Men Stepping Up:
PJ Novotny — our “Davos Dad of the Year”
By Eric Lindner
W
hat does it take for a 23-year old from San Luis Obispo, California to—in just 12 months—go from writing custom $100 Happy Birthday songs to writing and recording “Austin”—which has had 10+ billion TikTok views and prevailed over Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Kasey Musgraves, and Miranda Lambert to win the 2024 People’s Choice Country Music Award for “Female Song of the Year”? To find out, I sat down with her dad, PJ, who, in addition to the occasional sailing adventure, prefers electric mountain bikes over electric sports cars
Summit Observer: In a few words, why do you think Dasha is where she is today?
PJ: Music vets tell me Dasha is “the complete package.” She’s a self-directed song writer. She’s got an Irish wit. She’s an opera-trained vocalist. She composes on piano and guitar. She’s a classical dancer…
Summit Observer: Now that’s really interesting. Because the…literally…millions of mostly girls and young women who’ve posted TikTok videos of themselves patterned after Dasha’s really great and fun “Austin” performance are, like your daughter, doing country line-dancing. But she was trained in ballet?
PJ: Yep. That’s part of the reason they say she’s the complete package. They also, of course, point out she’s attractive. Thankfully, this-part of her package she gets from her mom [laughs]! But as The Temptations sang, beauty is only skin deep, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dasha got here on the basis of her talent, hard work, and grit. She’s been at this since she was four years old.
Summit Observer: Wow. Can you discuss a little the trajectory?
PJ: I could tell from an early age that Dasha had a gift and realized that the best thing I could do as a father…her mom did this, too… was support her and her older brother Bardo’s
dreams in developing, writing, producing, and performing music.
Summit Observer: How’d you go about doing this?
PJ: Well, for starters, when Dasha was born in 2000 I took a silent owner position in my company, BOB Gear…where I was paid a minimized salary and granted unconstrained time to be with my kids. This allowed me to be a stay-athome dad, sing to them a lot, and discover their musical aptitudes. Even before they could talk, we were riffing rhythmically in a call-and-response sort of manner. When the kids were older, I was the classic soccer mom [laughs].
I was involved in most all of my kids’ games, events and performances, and knew all the other kids in the community. I felt fortunate to have the clarity of desire to be with my kids in the early years of development and be in a financial position to do so…
Summit Observer: You were wise.
PJ: Wise? I don’t know. But I applied some early childhood education psychology. By junior high school, I knew Dasha and Bardo had something exceptional in their collaborative dynamic. Her mom and I both encouraged them to keep going and mindfully practiced getting out of their way as the momentum of their artistic expression ripened and matured. We kept witnessing Dasha’s talent being backed by Bardo’s production skills and musical aptitude.
PJ: Music vets tell me Dasha is “the complete package.” She’s a self-directed song writer. She’s got an Irish wit. She’s an opera-trained vocalist. She composes on piano and guitar. She’s a classical dancer…
Summit Observer: Now that’s really interesting. Because the…literally…millions of mostly girls and young women who’ve posted TikTok videos of themselves patterned after Dasha’s really great and fun “Austin” performance are, like your daughter, doing country line-dancing. But she was trained in ballet?
PJ: Yep. That’s part of the reason they say she’s the complete package. They also, of course, point out she’s attractive. Thankfully, this-part of her package she gets from her mom [laughs]! But as The Temptations sang, beauty is only skin deep, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dasha got here on the basis of her talent, hard work, and grit. She’s been at this since she was four years old.
Summit Observer: Wow. Can you discuss a little the trajectory?
PJ: I could tell from an early age that Dasha had a gift and realized that the best thing I could do as a father…her mom did this, too… was support her and her older brother Bardo’s
dreams in developing, writing, producing, and performing music.
Summit Observer: How’d you go about doing this?
PJ: Well, for starters, when Dasha was born in 2000 I took a silent owner position in my company, BOB Gear…where I was paid a minimized salary and granted unconstrained time to be with my kids. This allowed me to be a stay-athome dad, sing to them a lot, and discover their musical aptitudes. Even before they could talk, we were riffing rhythmically in a call-and-response sort of manner. When the kids were older, I was the classic soccer mom [laughs].
I was involved in most all of my kids’ games, events and performances, and knew all the other kids in the community. I felt fortunate to have the clarity of desire to be with my kids in the early years of development and be in a financial position to do so…
Summit Observer: You were wise.
PJ: Wise? I don’t know. But I applied some early childhood education psychology. By junior high school, I knew Dasha and Bardo had something exceptional in their collaborative dynamic. Her mom and I both encouraged them to keep going and mindfully practiced getting out of their way as the momentum of their artistic expression ripened and matured. We kept witnessing Dasha’s talent being backed by Bardo’s production skills and musical aptitude.
Summit Observer: It took twenty years to fully blossom…
PJ: They’re blossoming… not fully blossomed. Great ideas take time to manifest and it’s never really over. Persistence is arguably the father of invention if necessity is the mother.
Summit Observer: I like that. What are some of the other ingredients to her success?
PJ: Her manager, Alex Lunt, is a lovable bulldog, and a genius at optimizing situations. Her team at Warner Records is organized to take artistic direction directly from Dasha. Bardo was and still is a successful music producer…and he’s been one of her primary musical inspirations. The two have had a great collaborative musical rapport and chemistry since elementary school.
PJ: They’re blossoming… not fully blossomed. Great ideas take time to manifest and it’s never really over. Persistence is arguably the father of invention if necessity is the mother.
Summit Observer: I like that. What are some of the other ingredients to her success?
PJ: Her manager, Alex Lunt, is a lovable bulldog, and a genius at optimizing situations. Her team at Warner Records is organized to take artistic direction directly from Dasha. Bardo was and still is a successful music producer…and he’s been one of her primary musical inspirations. The two have had a great collaborative musical rapport and chemistry since elementary school.
Summit Observer: Pardon me, but in my opinion you’ve left out the most important ingredient: you! Seems to me that you…her aviation inspector-machinist-turnedentrepreneur father…have been her rocket fuel!
PJ: That’s very kind of you to say. I’m just happy to be part of Team Dasha.
PJ: That’s very kind of you to say. I’m just happy to be part of Team Dasha.
Summit Observer: In a few words, why do you think Dasha is where she is today?
PJ: Music vets tell me Dasha is “the complete package.” She’s a self-directed song writer. She’s got an Irish wit. She’s an opera-trained vocalist. She composes on piano and guitar. She’s a classical dancer…
Summit Observer: Now that’s really interesting. Because the…literally…millions of mostly girls and young women who’ve posted TikTok videos of themselves patterned after Dasha’s really great and fun “Austin” performance are, like your daughter, doing country line-dancing. But she was trained in ballet?
PJ: Music vets tell me Dasha is “the complete package.” She’s a self-directed song writer. She’s got an Irish wit. She’s an opera-trained vocalist. She composes on piano and guitar. She’s a classical dancer…
Summit Observer: Now that’s really interesting. Because the…literally…millions of mostly girls and young women who’ve posted TikTok videos of themselves patterned after Dasha’s really great and fun “Austin” performance are, like your daughter, doing country line-dancing. But she was trained in ballet?
PJ: Yep. That’s part of the reason they say she’s the complete package. They also, of course, point out she’s attractive. Thankfully, this-part of her package she gets from her mom [laughs]! But as The Temptations sang, beauty is only skin deep, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dasha got here on the basis of her talent, hard work, and grit. She’s been at this since she was four years old.
Summit Observer: Wow. Can you discuss a little the trajectory?
PJ: I could tell from an early age that Dasha had a gift and realized that the best thing I could do as a father…her mom did this, too… was support her and her older brother Bardo’s
Summit Observer: Wow. Can you discuss a little the trajectory?
PJ: I could tell from an early age that Dasha had a gift and realized that the best thing I could do as a father…her mom did this, too… was support her and her older brother Bardo’s
dreams in developing, writing, producing, and performing music.
Summit Observer: How’d you go about doing this?
PJ: Well, for starters, when Dasha was born in 2000 I took a silent owner position in my company, BOB Gear…where I was paid a minimized salary and granted unconstrained time to be with my kids. This allowed me to be a stay-athome dad, sing to them a lot, and discover their musical aptitudes. Even before they could talk, we were riffing rhythmically in a call-and-response sort of manner. When the kids were older, I was the classic soccer mom [laughs].
Summit Observer: How’d you go about doing this?
PJ: Well, for starters, when Dasha was born in 2000 I took a silent owner position in my company, BOB Gear…where I was paid a minimized salary and granted unconstrained time to be with my kids. This allowed me to be a stay-athome dad, sing to them a lot, and discover their musical aptitudes. Even before they could talk, we were riffing rhythmically in a call-and-response sort of manner. When the kids were older, I was the classic soccer mom [laughs].
I was involved in most all of my kids’ games, events and performances, and knew all the other kids in the community. I felt fortunate to have the clarity of desire to be with my kids in the early years of development and be in a financial position to do so…
Summit Observer: You were wise.
PJ: Wise? I don’t know. But I applied some early childhood education psychology. By junior high school, I knew Dasha and Bardo had something
Summit Observer: You were wise.
PJ: Wise? I don’t know. But I applied some early childhood education psychology. By junior high school, I knew Dasha and Bardo had something
exceptional in their collaborative dynamic. Her mom and I both encouraged them to keep going and mindfully practiced getting out of their way as the momentum of their artistic expression ripened and matured. We kept witnessing Dasha’s talent being backed by Bardo’s production skills and musical aptitude.
Summit Observer: It took twenty years to fully blossom…
PJ: They’re blossoming… not fully blossomed. Great ideas take time to manifest and it’s never really over. Persistence is arguably the father of invention if necessity is the mother.
Summit Observer: It took twenty years to fully blossom…
PJ: They’re blossoming… not fully blossomed. Great ideas take time to manifest and it’s never really over. Persistence is arguably the father of invention if necessity is the mother.
Summit Observer: I like that. What are some of the other ingredients to her success?
PJ: Her manager, Alex Lunt, is a lovable bulldog, and a genius at optimizing situations. Her team at Warner Records is organized to take artistic direction directly from Dasha. Bardo was and still is a successful music producer…and he’s been one of her primary musical inspirations. The two have had a great collaborative musical rapport and chemistry since elementary school.
Summit Observer: Pardon me, but in my opinion you’ve left out the most important ingredient: you! Seems to me that you…her aviation inspector-machinist-turnedentrepreneur father…have been her rocket fuel!
PJ: That’s very kind of you to say. I’m just happy to be part of Team Dasha.
PJ: Her manager, Alex Lunt, is a lovable bulldog, and a genius at optimizing situations. Her team at Warner Records is organized to take artistic direction directly from Dasha. Bardo was and still is a successful music producer…and he’s been one of her primary musical inspirations. The two have had a great collaborative musical rapport and chemistry since elementary school.
Summit Observer: Pardon me, but in my opinion you’ve left out the most important ingredient: you! Seems to me that you…her aviation inspector-machinist-turnedentrepreneur father…have been her rocket fuel!
PJ: That’s very kind of you to say. I’m just happy to be part of Team Dasha.
Bardo and Dasha at 2024 Country Music Association Awards
I’ve known some really great dads, including my own. Yet I’ve never witnessed a more inspired, “intentional,” mindful, and focused expression of a loving father than PJ. We’ve all heard about Helicopter Parents, Tiger Moms, Jose Menendez, and other less-than-perfect parents. PJ is the antithesis of all that, and an inspiration to the many less-than-perfect dads out there, like yours truly. PJ’s knack for knowing when to step out of the way, and when to lean in, reminds me of a great dad I once worked for: “Big Bill” Gates, whose Harvard dropout son co-founded a company in Albuquerque in 1975 that sorta kinda did okay. This year’s World Economic Forum has hundreds of sessions on financial issues. Yet the actual definition of “economics” is “the study of scarcity.” Alas, too often, good fathers are scarce!
PJ realized financial success was nothing as compared to fatherly success… Not that the two forms of success are mutually exclusive, but though he never attended business school, PJ knew that psychic income, that never manifests on a Net Wealth Statement (nor is it taxed by the IRS)…was his most important asset… “And investment,” PJ reminded me. “Have you ever had a better ROI?” “Not even close!”
PJ realized financial success was nothing as compared to fatherly success… Not that the two forms of success are mutually exclusive, but though he never attended business school, PJ knew that psychic income, that never manifests on a Net Wealth Statement (nor is it taxed by the IRS)…was his most important asset… “And investment,” PJ reminded me. “Have you ever had a better ROI?” “Not even close!”