Podcasts about flexable

Bill Horan talks with Manar Sweillam Morales, author of THE FLEXIBILITY PARADIGM.  Manar will discuss how to define flexibility, why employees consider flexibility the most important non salary benefit, commons misconceptions about flexibility and why flexibility is not a policy but a companywide culture change.

Digital Bytes - Flexable Web - personal Hot Spot - Redragon K621 Keyboard

Nate Lavalle shares his journey from addiction to entrepreneurship and launching FlexABLE. Learn more about FlexABLE. This episode is sponsored by NH Futurecast: 2024

We will look at how Quantum Healing helpped me to heal the physical body issues I had. How you can step into this journey for you. Guest Jesica Henderson will join me to demonstrate some healing.

Join FlexABLE assited stretching and wellness founder Nate Lavallee and myself for episode 91 of Global Shift Podcast as we discuss his journey to becoming a health coach, personal trainer and stretch specialist. Tune in as we talk about addiction, meditation and how Nate transformed his life after going to prison. FlexABLE assisted stretching and wellness The “Good News” Letter

Really let's you bounce back from a problem Contact Info: Guy@mymac.com MacParrot on Twitter Gaz@mymac.com GazMaz on Twitter GuyandGaz on Twitter Feedback@mymac.com/ Twitter/ Skype +1 Area code :) 703-436-9501 Patron Link: https://www.patreon.com/MacParrot?ty=h  Ko-Fi link: https://ko-fi.com/macparrot Paypal Link: https://www.paypal.me/macparrot

In this week's Business Matters episode we discuss the importance of being flexable to unpredictable circumstances.

In this episode of From the Source, you'll meet Priya Amin, co-creator of the child care company Flexable. Priya talks about where the idea for Flexable came from and why it was so needed, the decision to close the company and what she knows for sure about the possibilities for innovation and child care in the future.

Priya Amin is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and mother of two boys. After fighting to balance a career and parenthood, Amin started Flexable with the mission to make work and life fit better for professional parents. However, because of the effects of Covid-19 and the biases of the startup economy, Flexable is shutting down.

When I first met today's guest, she said something that hit me hard. “There will always be a breakdown in childcare.” It's true. This is why solutions for parents who take career breaks are so important to me. Even with flexible employers, things come up when you have kids. Sometimes the challenges are so great that parents, usually mothers, take career breaks to solve these problems. Priya Amin is the co-founder of an innovative virtual childcare company called Flexible Care. She left a thriving career for a family-driven career break and has since dedicated her career to being part of the solution for working parents by founding Flexible Care. In this episode, Priya and I discuss the challenges working parents' face, the evolution of Flexible Care as she and her co-founder try to navigate the needs of parents, as well as the challenges she faced in funding the business' growth. We talk openly about remaining solution-focused in her startup when the original plan didn't work and her advice for female founders who are trying to seek investors for their business. The Flexible Care team successfully raised nearly $1 million in funding, yet it was ironically childcare that presented one of its biggest barriers to funding.   About the Guest: Priya Amin is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and mother to two boys, Ronin and Kirin. She holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, and worked as a product and brand manager at corporations such as IBM and Nestle. In 2012, she left her high powered career to be home with her two boys, and never looked back. After successfully launching and running a marketing consulting firm called ROKI, she began looking for ways to continue fostering creativity and entrepreneurship among women. She launched Flexable, LLC in 2016 and was accepted to the 16th cohort of the AlphaLab Accelerator program in 2016. Flexable has gained regional and national attention for providing innovative childcare solutions, most notably on-site childcare at offices and events.  Since the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Flexable pivoted to offering  Virtual Childcare hosted by fully vetted Flexable Facilitators to keep kids 3-10 years old engaged, so working parents can take back their schedule.   Learn more about Flexible Care and connect with Priya Amin at: www.flexablecare.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaamin/ https://twitter.com/praman79   About the Host Janice Scholl helps moms navigate the money and career transitions that come with the different stages of motherhood through her work as coach, speaker, workshop facilitator, and host of The Money, Career & Motherhood Podcast. Janice is passionate about helping mothers gain confidence and understanding about money, career & business topics as they relate to motherhood and family – the way many women actually think about money.  Her key areas of focus to help mothers succeed are navigating maternity leave, career breaks & transitions, and  values-based budgeting.   Sign up for a FREE 30-minute strategy session with Janice here. Visit the Money, Career, & Motherhood website, Facebook page, Facebook group, or on Instagram.       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. You can also subscribe from the podcast app on your mobile device. Leave us an iTunes review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on iTunes, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on iTunes.  

Show Notes:Priya Amin is an entrepreneur living in Pittsburgh, PA and is a mom of 2 boys. She is the co-founder and CEO of Flexable, which focuses on the problem of backup childcare, and what you do when your child care falls throughWhat we talked about: The economic impact of childcare, and how COVID helped highlight the loss of productivity when there's a loss of childcareStarting her company 5 years ago, and it not being differentiated enough Pivoted to pop-up child care at work or events/conferencesDoing really well and growing right when COVID hit. They had to shut down - she had to let go of all her caregivers, her co-founder left as wellShe started thinking of ways to pivot and saw a lot of research about virtual childcare being neededWithin 8 weeks they had done research and launched virtual childcareScheduling blocks of time with vetted childcare hosts Yoga, Claymation, magic tricks, story time, etc.Kids get to interact with the hosts, but also the other kids who are onWriting an article that went viral about how her son drawing a sad picture of her workingWe discussed talking to our employers about how they can support us so that we aren’t feeling so overworked Never not being a parentHer experience being a TedX speakerMr. Rogers’ wife coming up to her after her talk, giving her a hug and saying how proud Mr. Rogers would be of her Providing child care for a hospital system in the women's behavioral health unit, allowing new moms to receive treatment for postpartum depression Not having family close by when she had her first son Had her second child at 33 and started her company weeks later Her kids getting older and taking on more responsibility They put their own clothes away Walking and meditating every morning, and starting to crochet Being surprised by the conversations she’s able to have with her kids and how much they understand How amazing it is that her kids are seeing someone in an elected office who has some of the same ethnic backgroundThe importance of seeing yourself represented in tv/movies/public officeTools to help advocate for child care at work that Flexable provides Follow Priya and Flexable on Instagram or their website.Follow Mommin’ Podcast on Instagram and FacebookThanks so much for listening and for supporting our podcast! Please rate the show, leave a review if you liked what you heard and make sure to subscribe on Amazon Music, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or TuneIn!

Priya Amin is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and mother to two boys, Ronin and Kirin. She holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, and worked as a product and brand manager at corporations such as IBM and Nestle. In 2012, she left her high powered career to be home with her two boys, and never looked back. After successfully launching and running a marketing consulting firm called ROKI, she began looking for ways to continue fostering creativity and entrepreneurship among women. She launched Flexable, LLC in 2016 and was accepted to the 16th cohort of the AlphaLab Accelerator program in 2016. Flexable has gained regional and national attention for providing innovative childcare solutions, most notably on-site childcare at offices and events.  Since the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Flexable pivoted to offering  Virtual Childcare hosted by fully vetted Flexable Facilitators to keep kids 3-10 years old engaged, so working parents can take back their schedule. Priya joins Kristen Hall, COO of Mother Honestly to discuss how she created Flexible to address the gaps in childcare coverage in 2016. Now in the COVID era, virtual childcare is a must with parents working remote and child care coverage situations changing daily. Be sure to visit Flexable and follow them @flexablecare  The Mother Honestly Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Pacira and Lincoln Fleet.         

When Priya Amin had her first child, the trajectory of her career was forever changed. After two years as a stay-at-home mom, she decided that she wanted to get back into the workforce. That’s when she experienced firsthand just how hard it was to obtain accessible and reliable childcare as a working parent. Determined to solve her own problem, Priya decided to turn this challenge into a business opportunity. In 2016, after joining AlphaLab’s accelerator program, she and her business partner launched Flexable.Flexable addresses the growing need to provide on-demand and pop-up childcare solutions to busy parents. Before the pandemic, Priya’s company partnered with over 150 organizations to take care of thousands of children by offering on-site childcare in over 1,500 locations throughout the Pittsburgh region. In 2020, the pandemic posed a significant threat to the company’s business model. Instead of permanently closing their doors, Flexable made a hard pivot to a 100% virtual childcare offering. Today, they are providing much needed relief for parents all across the country who are working from home and juggling multiple responsibilities during this difficult time.If you have any questions or if you’d like to chat, you can reach me at my contact info below. The purpose of this podcast is to share ideas, inspire action, and build a stronger small business community here in Pittsburgh. So please say hello, tell me what you think, and let me know how I’m doing. It means a ton!YOU CAN REACH ME AT:Website: https://www.proprietorsofpittsburgh.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/proprietorsofpittsburghpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/proprietorsofpittsburghpodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darinvilanoPhone: 412-336-8247YOU CAN REACH PRIYA AMIN AT:Website: https://flexablecare.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/flexablecareFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FlexableCareTwitter: https://twitter.com/flexablecareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyaamin

Priya Amin is the CEO of Flexable, a company that offers flexible childcare solutions, and more recently, virtual childcare. When COVID-19 happened, people's working lives changed, and so did their childcare needs. In her entrepreneurial spirit, Priya pivoted and adjusted her business to help companies and working parents care for their children in the remote workplace.  This episode is exciting because Priya was actually one of the first users of IDA, so it's great to hear her success story.  Flexable Website: flexablecare.com IDA Website: https://thinkida.com  IDA is a mobile app that makes entrepreneurship navigable and user-friendly. Get smart suggestions and recommendations on what you need to do next, connect with other founders, analyze your competitors and audience, and find mentors and investors. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thinkida/support

Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook! AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple SummaryHey everyone. I wanted to quickly jump in and let you know about the release of the audio version of my book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. If you want to support the show, you can buy it wherever audiobooks are sold. Links are also in the show notes.  Now on to my guest for today, Priya Amin. Priya is cofounder of Flexable, a company dedicated to help with child care when your regular child care falls through. She calls it the “911” – or the “bat signal” – of child care.  Priya started out in corporate marketing for IBM and then Nestle. In 2010, she had her first child and realized that the corporate world was not very friendly for working moms. She quit her job and became a stay-at-home mom. When she attempted to return to the workforce after a few years, she found herself at a disadvantage because of the “motherhood penalty,” so she launched her own marketing consulting company. Then she and another Pittsburgh mom got together and hatched the idea for Flexable. They won a spot in a business accelerator program and began by providing “pop-up” child care at events like conferences and networking meetings.  Like so many impacted by the pandemic, Priya found she had to pivot drastically when covid hit. Seeing a great need to help parents working from home alongside their children, Flexable now provides virtual child care. Parents can arrange for their child to be led virtually in an interactive activity for an hour while they participate in a meeting or get some work done.  It's just the beginning for Flexable as the company navigates new terrain while trying to meet a very real need. As Priya notes, the problem of child care has a huge economic impact, and it's a problem that requires everyone to work together to find solutions.  Now, let's get better together. Actions to Try or Advice to TakeAmin and Flexable demonstrate how some problems may be too big for one person or company to solve. Here are some tactics Amin has used:  Consider attacking just one piece of a problem, or the place where there's the most urgent need. Flexable focuses on the need for backup child care on short notice.  Look into partnerships and collaborations. Amin found her cofounder through a Facebook group. Flexable has partnered with other organizations to provide onsite child care and is looking into opportunities to collaborate with other agencies in areas where there is a high need for child care. Now more than ever our society is in need of innovative ideas and solutions, and some aspects of the economy are growing exponentially. While times are hard for some, it may also be the best time to start your own business because of new opportunities.  Links to Explore Further Flexablecare.com  Priya Amin on LinkedIn Priya on Matchmaker.fm Keep In TouchBook or Blog or Twitter or LinkedIn or JSYPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you found your nugget of genius? 6 questions. 7 minutes. Pure insights. Episode 179: Successful innovation in COVID just requires a nugget of genius. Wise words from Priya Amin, CEO of Flexable.

Priya provides childcare to working parents. But after the pandemic hit, she transitioned to providing a new kind of care at home. Is that cool? “At the end of the day, what we're doing is helping parents to get time back because they're struggling and juggling so much right now between having to be a worker, a parent, a cook, a, Uber driver, all of it. And we're trying to take at least the one piece of childcare off of their shoulders.” Hear more from Priya on CBS, YouTube, and her company's site FlexableCare.com. To get your idea featured on the next 5-minute episode of How Cool Is This?, leave a voicemail at 848-863-9917. howcoolisthis.show

https://republic.co/flexable

Join us for an interactive discussion with Pittsburgh's top education technology leaders. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, keeping our children engaged, connected and in learning mode remains a challenge and top priority. Technology has provided countless solutions ranging from on-line learning to educational gaming to virtual STEM camps and so much more. Today on Business as Usual, we're talking to three Pittsburgh tech companies offering solutions to improve care and education in our region. Joining us today includes: • Jake Witherell, COO of Schell Games • Priya Amin, Founder and COO of Flexable • Dr. Tom Lauwers, Founder of BirdBrain Technologies As your children head back to school, discover how these companies can play a role in their education.

Traditional childcare went out the window when #Covid19 hit. Priya Amin and Marni Pastor talk with Emily about the innovative ways their company, Flexable, is supporting working parents in this unprecedented time.  Learn more about this episode on our website: www.mothersofmisfits.com

We talk to Priya Amin of Flexable to learn how her pop-up day care company has pivoted to offer virtual MiniCamps to engage children as their parents work from home. Flexable is a platform that connects childcare providers and parents looking for last-minute or on-demand care. By providing an option to find extra capacity in the childcare market, it is helping providers make extra revenue while allowing parents additional peace of mind.

This week on the P100 Podcast, of course, we had to address the sinkhole that shook Pittsburgh (and fueled a day’s worth of memes). We dig deep to learn how sinkholes form and consider ourselves grateful to be above ground (it was only a few blocks away from us). Elsewhere in the episode:Alexandra Loutsion, a soprano singing the lead role in Pittsburgh Opera’s “Florencia en el Amazonas,” stops by.Priya Amin of Flexable discusses her childcare solution for working parents and gives a preview of an upcoming webinar.A Veterans Day tribute to those who served.----more----This Episode is sponsored by WordWriteCenturies before cell phones and social media, human connections were made around fires as we shared the stories that shaped our world. Today, stories are still the most powerful way to move hearts and minds and inspire action. At WordWrite, Pittsburgh's largest independent public relations agency, we understand that before you had a brand, before you sold any product or service, you had a story.WordWrite helps clients to uncover their own Capital S Story. The reason someone would want to buy, work, invest or partner with you through our patented story-crafting process. Visit wordwritepr.com to uncover your Capital S Story.Here's the full transcript from this episode.Logan: You are listening to the P100 Podcast, the biweekly companion piece to the Pittsburgh 100 bringing you Pittsburgh news, culture and more, because sometimes 100 words just isn't enough for a great story.Paul: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the P100 Podcast, the audio companion to the Pittsburgh 100. I'm Paul Furiga, here along with my colleagues, Dan Stefano and Logan Armstrong.Dan: Hey Paul.Logan: How you doing?Paul: Guys, we have a great episode today. We're talking about big black holes.Dan: Everybody's seen the hole now, but yes.Paul: Yes, we are. Singing a little bit, accurate gentlemen, Pittsburgh Opera.Dan: That's true. Yeah. We're not singing, fortunately, but there is singing in this episode.Paul: We have a great guest on, who's going to talk about a really cool initiative called Flexable.Dan: Yeah, it's a company that is involved in instant onsite childcare and it's an issue that affects a lot of working parents and I think you want to hang on for that interview. It's definitely interesting.Paul: And we're going to be talking about Veterans Day.Dan: Absolutely.Logan: Finish it off strong.Paul: That's right.Dan: Yeah. That's the way we love Veterans Day, actually, it's a great holiday.Logan: It's also (beep) birthday.Dan: Hey, that's supposed to be ... That's spoiler alert there, we don't want to talk about that.Paul: Is that how that wound up in this episode?Dan: I know. I can't do another little ... Maybe the last five minutes is just a celebration of (beep), or maybe it isn't. I don't know. We all have to hang on.Paul: I don't think so, folks.Dan: No.Paul: Stay tuned.Paul: All right, now we want to talk about holes, sometimes black holes, sometimes big holes, sometimes big holes, small holes.Dan: Sometimes famous holes.Paul: Sometimes famous holes. All of them, sinkholes.Dan: I feel like I've seen that in the news lately. I don't know.Paul: Yeah, something about a bus downtown, Dan, going into a hole somewhere.Dan: Bus, Dan, in the sinkhole.Paul: Dan, means the up streets [crosstalk 00:02:12].Dan: Well, you got to work on your [inaudible 00:02:15] accent, but you're getting-Paul: I don't think so.Dan: Yeah.Logan: The Cleveland is showing.Dan: Yes, exactly.Paul: All right, so, holes. I have a word for you gentlemen. You ready?Dan: Got you.Paul: This is not a Pittsburgh ethnic food, although it sounds like one. Karst. K-A-R-S-T.Dan: Yeah. I need a definition.Paul: All right. Karst, occurs in bedrock, that’s primarily limestone and it's like an underground cave system that water rushes through. The most common form of sinkholes is caused by karst. We don't really know yet which caused the sinkhole that happened downtown, what we do know is that the Allegheny River has a limestone bed. That is why the water in the Allegheny River is clear, whereas the water in Monongahela is brown because that's more of a mud bottom.Dan: You and I have varying definitions of clear, but yes, it is definitely cleaner than the stuff in the Mon.Paul: If you go upstream…Dan: Yeah. Oh, now like elegant Armstrong County.Paul: Yes.Dan: Beautiful.Paul: It is beautiful.Logan: Here's the thing, are we sure the Mon is only dirty because of the mud?Paul: I didn't say, only dirty because of the mud, I do know it has a mud bottom.Dan: Like, 40, 50 years ago, it was definitely ... I can only imagine how dirty it was.Paul: Guys, that's how that airplane disappeared into the Mon however many years ago.Dan: Correct.Logan: Oh yeah.Paul: Right into the Mon.Dan: Maybe it went down a sinkhole.Paul: Yeah. Okay. Paul: Back to karst, which is not like pierogi or kraut or any of the great ethnic foods we have in town here. That's the main reason in Pennsylvania that we have a lot of sinkholes and there are a lot of sinkholes in Pennsylvania. There's another reason. Mining. There's a lot of unchartered mines. We really have had an epidemic lately of things collapsing. The sinkhole that occurred in the South Hills. Big water main break.Dan: That's affected my house.Paul: Yes. That's another reason that sinkholes happen. Underground infrastructure. That might be the case here, we really don't know.Logan: Yeah. Either way, Pittsburgh, as you said, has had quite a history of some interesting sinkholes and there've been multiple cases in the past few years that have been documented. Around the world too, there have been houses that have been swallowed by sinkholes, but specifically here in Pittsburgh, an interesting story that I found just the other day, was a man who was actually just walking, and this has happened a few years ago, was walking underneath an underpass and just all of a sudden a sinkhole opened and he fell 10 feet into the ground.Dan: Where was this? What neighborhood?Logan: That happened in Glassport, he had to call 911 using his own phone and they came and rescued him an hour later when he was sitting 10 feet underground.Dan: You probably got a bad signal when you're in a sinkhole … no bars.Logan: I would think that was a prank call.Paul: One bar, which when they arrived they probably thought he'd been in a bar before he fell in the hole.Dan: Paul, I think you have some more insight though, right?Paul: This is such a big problem. There are two Pennsylvania state government departments, the department of natural resources and also the department of environmental protection, that have massive micro-sites including interactive maps all about sinkholes. So it's not your imagination, sinkholes are a real problem here. In fact, there is an Instagram account devoted to sinkholes in Pittsburgh. It's unofficial @pwsasinkholes, all one word. @pwsasinkholes on Instagram. Check it out, the bus picture's there, but so are a lot of other very interesting ones. I don't think the one from Glassport made it though.Logan: That's a shame. It might just be within city limits but-Paul: Might be.Logan: It would take quite a sinkhole to top what we saw last week.Dan: Oh it was incredible. Fortunately no one was hurt so we were able to make memes and social media was able to go crazy over this.Paul: Made the national news, international news.Dan: Right. It also reminds you though that it could have been a lot worse and that this is something that needs to be figured out. Infrastructure in Pittsburgh and all over Pennsylvania and the Northeast, it's just old.Paul: Your average water distribution system in an urban area like Pittsburgh is easily a hundred years old, so that may well be the cause. We don't know. One thing we do know, according to our government, our Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the average sinkhole in Pennsylvania is four to 20 feet in diameter. This is 75 to a hundred feet, so it's not your imagination, that is one big hole.Dan: For this next segment, we're going to be talking about childcare in the workplace. We have a really interesting guest here with us. It's Priya Amin. She's one of the co-founders of Flexable.Priya: Thanks for having me.Dan: Absolutely. We also have Keira Koscumb. She's one of our fellow WordWriters, and childcare is very important for her because…Keira: I'm pregnant.Dan: Okay. It's super exciting. Yes. Keira, you’re due in January, and this is definitely something we've talked about in the office, just important stuff about childcare here, the cost of it, the availability of it. Priya, can you tell us a little bit about Flexable and just what you guys do there?Priya: Yeah, so Flexable was launched in 2016. It was born out of necessity, quite honestly. My co-founder, Jessica Strong and I, we both have five kids between us, ages four all the way up to 12, almost five up to 12 and we both had professional careers prior to being entrepreneurs, but the common thread that we shared was that childcare was always getting in the way of our professional development. First off, I was a brand manager at Nestle for years. I ended up leaving my career because I just couldn't find the balance between traveling all the time and seeing my children. I felt like my husband and I were ships passing in the night and we barely got to see each other, let alone our kids. So I ended up leaving my career and moving to Pittsburgh and I started a consulting company here and it was great.Priya: It was going really well and I had my second child and unfortunately I kept running into the same issue, which was, I couldn't do this. I could not go to a podcast recording in the morning. I couldn't meet with a client. I couldn't go to networking events because I had a three year old and a baby in a pumpkin seat. It was distracting and it was unprofessional and it was just really stressful for me. So that kind of planted a seed in my head to say, how can I create something that marries work and life together? How can I fit life and work together better? That was the start of Flexable.Priya: Flexable provides on demand onsite childcare at offices, conferences and events to help parents, to help women be able to have a seat at the table, to not miss professional development events, to miss work or to even miss doctor's appointments. We have some really great strategic partnerships with some large organizations around town, but the pinnacle partnership that we have is with Allegheny Health Network. We provide childcare at their women's behavioral health clinic to help patients get the therapy that they need specifically for postpartum depression care. We're affiliated with the Alexis Joy D'Achille Postpartum Depression Care Unit, and our caregivers go and provide childcare so that women can get the care that they need and not put childcare ahead of their own needs.Priya: We employ 32 highly vetted caregivers. These are people that have background checks, clearances, first aid, CPR, and they pick up shifts pretty much like any other gig economy job. So it's similar to Uber or Lyft from that perspective. A caregiver goes onto our system, finds a job that's on a Wednesday afternoon, picks up that shift. They have all the supplies that they need. They have all the play supplies, games, toys, crafts, all of that stuff, but they also have all the safety supplies. So corner guards, outlet covers, first aid kits, rubber gloves, Clorox wipes, all of that. So they arrive on site, they set up, they take care of kids, they clean up and they leave.Dan: That's fantastic. Keira, I know that's got to be something that sounds pretty interesting for you. Once maternity leave ends for you, I know your husband, he's got a full time job that's pretty important. Yourself, you need to go on a lot of client calls and meetings outside of the office. How does something like this sound to you?Keira: It sounds great. Daycare is expensive, you're on a waiting list. I think this evolution has happened with companies where in the past, maybe 10 years ago, I always viewed being somebody that wasn't planning on getting pregnant anytime soon, single and working. I viewed the companies as the enemy, they won't let me do these things, they won't let me be flexible with my kids when it's really not that way anymore. Companies are willing to pony up and be flexible, but it is just a time thing for parents. You know what I mean? You have stuff to get done at your job and you're responsible for things. So how you balance that guilt of, not letting your co-workers and your company down, with spending time with your family and kids and your husband and making sure that, what's the point of having this kid if you're just going to shell out a bunch of money for them to be sitting in a daycare or sitting with a nanny?Keira: So, this is definitely something that's attractive. I guess my question for you would be is, it doesn't sound like this is ever permanent. It's more like a temporary thing. It's not like WordWrite could ever hire Flexable to have a daycare that, Dan or me or whoever could bring our kid in every day.Priya: You could. Right now though, the best scenarios that we've seen with organizations is having childcare when it's needed, so at events or at a conference or on that one specific day, if it's election day, for example. We're also a relatively new company and I think that's one of the reasons why we haven't had these long-term commitments with organizations, but we're starting to see that. Amazingly, we have a 100% contract renewal rate with all of our customers because they see that once they have our caregivers at one event, parents keep asking for it and they're like, why can't we have this during these days or whatnot? So that's what we're working towards. We're working towards creating more of a more, not permanent footprint, but definitely a more regular footprint in some organizations so that it becomes synonymous with the company's culture, with their benefits, for example, just something that is a part of their inclusivity package. So it just helps people be more productive and just be there.Dan: Priya, for our listeners at home here, they can hear more from you. You have a webinar coming up later in the month on November 21st, can you give us a little preview of what that's going to be about?Priya: Yeah, so with the GPMP, we have a webinar coming up later this month on childcare as an inclusivity driver in the workplace. We see that when parents take time off to take care of their children, actually roughly $6 billion hit to the workforce, the American workforce, and unfortunately the majority of that is women. It's about 75% of the women who have left the workplace because of childcare reasons, only about a quarter of them even come back and even those that do take time off of work, there is such a hit to their personal finances but also to the greater economy as well. So we'll be talking about some of that. We'll be also talking about how things like childcare could potentially help drive productivity and inclusivity at work and give some best in class examples of those, not only in Pittsburgh but across the country as well.Dan: That's great. We're looking forward to hearing more about that then. For everybody who is interested in that webinar, we'll be sure to include a link in the show summary and in the Pittsburgh 100 that's going to drop on November 7th, and again that webinar is on November 21st so plenty of time to sign up. If you want to hear more about Flexable, you can find them at flexablecare, all one word, .com and even if you need to hire somebody for some childcare, it's a great place, but Keira and Priya, I really appreciate you guys coming in and just this is a great conversation.Priya: Thanks so much.Dan: Thanks a lot.Logan: Centuries before cell phones and social media, human connections were made around fires as we shared the stories that shaped our world. Today, stories are still the most powerful way to move hearts and minds and inspire action. At WordWrite, Pittsburgh's largest independent public relations agency, we understand that before you had a brand, before you sold any product or service, you had a story. WordWrite helps clients to uncover their own Capital S story, the reason someone would want to buy, work, invest or partner with you through our patented storycrafting process. Visit wordwritepr.com to uncover your Capital S story.Dan: All right. Hey everybody. As promised in the introduction here, we've got a pretty special treat for you here and we're bringing a little bit of culture to the 100 today too. We're here with Alexandra Lucian of the Pittsburgh Opera. She's in town for a new show that's just starting this week.Alexandra: Thank you so much for having me.Dan: Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be exciting for you coming back because you're a local, right?Alexandra: I am a local. I'm born and raised in Canonsburg, PA. Went to Chartiers Houston high school and so it's always a joy to come back to my hometown.Dan: Great. Can you tell us a little bit about the show that you're going to be on?Alexandra: Yes. The show that we're doing at Pittsburgh Opera right now is called Florencia en el Amazonas, which translates to Florence on the Amazon. Basically, it is a Spanish language opera, which is the first that Pittsburgh Opera is producing. The piece itself, it's a very unique opera because first of all, it's very short. It's two hours with intermission. So it's kind of the perfect step into opera if you've never checked it out before. The music itself is almost like a Disney movie. It's very cinematic and lush and the setting is in South America, so it sounds very tropical and very accessible and very easy to listen to. It's very beautiful.Alexandra: The story is basically about Florencia, who is a famous opera singer actually and left her hometown of Manaus in Brazil a long time ago to pursue an opera career and 20, I think it's about 20 years or so, and 20 years later she's now coming back because she feels like her life hasn't fully been fulfilled. Part of the reason is because she left her lover behind and his name is Cristóbal, and she wants to come back and find him again and reunite with him.Dan: Right. You're playing the lead role of Florencia, right?Alexandra: Yes.Dan: Okay, that's awesome. One thing that's interesting, and again, I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to opera, but one thing that I find interesting about it, is it seems like there's always is a mix of fantastical and some grounded maybe romance that's involved. Do you see those big themes in a lot of operas?Alexandra: Absolutely, yes. There's a lot of fairytales in opera, I'd say, and kind of larger than life stories and sometimes stories that don't make a lot of sense. But the cool thing about this piece is that it really ... It was written by a Mexican composer and a Latin American librettist. They really wanted to celebrate their own culture, and a big part of that culture is magical realism, which is basically magic that kind of takes the form of something real. So, we're sitting in the studio, it would be like, if one of us started to levitate in that world, that wouldn't be anything weird because that's what magical realism is.Logan: That's very cool. As a musician myself, I know from a pretty young age, I really wanted to do something in music and I was always very entranced by it. Was that kind of your same experience? Did you always know that you wanted to do something in opera or at least musical or did that come a little later?Alexandra: Yeah, I always sang. I drove my parents nuts actually, because I would sing around the house and I would also sing in church with my dad, and basically they got to the point where they were like, we need to do something with this kid or else she's going to drive us crazy. So I auditioned for what used to be called the Children's Festival Chorus in Pittsburgh and is now the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus. I sang with them for six years, and that was the first spark of really being into classical music and singing. So I did that. I did high school musicals. I did the Junior Mendelssohn choir also. So all of these things, led me in this direction because I started singing in foreign languages from the time I was eight years old.Dan: Oh, wow.Alexandra: I also grew up Greek Orthodox, so we sing in Greek too in church. So I was kind of surrounded with that. So for me, I started to take voice lessons and I realized that I didn't sound like any of the people on the musical theater recordings, I sounded like the opera recordings, so I went to Pittsburgh Opera to check out an opera when I was 15, which was Turandot and I completely fell in love with it, and then almost 20 years later, I sang Turandot here two years ago. So yeah, it's been a cool journey.Dan: Well, something about that journey then, in my thinking, I would just assume that, a singer stays with the same company for a while or you're contracted or something. But looking at your history here, you've been all over. That's Minnesota, Chicago, Canada, New Orleans, pretty much anywhere and everywhere. This has got to be like ... It's quite the career I imagine, it takes you a lots of cool places.Alexandra: Yeah, opera is very unique in that way, in this country in particular. In Europe it's a little different, but here we are freelancers and basically we have managers mostly, but we're kind of our own entity. So this year I'm in Minnesota, here, Palm Beach, Chicago twice and then Austin, so yeah, you just kind of bop around and you get used to traveling and meeting new people every time, new cast, new company, and then sometimes you get to come back to old favorites, like here.Dan: Right. Is it exciting to come back to Pittsburgh then? Do you get a lot of friends and family in the crowd?Alexandra: Oh yeah. It's really great. I have a really supportive community. I'm very lucky and Pittsburgh Opera also has been very generous in working with me, in bringing in my community, which is the Greek community here. Last time for Turandot and this time they are doing a Greek night for all of the Greeks in the area, they're-Dan: Quite few.Alexandra: Yes, exactly. There's some ticket discounts for opening night and some backstage tours and things like that.Dan: Someone who isn't familiar with opera like myself, probably other people in this office and it's something that sometimes it might feel like it's inaccessible, like in my head I say, well I don't know these languages, but ... Why would you recommend someone who hasn't experienced it to just try it out, get to a show?Alexandra: Yeah. I think that first of all, you'll never be lost in the story, because there's always English super titles that are projected above the stage. That's first and foremost. So you were not just going to go in and hear the story and be like, what the heck are they saying? Because you'll know. We try to also provide synopsises and stuff, but the super titles are a huge help. I also think that in our digital age, we hear a lot of music through our computers and through our phones, but the cool thing about opera I think is that, it's like music in its purest form. We don't use any microphones, and that is something that's really cool. We're singing, like the opera I just did was a 90-piece orchestra and I did not use a microphone in a 2,500 seat hall.Alexandra: That's what we're trained to do and it's pretty cool to hear the raw human voice singing like that in a big space. The Benedum's almost 3,000 seats and it's kind of a way to bring all of the pieces together of lots of different art forms. So you've got singing, you've got instruments, you've got set design. This one has projections, so there's kind of like a movie going on behind the sets. There's costuming. So there's something for everybody, which I think is really neat. If you're into seeing interesting costumes, you can check that out. If you're into singing, you can check that out. If you're into the symphony, you can check that out. So it's kind of something for everyone.Dan: One thing that we'd be remiss to not point out here is that these shows are coming up here, going to be on November 9th, 12th, 15th and 17th you can still grab tickets at pittsburghopera.org. They're all going to be at the Benedum Center, which is an awesome venue, I imagine a lot of people have been there, but if you haven't, it's really great to see, and do you enjoy playing there as well?Alexandra: Oh yeah. It's so beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful venues in the city I think, and there's so much of our history as Pittsburghers in that venue, thinking of it as like a movie house back in years and years and years ago and then a performing venue. It's really amazing, and when you think about all of the different shows that have been on that stage, it's really cool to be able to share the stage with that kind of history.Dan: Alexandra, last thing we're going to ask you, can you hit a note for us?Alexandra: Sure. Okay. Let's see. (singing)Dan: I don't think we can end this segment any better than that. Alexandra, thanks for being here, and everybody try to get to the opera. At some point here for Florencia en el Amazonas or they've got a lot of great shows coming up in 2020 too, so thank you again Alexandra.Alexandra: Thank you guys so much.Dan: OK guys, we have another important holiday coming up here. Within the next week we'll be at Veterans Day, which is the day that obviously, we celebrate all our servicemen and women about, just the people who are serving and making big sacrifices for us here. Unlike Memorial Day, which is another important one, I think Veterans Day is an important one because it's about the living too.Paul: That’s right Dan, absolutely.Dan: Yes, and Paul, you just had an interesting experience though. You were over in the UK and you had a chance to really learn about how people over in Europe feel about our veterans.Paul: That’s right. I think this is really an important way to look at Veterans Day, Dan, because, given the geography of the United States, with the exception of the terrible 9/11 attack, we've never really been invaded or bombarded in the way that Europe was during the Second World War. Those events are fading further and further into history. We're coming up next year on the 75th anniversary of the end of that war, so it was surprising to me, as you mentioned, a group of about 40 of us from the States went over to my dad's old airbase and my dad was in the Eighth Air Force. He was a bombardier navigator, and of this group of 40 there were three veterans, each one of them, 96 years old. Two of them brought their significant others who were also not spring chickens, and then the rest of us were mostly kids of World War II veterans or in some cases grandkids.Paul: We had a few who were nephews and nieces as well. It was a very interesting group. So 75 years ago, 1944, was a time period when my dad's airbase was really up and running and my dad was actually there. I think that different perspective, and I did one article about this, I'll probably do another one in the 100, we went to the cemetery at Mattingly, which is the only cemetery in the UK that has American war dead from World War II, and there's 3,800 graves there and there's another 5,000 memorialized who are still missing 75 years after the end of the war. As you said, really Veterans Day is more about the living. Memorial Day is about those who lost their lives defending the country.Paul: The thing that was really interesting to me, Dan, about this whole trip was the way people overseas view what we as Americans did through our military service. There was a group of people, and I don't mean people who are like our veterans in their '90s, I mean people in their '50s, '60s, '40s, '30s, teenagers, that we met, who care about what happened 75 years ago. And the reason is, as one of the people said to me when he kept profusely thanking me for my dad's service, he said, "No, you don't understand. If your dad and his fellows didn't do what they did, we'd all be speaking German."Dan: To those three men you were there with, right?Paul: That's right. So I came away with this experience of understanding that, it's not just another day to put the flag up out front, it's not just another day when the post office is closed or governments or whatever are not at work. It's a day to celebrate what Americans can do in service of our country and also in service of democracy around the world.Paul: One of the other things I learned, there's a cemetery as well in Holland, there's a four year waiting list for volunteer families, guys, to take care of American servicemen's graves. Again, these ain't people who are 90 years old, we're talking about, families with teenagers, et cetera, et cetera. As we approach this Veterans Day, I think it's a very important perspective to understand that the service of our veterans, it's not just an American thing, it's something that extends far beyond our borders.Dan: That's awesome. That's great to hear. Again, talking about, you can help memorialize our war dead, which is fantastic, but again, Veterans Day and pretty much any day of the year is a day to support and recognize our current veterans. I've got two of my best friends, two friends who were in my wedding are veterans who served over in the Middle East, and I respect the hell out of them for being able to do that. I know for a fact that each of them saw things that I can't even imagine. That's going to have effects on them for the rest of their lives, and so it's important, whether you can find some support online, whether you can maybe donate to causes for veterans or just, hey, pat someone on the back and every now and then give them a call and make sure that they're feeling all right. That's important stuff. I can't say that I served, but what I can do is I can support my friends who did and try to do what you can to make these people recognized, let them know that we care about their sacrifice.Paul: And really, that's kind of, Logan, what I would say to people this time around and certainly, Logan, people in your generation are the people who are overseas right now, doing multiple tours. Again, more than the flag, more than the day off, is doing something to say thank you to veterans.Logan: Yeah, I totally agree. As you said, there's a couple of people I know that are deployed right now overseas. My dad's also a 10-year veteran of the air force. So I completely agree and I think it's very important to recognize both the Memorial and Veterans Day and as you guys both said, just do what you can to support and let them know that we do appreciate all the things that they've done for our country and that things might be very different if they weren't all there, similar to the story that, that gentlemen over in the UK told you. They do a lot of things for us that sometimes go, it can be out of sight, out of mind, because we don't always see them, obviously they're not fighting here on the homeland, but yeah, I think it's very important to recognize and to appreciate them for Veterans Day and every day.Dan: Right. Yeah. So we are very thankful to them, and to be a little tiny bit selfish, I would also say that Veterans Day is my birthday.Paul: Dan, I knew that that was why we really were talking about this day.Dan: It's awkward to bring up because if I'm at a restaurant or something, and they get free entrees, I can't ask for the free dessert or else then I'm just a jerk.Paul: Well, Dan, happy birthday. We'll buy you some ice cream and let's remember our veterans on Veterans Day.Logan: And we are well beyond 100 words today. Thank you for listening to the P100 podcast. This has been Dan Stefano, Logan Armstrong and Paul Furiga. If you haven't yet, please subscribe to p100podcast.com or wherever you listen to podcasts and follow us on Twitter @pittsburgh100_, for all the latest news, updates and more from the Pittsburgh 100. 

Priya Amin, co-founder and co-CEO of Flexable, talks about applying to Alpha Lab, a business accelerator. Flexable is a pop-up childcare business in Pittsburg, PA. Alpha Lab provided Priya and her co-founder, Jessica Strong, with office space, legal advice, interns, and $50,000 to launch their business. Priya talks about overcoming imposter syndrome and finding the confidence to apply to the program. 

Priya Amin is the cofounder of Flexable, a company that specializes in providing pop up childcare at professional & personal events, offices, and retail stores.   Priya discovered this need when she became a mother and realized she was missing out on networking opportunities and events because of her need for childcare. Together with previous guest Jessica Strong, she founded Flexable to solve the problem and create a more inclusive business community.   She holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, and previously worked as a product and brand manager at IBM and Nestle.   In this conversation, Aaron & Priya discuss how to hone your presentation skills, the founding story of the company, and how to create a more inclusive community.   Never miss one of our best episodes by subscribing to the newsletter.   Priya’s Challenge; Find cool & innovative ways to be inclusive   Connect with Priya LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Website   If you liked this interview, check out;   Episode 75 with Jessica Strong where we discuss Whetstone Workgroup & new models for coworking.   Episode 274 with Erica Peterson where we discuss teaching Moms how to Code.   Episode 50 with Ilana Diamond her role in launching & leading AlphaLab Gear.   Underwritten by Piper Creative A digital agency that provides strategy, delivery, and analysis specializing in a few key service offerings. Documentary-as-a-Service (Vlogging 2.0) Instagram Content Production & Account Building Podcast Production, Strategy Consulting, and Guest Acquisition   If you aren’t creating or curating content regularly, your clients and customers might forget you’re open for business. YouTube Instagram Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | PodBay

On episode seven of season one, we talk to Priya Amin of Flexable and Aaron Tainter, AlphaLab Program Manager. Flexable provides pop up childcare at professional & personal events, offices, retail stores and more! Their Flexable Certified Caregivers go through a 6-point vetting process, guaranteeing safety and security. Simply fill out a form, and they take care of the rest. Happy listening!

Today we talked to Ross Couch a certified personal trainer, corrective exercise specialist and co owner of Flexable in Charelston, SC. We dig into his cheerleading and MMA background. We also here about walking out to Shania Twain "like a woman". There are some good nuggets in here. I hope you enjoy! Mentions: GodSmack- I stand alone GIJOE Quantico One Minute Manager Find out more about Ross and his company at https://www.flex-ablemovement.com/

Today we talked to Ross Couch a certified personal trainer, corrective exercise specialist and co owner of Flexable in Charelston, SC. We dig into his cheerleading and MMA background. We also here about walking out to Shania Twain "like a woman". There are some good nuggets in here. I hope you enjoy! Mentions: GodSmack- I stand alone GIJOE Quantico One Minute Manager Find out more about Ross and his company at https://www.flex-ablemovement.com/

This week, we take the show on the road!  We're at Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center to speak with some of the businesses represented on the floor of the Pittsburgh Business Show, where none of the booths has been prepped to be on the show.  Scot speaks with seven different businesses, from food tech to coworking, to hear seven different pitches and how the booth representatives deal with probing questions under pressure. Featured companies include Darieth Chisolm's 50 Shades of Silence, coworking provider Industrious, and our friend Priya Amin who happens to be working the Flexable booth when Scot comes calling.  

AMAZINGLY sharp conversationalist Priya Amin comes into the studio this week, prepping for an investor pitch competition and talking about Flexable, the startup that she and cofounder Jessica Strong have grown into a common presence at major employers and events in Pittsburgh.  This episode was recorded just before Priya left for the New England Venture Fair, so she and Scot work on her NEVF investor pitch a little bit, while also making time to discuss cofounder relationships and expansion strategy.

John Heaps shares a unique approach to improving performance.