tony Cho 39:32
Unfortunately, a lot of people don't have that ambition.
Tony Cho 39:35
Most people in the world are living hand to mouth and just trying to figure out how they're going to feed their family.
Tony Cho 39:41
So that's basic, basic subsistence and survival.
Tony Cho 39:44
And I don't blame people for doing what it takes to take care of their basic needs. But once you get beyond your basic needs being met, I think we need to start educating people.
Tony Cho 39:56
First of all, we need to work on making sure that everybody has their basic need. needs met in the world, we have all the resources and the technology to do that.
Tony Cho 40:03
Secondarily, we need to teach which the next generation, we've been talking about this, I have ultimate faith in their intentions and their upbringing and their ideas that they will do the right thing.
Tony Cho 40:16
But the education that, you know, in order for us to have a sustainable regenerative future, we can't just think about our individual selves, we have to think about the collective, and that it truly is in our personal best interest to think of others.
Tony Cho 40:31
And once we learn that, and I think the world will be a better place, once we can demonstrate that with data and science and facts behind it. I think it's happening. And we're seeing it more and more with impact investing and ESG focused investments in companies and you know, all kinds of new structures that are being created that are gamifying impact. And it's a very exciting moment where we're leveraging technology to rewrite history.
Risto Kuulasmaa 41:00
That's a perfect segue to the perfect future. Let's zoom out from Miami, I know you have a global mission, right? How will you describe where where future of cities, you're group in, let's say, five years, what has happened?
Tony Cho 41:18
Well, according to the UN, the 20s, you know, 2020s, from 19, from from 2020 to 2030, is the decade of action.
Tony Cho 41:28
And the reason it's called the decade of action is because if we don't take enough action, by 2030, to achieve carbon neutrality of the new buildings, we're going to tip over that critical point of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which will trigger a whole host of catastrophic events that we may not be able to reverse or control.
Tony Cho 41:52
And so I think that the data and the science behind that is very compelling. If you read the IPCC report, I think most intelligent people can agree now that climate change is real.
Tony Cho 42:04
And that is not fake news, whatever side of the political aisle you're on, that data is there, it's very compelling.
Tony Cho 42:12
And cities play the most important role in it.
Tony Cho 42:15
So in five years from now, I believe that future of cities will have launched several demonstration projects in the United States, maybe in other countries as well, that will serve as models that hopefully will have been adopted in other countries and other cities around the world.
Tony Cho 42:39
And our framework of regenerative placemaking being used as a new framework and benchmark where we're open sourcing, and sharing best practices in a way where we're accelerating this transition to a more regenerative future.
Tony Cho 42:55
So five years from now will be in 2027, three years away from the end of the decade of action. And I would imagine that there will be examples all over the world of regenerative cities, and not one of them exactly the same, which is the goal.
Risto Kuulasmaa 43:10
Could you explain what it means that model of cities?
Tony Cho 43:14
So as you can see right now, in current state of affairs, with the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and all the sad events that are happening in the world, and what it's triggering, it's triggering a resource crisis, it's triggering a food crisis, it's triggering a refugee crisis.
Tony Cho 43:32
And it's, you know, triggering probably the acceleration of the meltdown of our financial system, as we know it.
Tony Cho 43:38
As new focus is being put on to digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, new methods of ownership, people going back to commodities and precious metals like gold and palladium and other things, which are very valuable and used in our cell phones and semiconductors and all the things that we need, and we're seeing runaway inflation etc.
Tony Cho 44:00
And so, what is needed for global stability is that we all become that we become a self sufficient society.
Tony Cho 44:09
So each city, community, neighbourhood needs to be responsible for its own cultural and historic identity.
Tony Cho 44:18
But the the software, you know, that runs the cities, the technology stack, is that every one of these cities should be self sufficient, meaning not relying on imports or external resources to provide them with their basic needs. So electricity, food, water, waste management, etc.
Tony Cho 44:42
So the city of the future, the city state as we emerge, and where we revert back to, will be a city that's completely autonomous from a data sovereignty, governance standpoint, etc. self regulating, almost like its own decentralised, autonomous organisation like a Dow and be able to provide for all of its citizens and be self sufficient be proud of a prenup producing its own energy be producing its own food, through local networks, regional networks of farms, etc, green roofs, vertical farming, rainwater catchment system producing energy and things like wind turbines that are or actually water turbines that are in the sewer, you know, and other new technologies that we are going to be investing more and more as we see more dislocation and instability in the global macro marketplace of what's happening.
Tony Cho 45:35
And we saw through the pandemic, where we couldn't rely on imports, China shut down, India shut down, the port shut down because of the pandemic, this kind of instability and reliance on other countries is going to become such a pain point for the world, that more and more people.
Tony Cho 45:54
That's why people are moving to Costa Rica and farms and eco village, they want to, you know, live itself sufficiently autonomously, decentralised, you know, have their own sovereignty, and this trend is going to continue and digital currencies and blockchain is going to help that happen very quickly.
Tony Cho 46:11
This is the most disruptive time and technology I think of our era is going to be web three and blockchain.
Tony Cho 46:18
And that is going to help us transition.
Tony Cho 46:20
And it's not going to be an easy transit. There's no transitions that are easy.
Tony Cho 46:24
But I think that to me, I can't tell people what the city of the future looks like. Because those are all based on cultural and historical and geographic and environmental concerns that each city and community and resident need to co design themselves but using the best tools available, the best technologies, the best practices, etc, and sharing information open sourcing these things.
Tony Cho 46:47
It's no longer we're getting, you know, the we're in such a crisis that we're getting past this post, capitalistic, post competitive world, and moving into an era of cooperation, collaboration, public-private partnerships, you know, cross sector collaboration at scale, because without it, we're screwed.
Risto Kuulasmaa 47:08
That's a compelling prophecy. What would you think? What is blocking it? Why it's not already happening and what will be the kind of hindrances on the way to the resolution?
Tony Cho 47:21
I think the main thing that's blocking the transition, is lack of education, complacency, and it's not serious enough, yet, we're not we're not feeling enough pain the developed world, we all live in a bubble, we're completely brain dead with social media, and distracted that we're not present.
Tony Cho 47:44
And we're not living in the present moment, we're living in some other virtual reality, which I think is very unhealthy if it's unchecked, and not balanced with a healthy dose of being in the natural environment, being outside breathing, fresh air, not staring in front of a screen.
Tony Cho 48:01
It's not the it's not the dystopian future that I imagined for my kids.
Tony Cho 48:05
And I spend an average four or five hours a day in front of zoom calls.
Tony Cho 48:10
So I want to temper that as well and figure out what is the best way to move forward.
Tony Cho 48:15
And I think we have to go back to the ancient technologies of our ancestors of the indigenous people who used ritual and ceremony and plant medicines and other things that are now disappearing, because we're not paying attention to them.
Tony Cho 48:30
We're just raping and pillaging and conquering and manifest destiny everywhere and clear cutting forests and rainforests without regard to the biodiversity that has all the medicines to heal us in there.
Tony Cho 48:43
And so I think we need to really get very serious about preserving that biodiversity, getting very serious about creating cities of the future that are regenerative and sustainable, and protecting, you know, green space and wild space and biodiversity around the world.
Tony Cho 49:02
And that's why the parallel argument or thesis or movement to the future of cities movement is the half Earth movement, which is also happening, which is aiming to protect, you know, 50% of all the biodiversity as wild protected land conservation around the world, because humans should not be expanded beyond 50% of the landmass.
Tony Cho 49:24
Also, the Earth is covered by 70% of water, the oceans cover 70% of the earth.
Tony Cho 49:30
And we can also develop through projects like oceanics, you know, UN Habitat project, you know, civilizations on water, so that we don't have to ruin habitat for animals and species anymore, because we've already, you know, basically expanded beyond our sustainability.
Risto Kuulasmaa 49:49
And you mentioned education as a part of the big picture and that's obviously important one. You have a plan to build a school or what would be a perfect school if and when you would be the headmaster.
Tony Cho 50:07
It's very funny because, you know, I grew up in, in the ashram and I went to school at a private school that was founded basically, because as a response to the discrimination, bigotry and racism that was very prevalent in the public school system in Central Florida, in the 70s, and 80s.
Tony Cho 50:24
And in Florida, in general.
Tony Cho 50:25
And, you know, this was a not a lot of resources, but not not a big science lab, and no sports programmes, except for martial arts and things like that.
Tony Cho 50:35
But the one on one education that I was afforded, and that I had with amazing teachers of kind of Arts and Sciences, etc, I think gave me the foundation that I needed to be successful in the world and in other places.
Tony Cho 50:51
And I think that, you know, if you treat every child and every student, as an individual, it's the same thing as medicine, you know, and modern medicine, and treat them as an individual with an individual chemistry and composition and capabilities.
Tony Cho 51:13
And you create an environment where they can really thrive and pursue the things they're passionate about. I think that's the ideal type environment.
Tony Cho 51:21
I think teaching kids about being self sufficient, growing their own food, permaculture concepts, indigenous wisdom, in addition to math, science, technology, all the things that are relevant in our world, but also being able to know how to make things themselves being a maker, being a creative, encouraging that creativity outlet, because I think so many kids and adults are missing. That beautiful part of their life is their creative side that hasn't been encouraged, because everybody has been encouraged to just be a spokes in the wheel to make money.
Tony Cho 51:56
That's the that's been the ambition. And the goal of capitalism is to optimise each human to be the most productive financially. But that doesn't make the happiest human optimised for happiness. So my school would be the happiness school
Risto Kuulasmaa 52:13
Happiness School.
Risto Kuulasmaa 52:14
That's interesting.
Risto Kuulasmaa 52:17
What would be your advice to young, the youth out there who are trying to find the perfection in real estate, like, if you look at back to your youth and your beginning of your real estate career, what would be your advice to your younger self?
Tony Cho 52:42
I think my advice to any age and particularly, is really it's important to reflect on your actions because life is short.
Tony Cho 52:54
And it's very precious.
Tony Cho 52:55
And if you're just focused on the destination, you'll never enjoy the journey. And so having presence and having gratitude for every step there was I mean, my whole life. I've been so blessed to have all these diversity of experiences of jobs of experiences.
Tony Cho 53:16
And even now going through stressful experiences with partnerships that are not nonfunctioning, and, you know, other things that you experience in the regular course of business. It's always to have a perspective on the moment and really to reflect and not just run through life unconsciously, without thinking about what you're doing.
Tony Cho 53:39
And but are you passionate about what you're doing?
Tony Cho 53:43
Are you... Does this have an impact in your lives and others? Is it just a selfish pursuit? Or is it going to bring you closer to other people?
Tony Cho 53:53
And what is what is what brings you joy in life and really to focus on designing and engineering and optimising for joy? I think that's what I think you're getting a picture.
Tony Cho 54:05
But it took me 43 years to get to this point. Because, you know, we're now embarking on starting a family and many people say, "Wow, that's so late in life", but we did many other things like travel around the world together as a couple with me and my wife and, you know, really get to make, you know, make strides in business and really solidify a proper financial foundation and other things that can really help pave the way for a stable and healthy future, you know, with with really where you're eliminating stress, and I've been studying a lot about blue communities where you have the highest concentration of centenarians, people living longer than 100 years, but not just living, living quality of life that has meaning and purpose.
Tony Cho 54:53
And some of the common threads that they're finding and all these communities around the world are you have you know, have these these older populations that are living to be you know, well over 100 years of age, is the low amounts of stress, the sense of community and purpose in your life, obviously, diet and sleep. Taking naps seems to be a common thread, having you know, a couple glasses of wine, it's the resveratrol in that's in the wine, you don't need the sugar that's in the wine. But I mean, you could take the capsules, but I honestly think the practice of having a glass of wine with somebody is really is savouring the moment.
Tony Cho 55:36
And it's like smelling the roses.
Tony Cho 55:38
And the more that you smell the roses, and savour that glass of wine, the sweeter I think your life is in general.
Tony Cho 55:45
And the sweetness i think is what in many traditions in the Jewish tradition, they pour honey on the bread and other things is the sweetness, if you can bring that into your life, I think makes for a richer, happier, sweeter life.
Tony Cho 55:59
And so, you know, life is filled with many challenges and obstacles and suffering and failures. And if you can see the opportunity in each of those moments and have perspective and have gratitude for the growth that you get out of them. I think you'll live a happier, more purposeful, more meaningful life.
Risto Kuulasmaa 56:22
And how it's.. how it's happening in your future life? I mean, you about to about to get into the family life and how you see yourself living in this perfect future?
Tony Cho 56:36
Again, I don't believe in perfection.
Tony Cho 56:38
And I always told my wife that you know why she loves me is that I'm almost perfect.
Tony Cho 56:43
I'm not.
Tony Cho 56:45
So I have a healthy ego, which I've also worked on. And I have a lot of confidence in myself.
Tony Cho 56:50
And I think that had a lot to do with my upbringing and living in community and self love, I think is really important.
Tony Cho 57:00
Not being too hard on yourself, but driving yourself to that you push yourself for excellence. But I think if you strive to be the best that you can possibly be and be disciplined and have a practice, whatever that practice may be, whether it's a sports commitment, or a writing practice, or a musical practice, whatever that is meditation, breathing, I think having something that you're developing and growing helps you become a peak person.
Tony Cho 57:32
And so I think that, as I get older, what I learned more is that less is more in simplifying, because enjoying the moment without having so many distractions is a luxury, and the new luxury, I think for the next, you know, 10-20-30 years of my life is the luxury of time.
Tony Cho 57:55
I'm being able to determine what I want to do with my time.
Tony Cho 57:58
And not just, you know, pre pandemic, anytime we got an invite to go wherever for a wedding or a party or birthday or this or we're on the plane, we're going we're moving and it's just it was it was beautiful and magical in many regards, but it's exhausting.
Tony Cho 58:16
And it wasn't fulfilling long term. So I think perfection for me is balance and being in control of my own time.
Tony Cho 58:26
What I want to do and when I look at my schedule for the day, you know, when people want to fill it up with meeting after me and say no, do I need to be at this meeting?
Tony Cho 58:35
Is it really relevant for my personal happiness and success and joy? and prioritising health and well being at all levels mental, physical, spiritual, well being above accomplishment or whatever that means or above, you know, moving the ball forward in any business venture, etc.
Tony Cho 58:56
And I think the more happy you are, you know, the more successful you are so to me optimising for happiness is a measure of success.
Risto Kuulasmaa 59:08
And there is some beautiful example of creating this kind of happy environment for yourself. Walk us through the ChoZen what it is all about?
Tony Cho 59:23
So Chozen is an eco retreat sanctuary, which is our home, in Central Florida on the banks of the St. Sebastian River, adjacent to Kashi ashram where I was born and raised, adjacent to a 22,000 acre nature preserve.
Tony Cho 59:44
That's one of the most biodiverse lagoon systems in North America that connects to the ocean, which is known for its surfing beaches, etc.
Tony Cho 59:52
It's one of the last areas in Florida that is, nature focused and protected with bird sanctuaries. And other things that's really under threat by overdevelopment, subdivisions and clear cutting trees.
Tony Cho 1:00:07
And so I'm kind of on the front lines of this, you know, unfortunate victim of its own success of Florida post pandemic, we're so many people have moved here, that there's such a demand for housing and real estate, that it's out of control.
Tony Cho 1:00:26
And so our, we call it a camp for the humanity of the future.
Tony Cho 1:00:30
And we have glamping, domes and tents.
Tony Cho 1:00:33
And it's at a demonstration project, we're growing some of our own food, we have a senior care facility that's part of the project, or doing retreats, we live there.
Tony Cho 1:00:33
And we host summits and impact retreats and nature based and wellness focused retreats, and we have an incredible farm to table chef, Chef Colin, we've got Terry and my brothers Soo Se that are running the sustainability and the permaculture and adventure side of the programming and really creating our perfect environment of sustainability community.
Tony Cho 1:01:12
And then we have a mini spa and gym where we're focused on wellness and building a wellness team over there where we can really help heal people on all levels.
Tony Cho 1:01:24
And so, you know, chosen is that it's that, that that it's that container for wellness and healing. For us.
Tony Cho 1:01:37
That's all about taking all of that we've learned basically integrating the knowledge from growing up on the ashram to being in nightlife to, you know, real estate development and doing it in a sustainable regenerative way.
Tony Cho 1:01:50
It's the counter demonstration project to an urban neighbourhood, and how if you're going to develop an eco village or a retreat centre, what is the most regenerative way to do it, and we're prototyping, you know, solar panel systems like the Tesla tile solar roof, which we have a 44 Kw system in the property which is one of the first of its kind and it provides 85% of our energy through solar power and we have great water biofilter cleaning systems, we're putting in rainwater catchment systems, we're employing permaculture practices to produce you know, a lot of our own fruits and vegetables and herbs.
Tony Cho 1:02:34
You know, we can catch our own fish. At some point we may have livestock and have chickens and goats and cattle and other things to be able to produce, you know, have our own milk and eggs and things like that.
Tony Cho 1:02:47
So it's really about you know, it's we what what the mission have chosen is really to bring thought leaders and changemakers into a sanctuary in nature where they can reconnect with their source, which is nature, which has all of our sorts, detox, digital detox from the world that we live in, and the hamster wheel.
Tony Cho 1:03:11
And they can be inspired to go out and impact the lives of millions and millions of other people that they influence through their various businesses and others. And we've had incredible leaders there from Deepak Chopra, Bjarke Ingels recently for a UN Habitat retreat, we've hosted some really important summits.
Tony Cho 1:03:31
And it's a privilege to really be able to hold space and watch magic emerge. And it's really not, you know, hopefully, it'll be financially sustainable at some point. But our mission is really not about making money there. It's about creating an authentic, safe, and beautiful container, where community authentic aligned community, and impact is emerging in balance with nature, which is a beautiful thing.
Risto Kuulasmaa 1:04:02
Beautiful. Last question, what makes you excited about the day ahead when you wake up?
Tony Cho 1:04:10
So... I think the things that make me most excited are actually more of the simple things these days. Walks in nature, going into the ocean, spending time with family and friends, going out on the boat, with friends and family and sitting by the fire and sharing moments and sharing meals together.
Tony Cho 1:04:37
So you know, at one point in my life, the thing that excited me most was going to a gala or you know a big party or being on a yacht or on a private plane or something that was new and fresh and exciting and the you know, the the the excitement of that has really dissipated for me, and I'm really kind of coming back to my centre of what matters most.
Tony Cho 1:05:06
And really, it's about living in the moment, and being of utmost service and being able to grow and learn and then share the gifts, the talents and the treasures and create beautiful containers to bring, you know, heart centred and, you know, brilliant minds together and to really work on co-creating a more equitable, regenerative future for all of humanity.
Tony Cho 1:05:36
And really having, you know, building this, this global community of like minded heart centred people that are doing really incredible things around the world, and just being constantly inspired by them is what motivates me the more incredibly brilliant people who are brilliant, but also who care is what inspires me forward to also push me to be the best that I possibly can be and be the best version of myself.
Tony Cho 1:06:06
And so I'm excited for the you know, the next chapters of my life, I'm 43, I'm turning 44 in 2022, and celebrating my 11 year wedding anniversary on 11/11/22. So it is a big year.
Tony Cho 1:06:20
And if I look at my Vedic astrological charts, there's a lot of things that are coalescing.
Tony Cho 1:06:25
And it's definitely a transitionary Leap Year in the world and in my personal microcosm, and I'm very excited for the next phase of my life, which I envision is going to be much more balanced, much more integrative.
Tony Cho 1:06:43
For many years, in each phase of my life, when I was at the ashram or when I was in nightlife, or when I was in real estate, I kind of disowned my past and didn't want anything to do with it.
Tony Cho 1:06:54
And I'm finally in a place in my life, where I'm fully embracing all the beauty and all the brown spots of my past, and doing it with humility and vulnerability, because it's all beautiful, and it is what it is.
Tony Cho 1:07:11
And the more you embrace it and accept it, the more you are a whole person.
Tony Cho 1:07:16
And I think that that that's a more holistic, appropriate unit. I'm not just a real estate guy, I'm not just a, you know, a community person. I'm not just a, you know, an intentional community, person, and, you know, a venture investor, a real estate developer, those are all stories.
Tony Cho 1:07:33
You know, I'm a human being that's had many diverse experiences. I'm learning just like everybody else. And I'm trying to make the most impact, you know, in in those around me, but for the greater humanity as well.
Risto Kuulasmaa 1:07:49
Thank you. That's nothing to add.
Tony Cho 1:07:53
Thank you. Risto.
Tony Cho 1:07:54
This is really a wonderful conversation. And I really am inspired by the topic and how it really gets you thinking about it in a way that you don't normally think about perfection and inperfection. So thank you.
Risto Kuulasmaa 1:08:12
Thank you.
Risto Kuulasmaa 1:08:15
Thank you for listening the Talks of Imperfection. The podcast is enabled by Edita Prima. Edita Prima orchestrates automated customer journeys to perfection by making cherished ideas of imperfection data friend.
Risto Kuulasmaa 1:08:33
That's all folks, thank you for listening. Please subscribe to the podcast. Follow us in Instagram, and hold tight till the next episode.
