In this deeply personal episode of Engineering Brand Love, RickMilenthal and David Grzelak speak with Dr. Luan Phan, Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Ohio State University and creator of SOAR (State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience).

Together, they explore mental health, resilience, grief, creativity, and the power of storytelling to help people feel less alone. From SOAR’s ambitious effort to transform mental health research to deeply human stories of loss and healing, this conversation is a powerful reminder that vulnerability is not weakness. It is the foundation of empathy, leadership, creativity, and real human connection.

In this episode of Engineering Brand Love, Rick sits down with Matty Ayers, founder of Tiny Wins, the world’s first “feeling studio,” to explore why the future is not just something brands predict, but something they design.

From digital interfaces and AI to urban transportation, IRL experiences and the emotional weight of modern technology, Ayers makes the case that great design is applied empathy: the intentional choices that make people feel considered before they ever arrive. Together, the conversation moves through the tension between prophecy and legacy, the role of fear and optimism in innovation, and why the most powerful brands are not simply building products, platforms or experiences, but shaping how people feel inside them.

Rewriting Discovery, Storytelling & Search

On this episode of Engineering Brand Love, Rick Milenthal sits down with Tom Howell, founder of FancyAI, alongside Shipyard partner Dave Grzelak, for a deep dive into the rapidly evolving world of generative engine optimization (GEO), AI-driven discovery, and the future of brand storytelling.

Together, they explore how AI platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and xAI Grok are fundamentally reshaping how brands are found, recommended, and trusted - and why creativity may become more important, not less, in the AI era.

The conversation spans everything from Reddit signals and influencer authority to personalized AI agents, the death of transactional search, and the return of authentic storytelling as a competitive advantage. Rick, Tom, and Dave also unpack the future of advertising in an AI-first world, the role of creators and podcasts in training large language models, and why the next era of marketing may reward relevance, humanity, and imagination over sheer media spend.