S 02 | Ep 20 The Last Frontier is Ourselves : Leading from the Inside Out AJ Thomas is the founder of Troublemaker Lab and general partner of Good Trouble Ventures , an all - female fund investing at the intersection of technology , creativity , and culture . Before launching both , she led global talent and human experience design at Google X , the Moonshot Factory , where she developed a deep appreciation for constraint - driven experimentation and the difference between chasing metrics and reading signals . AJ opens with a framework she calls the courage to be curious , drawing on the four - fold way developed by Dr . Angeles Arrien , which centers on showing up with presence , listening for what truly matters to people , telling the truth without blame , and staying open to unexpected outcomes . She argues that the most fulfilled leaders she works with are not the ones who have the most external success but the ones doing the most internal work . In this episode AJ covers the relationship between self , health , and wealth as she defines it through her coaching practice , where wealth encompasses time , relationships , and purpose , not just financial outcomes . She also shares her own story of arriving in America as an undocumented immigrant , living out of her car while attending graduate school , and how those experiences shaped a lifelong commitment to creating access for people who have been left outside the door .