James Edward: The Quiet Search for Meaning in a Loud World | Extraordinary Life Stories

0:00When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed Sponsored Jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Choice Hotels gets you more of what you value. Here's a little tune to help you remember.

0:34Same drive, different day. Don't you wish you were getting away? Pack your bags and come on through. Texas, Ohio, Alaska, we're up there too. Comfort Inn, it's calling your name. Save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Well, I hope you like my little song. Book direct at choicehotels.com. Fear and anger and resentment is what keeps people watching, is what keeps people engaged. It's terrifying because I also sometimes feel like no one's really doing anything about it or saying anything about it.

1:12James Edward:Tell me, who is James Edward? An Imperial graduate. I've worked in cancer research. I have been a model. I run my own business. There's a lot there already, right? It's more a mission more than anything else. So Mont means to summit in French, right? So the idea is that we're helping young men summit their own mountains. I post content because I had no one to guide me through my time when I was at school. I had no one there for me. A lot of my content really is for my younger self almost. Creating lots of content and building, climbing your mountain. What do you do to prioritize both your mental and your physical fitness?

2:03Welcome. Thank you for having me.

2:05James Edward:Looking forward to this conversation. Yeah, it's a pleasure to be here. So yeah, thank you very much. Absolutely. Tell me, who is James Edward? Well, I think from sort of a CV perspective, James Edward is an Imperial graduate. I've worked in cancer research. I have been a model. I run my own business. Yeah, it's kind of a little bit of everything. Yeah. How old are you now? 23. Yeah. There's a lot there already, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's been a bit of a weird journey since leaving school, I think. Yeah, that's for sure. So the running your own business piece, talk me through that so and where i'm going with it is did you go through uh becoming a grad expecting to go and get a job or you were already looking at the entrepreneurial route yeah so i think the entrepreneurial route was never really something that i ever considered i mean at school all the way through school i wanted to be a doctor um and then i spent like 26 weeks volunteering in a hospital and found out that i was terrified of hospitals and terrified blood so that was kind of out of the answer and then um it was then like right okay maybe finance will be for me because i was kind of into sciences so um my mom was like oh why didn't you do biomedical research because that's kind of like the research side of of medicine it's like the the bit behind the curtain and um basically went into university obviously covered here and And I started posting online a little bit just because I started modeling and it was kind of seen as maybe that could be something I could do.

3:46And I also just kind of realized quite early on that I liked telling stories. And sort of little by little, I kind of fell into it, I guess. It was never really ever meant to be something. It's just kind of happened.

4:01James Edward:Do you think that's worked for you, though? We were having a chat off camera about how that almost that staged element of content that, dare I say, has more about the money that could be made out of it or an ulterior motive, whereas yours, you fell into it and then have evolved into it very naturally. Yeah, well, exactly. I mean, obviously, when I started posting on social media, it wasn't for money. I earned no money from social media for two and a half years. It wasn't a thing. Like an influencer was kind of maybe someone on Instagram who posted on the X4 page. TikTok was just coming off the back of being Musical.ly And it was just an app for sort of posting fun little videos about whatever it is that you were doing with your day.

4:43So, yeah, I kind of just stumbled through everything and just followed what I guess my passion or interest is and kind of just somehow ended up here, really.

4:52James Edward:And to elaborate on here, you've got a huge social following now. So my point being from posting from an organic, natural kind of this feels right. I want to put some content out that has then actually built a platform. You have got a really sizable platform now of followers across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, that ultimately will follow you now. It's very weird in some senses to think about because, you know, I guess through, well, school, I spent a lot of time by myself. And then obviously then coming out to them posting videos, it was never for that. And then also, you know, I never really consider that.

5:28I just like posting videos. and then it's kind of like a byproduct of that is always very surreal to me when people are like oh i've seen your stuff or you know i i enjoy the content you make because genuinely doesn't feel real because also it's just sometimes just a number on a screen right you just see sure like the number you don't see the person and then it's sometimes unusual to think that there actually is a person behind that screen who's seen that video so yeah it is sometimes hard to contact well yeah It's just surreal, really. It doesn't feel real.

6:00James Edward:How well received do you take the kind of recognition? Because I feel like there's a privacy to you. There's a lovely depth and intellect to you that is absolutely not looking for any external validation. But by default, you put content out, you're visible, and then you go about your daily life and someone stops you and wants to talk about your content. How well do you receive that? um yeah well to delve in there a little bit I mean obviously perhaps when I started social media there probably was a little bit looking for that external validation perhaps because I think throughout a lot of school I was sort of I didn't have a huge amount of friends like I probably had maybe a point to prove a little bit and maybe that was something that I clung on to but then I think perhaps you know and this has been something that's transgressed through the years but But as I've got older, this whole idea of trying to get more followers or achieve more within that, I find sometimes a bit ridiculous because quite often social media people are just being famous for the sake of being famous.

7:05It's not like you're a sports star or a really talented musician. You're just someone who creates videos online. So there's that element to it. Now at McDonald's, a McDouble is$2.50. So you can get your gym gains on. Or just get lunch. For only$2.50. Get more value on the under$3 menu. Limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher for delivery. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.

7:46I'm told it's super easy to do at MintMobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan, equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Default terms at MintMobile.com.

8:02James Edward:Well, it's that sort of how well received do you find that when someone comes up to you and almost wants to talk to you about your content? Are you almost like almost awkward with that or do you embrace that and almost love the feedback? um well i i really do feel like i'm very lucky to have such an incredible audience like whenever i meet anyone that has seen my content they're always like just such lovely people um and it's i don't know it's i guess it is sometimes a little bit weird because obviously they know quite often quite a lot about you because i'm i guess probably like sometimes i do wear my heart my sleeve sometimes so they do know probably more than i would maybe even tell some of my friends sometimes, but it's...

8:45Yeah, it... I don't know. It's... I don't really think about it, I guess, too much. I can tell.

8:51James Edward:It's really refreshing to see your brain spinning, thinking this through, when actually you are really clearly comfortable putting content out that is vulnerable, that you've just said yourself, you perhaps wouldn't actually sit down and talk with one of your friends, but you'll put it out on socials. I find that... I would say that's really brave. I've got a huge admiration and respect for you for that. And I can give you more on that. I would struggle to do that myself. There's an element of me that holds back with my own content because for whatever reason, this is a safe space. This is a conversation of getting to know and I'm enjoying learning from you.

9:28James Edward:But I'm putting it out to the bigger picture where you seem to be really comfortable with that. Myself, others would look at that and go, I'm not doing that. I'm not sharing that. Well, I think there's something that perhaps I've stumbled into is that I really do believe that life is finite, right? We have a start, we have an end. We're all going to end up in the same thing. So nothing in that sense, not in a nihilistic sense that nothing matters, but it doesn't really matter what anyone else's opinion is of you, because in the end of the day, we're all going to end up in the same place. So for me, life is all about just living out a story and enjoying it for what it is and trying to do everything that I can within the limited time that I have.

10:11As for the brave side of it, I guess it's just, yeah, I guess I just do what I enjoy, really.

10:20James Edward:Again, I'm going to use that word refreshing because there's a world of AI, lack of authenticity. you're being sort of integral to yourself how you feel what you want to put out which is which is why i feel your content resonates and impacts so many people and i'd love to bring the um the mont your business into that because it i almost want to know talking to you now whether there was a deliberate element of building a personal brand alongside them able to build the business at the same time because they're entwined again going back to some of the content i've recently seen with you styling your hair and putting content that's been so well received which ultimately promotes your business as well yeah did you deliberately plan that well again i like i want to make it clear like it's not it would it would not be deliberate it's just that hair for me is something that i'm very interested in i love the fact that it can really change who you are i've had my own journey with how i mean i don't know how much you've seen of my own personal side but i've tried basically every hairstyle possible it was a huge part in my sort of own personal discovery and then in terms of like sort of one thing supporting the other i mean like for me you know and it kind of goes into sort of the the talks that we have within the team like i i really believe that you know it's more a mission more than anything else so mont means to summit in french right so the idea is is that we're helping young men summit their own like mountains because everyone is going through something we're all facing something we've all got something to climb and the idea is is that we want to be that helping hand to take you through that because that also goes back to what you were saying earlier like I post content because I had no one to guide me through my time when I was at school I had no one there for me for huge parts of it and I always wish I'd had that so a lot of my content really is for my younger self almost wishing that they had seen that and then learned it well not learned it earlier but had had a better understanding of things so i didn't know that i'm really glad you shared that with the mission and the why that i now understand behind the brand have you had anyone come to you in any one way and really kind of appreciate that you know so the younger version of yourself and the the messaging if you like that sits behind the brand and a lot of your content have you had any i don't know if the word's validation but people that are able to give you feedback that your content is really helping them um yeah i mean like i'm grateful and lucky enough i do i do get messages from people that have said that it's helped them along their way um yeah i mean again it's just like i guess it's a it's something that i am keen to do it's it's more just again like like i think the thing at the moment is is that i'm quite concerned with like the space within the male space right like there's a lot of very bad influences in terms of at least in my opinion like what is bad right like but within my opinion there's a lot of sort of bad influences on line for young men so yeah i'm just like when i see something that maybe i've helped someone through something like it's yeah it means a lot because like you know maybe that's something that you know might help them a little bit in the future right and that's such an incredible thing to like to be able to do absolutely it makes you a positive role model yourself how comfortable are you in me calling you that um yeah i mean i guess it's not really the aim really it's just like yeah like it's just being right like i i don't know i don't even know if that's really the right way of phrasing it either um i'd like to think that i could be positive though yeah and do some good within the male space that would be the hope i can tell you i mean the recent manosphere documentary that louis through put together that shows just how the noisy loud disruptive um misogynist uh content that's out there seems to somehow rise to the top just just this conversation right now the reality of it the way you're articulating what you want to achieve why you're doing it how you want to help people is it's beautiful yeah i mean the manosphere stuff is i mean that's a real rabbit hole and we could probably speak about that for a significant amount of time but the yeah i mean the louis through documentary in my opinion really scraped the surface on what is actually out there um i also think that it was like i think that it could have been done better and i and i think that it was almost outdated by the time it came out because obviously TV is so slow and I think the thing that is really worrying and the thing that I'm generally concerned with in the mail space is that I think it's going to get a lot worse like I think that this is almost the start because I think obviously I don't want to misquote things but social media platforms kind of now understand what keeps people on the platform and you know because in a sense it's a free it's a free space obviously there are some great influencers but they do understand that almost fear and anger and resentment is what keeps people watching, is what keeps people engaged.

15:35And you basically have this polarization of the internet where we exist within this mirror chamber, where you see only the content you want to see. And because controversy will always be more engaging than, you know, if I come out and say an outrageous statement, that's going to be huge. You know, you're going to see that on your phone and be like, what he's just said that and then you watch to the end and then you'll see more of it and more of it and then you're leaving you yeah exactly and it's it's it's it's terrifying because i also sometimes feel like no one's really doing anything about it or saying anything about it it's just sort of going to continue rumbling on in the background until i i'd be concerned as to where

16:15James Edward:the social media might end up yeah i mean social media you know that the element of the fact that at any one time, you've spent a lot of time on your own and are happy with that. We were having that chat earlier, but at the same time, when you put content out, it reaches so many. And if you added up all your followers and then put it into stadiums, like a Wembley stadium, it's a huge number of people. And as you say, the influence that's risen to the top is wrong. I mean, it concerns me what you're saying, that it could get worse because you're so relevant. You're so in this space. You have built a platform and continue to within social media.

16:52James Edward:what would you change if you because it feels like there's a real intellect there and backed up with knowledge what would you change what levers would you pull what would you stop what would you implement i mean i i mean obviously again it's hard to quote exact figures because i mean things change constantly but there is some evidence to suggest supposedly that it's uh like teens are spending eight hours a day on their phone right and i really do think that social media should be banned under 16. I think that until you are made aware and given the skills to deal with what is effectively an open encyclopedia and you can be constantly watching and constantly seeing all these things and going further and further and further down these rabbit holes, that they need to be provided the skills and knowledge to deal with the space.

17:40Because it's complex. It's really hard growing up. We are all trying to work out who we are. I mean, I think we're all still trying to work out who we are. I don't think you know maybe some people do know who they are but you know on the whole we're still trying to work it out and you know especially at that age where you've got all these confusing feelings going on I know that it's probably not something that someone that age would want to hear because I remember being that age as well and all I wanted to be on was my phone and looking at what my friends are doing on Instagram because it's addictive but you know you really do need to have like the tools to deal with it because it's it's a scary place you know you wouldn't you wouldn't just take your child and leave them in the middle of London by themselves, all by themselves to then deal with the city eight hours a day, right?

18:23You would never do that. So why, you know, why would you open a world up on your child's phone and allow them to just, I mean, you don't know what's going on, right? I mean, and they don't know what's going on because they're just sort of fed narratives and, you know, it's infectious. Yeah. Yeah.

18:42James Edward:I'm a dad to two daughters, teenage daughters, in any one way, are consuming content right now. So I was wondering, Ray, you sit with the restrictions or is it more... Because restrictions just cannot build a sort of a cork in a bottle that comes out when the age is appropriate or whatever, and then they go straight into what they would have been doing anyway. It feels like it's an education piece. Yeah. And whether that needs to come in early from schools, parents, and awareness, which is back to this lovely analogy you said about month and we're all climbing a mountain never stops you're 48 yeah still climbing a mountain everyone is yeah yeah a hundred percent maybe a few yeah i mean regarding the social media i mean it's i don't know i i guess perhaps it just needs more voices to sort of sort of explain what's really going on in the space and raise awareness within it um and then yeah so the climbing mountains yeah i think that's just life right we're all in a pursuit of something.

19:39I don't know if anyone really knows what they're in a pursuit of, but it really never ends.

19:45James Edward:Can we relate the climbing the mountain to your business, Mont? What stage are you at? How ambitious are you with it? Where do you see it going? Well, obviously, I mean, to be honest, you know, things are going well, you know, and I'm very grateful for it. But like, we are in survival, right? I mean, you know, any brand in infancy is, you know, it's a child, a baby even. And, you know, one thing goes one way or one thing goes the other way. And, you know, you never know where you're going to end up. In terms of how ambitious I'd like to be with it, I mean, I would really love to make like, it's a cliche now, but like almost a dent in the universe with it, right?

20:32I think that there's hopefully, you know, a space where, you know, firstly within the hair space, I think that it's been in an area that's been neglected for a long time. It's not really been revitalized since the 70s. I mean, brands have always run the same way. Products haven't really been reinvented. You know, we spent three years kind of trying to reinvent the wheel almost. and we came on with an entirely new product because there were issues that I felt were within the current market that I felt like there was no one really answering. So that was within the texturizing tool itself. Life is for doing it all right.

21:14Wherever we end up is where we end up. But I'd really like to make an impact on a large scale, hopefully. I mean, you can't... People are people, right? No one really knows what they're doing. But like, I'd like to, you know, try and do something within that space. And yeah.

21:33James Edward:So you didn't mention money then at all, which I really like. There was a whole opportunity to say, I'd like to achieve this revenue or one day sell for X. You want to make an impact. You are doing this to build something that's a lot more than making money. Yeah, but it's not about... So first of all, to make it clear in terms of the financial side of it, like I have made no money off month and I probably won't make any money for two years. Like I don't anticipate to make any money. I haven't taken any money out. Everything goes back into the business. So the financial side of it is definitely not particularly important to me.

22:09You know, I think obviously there's always that thing that you'd like to be able to eat out nice restaurants and do, you know, nice things and go to nice places. You know, travel is a really big part of what I enjoy. but yeah i mean it is scary sometimes because you know i stepped away from sort of perhaps more influencing things and i mean it's a horrible word but you know taking brand deals and yeah i haven't i haven't earned a penny from anything now for six months so yeah it's it's uh my mom's full commitment yeah my mom's probably sitting at home going um what are you doing but yeah i mean i don't know man it's we'll end up where we end up and like why why would i want to damage what hopefully can be something incredible simply for trying to take money out for myself you know like

22:58James Edward:yeah so there's a question for me on the sort of how you manage your mental and physical fitness alongside the business growing not taking any money out for six months but there's a purpose that sits behind this that I feel like I can see that there's a glint in your eye there's like a fire in you from that but how are you managing what is effectively quite a lot of stress creating lots of content and building climbing your mountain what do you do to prioritize both your mental and your physical things uh I just run a lot I've seen you're going for a 100 mile run aren't you that's some I saw that was one of recent content well yeah I attempted that uh Well, okay, so I'm running another 100-mile race next week, and I'm running a marathon on Sunday.

23:43That's just like a pre-run thing, which we call it in Italy. But, yeah, I just run a lot. Running is such a – it's just you, right? Like, it's just you and the road ahead. Like, the only person that can do it is you. Once you're out there, the only way of getting back is running. So that would be mostly how I deal with it. And I was thinking it's just such a great space away from my phone and away from everything and just sort of doing that but then I'd also like to comment like I am lucky enough to have like an incredible partner who you know is well if you're watching hi um like she's uh yeah she's she's incredible and she probably has to deal with more than she'd like to sometimes but you know having someone there to support me is been amazing and then

24:29James Edward:also my family as well so I love that because there's an element of you that I feel like anyone time was you openly said you spend a lot of time on your own alone so that relationship is really important to you yeah yeah yeah i mean it's it's it's it's a balance i sometimes like to just spend time by myself because i think that we're constantly distracting ourselves with things um there's so many things there's so many things going on with the world i think we spend our lives distracting ourselves sure um and you know being able to just be by yourself and just sort of think through the well i mean obviously you can't stutter into the abyss too much but like you know just in general just sort of think through things and put things into perspective is yeah i don't know maybe it's weird i just enjoy it is that also where you get your inspiration from a storytelling point of view we both we're both um aligned and we we love storytelling and storytelling is at the heart of relationships good brands you know businesses um where do you get the inspiration to then create, if you like, the stories that become a lot of what is your content?

25:35Stories, we are made of stories, like living in stories, to exist as a story, you are telling your story right now, I'm telling, like, you know, it's everything, I mean, right down from how much you like someone is how much you like their story or how engaged you are in their story, like, which is kind of ironic to say, because I was, English was not always my strong part of school but i mean i i just really yeah i think it really is just the the dirt of life almost you know without it you know humans wouldn't be able to communicate and i don't know all right yeah and i think that that just kind of comes into it really uh but yeah like storytelling is just such a beautiful thing right you know to be able to transport yourself or transport someone somewhere yeah it's fascinating you've got a whole journey still to go on um a lot already done but

26:28James Edward:just in context of thinking forwards trajectory of what success looks like for you how do you define success i think one day like i want to be a dad like that would be like really cool love to have kids and give them like a great start to life i think that's something that i've always been so grateful to my parents for is that they did everything to make sure that i could have the best start and i think you know everything that i am i owe to them really you know because you know yeah um so i think that would be really cool and i just like to try and do as many different things as possible like why not try i mean i don't know if i'd like to camp on the side of a cliff face though Luke has actually suggested that to me that would be kind of terrifying but yeah why not why not do little bits of everything and just see where you end up right I think it creates more stories right experiences and new challenges create the stories that keep stimulating us 100 % yeah I mean I think like something that I've really grounded on recently is that I don't think you necessarily live longer through the amount of years that you live I think you longer because like how long you live is really your own perception of it and the more new experiences that you have and the more new things that you're doing and you know things such as this right like i'm going to remember this you know deeply i mean it's this is a completely new experience for me and you know to be able to you know go and see the world try all the different foods meet different people you know yeah yeah everything yeah i don't know but also yeah also bear your dad i think that would be really cool no i can tell that's sprung straight to the front Yeah, it's a priority for you.

28:12James Edward:But these challenges, these making sure that life's full of new experiences is all about growth as well, right? And I really lean into that as well. And I'm just interested to go back to the younger version of yourself that you openly said didn't have many friends, spent a lot of time on your own and had a much bigger mountain to climb than perhaps what you've got now. What advice would you give to the younger lad that was dare I say a lot more lost didn't necessarily have the confidence through certain validation certain things you've done now what advice would you give to him I just think stay true to who you are and it works out I think you know I'm not I really don't compromise on many things like if I if I think that was also one of the reasons perhaps that I didn't make that many friends at school sometimes is because I was unwilling to sort of you know if there was a popular person at school just sort of listen to what they say and etc like I've never really compromised and yeah I just think I think it really does work itself out in the end and you just got to keep believing and keep trusting that it will um I don't think there's really a right way of doing anything um but you know find what you love and then just keep doing it yeah we were connected by Luke Tarrant who's sat where you are now I think the world of him what he's been through right?

29:35James Edward:Motorcycle accident, both legs, but not wallowed in it one second looking for any pity or just got on with his life. What do you look for in a friendship, in a connection that means something to you? Because I just used Luke as an example because he's got so much integrity, so much zest for life. I just wonder what you really look for. Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney+. Let's go! Get ready for a new case. We're going to crack this case and prove we're the greatest partners of all time. new friends. You are Gary the Snake. And your last name? The Snake. Dream Team. New habitats. Zootopia has a secret reptile population.

30:16You can watch the record-breaking phenomenon at home. You're clearly working at it. Zootopia 2. Now available on Disney Plus Rated PG. Stitch Fix. Stop shopping. Get styled. A plus on the outfit, Miss Turner. You are about to slay parent-teacher conferences. Are these? Just the most perfect fitting jeans my stylist sent me. Oh, hello you who didn't set one foot in a mall and still looks amazing. Just show your size, style and budget and your stylist sends personalized looks right to your door. Stitch Fix. Get started today at stitchfix.com. To my stylist. This look is dedicated to you. Thank you.

30:55Thank you. I don't think it's really looking for something. I think you either bond with someone or you don't. I love Luke for the reasons that you just mentioned I think he's so interesting I mean perhaps maybe there is something that I like I am profoundly interested in interesting people like and I think if you're really seriously passionate or fixated on something and you know I think he's fixated on just living life and I think that that's so interesting and I find that when I spend time with people that are really passionate about something it's like a vibration