The Man Printing Homes Opens Up About GRIEF and PURPOSE | Jason Ballard, ICON’s CEO

Before Jason Ballard became the CEO of Icon, a groundbreaking company using 3D printing and robotics to revolutionize how humanity builds homes and even NASA-backed lunar habitats, he was a skinny kid from East Texas with big ideas and a wife who believed those ideas could change the world. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the visionary entrepreneur sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of Jenny Yuri Ballard, the woman who believed in him when belief was the only thing they had. Jason opens up about meeting Jenny at a summer camp in Colorado, dancing with her all night in a barn, and writing a letter to her parents to introduce himself before driving 20 hours from Texas to South Dakota just to see her for less than a day. He talks about the moment she broke her neck in Nepal, how he bribed an official to get a visa and drove through the night searching hospital after hospital in New Delhi until he found her. He shares what it felt like to be married to someone who never counted the cost, who said let's move into my parents' basement so he could chase a dream, and who maxed out credit cards to buy concrete so they could finish printing the world's first permanent 3D printed house days before South by Southwest. If you've ever doubted whether one person's belief could change the trajectory of your entire life, or wondered what it means to burn the ships and go all in, this episode will remind you that sometimes the greatest gift someone can give you is the courage to try the impossible. And sometimes, that's all you need to build something that lasts forever. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ Chapters 00:00:00 Intro: The Woman Who Danced on the Prairie 00:17:19 The Barn Dance That Changed Everything: Meeting Jenny 00:19:27 The Letter to Her Parents: A 20-Hour Drive for Love 00:21:54 Broken Neck in Nepal: Finding Her in India 00:25:26 We're Going to Do This Together: The Philosophy of Fearless Living 00:28:11 From East Texas to Boulder: Building Treehouse 00:04:29 The Diagnosis: Breast Cancer at 28 00:56:31 If I'm Going to Die, We Better Keep Moving: Living with Cancer for 13 Years 00:27:42 The Bishop Who Changed His Path: Choosing Icon Over Priesthood 00:37:38 You Print Houses? Starting Over After Seven Years 00:42:47 100% Rejection: When No One Believed Except Them 00:45:05 Maxing Out the Third Credit Card: The First House 00:49:42 The Window Screen That Saved Icon: Sifting Concrete at 2 AM 00:58:03 We Have No Regrets: The Final Diagnosis 00:59:15 Christmas Eve Mass by the Fireplace: The Last 90 Days 01:01:45 I Love You Guys So Much: Her Final Words 01:03:50 Thank You for Loving Our Daughter: A Message from Her Parents 01:06:38 To Do Right By All the Trust and Courage She Gave Me ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Jason Ballard Executive Producers: Ellen Rocamora, Olivier Delfosse Associate Producer: Griffin Hamilton Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Director of Social: Mariah Maull Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast