Forged by Struggles, Destined for Greatness

What does it mean to be a trailblazer? Forget the Silicon Valley stereotype – true trailblazing happens across every dimension of life, from parenting to entrepreneurship to personal growth.

Join me, Blaise Delfino, as I kick off this podcast by sharing my own winding path from aspiring musician to hearing healthcare professional to corporate leader and inventor. My journey from performing at Webster Hall and opening for national acts to patenting Fader Plugs (the world's first custom adjustable earplug) illustrates how seemingly disconnected experiences prepare us for unexpected opportunities. Through personal stories, including surviving six months without a salary during COVID and major career transitions, I reveal how "before a breakthrough, there's a breakup."

"The Trail Blaiser Podcast" creates a community where we celebrate not just success, but the raw, challenging process of growth. We'll feature conversations with diverse voices – entrepreneurs, working professionals, dedicated parents – who are making meaningful impact by blazing their unique trails. Together, we'll explore how reframing failure as a stepping stone transforms our perspective on life's journey.

Like the mountain in our logo, life includes difficult climbs with breathtaking views at the summit. This podcast offers practical takeaways for navigating your own path with purpose and resilience. Whether you're questioning your direction, facing obstacles, or seeking inspiration, these authentic conversations will remind you that your struggles are preparing you for something greater.

New episodes drop monthly on Fridays. Connect with us on Instagram and LinkedIn, or comment on YouTube with topics you want explored. Ready to summit life's mountains together? Let's embrace the journey and leave our mark on the world.

Transcript

Blaise Delfino: 0:00

Welcome to "The Trail Blaiser" podcast. I'm your host, Blaise Delfino, and if I were to tell you that I am just so excited to be starting this podcast, that would be an understatement. I am ridiculously excited to start the show for many reasons that we're going to dive into a little later today, but allow me to introduce myself, share a little bit about myself, what the show is about, what you're going to walk away learning from this show and how I hope that you feel after tuning in to this podcast, because you are donating your time to tune in and, as a podcast host, as someone who's been involved with college radio and podcasting for many years now, your time is so valuable. So I just first want to thank you for sitting down with me. Maybe you're having a cup of coffee, like I am. I'm recording this on a Sunday afternoon. I really felt it in my heart to record right now and welcome Welcome to this new community of individuals who want to grow, not only professionally but maybe in your household, spiritually. This is going to be a lot of fun. I'm super excited, so let me dive in a little bit Again.

Blaise Delfino: 1:20

My name is Blaise Delfino. I'm originally from Bethlehem, pennsylvania, so let's bring it back to when I was 17,. 18 years old Now. I grew up playing sports. I played baseball, football and basketball and I loved it. I loved playing sports growing up. It was such a great way to meet friends but also learn leadership, learn how to work together as a team. But I also grew up playing instruments and learning music. Playing music, having appreciation for music. And it wasn't until about 17 or 18 years old when I was 17 or 18, that I really felt it in my heart to pursue music. I started to play guitar, I taught myself guitar, I took a couple singing lessons, I taught myself piano and I was off to the races. So this was essentially my senior year of high school. Very interesting time, because at that time I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I mean, I'm 18, 17, 18. So what do you want to do for the rest of your life? It's like, oh my gosh, I don't know. I just want to play guitar, sing and piano. And yeah, it was definitely an interesting time. But again, I felt it in my heart to really pursue music and I remember my first big show was at the Crock Rock Cafe in Allentown, pennsylvania. Now, unfortunately, I believe they knocked the building down. It's no longer there. That venue was incredible. So many memories just having the opportunity to play so many shows there.

Blaise Delfino: 3:04

So my first big show I was in high school, my senior year, and I had the opportunity to open for Elliot Yamine. Now he was on American Idol and I was like, oh my gosh, this is going to be incredible. This is my first big show and the music bug really bit me that night and I said this is what I want to do, this is what I've been placed on this earth to do, and tuning into the Trailblazer podcast. We're going to talk about some success, but really ways that didn't work failure. We live in a day and age where it's just all about look at what I accomplished, let me post this on LinkedIn, but what about the other raw, unsuccessful stuff that didn't work? So this is all part of that journey. I really thought after that first show okay, I have a grip on what my set needs to look like. Now let me get into the studio and start to record.

Blaise Delfino: 3:59

Again, this is senior year of high school, I'm heading off to college and I originally went to St Peter's University in Jersey City. So what was great about this is it was close to New York. I had the opportunity to play at Webster Hall in New York City. I had the opportunity to go to a few different recording studios in the city while attending St Peter's University and had the chance to open up for a lot of national acts like Ryan Cabrera, jojo, just to name a few. But I had the chance to just really experience what that industry and what that scene was like and I truly thought in my heart of hearts, I'm like this is what I'm going to do the rest of my life. Well, unbeknownst to me looking back now, 15 years later, 16 years later, how those experiences shaped me to where I am today. And again, that's what the Trailblazer podcast is about. So when I started school at St Peter's University, I was heavily involved with music. I was performing, I was recording. But I was also involved with college radio and that's what really sparked me to learn about being a host, learn about podcasting, learn about what college radio was about.

Blaise Delfino: 5:18

Fast forward to 2014. When I graduated, I ended up transferring schools and I graduated from East Stroudsburg University in Stroudsburg, pennsylvania, essentially the Poconos. So I took 2014, 2015, off, just to kind of recalibrate. Now I told you, growing up, I played sports. I played music, but my parents both of them are hearing healthcare professionals. So I grew up in what I would call a hearing home. My mother and father had a private audiology practice and they still do today and their first location was in the home. So I remember being in the basement playing drums and my mother would flick the light to signal to me hey, we have a patient coming. So not only was I involved in sports and music and learning about hearing, it all integrated the music and the hearing sciences, growing up being at the dinner table learning about sensory neural hearing loss. So in 2014, 2015, I was licensed as a hearing healthcare professional and I did enter the family practice then. But I really doubled down on audio engineering. So, while I was also really passionate about playing music and performing and recording, the audio engineering bug started to bite me a little bit. So I built a home studio in my parents' basement. It was the coolest experience ever.

Blaise Delfino: 6:56

I'm a nerd when it comes to sound and that was such a great opportunity because I would record other artists and again learning this journey as an independent recording artist. You have to learn how to self-promote. You learn about music management. You learn about the music industry. The music industry is incredibly mercurial and I don't believe that I was meant to be in the music industry as a recording artist per se or as a performer, but essentially, god led me down the path of. I'm going to introduce you to all of these different experiences and introduce you to all these different people, because it's going to help you in your career later, and this did not dawn upon me. And again, I'm speaking to you as a listener. You're probably, whether you're in the car or listening in your living room right now, you're probably thinking to yourself wow, okay, if I reevaluate my life, how many of the experiences in the past have brought me to where I am today? And that's why I'm sharing this story with you, because the Trailblazer podcast is embracing the journey and embracing that path, because so long as we embrace that path, we will summit that mountain.

Blaise Delfino: 8:11

So I was recording different music artists and there was a single titled First that actually charted on the iTunes pop charts and it passed Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber and that was a song that I assisted in producing engineering and I actually featured on that song and that was the coolest thing ever. I could not believe it. It was absolutely amazing. Obviously, words can't describe that feeling. Again, that taught me that, wow, all of the years I've been playing music and all of the failures, so I thought that got me to this moment. You know, I think I have a pretty darn good skill when it comes to audio engineering. Let's kind of double down on this. Let's see where my path is is to.

Blaise Delfino: 9:04

So, as I'm helping run the family practice during this time and recording different artists and releasing different singles, I decided to go back to graduate school. I have an undergrad or a bachelor of science in communication sciences and disorders, also known as speech-language pathology. So in SLP for short, the scope of practice is quite vast and I felt it again in my heart. It's like God's taking me through this entire journey of okay, you had this experience, now Blaze. Now it's time for graduate school. So I did go to graduate school from 2015 to 2017. And I attended East Stroudsburg University. So from 2015 to 2017, I'm in grad school, but hold on a second July before grad school again.

Blaise Delfino: 9:57

At this time, I'm heavily involved in music. I'm releasing different singles, recording different artists and our family vacations down in Long Beach Island, new Jersey, and I wanted to go on a run and, out of nowhere, the words fader plugs come to me. Again, I truly believe I'm a man of faith. That was absolutely the Holy Spirit talking to me and I had this idea of an adjustable mechanical earplug that could aesthetically refashion the use of hearing protection. Again, this is all a whole ecosystem here, right Between music between hearing health sciences. So I have this idea before entering graduate school and I'm thinking to myself okay, this could be a fun little passion project, well unbeknownst to me. Fast forward to it was 2020 that the patent was issued and I invented the world's first custom adjustable earplug.

Blaise Delfino: 11:48

Now I'm not here to brag, boast or to impress you by any means, but impress upon you that the experiences I've had, the journey that I've been on I never thought that, okay, the music stuff, the sports stuff, I was being, essentially, we're all being prepped for something greater than ourselves, and what an experience it's been. So in grad school, I worked on developing the product, worked on understanding how this can apply to everyday life. What is the go-to-market strategy? What does that look like? And I'll talk more about Fader Plugs, because that journey has been more failure than it has success, but that's going to change very, very soon. So, from 2015, 2017, grad school, working on Fader Pl plugs, still dabbling and playing some music, but my priorities were changing. I'm getting older and in 2017, I graduated. I had the opportunity to actually be the graduate commencement speaker, and that was such a great, great opportunity.

Blaise Delfino: 12:56

After graduate school, I made the decision to and this is 2017, I made the decision to join the family private practice full time and I decided not to get my certificate of clinical competence as a speech language pathologist. Now, at that time, there were some individuals that were just like you know is this the best decision? Do you want to do this? Does this make sense? And again, I felt it in my heart that this is absolutely the decision I want to make. I want to bring fader plugs to market.

Blaise Delfino: 13:33

I am an entrepreneur at heart, but, most importantly, I want to help patients and individuals who present with hearing loss hear life's story. So, at this time, I would say music was definitely starting to become more of a hobby, something that I am still passionate about, but I had to refocus my energy into now my career. What is the life that I want to build? And I'm a firm believer if you don't design your own life plan, someone else is going to and guess what they have planned for you. Not that much, and that's, again, just my opinion. I just feel as though that that's the brutal fact of life. Again, if you don't design your own life plan, someone else is going to and they probably don't have much planned for you.

Blaise Delfino: 14:27

So at the time, I was dating my now wife and she joined the private practice with me and it was incredibly hard, the first couple of months, for sure. But what I'm most proud of, number one, is how many patients we helped from 2017 to 2022. So I was working the private practice for five years seeing patients, fitting patients with hearing technology, helping them hear life's story, growing the business. Within the first eight months of running the practice, we grew 487%. Now, this was in 2017. In 2020, what happened? Covid and oh my goodness, that was a very scary time. So, as the owner of the business, I did not make any money for about six months in 2020. And sure, you had the PPP and other small business relief, but again that's going back into the business. So that was an incredibly scary time in my life as an entrepreneur, as a hearing healthcare professional, just having that experience trailblazing.

Blaise Delfino: 15:44

What does that actually mean? A trailblazer is not just a tech wizard in California writing code for the next app. If you're tuned in here, you are probably a mother, a father, a husband, a boyfriend, a girlfriend. No matter what your title is. You are most likely a trailblazer in your home, in your community, in your faith. So, with this show and I'm sharing my experience obviously I don't want to get too deep in the weeds because I really don't want to talk much about myself. This is about you tuned in the listener but I wanted to share my experience and my story.

Blaise Delfino: 16:25

All of these failures have built me and carved me and, again, I've been in the furnace many times and I will be in the furnace more times to come. They've allowed me perspective. Be in the furnace more times to come. They've allowed me perspective. The failures along this way again, ways that didn't work have given me a lot of insight and again, as I said, perspective to understand as an entrepreneur, as an individual that works a nine to five, as someone who not only hosts this podcast but a second podcast and is working on that go-to-market strategy for Fader Plugs, and now being a first-time father and ensuring that I show up the best way that I can for my wife. It's a lot that we deal with today and again, every experience you've had in your life has absolutely shaped you to where you are today. So I encourage you reflect, take some time for reflection.

Blaise Delfino: 17:21

It was November of 2021. I started to spend a lot more time with God and I started to pray more. I was waking up earlier 4, 4.35, 5 am listening to different messages and I didn't know it at the time, but I felt as though that a breakthrough was coming, and one of my favorite quotes is before a breakthrough, there's a breakup, and I was being prepared for a lot of really challenging situations that I didn't know were going to happen, but they ended up happening. So I don't want to really deep dive into those. A lot of pain, yeah, a lot of frustration. But in May of 2022 was when I received a phone call from. His name is Brandon Sawalich, president and CEO of Starkey, asking me to join the team, and Starkey is the world's largest privately held hearing aid manufacturer.

Blaise Delfino: 18:25

And I look back now held hearing aid manufacturer. And I look back now again music and sports and the private practice and going through all of those challenges and tribulations and, oh my gosh, I was absolutely being prepared for where I am today and we don't understand it at the time. We don't realize it at the time. But again, I don't want to go into all the painful experiences. Maybe one day we'll kind of touch upon it a little bit.

Blaise Delfino: 18:52

But there were a lot of things that had to break up before this breakthrough and in May of 2022, started my new position and then, in September of 2022, my wife and I felt it on our hearts. We moved from Pennsylvania to South Carolina and that was a very exciting but yet scary journey, but we knew it. This is where we're supposed to be and we are just so happy. We did that and we've grown closer as a husband and wife and now, being a first-time father, it's super exciting. Again, words can't describe that. We're going to talk a little bit more about this, specifically becoming a first-time parent next week with my good friend, tom Bowen. He talks about balanced leadership. So where are we today?

Blaise Delfino: 19:50

Well, I've been working a corporate job and I absolutely love my position. I love what I do. I've been working in corporate for three years and I also host the Hearing Matters podcast, which is a hearing healthcare podcast, and I feel like I've been called to start this podcast to talk about what is trailblazing, what does it mean? What does that name actually represent? And I really want to reframe what a trailblazer is. You don't need to be a tech wizard who works in Silicon Valley to be a trailblazer. I said that a couple minutes ago We'll be sitting down with successful entrepreneurs, but also successful mother and fathers who are winning at life in every single aspect Having the entrepreneurial journey, having grown a business to that seven-figure mark, but also and I don't want to fail to mention this, in my early to mid-20s I was absolutely I bought into the hustle culture and being a musician, having to really self-promote yourself as a musician.

Blaise Delfino: 20:58

You learn to. I need to make social media work for me. I need to learn about all these algorithms and create content that makes sense. So that's helped me today to where I am. But the hustle culture, absolutely it had me. It was gripping me tight and I feel like that's a double-edged sword, because being introduced to personal development and reading the right books, how to win friends and influence people, think and grow rich. There's a ton of different books that we'll talk about on this podcast, but there's well over a million podcasts today, well over that and there's some shows that have a similar structure to what we're going to be talking about.

Blaise Delfino: 21:39

But what I see a lot is, are we talking about the humility and the vulnerability that goes into today's successes? Now, what is success? One of the best definitions I've heard is success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. So if your goal and your dream is to become a teacher and that's what you love and that's what you are proud of doing and inspiring the next generation of children and kids, my goodness, you are a success. Success is not about money. Something I've learned from a mentor is money follows, meaning Money's not going to make you happy. There are some individuals out there that have a boatload of money who are absolutely miserable.

Blaise Delfino: 22:25

And again, with trailblazing, we can trailblaze in different areas of our life business and entrepreneurship, which is sort of a no-brainer. But what about in faith? Are you living out your beliefs boldly? Are you inspiring others and guiding people toward the truth? You're probably, and you may be a trailblazer in your family. Maybe you're breaking cycles, generational traumas, maybe you're setting new standards. Are you being a role model for future generations. You can also be a trailblazer in community. Are you standing up for what's right? Are you leading initiatives? Maybe it's volunteering for a 5K and the causes for Alzheimer's. You can also be a trailblazer in personal growth overcoming obstacles, pushing boundaries and continuously evolving. That, to me, is what defines being a trailblazer.

Blaise Delfino: 23:19

I briefly shared briefly I mean, we're probably at what? 25 minutes now. Appreciate your patience and tuning in. I briefly shared my story from athlete to musician, to graduate student, to private practice owner, to now a director in a corporate role, but also having the flexibility and ability to host two podcasts and be an intrapreneur but also entrepreneur. Enjoy the journey.

Blaise Delfino: 23:53

There've been a few times where I wish that I had a platform or a community like this, maybe essentially in my mid to late twenties, trying to understand how to navigate life running a private practice and graduating from grad school. Going into the entrepreneurial journey was incredibly challenging and we took the leap of faith, but it was because of mentors that we had. And again, mentors can be physically there. But I hope that maybe one day you see the Trailblazer podcast our guests and myself as that virtual mentor. Maybe you're tuning in and you're learning something new that helps you grow personally and professionally. That's why we want to create this podcast. We want this to be a community of individuals who want to embrace the journey, who are embracing the journey. But there's so much emphasis today on look what I accomplished or what's next or what am I going to accomplish next. But if we just enjoy the present moment Eckhart Tolle has a book called the Power of Now completely changed my life.

Blaise Delfino: 25:01

A tree doesn't think about being anything but a tree, but yet it grows. A plant doesn't think about growing, it just grows. It has no concept of time. As humans, we think about the past and the future. That gives us anxiety. It can lead to depression. I'm not a mental health professional by any means, but I'm human and I have felt these things. So that's why we really want to create the Trailblazer podcast so you can listen and learn from not only sure successful entrepreneurs and business owners, but guess what? Also other individuals working a nine to five. Maybe it's mothers who chose to stay home with their children because that's what they wanted to do. They are successful because that's what they wanted to do. We are successful because that's what they wanted to do.

Blaise Delfino: 25:47

We're going to talk to everyday people grinding through life, because that is real, that is not manufactured stuff. As humans, what we can really relate to is that pain and suffering we can grow through that. That's what I hope that you can learn from the Trailblazer podcast. You'll probably see the Trailblazer logo and to me the mountain signifies man. It is tough getting up that mountain. If you've ever gone on a hike before. What you can learn from hiking and what we've learned is the process and the hike up the mountain. Sure it's challenging, but when you see that view and you summit that mountain, man, look what we just accomplished. The trail up the mountain in our logo it signifies the peaks and valleys of life, but when you blaze your own trail pun intended and you do live a life driven by principles and values, the climb is not going to be easy by any means, but you'll summit every chapter of life.

Blaise Delfino: 26:50

I want to emphasize that this podcast is not just about success stories. It's going to be about real, raw conversations and embracing the journey. Failures, and all is key to success and all is key to success. I'm encouraging you to rethink failure not as something to avoid, but really as a stepping stone, and that's what we're going to be talking about next week with our good friend, tom Bowen. Tom is going to be talking about balance and leadership Because in today's day and age, it's so fast paced Again.

Blaise Delfino: 27:32

One of the reasons why I felt this on my heart to start this is where are people turning to today? Are they turning to things that aren't good for them? Our vision is to become this platform, this community of supportive individuals working nine to five entrepreneurs, small business owners that you can have key takeaways from every episode and apply it into your life. Say if you can at least learn one or two things from the show and apply it into your life, and it's made an impact. Oh my gosh. Please send us a message. We'd love to hear that. But the key takeaways today enjoy the process.

Blaise Delfino: 28:11

I wanted to share my story so you could learn a little bit about me. I am human as someone who has failed more times than they have succeeded, as someone who just has a deep love for family and friends and community and impact, and I'm excited to connect you and connect all of us to other individuals who are going through difficult times in life. But what were the failures and what were the ways that didn't work that shaped these individuals to where they are today, and that's really the goal of this podcast. We're going to trailblaze together. We can make an impact together. So, if anything, some of the key takeaways today is enjoy the process, be present, and I encourage you, maybe just take some quiet time 10 to 15 minutes and really think what experiences the past 10 to 15 years, even five years what was an experience that? Maybe it projected you to where you are today, catapulted you to where you are today, to new heights, and we'll continue to summit that mountain together.

Blaise Delfino: 29:20

Before we sign off, setting expectations in terms of episode release, it is my goal I'd like to release at least one episode per month and they will release on Fridays. I thought Friday would be a nice day where we can spend some time together before the weekend level set, before you spend time with some family and friends and unplug for the weekend. But my goal is definitely one episode to start per month. There might be a second in there every month. We'll see. I don't want to put the cart before the horse. I invite you to engage, leave some feedback, share your experiences and please connect with us, connect with me on social media. We're really going to be promoting mostly on Instagram and LinkedIn and if you're watching on YouTube, leave a comment. Let us know what you'd like to hear. Let us know what you'd like to learn. Let us know, maybe, who would you want us to connect with. Again, I welcome you to the Trailblazer podcast. Let's leave a mark together, let's summit the mountain of life together, and I'm looking forward to this journey together.