Podcasts about as courtney

Riding and Running on trails is more connected than you know!  The Western States 100 originally was a horse race, not a running race.  And this year Susie Kramer did both, with one of the fastest combined times ever.  With a broken toe, after her horse stepped on it. "I guess some scar tissue had formed, so the pain wasn't too bad." Yeah, endurance horse riders are tough. Ride and Tie is a very tactical and exciting race, always on trails at least 20 miles long, with two runners alternating riding one horse ... got that?  Courtney will explain it! "My 14 year old daughter said, 'Dad, if you will learn to ride a horse, I will start running and we can be a team.' When your daughter says that, there is only one answer!" This is NOT like riding a bicycle - these are dynamic teamwork events with a human and horse, both of whom have minds of their own.  As Courtney describes Coda: "He can't stand to be behind another horse. It's like, 'You decide how fast you want to go; trot, canter, gallop, doesn't matter, because I'm going to pass you." "It's like he trained the other horses - they would move to the side when we came up, whether their rider reigned them over or not." Courtney goes first in this Episode, describing the strategic intricacies of Ride and Tie, and we note many of the top ultra runners of the era who also were Ride and Tie competitors. Susie is next, who describes why she thinks riding the Tevis Cup is harder than the running the WS100. This episode is sponsored by Speedland Speedland is a brand new shoe company, founded by two longtime designers from Puma, Nike, and Under Armour. Their debut shoe is the SL:PDX, likened more to a piece of equipment than to a shoe. It is trail footwear made from the most premium components available today. Listen to this trail-runner-wish-list: It's the first shoe ever to feature BOA's Li2 Fit System, dual dials with multi-directional incremental dialing for a perfect fit. The midsole uses a new formulation of Pebax foam for ultimate energy return. Then there's a Carbitex carbon-fiber plate with asymmetrical flex – stiff in one direction, flexible in the other. Finishing it off, the SL:PDX uses a Michelin wrap outsole with a customizable lug pattern that can be adjusted for any terrain. When we say it's all there, it's all there. Plus, Speedland gives back 10% of all profits to outdoor organizations chosen by their athletes, and once the shoe reaches the end of its lifecycle, you can send it back where it will be disassembled and recycled. Check out the Speedland SL:PDX over at runspeedland.com and follow them on Instagram at @runspeedland. Drop them a note if you have any questions.

When your guest calls herself the “Master of the Bitch” you do wonder what you’re getting into. Courtney Summers, by her own admission, wants to upset people. Yet she’s a delight! To kick of Women in Horror week we discuss her new novel, The Project, which follows a young woman as she investigates the New York based cult that has swallowed up her sister. This is FAR from your standard cult novel. As Courtney explains, she wanted to get away from the exploitation and the obvious horrors and instead consider why people search for belonging in such dark places, and whether we would be impervious to The Project’s allure. We also talk about her penchant for ‘unlikeable’ female protagonists, and whether there’s a double standard in how fiction treats challenging women. We celebrate Biden’s inauguration, I tell her about my worst ever spider encounter, and she takes me to school for dissing YA fiction. Enjoy!The Project was published by Wednesday Books on February 2nd 2021.Other books mentioned include: Sadie (2018), by Courtney SummersRedder Days (2021), by Sue RainsfordThe Children of Red Peak (2020), by Craig Di LouieThe Need (2019), by Helen PhillipsCome talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.

This episode is definitely NOT brought to you by Pizza Pizza. As Courtney says, get your barf bags ready! We're available on all of the standard podcasting platforms and can also be streamed on Spotify. Please give us a follow on Twitter @NarbosPodcast or on Instagram @NarbosAndBroomheadsPodcast, and if you want to watch along, please send your comments to Narbosandbroomheads@gmail.com and we'll make sure to share them on future episodes. You can also join our Narbos And Broomheads Facebook group for information on live episodes being broadcast in the future. If you like the show, please shoot us a 5 star rating on iTunes, and tell all of your Degrassi loving friends!

You've probably read some version of this article or headline over the past several months: "Here's a lesson we learned during the 1918 flu that we can apply to the current coronavirus pandemic!" It makes sense that we want to look to history for answers to present-day problems—"history repeats itself" is an old chestnut for a reason. But for some, the inclination to look backwards extends well beyond the 20th century. Courtney Iseman is a self-described history nerd, and noticed not just similarities between this current moment and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, but also the 14th-century bubonic plague, which killed over half of the European population. Just like now, medieval responses to the black death were largely dependent on social standing—there were those who couldn't afford to not work, those who never left their homes, and those who got the hell out of Dodge, abandoning their homes for less-populated areas. It helps to look to data and science when dealing with such a unique and scary moment as our current crisis, but it's also helpful to look to stories. Giovanni Boccaccio wrote The Decameron in what is now known as Italy during the height of the plague. The book is a collection of stories that reflected what local life was like at the time, told from the perspective of a group of friends who had fled Florence to escape the disease's devastation. As Courtney points out, you could replace these characters with any number of celebrities or influencers who escaped to their country homes following the spread of COVID-19—just think of today's "private island, all tested negative" memes. In this conversation, we talk about Courtney's investigation into the subject in her recent piece, "The Plague Mirror — Recognizing Ourselves in Black Death-Era Italy Through The Decameron." Courtney uses The Decameron to show that history presents certain inescapable themes—but that past lessons can also provide a helpful blueprint for navigating contemporary crises. We also talk a little about her background as a writer before jumping in, but then we get right into it, tunneling our way through Boccaccio's illuminating book and then asking each other: What happens when this is all over?"

Author Suzy Vadori Careful what you wish for, It might just come true Or will she end up breaking every school rule and risking the love of her life to make it right..."The Fountain is not your ordinary YA boarding school novel. With magic, mystery and romance woven together in just the right measure, it is sure to be a 'must read' with teens everywhere."-Jacqueline Guest, author of Ghost Messages The West Woods: Book Two school's fabric. Everything seems to lead back to the forbidden West Woods. Together, she and her friends seek out the spirits of the past to ask for help, and find themselves in much deeper than they'd bargained for. If they succeed, Courtney could be free of the magic. If they fail, she may never be the same.Ava Marshall, driven by a desire to learn more about her mother's past, moved across the country to attend St. Augustus. But her mom's secrets will have to wait, because she finds herself instantly hated for her family's connection to her new school and is forced to fight alone against a classmate who is setting Ava up to be expelled.Fleeing campus, she takes a shortcut to her Gran's house though the forbidden West Woods and discovers a mysterious fountain that has the power to grant a wish and change it all. But can she live with the consequences? Courtney Wallis wants nothing more than to escape St. Augustus boarding school. After uncovering a well-kept secret about the school's founder, Isaac Young, Courtney turns to the school's magic to convince her dad to let her leave. Things take a turn when she meets Cole, who lives in the nearby town of Evergreen. He gives her hope that things might not be so bad. However, the fountain has other ideas, and binds Courtney to her ambition, no matter the cost.As Courtney struggles to keep the magic from taking over, she and her friends get drawn into the mystery woven into the school's fabric

Courtney left her corporate job to explore the world and never looked back. She began guiding outdoor trips around the world, then set her sights on creating her own business. Hear stories of travel inspiration, tips for becoming a guide, and what it's taken to start and scale an outdoor business. This female founder has a lot of experience and is providing an outlet for adventurers to connect with their dreams. As Courtney says, join the growing movement of people who left the cubicle for a life of adventure and embraced life beyond 9 to 5. Find more at Occupation Wild, with owner and editor, Courtney Condy Find jobs or subscribe to the job newsletter: https://www.occupationwild.com/all-jobsFollow OW on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/occupation_wild/Follow Courtney on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtneymcondy/Follow No Ordinary Adventure and UnCruise Adventures:YouTube: UnCruise AdventuresTwitter: https://twitter.com/UnCruiseFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnCruiseWant to know more or want to leave us a voice mail for the podcast? Leave us a message here: https://www.speakpipe.com/noordinaryadventure

Hosted by Jeff Williams, Tehran Van Ghasri, Alice ford, and SPECIAL GUEST NEIL JACKSON! Courtney needs to be part of the team, Cindy is so mean, and Barbara goes on a business trip. We begin the episode in the hospital where Henry is still grieving over the injury of his father Brainwave. Cindy comes to visit her boyfriend but really wants to plan for homecoming. Henry is in no homecoming mood as he is gloom patrol because of his father. Cindy feigns sympathy, however if she even has a heart it is not there. The team walks into school with a new found confidence and zest. As they hero walk in the halls, Cindy bumps into them and calls them all losers. Cindy then bumps into the janitor and knocks his mop down. Why is Cindy so mean, Courtney asks. Most of the team responds she has always been, Beth points out she changed in elementary school when her mother died, and now has a second step mother. The ever empathetic savior, Courtney helps the janitor with his mop and decides to reach out and be friends with Cindy. Before parting ways, the team enthusiastically decides to meet up for practice later. Cameron goes home and sees his father, Icicle. Icicle, the villain yet amazing father, senses something is wrong and asks. Cameron discusses being too shy to ask Courtney out to Homecoming. Icicle, unaware Courtney is Stargirl, recounts a romantic story between himself and Cameron's mom, how she had been waiting for him to ask her out. This encouragement is advice for Cameron to just ask out Courtney. Courtney, Pat, and Mike attend the Homecoming football game. Courtney is paying attention to Principle Bowmen, who she suspects of being the Fiddler. Mike is jealous of the attention Pat seems to give Courtney and vice versa. He has also noticed they have been acting suspicious lately. While Pat is getting concessions, Cameron musters the confidence to ask Courtney to the Homecoming Dance. Courtney says yes, expressing she was supposed to hang out with Cindy. She then tries to ask Cindy to hang out another day. Cindy, feeling rejected, pushes Courtney away and says never again. Courtney then follows Principle Bowmen to her office. Principle Bowmen goes through a secret door. Courtney suits up and follows. Meanwhile Cindy has gone to her father's lair but has no access. When she sees an intruder she suits up in her father's suit as well. As Courtney is looking for Principle Bowmen she is attacked by Cindy in costume, but her face revealed. The two fight. Cindy reveals a super healing power when Courtney inadvertently burns her face with the staff. Cindy gets the better of Courtney until The Janitor comes to her aid with a powerful sword. The staff goes and finds Pat and brings him to the injured Courtney which sends Cindy away. The Janitor int he background recognizes Pat. All this and more on the Afterbuzz Aftershow. Stay tuned.

Courtney Reimer is on a mission to not only help girls and women know and understand their worth but also to know why they have worth. This interview is a reminder that where we place our hope matters. As Christians we've likely heard or been part of conversations about our identity in Christ but living that out feels so complex. How do we place our identity in Him? What does that look like? How do we know if we're even getting it right? One of the reasons I wanted to interview Courtney and learn more about She Wears Worth is because of how highly I value women getting to the bottom of this identity question. Whether we're aware of it or not, our identity shapes how we live, the choices we make, and the dreams we say yes to. In four years of interviewing women about their God-shaped dreams, I have found that when we fully entrust our dreams and our lives to God and when we begin to care more about what He says about us than what the world says about us, then we're able to rest in the security that this identity in Him provides. That kind of rest and trust steadies us so that instead of being swayed by the whims of a human audience, we can live for an audience of one. As Courtney talks about launching God's dream for her, I hope you'll pay attention to the following: That God takes our passions and aligns them with His work in the world. There are so many empty encouragements in the world that won't last, but as an image bearer of God, your beautiful because He says so. How getting off social media and rooting herself in the truth of God's Word helped Courtney fight comparison. God uses imperfect people to do his perfect work. You'll find the show notes, a link to the She Wears Worth giveaway, and all the ways to connect with Courtney Reimer, here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/152   NEXT STEPS: If you're new to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast or just trying to figure out what's next after you've heard this one, check out my 30 Days of Prayer series or one of these recent episodes: Episode 150 – When You Struggle to Believe God is Good with Maria Hatch-Bowersock – released 4/29/2020 Episode 151 – 5 Steps to Shifting Your Dream During a Pandemic a solo episode with Merritt Onsa – released 5/6/2020   GET MORE INVOLVED...BECOME A DEVOTED DREAMERS PATRON Listener support makes this show possible! Click here to learn more about how you can get involved!    GET CONNECTED WITH THE COMMUNITY: Find your tribe in the Devoted Dreamers Insiders Facebook Group where you can connect with other like-minded women in pursuit of their God-shaped dreams. Leave your review of the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Stitcher Subscribe on Apple Podcasts * Subscribe on Android  

Kortni Canada and Beth Smith from Magical Vacation Planners discuss the company’s history and legacy.   Inspired by Walt Disney’s famous words, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them”, Magical Vacation Planners is a business built on memory preservation and quality service. As CEO Jamie Eubanks believes, the ideal travel agency isn’t just a transportation mediator, but a team of planners providing personalized care.   As Courtney and Beth explain, what sets Magical Vacation Planners apart from the competition is their ability to walk the customer from dream to detail to dream again. For any organization centered on client care, dare to consider the customer service approach of Magical Vacation Planners.

Welcome to our first ever remotely recorded episode! As Courtney and Mila practice social distancing like the stand up, responsible, contributing members of society they are, join them and their super weird audio quality from the comfort of wherever YOU’RE isolating. And so help us god, you all better be isolating…

Crawling out from under the rock of monogamy, we stumble into the blinding light of dating in the digital age. As Courtney turns 39, we confront some hard truths and dig into some tough questions like "What is this thing called Tinder?", "What really happened in Vegas?" and "Just how old is Kim Jong-Un?" We set the relationship roadmap on fire and chart a new course with love as our compass. Who's with us?! ... Seriously, is there anyone out there?

Welcome to the Healing on Empty podcast Episode 6: A Vegan Journey with Veg World Magazine's Courtney Garza Recording at the Cosmic Cafe in downtown Dallas, the best place for vegetarian food + meditation. Check out the Cosmic Cafe at http://www.cosmiccafedallas.com/ Courtney Garza is the Editor-in-Chief of Veg World Magazine in Dallas, TX and the Co-Founder of Sprinkles Creative. Her journey as a vegan really flourished while in college at UNT Dallas. As said in the podcast UNT has one of the first all-vegan university cafeterias in the United States, click this website to read more https://news.unt.edu/news-releases/mean-greens-first-all-vegan-university-cafeteria-celebrates-5th-anniversary. The friendship I have formed with Courtney just inspires me with her journey and love for animals. Living a plant-based life benefits your health. As Courtney says, "Living compassionately extends not just to animals but to yourself." Follow Courtney and her business on Instagram: @colormecourtney_ @vegworldmagazine @dallasvegworld @coffeewithcourtney @sprinkles_creative Also keep up with the news and issues on: https://www.vegworldmag.com ______________________________________ Click this link: https://anchor.fm/healing-on-empty to be a listener support. Don't forget to subscribe to my podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor.fm and Pocketcasts. I would love if you like, rate and review. Doing so helps other listeners to find my podcast, so please share the love. I love to know your thoughts on the podcast, people and topics you are interested in, and suggestions on how to improve or ideas for future episodes. Send me an email at: christinaelisabetta@gmail.com _______________________________ Connect with me on: Website: https://www.c-elisabetta.com/ Follow on Instagram: @healingonempty | to purchase Young Living oils go to www.youngliving.com and enter my member number at sign up or check out #3206962 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

I recently ran a live event for a small group of women where we sat around my kitchen table and planned Q4 — October, November, and December. Each woman came to the table wanting to get really clear on how to finish this year in business strong. As we went through the exercises, however, the stories we heard were about household goals, relationships that needed attention, and food habits that wanted to be cleaned up.  And sitting there, with this group of AMAZING women entrepreneurs, I was reminded of why I do what I do, and that no matter how big our goals are we need our food, our home, our relationships, and ourselves to feel nourished.  This week I have been doing a fascinating exercise myself around simplifying. I bought Courtney Carver’s course, Soulful Simplicity. As Courtney was teaching to clean out spaces, I also was prompted to clean out all my closets and the basement from my own coach.  Here’s the interesting part… every time I set my timer, leave my computer and declutter, amazing things happen in other areas of my life. The only reason I make the time to do the work in a course or from a coach is because I make a plan. My plan gives me the structure to show up to the life I want to create — even though I may think I have better things to do than clean out a closet in the moment. On this week’s podcast, I talk you through the process that I shared with the women at the kitchen table. I also made you some worksheets so you have a place to answer the questions for yourself. You can download the planning sheets here » In case you just want the prompts for your own journal, these are the questions we answered. I recommend setting a timer for 15 minutes for each prompt and trying to focus on the task at hand for the full 15 minutes. If 15 minutes comes and you feel incomplete, make a choice as to whether you want to set the timer once again. Know that you can feel complete with the 15 minutes. PLANNING PROMPTS What does your life look like 5 years from now? If you have young children I would imagine 10 years from now. Think about what a day looks like. You can reflect on what just happened and what you are looking forward to on other days, but get yourself through a whole day. Do a masterlist, aka brain dump. This is EVERYTHING in your mind in no order and unfiltered. I need to brush my teeth. I need to buy more apples. I want to find a great skirt. I want to write a book. I need to call and make that doctor appointment. I need to organize Christmas break. I want to help my kid with that friendship. I want to renovate our third floor… you get my drift. Decide how you want to feel this season. This season is the next 3 months — the busy fall through the holiday season. Why do you want to feel this way? What does that look like? Words are limited and loaded, so really describe this feeling (or set of feelings) for yourself. With all of this intel in mind, decide the 4 things you are going to work on in the next 90 days. I want you to choose one thing in each FLOW category — Food and wellness, Lifestyle and family, Om (aka spirituality and self-care), and Work.  Make a one sheet. With your four goals decided. Make a one-sheet with the list of activities you need to tackle and habits you need to cultivate to move towards this vision in the next 90 days. You’ve got this!

Episode 22 Jan 2016 The Fountain 4.4 Stars on 43 reviews on Amazon www.whenwordscollide.org A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas A Man of Cloud Nine by Adam Dreese The Broken Ones by Danielle L. Jensen www.suzyvadori.wordpress.com https://evilalteregopress.wordpress.com/ The Fountain Careful what you wish for. It just might come true. Ava Marshall, driven by a desire to learn more about her mother's past, moved across the country to attend St. Augustus. But her mom’s secrets will have to wait, because she finds herself instantly hated for her family’s connection to her new school and is forced to fight alone against a classmate who is setting Ava up to be expelled. Fleeing campus, she takes a shortcut to her Gran’s house through the forbidden West Woods and discovers a mysterious fountain that has the power to grant a wish and change it all. But can she live with the consequences? Or will she end up breaking every school rule and risking the love of her life to make it right…   The West Woods on Sep 22nd The West Woods Courtney Wallis wants nothing more than to escape St. Augustus boarding school. After uncovering a well-kept secret about the school’s founder, Isaac Young, Courtney turns to the school’s magic to convince her dad to let her leave. Things take a turn when she meets Cole, who lives in the nearby town of Evergreen. He gives her hope that things might not be so bad. However, the school's fountain has other ideas, and binds Courtney to her ambition, no matter the cost. As Courtney struggles to keep the magic from taking over, she and her friends get drawn into the mystery woven into the school’s fabric. Everything seems to lead back to the forbidden West Woods. Together, she and her friends seek out the spirits of the past to ask for help, and find themselves in much deeper than they’d bargained for. If they succeed, Courtney could be free of the magic. If they fail, she may never be the same.

Name of guest: Courtney Daniel When I was a little girl, my cousin Daphney and I would correspond via mail. Sending ourselves letters. Secret letters. With special coding. So only both of us would understand the message. We called our system the Messenger Cousins. I was 9 years-old. We still talk about this today and are amazed about how we were patiently writing these coded letters.  We also took extremely good care of sending them on nice paper. Always. Why Handwritten Letters? I tell you that story because my guest this week is a personal correspondence liaison. She specializes in sending handwritten letters, cards, and correspondence to create lifelong memories. Courtney is fighting against the posts, the tweets, the text messages or the pictures that are sent quickly on social media. The communication changed through the years… But even if it did, people are still very excited about getting a handwritten letter, which is more likely to get opened as opposed to something with your typed name on it. As Courtney says: “It is more meaningful to sit down and express, in that moment, how someone felt and then for the recipient to get it. They are going to hold onto that for a long time!” Courtney’s business and interview might also be a reminder for you to include direct mail into your marketing strategies. There is way less competition when you send direct mail then there is in people’s inbox! So could you imagine how much more your message will be read and considered, if it’s right on target with what the person receiving it is looking for? Think about it. And by the way, if you are grateful for someone being in your life today, send that person a personalized card or letter. The impact on your relationship with that person will be huge! Enjoy the interview! Ways to connect with Courtney: www.cdanieldesigns.com Facebook & Instagram: @cdanieldesigns

In Episode 5 of Almost 30, Lindsey and Krista begin by celebrating no longer stuffing their bra's and recounting a meet-up with a high school crush 12 years later. They highly suggest the latter. In one of their favorite segments, "20's Us, 30's Us", the girls lay it all out there--from chronic car accidents to over-giving, to their slowing metabolism to wanting to know more about their finances. Knowledge is power, right?! Their question of the week comes from "Courtney", As Courtney approaches 30, she finds herself getting in deep when it comes to relationships--moving in together,  purchasing pets, and cooking for one another. Sounds successfully adult. But what happens when it doesn't work out? Could be an UGLY mess.

This episode adds a new dimension to our discussions with innovators, by taking us inside a huge company - American Express. My guest is Courtney Kelso, who leads the Amex product and marketing team in Enterprise Growth. I talked with Courtney about two things. First, their strategic move into creating an inclusive set of services, through Bluebird and Serve. And second, what it takes to innovate inside a big company. Interestingly, the two are linked.  Their work on building an inclusive strategy is the engine of innovation at American Express. Think about trying to drive disruptive innovation in an organization that's not only enormous and global, but is also 165 years old - one of the oldest financial brands anywhere. As Courtney says, American Express was a freight company, moving Americans west in the 1800's. Innovation and adaptation are in its corporate DNA, but change at big companies is hard. And then also think about taking a company like American Express, which has always epitomized elite, high-prestige financial services, and shifting it from being an exclusive brand to an inclusive brand. It's a fascinating saga, full of lessons for everyone. Inclusion within a famously "exclusive" brand The story starts about five years ago, when American Express looked hard at the changes underway in how people think about both money and technology, and especially mobile -- the ability to run most of your financial life from your phone. They also pondered the fact that Amex was missing an enormous market in the so-called underserved, estimated to be between 65 and 140 million people in the United States - in other words, not a niche. They realized that the economic problems created and worsened in the Great Recession had converged with an emerging set of technology solutions. American Express responded by launching the Enterprise Growth Group, which Courtney joined immediately. The goal was to go after totally different customers with different product sets. They unveiled an alpha version of Serve in March of 2011 , and then built the Bluebird card, aiming to be part digital wallet, part bank alternative, and part prepaid card . The goal was to reach Americans who struggle to manage and move their money or, as Courtney puts it, the people who are either excluded from the mainstream economy or "unhappily banked." An early move was to create a partnership with Wal-Mart to focus on these needs. Along the way, American Express financed the movie, Spent, which brings these customers' needs to life and demonstrates that "it's expensive to be poor."  If you haven't seen Spent and shared it in your organization, I recommend doing so. In our conversation, Courtney tells us why they made these changes, how they did it, their efforts to "be respectful" to a customer group they didn't know, what they expected, what they learned about them, and what has surprised them.  They undertook a "walk talk chalk," encouraging their leaders to step into the shoes of the kinds of customers who appear in Spent by, for instance, learning what it's like to stand in line on a Friday night to cash to check.  They also connected with the Center for Financial Services Innovation (note that I serve on CFSI's board), to bring its recommended Compass Principles into designing these products. They focused human-centered design thinking on challenges like smoothing out financial "lumpiness" for people who earn enough money to pay their bills, but don't have the right amount at the right time. Courtney describes the fascinating and varied ways customers immediately began using the new tools - including as a bank account alternative and to find ways to save.  She talks about what people want most. She talks about revelations about the preferences of young customers today, and how savvy they are in using mobile services. Today, her group bases every product design decision on the preferences of mobile users (unlike, say, a bank that views mobile as just a new channel for old products). She explains how, with critical mass established on the platform, they can push the envelope with new features, including the first-ever rewards program on a prepaid debit card. And she shares a progress report -- over $7 billion loaded on the platform as of March 2015, with merchant spend up 300% from 2012 to 2013, and 90% of these customers being new to American Express. Innovation In September 2014, these efforts evolved into creation of FILABs - the financial innovation labs - through which American Express brings together researchers and academics with real live products. After inviting proposals, they selected three partners -- a nonprofit in behavioral science called Ideas 42, along with UC Berkeley and a team of researchers from UCLA. The goal is to use design thinking and agile development methodology to make financial products drive financial health. They are testing new ideas for both processes and products, from nudges and alerts to auto savings and debiting, to see what works. Some of this is proceeding under the aegis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Project Catalyst, which seeks to foster and evaluate fintech innovation. They'll be releasing significant findings in the near future. In our conversation, I asked Courtney how to innovate in a great big company - after all, her Enterprise Growth group, itself, has over 1,000 people. Her answers may surprise you - including her comment that their most exciting recent innovation idea came from (of all places) the general counsel's office. It's fun to hear the excitement in her voice as she talks about what doesn't work, and what does. Two more observations before we listen to Courtney. In our talk she said, "I'll be honest," and explains that launching an "inclusion" strategy raised some worries about potential harm to the invaluable American Express brand, which had been painstakingly built over 165 years to be synonymous with prestige. So, they surveyed their top-tier customer base, asking whether Bluebird and Serve made them think worse, or better, of American Express. The results were resoundingly positive. Second, think about the picture she paints.  She says the company could see, five years ago, that the financial landscape was changing and American Express would have to disrupt, before they were disrupted. She says CEO Ken Chenault launched the enterprise growth initiative to "cannibalize" American Express from inside, through innovation. I'm at Harvard this year writing a book on innovation and regulation, which recently prompted me to read Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen's classic, The Innovators Dilemma and newer related work. One of his insights is that disruptive innovation usually must begin in markets that are lower-margin and less attractive than the ones served by industry leaders. The disruptions gestate and develop in these side-markets, and then eventually burst into the mainstream with a better, cheaper product - often too late for the industry's leading firms to adjust. American Express seems to be following something like this logic, putting its innovation engine in the hands of people trying to reach a separate market that's traditionally been "underserved." The results to date are fascinating. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that Courtney says the whole company now routinely recruits from her team. Here is more on some of the topics we discussed: CFSI's Compass Principles CFPB's Project Catalyst project with American Express Ideas 42 The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries  The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton M. Christensen  Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate