0:00

Hello and welcome to the Dream

0:03

Big Podcast. I'm your co-host Olga

0:05

Karpman, Big Dreamers. I'm

0:08

not sure if you know, but 4

0:10

years ago we lost a

0:12

legend, one of the

0:14

most iconic and accomplished basketball

0:16

players in history, Kobe

0:18

Bryant. About

0:21

a year and a half before

0:23

the tragedy of his passing, your

0:25

own Eva Karpman had the privilege

0:28

of recording an exclusive interview with

0:30

him on the Dream Big Podcast.

0:34

Today we decided to

0:36

celebrate Kobe's lasting impact by

0:39

revisiting this memorable conversation.

0:42

In this remarkable episode, Kobe

0:44

shared his journey after retiring

0:46

from basketball, his transition

0:49

into storytelling, and

0:51

the life lessons he gathered from

0:53

his iconic 20-year career. We

0:56

invite you to listen to his

0:58

interview today and learn from the

1:00

greatest of all times, the legendary

1:03

Kobe Bryant. To

1:05

keep the spirit of interviews like

1:07

that alive, please subscribe to the

1:09

Dream Big Podcast on your favorite

1:11

platform and leave your 5-star review.

1:14

And of course, share this exclusive

1:16

interview with your friends, family, and

1:18

on social media. We would

1:21

really appreciate it. Let's

1:23

spread the love for Kobe and

1:25

his big dreams. Hey,

1:28

by the way, don't miss a very

1:30

special cameo of Safiya in this episode.

1:33

She was only 3 years old at

1:35

that time and it's incredible

1:37

to see how she's been a part

1:39

of this podcast journey since she was

1:42

so little. Speaking of

1:44

big dreams, right? Now

1:46

enjoy the episode and let

1:48

Kobe's legacy continue to inspire

1:50

you. and

2:01

grow. Today I am beyond

2:03

thrilled to announce that legendary

2:06

Laker, five-time NBA

2:08

champion, 18-time All-Star,

2:10

and future Hall

2:12

of Famer, Kobe

2:14

Bryant. Yes, you

2:16

heard that right. Kobe Bryant

2:18

is on the Dream Big

2:20

Podcast. You ready? It's Tank

2:23

Dream Big. Okay,

2:30

onto this week's very special guest.

2:32

About a week ago, my dad

2:35

walked into the living

2:56

room with his jaw drop. He

2:59

said, you're not gonna believe this, but

3:01

Kobe's manager reached out to

3:04

us about coming to the Dream Big

3:06

Podcast. All the other guests we

3:08

had on the show, we reached out and invited.

3:11

So you can imagine the shock to find

3:13

out that we were going to have Kobe

3:15

on the show at his request.

3:19

My dad was especially excited because he

3:21

grew up in Los Angeles as a

3:23

huge Lakers fan and even interned for

3:25

the Lakers during the 2000-2001 championship season

3:27

where he

3:30

had the opportunity to meet Kobe

3:33

and saw his legendary work ethic

3:35

firsthand. As you'll be

3:37

hearing in the interview, Kobe has a

3:39

new family-friendly podcast called The Punies. My

3:42

family has been listening to it and

3:44

it should be no surprise that since

3:46

Kobe put it out, the podcast is

3:48

amazing. Sophia, what do you

3:51

think about The Punies? I

4:00

agree, Sofia. Okay,

4:04

I imagine that almost everybody listening

4:06

knows who Kobe is, but for

4:08

our youngest big dreamers, he is

4:10

one, if not the best basketball

4:12

players ever to live. He

4:15

played 20 years for the Los

4:17

Angeles Lakers, getting drafted out

4:19

of high school and playing for the

4:22

Lakers his entire career. He brought the

4:24

city of LA five NBA

4:26

championships. This interview

4:28

focuses on what Kobe has been doing

4:31

since his retirement and how the next

4:33

chapter of his life will be even

4:35

more impactful than the time he spent

4:37

as a Laker. Without further

4:39

ado, here's my interview with Kobe

4:42

Bryant. Hi,

4:44

Kobe. Welcome to the Dream Big podcast.

4:47

Hey, thank you for having me. You're

4:49

welcome. We are so excited to have you on the show.

4:54

First off, I wanted to let you

4:56

know that we live in Los Angeles,

4:58

so obviously we're huge Laker fans. Actually

5:01

my dad interned for the Lakers PR department

5:04

during the 2000, 2001 championship season.

5:08

So that's really cool. Yeah,

5:10

that's awesome. Yeah, so he

5:12

always tells me about how amazing it was

5:14

being there for that special season. Oh,

5:17

that's great. So I wanted to

5:19

thank you for everything that you did for the

5:21

city of Los Angeles over your incredible 20 year

5:24

career as a Laker. Thank

5:26

you very much. I appreciate that. Welcome.

5:29

I also wanted to let you know

5:32

that we have a mutual friend. You're

5:34

one of the first guests on Cal

5:36

Plessons podcast. Big questions, right?

5:40

Yeah, and I was lucky enough to invite Cal

5:42

on the Dream Big podcast and then he had

5:44

me on his podcast as well. Isn't he the

5:47

best? That was incredible. I

5:49

really love Cal. It's beautiful. And

5:51

Cal said that even though you have very

5:54

different careers, you're one of the greatest basketball

5:56

players that have ever lived. Oh,

5:58

thank you. Yeah,

6:01

and even though Cal would never say this, but

6:03

I would say he's one of the best interviewers

6:05

that has ever lived. By

6:07

far, not even close. Yeah,

6:10

that you both got along so well because

6:12

while your backgrounds are different, you're both curious

6:15

people and you love stories. That's

6:17

the most important thing, isn't it? It's

6:19

curiosity. Yeah, that's curiosity. Yeah,

6:21

for sure. Why is it that you have chosen

6:24

to make storytelling such an important part of this

6:26

next chapter in your life? Well,

6:28

you know, I have kids

6:32

and my kids get tired of hearing me

6:34

preach the same messages. So, like,

6:36

you know, I'm trying

6:39

to explain to my kids what it means to

6:42

work hard or be competitive or

6:44

don't worry about failure, just keep

6:47

on working. After a while,

6:49

it becomes too preachy. And so I

6:51

just kind of started writing stories to

6:53

tell my kids that a subtle way of

6:56

getting the message across that they can kind of learn

6:58

for themselves versus me preaching all the time. And

7:00

I absolutely enjoyed it. And

7:03

from there, I started writing and creating

7:05

more content. And here we

7:07

are today. Yeah, that's

7:09

so cool that you have this whole passion

7:11

outside of basketball. Yeah, basketball, you

7:13

know, basketball taught me valuable

7:16

life lessons about what I'm doing now. Right.

7:19

So like the patience and the commitment and the attention

7:21

to detail and also just the idea

7:24

of just enjoying what you do. Right.

7:26

You have to love what you do. If you love

7:29

what you do, you're excited about getting up every single

7:31

morning and going to work and, you know, it's your

7:33

passion. And if you don't have

7:35

that, then, you know, what you're doing

7:37

becomes extremely challenging. Yeah,

7:39

you've got to be passionate about what you

7:41

do. So your latest

7:43

project is the Punies,

7:45

a new family friendly podcast

7:48

that airs every Saturday morning.

7:50

So like the DreamBits

7:52

podcast, you can find it on Apple Podcasts

7:55

or include all the links in our show

7:57

notes. But can you share the concept

7:59

of the show? Yeah,

8:01

so the show is about a group of

8:03

kids that call themselves the good old gang

8:05

or the GOGs for short. And

8:08

it's about them using their imagination and playing

8:10

sports and having fun. And

8:12

through that fun and through playing sports, they

8:15

meet different challenges every single episode

8:17

that they have to overcome individually,

8:19

but also collectively. And

8:21

that's what the show is about. It's about kids having

8:23

a good old time playing sports. So

8:26

cool. And actually, as the time of

8:28

this thing recorded, Big Dreamers, the first

8:30

two episodes have been released. So go

8:33

check them out. And

8:35

Kobe, my dad and I listened to them and

8:37

they were so much fun. Thank

8:39

you. We love the show that

8:41

the show that even though there are important

8:44

lessons in there, how to conquer your fears

8:46

and stepping up even when you're anxious, the

8:49

episodes are really funny. Oh,

8:51

thank you. It's important to make the humor

8:54

a natural one. So like when

8:56

you hear the conversation, that's actually how my

8:58

daughters speak. You know,

9:01

like same kind of

9:03

sarcasm and, you know, little

9:05

jabs of humor here and

9:07

there. And also the music,

9:09

like the song just gets stuck in our

9:11

head. Like my daughter walked around singing Lily's

9:13

Lemonade all day long. Oh, yeah.

9:16

I love that one. Lily

9:18

has a lot of energy. And

9:22

really, my dad and I were really

9:24

like addicted to the opening theme

9:26

song. And yeah,

9:29

all the characters of the good

9:31

old gang, the voices are unique

9:34

and hilarious. Thank

9:36

you. Our actors are absolutely incredible.

9:39

And you know, the thing about it is we tried to

9:41

find actors that

9:44

have having lost that

9:46

childlike quality and imagination

9:48

and fun. Right.

9:50

And sometimes the only you get I feel

9:52

like the most important thing is to protect

9:55

your imagination, to protect your

9:57

curiosity. And

9:59

we found actors. that we're able to

10:01

do that. And so they were able to

10:03

step into this world and become Lily and

10:06

become Clark and become Kimberly, Puny, Gordon. So,

10:08

you know, I just had a blast. What

10:11

my dad and I noticed is that the

10:13

main character, Puny Pete, does not always win

10:15

at the end of every episode. Can

10:17

you share why it is an important theme for

10:19

big dreamers to know how to deal with both

10:21

winning and losing in life? Well,

10:24

you know, because it's important to understand

10:26

how to bounce back from adversity, right?

10:30

Understand how to go through triumphs and

10:32

those sorts of things, success. Those

10:36

tend to come naturally, but a

10:38

lot of times the failure and being

10:41

able to accept the fear that you have

10:43

within yourself is a little more challenging. So

10:46

it's important for us to show that and

10:48

also to show opportunity, even though he may

10:50

not succeed every single time, still has the

10:52

determination to bounce back and try

10:54

again. And also the support from his friends.

10:57

His friends will be very honest with him. Bebe

11:00

is very direct and very honest, but

11:03

she cares about him deeply. And they'll always do things

11:05

to rally around each other and support each other. You

11:08

know, we always stress on the show that

11:10

achieving your big dreams in life will not

11:12

be easy. That you'll have ups and downs,

11:14

so not giving up and learning how to

11:16

keep pushing towards your dreams is such an

11:18

important skill and a clear lesson of the

11:20

show. Also how your friends always

11:22

help you along the way. Yeah,

11:25

it's important to have that support, isn't it? People

11:28

kind of helping you along and being

11:30

in the community that understands that success

11:32

does not come easy and

11:35

that failure should be equally embraced as your

11:37

success, right? Because it's all

11:39

part of a journey. It's a nonstop journey.

11:41

And that's extremely important. Yeah,

11:44

like one of the themes, the

11:47

main themes in the show is the

11:49

importance of teamwork and how you can

11:51

accomplish great things when you work together.

11:54

And obviously you have assembled an

11:56

amazing team to create the Punies.

11:59

Yeah. I was very fortunate to have

12:01

some great actors, great producers, great writers.

12:04

John Holler did a phenomenal job writing

12:06

the scripts. Matt

12:08

Mauser in creating the melodies and those

12:10

catchy tunes that you listen to. I

12:13

mean, he's done an absolutely phenomenal job with

12:15

that. And just

12:17

like in the show, you have everybody that's

12:19

collectively rallying around each other for a common

12:22

goal. You wind up having

12:24

a lot of fun doing it and the results

12:26

tend to be enjoyable for others.

12:29

Yeah, and I heard you actually won an

12:31

Oscar for Dear Basketball.

12:34

And you partnered with legendary

12:36

animator, Glenn Keene and

12:38

composer, John Williams. Yeah.

12:43

Yeah, and of course, you

12:45

had friends from

12:47

the Lakers, you had like friends like

12:49

Shaq and Pow and Coach Phil Jackson.

12:53

Yeah, it's been an amazing, amazing journey

12:55

so far. But

12:58

I mean, working with, I've been very fortunate to work

13:00

with some great people in different industries, right? From Phil

13:02

Jackson to Pow and Coach Phil to Shaq and to

13:05

now with Glenn Keene and John Williams.

13:07

And it's just been a phenomenal journey.

13:10

But again, it's a journey that one can't take on his

13:12

own, right? You surround yourself with great

13:14

people, people that have a common curiosity,

13:17

and you just continue to push forward and figure

13:19

things out. Yeah, in

13:21

life you can do so much more if

13:23

you work with people than if you try

13:26

to do it by yourself, right? Right.

13:29

And I know you have a lot of interviews to

13:31

get to and we only have a few minutes. So

13:34

for my final question, I wanted to ask you a

13:36

question that I like to ask all our guests. You

13:39

spent most of your life in basketball and

13:41

reached the very top of the game. What

13:44

I would like to know, and what I'm sure all

13:46

Kobe fans would like to know is, what

13:48

is your big dream for the future for this

13:50

next chapter in life? My

13:53

big dream for the future, if I could fast

13:56

forward, if I

13:58

get stopped on the street. You know,

14:00

when I'm 65 years old, right,

14:04

65, 70 years old, I just stopped on the street

14:07

by a person that has a

14:09

young child with them and they come to me and they

14:11

say, the stories that you have

14:13

created have helped me learn important

14:16

life lessons for

14:18

me to become the man that I am today. And

14:20

those same stories are the stories that I'm sharing with my

14:22

son and my daughter right now. That

14:25

to me is a massive, massive,

14:27

massive success. Amazing.

14:29

Well, I can see with your basketball

14:31

and the punies, you're well on your

14:33

way. Thank you so much for

14:35

coming. You got it, Eva. Thank

14:37

you for having me. Big dreamers, thank Kobe

14:39

for coming on and talking to us

14:41

and make sure you go check out

14:44

the punies. You can find it

14:46

in Apple podcasts or go to our show notes

14:48

and we'll link over to it. Kobe,

14:50

next time you see Cal, give him a hug

14:52

from us and tell him to go get you

14:54

an ice cream because after me

14:57

and my mom did interviews with Cal, he

14:59

got us an ice cream. So tell him

15:01

to get you an ice cream. Oh,

15:04

I love that. That's a great idea. Thank you. And

15:06

give a big hug to your father for me. Okay.

15:09

Thank you. Bye.

15:13

How cool is that? Thank

15:15

you to Kobe Bryant for taking time out

15:17

of his very busy schedule to talk to

15:19

a nine year old podcast host. I

15:22

know the punies is going to be a

15:24

smashing success no matter what. And

15:26

I think it shows how awesome Kobe is

15:28

that he agreed to come on the Dreambook

15:31

Podcast. Be sure to

15:33

check out our show notes at

15:35

dreambookpodcast.com/103 for links

15:37

to the punies podcast and everything

15:39

else we discussed in the episode.

15:42

Did you enjoy the special episode with

15:44

Kobe? If so, please tell your

15:46

friends and family about the DreamBit Podcast. They

15:49

can find this episode at

15:51

dreambitpodcast.com/103. And

15:54

please do take a few moments to leave us a

15:56

review as well at

15:58

dreambitpodcast.com/iTunes. We

16:01

really appreciate your reviews and it helps us

16:03

grow the show. Thank you

16:05

so much for tuning in to the DreamBud Podcast.

16:08

This is Eva Cartman reminding you that

16:10

you have unlimited potential. Your

16:12

dreams are not optional, you need to make them

16:14

essential. So take massive action

16:16

to turn those big dreams into reality.

16:19

Live with passion the way life is meant to

16:21

be. I'll see you in the next episode.

16:24

Bye!