Born To Build with Sarafina Mancuso

For more than 35 years, Wally Feresten has helped guide live television through thousands of sketches, hosts, musical performances, and moments that audiences never realize depend on the cue cards in his hands. As the longtime cue card supervisor for Saturday Night Live and Late Night with Seth Meyers, Wally has spent decades operating in one of the highest-pressure creative environments imaginable, mastering a craft so specific, so human, and so pressure-dependent that technology never replaced it. In Episode 3 of Born to Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Wally Feresten to discuss his journey into television, building a career at SNL, operating under pressure, mastering a highly specialized craft, adapting alongside technology, turning decades of expertise into a business of his own, and what it means to build a life around becoming exceptional at one thing. The conversation explores craftsmanship, live television, pressure, reputation, entrepreneurship, human connection, legacy, and what it means to make the impossible possible, week after week, for more than three decades. Guest: Wally Feresten, @cuecardwally_official 02:03 Meet Wally Feresten04:38 Getting His Start at SNL09:47 How Saturday Night Live Actually Works16:07 Spending Decades Inside One Creative Family22:44 Operating Under Pressure29:49 What Makes a Great Cue Card?35:52 Working with Celebrities & Building Trust39:07 Why Cue Cards Survived Technology42:07 Turning a Craft into a Business47:32 From Labor to Leverage52:43 What Students Need to Know About Building a Career57:08 Ideas Are Easy. Execution Is Everything.59:35 Were You Born to Build?Listen & Subscribe: Website: borntobuildpodcast.com Apple Podcasts: https://tr.ee/1HcLXID7Ht Follow Born to Build: Instagram: @borntobuildpodcast TikTok: @borntobuildpodcast Music: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc 

Duncan Smith built more than a following. He built a career around seeing potential where other people see waste.Known online as Trash Boy, Duncan has built an audience by transforming discarded furniture, forgotten objects, and New York City street finds into pieces with a second life. With a background in art, filmmaking, and production, his work goes far beyond upcycling. Through a combination of craftsmanship, creativity, storytelling, and an unmistakable eye for possibility, he's built a platform that not only reimagines objects, but allows viewers to experience the transformation alongside him.In Episode 2 of Born to Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with Duncan Smith to discuss moving from the UK to New York, building a life around creativity, navigating the realities of the creator economy, balancing artistic integrity with monetization, and trusting your instincts when the path forward doesn't always make sense on paper.The conversation explores potential, adaptability, visibility, social media, creative identity, risk, entrepreneurship, and what it means to keep building when success isn't always reflected in real time.00:00 Intro00:49 Meet Duncan Smith01:27 What Trash Boy NYC is really about02:34 Seeing potential in discarded things05:20 Moving to New York and shopping secondhand06:36 Creating the magic in transformation videos08:06 Duncan’s background in art, film, and production10:37 Going from behind the camera to in front of it12:13 Learning by doing14:32 Home, identity, and different versions of yourself16:32 Why New York encourages big swings18:15 Were you born to build?20:03 Chasing ideas and trusting instinct21:26 Delusional confidence and figuring it out23:08 Everyone thinks you’re crazy until it works24:06 Growing from zero followers to full-time creator25:40 The first Trash Boy video28:31 Hulu, Good Morning America, and social media pressure29:04 When the algorithm changes32:43 How creators make money35:16 Brand deals and building a unique style37:08 Raw content vs polished production38:42 That Thrifting Show and building under pressure41:16 Taking opportunities before you feel ready43:23 Building from an apartment to a workshop45:51 Investing in the business47:33 The loneliness of building something new49:44 Scaling Trash Boy NYC51:51 What’s next for Duncan54:46 Sharing, teaching, and not gatekeeping56:29 The skill of trying57:17 Rebuilding when the blueprint stops working1:00:45 Were you born to build?1:01:00 Closing thoughtsGuest:Duncan Smith @TrashBoyNYC Listen & Subscribe: Borntobuildpodcast.comFollow: @borntobuildpodcastMusic: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

Shermin Lakha built more than a law firm. She built visibility around a traditionally transactional industry and turned relationships into the foundation of a multi-dimensional business ecosystem.In Episode 1 of Born to Build, Sarafina Mancuso sits down with the founder of LVLUP Legal to discuss building a modern legal brand through social media, creating visibility in a traditionally buttoned-up profession, scaling teams, building founder relationships, and what it takes to continuously evolve as both an operator and public-facing brand.The conversation explores discernment, proximity, community, business development, visibility, risk, and the realities of building businesses rooted in trust and connection in real time.Guest:Shermin Lakha @shermin.lahkaLVLUP Legal @lvluplegalListen & Subscribe:WebsiteYoutubeApple PodcastsFollow Born to Build:Instagram @borntobuildpodcastTikTok @borntobuildpodcastMusic: https://tinyurl.com/3pepwnc

Born to Build is a podcast exploring how founders, operators, and creatives think, decide, and build. Through candid conversations, the show goes beyond surface-level success stories to unpack intuition, discernment, risk, ambition, and the realities of creating something meaningful in real time.Hosted by Sarafina Mancuso, each episode offers an honest look at the people behind the brands, businesses, and ideas shaping culture today.