LeadingShe

Judy Mackey is a partner in five companies and an owner of Garden of the Gods Resort and Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her journey began in her 20s after a serious medical diagnosis as she healed through holistic Eastern medicine and her passion and purpose began. In this episode, she provides much advice about starting and growing businesses.  Judy credits her success to determination and ambition, focusing on vision and strategy while surrounding herself with excellent partners. She built relationships through listening closely to her clients and tapping into her intuition to meet and exceed their needs. Judy Mackey deals with business challenges by using meditation, journaling, tapping into forgiveness and gratitude and empowering herself. What an inspiring entrepreneur!   LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As founder and CEO of Empowered Engagement, Kelley O'Keeffe is one of the youngest leaders we have hosted on LeadingShe. Having had a very successful 15-year career in sales with several large tech companies such as IBM, she is prepared to coach women toward success.   An ambitious, high-energy leader and hard-working leader, Kelley gives wonderful advice based upon her experience along with research data which allows women to become more strategize and tactical in their careers with a focus on sales and entrepreneurship. She recommends women use their gifts and talents to advance their careers and advises women to make sure they have advocates and sponsors in their companies. Kelley had humble beginnings which she overcame through sheer determination and the drive to succeed. She provides great networking tips to women in this episode and discusses different gender styles. Microaggressions, perfectionism, resilience----it's all in the episode—Listen in!  https://empoweredengagement.com/ Empowered Engagement website https://empoweredengagement.com/the-scale-school The Scale School  

Joanie Bily, President of RemX, an accomplished executive with two of the world's largest employment companies, wrote a Book: Dive in D.E.E.P.: Strategies to Advance Your Career, Find Balance, and Live Your Best Life (https://www.amazon.com/Dive-D-P-Strategies-Advance/dp/1956914846/ref=sr_1_1?crid=W40PUM7SLXFR&keywords=dive+in+deep+joanie&qid=1695829107&s=books&sprefix=dive+in+deep+joanie%2Cstripbooks%2C91&sr=1-1) in which she tells many stories and gives great advice about enjoying career success. A frequent contributor to many networks as an expert on the job market, she tells the story about how she began doing this by filling in for an executive at her company. She discovered her gift for speaking to the media and despite her fears….she said ‘Yes'! Ambitious and driven even as a child, she believes strongly in goal-setting each year along with reviewing how she did reaching the set goals at the end of the year. She says it is important to know who our influential ambassadors are, who are speaking positively about us when we are not in the room.  Joanie says women have a hard time giving themselves kudos for our accomplishments but need to do so. What an inspiring leader Joanie Bily is!  Joanie Bily website https://joaniebily.com/ LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

In 2022 Mary Miller's company Jancoa celebrated its 50th anniversary and today she and her husband Tony have achieved the succession plan of their dreams by turning the company leadership over to their children. Mary continues to chair the board and her daughter has stepped into Mary's shoes as CEO. The company began with just two office workers and 63 part-time cleaning employees and today Jancoa has 85 percent of the cleaning market in Cincinnati with over 500 employees. Her early life was filled with financial and personal struggles yet she is highly positive and a born entrepreneur and learned to take big risks to achieve success in her company and have a great life. Part of her success came from her gift of being able to read, connect with and develop relationships with people.   To distinguish her company to employees from other companies, she and Tony created a culture of caring and developed a program called Dream Engineer to help her employees enjoy better lives. She wrote a book:  Changing Direction: 10 Choices That Impact Your Dreams and plans to write another one soon. What a positive and inspiring leader Mary Miller is on this podcast! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As president and CEO of Mower Agency Stephanie Crockett leads a mid-size, independent marketing agency with 150 employees. She recommends that as we seek career success, we must first get clear about what drives us, what is our purpose, and understand our values. Once they understand what drives them, women then make career choices around what they want, and not perhaps what they are being expected to do.   Stephanie says that women don't need to behave, dress, or communicate like men to be successful and says that we should bring our own unique and authentic workstyle. She has had wonderful experiences being in women's networking organizations yet at times found that women can be competitive with one another.  One of the biggest keys to her success has been to remember she is not alone and to ask for help if she needs it. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Kathy Boe, founder of Boecore, Inc., is an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer, and leader who has worked in support of the Department of Defense for over 25 years. Having begun her career at Hughes Aircraft, she has enjoyed a long career in a very male-dominated industry having founded Boecore over 22 years ago. We discuss topics like confidence, facing fear, and crying in the workplace. Kathy donates her time to several initiatives including non-profit work, and is the Founder and President of her family foundation. She encourages women to consider careers in STEM fields. What an inspiring leader and entrepreneur Kathy Boe is! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Sonita Lontoh has been an entrepreneur as well as an executive with several large companies including HP and Siemens, and serves on corporate boards. Her advice to women is to be patient and realize their career journeys are long and moves may not be linear. Sonita's leadership style has changed over her career and she says that while she has always had a technology-focused approach, she has become more customer-focused. Sonita urges companies to truly integrate their female employee resource groups with more involvement by the company CEOs and the corporate boards which will lead to more opportunities for women. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Kathy Courtney, is COO of GreenState Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the country, and is a strong leader.  During her long career, she worked with large financial institutions in big cities in the U.S. and internationally yet returned to her home state of Iowa to work with GreenState Credit Union.  https://www.greenstate.org/. Kathy talks about calling out gender bias treatment in a non-confrontational yet direct way.  She recommends women take the next level up positions offered and though there may be fear, career growth is likely. After her husband's serious health diagnosis, she reorganized her priorities placing more emphasis on family and not working quite as hard.  Kathy says offering flexible work options to employees builds strong company loyalty.  What a great LeadingShe episode and wonderful leader! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Sue Bevan Baggott was educated as an engineer and was an executive with Proctor & Gamble for 19 years. Though she has an analytical approach to business, she learned how to read people through her experience as a child and employs an empathic leadership style today. In her coaching business, Power Within Consulting, LLC, she tells her clients that it is possible to enjoy financial success and find happiness in our careers. With clients she starts with the question, “what life experience do you want and how does your career enable that”? We discuss the challenges women have had being represented equally in angel investing and on corporate boards. Other topics include experiencing burnout and the changing expectations of companies by the millennial generation. Listen in for a wonderful episode on LeadingShe! https://www.linkedin.com/in/suebaggott1/ http://powerwithinconsulting.com/ LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

D. Sangeeta is a PhD, and founder and CEO of gotara.com who started the company during the pandemic to help improve the gender gap in STEM positions for women. Sangeeta cites the statistics of women leaving STEM positions at twice the rate as men and in her work, she identifies reasons for this such as non-supportive managers, lack of opportunities, lack of recognition and lack of communication.   The mission of Gotara is to offer career support and a global career network to women in STEM professions.   Her 26-year corporate career included top executive positions Amazon, GE and Neilsen.  Sangeeta admits to experiencing fear around taking on new positions yet she took the risk. She suggests women should risk accepting new positions and opportunities especially when someone is recommending them. She talks about being straightforward and vocal which has been a strength during her career.   Sangeeta faced various gender bias and ethnic bias experiences during her career and has some great wisdom to share.  Listen in, it's a great podcast! www.gotara.com LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Gay Gaddis founded her company T3, an advertising agency, which she grew into the largest, woman-owned independent agency in the U.S.   Her experiences are extraordinary as she relates the messages from her great book, Cowgirl Power, Kick Ass in Business and Life. She talks about the importance of tapping into our gut instincts when making decisions.  Gay talks about how she survived and thrived after she lost her biggest client after she set a boundary with this client. She says she learned long ago to embrace criticism as a way to improve her work.  Long-term employee loyalty was built at her company by beginning a unique and revolutionary approach to supporting employees who became parents. Her remedy for burnout was to change her environment and take breaks.   Gay Gaddis, she's a Cowgirl!LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Joyce Russell served as President of Adecco, leading the largest business unit of Adecco Group North America, which is one of the largest employee staffing businesses in the world. She is energetic, positive and ambitious!  Joyce tells many stories which she profiles in her book, Put a Cherry on Top: Generosity in Life & Leadership about going above and beyond in efforts to serve clients and the challenges of combining career and family.  She talks about how we must become very good at hiring people and talk to their direct supervisors/managers as references. Joyce emphasizes the importance of preparation for presentations and setting priorities to achieve success.  Self-care is important to her including getting enough sleep and exercising and recommends these ways to stay healthy and effective. Joyce says that confrontation and dealing with employees directly shows them we care.  What a great book and wonderful guest Joyce Russell has been on LeadingShe! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As the state of Rhode Island's first woman Secretary of Commerce, Liz Tanner is passionate about making it easy for businesses to deal with the government processes by using technology for better efficiency. She says that when she brought more work balance into her life it made her a better leader. Liz insists that we need to have our voices and call out a lack of fairness or bias when we see it or experience it if we expect things to change.  What a great guest Liz Tanner has been on LeadingShe! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Jenifer Rogers is an executive with Asurion in Japan where she has lived for many years.  She learned early in her career to advocate for herself and let people know how qualified she was to take on new opportunities. Jenifer believes companies can help career women by helping them explain their ambitions. As a woman and foreigner, she serves on four Japanese company boards being where she feels empowered to share her views.  Her parents encouraged her to try many things as a child including music and gymnastics. What a great episode on LeadingShe.com! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Cindy Doe, a C-suite executive with the large firm, EY talks about how important it is for companies to create a culture of support and sponsorship for women. She says that her sponsors helped her during meetings when she was not in the rooms by supporting her and advocating for her.   Cindy  states that it is a mistake through our unconscious biases to make assumptions and decisions about people based upon gender, race, sexual orientation and age. Cindy and her husband made the decision and financial sacrifice by deciding that one of them should stay home with the children when they were young and decided it would be her husband. Later she also employed a nanny, and she is proud of their raising of three children to adulthood with her demanding career. What a great podcast with Cindy Doe! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Deb McDermott as CEO of Standard Media Group, LLC, is one of the top women in U.S. media today.  Her love of people and truly caring about her employees led her to write a letter reassuring them of no layoffs with a merger.  Deb says diversity training is critical in making sure the news is delivered without bias.  She urges women to be fearless in their careers. Insisting upon being herself and truly authentic has been a cornerstone of her career.   Deb says it is important that women let their managers know that they are interested in new opportunities and promotions. What an inspiring leader with great experiences and messages! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Julie Fasone-Holder was a C-Suite executive with Dow Chemical and spends much of her time now providing executive coaching through her company JFHinsights. (jfhinsights.com) She says that women negotiate many things throughout their lives yet often they do not negotiate on behalf of themselves.  Julie says men often view networking as a safety net for their career success while women view networking as a job.   She says it is important for women to self-promote internally about how their contributions benefit their companies. Listen in to a fascinating episode! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As founder and CEO of 9th Gear Technologies and capital markets specialist, Maryanne Morrow is a risk-taker and “unapologetically ambitious”. Her enthusiasm, energy and boldness are evident as she works in the male-dominated field of Fintech.  She hires only people who are positive, motivated and team players.  Maryanne would tell her 25-year old self to “take more risks” which is a message she offers to listeners. She insists that women need men to sponsor and advocate for them in a highly supportive and meaningful way.  What a delightful podcast guest Maryanne Morrow has been! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Ann Hambly, the Founder and CEO of 1st Service Solutions took the risk 17 years ago to start her company with a pioneering idea and though there have been many ups and downs, she has weathered them.  We talk about taking risk, not burning bridges and raising children while developing our careers.  Ann recommends that career women who are mothers be fully present to their kids when with them and fully present to their careers when there, not longing to be elsewhere.  She has learned to pivot the direction of her business in response to changes in the market and economy. Ann and I discuss being resilient and not taking things personally. An eternal optimist, she recommends that we take our time and do much due diligence before we enter into business partnerships and consider giving up any part of the company we have built.  What an insightful podcast guest Ann Hambly has been! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Colleen Birdnow Brown has held many leadership positions with the companies Fisher Communications, Lee Enterprises, Gannett Company and American Apparel over her career and now serves on a number of corporate boards.  She says often women are called upon during corporate crisis situations to bring bold leadership to challenges. Early in her career she learned when everyone on the team was successful, she and her organization were successful. Her leadership is characterized by collaboration and strong communication while she always guarded her reputation and that of her companies.  Colleen is honest about many past failures yet through incredible resiliency she learned in early childhood, she did not focus on failures as she learned from them and made important changes.  LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Jill McIntosh is a Senior Partner at Simpactful Consulting and was a corporate executive with Kroger for 16 years.  Through her leadership with an executive women's organization and attending a Catholic girl's school, she has long believed that women should fully support each other.  She has encouraged her three daughters to play sports and to be confident, find their voices as they advocate for themselves speaking the truth in respectful ways.  Her leadership has been characterized by taking risks and risking failure.  Jill believes corporations are benefiting by having more women on their boards in terms of diversity of experiences and opinions. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Coco Brown, Founder and CEO Athena Alliance, talks about “loneliness at the top” which she experienced during her time leading the company Taos, an IT-services company. This spurred the genesis of a women's dinner group which grew to 150 members and led to the formation of Athena Alliance.  Though progress has been made, the numbers of women in C-suites, on corporate boards and those receiving venture capital funding are still too low.  Coco believes women should invest in themselves during their careers, like men often do, by placing earnings toward wealth creation as well as spending for things like executive coaching and golf memberships.  Coco talks about the tectonic shifts in business enabled by technology and instantaneous information---businesses are no longer driving what we want, customers are telling businesses what we want and expect.  Fascinating discussion with Coco Brown! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Heather Ettinger is Founder and CEO of her firm, Luma Wealth and thrives in the male-dominated financial management industry by helping guide women toward financial wellness with knowledge and insights. She provides a no-nonsense approach to financial advice and direction and understands women want transparency as well as the appreciation that money helps them realize their hopes and dreams. Heather is an ice-hockey player and says that choosing her husband Jeff was one of the best decisions of her life. She wanted to go into her family's industry yet forge her own path which she has successfully done. Heather says we need to take risks in our lives and pursue stretch opportunities. What a delightful podcast guest Heather Ettinger was! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Janice Ellig is CEO of the Ellig group, known as "The Closer", she is one of the top recruiters in the country specializing in the placement of executive women in C-suites and on corporate boards. She says that though there has been gender parity progress, it is still an issue at the top corporate levels and on corporate boards. Janice points out that statistics prove out that better decision-making happens and corporations are more successful when leadership and corporate boards are diverse. There are some great messages from Janice in this episode as she talks about brand, persistence, confidence and continually reinventing ourselves. She says we must take responsibility for having our voices heard and making sure our facts are correct otherwise it could affect our credibility. What a great episode with Janice Ellig! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Nicole Eckels is a highly-focused and driven entrepreneur as Co-Founder and CEO at Sapphire Group and Glasshouse Fragrances. She moved to Australia in 2005 from New York City and when she could not find a good candle, she decided to start her business. In this episode she talks accepting that rejection is simply part of life and how being decisive is critical when leading in business. In the fickle world of retail and e-commerce, she continues to adjust the company's vision and business model for success by being resilient to changes in the business. What a great conversation with Nicole Eckels! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Audrey Talkington is the COO of BridgePact International, Inc. a Minneapolis-based company, where she has worked in various capacities since 2006.  In 2021, the company launched the next phase of development and introduced TrendEvity, the exclusive marketing arm for BridgePact.  These companies support businesses by offering the MyBPX Business System to support business owners to grow by focusing on generating more revenue while lowering operational expenses for their business.   Audrey says that there is “no glass ceiling for women entrepreneurs”.  A driven and self-proclaimed Type-A personality, she embraces positivity and allows the adversity she has experienced to motivate her to succeed. Audrey has found she can use humor judiciously to deal with many business situations.  What a great podcast with our LeadingShe.com guest Audrey Talkington! Trendevity.com; trendevity.biz LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Teri Arvesu is a top executive with Univision Communications, Inc. where she has had a wonderful career for 19 years including being an Executive Producer. Univision with its 6000 employees entertains, informs and empowers U.S. Hispanics with news, sports content across broadcast and cable television, audio and digital platforms. As children, Teri's parents immigrated from Cuba and she is the fourth generation of college graduates as she shares a story during an interview about a "teachable moment". Though the expectation within the Cuban culture is one of hard work, the messages she received around being ambitious caused her to feel conflicted and sometimes guilty. Her father gave her wonderful advice around this. Enjoy this inspirational talk with this successful and driven guest, Teri Arvesu. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Dr. Sheryl Kingsberg is a Clinical Psychologist and Chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. She cites four FSDs, female sexual disorders women could experience during their lifetimes. Dr. Kingsberg says there are gender inequities around the treatment of HSDD, Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. She says that 10 percent of women have a loss of sexual interest and women can be distressed by this. The medical community does not take this treatment as seriously as men's sexual function issues especially if women are post-menopausal. Great podcast as we openly discuss these taboo subjects as they relate to women's health and happiness. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Kim Stevenson is a top executive in information technology having worked with IBM, Intel, EDS and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She says our personal core values must match those of the company and when we find that fit, we will excel. Kim believes women should proactively manage their own performance review processes through scheduling quarterly meetings and preparing to review their accomplishments so there are no surprises. She has played sports most of her life and the team play she experienced helps her leadership and says that in organizations accountability for individual goals and team goals is critical. Kim is passionate about giving back to women and her advice in this podcast is invaluable. What a great podcast with this powerful woman! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Janis Smith-Gomez is an executive with Johnson & Johnson, Vice President of Global Brand Experience for Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies. She is resilient and believes resilience can be taught by considering self-care through looking at our emotional, physical, spiritual and mental energy. Janis believes it is important for us to really take our vacations to restore and refresh. She recommends that before joining a company, we must understand its culture as best we can. Her ambition and success are a direct result of not only hard work, but her family's expectations around education, excellence and success. A childhood experience around debating two sides to an issue has helped her with critical thinking during her career. What a wonderful story and fantastic leader! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Danielle DiMartino Booth is Founder and CEO of Quill Intelligence and worked for years on Wall Street and for the Federal Reserve. She wrote the book, Fed Up, An Insider's Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America. In the book she reports on how the Fed focuses on mathematical models to predict markets versus truly understanding what's going on, thereby missing the prediction of the Great Recession in the late 2000 era. Never deterred by biases, Danielle in her outspoken way talks about the hard work and persistence necessary to succeed. She believes sometimes confrontation is necessary when we believe strongly in something and there is disagreement. What a bold woman! Enjoy listening to her! Delightful. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Emily Barr is the President and CEO of Graham Media Group and oversees seven local market media hubs/television stations in six cities including 1000 employees. Her experience with male-dominated environments started early as she attended the prestigious boarding school Phillips Exeter Academy during the early days of allowing young women to attend. Emily shares several stories of her career experience involving Oprah, Margaret Thatcher and Senator Jesse Helms. She believes not only in employment diversity yet also fostering feelings of engagement and belonging. What a fascinating podcast with Emily Barr! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Kate Curran's mother's last words to her were, "I've had a good life". After a successful corporate career at GE, and year-long sabbatical, Kate Curran decided she wanted to wanted to make a difference and so founded Schooltheworld.org in 2009. Since founding the organization she has helped transform education for children in rural Central America by building 106 schools. Her program involving U.S. high school students helps them see the benefit of giving back to those less fortunate surely influencing them for future philanthropy. A born entrepreneur, Kate's enthusiasm and heart are infectious. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Ivy Zelman, CEO of Zelman & Associates was an atypical Wall Street investment banker. There were few women on Wall Street in the early 1990s and she was not educated at an Ivy League school. Nonetheless, her determination, curiosity and ambition all helped her to build a successful career in her specialty of residential housing industry research. Ivy began Zelman & Associates in October, 2007 and is the top residential housing analyst in the country having predicted the housing crash of 2007-2008. Ivy just released her memoir book Gimme Shelter, which is a wonderfully written account of her journey. The book is about her life and career which is full of stories about sexism, sexual harassment, combining work and family as well as getting through very difficult times. Her story is a great account of what it's like to navigate a career in a male-dominated field. What a great discussion with Ivy Zelman! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Judy Toland is Vice President and Head of Scaled Solutions for the Global Business Marketing team at Facebook in Chicago and oversees a team of 450 people. She has played sports, loves to follow sports and has found this to be a way to make strong connection in building business relationships. Judy has the ability to synthesize and simplify complex topics so that her audience can easily understand a situation or opportunity. Her career and education is rich with diverse companies and initiatives. Having started her career as an engineer, her intuition and talent for making presentations caused her to change her career focus to marketing. Judy is a strong and authentic leader and as a black woman is passionate about not only diversity but inclusion and equity. Enjoy this wonderful interview with Judy Toland! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Dr. Holly Pederson is Director, Medical Breast Services at the Cleveland Clinic where she has worked for 24 years. Dr. Pederson is passionate about women's health and is a highly recognized leader in her field. She knows that mammograms save lives and believes these tests should begin when women are in their 40s. She is a big proponent of three dimensional mammograms which have shown a 15 percent lower rate of callbacks for additional testing. Unlike men, Dr. Pederson believes women have to work harder to prove themselves as experts. Her advice for women is to read, listen and write to advance their knowledge and expertise early in their careers. Dr. Pederson also recommends women get a seasoned mentor to give advice so as to avoid political land mines. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Lisa Knutson, president of Scripps Networks is a value-based leader, with an emphasis on respect, authenticity and empowerment. It is also important for her to understand what her employees value. Lisa has a collaborative leadership approach asking her team what she can do to lead them better. Not seeking the limelight, her competitive spirit drives her to push initiatives she believes in and says, "I make them tell me no". Scripps owns Court TV which petitioned the State of Minnesota Supreme Court to air the high profile Derek Chauvin trial in the George Floyd murder case. Lisa believes media has an absolute responsibility to deliver the news to the public with an emphasis on context, depth and analysis. Scripps has many diversity and equity initiatives including owning the network, Bounce which is "celebrates black excellence". LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

This Special Edition episode of LeadingShe is one in which we profile three topics which are recurring themes in the podcast: Networking, Self-Care/Balance and finally, Taking Risk. We introduce each topic in the podcast as we air clips from previous guests. These women tell stories, relate their experiences in these areas---powerful wisdom and ideas for listeners. In August we will take a break as we interview more excellent women leaders for the podcast which will be aired this fall, 2021. Stay tuned! Let your friends and associates know about LeadingShe, where women leaders use their voices, wisdom and experiences to help elevate and inspire other women. Follow us on @LeadingShe - on the social media formats of LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook!

Listen to this Special Edition of LeadingShe in which we address three topics which are recurring themes in the podcasts: Gender Bias, Communication and Speaking Up. We introduce each topic in the podcast as we air clips from previous guests about the topics. These are powerful insights and stories from these women leaders. Watch for another Special Edition of LeadingShe in two weeks. In August we will take a break as we interview more excellent women leaders for the podcast which will be aired this fall. Stay tuned! Let your friends and associates know about LeadingShe, where women leaders use their voices, wisdom and experiences to help elevate and inspire other women. Follow us on @LeadingShe---on the social media formats of LinkedIn, Instagram and FB. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Leslie Woo, CEO of Civic Action in Toronto, Canada not only sees where gender and racial equity is needed she takes action. Born in Trinidad and having immigrated to Canada to attend college, Leslie has had a career of adapting to her environment. She is optimistic about the next generation of young leaders and appreciates their values, energy and enthusiasm and enjoys leading them. The pandemic has negatively affected the Toronto economy and the residents' way of life as they assess next steps. Leslie sees the next phase being one of a "building back better" with work/home hybrid work arrangement and is optimistic about strong prosperity in the future. Leslie believes being a woman and of a different race can give her an advantage at times yet she cautions women not to abuse these differences. What a wonderful interview! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Marsha McVicker's B2B company, Errand Solutions, began as a college class white paper at University of Wisconsin. Assembling investors and taking the business plan to reality, 20 years later she has grown the company to helping over four million employees with seven billion tasks. Errand Solutions offers personal assistance and concierge services to her company clients' employees. She talks about adopting her 12-year old son from Haiti as a baby, and as Max's mother she sees firsthand racial injustices and inequities in our society. Dealing with personal illness and a leave of absence from her company, she appointed a person to run the company who was not a good fit for the role and listened to feedback as she dealt with the situation which helped to improve employee morale. What a positive and inspiring woman leader and entrepreneur!

Since 2018, Amy Spiller has been president of Duke Energy’s utility operations in Ohio and Kentucky with 2300 employees. Though she was considered for the position in 2012, she believes she was more ready for the challenge later. Amy leads with a focus on diversity and Duke Energy as a company scored 100% on the 2020 Human Rights Campaign’s annual scorecard workplace equality. She talks about dealing with profound disappointment after not succeeding on a project when she and her team had worked long and hard to win. Amy offers great advice to young professionals just getting started in their careers: to "bloom where they are planted". What a delightful conversation with a wonderful leader!

A fearless risk-taker, Nicole Loftus is a serial entrepreneur who started her companies based upon her passion around problem-solving through using creativity and technological savvy. After a failed marriage, she founded the company Zorch and as CEO of Zorch she grew the company to one of the fastest growing companies in the country. She began her company SkinX as a result of her bad experience with venture capital fundraising at Zorch which resulted in her loss of ownership control. Her vulnerability, sense of humor and story-sharing make this a fantastic podcast!

Against all odds, Kathryn Bertine as CEO of Homestretch Foundation, has tirelessly and relentlessly accomplished so much for women’s equality. As a successful pro-cylist, she has published four books including her latest, STAND, A Memoir on Activism. A Manual for Progress. Kathryn was a senior editor for ESPN and also raised money through crowd-sourcing to produce the documentary Half the Road, which explores the world of women’s professional cycling, focusing on the pressing issues of inequality female riders face in this male-dominated sport. Kathryn began a petition which had nearly 100,000 signatures and assembled an all-star team, Le Tour Entier, in an effort to include women the Tour De France race. She was successful and La Course de Tour de France, the women’s race today, was formed in 2014. Overcoming one obstacle after another, Kathryn has never stopped pursuing gender equity in pro-cycling. Despite battles with insecurity, depression, a failed marriage, recovering from a bike crash, she persisted and learned a great deal during the journey, all of which are addressed in the book. This is one of the most inspiring episodes and fascinating guests on LeadingShe. https://www.homestretchfoundation.org/ LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Susan Gallagher is CEO and President of BPI Group, a leadership and executive coaching company. Her natural curiosity about people and business has benefited her career in many ways. Susan’s family of origin made a practice of having family dinners and she and her husband decided they wanted to do the same so she worked hard to be home for dinner most nights. During her time at Arthur Andersen she developed a popular seminar to change the perception of Women in Business Politics and Power in which there was a public conversation about power, which was met with some hesitation by the men in the firm. Susan’s diverse career experience and positive wisdom make her a great podcast guest! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Mary Boosalis is President & CEO of Premier Health, the largest healthcare system in southwest Ohio which employees more than 15,000 employees and physicians. She is one of the few women in the U.S. which lead a large health organization and is the first woman to head Premier Health. She is highly respected in her position and within the Dayton, Ohio region and community. Mary and her husband Tom chose to have children when she was 43 and believes she has been a better parent having children later. A consummate resilient and mission-driven leader, she has dealt with several high-stress situations including the Dayton, Ohio mass shootings in August, 2019 and the COVID-19 virus health crisis. Diversity and inclusion have long been part of the mission of Premiere Health and 66 percent of her executive staff are women. What a wonderful podcast! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

One of the most fascinating LeadingShe podcast guests, Julie Smolyansky was the youngest CEO of a publicly-traded firm after she took over the family company upon her father’s sudden death. Julie’s grandmother’s survival during the Holocaust, she believes drives her to be a social justice advocate.  Her company Lifeway Foods has 95 percent of the Kefir market. Kefir is a 2000-year old product and a live bacteria, probiotic, healthy dairy food containing mind and body benefits. Julie’s family came to this country in 1976 from Russia with little money and no familiarity with U.S. culture or the English language. Having experienced sexual assault herself, Julie’s produced the movie “The Hunting Ground” about on-campus college sexual assaults which was responsible for over 300 Title IX investigations across the country. Julie also began the non-profit, “Test400K” which has put a spotlight on advancing the testing of the country’s untested rape kits. What a powerful and inspiring podcast! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

This very positive and high-energy leader, Marianne Lewis, is the first woman to be Dean of University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner School of Business. She knew early in her career she wanted to lead as a dean yet the number women heading business schools is low. Marianne believes with a strong confidence women can achieve more. After facing a lack of transparency when hired at Cass Business School, she joined an important fight. The landscape of higher education has permanently changed since the pandemic and Marianne has embraced this change, looking for opportunities in a more digital world. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Elizabeth Mangan is CEO and partner of Miller-Valentine Group and the first woman to head the company. MVG has 225 employees in four markets.  In 2016, Elizabeth led the difficult and challenging task of implementing a strategic vision for this long-standing company which resulted in the spin-off of several divisions into separate companies. Elizabeth felt pressure to find work-life balance until she realized she could meet her career and family responsibilities with more fluidity. Her childhood prepared her for this pressure-filled and competitive industry and she is a true leader. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Diane Morefield is a top executive with a long and successful career having just retired from CyrusOne, a publicly-traded, global data center REIT with revenue of over $1 billion. She is driven and a high-achiever and a self-proclaimed extrovert. As the youngest of four children, Diane grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago in a strong, family-focused home. When the public company COPART appointed Diane as the first woman to its board, she experienced being suddenly cast in the limelight with media giants including Wall Street Journal, CNBC and Bloomberg profiling her. While she was well-qualified for this position, people questioned whether she was the token woman. Diane believes our very politically correct environment has gone too far and we all need to lighten up a bit and not be so sensitive. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As a top banking executive with Fifth Third Bancorp, Kris Garrett has always been ambitious and driven with a strong work ethic. During a time of employee feedback, she learned the value of being more vulnerable and reinforcing that she trusted her staff, which enhanced her leadership. Kris and her husband made the decision for their family and the raising of their sons that only one of them should work, so her husband sold his business and was primarily responsible for their sons. At this stage of her career, through her experience she’s learned to embrace being vulnerable as she leads with grace and wisdom. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/