Dreaming Big with Alexis Allen
Every entrepreneur starts with a dream. Dreaming Big is a podcast about the humans behind the hustle. Alexis Allen from The Teixeira Loughran Group sits down with entrepreneurs to explore where they come from, what they’re building and why it matters. These are real conversations about identity, ambition and the spark behind the story.
02 Sep 2026
Episode 13: From Center Court to Cap Table: CiCi Bellis, Founder and GP, Cartan Capital
In this Season 2 opener of Dreaming Big, Alexis sits down with CiCi Bellis, founder and general partner of Cartan Capital, a venture firm investing at the intersection of sports, health and human performance. At 15 CiCi, shook up the tennis world at the US Open. By 22, she made the difficult decision to walk away from professional tennis. But instead of losing her competitive edge, she translated it - taking the discipline of managing a team and a career under pressure and turning it into an investment philosophy. Today, Cartan Capital is on it's second fund, investing at the intersection of sports, health and human performance, with a portfolio built on concentration over volume and reputation over reach. This episode is about proving your value after you've made your way into the room, building a firm people can't help but want to work with, and why the biggest moats in venture may no longer be the ones anyone was taught to look for.
27 May 2026
Episode 12: Reducing the Mental Load by Revolutionizing Parenting with Joan Nguyen, Founder of Bumo AI
In this episode of Dreaming Big, Alexis sits down with Joan Nguyen who is a two-time successful founder who started her first company, MeriEducation, at 20 years old with $3,000 in savings and a job as a barista. She built it into an INC 5000 company before shifting her focus to solving the childcare crisis. After nearly 200 investor rejections, she raised $10 million for Bumo, and just launched Bennie, an AI Family Assistant that just debuted on Mother’s Day to free up the mental load that drowns working parents. In this episode, Joan talks about what it means to be customer obsessed at every stage of building, why she’s user number one for every product she creates, and how refusing to give up isn’t about delusion ,it’s about extreme hope paired with a rational belief in what you’re building. She shares the real cost of fundraising, the mistakes she’s made with hiring and marketing, and what success actually looks like when you’re building for busy parents trying to do it all. Find more at bumo.com.
06 May 2026
Episode 11: Creating Real Food Snacks with Kristin O’Connor, Founder of Super Dirt Foods
Celebrity chef Kristin O'Connor sits down with Alexis to share what it's really like cooking for A-list actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper and working on film sets for 12 hours straight. But the real story? She spent six years building Super Dirt Foods while working seven days a week. Kristin takes us inside her unconventional journey from art therapy to Food Network producer to private chef to founder, revealing how working for some of Hollywood's biggest names taught her about standards, excellence, and why patience might be your best competitive advantage. She shares the behind-the-scenes reality of CPG manufacturing, pitching Gwyneth Paltrow on Amazon Prime and what it actually takes to build something that lasts. If you're thinking about starting something, If you've ever thought you need to have everything figured out before you start, Kristin's story will change your mind.
Contact information
Contact information
The Teixeira Loughran Group
1285 Avenue Of The Americas
New York, NY 10019
