Month: February 2021

The best advice I can give is to be curious and go deep into a subject or interest. Not only with regards to your core business, but also in life. In today’s environment it seems like most people’s attention spans are shrinking and everyone is looking for quick hits. My curiosity in biochemistry twenty years ago gave me the foundation to study CBD and ESC on a deep level, and now that knowledge is being applied to Spero.

As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing David Allred, Co-Founder/CEO, created SPERO CBD, a non-GMO organically-produced CBD brand that is completely sustainably made and a brand that consumers TRUST. SPERO CBD is committed to spreading a new standard of CBD wellness the highest quality ingredients available on the market. Each product is rigorously tested for potency, pesticides, microbials, heavy metals and solvents, and then tested AGAIN with a third party for total assurance, so you get all of the good stuff and none of the bad. SPERO CBD is known to be the perfect way to integrate ultimate health + wellness this year with their pure CBD line that contains zero TCH and zero impurities.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?

No problem at all, I am happy to share. My path to this point has been a long and winding one but the idea for Spero began when I was living in Brazil. My partner at the time had an old dog that was suffering from seizures. It was heart-wrenching to watch a dog go through this because the seizures are intense and cause the dog immense anxiety. The vet recommended a medication to help stop the seizures but said it would have a lot of negative side effects and was not guaranteed to work. I decided to research alternatives which lead me to CBD and the endocannabinoid system (ECS) since CBD can help with epilepsy and anxiety in both dogs and humans.

I went down the rabbit hole and studied everything I could about CBD and the ECS. Once I really understood how important the ECS is to our health and well-being I started taking CBD and was shocked by how well it worked for me. I saw that there was an opportunity in a new industry for something that I really believed in. My project in Brazil had ended, I had previously launched companies and have a degree in both biochemistry and business management, so it just made sense to me to launch Spero. I reached out to my personal network of talented people I have known throughout the years and started putting a team together. Once the 2018 Farm Bill passed legalizing hemp production and CBD we got to work.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began SPERO CBD? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

We formed and opened the company with funding from our founding team. We were in conversations with some institutional investors about raising capital when I received an unexpected call from Start Engine, an equity crowdfunding site, about raising capital through crowdfunding. They had seen our pitch deck and thought we could do well on their platform. Equity crowdfunding is still relatively new and differs from platforms like KickStarter or Indiegogo in that people can invest money into your company in return for actual shares in the company, so they have a long-term interest in the company rather than only receiving a one-time discounted product.

We ended up being one of the few companies that maxed out our Reg CF raise which allows you to raise up to $1,070,000 in a twelve-month period. We have over two thousand investors with investment amounts ranging from $250 to $10,000. That one phone call and one decision to go for crowdfunding completely changed our entire company structure and strategy. The lesson here is that you have to be open to new ideas and be willing to adapt your strategy if you find opportunities that you believe could help the business grow. This can even include pivoting your initial business proposition if you find opportunities you didn’t know existed beforehand. Most of today’s most successful companies started off as something different than what they are today. Amazon started off as an online bookstore and now they are one of the world’s largest retailers and their most profitable business is in cloud-based internet services. You only need to compare Barnes & Noble’s 2019 revenue of about $3.5 billion (down $2 billion since 2012) to Amazon’s $280 billion (up $220 billion since 2012) to see what happens if you don’t adapt your business along the way.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting SPERO CBD? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I can think of a particularly funny moment. Once we decided to do equity crowdfunding, we needed to create a video for our campaign. Turns out, everyone on our founding team is camera shy. Not only was it difficult to get everyone to agree to be on camera but watching everyone film was quite funny because of how many takes we needed to do. We couldn’t even get through saying our names without having to start over. If you want to start a company from the ground up, you are going to have to do some things that may not come naturally or easy to you. That video helped us raise 1 million dollars.

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes, we will soon be launching new exciting gel cap products to give people more wellness options when it comes to productive sleep and keeping your immune system functioning in top shape along with your endocannabinoid system. I think people will be surprised at how well they feel and how less often they get sick when both their immune system and endocannabinoid systems are functioning at peak levels.

We also are finalizing the formulation for a new plant-based skin cream infused with our CBD and arnica that athletes can apply directly to sore areas and joints. We have had to go through many formulations to get a cream that is infused with our whole-plant extract rather than needing to use CBD isolate, which most skin creams on the market currently utilize.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Well, I first need to give credit and thanks to our founding team, my family, and the more than two thousand investors that believed in the idea of Spero to create a CBD company focused on quality, education, and the long term. Without them Spero would not exist.

There have been numerous teachers, professors, mentors, authors, and entrepreneurs that have inspired me to get to where I am today. If I had to try and focus on one in particular, I would mention Dr. Sarah Green who was a new associate professor at MTU and taught my analytic chemistry course. I have applied her analytical process to attack difficult problems to so many of my own projects in life, including Spero.

Dr. Green hired me to do field research for a new research program she was launching to study the environmental effects on Michigan’s Lake Superior. It was amazing to watch her launch this program because she had to design it, raise the funds for it and bring together a team of top researchers from multiple universities. If it sounds pretty similar to launching a startup you would be right.

Her research program was a huge success and spawned numerous studies on the Great Lakes that are still happening today. She then went on to become the chair of the chemistry department at MTU and is now a world-renowned climate scientist working with the United Nations. She taught me more about chemistry than any other professor by far and without her help I never would have graduated with honors.

There’s a funny story associated with my work with Dr. Green. To gather lake data, Dr. Green secured the use of Michigan University’s 120-foot research vessel for a week. There were about ten of us on board and all of us research assistants had to operate lab equipment in the bottom area of the ship. One day was particularly stormy and wavy and all five of us in the bottom got extremely seasick but we had to continue because we needed to utilize every day of the boat. Imagine five seasick people trying to run lab equipment and read gauges while constantly vomiting for about eight hours! That was over twenty years ago, and I still remember that day very well.

This industry is young, dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?

Marketing is extremely difficult in the CBD space because you are not able to directly advertise and sell anything cannabis-related on any of the usual major sales platforms — even if our products contain 0.0% THC. Instead of sensationalist marketing tactics, we’re focused on sharing accurate and up to date educational content about CBD and the ECS with our community.

We’ve worked diligently to provide our current customers and anyone who is thinking about adding CBD to their wellness regimen the opportunity to hear directly from our dedicated advisor team that currently includes Dr. James Talley (Johns Hopkins trained doctor with a specialty in pain management), James Blake (tennis champion and Olympian), and Carlene Thomas (renowned dietitian nutritionist). Our advisors are experts in their respective industries and it’s fantastic to know that they believe in what Spero stands for while fully supporting our mission to set the CBD standard in a largely unregulated industry.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the CBD industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?

Three things that excite me about the CBD industry:

1. The potential to help so many people feel better and be healthier with a natural plant supplement. I am constantly amazed by how many people have said that CBD has changed their life and hearing that never gets old. Some people have also been able to stop using some medications that can cause harmful side effects over prolonged use. Many think that CBD is something new, but in reality, humans have been using it for thousands of years and it is only recently we stopped because of prohibition laws which were meant to target THC and would not even allow the production of hemp with almost no THC content.
2. The industry is still nascent with tremendous growth potential. It’s still illegal to sell CBD in many countries including some of the world’s biggest markets. However, many of these countries already have legislation moving forward to allow CBD sales which will provide opportunities into large virgin markets.
3. The expansion into other cannabinoids. CBD and THC are the most widely known but are only two of the more than one hundred and forty known cannabinoids. Research is constantly coming out showing the benefits of other cannabinoids that are non-intoxicating like CBD and I believe in the near future you will have more options to choose from. You are already probably hearing about CBG and CBC.

Three things that concern me about the CBD industry

1. Low-quality products without testing. This is by far my biggest concern for the industry. It is currently flooded with low-quality products that have not been tested. Many products don’t contain what they have labeled on the bottle and some even contain dangerous toxins. Low-quality products can really turn somebody off from CBD because they try them and don’t see any benefits and then think that all CBD products are the same. It’s probably funny that as the CEO of a CBD company I am actually hoping for federal regulation. We already third-party test for potency, heavy metals, pesticides, and residual solvents even though we are not required to.
2. False claims about what CBD can and cannot help with. CBD can do some amazing things so there is no reason to say it can do things that it can’t. There is a lot of misleading information out there just trying to sell people products and this can have dangerous consequences especially if someone is taking CBD for something, they should be getting medical treatment for. I have even seen claims that CBD can help prevent COVID-19 which is completely false.
3. Prohibition. Yes, even though the 2018 farm bill signed in December legalized CBD, it has only been two years after decades of prohibition and there are still some grey areas within its legalization. There are still some lawmakers that don’t believe CBD should be legal and it would be naïve to think that it would not be possible for CBD to become illegal again.

Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a CBD Business”? Please share a story or example for each.

1.) Forget everything you know about marketing.

Planning on marketing with Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc? Good luck. Most major platforms will not allow CBD ads on their platforms yet so getting your name out there is going to be tricky and there is a lot of competition for few spaces you can market on. You will need to get creative on how to market and build a customer base. Yes, you may have seen some ads on those platforms, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get an ad account ban a few days later.

2.) Regulations can change rapidly.

You will have to be nimble and adapt quickly to a constantly changing environment. What is legal today may not be tomorrow and many of the regulations won’t make any sense at all. For our launch, we were excited to have several dispensaries carry our products; but the agency that controls dispensary licenses sent a letter to all dispensary owners in California saying that CBD produced from hemp cannot be sold in dispensaries and doing so would jeopardize their license. So, you can buy federally illegal cannabis with THC in a dispensary but you cannot buy federally legal CBD without THC, go figure.

3.) Banking is an issue.

Many banks will still not allow accounts tied to any business related to cannabis even if you only sell CBD. This will catch many people off guard especially when it comes to online payment processing. If you think you can just throw up a Shopify site and start selling CBD, you will want to think again. You could build your entire site out, stock your inventory, drive traffic to your site, get your first sales, then wake up to find out Shopify has closed down your payment processing because they don’t allow CBD sales. You will need to use a third-party processor that specializes in allowing CBD sales and the process can take a while. Our launch was delayed for some time while we had to switch payment processors.

4.) You can’t say the best things about your product and can’t share your best customer success stories.

We have so many amazing testimonials and stories from customers that have said our products have improved their lives and we can’t share them. If a customer references any sort of ailment that your product helped them with you cannot share it publicly. By doing so the FDA will consider it making a false medical claim and send you a cease-and-desist letter. This is not something you want to receive, and it will be there in the permanent record. We have never had any issues because we are very careful about what we share and what information we put out about our products. You are also very limited to what you can say your product can help with.

5.) People still don’t know what CBD is.

If you know about CBD you probably see it everywhere, however, most people still have no idea what it is and why you would take it. Don’t believe me? Ask ten random people what CBD is, why you take it, and what it does. You might get one that can answer all three of those and there will be some that have never heard about it. For a bonus question ask what the endocannabinoid system is. You will have to do a lot of education about CBD especially about why a high-quality CBD product is different from a low-quality one, assuming you will only be working with a high-quality product.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help them thrive?

The best advice I can give is to be curious and go deep into a subject or interest. Not only with regards to your core business but also in life. In today’s environment, it seems like most people’s attention spans are shrinking and everyone is looking for quick hits. My curiosity in biochemistry twenty years ago gave me the foundation to study CBD and ESC on a deep level, and now that knowledge is being applied to Spero.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I wish I could convince everyone to live in a foreign country where they don’t speak the language for a couple of years. After studying in England, I knew I wanted to live abroad again someday and, in a country, where I could learn a new language. I ended up choosing Brazil where I learned to speak Portuguese fluently, met my fiancé, and got the idea for Spero. Leaving your comfort zone opens up your world view, enriches your life, and humbles you in a way that I think everyone could benefit from. We need to find ways to get out of our tribes and bridge the gap with people we consider different from ourselves. Only by working together are we going to be able to start solving some of the pressing global issues we are currently facing.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

• https://www.instagram.com/spero.cbd/
• https://www.sperocbd.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/sperocbd/

David Allred of SPERO CBD: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a CBD Business was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In my industry, people shouldn’t expect to get rich or make a fortune. This business is a way to make a good living while enjoying the line of work. You will have the freedom to enjoy sailing on a weekday. You will also become a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the brands of boats you represent. The best piece of advice I can give is, you need passion. Passion is the best salesman in the world.

As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alex Caslow.

Alex was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned an AA from a local community college and has had a job since he was 13 years old. He worked in a drive-in movie theater and then IKEA, where he learned marketing and retail practices. He then got a job working in the automotive industry where he learned operations and inventory management. In 2015 Alex started Red Beard Sailing, a portable boat dealer and online retailer based in Baltimore. It started with humble beginnings, but 5 years later he has carved out a new niche in the US sailboat market.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I have always wanted to own my own business, and work for myself. I always found myself frustrated at work by inefficient processes I had no power to change. I have always struggled with doing things for the sake of “because that is the way we have always done it.”

I wasn’t actively looking to start a business when I found our first product. I wanted to buy a portable sailboat. I did my research and picked the perfect fit for me, but I hit a wall when I found I it wasn’t being sold in the USA. I quickly realized that there might be a market for this type of product and if it was successful, I would be finally able to do what I love as a profession and work for myself.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

After starting in August 2015 and getting only a couple sales under our belts, we attended the Baltimore Boat Show. It had recently snowed but foot traffic was up over the previous year (so they told me).

We couldn’t afford a booth big enough to set up a whole boat, so we built a PVC rig that held the boat at an angle (but without a mast).

We had some brochures, business cards and a picture collage of the boats in action. We nearly had someone on the hook for a discounted boat but ultimately, we ended the show having made zero sales.

We were crushed.

My wife and I talked about if this was just a bad idea and not worth putting more money or effort into, but we stuck it out until the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show.

We killed it at the Annapolis show. With this proof of concept, we signed a local marketing firm with a plan of attack and things took off from there.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

Because I am a passionate sailor at heart, and one that has owned larger boats, I knew that this was a product that would solve a pain point. I had to realize that the products I was trying to sell didn’t really have an existing market in the US. I needed to curb my expectations and try and think from the customer’s perspective and how to educate them on the options my products offered.

So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?

Things are going really well today. We finished 2020 with 150% higher sales than we had the year before. We’ve always been able to start a second related company to capture even more of the market. I have worked through months where we didn’t make enough profit to pay myself and I have taken minimal salary in months where we have had record profits. Seeing the larger picture and working towards long term goals help me keep a focus on what comes next. Owning a business is all about what is next, if you aren’t moving, you’re sinking.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

It is really tough to laugh about mistakes that I make as an entrepreneur, at least in the moment. The funniest one would probably be the time I mistook a journalist for a customer at a boat show. I’m not sure how I missed his badge, but I knew right away he was an enthusiast. I was really doing my best to sell him a boat. It turned out he was an editor of SAIL Magazine looking for new products to feature. I spoke to him just like I would a customer at a boat show (we were at a boat show). It is hard to tell if that was the reason, but against all odds, the boat we were discussing won Best Daysailor of 2017!

The lesson I derived from that is: Be passionate and genuine, always. Had I known he was a journalist, I probably would have stuck to the spec sheet and talking points. My customer conversations tend to be more candid and usually include a number of my sailing stories. This experience taught me that whether I am talking to a customer or writing copy for the website, I need to be genuine and keep the marketing jargon to a minimum. Customers can read the spec sheet without me. They appreciate that they are talking to not just a salesman, but a fellow enthusiast, so don’t be afraid to be personal.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

My company stands out by offering niche products that allow people greater access to the sport of sailing. Before we started our business, you needed to have a trailer or a slip (or both) to have a sailboat, but that’s ancient history now. We sell sailboats that fit under your bed or in your hall closet and that mean pretty much anyone can have one. We love sailing and we personally use all of our boats. We can provide specific experience to the customers for nearly any question and we do so with an apparent passion. That gives customers the confidence to buy from us and trust our recommendations.

I competed in the 2018 Everglades Challenge (EC) in one of our products, the XCAT. The XCAT is a 16ft boat that you can disassemble and strap to the roof of a sedan. The EC is a 300 mile unassisted expedition style race from Tampa Bay to Key Largo. It has a 60% drop out rate and is known as one of the most difficult small boat races in the US. I was willing to put my money where my mouth was and make a bid at the EC in one of our products to prove the durability and performance capability. I did end up dropping out of the race, but not until after travelling 130 miles from the start line, and in weather than even had Olympic medalist sailors needing a coast guard rescue!

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

In my industry, people shouldn’t expect to get rich or make a fortune. This business is a way to make a good living while enjoying the line of work. You will have the freedom to enjoy sailing on a weekday. You will also become a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the brands of boats you represent. The best piece of advice I can give is, you need passion. Passion is the best salesman in the world.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

My wife has made all of this possible. She had a “real” job through the first 4 years of our business. In addition to her duties there, she also worked boat shows and helped me ship boats out when we got busy. I am very fortunate to have had the perfect conditions for my business to thrive in its early years.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I have been able to donate boats to programs and charities that bring underprivileged children and people to the water. Sailing is widely thought of as an elitist sport, but with a partnership with ChesX Sailing Center, we have been able to help people who struggle with substance abuse by teaching them to sail and then equating those skills to real world skills. Through the same sailing center we have also been able to get hundreds of underprivileged kids on the water with no cost to them.

My mom always taught me the joy of helping others, and I intend to never stop paying it forward.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. If you are selling a physical product, then logistics will be your new least favorite thing in the world. Learn logistics, even take a class or read a book on supply chain logistics because it is a bear.
2. Stay at your job. Your business is not going to grow as fast as you think and you will want to avoid taking any money out of your business in the first year. I actually held to this one pretty good, but my company could have used 6 more months of not paying my salary.
3. If you do get overrun with opportunity and sell out, don’t overreact. Stay the course and work your plan for the year. You can get yourself into big trouble by spending funds to “keep riding the wave”.
4. Ask your accountant about SEP IRA contributions. This is your 401k. Just because you are self-employed, doesn’t mean you don’t need to think about retirement. You can contribute to a SEP IRA and reduce your tax exposure all while saving for later in life.
5. This one is a bit niche but… Keep an eye on that exchange rate. Because we buy most of our goods from Europe, we pay in Euro. The price of the Euro went from $1.03 to $1.30 in only a few months and it ended up costing us a bunch of money.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I have always believed that education is the key to our success as a society and our society is largely missing the mark. My wife and I intend to start a non-profit trade school that specifically offers education in the different trades to underprivileged people at little to no charge.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can follow me on social media by following:

FB: @redbeardsailing

IG: @redbeardsailing

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-VBBsHz7VlxOOdgGtvSGTw

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Alex Caslow of Red Beard Sailing: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A Founder was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women Of The C-Suite: Shannon Clark of ‘Shades by Shan’ On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

Be kind, be compassionate, have fun, but also don’t be afraid to say no. Building a team is not easy, but we have been so lucky to find people that really believe in us. So if you have those ride or die people on your team, treat them like gold, because they are not easy to find.

As a part of our series about strong women leaders, we had the pleasure of interviewing Shannon Clark.

Shanberries was the Executive Producer & Midday host on 99.7 [NOW!] / KMVQ-FM, considered to be San Francisco’s biggest pop station reaching over 1 million listeners a week. She is the female voice of the top-ranked Fernando and Greg Morning Show (6–10am). She continues with her own Midday show from 10–2pm.

Shan was the TV host, Cal Hi Sports on NBC California and Gas Money on CBS. She also conducts interviews and hosts events with various celebrities and athletes.

A Bay Area Native, Shan was raised by her single Ecuadorian Mother aka Mamaberries, who instilled hard work ethic into her core. She enjoys music, fashion, makeup, discovering good eats, dancing, traveling, and of course her Flamin’ Hot Cheetos!

Shan is also a talented musician, having played the violin and drums since the age of three. She has since produced multiple songs with record-breaking ratings, including the Niners’ Anthem “Steal The Bowl,” which topped the 99.7[NOW!] charts at #1.

Shan attended college at Webster University in London, has lived in five countries and has visited close to 40 countries. She is a proud Latina, speaks Spanish fluently, and has some skills in French and Mandarin.

Shan’s love for makeup has led her to create a beautiful line that she is excited to share with the world. Shades by Shan is her brainchild and has worked hard to bring it to life. Each color has been carefully chosen and tested by her to create the perfect look. A portion of proceeds from each purchase goes to support single parents in need, through her nonprofit organization, The Mamaberries Nonprofit Foundation. Together, Shan is confident that we can make it a little easier to help them raise the next generation.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Of course, it was really my fans rallying behind me and asking when I was going to be coming out with Shan merchandise and I thought, would people actually buy my products? I’ve always loved makeup and I could catch myself aimlessly scrolling through Instagram and seeing all these influencers collaborating with makeup companies. I thought, could I cut out the middleman and start my own line directly to consumers? I spoke with my sister, who was a global sales & marketing director to see if she would be interesting in doing this with me. After she said yes & quit her job, the rest was history!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

We really never expected how big this was going to turn out, we started it as a little side hustle & hobby, but now it’s really turned into a full-fledged organization, launching in 18 stores around California, with a full time team. We are super excited to continue to see the growth of SBS and now feel we are prepared for the future with our rock star team.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Mistakes happen, we are human, we are doing many things at once, it’s just bound to happen. It’s just a matter of how quickly you can rectify the situation and also try to keep costs low at the same time. One time I had to drive down to LA to put in the new displays in the Planet Beauty stores, I was driving down with my boyfriend and when we were about to arrive I realized we had forgotten the displays. I immediately called my sister, she found the closest 24 hour FedEx print shop near our LA hotel and she sent the order for us to pick up down there. It costs us extra money, which we hadn’t budgeted for, but we had to roll with it! Lesson learned: Always double check everything!

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We knew we wanted to be impact driven, my community has helped me immensely and stands by me every day, that’s why it was so important to ensure we are a company that is out there making a difference in people’s lives. When we were thinking about what our mission should be, it was right under our nose, Single Parents. Our single mother raised my sister & I and we saw the first-hand struggles it takes. We feel that if the parents are ok, the children are going to see the benefits of a parent who is less stressed & really be able to embrace that quality time as a family. We started our research and really couldn’t find an organization at the time that focused solely on single parents, thus we pushed ourselves further in launching our own non-profit, The Mamaberries Nonprofit Foundation — in honor of our mother. Anyone can nominate single parents directly on our website:sbscosmetics.com — we were shocked with the hundreds of nominations that came in as soon as we launched. Experiencing that wave of nominations coming in, reading the stories, it completely validated we were on the right track with our mission!

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We recently launched in Planet Beauty stores across California and being available for people to go in, try the makeup, test it out and purchase it on the spot was super important for us. It’s been amazing to see the brand growing so quickly, because at the end of the day, that means we can help even more single parents! End of March we launched our latest collection, The Dirty 30 Collection, since I just turned 30 years old! More new products are hitting the shelf and we are continuing to plan future product launches to drop very soon!

What advice would you give to other female leaders to help their team to thrive?

Be kind, be compassionate, have fun, but also don’t be afraid to say no. Building a team is not easy, but we have been so lucky to find people that really believe in us. So if you have those ride or die people on your team, treat them like gold, because they are not easy to find.

What advice would you give to other female leaders about the best way to manage a large team?

Trust your team, delegate and believe they have the best interest of the company in mind. Large or small, mistakes will happen, own up to them, and find a solution. I always tell my team, don’t tell me there is a problem before you’ve thought of a solution. I want my team to have a voice and feel comfortable using it.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

You are right, there is no “I” in Success, it honestly takes a village! If I had to choose a couple people it would be my team, my sister — our COO, my mother, Juan — our Head of Creative & Gabby — our Head of Logistics & Inventory. They have been with me since day one and taking on this journey with me has meant the world. They rough it out day in and day out, donating their time & energy to building this organization. Honestly they are some of the smartest & hardworking people I have ever met. If it wasn’t for them, we would not have been able to accomplish even a tenth of what’s been achieved so far.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

It’s super important for me to ensure that our community is prospering, I want to use my platform for good and give a voice to those who need it most. Back in December 2018 we did a big fundraiser event for the survivors of the Paradise wild fires, bringing hot food for over 150 people, my buddy Myles Parrish performed, Santa paid a visit to the children, arts & crafts and the SF Bay Area community members donated over $10,000 in new goods for the survivors which we brought up in trucks & trailers. My team & I really wanted to do this to ensure the survivors had a chance to enjoy some holiday cheer. I want to make people happy, it’s part of why I love my job on the radio so much too.

What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

I interviewed J.Lo a couple months ago, she has always been a huge influence in my life so when I asked her for advice she told me: Be ready to work harder than anyone else, that’s what it takes. Her words have stuck with me ever since.

Be Patient — Building out a collection takes months of planning, secret shoots & you just have to be patient so your customers can have that amazing experience when they see it for the first time.

Take care of your team — You are only as good as your team, take care of them. In any business you will have highs & lows, happy times & stressful times, therefore emotions are very valid. The best team will ride with you through it all when they trust you also have their best interests in mind.

Be positive — It’s a mindset — If you believe it, it will happen.

Always be ready for curve balls — because they will come, you just need to be ready & willing to react to them the best way possible.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

We are actually working on our movement as we speak, which is to bring awareness to how difficult it is to be a single parent. We are able to gift single parents with financial support to ensure they have a little cushion and can keep on going! We award them through the nonprofit’s committee who reviews all the nominations that come in. Let me tell you each story is more heartbreaking than the next, and the committee has the difficult task of narrowing it down. Many of the people on the committee are or have been single parents at some point in their lives, so they know what it takes. About 10% of Shades By Shan sale proceeds goes to The Mamaberries Nonprofit Foundation, so as we grow, so does that pool of money that we can donate to single parents in need.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Where there is a will, there is a way” I live by this, you don’t know how many times I’ve been told “No”, but I try not to see it as the end all, it’s just a roadblock that you have to go around and try a different route. If you work hard, stay humble, are honest & don’t take “No” for an answer, you will be very successful!

Women Of The C-Suite: Shannon Clark of ‘Shades by Shan’ On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Be a great listener”. Over the past year I have been humbled by many people who know more than me — as I mentioned earlier, we are a team; no ONE person has all the skills — and I have learned the criticality of: don’t listen to reply, but rather listen to listen.

As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ezra Rosensaft.

Ezra Rosensaft is the CEO of IDW (OTCPINK: IDWM), a leading media company with the award-winning IDW Publishing and IDW Entertainment divisions.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

To give some background, after receiving my BA and then going on to get my MBA, I worked for “Big Four”, and then HBO for about 15 years. I joined the IDW family in early 2018 as the CFO, and then mid-2020 I took on the role as IDW’s CEO.

I’m afraid the details of my career path are rather bleak as it is pretty straightforward, (though both HBO and IDW as well as the TV industry in general, are anything but boring), but when I started in the industry after getting my degrees I dedicated myself and my time to it. Some people will test their passion for their career by veering off path and exploring other options — maybe to return, maybe not, but for me, when I started I was in it for the long haul, and that’s all she wrote. As I like to say, it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle (though to be honest I often daydream that my background is something out of one of our comics or television series… don’t we all secretly wish to be interesting?) Frankly, I think it’s that “interesting” part that makes companies like IDW excellent. The people are all interesting and the chemistry and culture that I’ve had the privilege of helping build are amazing.

Our Chairman, Howard Jonas, is an amazing role model in that regard, for me on both personal and professional levels; I’m simply carrying out his vision.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

I think that most professionals hit certain obstacles throughout their careers that make them wonder whether they’re in the right place or not. Challenges are inevitable, so how you handle them is ultimately the deciding factor of your success. To this day, I continually remind myself that there is room for improvement, which has always been something that’s motivated me to push past any hardships that I’ve been presented with in my career. When things get tough, we have to remember that once the difficulty passes, the easier times are that much sweeter. Mindset is half the battle, so looking forward — even in the most difficult times — was half the battle, sometimes more.

So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?

Things are going to be great in 2021! Yes, I think we all need to force ourselves to be positive in the face of the past 12+ months. I now start each morning, the moment my feet swing out of bed by verbally stating “It’s going to be a beautiful day!” Perhaps the theme of 2020 was grit and resilience. Much like nearly every industry this year, the publishing and entertainment world was rocked by the pandemic and eventual lockdowns. We had to rethink how we approached all facets of the business. But we did it and we did it well. Though our book sales have almost doubled from last year (what do people do in a pandemic? Buy books.), it’s not to say that challenges have been curtailed by any means (books up, productions on hold — argh!) There’s still so much to work through, but these obstacles are what I am most thankful for. I’d much rather be humbled in the face of adversity than continue being comfortable and complacent.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

One of my first months at KPMG (the Big Four firm I started with), the head of the practice saw me in the hallway midday and asked me if I had time to review something timely for a very large client (parent company of Mercedes-Benz, actually). I was a newly minted MBA, and I must have been on another cloud that day for some reason as I recall looking at him and stating “Sure, but later, Tony, I’m going to lunch now.” Literally. That was my answer. Only later that evening when I told a friend did she say “Are you crazy? He wasn’t really ‘asking’; he was telling you to do it NOW.”

I quickly realized that learning to prioritize — truly prioritize — is as essential in business as in the emergency room (I was a volunteer EMT in NYC for half-a-dozen years, so yes, having been in many ambulances and ERs, media is not as life critical, but nevertheless prioritization is essential).

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

IDW is unique because we do it all and we do it well! We’re a leading (growing) media company that provides the best of entertainment through our licensed brands like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, and breakthrough IP like “Locke & Key”, while always endeavoring to be on the forefront of the latest trends across all platforms. We holistically evaluate and acquire IP for franchise development across comics and graphic novels, television, theatrical, games, merchandise and more.

I remember visiting the “writers room” in LA for “October Faction”, first an IDW comic, then a TV show we licensed to Netflix. Our current Publisher, Nachie Marsham, was not with us yet, but our President of Entertainment, Lydia Antonini, was at IDW, albeit a different role at the time. She brought the best of the industry to IDW and into that writers room (helmed by Damian Kindler). That is what everyone should aim for, whether a window cleaning company or a telecom giant: the best in class. Great people aren’t just a little better than very good people; a great employee is 10x better than the next “very good” one.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

I believe that oftentimes, you reach the point of burning out when you’ve been doing the exact same thing the same way for too long. The world is constantly changing, so as leaders in the publishing and entertainment industries, we must mirror this. Rather than constantly sticking to what has always worked, it’s important to seek innovation and surround yourself with people who think differently than you. Combining tradition with an open mind and a corporate culture with a diverse perspective will not only set your company up for success, but it will also keep you engaged, fresh and in the fight. And, one more thing: no matter how hard it is, it’s critical to “unplug”. I had a run of several 80-hour weeks. It wasn’t until our counsel said to me one day: “Ezra. Shut it off and no emails from you for two days.”

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

As I mentioned earlier, our Chairman, Howard Jonas, is a personal and professional role model. I was depressed after leaving HBO, and when I met with him, he saw past the depression and anxiety, and offered me a role at IDW. I would absolutely not be where I am today without boots-on-the-ground, real-world conversations with Howard. At the same time, Lydia (Antonini) was in the trenches with me as we both put in ridiculous hours to course-correct IDW. Even our new Publisher, Nachie, helps ground me every time I talk to him about the comic book space. I am so grateful I can learn from him and others. The company is a team; forget titles — they are meaningless.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I wish I had a snappy answer such as “helping to cure cancer”, though I can say that I’ve had a strong hand in bringing IDW’s culture swiftly in line with a “correct” diverse and open culture that reflects where the world is headed and people want to come to work.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. “Don’t work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.” It’s true. It is not productive or efficient in the long-run, and you will not only burn yourself out, but your family and friends will truly loathe you.
2. “Don’t try to control everything’. I think it is natural for C-level professionals to want to manage or control, not micromanage mind you, but still an attempt to manage things. Better off delegating and then delegating some more.
3. “Encourage growth in others”. It seems obvious but harder in practice. Yet boosting employee self-esteem is hugely important for a healthy organization.
4. “Be a great listener”. Over the past year I have been humbled by many people who know more than me — as I mentioned earlier, we are a team; no ONE person has all the skills — and I have learned the criticality of: don’t listen to reply, but rather listen to listen.
5. “One day at a time.” It’s true. The lights go off and the office cleaners come in. One can only do so much in one day — especially from home in a pandemic

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

My favorite IDW initiatives come from our children and family divisions, publishing an array of comics and graphic novels for young readers. I would love to see this initiative flipped with young authors and illustrators creating content for adults to help us reconnect with our inner-child. As mentioned, I make it a priority to constantly expose myself to out-of-the-box thinking and as a father, I can say with complete certainty that children are expert out-of-the-boxers and can teach us a thing or two through their surplus of creativity and imagination. I think all adults could use even just an acute reconnection with that unique creativity that children have. If only we can all un-learn to “color in the lines” and just color anywhere on the paper — literally and figuratively.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

I can be found on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezrarosensaft/

You can also find IDW on Instagram and Facebook @idwentertainment and @IDWPublishing, and on Twitter @IDWentertain and @IDWPublishing.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

My pleasure; thank you for the opportunity. I’ve been a Medium premium subscriber for a while; I could get lost for hours reading articles on Medium, and love that Authority is firmly rooted here.

Ezra Rosensaft of IDW: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Keep going- resilience is the only way forward. There will be setbacks along the way, but it’s essential to keep trying and keep moving forward. For example, this year due to COVID travel restrictions we were unable to bring our overseas workers from China who are instrumental in assembling the lanterns onsite. We were able to pivot and enlist the help of local workers to help build the lanterns instead. The change in plans created a very tight timeline, and it took all hands on deck, myself included, to get the festival across the finish line.

As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Xiaoyi Chen.

Xiaoyi Chen is the founder of LuminoCity Festival — an annual immersive wonderland of light sculptures and art installations in New York City. Chen was born and raised in Zigong City, located in the Sichuan province of China, which is the epicenter of lantern manufacturing and lantern festival production. She held the magic and childhood memories of the annual lantern festival close, and after attending Pratt Institute for graduate school, Chen decided to share the experience with NYC. The first LuminoCity Festival took off in 2019 with great success and will continue to return to the city for years to come.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thank you for having me! The story of LuminoCity Festival begins with my childhood. I grew up in Zigong, located in the Sichuan province of China. Every year, the city hosts an annual lantern festival that attracts over two million people from around the world. As a child, I was captivated by the experience and watched the lanterns grow in size and scale with each year. I knew I had to find a way to bring the lantern festival tradition to the United States in order to share the magic I experienced as a child.

After graduating from Pratt, I started to think about how I could bring this experience from my childhood to New York City. I had visited local light festivals including the famous Dyker Heights Lights during my first holiday season in the city, which gave me a sense of the current market. The goal with LuminoCity Festival was to bring together traditional lantern making techniques with modern design in order to introduce a new experience altogether. LuminoCity Festival is more than just a light festival- it brings together illuminated sculptures, storytelling, and culture unlike anything the city has seen before.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

When I first started my journey with LuminoCity Festival, the biggest obstacle I faced was learning to stay true to my vision and tune out the critics. I don’t have a background in business, I’m young, and at the time I didn’t have the necessary capital raised in order to launch the festival. Despite these challenges, I was insistent on pursuing the vision that I had for LuminoCity Festival and was determined to find the resources to make it work. There were times when the process was slow and I made mistakes along the way, but I wouldn’t change anything because I learned so much about how to run a business and ended up with the festival I had always dreamed of.

I also discovered that the event and production industry is very male-dominated and that I faced even more obstacles due to my age, race and gender. There were times when I felt like I wasn’t being taken seriously or was not expected to speak up or give a firm opinion, especially when it came to raising money for the business.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

When things get hard, I focus on what I can do to solve the problem in front of me. I reevaluate plan A and look for where I can make adjustments or improvements. I use my judgment to find certainty in uncertainty, and to make the impossible possible, even if it looks like I am putting all of my eggs in one basket. This singular focus on making the best plan possible and focusing on the work is what keeps me going.

So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?

Right now I am at a place where I feel like we have planted the seed of LuminoCity Festival and that it will continue to grow as long as we stay on the right path. At times it feels like we are walking on the edge of an abyss and that every move is one step further into the unknown. It could be solid ground or it could be air beneath our feet. The important thing is to keep going and to put one foot in front of the other in order to build towards success.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I don’t think it was a mistake, but when I was first starting out I learned how important it is to find the right talent and fit for the team. At first, it was really hard for me to let members of the team go who weren’t a good fit. I came to realize that I couldn’t make decisions based on my own personal comfort or perception, but rather that I had to make the best decisions in the interest of the business.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

With many holiday light festivals already established in New York City, it was important to find ways to make LuminoCity Festival stand out. The global pandemic made this even more challenging as we had to find new ways to make the experience safe while still presenting a dazzling light display. This year, we were one of the only large-scale outdoor holiday festivals in New York City and we had to implement new health and safety measures including mandatory masks, social distancing, and hand sanitizing stations throughout the festival in order to keep guests safe. We also presented over 7,000 light sculptures that spanned over 10 acres, which are handcrafted by a team of skilled artisans in China. Lastly, the Lumi character, a magical light bulb and the host of the festival, helps to differentiate LuminoCity Festival from other lantern events in the city.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

No matter your title or department, I encourage others to jump in, get their feet wet, and take responsibility for their work. Some days will require physical strength when it comes to helping out on site, while others will include long days of sitting at a desk. For me, no task is too small. I personally go in and set up the office that we use while on site and make sure every detail is correct — from setting up the Wifi to stocking pens. At the end of the day, the best way to avoid burnout and continue to thrive is to roll up your sleeves and do the work.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

It’s hard to choose just one person! This year I am especially grateful for the entire LuminoCity Festival team who produced a successful event despite significant hurdles due to COVID 19. Without their support, hard work, and dedication over the past few months we wouldn’t have been able to put on the festival. I am also grateful for my close friends. So much of my day is spent on the festival that it is crucial to have friends who are outside of work that I can go to for their support and outside perspective.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

LuminoCity Festival has brought goodness and joy to thousands of New Yorkers and visitors from outside of the city. To me, success looks like seeing the smile on a child’s face when they come to visit and the laughter that families share while walking through the lights. It has been a difficult year for so many, and we are happy to create an experience that literally provides light to others.

By staging the festival this year we were also able to provide jobs to many who may have otherwise been out of work. 2020 took a huge toll on the economy, and we were proud to be able to offer opportunities for people to work and take part in the festival.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Utilize your network. As an entrepreneur, networking is an incredibly powerful tool. I often rely on my close friends who I can talk to about the business and where we need support. It’s helpful to have an extra set of eyes and ears who can share opportunities by word of mouth and recommend people they may have in mind. I’ve also had great success through casual chance encounters. Once I met a lovely couple during a trip to San Francisco. We stayed in touch and they ended up coming on to help us with user experience and accounting!
2. Find your community. For anyone who is interested in starting their own business, I would recommend either finding a friend who is also starting their own venture or joining a meet-up or start up group where you can exchange ideas and resources. There’s only so much you can learn from books and Ted Talks! When I was preparing for the 2019 festival I connected with another woman who had experience in running her own businesses in both the non-profit and the for profit sectors. Her advice and wisdom was invaluable to the success of LuminoCity’s first year.
3. Keep going- resilience is the only way forward. There will be setbacks along the way, but it’s essential to keep trying and keep moving forward. For example, this year due to COVID travel restrictions we were unable to bring our overseas workers from China who are instrumental in assembling the lanterns onsite. We were able to pivot and enlist the help of local workers to help build the lanterns instead. The change in plans created a very tight timeline, and it took all hands on deck, myself included, to get the festival across the finish line.
4. Commit to the path. Being an entrepreneur is extremely time consuming and there is very little work-life balance. This is not a path for everyone and it takes a significant amount of commitment and resilience. It was not until LuminoCity Festival was already underway that I realized that this company was much bigger than myself and that I would need to hire outside help. My strong commitment to my vision and seeing it through helped me to find a way forward and grow the company with confidence.
5. Be comfortable being solo. It’s important to recognize that the business starts and ends with you. Whether it is a partner, investor, or team member, you have to be prepared to continue doing things without this person. This is something that I have learned while growing the LuminoCity Festival team.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

The movement has already started! LuminoCity Festival has fulfilled my dream to share the experience of my hometown lantern festival with the world. It is important to me that we are able to extend the opportunity to find the joy and magic in the lights with the local community as well. This year, LuminoCity Festival partnered with charities including Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC, Tickets for Kids® Charities and Astor Services for Children & Families to brighten the holidays for children. We will continue to partner with the community for years to come in order to spread as much good as possible.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Readers can follow LuminoCity Festival on our social media channels below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luminocityfestival/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuminocityFest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luminocityfestival/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/luminocityfestival/_created/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNYnpwDxzcHcvVztTP3mFdQ

Xiaoyi Chen of LuminoCity Festival: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before Became A Founder was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

No matter how much I believe in the importance of taking time for myself in my workday, with family, vacations, etc., I just get completely wrapped up in the excitement, the importance, and the urgency of every day at work. I trust my team and empower them to take the organization to new heights, however, I also know that there are many things they do that could go better if I helped. My ego continually tells me that I am important and can make everything better if I just spent more time.

As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ethan Karp.

Ethan Karp is the President and CEO of non-profit consulting group, MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network. Prior to joining MAGNET in 2013, he worked with Fortune 500 companies at McKinsey & Co. He received both a Ph.D. and undergraduate degree in biochemistry and physics from Miami University.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Simple — walking around the office saying hello to everyone. As a McKinsey consultant I would fly around the world every week to a new place or a new project. On Fridays, when many consultants took the time to work from home, I went into the office. I always made time to walk around the office and make small talk. I guess you could call it networking. To me, I was just being friendly.

At the same time, while I loved my work at McKinsey, I was eager to make a contribution to society. So I started looking at all kinds of initiatives going on in Cleveland. Eventually, I found a non-profit organization whose mission was to help small manufacturers; it not only intrigued me but also happened to have one of the people I’d befriended on my Friday walkabouts as board chair. I considered him a friend and mentor, so when he asked me to lead the organization, I said yes.

Can you tell us a story about hard times you faced when you first started your journey?

About eight weeks into the job, bright eyed with great ideas of how we were going to set strategy together, I gathered my new team. Ten minutes into the meeting my marketing and sales leads got in an all-out screaming match. I got them calmed down, but then a few minutes later I had to lay down the law about sexist jokes after one was proffered to “lighten the mood.” Two people sat in the corner and said nothing for four hours. I learned later that most everyone figured this 26-year-old “hotshot” was going to leave — they just had to wait him out. Complacency was rampant. Initiative was non-existent. The organization was disconnected from its mission. The culture was toxic and here I was in my first leadership role trying to unravel it all.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

I wish I could say that it was undying optimism and belief in the ability of people to change. But in reality, what got me through those early days was blind naivete. I vividly remember telling my Board Chair that “if only I could make these three staff changes, everything would be fixed.” He wisely counseled me that I shouldn’t make broad proclamations as this was only part of the problem, there were no quick fixes. He couldn’t have been more right. It took four years of strategic recruiting, performance management, organizational changes, and culture building until we finally got all the right people moving in the same direction towards achieving our mission. Making those people changes was just the tip of the iceberg to truly changing a culture.

Sometimes I wonder what I would have done had I known what I know now. Would I have even taken the job? Perhaps we all need to enter new roles like this every few years so that we take on the challenges that others with more experience might not. Perhaps a little blind naivete is sometimes helpful in making real change happen.

So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?

For the first couple of years, you are constantly undoing others’ mistakes — bad processes, bad hires, poor management, etc. But then, one day you realize, they are your mistakes now.

For me, the first big mistake was a hiring one. A senior leader abruptly left, leaving just a single key employee remaining in that function. Another employee, my mistake hire, suggested to the key employee that, in the wake of the chaos of the departure, he should threaten to leave if he didn’t get a higher salary. The suggesting employee was the proverbial bad apple who turned many employees sour and fueled toxic culture. I hired this person against the advice of my counselors and peers. I created the problem.

I owned this mistake (and I did fix it), alongside all other subsequent mistakes that I made. My resilience came from having trusted mentors I could talk to and a team that I had recruited to be the cultural vanguard and to support each other to make change happen no matter how many mistakes we made. My grit came from knowing that I was never going to be the type of person to mess things up without putting them right. Today, MAGNET is on the list of best places to work in Cleveland and our ability to save and create 1,500 jobs per year in manufacturing is a testament to how our team works together to drive impact and success.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The stupidest mistake I made early on was smiling too much. Not kidding. I was in a meeting with senior leaders and they were talking about a very serious problem that predated me. I wanted them to know that I was engaged. So, I put on an amused slightly upturned mouth that looked like a smile. As I was made aware after the meeting, it looked like schadenfreude — that I was happy about these troubles. In that moment I learned that as a leader, every expression, every gesture and every word must align. It has taken many more years to realize that there is simply no replacement for authenticity. You must tap into your genuine leadership presence so you can truly connect and engage.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Our belief in values and their power makes our company standout. When COVID happened, MAGNET could have taken a PPP loan and waited it out, preparing ourselves for when manufacturers were ready to hire us again. Instead, we relied on our values to do the right thing. We worked harder than ever before to coordinate 2,000 manufacturers to create personal protective equipment across the state of Ohio to help save lives while saving manufacturing jobs.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

No matter how much I believe in the importance of taking time for myself in my workday, with family, vacations, etc., I just get completely wrapped up in the excitement, the importance, and the urgency of every day at work. I trust my team and empower them to take the organization to new heights, however, I also know that there are many things they do that could go better if I helped. My ego continually tells me that I am important and can make everything better if I just spent more time.

Here’s the deal — it is probably true that as the leader, you, right now, are best positioned to do many individual things better and faster than the people around you. Your company might perform better if you did them. You likely got to where you are with a huge amount of energy and focus and drive. You might be able to sustain that for another 5 years until you do really burnout and then everything crashes.

But in reality, it’s a fallacy that you can make everything better by stepping in to do it yourself. While you might get better results in the short term, you will burn out. You’ll also leave the team around you feeling disempowered and frustrated. Maybe you’ll avoid the mistakes they would’ve made, but you’ll prevent them from growing and learning from those mistakes.

I don’t have the silver bullet here — I am in that millennial group of leaders struggling to balance everything. The extra boost in performance from taking on more myself might be worth sacrificing sleep or family time. At least now I am aware of that struggle and am actively making my decisions for myself.

No matter how many articles you read that talk about this, nothing is ever going to stick until you really dive into what is driving you. And to do that, you need a therapist/coach. So my main tip is to find someone you like and trust and talk to them every week. Let them help you be the best version of yourself and not let leadership drain you each day. If many people rely on you, your mental health and awareness needs care and attention.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

My mentor, Felix Brueck, a man who has spent countless hours with me as a neophyte leader, gives counsel when I ask, but never takes away my agency. He gives me the blunt, straight scoop when I do well or when I mess up. He tells me how to do the hard things and sticks up for me when I make mistakes. But above all, Felix cares about me.

Last year, after multiple years of really strong performance for my organization, Felix went about his normal set of interviews to make my review. The centerpiece of this review was an extremely sincere, yet brutally honest assessment of the way that I had taken care of my health (i.e., my weight). For years, Felix had been sharing stories of how sometimes people let themselves go and how to counter that. I wasn’t listening, so Felix elevated it to the performance improvement goal in my review.

Some might be taken aback at how personal this was. To me, this was the ultimate mentor — someone who truly cares enough to want me to live a happy life, not just a productive one for the organization. This is a lesson I will carry with me forever in the way that I treat others — as people who I care about first, and as employees who have jobs to do second.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Our organization is mission driven. Everything we do is to make life better for the people who live and work in Northeast Ohio. And we do that by creating more manufacturing jobs and growing the regional industry. We have also expanded our mission to focus on helping underemployed or unemployed people (most of whom are in poverty) raise themselves up through good manufacturing technology jobs. And we focus on connecting people of color to more opportunities so that our factories will look more like the communities they serve. Every day I get to go into work and know that we are helping change lives and bring goodness to the world. This binds our team and brings the “why” to our work.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1.) Watch and listen for a long time before you make changes when you first join (three times longer than you might feel is necessary).

• Example: When I became the leader, I spent a few days studying and interviewing (like a consultant) before suggesting changes. As a consequence, it was months and in some cases years before I saw the true colors of some of my team members. Because some people were good at making it look like they were all about the change but weren’t. If I had more patience initially, I could have better observed their behavior and more accurately predicted who would be “with me” on the change journey.

2.) It is okay to rely on others in the organization for help. They will appreciate you asking them and probably have great ideas.

• I relied on one sales team member more than anyone else. He understood our business and the key people. In the early days, I needed his counsel to make any progress with people who didn’t trust me. Now, I rely on him to run a huge portion of our business as the VP of Operations; he and I have been working together for nearly a decade now to turn MAGNET around.

3.) Being the CEO is like being Aladdin’s genie. Sure you can do whatever you want, but there is a catch — the more power you exercise unilaterally the less power you have because you lose people, lose respect, reduce employee empowerment and destroy culture.

• I remember thinking that we needed to fire an employee based on an interaction I had with them. I relayed the incident to their supervisor. Their supervisor thought that she could coach them and told me sheepishly that she didn’t want to fire them despite my damning interpretation of a situation. I could have told her that the person had to go. If I did this, the supervisor would never feel agency over their team. Instead, the supervisor tried their hardest for another year to help this employee. It didn’t work and eventually the employee was let go. But because the supervisor had honesty and authentically tried to help this person, they left on good terms. And now I have built more trust with the supervisor by reinforcing that their decisions about their team are final.

4.) Going from being the number 2 to the number 1 is a tectonic shift, and not to be underestimated. As the second in command you can set strategy, go fix things, be everywhere you want to be. As the CEO, you have responsibility to manage the risks in the company which leaves you limited time to truly do the exciting things you did as number 2. As the number 2 you are leading with your intellect and ability to contribute. As a number 1 you are leading by empowering and guiding others.

• After five years of fielding all of the HR issues and legal issues of the organization, I was frustrated. I was about to give up on filing all of the lengthy paperwork to document everything because it never seemed to help. When an unethical employee threatened to sue us over made-up claims, we went to mediation and settled. I talked to our company’s lawyer and asked why it mattered whether I got all of the paperwork right. “Ah” our wise lawyer responded, “you do all of the paperwork to avoid getting a really good lawyer taking someone’s case and then suing you for millions of dollars (even if you didn’t do anything wrong).” This is a tangible example of a risk that CEOs have to pay attention to that isn’t even on your radar if you are a strategy-focused number 2.

5.) Set your cultural expectations early and make sure people adhere to them. Just because they are “soft” doesn’t mean you can’t coach, direct, teach, and even give performance measures on these cultural elements. A good culture will attract the people you want and help the best come out of those you have. Nothing is more important, so start early with clear expectations.

• It took a few years before we incorporated a detailed set of behaviors associated with our values into our performance review form. This reinforced the importance of culture and values and turned a squishy thing into something that we took very seriously at MAGNET. While their incorporation into our reviews was not the key to creating a good culture, it was a critical accelerant and I wish I had done it earlier.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

So much has been written about being mindful, about having outside counsel, about taking care of yourself in your organization. But this is SO hard. How many bright, ambitious, hard-working business leaders drive themselves into the ground or become mean versions of themselves?

The movement I hope to start one day is the wide acceptance of business coaches who incorporate therapy and psychology into their coaching tools. These people exist today, but they are rare and hard to identify. Helping leaders become their best selves and raise awareness of their impact in the world, awareness of others, and frankly, increase how they bring their own brand of “love” into the world would impact so many businesses, so many people employed by those businesses, and ultimately the world.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Follow Ethan on LinkedIn (Ethan Karp) and follow MAGNET on Twitter (@MAGNETOhio) and on LinkedIn (MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network).

Ethan Karp of MAGNET: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women Of The C-Suite: Ladi Goldwire of ‘BrinMar Construction & Development Group Ltd’ On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

The very things that people love about you will also be the very things that make them dislike- I had taken a job once before in an executive role. I was hired for my understanding of the role, my frankness, my ability to lead, and because I had been raised in the community. After settling into the role, being very frank and having a keen understanding of protocol and policy became a sticking point for outside forces to demand that I not be allowed to attend meetings. They simply were no longer interested in what I had to say. I learned quickly that your traits can be gifts and seen by others as a curse.

As a part of our series about strong women leaders, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ladi Goldwire.

Ladi Goldwire is a State licensed General Contractor and Building Code Administrator certified through the International Code Council. She has over 15 years of experience in the construction industry. Her primary focus has been in the creation and expansion of small to medium size construction firms. She has found a passion in hemp construction which is sustainable and economical. Ladi is extremely dedicated to mentoring and empowering women in business.

Ladi Goldwire is a strong black woman who stands out — literally. She is a female construction worker with over 15 years in the business. She owns BrinMar Construction & Development Group Ltd, a design build company. In an industry dominated by men, Ladi has learned how to be a strong, effective woman who likes to wear pretty clothes and shoes while pounding a hammer! She is well respected by her male peers for her “can do’’ attitude. Ladi is a firm believer and advocate for hempcrete — a sustainable building tool that is not widely used in construction.

BrinMar Construction & Development Group Ltd. (brinmarelite.com) is a Florida licensed General Contracting Firm headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida. With several locations throughout the State, Brinmar is dedicated to giving it’s clients the most desired and hassle free renovation experience. Our tradesmen and women are the best in the industry with tried, tested, and proven processes that safeguards every step of the project.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

My backstory is rooted in hard work, perseverance, and grace. I was once of the belief that I stumbled into my industry(construction)-that I found it. Deep thought has convinced me that it found me. I was, and am still very much a daddy’s girl. He was a block mason by trade and spent time hanging out around construction sites, which became my favorite pastime. Fast forward 30 years and here I am.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

There never is a dull day when leading a company. I am constantly finding myself in interesting settings. I would say that the most interesting is when people are taken off guard at the discovery of me (a woman of color) being in the construction industry.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting?

Once I ordered 270 cubic yards of sand for a project when we only needed 27. There was enough sand to replenish a beach. I definitely learned to triple check my orders moving forward.

Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Pay attention. Accept responsibility. Find humor in everything.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

Yes, there was a fearless community advocate who encouraged me to boldly pursue a career as a general contractor. That was almost 20 years ago and her name was Lynne Hubbard.

Can you share a story about that?

I had children very early in life while being very young. The choice to do so made it difficult for me to sort through what I wanted to do with my life. She made it a point to pour advice and lessons into me and to make sure I understood the importance of wanting to do the same for someone else.

In my work, I often talk about how to release and relieve stress. As a busy leader, what do you do to prepare your mind and body before a stressful or high stakes meeting, talk, or decision? Can you share a story or some examples?

I believe in the power embedded in silence. I try to get still enough to listen beneath all of the noise I found myself surrounded by. It usually involves me finding the nearest body of water or long car rides.

As you know, the United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?

First and foremost, fear can only be resolved with understanding. A desire to understand and to be understood is critical to working through barriers that race and diversity misconceptions can bring about. It is so important for organizations to encourage equality and inclusion because people need to see themselves and feel as if they are being included. The world is changing and being pressed to lean into a space of inclusion. I would love to add also that while equality is great, organizations should also be thinking race and diversity equity as well. Being treated the same and equal is always the goal but to encourage that persons of different races, backgrounds, etc. can secure an equitable stake in company growth and expansion is absolutely the gold standard.

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.

As a leader you have to keep yourself open to the possibilities of change.

You have to listen beneath the noise, trust in the hidden values embedded in different perspectives. Remain open to leading from the rear.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

An executive is someone who because of their senior status in an organization, has been charged with putting a plan of action into full motion. An executive has to pull together all of the resources and intel afforded to him, or her and create an environment, service or product that will ultimately appeal to consumers. An executive has to be tapped into their team and those leaders subordinate to them, and they have to be able to inspire them to crush company goals. It is the senior status that sets the executive apart from other leaders within the organization. Intuition and a willingness to accept the full gambit of responsibility in the organization’s failures and success that distinguishes the executive.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive. Can you explain what you mean?

Many people are under the impression that CEO’s by mere title alone are “sub-human” for lack of a better word. I believe that the title can sometimes be a barrier to authentic conversations with individuals within the organization. But, I also believe that it is the responsibility of the CEO to make the people within the organization understand the company objectives; creating excitement and enthusiasm around crushing company goals. CEOs are typically dealing with the same day-to-day concerns about life and impact that members of their team are and communicating the desire to connect is important.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Being seen as a formidable player in the game of leadership is a real challenge for women executives. For example, in my line of work as a General contractor and construction manager, I have often faced inquiries of experience and competence simply because I am a woman. For all of the things that I thought would be problems associated with my race- that has never really been the issue. I have met the most resistance because of my gender. Women lead differently. I like to believe that the difference in our styles of leadership in comparison to men serves as a benefit to the companies we are attached to. Intuition and the ability to reason with a third eye is a skillset that women can tap into relatively easily. I like to view the challenges laid before us as opportunities to demonstrate exactly what we can do when put to the test.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

The difference would have to be rooted in access to everyday people. I presumed that I would be tucked away making heavy decisions for the company and would likely have very little interaction with staff. My actual job is uber dependent on the experiences and recommendations from the people with feet on the ground. It has become the highlight of what I do.

Certainly, not everyone is cut out to be an executive. In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

I think it looks different depending on the industry you are in. In construction and specifically in this new lane of construction (hemp) I have landed in, character traits most conducive to success is having an open mind and the ability to think as if there is no box. There is the willingness to learn something new every day. A successful executive should be able to strike a healthy balance in trusting themselves but also trusting the data relative to industry success and failure. Finally, a successful leader has to have the ability to pivot quickly. If the year 2020 did not teach us all that we have to be ready to adjust at a drop of a dime, I am not certain what will. The difference would have to be rooted in access to everyday people. I presumed that I would be tucked away making heavy decisions for the company and would likely have very little interaction with staff. My actual job is uber dependent on the experiences and recommendations from the people with feet on the ground. It has become the highlight of what I do.

What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?

Do not expect anything to be easy however, don’t look for it to be impossible either. I believe whatever is happening to you is absolutely happening FOR you as well.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Understanding that each experience is making me better gives me the fuel and ammunition- the motivation to make the environments I enter into better as well. This year was full of surreal moments. Black Lives Matter movements, unprecedented occurrences triggering tough conversation around race relations, gender equality among other things just really highlighted the layer of my personality that has always operated from a stance of advocacy. I attempt to use my voice and the very unique choices I have made by way of a career as a means to point out the inequities in our society. I have to start with what I can manage and in doing that I have chosen to home in on impacting my local community. If we all start there changing the world becomes far more tangible.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. The very things that people love about you will also be the very things that make them dislike- I had taken a job once before in an executive role. I was hired for my understanding of the role, my frankness, my ability to lead, and because I had been raised in the community. After settling into the role, being very frank and having a keen understanding of protocol and policy became a sticking point for outside forces to demand that I not be allowed to attend meetings. They simply were no longer interested in what I had to say. I learned quickly that your traits can be gifts and seen by others as a curse.
2. I mentioned this earlier, but no one ever told me that “what happens to you happens for you”. This ended up becoming the entire premise on which I rationalized the ebbs and flow of being in leadership. When something unfavorable would happen, I would simply rationalize when dust settles that it would serve to the benefit of all involved. It always has.
3. “Grinding” continually is unhealthy. Everyone is always asserting that to be the best and to remain at the top of your game you have to be in constant grind mode. While I believe wholeheartedly in mastering your craft and putting in ample time to position yourself within your career, I no longer believe it to be a healthy approach to enrichment and success to “grind” excessively in your quest to be the best. There has to be a healthy approach to obtaining and maintaining success. Somewhere in that formula you need to be able to carve out time for self, fun, family, and quiet.
4. Success and the attainment thereof can be lonely. Be prepared for lonely days, nights, and seasons even. It is the nature of the beast. While pursuing my dreams of becoming one of the world’s most sought-after hemp construction experts, I have spent a lot of time alone. Initially, I spent countless hours on developing concepts and identifying loopholes for the time when this country would legalize cannabis throughout. Some people simply did not believe that the day would ever come. I was ridiculed and called crazy for wanting to dedicate my firm to being able to build with cannabis. Those times were often very lonely. However, staying focused on the possibilities and putting in the work regardless of how outlandish it seemed allowed for a time such as now. Cannabis is in fact on its way to being legalized country wide. The hemp industry is on track to becoming a 20B industry by 2024- out performing future tobacco and alcohol sales altogether.
5. People only need to respect you. They don’t have to like you. So much of who I am was rooted in having people like me. I wanted to always put myself in a position to be helpful and to be well received. Although we have been conditioned to think people won’t do business with people they do not like but the reality is they will not do business with people they do not respect.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be?

I would love to inspire people to embrace green and sustainable living alternatives through hemp. I’d love to construct homes that are fire resistant, mold resistant, that promote clean air exchange, and that are environmentally friendly.

You never know what your idea can trigger.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“In the end it will all be okay, if it is not all okay then it is not the end”

The relevance of that quote to me and my life is that you always get to start again. You never run out of chances to try to get it right.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

I would love to sit with Mark Cuban.

Women Of The C-Suite: Ladi Goldwire of ‘BrinMar Construction & Development Group Ltd’ On The Five… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.