Adam Vasallo (HSN & Big Brothers Big Sisters America) A Conversation on: The Power of Mentorship and Human Connection for Success

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Adam Vasallo, chief marketing officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, to explore what actually happens when you set out to mentor someone, and why the person doing the giving so often ends up changed the most. Adam has spent his career building stories that move people, from local television news, to the Home Shopping Network, to leading brand strategy across more than 230 Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies serving 5,000 communities nationwide. His campaign, It Takes Little to Be Big, earned recognition from Fast Company, PR Week, and the Engage for Good Golden Halo Award, and he was named Nonprofit Marketer of the Year for his work. The through line across all of it traces back to a single sentence: a colleague once stuck her head over his cubicle wall and told him he'd make a great mentor. He signed up that week, and has been matched with a little brother, in one form or another, for the better part of two decades. The centerpiece of this conversation is what Adam calls the two-way street of mentorship, the idea that showing up for a young person you've never met ends up teaching you as much as anything you learned in a boardroom. He talks about Adrian, his first little brother, matched when Adam was in his twenties, now a father of two who referees flag football games in Adam's own son's league. He talks about Giovanni, matched for eight years, about to start his senior year of high school. And he traces it back to his own father, who at thirteen left Cuba alone, lived in an orphanage in Madrid, and made it to the United States because adults who weren't his family made sure he was safe along the way. That same thread runs through Adam's house today, down to a school project his oldest daughter brought home years ago that turned into a nightly question at the dinner table: what were your three favorite things that happened today? Adam also gets specific about the discipline behind showing up, including the manager who once pulled him aside and called his own ambition insane, the answer he gives his team when a school pickup collides with a deadline, and what changed the year his oldest daughter asked him, for the first time, to coach her flag football team instead of just his son's. This is a conversation about mentorship, legacy, and why the people you pour into rarely leave you the way they found you. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why the person being mentored often teaches the mentor more than the reverse The exact sentence that redirected the entire course of Adam's career Why presence and persistence matter more than credentials or life experience What Adam's father's escape from Cuba taught him about the adults who show up when you're not their responsibility How a school project became a nightly ritual Adam's three kids still ask for What changed the year Adam went from mentoring other people's kids to coaching his own daughter's team Top Takeaways: Mentorship is a two-way street. The person you set out to help usually ends up shaping you just as much. The two qualities that matter most in a mentor are presence and persistence, not expertise. You don't need to feel ready to make an impact on someone's life. Nothing disqualifies you less than you think it does. The mentors from your twenties become the parent you are decades later. Small, repeated moments, like a dinner question or a Tuesday pickup, build more trust than any single grand gesture. About Adam Vasallo: Adam Vasallo is chief marketing officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where he leads brand strategy and fundraising across more than 230 local agencies serving 5,000 communities nationwide. Before joining Big Brothers Big Sisters, he built his career in brand marketing at the Home Shopping Network after a... Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction(00:02:00) - How mentorship found Adam Vasallo(00:07:45) - The lifelong impact of being a Big Brother(00:12:50) - The legacy of family and mentorship(00:13:45) - Inspiring the next generation and leadership values(00:15:30) - The importance of persistence and presence in parenting(00:20:00) - Balancing work and family life(00:27:30) - Supporting mental health and work-life balance(00:32:50) - Building authentic relationships with teams(00:34:00) - Passing values to children and community impact(00:37:30) - Coaching, mentorship, and life lessons in sports(00:41:40) - How organizations can get involved in mentorship