Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Christian Cipollini of San Jose

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Christian Cipollini. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Christian, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Being a kitten foster care provider for a local shelter, often the go-to for special cases

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I get to do now as an adult what the little kid me envisioned, sort of and in a round about way. I am an author, researcher, historian. My specialty, or areas of acute interest and expertise was something that evolved or devoloped over time, and resides in the darker regions of history; true crime, subculture, counterculture, the underworld of organized crime. I explore the dimly lit, unconventional and nuanced corners of otherwise polite culture and society. If it’s taboo, infamous or forgotten… I’m probably already digging something up.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Long before the (often stark and unsolicited) glimpses of reality and outside input took hold of my young maleable mind, I was the wide-eyed dreamer with creative visions as my purpose. A storyteller at the very core and fiber of my being. Visual and eclectic but naive, perhaps. Before the world told me to ‘follow suit’ and ‘do as is expected,’ I looked through a lens with that innocense many of us do as children – the world is kind and open to our dreams. That said, eventually I grew to see the possibility of balance between realistic pragmatism and embracing that untainted childhood dreamer. As such, and with a healthy dose of a rebellious spirit… I absolutely took some of those dreams into my adult reality and career.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The fear that I’m going to assume dibilitates many people -the fear of failure. Hands down, this is the singular most interferring or hindering of fears for me. From youth to adulthood that everpresent worry has definitely affected many of my decisions and actions, or better said – inactions. Fear of failing is broad, sometimes even intangibly abstract, but always managed to rule the day, and worse – reinforces itself when I actually did ‘fail’ at something. It took many decades of time and a lot of life’s little joys to show me the proverbial ‘light’ that failure is not failing but rather a building block, a step to take or a simply a turn to make. It’s not cliche, failure is not something to fear ultimately – it’s what gives us some grit, I think.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
Drinking from the trough of purple koolaid provided by cultural, political and commercials/techy cults. Everybody wants to be ‘on the team,’ whatever that team is and, sadly, regardless of whatever garbage nonsense and dogma said ‘team’ is prophetizing. I get it, it’s easy to fall into it, but I hope ALL people eventually see through a more centric, and perhaps most importantly, an open mind free from extremes and ‘mob mentality’ or ideological gospel ignorance.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
Absolutely doing what I was born to do. I’m self aware enough to know I am a ‘purpose’ driven kinda guy and despite the naysayers, etc. in my ear as a kid – I did in fact know ‘what’ I was supposed to do. I didn’t know precisely how it would be applied in real life and fortunately I wasn’t rigid or self=limiting, because that thing I was destined to do got a chance to evolve, pivot, and expand beyond otherwise immovable paramaters.

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